Remnants of the Earth
SPACE STATIONS => The Libra => Topic started by: Anonymous on June 11, 2009, 12:36:46 pm
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Prison rounds, his favourite. No, they really were his favourite. Interrogating prisoners let him loosen up. He lost a lot of tension, knowing there were people worse off than him. Plus all the things he wished he could do to his colleagues he could let rip on some space pirates. Especially when he knew they were holding information. Dart slipped a cigarette into his mouth and lit up, reading a folder as he walked the well known path towards the Brig.
Obviously, physical violence was above him. As far as he was concerned, he was too damned good at his job to resort to throwing a punch. He knew how the mind worked. He was the HUMINT specialist. And his little psychic secret helped a bundle. He knew this was going to be easy- he was smirking already.
Target former techie of the pirate Cruiser Indefatigable. Apprehended outside the asteroid belt. Surrendered when approached by OZ detachment. Log found to be wiped. However, computer forensics indicate the use of a flash drive prior to deletion. Possibility that important information still exists.
He was up for that challenge.
He approached the cell. A quick fingerprint scan confirmed to the computer that he had authorised access. The doors slid open and he stepped inside. A young, rough looking woman sat on a bench, hands to her sides. She glanced up, wrinkled her nose at him, then turned away. Dart feigned a hurt look, hand pressed to his heart for a couple of seconds. He then reached into his pocket for the packet of cigarettes and offered it to her.
She didn’t look up. “I don’t smoke.”
“Fucking hell. Relax, will you? I’m the good cop.” Dart rolled his eyes. He took a long drag from his own cigarette, psyching himself up. He moved a little closer to her and sat on the bench. She immediately scooted along. He was still close enough to get a good reading off her. He could feel her emotions like heat from her body. Cold and prickly- she was wary of him. Wound tight. Good, he could use that stress against her.
“If you don’t want anything leave me alone.”
“Awww, that’s mean. I want to play a game …” There was a flash of cold across his senses. Stifling. Fear. Just what he wanted. He let his smirk remain on his face.
“W-what kind of game?”
“Oh, just word association.”
Now came bemusement. “You’re shitting me.”
“Don’t be like that. Come on, play the game. What do you say? Must get awfully boring being stuck in here on your own with only the guards for company. I bet they’re a talkative bunch.” He winked at her. “What do you say? First thing that comes into your head. OK? Just humour me.”
“Whatever.”
Dart smiled and lounged. He tapped his foot on the floor, a steady rhythm. “Sun.”
“Tan.” She looked bored.
“Water.”
“Swim.”
“Star.”
“…wish,” she said, as if it were embarrassing. A secret. It was surprisingly soft for a space pirate. She was starting to ease up. She would break soon then.
“Planet.”
“Colour.”
“Moon.”
“Night.”
“Orbit.”
“Capsule.”
He hit it. The flash of fear again. She had screwed up. There was something significant about orbit.
“Orbit,” he repeated, hiding any smile. His face remained stoic, serious.
“Capsule,” she answered, despite herself. She looked flustered. Warmth was rising in her cheeks. He’d done it. He had the lead.
“Capsule,” he said.
“I’m not playing anymore.”
“Where’s the capsule?”
“I’m not saying.”
“It’s the flash drive, isn’t it? Don’t try and bluff. Forensics found it in the registry errors,” Dart said lowly. She winced at the information. “Where is it?”
Silence.
“A pirate with a sense of loyalty, fancy that. What do you owe your captain? It’s his fault you’re in this position in the first place. Go on, love. Save your own skin. We’ll do what we can for you if you do …” he said, sidling up the bench and roughly clapping her own the back. She frowned at him. He sensed her confusion. She didn’t know where she stood with him. That’s how he always worked. “What do you say?”
“We dropped it on Celes. It should be orbiting. Now leave me alone,” she said very quietly.
Dart grinned widely, unsympathetically. “Pleasure doing business with you.”
“Go fuck yourself.”
“I already have today. Twice.”
Dart existed the Brig with the euphoria surrounding a job well done. Now he would need to organise a pick up for the drive. More importantly, however, was his need to brag. Because he was fucking amazing. His eyes searched out familiar faces- the world needed to know how awesome he was. Oh where was a top when you needed one? They’d probably be the ones to pick up the dead capsule drop in orbit anyway.
-
Squad 77's Debriefing and Organizational rooms were crowded today. Ozzies inputting mission logs, tops shouting back and forth between their cubicles, which stretched way down the line in a claustrophobic press of silver separator walls. Vin and Tali had decided to escape. They'd lugged their portable datapads out to the break room and grabbed a seat on the couch. From here they could see out the one-way window to the hall, and catch people coming through to D&O.
And someone had left a depleted, but not quite empty, tray of cookies on the table. Vin snagged one and held it between his teeth while he settled into the far corner of the couch, one leg kicked out down the middle, nudging just a little into Tali's half. He took up all the room in the 1903, it was only fair.
Vin really hated filling out mission reports. At least they didn't make you think much. Mission objective: shoot some shit. Did you shoot some shit? Yes/no. Let Tali fill in the rest if they wanted details. Vin had settled the systems reports early, anyway; he always did a personal check of the ship's weapons and armor. He could see the point to that. You needed to know if things were in working order. But mission reports were stupid, because they could just check the automated logs, but no, 'cause they weren't Eddies and their lives weren't run by machines. Except for the whole part where they were living on a space station.
Hm. Vin bit off half the cookie and chewed it while he speed-typed his way through the form fields. Yes, yes, no, yes, Comments on partner performance. The last section, and also the most fun.
"Hey cap'n, I'm commenting on you." He pulled a chocolate chip free of the cookie and flicked it at Tali's shiny bald head. "I think I'm gonna put down 'suspected irregular conduct, makes too much joy with own joystick.'"
-
The only experience Tali had with jungles were a few pages in Earth Studies and a few adventure movies involving the inevitable jungle planet. He liked to think that the D&O post mission was another kind of jungle. Everyone had to go in there and make some noise to keep the Lt. from getting suspicious. Strange as it was, it was easier to get their reports done in the break room. It was only a matter of time before something would happen in the D&O. Another rousing game of my dick is bigger than yours, most likely.
Fun as that was, sometimes the reports just needed to be crunched.
Tali slumped back on the other corner of the couch after nabbing a cookie and rested the heel of one boot against the edge of the table, the other leg dangerously close to brushing against Vin's. Years of adjusting how he sat on couches to make room for Mo made him shift that leg just out of Vin's bubble rather than kick it aside or leave it. He set the cookie on the edge of the datapad, popped his knuckles and started.
A captain's mission report was a little more substantial than a gunner's. That degree wasn't for flying planes, it was so they would be used to writing all sorts of fluff to fill however many pages were required on the various reports. Tali had the ship's logs on a drive and flipped between them constantly.
Copy.
Paste.
Humanize.
Exaggerate as needed to fill the block.
Tali looked up, just in time to get popped in the forehead with whatever Vin threw. "Damn harsh gunny. I'm re-writing what I put in mine. 'Exceptional gunner, hits targets no matter how hard I try to fuck up his aim. Submit for Gunner of the Quarter, pay raise and date with current action movie superstar' De-leted" Tali snapped the delete key, rubbing out a recently pasted fragment of max speed maintained. "It'll just be another request for supply to hurry up and get in that muzzle I've been requesting for ages."
-
Upon finishing one cigarette, he immediately lit up another. Bad for him. Didn’t care. Made him feel better. Excitement was melting away, now he had another job to do. Pick up the information and use it. Tactical had the suspicion that the Indefatigable was actually part of a secret fleet of pirates, joined together by alliances. From the limited amount of supplies on board, it also seemed as if they were getting ready to meet up and restock. In which case, clues to the location of some of the bigger and more dangerous pirate captains might be out there.
Protocol. He was meant to write out a report to be appraised by a senior tactical officer and then passed on to either a lieutenant or an admiral depending on the importance of the evidence. Waste of time, but those were the rules.
… Ah that’s right. He kept forgetting. He was an Attaché, that was a senior rank. How did he manage to forget that? Considering he was often drunk off his own consequence. He had only been in the job about a week. Never mind. In that case, the information he got himself was pretty solid. So he said. Yes indeed he did say! This wonderful. He was, in a very indirect way, dictating the Squad’s tactics. The power was heady. He just needed to find the lieutenant and he was sorted. He couldn’t skip all the steps just yet.
He proceeded to Lieutenant Tanaris. He found her in her office, next to D&O, ears plugged with music against the racket occurring around her. He tapped on her desk, three times, startling her away from her computer screen. She took out her earphones.
“Ah! Tacky!”
Not you too!. Dart forced a smile onto his face. “Sorry to disturb you. You look swamped. Right, interrogated the space pirate associated with the Indefatigable. She said there’s a dead data drop around Celes. Would you be able to organise a flight plan? ASAP?”
“Erm … no. I’m busy,” she said, pulling face.
Well damn, stomp on his power trip why not? Dart agonised a bit, taking a long drag from his cigarette. Might as well push for it. “I could, you know, do it for you. I just need the clearing.”
“Well, I suppose the asteroid belt is hardly a trek. Though this is hardly conventional. Still, the Squad Captains a very competent. They could organise it themselves. I think they’d enjoy it without the hassle of me yelling at them through a headset,” Eselain shook her head. Dart was disappointed he didn’t get to be commanding officer. “Hang on a moment, I’ll organise your clearance. Won’t take a minute.” She started tapping on the keyboard. “Any requests for the job?”
“None spring to mind, lieutenant.”
“I’m sure Tali and Vin won’t mind,” she commented offhandedly. She swung the screen round. “This look OK to you?”
