don't fear the reaper

[thespaceopera]

[The First Battle]

[They come shooting out of the great dark. Guns blazing, no warning. The enemy ships are ragtag, mismatched, and cobbled together from spare parts. But that doesn’t make them weak. No-- years and years of scavenging have turned them into raiders, and they carry their scars with pride.

The battle is more aggressive than previous attacks against the Fleet. Nothing deters the raiders because they’re tough, and if they see a wounded ship floundering, they have no problems swooping in and boarding. Those crews will soon learn the meaning of teamwork if they want to bring the attackers down. They infiltrate the Iskaulit as well, just in case people try to hide there. At this point they are very, very used to tracking down women and children for their slave trade.

If asked why they’re doing this, the answer is simple.

Spare parts have to come from somewhere.

Don’t worry. Nothing on your ship, and no one, will go to waste.]


[A Few Hours Later]

[The raiders are too strong and the Fleet is failing. After what seems like an eternity of warfare, static comes in, broadcasted to the fleet at large. Something or someone is hailing them…

The signal is untraceable and the video is complete static, but they tell the Fleet they are here to help. Ships come swooping out of the black and they open fire on the raiders. They number a dozen, maybe more, and the ships look eerily similar to the ones currently used by the Fleet, if not a bit older and battle-hardened. Their shielding and weaponry is much, much better, however-- and most of them have custom paint or other touches on their hulls.

They’re not invincible, however. A few may end up between a rock and a hard place when the raiders surround them.

Some older residents may remember this particular group of ships. They’re obviously helping out now, but there’s nothing stopping Fleeters from firing on their would-be saviors save a complete lack of weaponry. You do have a Security officer on board, don’t you? They’ll defend themselves by seriously injuring your ship, but they won’t destroy it for some reason. Small mercies.

The raiders soon realize they’re outgunned and jump ship, taking their dead with them. The intercepting fleet pulls back, too, and both parties vanish back into the dark as silently and swiftly as they came. There’s a lot of cleanup to do whether your ship is disabled or you’re preparing to tow someone else.

Hopefully, the people who saved you don’t change their minds.]

[Plot info is here! Feel free to make your own toplevels with fighting, barricading, being boarded, saving others, the aftermath, etc. There's lots to do!]

Comments

[bryces_pup]

A. WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE PIRATES? (aka boarding party)

[Well, on the bright side, Riona finally gets to use her armor she'd come here with after a whole year of it collecting dust!

But yeah, Riona's sprinting to her room as soon as she realizes that they're under attack. Kiter's holed up in her room, too small to be of any help, as Riona quickly throws on her armor. It's heavy armor, fortunately, but it takes a little longer than she'd like to get it on because, well, straps.

But once she's geared up, she's got her sword and shield in hand as she charges out of her room. And she's immediately greeted by the sight of raiders sprinting towards her.

Well then.

Riona shouts as she pulls her shield up and charges at them, it deflecting most of their shots until she plows straight into them, knocking them down. Her sword guts one of them, but the other gets up and starts to fire at her. One of the shots hits her armor, scorching it and leaving the skin under it burning.]

Piss and shit! [As she raises her shield, more raiders show up to help their comrade. Their shots bounce off her shield, but they're keeping her pinned and unable to fight back.] I need some help here!

B. OW OW OW OW (aka the aftermath)

[The good news is, the assholes have left and they more or less won. Hurrah.

The bad news is, Riona is in very, very bad shape. Her armor wasn't made to stand up to lasers and phasers and all of what the raiders threw at her, so it's blasted and torn apart. She ditched her gauntlets ages ago, and most of her chestplate is just scrap metal now.

Propped up against the wall in a hallway, Riona groans as she struggles to stand. Blood spatters the walls, some of it theirs... and some of it hers. More of hers is pooling on the floor under her, seeping through her clothes and her fingers as she desperately clutches at the wound near her gut. It's hardly her only injury, but it's the one currently diverting her attention.]

Would you, ah, would you be willing to help me up?

[She might need a doctor.]

B

[goodandtrue]

Gods be good!

[The shock ruins any attempts she might have made to mask the severity of Riona's wounds. The blood seemed to be everywhere and the color of Riona's face was chilling. But the way she clutches at her gut makes Jeyne's heart drop. They needed to staunch the blood flow and quickly.

Riona had been on her mind since she had fearlessly rescued Jeyne. It wasn't until now that she could seek her out, having helped administer some first aid. Quickly, Jeyne rushed over to her friend, ripping at the hem of her skirts. It would have to serve until they could move her.]

Let me bind it first. [Otherwise the movement might make her bleed more.] I will need to have a look.

[bryces_pup]

Personally, I think they're being assholes right now.

