Tomb Raiders, Mostly Proportionate (Levantine Sanctum Dominion of Tash-Taral)

[Ashin Varanin]

The Washburn was an ugly, underperforming ship, a starter ship, easily modified, but this one had no real modifications of note. It chugged along in the flotilla's wake. A nearby corvette turned a hazardous comet shard to vapor, then snow. White accumulated in the corners of the viewports, lacking wind to blow it away. With a nervous chuckle, Jethro tried a couple of basic maneuvers, slight course deviations, and watched the snow slide this way and that.

 

[Livia Maddox]

"Ah, Ma'am? What's with that Washburn?" the Sensors Officer glanced up from his bank of holoscreens, pointing at the ship where [member="Jethro Merrill"]'s ship bent this way and that. The Captain looked up from Nephesh and quirked her eyebrow up as her lips pursed.

"I have. . . " The eyebrow raised higher. Livia blinked. ". . . no idea. Steer clear of that ship. . . I very much don't feel like sending a couple of crewmen out to buff out a ding on the hull."

Smacking her lips, the Captain sat back in her chair and knew that soon it would be time for the Sikke Vahan to break away from the others and start its defensive grid. "Stations, report."

"All clear, Captain."

"Channels open and chatter monitored, Captain."

"No bumps, bruises or scrapes here, Captain.

"Satellites prepped for departure and placement at pre-programmed coordinates, Captain."

"Out of tea, Captain. . . what?"

Livia glared at the Ensign and rolled her eyes. "Oh heavens above and below us we simply cannot run out of tea." Then she started. "Wait, we're out of tea!? Check every cupboard and cubby hole until more tea is found! QUICK!"

"I meant in your pot, Ma'am."

". . . I said go check the cubbies, Ensign. Or at least brew me a new pot. And ask Nephesh if she would like a cup herself. Manners, people!" Captain Fury glared. The Ensign skidded out of Command Central and off to the Galley faster than Jethro veered from side to side.

 

[Tiland Kortun]

Tiland shifted unsteadily in his seat as the ship he was on, he wasn't at all sure what it's name was, jostled and rocked about. Presumably meant to go through the debris field. Perhaps he shouldn't have isolated himself in a storage hold. He may have had a clearer idea of what was going on. But there would also have been more individuals about, their soup calling to him, begging to be drained away.

No, it was better to be alone, so he wrapped his jacket more tightly around his shoulders and let himself sink into the Force, reaching out to the planet below. He felt darkness, and shuddered, but kept reaching out, waiting for the slimy feel to drift away. What had happened to this world? What left it shrouded in so much darkness?

 

[Jorus Merrill]

In [member="Chloe Blake"]'s wake, the Bullet Time slipped through the edge of the Oort sphere. From here, the system primary was a star like any other, and no planets were visible. It just looked like...space.

"All ships, we have clear skies. My thanks to Captain Blake. I'm transmitting microjump coordinates to all of you; the solution will put us right over the planet. Jumping in two minutes. Countdown transmitting now."

At the appointed minute, the Bullet Time leaped for Tash-Taral.

[member="Tiland Kortun"] [member="Livia Maddox"] @[member="Nephesh Raivah"] [member="Judah Dashiell"] [member="Thessa Kai"] [member="Jaxton Ravos"] [member="Thurion Heavenshield"] [member="Jericho"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

His estranged cousin's voice and the associated coordinates streamed in through the Washburn's comms as Jethro broke into empty space. The shiny ships began to jump; with a grunt, Jethro shoved the hyperwave solution into his moderately decent navicomputer and took the big leap. He fething hated microjumps, for a lot of reasons, but it'd take him about three weeks to get insystem at sublight.

The snow stayed on his windshield for the half a second he was in hyperspace.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

As clear skies resulted from all this Force-enhanced navigation -- a skill Iara had only developed in the most limited of senses -- the corvette Aletheia engaged its long-range sensors and began doing what it did.

To wit, mapping. The Alndys-class was built for this sort of thing, and any given system had thousands of objects at or above capital ship size. The other Alndys ships fanned out, microjumping to points throughout the system. Iara had her own target.

"Captain Beorht, we have our coordinates."

"Engage."

Hyperspace turned the viewport blue for half a second. When the comforting black reappeared, the Aleitheia found itself alone. The main expeditionary force -- the transports and a couple of corvettes -- had made for Tash-Taral, the third planet. The Aletheia was assigned to the third, an arid rock with a Type 3 atmosphere and 0.6 grav. Not a bad combination with all those comets...

