Let it begin

[Jordan Maxwell]

Playing as the Opposition: Everything for the opposition will be in red, Jordan will be in black when required.

---

On the first moon of St. Albans the pirate ship has grappled a small vessel filled with colonists. The ship is silent, only a shell of itself.

Inside the ship was falling apart, he didn't care much for the comforts that normal ships would offer their crews. He was in this for the short term gain, they could make any repairs later, after they finish filling their cargo hold. Another week perhaps, and they can settle on a planet for almost a week and start their trip again.

"Cap'n, the vessel is stripped, Ranger is putting the parts we need on the engine, and the rest is being stored in the cargo hold. Orders?" a new comer to the group asked their loving captain. His mercy among others like himself were known across the Verse.

"Kill the hostages, don't bother wasting the bullets, just toss them out the door." His rough voice returned his verdict. He had no need for survivors, and didn't plan on leaving anyone around to tell their tale. No one that opposed him had lived thus far.

Captain Joshua stepped away from his desk and moved to the window just to the left and waited, a smile crept across his lips as he watched several families being sucked into space. Sure they tried to stick together at first, but they would soon drift apart.

[Trace Kennet]

Trace's eyes were fixed on the sensors, and he caught the first sign of the other ship as it appeared. "Captain, I found them." He said, trying not to let his voice tremble. "What do you want to do?"
As he waited for a reply, Trace locked the sensors on to the pirates. Please, he thought, please let them be busy with something else. He began to pray silently, although he kept his eyes on the sensors, so he could tell if anything changed. "Captain? what is the plan?"

[Lars Engström]

Lars was watching the sky, and marveling at how beautiful St. Albans was from space, when Trace spoke up about the other ship. He moved over to the pilot, and looked at the readings. "Jordan, I hope you knew what you were doing," he said, more to himself than anyone. "Alright, try to get a link with them. I want to talk." He walked over to the window, and looked out. "Patch it onto the larger display if you get it."
He heard Trace pressing the buttons, and then the beep as the hail was sent out.
"And now", he said quietly, "We wait."

[Jordan Maxwell]

"Sir, there is something coming over the cortex." A young woman's voice piped up over the intercom. Joshua left his entertainment and walked to the cockpit. The woman's light blue eyes closed with fear. She knew what he was watching, and in most cases, interrupting him was often met with a quick shot to your kneecap. When he stood next to her, her left knee started to throb.

"Patch them through, Honey." She only nodded as Joshua pulled his hood over his head, hiding his face from the camera's view. "What is it?" His voice was deeper than normal, causing him to strain his vocal cords.

[Lars Engström]

"Good evening sir," Said Lars as the hooded figure of who he assumed to be the captain of the other ship appeared on the monitor. "I am Captain Engström, and I have something I wish to talk to you about. I assume you are the captain of the Armitage Class transport, Revenge?" He was trying to sound very nonchalant about it all. "I hope this isn't interrupting anything? From what I see here, you have been a very busy man, Captain...?" He let his voice trail away, hoping the other captain would fill in the blank.

[Jordan Maxwell]

"What are you boy 16? What are you tryin' to play at?" Joshua let out a grunting around, he was unimpressed by what he considered to be a child. "Listen, Boy, are you delivering the protection crate or are you jus' here to play?"

Just as he started to say something else a middle aged man appeared behind him and touched his shoulder. Joshua growled and turned as the man spoke. "Cap'n I found one hiding among the crates." The middle aged man seemed to fear bothering the captain but he feared not doing so more. A small 7 year old was barely in sight, the captain raised his gun and killed her without hesitation. Turning back to his screen and the conversation at hand.

"You, Woman, is that youngling your Captain?"

[Lars Engström]

AS DRU
Dru was not impressed by the disrespectful way in which she was addressed, but she was slightly amused that the other captain was asking her, just goes to show how he even looks inexperienced, she thought. Nevertheless she knew it would not go well if she challenged his authority in front of this man, any sign of weakness, and they might be dead before they knew what happened. "My name is not woman," she spat, "But he IS the captain of this ship."

[Jordan Maxwell]

Joshua laughed, the look on the young woman's face behind here was one of terror, she had never heard her captain laugh before. Shaking his head Joshua spoke. "I like that one, then tell me, what are you doin' out here in me sky?"