[When in doubt, resort to sarcasm. Especially when possibly bleeding to death. Frankly, she's rather surprised she's still conscious, but her head feels a little lightheaded so it may only be a matter of time.]

I got careless and one almost gutted me. Are you hurt at all? [She moves her hand away from her wound gingerly, her breath hissing through clenched teeth at the movement. The wound goes deep, and she can feel it with every breath she takes.]

[goodandtrue]

I hit my head when the ship was first fired that, but nothing beyond a few scraps and bruises.

[Thanks to Riona.

She's careful to conceal her thoughts as she looks over the wound. The medics would have to look after her. This was beyond Jeyne's knowledge. She could at least find a way to get Riona to the med bay and keep her from bleeding to death.

Wrapping the cloth around Riona, she tied it tightly, watching as the silk became stained with blood.]

We will need a stretcher for you.

[bryces_pup]

I am glad it wasn't more serious.

[She worried about her and Sansa, the two on this ship who could not fight. The rest of them could defend themselves and were likely used to taking hits.]

Mmf. I should be able to walk there, though I may need your help in keeping steady.

[She doesn't trust her legs to keep her balance.]

[goodandtrue]

Don't worry for me.

[She tied the makeshift bandage tightly. It wasn't wise to let Riona move, but she needed urgent care and it was unlikely they could wait for Jeyne to locate a stretcher.]

Wrap your arm around my shoulder. I will try to move you quickly.

B

[save_the_souls]

[After the fight was over, Allen had been going around the ship looking for everyone. When he spots Riona, he quickly rushes over and kneels down, pulling open his medical pack. God...she's bleeding really bad.]

No, hold still. we need to slow the bleeding before you go anywhere.

[bryces_pup]

I forgot how messy fighting is. It's fine when you're outside, but it's very apparent when you're in close corridors.

[She's kind of rambling a bit, but it helps her focus on something else besides the pain and blood that she's losing.]

And it's so red. And garish. Ugh, how are we going to clean this?

[save_the_souls]

[He meanwhile works on applying pressure to that wound, to get the bleeding to stop. But he's fine with the rambling, in fact he'll try to be cheerful about it]

Ah, don't worry. It'll clean up just fine. We've been in need for a new coat of paint anyway.

[bryces_pup]

[This isn't the most amount of blood she's lost; she's conscious still, which puts a leg up on what happened the last time she faced bleeding out...]

We're gonna need one of those mop things. And buckets. [Pause.] They didn't take those, did they? I mean, Andraste's tits, they tried stealing the appliances in the kitchen.

[save_the_souls]

They did?

[Oh okay that causes him to frown]

Bastards. We need those.

A

[deviances]

[ How about some help in the form of magic~?

Eithan hears her call out, sprints over, and it doesn't take him long to assess the situation and figure out just how big of an explosion he's gonna make... ]

On it! Stay covered!

[ He calls forth his flames, lets them swirl and twist into a crackling, volatile ball, and then he hurls it into the midst of the raiders ganging up on Riona. Once that fireball makes contact? Boom.

(He promises he'll scrub the scorch marks out later. Really. Right now, battle's more important.) ]

[dancingmd]

[Beverly had been rushing down the corridor from the opposite direction of Eithan when she heard Riona's call, but he's the one who reaches their crewmate first. She comes to a surprised halt when she sees the flames form in his hands and shoot out towards Riona's attackers.

Well, that's certainly handy.

Unfortunately, a lingering raider had followed him down the hall.]

Eithan! Duck!

[A sharp beam of laser light shoots out from one of the raider's guns, barely missing both Eithan's head and hers. Beverly returns fire immediately, hitting the shooter straight in the chest, sending him crumpling to the floor. He may still awake at some point - gun's not set to kill... Not yet anyway. She comes up next to Eithan and takes a sharp breath at the sight of raiders still on fire. It's hard to see around the flames, so she calls out Riona's name.]

[bryces_pup]

[Fortunately Riona's fought with mages before, so she knows what's coming. She nods and crouches down, letting the shield cover her as much as possible before Eithan's fireball explodes. The heat washes over her, but her shield and armor keep the worst of the flames at bay.

She pops her head up, glancing over to thank him when suddenly guns are fired and she's ducking again. And she swears she just heard Beverly??]

You all right? [The smoke makes it a little hard to tell what happened.]

[deviances]

[ The flames and smoke disappear quickly, thankfully. Eithan's explosions are always focused - contained. Only as volatile as he wants them to be. So! That will make things a lot easier~

He ducks when he's told, and once that Raider drops to the floor, things seem to be quiet - for a second, anyway. Plenty of time to nod to both women, quirk a bit of a smirk. ]

Thanks, Doctor. [ He turns his attention to Riona. ] Yeah. I'm good. What about you, though?