 

[Ashin Varanin]

And speaking of comets, along came the 'Role Model,' a modified Jo'henry mining ship, to take a serious look at them. Though Alec wasn't part of the Levantine flotilla, she knew [member="Chloe Blake"] fairly well - had even been entrusted to her care at one point. That had been before she'd screwed up her relativistic shielding and lost track of her own age on some subjectively-endless hyperjumps. Still young, though, she knew that much.

She nestled in alongside one of the comets along the new ingress vector, in the flotilla's wake, and began a deep scan.

 

[Livia Maddox]

[member="Jorus Merrill"] "Roger that, Captain Merrill." Livia had the message sent and pushed the Helmsman forth. Breaking off from the rest of the flotilla, the Sikke Vahan had another form of journeying to do. Someone had to ensure the safety of the flotilla and its' precious cargo of souls. "Lieutenant Barcha, break us off from the group. Find high orbit and sustain."

"Yes Ma'am."

"Lieutenant Dietrishe, you and Alpha Team begin to launch the satellites. Work with Helm and Science for coordinates."

"Roger that, Ma'am. Alpha Team is go for launch in Five."

"Tactical, Ops. Give me scanners. Tag any suspects in the skies. Any and all shadows, unregistered ships, bogies or unwelcome guests lock on and chime me."

"You got it, Ma'am."

"Ensign. Get me more tea. And my stationary."

"The blue or the mauve, Captain?"

"The mauve with the Shiraya fans."

"Yes Ma'am."

The ensign raced off and came back with tea for Livia and her companion Neph. "Do have some tea, dear. It is ever so delightfully selected. A good friend selected it himself and I do trust his judgement when it comes to the dried leaf." Livia blew on the rim of her teacup and sipped the hot liquid. She picked up an honest to goodness pen and began to handwrite a message in a bottle for said 'friend'.

On it was an invitation to celebrate with the Sikke Vahan at the end of this engagement protecting the rag tag fleet.

'Dearest [member="Ilias Nytrau"],

My hopes that you are well chase the long hours of sitting in this Captain's chair. The tea you sent with me is lovely. Ensign Taggart found the secret stash you hid in my quarters' back shelf yesterday and as I sit waiting for shadows and selfish ne'er-do-wells to pull forth from behind the curtains of space, I think of you. The bouquet is gorgeous. Floral and welcome.

Thank you.

Your dearest friend,

Livia Maddox
Captain of the Levantine Assault Cruiser Sikke Vahan.'

"Scan and send, then send the physical letter in the next available post."

"Yes Ma'am."

Sitting back, Livia hazarded a warm smile and sipped more of the delightful tea.

 

[Livia Maddox]

Captain Maddox drummed her fingers against the armrests of her chair. The sky was frighteningly full of potential flotsam and jetsam, yet none of it had so far emerged with teeth and claws and lasers with which to bite, gnaw and pew pew pew at the Sikke Vahan. The woman stiffled a yawn but scrunching up her nose and working her jaw down and up. She would not, could not in her chair. Would not, could not anywhere fall asleep on duty.

Cracking the knuckles in her fingers one by one took another three minutes worth of monotonous time, and it was worthwhile. Maddox grimaced and reached for her lapel pocket. Nothing.

'Oh bother.' That's right, Livia. Nothing stimulating and powdered with glitter for you, young lady. "Stations, report!"

The officer at Tactical screwed his face and glanced back at Captain Maddox. "Nothing's changed in the last four minutes, Ma'am. All gunners wary, all sensors a go."

"Same here, Ma'am. All systems go."

"Everything's the same here, Captain."

"What about Medical?"

"Medical?"

"Yes! Medical! I want a full report. Call Doctor Franklin up here with a report."

"Yes, Captain." The Commander veered off the bridge to fulfill his mission and Captain Maddox went back to drumming her fingers on the arms of her chair. Several minutes later, the goodly Doctor Franklin saluted her Captain's Chair and got down on his haunches beside the Command Chair.

"Reporting, Captain. All is quiet in the Med Bays. An Ensign in Engineering scuffed her knee pretty bad. About it."

"Send my condolences to the scuffed knee."

"Are you alright, Ma'am?"

"Of course I am! Ship shape! Bored out of my skull but I'm fine. What's the scuttlebutt amongst the crew? Anything new? Are they talking about the mission?"

"Nothing out of the ordinary, ma--"

"Dash it all I don't know what your ordinary is! Tell me!" The Captain pushed her palm into her forehead and waved her other hand toward the doctor. "I didn't mean to shout."

"Ma'am? I'm gonna ask you flat out. Are you alright?" He stood and fiddled with his uniform, bringing out a medical scanner and conducting a full body scan.

"Make me look weak in front of the crew and I will make you wish you'd taken up engineering, Doctor Franklin." Livia whispered, gritting her teeth and moving one hand from her face to her ruined left leg. He peered at the results of the scan and his face softened.