[Lars Engström]

Lars was slightly annoyed with the way this man was treating him, but he kept his emotion in check. "You haven't answered my question yet," He said in a purposefully calm voice. "What is your name? And what is your purpose here in the St. Albans System?" He waited a minute before continuing.
"Believe me captain, I am not one who looks kindly on your type, you are all scum." Lars paused, and turned his back on the other captain. "If I am in YOUR sky, then why can't you find me? I can answer that one myself. I don't want to be found. So here you are, blind, and I can do whatever I want to you and your crew. So lets try this again. What is your name, and why are you here? On second thought, dont tell me why you are here, you will only lie, and i don't like liars"

[Jordan Maxwell]

Joshua only growled and the screen cut out. "Find them, blow them out of the sky." With that he turned and started moving back toward his office.

"Sir, their signal is all over the place, I can't pin point them." Joshua raised his gun and the young pilot fell silent and began feverishly searching.

"Find them." Were his last words as he walked to his office trying to conceal his limp.

[Lars Engström]

"Gorramit," Swore Lars as the screen went black, "I knew we weren't going to be able to talk them down, but i had hoped for more time." He looked out at the sky, and cursed himself for being so bold. "Trace, start moving in on them, we need to get there before they find a way to locate us." He returned to the window, and began scanning the sky for any sign of the other ship. "Lock on to their trajectory, and try to stay out of sight if you can." He grabbed a com and paged the whole ship. "Jordan, Weston, we are about to get into some aggressive negotiations with our friends the pirates, hold on tight." He returned his eyes to the space around his ship. He knew the instruments would pick up the other ships movements before he could, but he had nothing else to do. "Come on, where are you?"

AS TRACE
Trace began to modify their course to put them behind the pirates, and he made sure to keep careful eyes on the other ships trajectory. They might be impossible to detect, but there wasn't anything they could do if someone on the other ship saw them.

[Jordan Maxwell]

Joshua stood looking out his window as they spun around the corpses, driving past them and off into the black, the only place he could find piece. He often pondered why he never brought his girlfriend into the black, she would have enjoyed it. Then again, if he had...

His eyes shifted, his only good one catching sight of a shooting star. He never took her because of the dangers it held, the only thing he knew he couldn't handle was reavers, and she didn't deserve that, even if they did survive, he had no doubt her father would end him.

"Cap'n, Angie thinks they might have found something, it doesn't look the ship we are looking for, but it might be a bit on how they are getting around our sensors, you might like it." A smile crossed his lips, either this boy had a good mind, or a good crew. Perhaps both, but that's hard to judge, for now, he needed to see to his crew.

"Alright." Joshua moved away from his window yet again, the second time, this was not boding well for his young pilot.

"Sir, they are bouncing their signals all over the place within the system, it's something Jury would do to get us away from a cruiser. With your permission, I need to modify the sensors, but it could take a hour."

"Hmmm our young Cap'n on that ship will have made his move by then. Work on it anyway." Limping he moved to his com system and sent a message over his ship's coms. "Battle Stations, arms at the ready, we are going to war."

[Drusilla Pardieu]

Dru had been mostly just observing, waiting for the pirate ship's captain to tire of talking to Lars. She was ready to put a bullet in him, especially after the display where he called her 'woman.' That didn't sit well with the Mercenary.

She grinned when Lars began to get seemingly annoyed with the man, knowing that their conversation was pretty much over now. Only having it confirmed when the pirate expressed his desire to blow them out of the sky. "Well how did you expect that to end Lars, not only is he a pirate but you pretty much ended that negotiation before he did." It was her way of saying 'I told you so' since she'd said from the beginning that they wouldn't be able to talk the pirates down. Her voice was still cold and angry towards the captain, despite the slight sarcasm in her words.

Dru's attentions went back to the sensors, hoping they found the pirates before vice-versa happened. How Lars intended for them to actually board the pirate-ship she had no idea. That bit was his job to work on, her job was to shoot and not bother with questions.

[Lars Engström]

Lars looked at Dru without any sign of anger or annoyance. "I know," He said, "you were right. I knew we weren't going to be able to get rid of them, but maybe we could find out..." His voice trailed away. He turned away, and stared out the window. "Well, whatever has happened," He began, regaining his calm, at least on the outside and in his voice. "They know we are out here, and it wont take long for them to figure out how we are staying out of sight." He looked at Trace, "Can we go any faster? we don't have much time."
Lars began to feel more and more out of his depth, but it was too late to turn back now. Things suddenly didn't seem so simple.

[Trace Kennet]

Trace looked up as the captain addressed him, and then he looked at his instruments again. "Captain, we can't go much faster without jeopardizing our position, but I can give her a little more." He made the needed alterations, and then continued. "If they figured out what we did to hide our signal, I figure we have at most, an hour. But I think we can make it."
He was watching the sensors, and the other ship was moving, but they hadn't made any changes that would cause any problems.... yet.