A

[nugqueen]

[Silly Riona, armor is not made for lasers!! Leliana comes immediately behind her, shooting an arrow or two towards the raiders, taking care to keep moving so as to avoid lasers as much as possible. There are a few laser burns here and there, but so far she is none the worse for wear.]

You called, Your Grace?

[Leliana's laughter rings out as she shoots another arrow straight into a raider's chest. Dashing forward she yanks it out of him and stabs a second raider in the throat with it like a knife. The shaft began to split from the force of it so she left it as is, twisting through the throng of enemies like a dancer as she switched to blades and began stabbing and slashing as she could get an attack in.]

[bryces_pup]

[EXCUSE YOU.]

Gee, thank you, Most Holy. Quite an honor for the Divine to show up.

[Riona shakes her head as she gets moving, now that she's not pinned. She can't move like Leliana can, but hey, she's a tank. So she does what she does best and just starts slicing and banging her shield against raiders, knocking them out and then gutting them when they hit the floor. As the last one near her falls, she hears more running towards them.]

Maker's blood, how many are there?!

B - lemme know if this isn't okay!

[witheringlotus]

[Kanda's doing one last sweep of the ship looking for stragglers. Instead of raiders, he finds one of his crewmates bleeding out. His blue eyes narrow, stormy as ever, and he swoops down to kneel by her side.

They haven't been properly introduced, but he doesn't care. He presses her back down with far more strength than should be afforded someone who looks so delicate, and he's covered with blood too.]

You're not going anywhere like that-- your guts will end up on the floor. Stay still.

[He draws his sword halfway so he can slit his wrist on it. Don't worry about the blood-- he's dripping it right into her wound. While it might hurt for an instant and... uh, steam a little bit, it ought to close the hole. It's not perfect but it'll keep her alive.]

it's all good!

[bryces_pup]

[Her eyes widen briefly at the strength in his push, but she's not sure if it's all him or if she's just that weakened from the blood loss.]

Well I can't just-

[With wide eyes, she silently watches as he slits his wrist and... bleeds on her. She hisses when it hits her wound, her hand balling into a fist before the pain passes. And when it does, she realizes the wound itself hurts a little less as well.]

Never seen blood magic quite like that.

[witheringlotus]

It's not magic. My body's just like this. [Says the guy using a holy weapon.] I'm not sure how far the blade went in. You still shouldn't be walking, just in case.

[She might tear it open again, and that would be awful. He is dutiful, if dispassionate, as he slips his arm behind her back.]

... Don't struggle.

[That's the only warning she gets. It takes a lot of strength to lift someone up bridal style and get up from a kneel at the same time, but he manages with only a grunt of effort.]

[bryces_pup]

Bodies don't normally do that. If it's not magic then what is it? And if I can't walk, how do you-

[Her question's answered before she even fully asks it. She grimaces as she's lifted up, holding onto his shoulders to keep steady as her feet leave the ground.]

I'm not going to send us both toppling to the ground. Can you make it?

b -- and a little bit later. lemme know if this doesn't work/she wouldn't be in the medbay.

[steeledskin]

[ sansa finds riona in the med-bay. later. for her part, her right arm is wrapped up in a sling. otherwise? she looks relatively unscathed -- though there's a haunted look in her face that hasn't been there for months.

she stops just short of where riona's resting. ] I heard you were badly hurt. [ ... ] Can I help?

[ bold, really. in its own quiet way. ]

totally fine! she'll be stuck there awhile

[bryces_pup]

[Sansa heard correctly. Riona damn well got herself gutted. In defending the kitchen, of all places. Fortunately, the ship had enough medics who found her quickly and stitched her up before she could bleed out. Now she's confined to a bed in the med bay for the foreseeable future.

She smiles tiredly when she sees Sansa, though the smile fades when she notices the sling.]

Thank you, Sansa. I'm afraid there's little to be done. I would not mind some company, though. But only if you're up for it.

[That expression doesn't escape her. She's seen it too many times.]

Were you badly hurt?

[steeledskin]

Not badly, no. [ she's quick to reassure riona. as much as her arm hurts when moved or jostled, sansa's healed up from worse. bruised ribs and fractured bones from when the kingsguard would beat her. split lips and loosened teeth.

gingerly, she takes a seat next to riona's gurney. ] I was stupid and tried to lift my bed by myself -- to block the door, you see.

[bryces_pup]

[Riona's more relieved that the raiders hadn't harmed her. They had tried taking Jeyne; she feared the same happened to Sansa.]

That's not stupid at all. You tried to protect yourself. Smart thing to do. Better than freezing in panic.