Jhoolz, embedded with the marines, heads over to the enemy ship to gather up their prisoners and help install a skeletal crew to man the ship.
She is ready for trouble, with her shotgun at the ready and her leather jacket zipped up to give her maximum protection.
"Alright you apes, let's do this by the numbers. Listen to your C.O. for instructions and watch those corners once aboard!"
Once the ship is connected, Byron hustles to the port and prepares to lead the way across in his zero g suit and armor.
Jerry hikes his sword belt as he follows Byron and Jhoolz.
With crew and marines in place, Daneel hits the airlock. Everyone is tense, but you just see a pair of hands sticking out from around a corner. Slowly, the man to whom the hands belong steps into your view. He wears a camouflage jacket over a tight T-shirt. He has a cybernetic eye and a red bandana wrapped around his head. There is a low-G body pistol in his holster.
"Uh, hey. No need for shootin' anyone today. You can take him." He signals someone you can't see and Ferrik Redthane bursts out of the side passage, clearly having been shoved forward, his hands bound behind him, a gag taped into his mouth. A large dark welt covers one side of his face and he glares at you through his one good eye (the other has an eyepatch.)
"Yup. All yours." He attempts to shove Redthane towards you, but stops when Redthane turns a glowering gaze his way. The former captain of Janal Torsk stands tall and walks towards you.
"So... We all good?" asks the other man.
Byron waits for a nod from Jerry and then begins advancing onto the other ship in his armor with his cutlass drawn.
"I wouldn't do that," says the man in the red bandana, backing up to the bulkhead behind him. You hear the distinct sound of low-power snub pistols being charged just around the corner.
"Hey, Hey! We are all friends here. We have something you want and you have something we want! Let's not make it any more complicated than that....alright?" Let's shake on it!"
[/ooc]Jhoolz has been slowly walking toward the pirate and raises her hand to formally 'shake' on their deal. She is trying to get within arm's reach of the fellow.[/ooc]
"We were thinking that you might want to build a lasting ... relationship," declares Jerry.
He gestures towards Ferrik Redthane.
"You know what will happen to him. What do you think will happen to you, if word gets out that you were part of the raids on Clarke and Torpol?"
Jerry then gestures at the pirate ship. "Join us, with your ship. Maybe some blaster burns and impacts from slug weapons ... we could convince people that Redthane's crew died to the last man. You lot ... picked up afterwards."
"Think of this as an employment offer after passing an interview process."
Jerry then gestures towards Redthane. "You passed the test. Don't throw away this opportunity."
Jhoolz, the man's hand strays to, but doesn't yet touch, the butt of his pistol. He's clearly not ready to be attacked. From your new position, however, you can see four well-armed marines in the corridor. They wear boarding vacc suits and are armed with cutlasses and ACR's (Advanced Combat Rifles).
After Jerry's pitch, he looks from Jerry, to Jhoolz to his marines, holding an empty hand out to stop Jhoolz from advancing, the other raised to forestall the marines.
"What're your terms?" he asks.
Redthane rolls his eyes. "He's going to take your ship and space you, you traitorous moron! You just betrayed your captain. You think he'll ever trust you? Dolt."
The man in the red bandana locks eyes with Jerry. "Is that true?"
"He led you into a blunder and you made the smart move. We understand that and expect you to keep making the smart moves." Byron says.
"Okay...okay, so what are your terms?"
"Somebody shove a sock in his mouth," declares Jerry while he stares at Redthane.
He turns back to Red Bandana. He begins enumerating the terms, raising a finger for each point.
"One - You report to us."
"Two - You work out of Drinax, though I would suggest staying away from Torpol and Clarke unless you can change the appearance of the ship."
"Three - standard terms- you kick a tenth of what you take to us. That includes a tenth of any loot you have right now.'
"Four - you come when we call. Usually, that will be because we have a lead on a plump target."
"How are those terms?"
The crewman considers while Thumper shoves a gag into Redthane's mouth and Afaar'iy braces him up against a wall, his aslan fangs inches from the former captain's face.
The crewman's eyes go from this to you. "Umm. Deal? Why Drinax and not Theev?"
"And, uh, who are you people?"
"Because we have a sweet deal in Drinax," replies Jerry with a smile.
"As good as what you get in Theev, so long as we grease some palms," he continues. "And, it's closer to the trade routes into the Hierate."
"As for us, we're your new bosses, the ones who have a sweet deal at Drinax," Jerry says with a grin. "Unless you don't want to work with us. We could drop you someplace, if you'd rather."
The man looks at his hidden men, then back at Jerry. He gives you a careful salute so as not to alarm your trigger fingers. "Janal Torsk is yours. I'm First Officer Andrei Yamada and I volunteer to captain this ship for you, sir."
Jhoolz, now that the tension of the encounter is dissipating, leans back against the bulkhead and smiles.
"See...was that so hard!"
Byron will take Redthane and motion to two of the marines to follow him as they move to secure him and leave the others to figure out the details.
Daneel, listening in on the negotiations from the bridge, opens a comm to Jerry. "Captain, maybe you should make sure your new First Officer understands that raids on planets & moons are bad for business."
Jerry turns to look at the new crew of allies.
"Captain Yamada," he starts. "Another rule: Don't piss in the pool."
"By that, I mean, don't raid any planets or settlements close to Drinax. Get out of the pool - into the Empire or the Aslan realms - before you do any more raiding."
"Focus on their ships, too, since those are richer targets."
"Understand?"
"Yes sir," Yamada replies.