Captain Vitali Isayev,
Mission required to asteroid Celes for the collection of dead data drop. Full autonomy granted- too busy to yell at you dear. Just uploaded your clearance to the system so you can organise your flight plans. Bring tacky with you. He knows what to look for.
Lieutenant Eselain Tanaris.
“… Do you have to call me tacky?”
“Yeah- It’s your name!”
Dart sighed. “It’s fine.”
She printed it off and signed it. “You can go find them, right? I need to get through this paperwork. Apparently some asshat’s been yelling at people to get their reports done.”
Dart squirmed a little. “Thank you, lieutenant.”
Time to find the others. He tucked the orders into his breast pocket and went hunting for the TOPZ Captain. After a couple more inquiries, he found them in the break room. The thing about entering a room with a TOPZ pair is that one always felt like they were intruding. No time for civilities. Dart marched into the room and crossed his arms, trying to look as authoritative as his small build would allow and not really succeeding.
“Oi, you two. I’ve got a job for you,” he said bluntly.
-
Muzzle?
We could use a new one, the scope on the phasor tower is getting a little old... And if Vin kept paying out of pocket for parts he'd be broke even quicker than usual. "Good idea, get the new diamond plating this..."
Tali was looking at him in a way that indicated he'd just made some kinda joke. For just a second Vin stared blankly back at his captain.
Oh. Other kind of muzzle.
He shot a smirk Tali's way about thirty seconds too late, shaking his head until his braid swung around to his front. The ends of his hair tickled the screen of his datapad. "Just kiddin'..."
He tugged at his hair and jammed the cookie back in his mouth with a bit of a show of rue. When he glanced up at the creak of the opening door, caught mid-cookie-chomp, he spotted none other than their new tacky. Standing there all hitched up and smirky. Damn, this new tacky needed to relax a little.
"Nmfh fumf hn?" he mumbled through a full mouth. Mission? Hey, he was down with a mission. Anything to get out of this cloistered little still-air room and into wide open space. Chew, chew, swallow. "Fuh."
-
Just kidding Tali's ass. He wasn't getting away from this one so easily. Tali picked up the cookie on the edge of his datapad and had it in his mouth with two bites. He took a little longer to chew it, and didn't bother finishing before saying. "Yer gon be on yer 'ees hor this 'un Gunny," Tali swallowed, licked a few crumbs from the corner of his mouth. "Got to show supply how ladylike you are, to deserve diamonds."
Tali was leaning over to grab another cookie when the new tacky walked in. He didn't interest Tali at first. Poor bastard must be in here all the time twiddling his thumbs and praying for drives full of reports to fall out of the sky. Someone needed to show him to get Jewel Swap up on the datapads. Then he could slack off like a proper higher up when there was no work in the foreseeable future.
The cookie never made it to his mouth, it didn't even make it to the edge of his datapad. Tali's arm froze, outstretched with a cookie clutched in his hand when tacky mentioned a job. Trying to make some work for himself now, was he?
"Easy tacky, takes time to write out a good report," He grinned, pulling the cookie over to prop it on the edge of his datapad. "What do ya need?"
-
Dart couldn’t help but just probe the room slightly with his mind, to feel out the atmosphere. He usually didn’t care less, but he needed something. Means to an end, as much as he loathed being psychic it came in handy from time to time. He honestly did not have a clue where he stood with some people. Tentatively, he eased out the feelings of the two men. He had expected a mild disgruntlement, but none was there. So he could relax, maybe. Though he did not appreciate the lack of urgency. He certainly did not appreciate the light treatment his requested reports were getting. His jaw tensed- he needed those reports to work damn it!
Settle. Settle. Because he wanted this to work. He exhaled heavily. Just one thing before he could move to business- “It’s Dart,” he stated. He wanted to sound assertive, though he felt that would ruin their good mood. He changed tack. Gentle, careful. But then they wouldn’t take him seriously. So the statement fell awkwardly, sounding like a sulk. He tried to clear the tone, wipe the slate, with a cough.
“I need a lift,” he continued, pretending nothing had happened. He took out the letter from Eselain and handed it to Tali stiffly. “I finished interrogating a techie from the Indefatigable. There was a lot of data missing from the systems, but she forgot to clear the registry. A flash drive was use prior to deletion and she informed me that data is now orbiting Celes. We- I believe that it holds details of liaisons with other pirates. We might get their locations; then you can go shoot some shit.”
Dart stubbed out his cigarette and instinctively reached for another. He stopped after counting only two replacing the box. “Is that-” OK with you? He refrained from completing the sentence. Because this wasn’t really a request- he had the lieutenants approval, there was no need to get so nervous. He regarded the both of them lounging with their data pads and the cookies on the table. Evidently he wasn’t interrupting. So there should be no qualms about leaving right away. “When can we leave?” he asked.
-
Vin shifted upright on the couch and paid attention to the tacky. There was a time to fuck around and a time to stop, and he'd probably had enough by now, anyway. Not that he wouldn't keep poking a little, trying to loosen him up around the edges. The guy was too nervous and fidgety, a classic example of ensign officer. But for now... Celes. He'd been disappointed not to make that mission, but from what he'd heard it had been an impromptu affair. Some ozzies out moonlighting had caught up to a lone vessel. Good luck for them, but of course they'd miss something like a drop.
Ozzies.
He craned to look at the piece of paper Dart had handed Tali, lips moving a little as he made out the orders. The Lt. sounded fairly casual about it all. It'd be a jaunt, and while they'd have a hypervigilant, wound-up tacky sitting on their shoulders... well, tacky was harmless, really. There were worse things to be than serious about your job. And the poor guy wasn't even self-confident enough even to maintain a steady level of 'annoying'. Hell, maybe he'd finally shut up about the paperwork.
"Sounds good," he said, standing and stretching, arms over his head. He felt the strain of muscles down his shoulders and back, and let go his hands' clasp. Funny how he only felt this antsy or claustrophobic when on Libra, though the 1903 enclosed him just the same. He landed on his heels, arms swinging.
"Right now works for me." He clapped the tacky on the shoulder and glanced over at Tali. You couldn't let the captains start to think they were in charge. Who exactly would be in charge of a zipcraft carrying a tacky, a cap'n, and a gunner? That was like an old joke, you didn't even have to ask. "Let's do it."
-
Oh the fun they would have if tacky couldn't get used to his new name. When he was in flight school he used to huff and puff like an Eddie Dragon on the edge of Earth's atmosphere about his call sign. It was too confusing! It required an explanation! It was just silly! He was one good whine away from being called Cap'n Drago or something equally horrible. That would be another day. Now it was time for business.
Tali took the note and read it while eating the other cookie, catching just enough of what tacky was saying to guess that it was more information from the note. A drop on Ceres with pirate information. The sooner they got out there, the better. If they were quick enough they could try to lay an ambush for any pirates that tried to get the drop early.
Apparently someone else was thinking along the same lines. Tali was surprised Vin didn't grab the both of them and start running down to the 1903 this moment. He looked over at Vin, a crease folding over the bridge of his nose above his sunglasses. Sure he wanted to go now, but he was supposed to make those decisions. He flew the ship. Tali took a deep breath in, breathed out, saved his report and began powering down the datapad. "Sure," short, still a little tense. "We have to get it before the bugs start swarming."
-
Dart had to step forward to preserve his balance when Vin clapped him on the shoulder, eliciting a dull thud. He straightened his uniform afterwards, feeling a little ruffled. He wasn’t sure if the gesture had been deprecating or genuinely friendly. Maybe this whole perception thing wouldn’t be so hard if he wasn’t bogged down with the usual cynicism that was required of his job. He switched his glance between the Gunner and the Captain, nodding curtly when Tali gave the go ahead. “Good. Shall we?” he said, gesturing to the door.
They made their way to the docks, Dart pondering the possibilities of this trip. It was by no means a completely safe mission- Dart hadn’t been on fighter craft for a long time, and he had only been caught in combat once before. He was trained; all the Libran military had basic combat training, but he knew he would be little use inside a small Zipper. It unnerved him, the images of his apparent incompetence. He didn’t want to appear that way. He was out of his depth there- never mind. He’d do his job. What he was assigned to do and just keep out of the way. And hope he wouldn’t get ripped because he was Combat Arms Support. It was a shame really, that this was his first real interaction with the Squad on a proper mission and it didn’t allow him a lot to prove himself as worthy. It left him a little deflated.
Dart didn’t offer much conversation, he was fretting, planning what could wrong and how he could rectify thing should they go wrong. Even though it wasn’t his place to do so. He enjoyed the feeling of control, and so being displaced as an observer was something uncomfortable. Not to mention he mostly worked solo. He slipped his hands into his pockets, moving briskly towards their destination.
They reached the docks and he found himself standing outside the ship, lost. He didn’t want to get in without knowing what he was doing, didn’t want to ask for help and he didn’t want to look like a complete tard just standing there. Instead, he shot quick glance between Tali and Vin, before resigning to keeping quiet and doing what they instructed.
-
Tali's irritation came through loud and clear, in his voice and in the way he stayed a little apart from him while they walked out to the docks. Vin brushed it off as typical cap'n shenanigans and didn't comment. They'd have to sort out the rank and file sooner or later. And damned if he'd stand back and wait for the order every time he wanted to breathe. Tali would recognize that and they'd get along, if he was the reasonable kind of person Vin hoped he was. Or he wouldn't, and they'd butt heads and probably split. Or stick it out. Or whatever. When they'd actually taken flight they did just fine.
Once they'd made it out to the 1903, Vin slid open the hatch and peered inside, running his quick mental checklist for the craft. He checked fuel and ballistic energy status first, and found it all primed as he'd left it this morning.
