The Battle of the Ships

[Admiral Hart]

The "Warning, Collision imminent" warning went off a split second before a powerful force rocked through Plunder's Heart, strong enough to knock everyone into a nearby wall if they were not strapped in or otherwise secured.

"What the hell? Report!" Hart said as he pulled himself up, his head ringing from where he had smacked it into the wall.

"The Heart Breaker just rammed us! That crazy bitch!" Mr. Cook exclaimed. "Engines, port weapon systems are damage and..." The ship rocked lightly again. "She's got us in docking clamps, sir. We're about to be boarded. Also, there's an enemy mech of unknown design barreling towards us as well."

"Send out Dane and Elsa, now." Hart turned on the ship-wide intercomm. "This is not a drill, I repeat, this is not a drill. We are being boarded by the Heart Breaker. Everyone arm yourselves and prepare to meet the invaders. I repeat, arm yourselves and prepare to repel boarders!"

Hart then started to stride off, Morgan at his side. "Sir? You're going into battle?"

"Annabelle has all of my skill with a sword and a gun. She's too dangerous to allow to fight unopposed." The Captain replied. "Besides, she's looking for me. And I should return the favor."

[Cassiopeia Reyes-Hart]

Cassiopeia bounded down the halls at break-neck speed, dodging and weaving through other crew members all rushing to their stations. Her heart was thundering against her ribs in anxious fear. Though she had every confidence in the Captain and all the others, she had seen first hand the crazed determination in Captain Anabelle LeValle's cold blue eyes. It was the sort that would get what they were after, killing everything in their path, or die themselves trying.

Cassi nimbly darted down the passageway and finally entered her room--as she had been instructed to do countless times by Jo should this situation ever occur. She turned as soon as the door closed behind her, tearing off the access panel and crossing the wires that T.K. had taught her to, making the door impossible to open without massive amounts of fire-power, unless she herself fixed the panel.

Then Cassi slowly backed away from it, shaking a little from fear and adrenaline, her breath racing hard and fast. Her ears strained to hear the sounds of battle coming from without. She flinched as the sounds of gunfire reached her ears, the yelling. The pained screaming. Her eyes teared, but Cassiopeia suddenly reached down and snatched up the sword her mother had given her and had just begun to teach her to use.

Cassi unsheathed the sword, it's deadly sharp Aerantium blade glinting dully in the light while her silvery eyes swirled into liquid pools of mercury. She wasn't a victim anymore. Let one of those soldiers try to come through that door, and she would show them just what little Cassi Reyes was capable of when backed into a corner.

[Dr. Andromeda Reyes]

Andromeda flattened herself up against the wall in the med-bay, just to the left of the doorway. Outside the sounds of battle were cacophonous, utter chaos. The Plunder was being overrun by UE military soldiers within, while fighter jets and Mecha pilots pounded it from without.

The armed soldiers were swarming down the halls, engaging anyone they found. Andromeda sent up a swift prayer that Cassi had managed to get to her room in time to avoid them. She doubted even the young girl would be safe from their bloodbath.

The slender doctor held herself very still, rounded eyes watching the barrel of a gun slowly ease into the half-open doors--the mechanism to lock it having been taken out during the first impact from the Heart Breaker. Her clammy hand tightened it's grip on the scalpel in her hand, her heart thundering relentlessly against her ribcage. Every sense she had was amplified a hundred times by the adrenaline rushing through her system. The slender doctor waited for six heart-beats--she knew, because she counted them in her terrified state--before the arm easing into her med-bay was far enough inside.

Then Andromeda suddenly lashed out. The blade of the scalpel sliced deep into the muscle of the soldier's arm right above the elbow, severing several crucial tendons and arteries in the process. The solder let out a startled scream, his now-useless fingers dropping his gun to the ground. Andromeda wrenched the blade back out of the man's arm and then--knowing her life depended on the next few seconds--she acted on pure survival instinct and whirled, catching the man beneath the chin with a deep, quick slice.