__________________________________
After learning that Drinax is a viable alternative to Theev, Yamada announces his intentions.
"With your permission, I've a plan to jump to Noricum and move Spinward up the Sindalian Main. Fewer Imperial ships and more Florian traders. We should be back in six months. Unless you wanted us to stay local?"
Yamada takes whatever directions you give and in a few hours, departs.
Let's head to Torpol and Clarke and wrap up this chapter?
"Let's see them off before we go. But we can begin to make ready - plot a course to the jump limit, program the jump and all of that," says Jerry before he turns to their captive.
"Low berth for him," he orders. "No need to stink up the place and listen to his whining."
Jhoolz moves forward and gives the former pirate a shove.
"Come on you. Let's get you tucked in and maybe if your lucky you can dream of me while you sleep!"
She winks as she passes Jerry and the rest of the crew.
With Ferrik Redthane safely in a low berth and Janal Torsk heading for the Sindalian Main, the crew of Nemesis plots a course to Theev, the secret fuel depot, Noricum, Borite and then Torpol at last.
You’re running low on money and know you have to pay the exhorbitant prices at the Secret Fuel Depot. You can’t afford to get maintenance and fuel at Palindrome or Theev, nor can you risk piracy in these pirate-ridden spaces. So you perform frontier fueling at both systems and jump for the Secret Fuel Depot, pay the huge prices, then for Noricum.
The former capital of the Sindalian Empire is now a planet of turnip farmers and the ghastly remains of the plagues visited upon it by the vengeful Aslan. Its Class D starport supplies unrefined fuel and little else. It is system largely ignored by traffic, as most ships on the Florian route jump from Thebus to Oghma or Mardu and bypass Noricum altogether.
Nonetheless, there are eight ships in the system. Four are simple Far Traders, one is a laboratory ship, one is a scout, one is an automated ore harvester and the last is a small cruise ship in orbit around the mainworld.
[ooc]Did we get anything from Redmane's crew from the planet? We demanded 10% of what they had I thought.[/b]
"So, refuel at the system's gas giant and then continue towards Clarke? Or do we lurk in the outer system and see if we can pick off one of those far traders when they head out?"
Jerry surveys the crew, particularly the marines.
"Our accounts are empty, so probably the gas giant for fuel. Besides, the fuel station is not much better," Jerry pauses as he rubs his chin.
"We don't have enough crew for the liner. The traders are certainly possible. The lab ship and the scout ..." says Jerry before he pauses to rub his chin.
"Isn't this a bit too much traffic for a backwater like Noricum? How about someone stays on comms while we maneuvre to refuel? We can decide after we have more information."
Jerry idly spins for a bit.
"We should probably look like a trader ourselves, too. Can you change the appearance of the ship to scans?"
"And plot a course to jump, too. We might have to leave in a hurry.
Byron will plot a point and then take the ship in to fuel.
Daneel looks through some of their past disguises, and instructs the holo-projectors to make the ship appear as the free trader Beachcomber. Then he goes to inspect the frontier fueling systems and to make sure everything is in working order.
THe sleek black outline of Nemesis disappears behind the bulky lines of Beachcomber as the ship descends into the gas giant's methane/ammonia atmsophere and opens its fuel scoops.
Byron flies them in.
"Fly casual, Byron," instructs Jerry.
Useless instructions, but sometimes you simply have to be seen and heard doing something.
"Stay on the comms and try to learn as much as possible about the ships in the system. Once we're fueled, we can decide whether to try for a target."
"I think we need to hit something. Or we are going to have trouble paying for anything." Byron says as they fuel up.
"So, my friends, do you feel up to taking on that cruise ship? Not much cargo but we could go for the valuables carried for the passengers."
"That requires boarding. It would be easier to just get the trader to drop some cargo in space for us to scoop up." Byron says.
"True," says Jerry ruefully. "Thinking big, I guess. Make course to intercept that trader."
There are signals between the four ships close to Noricum, yes.
Oh yes. The signal for unauthorized vessels to stay away is broadcast every few minutes. You are warned that vessels without a permit will be targeted with missiles under authority of the Imperial Scout Service.
So which trader are you planning to target? Surely not the one that lies near the planet? It's guarded by all those missile satellites. One of the three bound for the secondary star system? Or are you going to wait for the trader to break orbit and head for jump distance? You'll have to get closer if you're going to catch him before he jumps.
"Woah...now just a minute. I signed on for travel, not to become a pirate..well, not without a portion of the take. I helped you get your info and capture Janal and you were to take me out of this system. Now you are looking to take some bounty from these commercial ships. I have no problem with this, but if I am part of this crew, I think we need to decide my position and cut of the plunder, don't you??
Byron turns the ship towards the trader and then swivels around to face the others and says, "You have been helpful. I would vote to give her the standard share that we each get as long as she stays loyal to the goals."
"I agree to the same," says Jerry. "But we need to put it a vote of all of the partners."
"I vote 'aye'"
"Aye" Byron says with a shrug as he turns back to the controls.
"She seems like she can carry her weight. I vote aye as well."
Blushing slightly, Jhoolz smiles and nods her head.
"Well now that has been taken care of... let's go pirate the heck out of those ships!"
What's the plan, mon capitaine?
"Let's finish collecting and processing fuel before we do anything else," suggests Jerry.
"Once our fuel tanks are full, we can mosey on over and wait for that trader to break orbit," he continues. "Make sure we don't go faster than typical speed for what we look to be. If anyone challenges us, we tell them that we are making repairs. Maybe we simply hail the trader and offer to purchase spare parts at a suitably desperate price."