"What say, cap'n?" Vin said, leaning back out of the hatch. There, compromise, asking him about it. Old gunny tradition, rib them and butter them up until they thought they were giving the orders, ah, he hated to do it, but eh. Besides, where to put tacky wasn't exactly a hard question. The 1903 had only one option for a third spot. "I think we have a kiddie seat somewhere around here."
Short joke. It was just asking for a pot-meet-kettle, but he'd take it. Vin thought it only fair to make jokes that could be turned back on him.
Tacky, now, looked awfully chastened. He'd seemed like an arrogant little sod earlier, but that was the thing about arrogance, he guessed, it was fake. Vin tipped him a quick salute and clambered back inside to pull down the bucket seat. The observation station, as they catchily called it in training. It was meant for a senior officer supervising new TOPZ pairs or, well, whatever. Squashed between the captain and gunner and set back from both, it'd make things very cosy in the little craft. Like the other two seats, the observation station had its own hovering headset that would show anything visible from the craft's external vidloop, and the streaming data on systems, which was... everything. Everything you needed.
"Lookit." Vin clambered down from the seats and slapped the full powerup button. The ship lights flickered on, illuminating the inside of the craft.
-
Tali prowled, stiff with hands loosely clenched and his head tilted up a little bit to follow the ceiling. He didn't go through four years of college and another year of flight school to be someone's chauffeur. Right now wasn't so bad, because Tali would have agreed to go on the mission now anyway. Later though, they might get a mission where they didn't agree on something and neither of them needed to take charge and drag the other around. They would waste too much time when the other dug their heels in. Tali knew he would and he was pretty sure if he tried to drag Vin into something he didn't agree on that Vin wouldn't just hop along complacently.
The sour mood wasn't coming along with them in space. While Vin climbed in the 1903, Tali began taking deep breaths and rubbed his thumb into his palm. Mellowed. Once he calmed down Tali wondered if he'd ever be able to do a pre-flight check on a plane. He was trained for it, but never got the chance to do one. Wouldn't get the chance to do one outside of training unless it was an emergency. No matter how much time he trained, the gunners practically grew up around spaceships. He knew how to make them fly and they knew what kept in them in the ether without a problem.
Tali nodded when Vin asked about the ship, not bothering to mull over why he did. This was tacky's first impression of how they worked as a team, they didn't want to look dysfunctional. While Vin deployed the bucket seat, Tali did a quick uniform check. It was something to do with his hands. Something to keep from standing around idle.
When she was good to go, Tali pounded a hand on tacky's shoulder. "Just relax, breathe shallow and everything should fit just right. It'll be a little tight, but that's how Vin likes it."
Before climbing into his seat, Tali popped his knuckles, getting a good crackle out of his left and a courtesy pop from the right. He took off his sunglasses and set them in a compartment under his seat, pulling a thinner pair of dark lenses from it and settling them across his nose as he leaned into the retinal scanner and pressed his hand against the print scanner. A little flicker and the headset dropped, settling neatly over his eyes, the microphone clicking in place shortly after. Once that was done he began strapping himself down, looking back at Vin and tacky.
Since this was solo mission, there was no one for Tali to show up by pulling daring moves in the ether that his gunner could still take shots from. It would be a little less intense than a usual spin in the 1903, but no ride with Tali was good for the blood vessels.
-
He wondered if Tanaris setting him up with these two was some sort of joke. After all, Vin had shoved a gun in his face rather nonchalantly. Maybe this was meant to unnerve him. Would she take risks in a mission situation just to have a bit of fun? Probably not. But his partners, surely, would surprise him a little more than he’d be comfortable with. He watched Vin climb and crossed his arms in mock impatience- he just wanted to hide his hands that had been clenching and flexing in a slight anxiety
Tali’s hand thumping on his shoulder made him jump. He startled and gingerly plucked Tali’s hand off by one finger. “I’ll er- keep that in mind. Thanks …”
Dart followed Tali into the ship cautiously, taking his seat between the Captain and Gunner. He leaned over, pressing the tip of his finger to the scanner and then placed his eye to the retina reader. His headset dropped down and he spent of few moments adjusting it to exactly how he wanted it, making sure he could catch everything in his peripheral vision. Also spent quite a long time adjusting his straps. Then he crossed his arms once again- default position for when he was at a loss concerning what to do or say.
“Initialising …” A female voice came through the headset.
His stomach carefully wound itself into a tight knot. It always happened when he had to venture into space, where everything could go horribly wrong. The ship started to hum. Dart realised he probably should have nipped to the toilet before he climbed aboard. Amateur mistake.
“1903, clearance confirmed. Hatch opening, stand by.”
He took a moment to gauge his partners and perhaps draw some comfort from them. They seemed focus. That was good. He uncrossed his arms and flexed his restless fingers again. He’s be fine. Squad 77 had good fliers. He read the records. Everyone had. He shouldn’t be worried. Calm down. Everything would be fine.
Unless space pirates had already gotten there. Then there would be problems. Or the ship broke. That would be even worse. His suit didn’t work. That would be fatal-
“Ready for take off. Stay safe.”
He would be fine, right?
Sharply, the ship began to move. He was getting ominous feelings already. Dart watched through the headset as, slowly at first, the ship eased out of the docking station. But as soon as it was out then-
“Fuck! Do you have to do that?!”
-
Tali went through his usual series of exuberant aileron rolls. Space whirled by outside, a familiar blur of stars and planets. By now it was like getting out of bed, but still just a little annoying. So more like falling out of bed.
Vin hung tight, as always, finger on the trigger button. He jostled; Tali had taken over autograv controls this time and, either by design or because he was rusty, hadn't quite settled them into the usual smoothness. Technically, Vin could gank the autograv on an override, but it wasn't playing nice for a gunny to do that. Vin should probably play nice while the tacky was here. He should probably play nicer in general, with Tali, at least while they were on the ground. Out here he knew it would be okay if he ganked something, because it was just... it was TOPZ flying. They settled into the kind of camaraderie only TOPZ crews could understand. They were both part of something kind of amazing: the ship, the way it flew, no ego about it. Nothing but the black. The black and the blue if Tali did another roll without an autograv readjust.
Haha. Vin was so funny in his head sometimes. He loved being out of the station and in the real sky. The simulations were great, almost like the real thing, but that was exactly why it bothered him so much that they weren't the real thing.
The tacky looked a little sick, from what he could see in a glance, face pinched even more than usual. His curly hair was springing out from under the headset.
"Relax, tacky," he said, into his mouthpiece. His voice had shifted out of any teasing lilt and into something much more matter-of-fact, even calming. "We'll take good care of you."
He scanned the region around as they drifted off toward Celes. Nothing, nothing. Blip, just a tiny spreading series of concentric ripples dancing across the left side of his vision. A bogey ship. Could just be a cloaked private craft, but scanning through a cloak could be embarrassing and if it was private they'd have to send the ship an official communication. Cloaking was one of those things: anything above an F-class was technically illegal, but it could be so dangerous flying out of Libran space that they didn't begrudge most something stronger. Vin's personal policy was not to touch it, but he ought to pass it along this time. They were awfully close to the asteroid belt, and who hung out in one of those? Bug breeding grounds.
"I'm reading an E-cloak at thirty degrees, can we run a scan on that."
-
"Yes sir, it's in the T.O," Tali grinned, one last bit of fun before they went into the ether. Because there was no one else to hear him curse over the com link, he eased up on the autograv. Trying to see if he could keep from banging his head into the ceiling during the aileron rolls.
Almost. He felt a little contact, not a direct hit. The top of his headset brushed the ceiling, there was a little tap at most. He didn't hear it if there was, there were more important sounds to keep an ear out for. Testing the autograv was something that could only happen live. The sim's autograv was a little generous and there was no real ceiling to bang his head against if he wasn't sitting right.
Once they were headed toward Celes, Tali forgot about the autograv entirely. It plummeted down the scale of important things. Getting to Celes before the bugs. Making sure they weren't jumped by any bugs. Then the usual mission requirements, don't get shot, don't blow your fuel in the middle of nowhere. Basic little preventable things that could happen, but were only considered in the back corner of a person's mind.
Tali's eyes orbited around the instruments, to the various screens and out the front 'window' of the ship, the hologram projecting what was just in front of it. Watching and looking for any abnormalities as the ship glided along the thick blue line on its GPS, taking them to Celes. He was looking over at ninety degrees, lower left when Vin reported the cloak. Tali jerked his head over to confirm, his hands already tapping buttons that would warm up the scanner. "Want to stand by on com tacky? In case we're sniffing a friendly ship."
There was no reason for a third body to relay a message. Tali could take care of it if the ship was friendly. Though, if it were a bug, it would be best if his hands weren't groping around his mouthpiece. He could swing them into a good firing position and let Vin do his thing. None of that would be happening without the scan, Tali began the scan, slowly lowering their own cloak after it began. If he had hair on the back of his neck, it would be on end as their cloak lowered. They had to let the other ship see what was sniffing them, or else they might think they were bugs and, worst case scenario, defend itself. Bugs would do the same, if they didn't try to skitter off into the asteroids and hide.
There was nothing like a chase through the asteroids, but this time they might just need to let a few phasor blasts chase the bug. Cripple it and let it limp back home. The ship could be a distraction if there were other bugs looking for the drop.
"Data in five," Tali read, hitting the button to project the scan's findings across the other headsets.
-
The situation unfolded slowly and quietly, and Dart felt as if something imminent was about to happen despite the calmness of Tali and Vin. He felt as if he was the only one who was being eaten up by nervousness, consequently feeling ridiculous because of it. He nodded in response to Tali, taking up the responsibility. He started toying with the keys by his side, honing in on the frequency of the other ship’s communication channel. It was ready at the touch of a button.