The soldier toppled to the ground gagging and choking on his own blood. Shaking like a leaf, Andromeda quickly backed away from him, her now bloody hand holding her only weapon in front of her. Her golden eyes were filled with horror as they watched the soldier slowly die gasping. She had never taken a life before. She was a doctor, a healer, she had taken an oath to save lives. Never take them.

Andromeda wasn't given long to dwell on her repulsion however, as the sound of others approaching hit her ears, forcing her to shove it deep for now. Later, she'd have time to process everything. For now, she had to survive.

[Jane Doherty]

Jane grabbed her pistol from where she kept it next to her consol. She was angry with herself, how could she have not seen that coming, the crazy bitch. She had to maintain her position for when they managed to break free, but she turned her chair towards the door, ready and waiting for anyone to pass through. Dane had taught her to shoot after all.

[Cassiopeia Reyes-Hart]

Cassi shuddered slightly, her sweaty hands tightening on the silvery hilt of her sword, as she stared at the bright laser slowly cutting a hole into her door. They were coming. It was now or never. Her quivering chin firmed with steely determination, her shoulders pulling back to a proud angle.

Her liquid eyes swirled hard, and then the door suddenly fell inward. Three soldiers suddenly stepped forward, raising guns to the armed girl inside. A split instant before their fingers tightened on the triggers, the blonde darted to the side, narrowly missing the spray of gunfire that would have torn her apart. It riddled the bedroom with holes instead while the slender dancer leapt up, pushed herself off the wall, then did a side-flip mid-air.

Her actions caught the soldiers by surprise, their gunfire faltering. Which was just the sort of reaction she had seen occur a moment before they'd busted her door down. Her eyes still swirling, Cassi was operating on about five seconds ahead of her attackers. Enough so that she was able to anticipate exactly what they were going to try next, and was able to avoid it accordingly.

Her soft face was screwed into an expression of determined fury as she caught one of the soldiers in the gut, her sword spearing deep, before whirling in a flawless pirouette to catch the other across the chest, cutting him from armpit to armpit, her Arentium blade slicing through their armor and flesh like a hot knife through butter.

Don't think about the enemy as a person, Princess, her mother had cautioned her sternly as they had sparred. They are an obstacle in your path, one that won't think twice about ending you. There's no mercy in battle, little one. You kill them first, or they will most certainly kill you. And never shed a tear for you afterward. So do not shed any tears for them. Ever.

Cassiopeia gasped and jerked a little as she suddenly saw herself get shot in the stomach. Her loss of concentration almost had the vision become a reality, and she barely had enough time to react. Cassi suddenly threw herself backward into a full prone position. The bullet tore through her shoulder instead, and Cassi screamed at the fiery agony that burned her whole body.

Man, that really, really, really hurt!

She hit the floor hard, half-curling inward and dropping her sword to clutch at her now-bleeding left shoulder instead. She tensed when the barrel of a gun was suddenly staring her in the face.

Her eyes swirled helplessly, and then she gasped.

Morgan.

A heart beat later the soldier was thrown aside like a matchstick, his skull crushed from the grav-enhanced blow the furious First Mate had delivered from behind. Morgan knelt to her, his face torn between rage and worry, reaching out to ease her up into a sitting position.

"You're alright," he murmured gruffly, quickly examining her wound before turning to grab up a piece of her clothing littering the floor. He tore the delicate lace skirt in half with one powerful tug. "Bullet tore clean through," he pronounced, wrapping the material around her shoulder, underneath her armpit, and tying it in place with a sharp tug. Then he winced in sympathy at the pained whimper she couldn't quite hold back.

Then Cassi gasped, grabbing at his arm, eyes widening. Morgan whirled a half a second too late to see the two soldiers suddenly filling up the doorway again. Both jerked at the gunfire, but amazingly they were not felled by it. Instead the two soldiers themselves crumpled to the ground, bloody holes now piercing the front of their foreheads. Behind them, Beau Altair stood with a rifle balanced on his shoulder.

Morgan nodded in silent thanks, then stood and half-lifted Cassi back to her feet. He scooped up her sword and pressed it back into her hands.

