Let The Wrong Word Slip - [OPEN]

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

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.'"

[Anonymous]

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."

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

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."

[Anonymous]

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?"

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

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."

[Anonymous]

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."

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

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?!”

[Anonymous]

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."

[Anonymous]

"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.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

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?

[Anonymous]

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.