He wasn’t relieved when the details from the scan were projected. He analysed the ship. Made of a number of different materials, suggesting that the owners had bolted it together with whatever they could find. The presence of Libran military grade aluminium and titanium were ominous, as well as weapons that look like they could be pinched from the military as well. The engine specs were highly customised and tuned for speed. More power than any normal merchant would need. And while merchants had use for weapons, they didn’t need that many. Most bugs turned away at displays of resistance. Or were they just being cautious? And were particularly stingy given the make up of the ship? Scan said the holds were full of scrap metal- salvaged goods. There was also plenty of ammunition in the magazines.
High probability they were bugs, but they were unable to do anything. They were exposed, having lowered their own cover. Dart felt a twitch above his left eyelid. They waited, but the craft didn’t seem to respond to their probe. Dart tried to breathe quietly.
Still nothing. He would have do something. They couldn’t leave the craft be- it was too suspicious. And they’d want to drive them off if they were looking for the drop too. They couldn’t shoot unless they were responding to aggression or defiance.
The inside of their zippercraft suddenly seemed far too hot. He shot a glance at both Tali and Vin to check they were ready. He received no protests. Dart shifted uncomfortably before pressing the button and switching his communications to the other unknown craft. I’m effectively giving them an invitation to shoot at us. Bloody hell …
“This is a Libran military craft. Please state nature and purpose of voyage,” he said clearly and slowly. He felt awful as he did so. We’re going to get shot. Still nothing. Silence. He wasn’t sure what would feel worse. Engaging in combat or waiting … But this silence was unnerving. It suggested defiance, a little affair while they were gathering the courage to attack. They’d need more force. “Shut down and wait to be boarded. Noncompliance will provoke retaliation.”
Dart could feel himself shaking. Now they needed to wait.
-
Vin and Tali exchanged glances that said let the tacky do the talking. He was new out, he'd want to, he knew the protocols. Vin attended to the results of the scan, which would tell them more than anything the ship would give them over the coms. He leaned forward a little, frowning slightly beneath his headset. Yeah, that was a bug, all right. Anyone who'd been out more than a couple of times could see it. They were lucky it hadn't used a scan jammer. Vin calculated possible phasor angles, getting ready. His finger flexed over the 'fire' button.
He could hear the sound of the tacky's loud breathing over the coms; he hadn't turned off their connection.
Run or play, run or play? In a few seconds more, if the craft now hovering in the asteroid field didn't communicate, they'd be able to shoot to disable. The paperwork would be monumental if it was a mistake, but Vin knew it wasn't. About the last thing he was thinking about right now was paperwork, anyway. He felt the familiar cold fizz of adrenaline humming through his body, knocking his senses alert. His vision spread out through the array of guns like tentacles. Effortless effort.
The familiar white of the bug's phasor made just a split-second flash.
Tali had already set them spinning away. Good man. They were in sync now, slipped easily into wordless communication.
"Shoe to Base, we have a bug." Vin focused, even as he spoke, and squeezed off two shoots, one to the phasor tower, one to their boosters to prevent escape--ssshew, sshew--SHIT.
Impact. The 1903 shuddered, jostling Vin a little in his seat, and he caught the flashing signal, over the headset, that said 'thruster down'. They still flipped end over end, but they were listing, broken-winged. "Left thrust down." More for Dart's benefit than anything, the calm tone particularly. They drifted into the asteroid field, little rock fragments bouncing lazily off their shields.
-
Not bad, for a bug. It was just their luck, going up against a hornet while they had the tacky onboard. That drop must have been important, or they were in the wrong place at the right time.
As they drifted Tali pounded the autograv up to normal levels. With the thruster out, the ship's movements wouldn't be so smooth and he'd need to spin it around to give them momentum to climb. Tali rested his hands lightly on the controls, moving them just enough to make the ship wobble a little.
The other ship slunk around the edge of an asteroid. A rock asteroid, so Tali could still make out the ship on the metal scanner. She cowered, crippled by Vin's shots, and Tali counted the seconds, hands tightening around the controls.
Thousand-One... Tali tapped up their shields.
Thousand-Two... Still tapping.
Thousand-Three... No reaction from the bug.
Thousand-Four... Would it count as a miss if Vin took a shot at the asteroid?
Thousand-Five... Maybe, it wasn't the bug.
Thousand-Six... And tacky wasn't a witness.
Thousand-Seven... Still nothing.
The asteroid was their shield then. Tali squinted at the smudge of colour on the metal scanner. It looked like the ship was facing right. The direction they would come in on, if he was to take the easy route, the quickest route. The bug was either confident they were going to swing around the right to face them, or they had a metal scanner too. With two good wings they could whip around to face them while the 1903 was limping toward them.
Tali banked left and gave all he could with the right thruster, pushing them up and over the asteroid. The ship all but dangled from the right wing as they coasted over it, the bug spinning to turn what was left of her tower above her. Tali tilted the 1903 as it passed the asteroid, gave Vin an angle to pop the tower again.
Bye-bye tower. That would take care of their bigger guns. There were a couple jolts as the smaller phasors fired at them. Little hits, but not good for that broken thruster. The bug was moving again, limping along to some other hiding spot.
Tali moved the ship so the bug stayed in Vin's sights and checked the damage reports. He clicked his teeth. "Good news and bad news..." he said over the the ship's com. "The thruster's pretty bad. If I keep flying on it, I'll short out the entire ship. The good news is that I didn't have any beans recently, so the air shouldn't get too contaminated while we wait for help."
If it was savvy enough the bug would have an ear on the official channels to pick up whatever static it could. Let it crawl a little bit before they relayed their status back to base and turned on their distress beacon.
-
Spinning. Always spinning. Blue illuminated the inside of his headset. Everything was moving too quickly. He just wanted everything to slow down. He couldn’t keep up, easily disorientated by the movement of the ship. His fear was momentarily overcome by irritation, that everything was seemingly going wrong. But then the left thruster went down. Things did slow down. Then Dart was able to realise his thought, most of them along the lines of doom and gloom. He was scared, but he didn’t feel it was legitimate beside Tali and Vin, who didn't seem the least bit bothered about that fact they were crippled. Easier to kill of. Seemed like quite a big thing-
No, no, everything would be fine. Tali and Vin would pull it off- Fuck! The ship jolted from other shots. He closed his eyes, unable to bear watching the proceedings anymore. He opened them soon afterwards, as it just seemed to confirm how little power he had in the situation.
He didn’t like the actions without justification. He was so obviously intruding on a TOPZ pair- they didn’t necessarily need to communicate verbally. So he would have to remind them that words would be for his benefit. “Someone want to let me know what the hell is going on?!” he appealed.
Things slowed once again, thus there was little need to tell him much. Dart tried to regulate his breathing. They were too shallow and harsh- he didn’t want to provoke a panic attack. He was finally given enough time to react to everything that just happened. And Tali.
“Some fucking consolation that is!” Dart yelled over the com. It was just meant to be a pick up. He hated bugs. “Fucking bugs,” he repeated his sentiments out loud. Even worse was the marker on them metal scanner. “Oh fucking hell they’re still here. And we can’t fucking move-“
“Roger Shoe,” Tanaris’s voice interjected over the ship’s com. Dart stopped his rant momentarily. “Mummy here. Status?”
He resisted the urge to answer himself. Romeo triple delta. Really deep doo doo. Fucking hell- He moved his headset to accommodate his He decided he didn’t like lulls in action. He hid his agitation as best he could. He had better get the drop, or else this whole thing would be worthless. They didn’t even know if the bug had already got the drop or if they had just chased it away from it-
The colour on the metal scanner moved. What now?
-
They'd stalled and settled, thruster sputtering, behind a cluster of asteroids. Well, behind relative to the bug, which Vin could see only out of the corner of his eye, and as a little bleep on the metal scanner. It had shot out two of his side guns, which always made him feel as though he had sustained some minor injury. Like he'd lost a pinky and kept going to use it. It pissed him off, and it made him protective of his ship and his guns. The little blinking lights that said damage taunted him.
When Ese crackled in over the com link, he cleared his throat and kept his eyes peeled, as usual, looking all around, past the gray lumpy shapes of the asteroids, out to the thin glimmer of metal highlighted in his view, They'd destingified the bug, and it was out of range; no immediate danger, whatever the tacky might think. He'd more or less tuned out Dart's frantic patter.
"Roger Mummy. We got a bug our wipers can't reach and our left thrust is bent. We're playing hide-'n'-seek out here."
Movement. The metal shifted, highlighted in red, and Vin trained one of his undamaged phasers on the craft. "Tally, Tali." He spoke quickly and didn't let his voice slip out of monotone.
The ship moved, a streak from one asteroid to another. He tracked the flash of metal and squeezed off another shot, fingers still relaxed on his joystick. The phasor arced off, rocking them back a little without the thruster to compensate, and hit one of the pirates' thrusts. It returned fire. Fucking ouch. The ship rattled, though they only took the hit to their still-intact right-side shields. Still intact? Oh. Actually. No. Awesome.
"Shield is bent, Hotel Alpha, time for some help out here. Over." Pause, over the internal com. "Ha, I think we scared 'em playing peek-a-boo." No more shots from the bug. Vin stayed upright in his seat, back stiff, very aware of his body and all of the ship's systems. He could feel the damage in the sweat between his fingers, in the tickle running down his back. "Yeah. They can't get us and we can't get them. This is the boring part where Tali and me get to feel bad for puttin' on such a bad show for our tacky." Vin didn't actually let himself mull over everything he could've done different. That always waited until he'd gotten back to base, and then it could really eat at him; out here, he didn't think about what he could have done, just what he ought to do now. Joking about it helped remind him of that. "Mostly him o' course."