"You go with the kid," he ordered her briskly, "get to the med-bay and stick close to your sister." Cassiopeia wanted to argue, wanted to tell him that she could fight, that she wanted to go with him. Instead she nodded, knowing better than to back-talk the First Mate's orders, especially in the middle of a fight. Morgan turned back to Beau, brown eyes deadly sharp. "You stick to her side and you don't leave it for any reason until the Captain or I tell you otherwise," he pronounced sternly, "you got it?"

Beau reloaded his rifle with a sharp wrench. "Crystal, sir."

Morgan took one last look down at her before he spun away and ran back out of the room, no doubt off to go find the Captain again. Cassi hurried out to Beau's side, and let the soldier lead the way toward the medical bay, clutching her sword in one hand while trying to ignore the pain in her other shoulder, and failing somewhat badly.

How did Dane get shot so many times and not cry like a baby?

[Admiral Hart]

Two soldiers burst into the brig, looking around carefully and cautiously to make sure no one was watching--UE or pirate.

They advanced on the prison holding Drusilda LeValle and opened the bars.

"It's about time you..." She began, but instead of take her to safety, the UE soldier shoved her down and leveled their weapons at her.

"Anton sends his love." One of the bribed soldiers sneered before his weapon shot the older woman full of holes.

"Easy thousand credits I ever..." The second one began, before a glowing white rapier blade impaled him.

Annabelle LeValle kicked the corpse off her blade and disarmed the other soldier, sword point now at his neck.

"Explain yourself before you meet the reaper." The Captain of the Heart Breaker hissed.

"Y-your brother. We, he paid us to off the old lady...I...uh...we thought you'd be in on it!" The soldier stammered.

"Liar! Anton is sweet and gentle and kind! He would never do something like this! You've been working for Hart all along! Listening to his lies about Anton!" LeValle snarled.

"I swear, I'm telling..." The soldier did not finish. His head toppled to the floor a second before his body hit.

"M-mama." Annabelle said, her calm breaking even further as she collapsed to her knees. She sobbed for about a minute before she got to her feet, steeling herself and burrying her emotion, all emotion but hatred for the woman who had, no doubt, put all this in motion.

Before the day was over, she vowed to have her rapier taste Josetta Hart's blood.

[Dane]

Dane ran down the halls, crossing the hanger in a flash to were Elsa waited. There was a MECH out there, a newer model, and he was to go out and keep it busy. Great.

"Elsa! Lets go baby girl we got a fight on our hands!" the cockpit slid open and Dane jumped in, the sprite was siting on the counsel prepping the suit for battle, her eyes far away.

"Engines. Online. Weapons. Online. Thrusters and back up power all in Green." she shook her head and looked up at him. "Where ready Dane! Lets gettem!" Elsa pumped her fist in the air in a war cry as the cockpit closed. Engines powering up as he moved her into position, Dane closed his eyes and took deep breathes, he knew he was out classed, hell Elsa was over 5 years out of date, best he could do is distract him. Better than the alternative.

The weapons expert opened his eyes as they launched out of the hangar, thrusters activating soon as they hit open space. It didn't take long for him to find his foe, almost like he was waiting for him. Hell, he knew he was waiting for him.

Was a model he'd never seen before, sleek, slim and painted Navy blue with white along the edges. Along the shoulder he noticed a coiled black snake, his eyes narrowed.

Perfect.

Suddenly Dane had to dodge as a pair of falch...falchon? Big fucking energy swords came to disarm Elsa, he weaved out of the way again as his opponent charged him just as quickly while dodging laser cannon fire. He returned the favor while dodging scattered shots with his rifle, gritting his teeth as he pushed Elsa hard. The sprite sat on his shoulder, a look of worry crossing her face as she calculated the odds of success. She gulped, moving closer to Dane's head.

This continued for awhile, near misses and dodges that would have sent a amateur crawling back to his mommy. Things where looking shitty, he was completely outclassed.

"Elsa." his stare never left the view screens. "Load up the Battle Meld, I gotta shake this asshole." Elsa did as she was told, a small silvery device slid over Dane's head and locked in place.

