"I don't like you being in harm's way, but so be it." Thrax nods, examining the dead reptilian and switching to his channel. "You want to make the report? You'd be better at it than I am." He hands her his communicator. Spoiler: Deception Roll D100: 74 (Pass) Making the call, Elena first has the spec ops troops arrive at her location, and then when making her fake message, gets the feeling that the pirates were successfully fooled. Soon enough, a team of about ten pirates, mixed in species, gender and age, approach the area where Elena's squad is hiding, led by a female human with a large rifle. Spoiler: Ambush Roll D100: 55+15 (Space Marines)+15 (Spec Ops)=80 (Pass) Elena's plan comes to fruition, as the marines lead by Thrax exit cover, opening fire on the pirates and killing half a dozen in the first few seconds, every marine among them trained for ship combat, and the spec ops troops skilled in squad level fighting of all sorts. The surviving pirates are forced to hunker down, and the captain begins to fire her rifle over and over, as she retreats, trying to save her own skin.
Spoiler: Analysis Roll D100: 66+15 (Bionic Eye)=81 (Pass) Examining the largest of the xeno spiders, Xavier notes that their underbellies seem particularly soft and unarmored, defenseless against a laser bolt.
"The barrier should hold. Do take care of them, Admiral." Vizelle said as she strengthens the barrier.
Elena smiled, as her trap was sprung successfully. "I want the captain alive." She told the captain of the space marines. "Don't have to be unharmed." She added with a bit of bloodthirst. As the space marines hunted the leader of pirates, she turned to the rest of the pirates. "Those of you, who will surrender, will live. Those of you, who will fight, will be captured alive and have a very long and painful life connected to the pain inductors!" She delivered her threat, trying to convince the pirates to surrender. She could be quite convincing. It was a threat better than death, she believed.
'If you think it will hold,' Xavier said, before he looked to his men, 'Alright, aim for their bellies if you can, they are weak there. Open fire when I do.' Xavier aimed his rifle and fired on the nearest spider to them, though keeping an eye out for an opportunity to hit the big one in the underside.
“I'm fine. I'll let you know if I feel too tired to continue.” Eanne got up and followed Sitra to her room.
"Yes, ma'am." The marine nods, lining up a leg shot on the captain. Spoiler: Marine Attack Roll D100: 69 (Nice)+15 (Ship Combat)=84 (Pass) He fires a single shot, and the captain falls to the ground, swearing loudly, as the round goes through her thigh. Spoiler: Diplomacy Roll D100: 31+15 (Diplomacy Skill)=46 The pirates seem willing to listen, until one of them shouts "To hell with you, bitch!" He fires a shot at her, missing wildly, but soon the rest are firing as well. Spoiler: Elena's Forces Attack Roll D100: 73+15 (Space Marines - Ship Combat)+ 15 (Spec ops)= 103 (Crit) The troops are merciless, butchering the pirates before any can even aim their weapon properly. The only survivor is the captain, who hobbles away on one good leg.
Spoiler: Xavier Attack Roll D100: 90+15 (Weak Point Discovered)=105 (Crit) Xavier opens fire on the largest one, and his shots sear through its underbelly. The spider collapses onto it's blown open stomach, helpless. Feeling lucky, Xavier chances a hit on one of the other spiders, and gets it in the same location. Spoiler: Marine Attack Roll D100: 95 (Crit) The marines open fire with the same brutal efficiency, and soon all the spiders are dead, except for the big one, who lies helplessly on the ground, dying. Vizelle's barrier wasn't even needed, since they never got a chance to fight back.
Heading into a bedroom, Eanne sees some of Sitra's sculptures, and notes that the young widow is quite talented. "Here." She pulls out the scroll, covered in some sort of heiroglyphics, as well as a translation dataslate.
{nice posts} Elena shook her head at the stupidity of some people. She looked at the... 'escaping captain' and sighted. "Captain." She turned to the marine. "Be kind enough to capture that scum and deliver it to the quarters of my subordinates." The interrogators Elena brought along, would certainly have some way of making the woman talk. She would know. "Admiral." She turned to Thrax. "Mop up the survivors and if possible, capture some ships." She said. The prizes were always nice. Cheaper than buying new ones.
“You really are talented...” Eanne noted as she examined some of the sculptures, before sitting down to look at the scroll. “Alright, let's see...” She familiarized herself with the hieroglyphs before checking out the translation dataslate and trying to figure out at least some of what was written on the scroll.
The marines have no trouble securing the pirate leader, who falls to the ground as she tries to raise her heavy rifle. Thrax nods, and takes back the communicator, commanding his forces. Spoiler: Clean Up Roll D100: 86+15 (Thrax - Space Combat)=101 (Crit) Thrax is incredibly efficient, having his men on board the ship clearing room after room, killing or capturing every pirate they see. Some escape onto their boarding craft, only to find that they've already been filled with marines waiting for them. Outside, the two pirate frigates are quickly cornered among the asteroids, boarded and captured. Elena receives a notification that both have been captured, the pirate captain has been secured with Elena's people, and casualties on their side were incredibly low.
Vizelle feels the familiar pleasurable sensation as she approaches the sphere, but it's toned down so as not to cause trouble for her. She doesn't feel any urge to possess this one, perhaps because of the one in her pocket. The dying spider weakly raises up a leg, trying to touch the sphere.
Spoiler: Translation Roll D100: 56 (Pass) Sitra smiles brightly in response to the praise, and the two spend several hours translating. Their translation is clunky at best, and still incomplete, but she manages to make out the fact that, as Sitra hoped, the scroll is describing an alien cache of some kind, and the coordinates of the planet it's on. Looking up the planet, she notes that it's an uncharted world only a system or two away from Samodiva. The location on the planet, however, is still unclear.
"Oh?" Vizelle was surprised to see what the spider was doing. She attempts to peek into the insect's mind, figuring they at least possessed some intelligence, she tries to figure out what it's trying to do.
'That was easier than expected,' Xavier said, looking at the dead and dying spiders, 'Good shooting, men.' 'What's it doing?' Xavier asked Vizelle, 'Should I put it out of its misery?'
Elena nodded, satisfied. She had her men to staff the frigates... if those monstrosities could be called that - and gave them to the admiral to command. "Admiral. Continue to the system, but I would suggest changing the route. I will leave you in command, in the meantime, I will try to get some information from the good Captain." She told the admiral. After that, she gave a congratulatory speech to the crew, praising them for their first victory. It was a good opening and great for morale. She waited an hour and a half, doing paperwork and checking the status of her forces. She made sure to raise the number of her bodyguards to four in total. She would also meet her surviving bodyguard and made sure she was alright. Once that time passed, and she was sure that her people, to prepare the captain, before making her way to the quarters of her interrogators. "Tell me," she turned to one of her people. "How are you proceeding with the interrogation?" She asked as she turned to look at the pirate.
Pulling away from the scroll Eanne looked at Sitra and gave her a happy smile. “Well, this went better than I dared hope. Looks like we might be able to find the planet and the alien cache after all. There's still plenty to translate, but we're getting there.” She took a careful look at her new friend. “Shall we stop here? You must be tired by now...”