Tali had more in reserve than the bugs knew about, and that was just swell. Still. For the moment, they were blind. Couldn't see metal, and, he thought, reading the scans running down the left side of his headset, the bugs couldn't see them. So they had to wait. He sighed into his microphone and felt it crackle back at him. Blind. Waiting. Space yawned around them, motionless save for the slow balletic collisions of asteroids they'd disturbed. They pinged out little momentum transfers and spun away.
-
"Ah, I don't know how I'll ever live this one down," Tali leaned back in his chair, pressed the back of his head to his forehead. "Does this mean I need to start growing my hair out?
The asteroids bouncing off each other reminded Tali of the old browser game Asteroid Pop. Maybe hard mode, with a hack that turned the brightly coloured asteroids into normal greys, browns and rusts. The big one spiraling away from them now would be a good Starter. Angle it the right way and they could pop all the asteroids between them and the bug.
And stare at it. They were both out of range.
There wasn't much they could do but wait until they go backup. With any luck the bug was roaming away from any buddies. Just had to keep an eye on the black and keep cool while they waited. Tali patted the 1903's console. The ship was going to be in repair for a while, which meant there would be plenty of sims in Vin and his immediate future. More practice. At least Tali was confident that they could have suffered worse damage. There was more to being a good captain than coming back from every mission unscathed. Many times, the best angle for the gunner was the best angle for whatever bugs or eddies they were shooting at.
A good gunner didn't miss a shot. A good captain brought them both home at the end of the mission.
That was more than enough reassuring himself. There were better things he could do to occupy himself while he watched what was left of their instruments and scanned the ether for any sign of the bug making a strike, or a swarm coming down on them. No need to think so much with two other people on the ship.
"Anyone got a story to..." Tali cocked his head. "Tally eleven o'clock." The bug was half behind an asteroid ahead of them, peeking out at them. At least it confirmed the bug's systems were bent. Or maybe it was trying to lure them forward. Tali didn't touch the controls.
"Guess he's up for a few more rounds," Tali laughed. "Stubborn little fucker."
-
How could they think this was funny? Dart sat indignantly between their joking, partially resenting them and partially envying them. He’d have no part in this- he was sure there was something useful he could do in the meantime. He might just snap if he didn't find something soon.
“Copy Shoe. Wilco .You, Chick and Figjam hang tight,” Tanaris responded. Even she seemed to have a cool voice, though he supposed it’d be easier for her not actually being here. Dart followed the space pirate as tally was called again. His eyebrows furrowed. Why bother hanging around when they were so disabled? 1903 had more firepower presently. Something wasn’t quite right. They had some motivation for staying here. That implied planned objectives. Could he therefore assume that they were here for the drop and that their lingering was because they were waiting for it? How important was it?
Dart reached for his controls and began tapping. It was slow work, tapping into the pirate’s internal com. He hadn’t practised signals intelligence for a while; he rarely needed it. There were a few blocks in place that slowed him further, but it wasn’t above the usual. It was all fairly standard procedure, close to the examples they were given in training. After a few minutes of work, faint voices crackled over his headset. He then linked it up so they’d all hear it.
“Three working small phasors. That’s shit man.”
“Reckon we should call?”
“He’ll be pissed if we do.”
“Even more pissed if we don’t get that drop.”
Pause.
“Oi! This is Wyrm to Icarus. Can we get some backup? The authorities are here.”
Crackle.
“Twenty minutes!?”
That’s all he needed to hear and that alone put him in a renewed state of panic. The Icarus was a well armed pirate cruiser. So there was some sort of relation between the Wyrm and the larger ship. Was there a syndicate forming without them knowing? A new pirate fleet? However, more importantly, a fresh ship was coming to meet them. And they’d be annihilated if their own backup didn’t turn up soon.
“Fuck. We’re going to be screwed in twenty minutes. Fuck,” he muttered into the headset. Surely he couldn’t be the only one panicking at this stage. And with panic came a new restlessness.
“Chick to Mummy. How long?”
“Hard to say.”
Not good. “L-less than twenty minutes?”
“I think we’ll be hard pressed.”
“C-copy,” Dart ended his communications. Then over the internal com- “We’re going to die. Oh gods, this is actually it.”
-
Vin listened carefully to the pirates' communication, brow furrowed. It impressed him a little that the tacky had stepped up and taken some initiative. Not that he'd really expected the 77s would get an incompetent tacky, but this one had been awfully nervy so far. Nice to know he didn't really suck.
Okay, he was still definitely high-strung. Vin would take him down with the power of banter.
"How many times have we definitely almost died, Tali?" Vin said, with all due nonchalance. "That said." He clicked into base com and cleared his throat. "Mummy, tacky forgot to tell you we're gonna get swarmed in about twenty. So put in a call to any friendlies around, 'specially if they have wipers or shields, 'kay?"
"Copy Shoe, I'll see what I can do."
"Thanks. We'll be standing by." Click off.
Vin shot a glance at Tali, eyebrows raised, and then focused on the readout racing over his headset. He checked systems and his guns, and found most of those in working order, their main crystal still fully configured.
Vin wasn't the best at this, the planning thing, and he knew that. He had at his disposal a narrow array of possible options, but he focused on them because he knew them well. If they got the right angle, they could hide behind the asteroids and let what remained of their shields take a few hits and maybe knock out both ships. They'd faced worse odds before. Maybe not with a broke thruster, but they'd managed. Tali flew like a drunk flamingo already, and Vin knew however he teased him about that it meant he had some skill to spare. And that he might be able to handle the 1903 decently even without the thruster.
He kept running over the split-second scenarios in his head, finger twitching over the trigger button. It wasn't a matter of strategy for him, anyway, it was all about the reaction, the gut, and he stayed ready by staying relaxed.
"... seriously, it's like what, fifty" neglecting to mention it was mostly in training "and I just can't get ridda this guy, the shiny head deflects phasor fire or somethin'."
-
That wasn't good. Some lizard survival instinct wanted to grab hold of the controls again and barrel them helter-skelter through the asteroids. Put as many miles of black and metal asteroids as they could between them and the incoming Icarus. In theory it had it's merits. In practice, he might end up losing control and flattening them against an asteroid too large for them to get around in time. Death by monstrous bug after a prolonged space battle was a much better death for a TOPZ crew and certainly beat death by collapsing mountains of paperwork, over-caffeination, old age or whatever it was that tacky's were supposed to die from.
"Fifty sounds about right," Tali leaned back, tapped a hand against his knee to keep it from drumming the controls. "We've even got a whole wing this time." The other hand hovered over to a timer nestled among the other instruments, entered 00:19:00 and started the count down. No need to panic, wondering when Icarus was going to come around.
It was a shame there weren't any big asteroids passing between them and the bug. With a big enough asteroid as a shield he could start frogging between them. Make the little bug lose track of their position so the big bug would need a few seconds to aim its scanners in the right spot. If they could see the Icarus before she saw them, a few well placed shots might turn her from a monster made of pure BOHIC (who wouldn't need the A if she had her way) to a big, blind target.
There were no asteroids big enough to hide them rolling their way. Shooting one would draw too much attention to the asteroid.
All they could do was stare at the bug, like a couple characters in a cartoon. Giving each other a good old glare while their hands hovered over their weapons, fingers wriggling.
Tali began tapping a different tone out on his knee, shifting a little in his seat. "Next time we go on a mission I'm bringing a cigar," actually, wouldn't that strain the air filters a bit? Oh well, if they were going to die anyway they didn't need to worry about losing oxygen. "It'd be a damn shame to die without a last smoke."
-
Vin...
Aryte bit her lip,
And Tally...
She swallowed.
And oh yeah, the new Tacky.
Aryte was the first one to respond to the calling by the Lt. Her and one Gunner, Aryte knew Melinda briefly but she wasn't from the 77s but Aryte had been through a couple classes with her. She was an acceptable Gunner, but not anything like flying with Will would be. However it was a matter of time not so much skill. At least that's what she was telling herself for the meantime.
Damn Bugs.
Aryte was breathing unevenly as she was running to the Docks with Melinda at her side. It would be weird flying with a lady, she hadn't ever done that. It would be different hopefully she liked video games or else she might not be able to understand Aryte. That's generally how she knew she could function with partners if they understood video game logic.
She sighed at she laid her hand on Mitty for a moment and felt some of her unease disappear. There was just something about the big black waiting for you and wanting. She cracked her knuckles and went about putting on her suit and crawling in Mitty. Eye scan and critical checks later both of them were strapped in.
"Mummy. Heading out now. Running sys check and rolling to take off."
Mitty started rolling forward as she and the Gunner were clicking buttons preparing for take off. Nothing set her off about Melinda yet. She seemed like she was doing pretty well. Not compared to Will of course. There was so no one better. The thrusters fires and Mitty took off into the air. Hopefully others would follow soon. They might need more than her.
One bug, more often than not meant several more.
-
Dart calmed down only when he convinced himself that by ignoring Tali and Vin he would be taking a superior frame of mind. If he was going to die then he should detach himself from material things and a bloody get used to it- oh no. That made things worse. That was a horrific thought. Nothingness. No senses. Nothing. No identity. No self-
His breathing was shallow again. He checked himself. Took deep even breaths. Nope. He was better that this. Why couldn’t he be like Vin and Tali? He hated fear. It was so crippling. How he would like to be unaffected, not be betrayed by his body and mind. He should be able to do something productive right now. He wasn’t going to try and ignore his morbid thoughts. His demise was inevitable right now, therefore such thoughts were unavoidable.