"3. 2. 1., Battle meld online." Elsa spoke rather mechanically. Dane's eyes went wide as the universe around him became clearer, thoughts racing as Elsa and Dane moved as one. The red and gold suit, shifted suddenly and kicked the Navy blue suit square in the head, moving out of the way at lightning speed and a high arch, the two suits stared each other down for a moment, giving Dane enough time to adjust to the change.

Before long they where back in motion, he fired rapidly from his rifle, scoring a couple of nice hits before having to dodge again, his Gatling cannons on there shoulders sparked suddenly, Dane ejected them as they erupted. He blinked.

Damn, this kids good. Been awhile since I fought someone this good.

Dane returned the favor and shoot off another shot, sending his opponent reeling back and dodging wildly, Elsa refused to let up as he peppered the Blue suit, trying to cause damage and failing horribly. A tiny hand touched his cheek, Dane looked over and meet Elsa's sad stare.

"You know what we have to do Dane...Its the only way." Dane looked away, knowing what she meant, he sighed after a moment.

"I know...." his decision made, Dane charged his opponent with a howl of fury, the other suit barely had time to react as he closed the distance between them, a large sword came up and impaled Elsa, missing most vital areas, but hitting important equipment. Elsa's working right arm came up to the suits side and fired two concussion missiles point blank. The explosion rocked them both, sending off alarms, he moved quickly.

"Elsa! Transfer your AI to the mobile, I'm not loosing you too dammit!" Elsa nodded against Dane's pained request, he snatched up the mobile unit when she finished, flickering away into it as he punched the escape pod ejection.

Elsa's back unit exploded out as the pod was ejected, Dane curled up inside a pod barely for one and a half persons, holding Elsa's mobile unit close to his chest. The weapons specialist looked up as the Navy blue suit, moved away, limping back to the Heart Breaker. His gaze returned to Elsa, Dane put a hand on the glass and pet where the suit remained, sparking, its core damaged.

"Goodbye Elsa...." with that the suit exploded, sending a shock wave out that rocked the pod around abit. His gaze never left the view port, a tear escaped his eyes that he refused to acknowledge. A few minutes later the pod jerked and a voice crackled over the com.

"I got you Dane." it was Jane, he smiled inwardly. "You alright?" worry laced her voice as he sighed, his gaze gone emotionless as he pulled Veronica out of her holster.

"No, But I don't have time to be emo. People need my help."

"K...I'm dragging you in...hang on." a couple shots fired out in the background, he heard a hiss as a door sealed shut again. "Sorry, some asshole broke my code." he couldn't help but smirk.

A few minutes later he was in the hangar, the pod's door swung open with a hiss as he bolted out of it, shoving Elsa's mobile unit into his pocket, he cocked Veronica and pulled out his backup weapon. His electric blue eyes glared ahead, daring anyone to oppose him as he ran through the ship.

[T.K.]

To say that T.K. was furious, would be a grave understatement of his current mood.

For now, he had Engineering on lockdown. The bulkhead had been lowered on the main door, as well as the majority of the bulkheads up and down the corridors immediately surrounding Engineering. While technically in place in case of something going horribly wrong with the engines, right now, they sered to keep the EU out and unable to seriously cripple the ship.

T.K. had left the Engineers with order to keep the engines operational, and to make sure the power supply to the rest of the ship remained uninterrupted. Even without him there, he had enough faith in their skills, that they could pull it off. Considering the dozen or so Bulkheads the EU would have to cut through to even have a shot at getting into Engineering.

As for T.K. himself, he was currently cursing under his breath, as he crawled through the tight network of service tunnels that webbed throughout the ship. He wasn't claustrophobic, but he hated being in these tunnels. Usually had one of the others crawl through here whenever something needed to be fixed. As he reached the next access panel, he took a look below himself, and smirked.

Standing directly below the panel was a small squad of EU Boarders, making their way through the ship. Not giving himself time to think about what a really bad idea this was, T.K. eased off the access panel, and dropped to the floor behind the soldiers.

