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

Aftermath

[goodandtrue]

[Jeyne glanced up from the counter that she had claimed for all of her herbal remedies. With the number of injured, she had set up a place for herself in the med bay, putting her new salves and mixtures to use.

Her mind had been focused on the task that she had forgotten about everything but the work at hand. Blood crusted her forehead where she had landed against the table, unnoticed in the chaos and frenzy.

It was a relief to see Sokka uninjured and okay.]

Well enough. Are you all right?

Aftermath

[alwayscomeback]

[He smiles and gives her a thumbs up. It's never too later to learn awesome other-world gestures. ]

I'm good. No injuries here. The ship's really took a hit, though. Might be a while before I can get her good as she was again.

[goodandtrue]

What was that? Who were those men?

[With everything seemingly under control (or as well as it was going to be), she could move on to the more important questions.]

[alwayscomeback]

I don't know. The last time we were attacked, it was those guys who actually helped us this time around. So right now, I'm going with a big fat 'not a clue'.

[He puts down a spanner, sighing. ]

But that just means we've got more questions to answer one day. We'll find out what's happening.

[goodandtrue]

It could be at the behest of the audience, to keep things in suspense.

[It wasn't uncommon though for enemies of enemies to become allies either.]

How badly damaged is the ship?

[alwayscomeback]

That wouldn't surprise me at all. Thanks, Atroma, thanks so much. We love this.

[We don't love this :| ]

Well, the life support is stable now, but we;re not going to be moving anywhere unassisted any time at all.

[goodandtrue]

I imagine our ratings will be high after this.

[What a cost though.]

Our engines were destroyed? That badly?

[alwayscomeback]

Yippie for us. Maybe we can buy some spare parts with it.

[Because boy, do they need 'em. He sighs, rubbing the back of his head.]

It's not to the point where I can't fix it- so long as I get the parts I need. But until I do, we're gonna have to be towed by another ship. Clay's helping us out on that one.

[goodandtrue]

Didn't we collect parts on the planet with the downed ship?

[The one she only heard of, as she had to tend to Robb during his sleep.]

Is there any word on the rest of the fleet? The Iskaulit? The Marsiva?

[alwayscomeback]

We did, but most of them have been used on other projects or basic repairs. There's a few parts I just don't have.

I heard from the Vanquish, they're doing alright. I know they attacked the Iskaulit, but I'm pretty sure damage is minimal there. Don't think they hit the Marsiva at all. Big surprise, there.

[goodandtrue]

Someone might have something among the rest of the fleet?

Was anyone taken? The raiders seemed intent on taking people from our ship onto theirs.

[alwayscomeback]

It's worth asking. We should be able to help one another out, here. Get each other flying again.

Not form the Blue Fish. Still checking in on everyone else. Hopefully not.

[goodandtrue]

Why would they try to take us? I thought they simply wanted to kill us.

[alwayscomeback]

We've run into places with slavers before. I mean, living people are more useful than dead ones. You can make people do all kinds of things.

[goodandtrue]

I head there were men that were slavers in this universe.

When I arrived, they were on the planet with the crashed ship.

[alwayscomeback]

That's right. Maybe they were the same people? I'm not sure. Creepy, if they followed us all that way.

[goodandtrue]

It would mean they were targeting us specifically. We can't be the only ones that they might be vulnerable in this system.

For them to attack us like that, it had to be planned.

[alwayscomeback]

And here's me thinking we weren't a real TV show. Or maybe we just scream 'vulnerable amateurs'. I don't know. But I think you're right. They absolutely picked us out of any other target.

[goodandtrue]

It would please those watching us, hoping to see our fear and anger. I wonder if the Atroma would even allow any of us to be carted off as slaves? They would lose a valuable toy.

[alwayscomeback]

I doubt they'd let any of us go that easily. We're just assets to them. They don't want to lose us. Whatever we are, whatever the Drift Fleet actually does for Atroma- we're definitely valuable to them.

[goodandtrue]

So perhaps the threat is nearly as great as it seems? Unless they simply allow us to die?

[alwayscomeback]

I'm not sure. I don't think we're the first people to be kidnapped like this. This is like, the twelve cycle or something. I've got to wonder what happened to the eleven cycles before us.

[goodandtrue]

There were others in this fleet before us?

Do you know anything about them? Were they brought here too?

[alwayscomeback]

I honestly don't know. Maybe they picked twelve as a random number- maybe there were actually people before us. Atroma sure aren't gonna give us answers on that. We'll have to find those on our own. I've been scouring libraries, when we come across them on other worlds, but so far? Nothing.

[goodandtrue]

Don't give up. There has to be information somewhere. Perhaps the men that saved us would know?