Maybe he should think up his epitaph. Something poignant and deep and memorable. He looked at the numbers steadily counting down from when Tali set the timer. Eighteen minutes and forty-two seconds. Poetry should occur to him in that time.
“No response yet. Dispatched help from base. Wings is on her way.,” Tanaris’s voice reappeared in their headsets. She sounded more frantic then she had. A warble in her voice, like she was pretending everything was fine. But it really wasn’t. “I’ll keep trying.” She wasn’t even using terminology to mask her intentions from eavesdroppers. It was all very open. “Take care of yourselves. Please. Hang on. Don’t you dare do anything heroic.”
No help yet. Really was doomed. Oh no. Hush. He should think about his epitaph. Nothing funny. He couldn’t pull it off. Even if he could, when living memory of him passed, people who looked at the message would thing he was a douche. Something sad and solemn. Something that would be remembered. He didn’t want to be forgotten. He would loathe that- to work so hard for so long only to find that all his attainments were victims of time just as he was.
Wisdom comes with winters. He liked that. It made sense. It sounded nice. It even had freaking alliteration. That was good. Something nice to be remembered by-
Except who was going to hear it to write it down somewhere?
The thought was too much. He fell into a pit of despair. He was going to be forgotten. No one was going to remember him at all. It wasn’t even a blaze of fire- they were crippled. They were easy shots. It was nothing glorious. He hadn’t even completed his objective in the process of dying. It was all so pointless it was-
He let out a mangled groan that sounded like it had the potential to be a cry of anguish. His eyes unfortunately crossed the digits on the timer. He’d lost a precious three minutes. Fifteen.
-
Vin had kept his hand clenched around his joystick while the first five of the twenty minutes clicked their way down. He let go when he heard the tacky's anguished exhalation and glanced at the display Tali had lit up. The sound reminded him of Beri, again, maybe just because he and their tacky had the same hair, maybe because he felt bad for the guy with them. He didn't seem to have grasped that death was a risk every time they went out on mission.
Of course, Vin tried not to grasp that too often himself.
15:01
14:59
Tali would do that shit, counting down, marking time, making things orderly, typical captain. They never thought outside the box. At the moment he loved Tali for his steadiness, without which Vin wouldn't have been able to keep his own, and hated him for his calm. Vin himself had been infused with the tingling burst of energy he always got in crisis situations, and the need to do something. He wasn't gonna let one bug get them.
"'Kay, screw this," Vin said under his breath, shaking free of his headset. "Hey, tacky."
The kid was still vibrating faintly, lip trembling, breathing hard, staring at nothing. Vin could tell even in the blue starlit gloom of the 1903's interior that his pupils had dilated. He whacked him on the shoulder.
"Hey. Tacky. Did they teach you to shoot in tacky school? Yeah?"
Dart turned to stare at him blankly, and Vin pounded him on the shoulder again. "They teach you to--"
"Yeah," said Dart. He still looked dazed and despondent. It helped Vin to feel like he had to take care of someone else, it kept him from panicking.
"Good man." Vin pressed the button that sent his buckles sliding back into the seat, and clicked on his helmet. It shut, and up snapped the data display, areas of damage marked clearly in blinking orange. He pushed the button that gave control of the guns to Dart. "Congrats, you're promoted to gunny. I'm gonna go try to fix the thruster." He shot a glance at Tali and gave him a silent, quick salute.
He realized his own breath had been speeding up and slowed it consciously; it sounded louder inside the helmet. He edged into the airlock and let the inner door shut. Three, two, one. The outer door opened and he was outside, attached to the ship by cable, hanging onto the side with one hand. He knew the 1903 inside and out, he could fix it... he had to believe he could. With a grunt, he swung himself into the side of the ship and grabbed for holds.
He now clung to the outside of their zipship, feet in the braces and hands anchored on the handles set in along the side. His body moved weightlessly. Sidestep. Sidestep. He stopped beside the broken thruster and stared back toward the front of the ship. He couldn't see past the asteroid. He scanned the area, searching for metal, trying to make sure the pirates couldn't see him. They hadn't shot him yet, so he supposed--the headset hadn't picked up metal--that they couldn't. Thank God. His breath came slow, fast, and then slow again inside his helmet. The skin of the tail had been busted open. He ran a gloved hand over exposed wire.
"I can get this, Figjam," he said into his microphone. "Crank the thruster to three o'clock so I can hook this thing up."
I can get this.
He tried not to think about the stupid numbers blipping their way down to 00:00.
-
The tacky seemed to sure they were going to die that it started to affect Tali. Just a little bit, motivating the rational corner that fretted and doubted and knew when something crossed the line between rationality and madness. The one he tried to ignore when they heard about 'ol Icky. This wasn't the first time he started having flashes of damning common sense. He made it through all of those times.
He'd make it through this too.
Just had to keep his head on his shoulders. Panicking might heighten his senses, but he'd be jerky and might waste time responding to things that weren't important. Back up was on its way. They still had a chance to get a few shots at the Icarus if it didn't creep up behind them.
Tali tapped his thigh, trying not base the rhythm around the seconds on the countdown. No need to fray tacky's nerves even more than they were. He had to do something with that hand while he was watching the scanners, and the black itself.
Then Vin. Tali stopped drumming, head tilted around to catch what he was saying.
That's right, a gunny would know their way around a ship from their days as an ensign. Sometimes it was hard to think of gunnys being similar to the countless ensigns that swarmed the docking stations and battleships. They were elite, yes, but there was one point in their career that they hauled bolts, turned wrenches and other little ensign tasks.
Tali returned the salute, a quick, crisp snap of his wrist, and nodded. The good thinking nod, he liked to think he was old enough to know better than to presume to order gunnys to do what they already planned on doing.
"Hey Dart, hang in there. I won't swing us around too wildly while Vin's out there, but if Icky gets to us before he's done I'll do what I can to get her in your sites."
Now that Vin was outside, Tali had a hard time tearing his eyes away from the timer. There were a lot of asteroids, Icarus might lose some time working around them. That should give Vin a little wiggle room and keep tacky's eyes peeled for Icarus. As long as he didn't freak out and fill the air with little markers pointing out where they were...
"Copy Shoe, wilco," Tali went easy on the thruster, moved it a little smoother than the sudden wrenching it was used to. It wouldn't have been possible to bat Vin aside with the thruster, he knew well enough to stay out of its range when it was moving. Was well out of the way when Tali dared to glance back at him when his eyes swept over that camera feed. It was because the thruster was bent, he needed to be nice.
The cameras were a lot more enticing than the timer now. Tali lingered over them when he wasn't checking the instruments and tried to focus on the black beyond Vin instead of eyeballing the gunny at work on the thruster. The danger wasn't that he would screw up the thruster, it was him being out of the ship, an attractive target to any hot shot bugs on the smaller craft or Icarus, once she dragged herself over.
The timer started tempting him again though. Despite his best efforts to watch the cameras and the instruments. Less than ten minutes. Tap-tap-tap-tap. Tali grunted and put his hands back on the controls, tightened his fingers around them and stared down the button to open the interior airlock.
-
"Hotel Alpha," She paused swallowing for a second, "...wilco."
Aryte was pushing Mitty faster than she had in quite a long time. She could almost imagine the ships muscles stretching to move faster. The seat underneath her had a smooth easy vibration going through it. Almost indetectable to someone who might have been new in the craft. Aryte knew it meant she was working harder. A sudden movement to the side of her made her eyes drift slightly to her right. The Gunner was starting to look a little green around the gills.
"You better knock that pucker factor down a little Red," Aryte knocked some reserve power back to the thrusters and pushed the controls forward hard doing a couple dips to avoid some space trash. "...it's gonna get worse before it gets better." Aryte's fingers gripped harder onto the controls letting fear seep in just slightly, it pushed the adrenaline faster making everything become clearer. Mitty jumped forward quickly.
Her boys would not be drifting out there for long. She wouldn't allow it. Not in a million years, and definitely not now. She pushed the craft harder imagining how they would just be sitting, a Bug across from them. Fear, they'd be making jokes though of course that was the way they worked. The way they all did. She grinned feeling more of a vibration in the craft as she pushed it harder.
I'm coming boys.
-
What? Guns? Him? But he didn’t protest when the controls were given to him. He stared at them for a while. He might as well- it wasn’t like things could get any worse. At least when the Icarus turned up he’d be able to focus his negativity in on something. And this was a little more of a glorious way to die. At the guns. Although Vin had it best. Valiantly trying to restore the ship’s mobility. Risking his life. Show off. Or maybe he should have a little more faith. Both Tali and Vin were so damn calm and that confidence must have an anchor in something real. Maybe Vin could do it. Maybe he wouldn’t die. Maybe he shouldn’t get his hopes up. Just take one moment at a time. Don’t see the big picture. Leave that to the other. If he viewed all the possible branches, the morbid ones would bring on his anxiety even worse. He nodded once in response to Tali’s reassurance, but they didn’t dive very far into his conscious.
Vin could get it. Vin might get it. Don’t get your hopes up Dart. Having hope was worse. He’d prefer knowing he was definitely going to die. This was all the more agonising now. Being tempted by life, and now he didn’t want to die even more. He couldn’t prepare for it adequately. And the damn clock. Seconds were falling faster than they were meant to, his was sure of it. Time wasn’t meant to slip away so quickly when he was watching.
Try concentrating on the present. Yes the Icarus was coming. But it wasn’t here yet. Leave worry until it was. Yes, Vin was stuck outside, but he was still alive. Mortal peril should the ship arrive but- no no, that was the future. Not here yet. Not definite. He didn’t like thinking like this. It sounded ridiculous- like it wasn’t him, instead he had been hijacked by an obnoxious optimist.