He immediately swung at the closest one as the squad turned to see what was going on. His weapon of choice for the day, was Shinigami, his own personal reaper of death. It was an industrial grade, heavy duty wrench. Approximately 3.45 feet in length. It had cost a ridiculous sum of money, but T.K. had gotten it made of Aerantium. The added strength tot he wrench meant he didn't have to worry about it breaking when he applied too much pressure to it.

In the current situation however, it meant that he was cracking through the Soldiers like they were made of twigs. The first Soldier was already down, his skull nearly cleaved in two. The next two Soldiers were almost literally disarmed, as T.K.'s Shinigami smashed into their gun arms, snapping bones and effectively breaking through the weapons as well. The last Soldier looked in horror at T.K., covered in grease and grime and now a little bit of gores as well. As he turned to flee however, T.K. threw Shinigami, impaling him with the sharp end of the wrench, often used to help pry off stubborn bolts.

T.K. grimly pulled Shinigami free, before cleaning it off on the Soldier's uniforms, and easing himself back up into the service tunnels. Off to find more of these fools who were wrecking his ship.

[Admiral Hart]

They saw each other from across the hall. Hart and LeValle, twins swords humming softly.

"You." LeValle said darkly. "You're the reason my Mama's dead."

Hart's eyes went wide in surprise. "She's dead? We were just gonna sell her back to you."

"Liar!" LeValle nearly screamed. "You told them your lies about Anton. You poisoned their minds."

"It would figure that bastard would get your men to kill her." Hart replied, putting two and two together. "But I didn't tell them anything, Annie. He used them like he used me. Like he's using you to get me off his back. He uses people, Annie. It's what he does."

She could see a flicker of doubt in Annabelle's face. Hart stepped forward and, rather be violent, held her nemesis in a tight embrace.

"It's okay, sweetie. Really. You don't have to fight anymore. You can leave. Anton will get what's coming to him and we can stop this silly feud." Hart said softly.

And then, LeValle punched "him" in the side of the face with the basket hilt of her rapier. Hart stumbled back, the fake plastic skin torn to shreds on that cheek.

"You can't poison me with your lies, 'Jonah'." She said, adding special venom to the last word. "I'm going to end this now. And I want to see your face when I do it. When I kill you, I want it to be you I kill."

Hart stood for a second, before peeling the rest of the plastic, and her fake adam's apple, off. She sheathed her sword and pulled the curve-dulling strips off from under her shirt and tossed those aside as well. Then, as an afterthought, she reached into her pants and pulled out a balled-up bundle of socks that she also tossed away. Unsheathing her rapier again, and ignoring the looks of shock from her crew, Captain Josetta Hart said, in her real voice, "Is this good, or should I unbind my chest too?"

LeValle charged instead of answering. Hart met her overhead swing with a deft parry and deflect, countering with a jab for Annabelle's chest. The UE Captain side-stepped and thrust, switching hands in the process. The pirate deflected LeValle's sword just enough, stepping forward and tripping the younger LeValle. The younger woman was not knocked off balance, though, and defltly parried and countered Hart's next thrust.

"I can't believe I ever thought of you as my big sister." Annabelle snarled. "Anton was so sweet and gentle and kind until you betrayed him." Their swords pressed in a deadlock, sparks igniting from the strange metals' contact point.

"He was the one who betrayed me, Annie. He stole my baby from me." Hart replied. LeValle body checked Jo after using her momentum to knock her off balance. Hart's sword tumbled through the air behind her as the pirate stumbled to the ground. Annabelle had a triumphant sneer on her face as she swiped her sword for what she thought was the killing blow.

However, the rapier only met Hart's hat as the Pirate ducked and flipped backward, catching her blade in mid-air and landing gracefully.

"We don't have to do this, Annie." Hart once again pleaded. "Please. You're a good kid. You're just mixed up. I don't want to have to hurt you any more than what you've perceived I have."

"Then we are at an impasse." LeValle said, her voice icy and calm. "Because I want to hurt you."

