Location: Spaaaaaaaaaace
Commander Talia Kain smiled with predatory delight as sensors finally identified the ship that opposed her. An
Interceptor-class Frigate. Databanks filled her mind with information on the ship. At one time, it had been a terror of the stars. Fast, powerful, durable, and reliable. The ship was a pirate's dream and became synonymous with the Black Suns Crime Syndicate.
Hundreds of years ago.
Today, the ship was an antique. She was old, her armor plates were cracked and scarred or missing entirely, her superstructure was broken and fragmented in more places that Talia could count, half her weapons were molten slag and the other half barely worked, power conduits were ruptured in thirty six separate locations and her crew had only bothered to bypass twenty eight of which.
It was odd... being aware of so many details at once. But it was intoxicating. Talia felt like a god of the heavens as she raced towards her unworthy prey. Her training and instincts mixed with the instincts of Naast'ika's subconscious and she was utterly and completely overwhelmed by it all. A savage grin crossed her face as the enemy ship opened fire. Shots bounced off her shields and her hull, physically ricocheting elsewhere into space. Talia pulled her nacelle close to her body and accelerated faster, pouring energy into her shields and into the Neuroengines that pulled her forward. She clenched what passed for muscles on her god-like body and made one last course correction before she put her armored and aerodynamic body to use. A Keldabe Kiss of epic proportions rocked the heavens as Naast'ika Laaran's Beskar armored prow forced its way through the armor, hull, and superstructure of the old and rotten
Interceptor-class Frigate.
His body emerged unscathed upon the other side, shields slightly depleted and two scrapped halfs of ship tumbling wildly through space in his wake. Seconds ticked by as Naast'ika slowly caught up with what was happening to his body. Somewhere behind him, the aft half of the Interceptor-class Frigate exploded in nuclear fire as reactors went critical. Within himself, Naast'ika's subconscious caught up with his consciousness and the young creature remembered all that had transpired within his head.
"NO!" He shouted, clear and pronounced within the mind of Talia Kain. Her own subconscious lending words to the thoughts and emotions of Naast'ika Laaran. The giant ship's voice reverberated like thunder within her skull and her perception of space and stars and radio waves was torn from her mind and replaced by the cold, dark interior of a Cognition Hood.
Talia felt weak and blind. Her body felt frail and naked. She knew she was clothed, but in the dark interior of the Pilot's Den, cradled in the empty, slimy interior of a Cognition Throne, with her armor in pieces upon the floor... Talia felt naked. She pulled herself forward and sat upright. In the dark of the room, a pinpoint of red light caught her attention. It took a moment for her brain to process the information without the databanks of Naast'ika to aid her... but eventually she recognized the pinpoint of light for what it was. The targeting beam of a plasma cannon was pointed at her from the ceiling of the Pilot's Den. Naast'ika wanted her out.
It took her a few minutes... She wiped the slime of the Cognition Throne from her body. Cloth rags and cloth clothing laid in a heap upon the floor as Talia re-donned her Beskar'gam is silent shame at having violated the will and trust of Naast'ika, and in silent shock at being severed from the senses and consciousness of such a beautiful ship.
Naast'ika was far more of an amazing creature than she had ever given him credit for.
It didn't take much for Captain Tupu to realize what had happened. The massive blow to the head that Commander Kain had given the ship had managed to wake the beast from its slumber. The fact that her voice no longer responded to him, compounded by the rustling he heard coming from the Pilot's Den as the woman moved to re-don her armor, told the Captain that his ship was once again in control of its own actions. In a way, it was unfortunate. But considering the damage the experience had likely done to Commander Kain's psyche, he was momentarily glad to have Naast'ika back.
"Junior Lieutenant Tersu, Ensign Rekama. Please plot a hyperspace course for N-2." Captain Tupu said quietly.
"And in the meantime..." he continued with mildly piqued interest.
"Commander Duke, what do you say we explore the remaining half of the wreckage? Find out exactly who attacked us and where they came from. Not to mention... I want to know what managed to knock out Naast'ika. Because it sure as feth wasn't that hunk of junk."