He refrained from getting too aggravated. He was at the guns now. Out of curiosity, he let his psychic sense branch out a little. How was Tali feeling? It wasn’t apparent. Or maybe Dart was just too distracted to concentrate on feelings other than his own tumultuous ones.
“Mummy here. Status,” Tanaris asked again, checking in on them.
“Thruster’s still bent. Shoe attempting repairs.”
A long, disapproving silence from her end. “Oh gods,” she murmured afterwards. “He had better be careful. Please be careful. Wing’s not far. Distress call is still out. You might get something yet.”
And she receded once again. Dart’s eyes moved over the counter again. The numbers had morphed while he had been looking away. Seven minutes.
-
Vin, at work on the thruster, only half-heard Ese's disapproval. He dismissed it immediately. How much more danger was he in out here than he would be waiting in the 1903? Less, if he fixed the thruster. It made sense to be out here. He realized he had taken his tongue between his teeth and had been chewing at it in tandem with his fiddling inside the thruster. He worked largely off of physical memory. How many times had he fixed thrusters? Never one this bent, but he knew what connected where. Mostly. What he couldn't precisely recall he searched on his headset.
Oh, shit.
He tugged free the charred remains of the main capacitor. That was the problem. He couldn't fix that, but... he squinted at it carefully. Not completely gone. He used one of his blasters to fuse wire and metal, tamping the thing into place, and refused to think of the time. It bobbed into his head anyway, like an irritating subtitle, and made his chest constrict in annoyed denial.
05:49
05:48
"Tali, shunt half power away from this thruster."
Vin hesitated over the last wire he was soldering into place. If he did this wrong, he could fry the whole circuit, a bad idea. He had done thruster repair before and there was some way to rig it if you didn't have full power... he envisioned it as pouring water, the way he had to envision electricity, because he didn't fully understand the nitty-gritty of how it worked. Half power. They wouldn't be able to go nearly as fast as they ought to. Still. Half was better than nothing. Vin could do these kinds of calculations. The common sense kinds.
He turned the melting heat of his blaster on the join and breathed out when the blaring orange he saw on his headset schematic blinked to a more complacent yellow. Still bent. But less bent. At this point he didn't know if it would work or not, he wouldn't until Tali tested it. He didn't bother closing up the skin. They couldn't afford the seconds. Damn, Vin wished he had thought to go out and fix this earlier. A few minutes had started to seem precious.
"Test her." He tried not to sound too frantic, because panic only wasted time. He kicked his feet free of the braces they'd been wedged into and pulled his weightless body away from the thruster, along the side of the ship. Tali couldn't test the thrust until he had gotten free.
04:22
04:21
Vin clung to the 1903 with both hands. He felt hot inside his suit, but he could feel the press of space's empty cold around him. The 1903 looked dirty with soot, beat up, dented. "Don't lecture me, Mummy," he said, to kill the edge of his anxiety. He could see Aryte on his link to the scanners now... he could see the Icarus, too.
It was closer.
"Mummy here," he heard Ese tell Aryte, all communication on their channel, "Status?"
"Better have your wipers out," Vin said. He felt close to relief. And close to something more hysterical. If the thruster didn't work now, and he had to fiddle further, he wouldn't be able to get back inside the craft in time.
-
Tali hesitated when Vin told him to test the thruster. Vin knew better than to stick around with his down the thruster while it was firing, that wasn't holding him back. It was that cheery yellow blip on the bent thruster. It may have been fixed solid or it could be hanging on by a hair. Either way, it was bent and needed to be treated gently.
Gently wasn't a word most people used to describe Tali's flying.
They'd need everything they could get from the thruster once Icarus was more than a little blip on their scanner. If Wing wasn't that far off, they wouldn't need any serious power from the thruster. They could flip and roll around to keep from being zapped by Icarus... and crash into an asteroid in the process.
Stupid asteroids. Stupid thruster. Stupid Vin staying outside where he could be dinged by asteroid bits if he told Dart to open fire on the asteroids instead of accepting the progress he made and coming in.
Stupid. Bug. Tali couldn't blame the asteroids on it without getting surreal, but everything else happened in some part because of the bug.
He really should test that thruster. To know what he was working with once Icarus was on them. Tali tightened his hands around the controls, gritted his teeth and glared at the screen that showed Vin the most.
"Shoe," it was hard to talk legibly when his teeth were practically grinding themselves down. Stop. Breathe in. Breathe out. Go. "Get your ass in here. It's showtime."
-
As Vin stayed outside, the probability of death occurring was decreasing. Down from certain to most likely. Dart supposed the Furies fancied those odds. He made the move from fatalism to grim determination. He’d probably die. But he might not. So do the best he can in order to try and not die. He had the guns. He needed to focus. He had the guns.
… oh shit. He had the guns.
He could shoot. Just not when he was moving. He’d forgotten that detail. It was OK, just shoot, just try. He might hit the target for all her knew. He might also hit an asteroid. If he hit an asteroid, he’d probably kill Vin. But no big- Ah! He could kill someone.
3:45
“Get the fuck in here! I can’t do your job for you,” he added. He could feel the pulse of irritation around the craft now, amplified uncomfortably by his senses. It was coming from Tali. It in turn aggravated him. Things were closing in. Everything was critical. He did not want to be trusted with something he would most probably fail at during a critical moment. He’d look awful. He wanted to do something good. Be good at something here.
But he couldn’t hack or do anything until the Icarus was in sight.
His brain caught up. His lagging memory recalled a hit that went unanswered-. “And what the hell do you mean I got promoted. Smartarse little-”
“Hey! Keep it together in there!” Ese yelled.
3:29
-
Red, the gunner, was still silent, scared of how Aryte was driving.
"You know Wings maybe you should slow..." Aryte only growled in response. She could see the Gunner looking green around the gills and really hoped that Red wasn't going to puke it Mitty. That would be inexcusable...just inexcusable. She couldn't help but smile just a smidge. She prided herself on making Librans sick with her driving. Blowyer was just to used to it. Of course the added bonus of adrenaline pumping through her veins made her slightly giddy.
She was silent as well listening to the chatter over hte radio. Vin going out on the side of their ship. Her teeth bit into her lip.
Oh god why, why would he, of all the basic...
That fear reared its head again smirking at her. She was going to give Vin a giant hug when she knew he was going to be alright, then maybe smack him for making her worry so much.
"Shoe, I've always got my wipers." She tried to maintain the speed on the ship running diagnostics and everything else to make sure she could stay topped out and be alright. Mitty was a heck of a ship, but sometimes even pieces of art could be pushed too hard. Everything returned alright. Worry still clouded her, then she let out a snort hearing the tacky yelling at Vin. Of course, who else could piss off a Tacky like that. The gunner next to her actually let one corner of her mouth twist up into a half smile.
"You better be nice to the Tacky shoe, otherwise he might get you with your own gun. Pew, Pew." Laughing in the face of death, joking was her favorite way to cope, though wasn't it always for military personnel?
-
Vin went instinctively to muffle laughter against his shirt-collar and only succeeded in fogging his helmet with a helpless spray of moisture. They didn't have time to joke around right now, so he didn't say anything to Dart or Aryte, just kept edging sideways, getting clear of the thruster so Tali could try it. He was clear enough already to be safe, but Tali hesitated for some reason. Why? Because he thought Vin didn't have time to do anything else. Well--
2:57
blipped by on his headset, then readjusted itself with its new scan of the incoming Icarus's location.
3:05
He breathed out. Okay. Better. But Tali needed to see if the thrust was working, Vin knew he had time, he'd started the job and he had to take care of it. Damn fool officers.
"Test it," he barked into his headset. He could fix the thing, he just needed to know if it was working. And the monitors on the thruster had gone sketchy along with the rest of the apparatus. A scan wouldn't be able to tell them how it worked with any great reliability. Shit shit shit.
They'd all been so fixated on the approaching Icarus, and the thruster, that they hadn't noticed the crippled Wyrm edging its way out from behind the asteroid. Vin, hanging on to the side of the 1903 and squinting into his headset, caught the flash of metal and the much, much less happy flash of a phasor blast.
It didn't hit the 1903--it hit an asteroid nearby. Vin watched as it broke into pieces with that strange slowness with which things seemed to move in space. Chunks of rock, twisted and melted from the heat and impact, shot off in all directions.
Vin had enough presence of mind to shut both hands as tightly as he could on the holds set into the sides of the ship, and then
WHAM.
For a second he felt nothing but white light, and then it registered as impact--pressure--on the left side of his body, digging him into the ship's hull before the asteroid and ship sent each other gliding in opposite directions. His suit absorbed some of the collision's energy, but it still jostled him, and even inside the helmet his head jerked sideways enough that he saw momentary stars. His left shoulder and arm hurt, he noticed, and his hand had been jolted off the hold, but he couldn't tell how bad the damage was. The ship--shit--he tried to check the system on his headset, but it responded fuzzily, data bits scrambled.
Shit. Shit. No. It blinked back on, slower than usual. The first thing he saw was the numbers, counting down.
1:32
"--Shoe here, gotta admit you were right, luh--" His tongue tangled. "--lemme back in--"
He wasn't 100% sure he could get back in, come to think of it. He hung onto the outside of the ship with his right hand, feet dug into the braces, stars dancing around the edges of his field of vision.
-
"Calm down," Tali growled. There was too much going on now for Tacky to lose his shit over a joke.
There was no way in all the various hells Tali was going to touch that thruster without Vin being back in the 1903. Sure they needed their thruster working to have a better chance, but Tali liked their chances a lot better with Vin alive. If they were going to die, they might as well die fighting. Instead of being picked off as they tried to limp to some hiding place.