LeValle charged again, but this time, when Hart moved to parry an overhead swing, she feigned and instead pivoted into a powerful thrust. Captain Hart could not quite dodge out of the way in time, and the harmonic rapier sliced clean into and through her belly. LeVallle pulled her blade out, and said, "Got you." But before she could celebrate, Hart quickly slashed her sword out and, right at the midway point between Annabelle's wrist and elbow, severed her hand from her body, causing it and the blade to tumble to the ground.

"Got...got you...back." Hart smirked as she dropped to her knees, bleeding very heavily.

A more stable, less determined woman would have quit there, but LeValle lunged for her rapier and pried her severed hand from the handle, lifting it to finish off Hart with her good arm. However, at that point, Morgan, who had been fighting a large, dark-eyed man, shoulder-checked the UE Captain and knocked her into a wall before lifting up his wife and rushing towards the med bay.

LeValle, bleeding out quickly, started to follow, but the dark eyed man, Mr. Douglas, restrained her.

"No, ma'am, we're recieving heavy casualties and you need rest. We've done enough damage for one day."

"Let me go, I have to...." Shock and heavy bleeding then caught up with her, and LeValle passed out. Mr. Douglas then ordered withdrawl, and the UE soldiers who were left quickly headed back to the Heart Breaker, which disengaged from the damaged ship and fled back towards the military convoy.

[Dr. Andromeda Reyes]

Andromeda turned from bandaging Cassiopeia's arm when the half-broken door to the med-bay was kicked the rest of the way off it's runner. What the First Mate carried inside caused Cassi to let out a small scream, and Andromeda's face to go white.

And that's all before she realized that something other than the copious amounts of blood staining the front of the red uniform was very, very wrong with the picture.

She was half-way across the med-lab toward Morgan when she noticed the differences. The delicate bone structure, the soft, subtle feminine curves underneath the now partly torn tunic. Her feet froze, brain stuttering to a halt.

No . . . . .

Morgan fully entered the room, either oblivious or uncaring to her shock, and laid the female Captain out on one of the examination beds not being taken up by her softly-crying sister. Andromeda hesitated a moment longer, struggling to try and recover. She had things she needed to do. Injuries that needed tending. Yet for some reason she couldn't seem to make her feet move.

Morgan whirled back to her after another moment, dark eyes sharp.

"Doctor Reyes! Get over here!" he snapped, tone rough with anxiety. Then, softer, he murmured, "please. My wife needs your help."

Her golden eyes rounded on him, having the look of a wounded animal as his words tore another huge chunk out of the area where her heart was supposed to be beating.

Somehow, Andromeda managed to push past her anguished betrayal. Her expression went flat and blank as she darted over to her medical cabinet and began tossing doors open.

"Remove his--her shirt," she corrected sharply. "Cassi, get me the laser scalpel and two injections of adrenaline and dorzapam."

The grieving woman was shoved deep, and the world-class emergecy surgeon came to the fore. She finished sanitizing her hands as best she could and putting on a pair of surgical gloves before hurrying back to where Captain "Jonah" lay. Staring unfeelingly down at the naked female torso, it having become just one in over a thousand that she had seen in her medical career.

Andromeda made it a point not to look at her face.

Instead she focused all of her thought, all of her energy in saving the Captain's life. It was a true credit to her skill as a surgeon that her slender hands were rock-steady despite her emotional trauma, not once faltering. The Captain had lost a lot of blood, dangerous amounts. The adrenaline helped keep her vitals going long enough for Andromeda to quickly repair the damage to her internal organs, using the laser to cauterize what blood vessels she could to minimize internal bleeding. Nearly two hours later, the doctor finished the last of her sutures, front and back, and straightened. Cassi had fetched a blanket from one of the other beds, and gingerly draped the material over the frightfully pale, redheaded woman.

It didn't escape Andromeda's notice that Cassi didn't seem at all shocked at this newest development. Instead the blonde girl eyed her warily, her silver orbs torn between dread and pity. Andromeda stepped back from the table, yanking her gloves off and tossing them aside in the already torn-apart medical bay. She turned to Morgan then, who had stood back after he was no longer needed, a silent sentinel.

"Now then," she whispered, tone hoarse. "Do you mind explaining to me just what in the hell is going on here, Mr. Halcyon?"