Tali's shoulders tensed when he saw a glimmer out of the corner of his eye that could only have been from the damn bug. It didn't hit them, but if it hit the right asteroids it wouldn't need to touch them with the phasor. The rocks wouldn't take the 1903 out, but they couldn't have been aiming for the 1903.
The damn bug just didn't seem as threatening as Icarus gliding in and Vin being outside.
Those two things must have put a little oil on their fire. It sure would have pumped him up if he were in the bug's place. He'd have been hollering at Vin to open fire, if he wasn't already aiming, and the other captain would have been sitting fuming in their cockpit wondering how they could let themselves get careless enough to give the bad guy an opening.
Tali took a deep breath, pounding the control panel wouldn't do anything productive, and looked over the instruments. Cameras first. The ones he wanted were all out. The thruster was flickering orange again. It'd be way to damn far a stretch to think Vin was able to weasel his way clear of all that.
Crazier things happened though.
Tali wiped his forehead with his forearm, took another deep breath that felt like it got stuck in his lungs and pressed the talk button.
"shoe? status?"
Too soft. Vin might not have heard him over his breathing. Or it came out muffled. Or he wasn't going to reply immediately because he wasn't some damn button that reacted as soon as it was prodded.
"Shoe here," quit grinning like a doped up kid, Tacky can probably see that...
"gotta admit you were right, luh" Of... what? That didn't sound like the communicator feedback. Tali ground his teeth.
"lemme back in"
Tali wasn't going to think about why Vin sounded like that, because there were too many other things to focus on.
Icarus was still coming.
Wings was on her way.
Vin was alive.
"Opening outer airlock Shoe," Tali's fingers worked while he talked. The airlock didn't seem to open fast enough. It was way too damn obvious. A big moving part. A shadow. Someone outside making their way towards it. It was too tempting a target. Could Vin even get to the airlock? "Shoe, status?"
Tali drummed his fingers against the controls of his bent ship, tried not to look at the bent cameras or pay too much attention to the bug that bent them in case he missed the bigger bug that would possibly smash them.
He had to get some cigars into the 1903 once it was rebuilt. A good smoke would keep him from considering dumb schemes.
Like telling Tacky to put his helmet on because he was going to go out and drag Vin back into the ship. Because there was something big headed towards them that wasn't an asteroid. Because it was too symmetrical.
Because he'd been staring at zeroes on the countdown since he opened the outer airlock.
-
The ship jarred and Dart shuddered with it. The gunner was out and- he was here. What could he do? He didn’t want to be the reason why they would eventually get killed. Because when it came down to it, he wouldn’t be confident his crucial shot would find its mark. And then that’d be it.
Vin was still alive. He calmed down a little. Took one measly step back away from the edge. Hurry up and get back in. He hoped he could still get back in. Hopefully wouldn’t get sniped off. He should have been watching the Wyrm, waiting for it, firing off a shot. He would have missed. He would have shattered an asteroid and exactly the same thing would have happened. Why was here? Why did stupid Vin put him on the phasors and stupidly go out into space to stupidly try and fix the stupid bent thruster-
0:00
It blinked at him. It carried an awful finality. Finality and fatality looked similar, when the words hung for a moment in his head. Damn. Damn.
“Hurry up, Shoe. I don’t want to be here.”
He wanted to be back, fine, doing good, and very much alive.
The shape of the Icarus seemed to have jumped into being. No longer just on the scanner. Harsh contours filled out by distant lights. Dart wanted to do his real job, abandon the phasors to hack. But he was plagued by indecision and fear and hell, it felt like everything at the moment- Anxious. That he’d miss, that he really needed the toilet-
Just fuck the phasors. He wanted to do something right.
He could just about tune in. He furiously played with the variables, defining, polishing sounds and then- voices over their headsets.
“Icarus to Wyrm. Fall back. Pick up the drop-”
“Captain, there’s an unidentified incoming vessel.”
“Wyrm, get the drop. We’ve got the cripple.”
“Roger.”
They’d lose the drop. Wings, whoever that was, would have to save them when she turned up. And the Wyrm would be edging closer to the drop. Or it would take a while to find. The only details they had was that it was in geocentric orbit-
He kept them connected as Dart reverted to the phasor controls. Didn’t matter if they got caught. They probably wouldn’t. The Icarus would be too trained upon either shooting them or their help. But help was nearby. He should feel good about that. Near wasn’t good enough.
“Which one first?”
A laugh. “The easy one.”
“Target practice boys. Nearly in range.”
“Ten points for the dude on the outside.”
His hands kept slipping in on the controls as he tried to train the crosshairs. It kept jittering. And he still didn’t want to pull the trigger- “For fuck sake, Vin. Hurry the fuck up!”
-
Aryte listened to them over the headphones as Tacky got twitchy, and then more twitchy. She was itching to be there already. She was close, just hopefully she would be close enough to do something. Sweat was trickling down her temple from stress. Her top teeth biting onto her bottom lip. She could feel the pump of her blood and the stress of her muscles. Then, she was there.
It felt like suddenly everything was clear. There was Vin, on the outside of the ship, the Tacky and Tali inside. A distance from them were the bugs.
Fucking bugs.
Her eyes narrowed.
"The ladies are here boys. Red, I'm gonna get you a shot, try to hit their weapons....Yes the big one. On my signal." Aryte gritted her teeth as she saw Vin looking helpless out there in his suit. She wanted to swing by and grab him put him in Mitty, just so she knew he would be alright. She wove the ship around the asteroids. Damn things just had to make this even more difficult than before.
She tilted the ship around several asteroids, her speed slowing. She came close to the other 77s and checked the different scanners. Her hands gripped tighter onto the controls. She was sure there would be outlines of her exact fingers when she was done.
"Tally, Red." She said spotting the bug in the targeting system information crawling over her screens." She heard the talk over the radio for the 77s, the pirates were talking about Vin. She gritted her teeth again.
"Tango Hotel Red. Show me your stuff." She got herself ready to move at a moments notice so that she could evade or move to get a better shot. The bugs picked the wrong people to mess with today.
-
"Chill out, tacky," Vin muttered under his breath, moving sideways along the ship's outside hull as fast as he could. It wasn't easy. He was jostled by the ship's movement. Tali, blessedly, kept them weaving around behind the asteroid, which made Vin--still a target--but at least a moving one.
His left shoulder and upper arm felt really wrong, but he ignored it, stretching the joint nearly to full extension. Sweat stood out on his forehead and cheeks. Some slid down the lines around his mouth, and he tasted salt in his teeth. "Gotta be fair to the bugs, with me inside they won't have a chance."
He punctuated the weak bit of bragadoccio with a final lunge sideways. He grabbed at the handhold set inside the airlock and felt his body slam into the airlock door.
"Shut it shut it shut it--" He clawed his way in, wrenched open the portal to the inside of the vessel, and immediately slammed into the tacky as the vessel reeled under another phasor blast. Another streaked by outside while Vin tried to push himself back into his own seat. Aryte's gunner had scored a hit on the Icarus.
Vin struggled, at last, back into the gunner's seat. He tried reaching for the left-positioned joystick, but his hand wasn't obeying him. The fingers opened very slowly, spasmed into a fist... and stayed. "Shit," he muttered, grabbing for the joystick on the right. He could shoot with his right hand; hell, he was better with his off hand than most people were full stop. Yeah.
His teeth were still clenched. He pried them apart to speak.
"Tali, get us to where I can zap some freakin' bug."
-
Just ten points? That was something to laugh about later. Tali began easing the 1903 backwards, slowly spinning it around so Vin was out of their sights. Wings was close now, the Mitty showed up on the scan, so he could ask a little more out of the thruster. They wouldn't be stranded out in space, but they couldn't sit around and let the Icarus light them up like a brothel when a mothership docked after a long tour.
"Good to see you gals, we'll be right behind you once I roll Vin back into the ship." Tali tipped the ship back just a little. It put them that much further behind the asteroid and maybe Vin could move a little better if he just needed to push himself down instead of pulling himself down.
Whether or not that was the case, Vin was back. Tali closed the outer airlock, opening the inner as soon as he could once the outer airlock was sealed. Then the 1903 was struck again. It was starting to piss Tali off. Which was ridiculous. A good gunner would hit just about any target, no matter how erratic their movements were and they were trudging slowly through space. Even Tacky could have lit them up.
"Shoe sta-" he started to ask, but Vin seemed ready to start fighting back. Tali stole a quick look at him, long enough to see him using one hand. Just short enough to worry about missing some small sign of distress. That was what Tacky was here for though. He was paid to notice things.
Now Vin and he had to do what they were paid to do, swat some bugs.
Tali finally pushed the 1903, flinging them at the bug in a wobbly path that would get them in range of a bulge that looked like it could be the bridge. The bent thruster shuddered, soon becoming more orange with the occasional yellow flicker. Once they were in range of the Icarus, they were greeted with a rain of phasor fire.
The thruster didn't like the quick jerk upward to dodge most of the blasts. The good wing was grazed by the top most shots. Nothing serious enough to impair the ship even further, but pulling most of the work moving the 1903 would eventually start bending the good wing. If it wasn't hit dead on. The asteroids around them were too small to deflect much of anything and the ones that were big enough to give them cover wouldn't give Vin good enough targets.
Good enough targets in his book, at least. Any part of a ship was a good part to shoot at. The Mitty was already shooting at their batteries, so why shouldn't they try to snuff out the bridge? A bug ship that couldn't fire and couldn't move was a bug ship ripe for getting captives from - if they didn't have emergency escape crafts. Tali tightened his grip on the controls, feeling the sweat in his gloves. His head felt like it was starting to bead up too, but now wasn't the time to reach for a towel to sop it up.