"You missed your last dose of analgesics, Captain. Too busy leading us, I guess. Here. This will catch you up." Popping a pair of round pills from a case in his pocket, the doctor leaned down and handed them to his new Captain, leaning forward to whisper into her ear. "You're an addict in withdrawl and you're working. Be honest, if your skin's not crawling right now I'd be handing in my licence. Take a couple deep breaths and go for a walk around the decks. If you want to learn about your crew, go see them for yourself and leave the idea of Glitterstim behind. Care to stroll with me, Ma'am?"

He stood tall and offered her his hand. The Captain sneered at it, eyes flickering around Command Central.

 

[Kaida Taldir]

Speaking of clear skies, a Firemane-produced corvette, the Jain Zar, was part of the Levantine convoy. It had navigated through the dense sphere of comets, blowing up and vaporising debris along the way and in general just followed the lead of the people who had the marvellous power of Force Astrogation, thereby avoiding possible destruction by one of the aforementioned corvettes.



At the appointed time, it had made the jump for Tash-Taral and appeared in the system with a flash and finding itself in the orbit of the planet. Word was the planet was a fething dangerous tomb world that seemed like a sort of unholy merger between Korriban and Tatooine, crawling with tomb beasts. Needless to say Captain Kaida Taldir just had to come along and visit this planet because of reasons, though she was not formally part of the Levantines. Hopefully she would not come across another terentatek. The encounter with one on Gehenna had been enough for her tastes!

 

[Akilah Samara]

While spacers of reputation large and small made their way through the asteroids that surrounded Tash-Taral, on the surface Tashai tribesman continued their lives, unaware of the civilization that would soon be changing their lives. All except for one.

"Something is happening." Akilah said as she stopped, tribesman surrounding her curious as to hear what she meant.

"What do you see shamaness? Must we flee to the caves and hide from storm or worm, or away to thwart coming beasts?" Bengal, a warrior of the tribe spoke to her first.

"No, it is something different. I have not felt anything like this before." She said, before closing her eyes and stroking a charm she had made out of the claw of a hssiss. Whether the charm would actually help her sense what was coming was debateable, especially to those who knew 'The Knack' by another name, but for Akilah? It made her focus. Trying to focus she looked into the tapestry of the future, the fate that weaved itself around Tashai and she saw . . . people. Dressed so lightly as to allow their skin to show. In a place of pure metal, no sand to be seen. No, that couldn't be right, there were no such places on Tash-Taral. Unless-


"We will have guests soon." She replied to Bengal, and he held his ancient relic, a 'blaster' closely to his side.

"What is there intent Shamaness?"

"I do not know, but they come not from tombs or dunes, but the sky. Bring the tribe to the top of the plateaus and make a clearing. We would do well to gain their favor."

 

[Livia Maddox]

Captain Maddox did what the entire bridge crew had been hoping she'd do: Took a walk. For all intents the satellite network around Tash-Taral was going well. The planet was defendable and valiantly so without the need to sacrifice potential sentient and sapient lives to do so. As Captain Maddox took Doctor Franklin's hand, he steadied her with his other hand on her upper arm and watched with practiced eyes at the position and twitch of her muscle fibre on the ruined leg. He'd yet to get the goodly Captain to a full medical since she came on board, but after a conversation with a certain Chief Medical Officer past he came to know what sort of woman he was dealing with.

Tragic loss was the worst infection of them all. As Captain Maddox's cane went thump, thump, thump along the corridor, the stalwart doctor was reminded that not all wounds and injuries could be cured by bacta and the application of the scientific medical community. Yet, the Force seemed to have limits as well. Could a Jedi Healer break down poorly healed scar tissue and slice into the calcified bone shards cutting into her left knee's channel of blood vessels and nerves?

He might have offered a prosthetic, but the offer had been made available to her before. No, there must be another reason the Captain of the Sikke Vahan was adamant to keep her leg. As they walked down the corridor, Doctor Franklin watched Livia keep her chin high as she inspected the crew.

No hair on her head was out of place. No spec on her uniform, nor spot on her shoe was present. The woman's appearance was as impeccable as her leg was not.

Coming to Main Engineering, Livia sidled along to lean her back against the wall by the shifting door and watched the crew at work. They appeared efficient and multi-cultural. There were Mon Calamari, Rhodians, Humans, Echani and Kiffar. She watched Zelosians, Zeltron and a lone Chiss scurry around with heads looking as straight as arrows and dedicated as the Mando'ade to the Resol'nare.

"Pretty good crew, eh Captain Maddox?"

"Remains to be seen. A crew can function in calm which would seize in crisis. As far as that I cannot tell, but I can say I like what I currently see. They may carry on." She swerved around and limped out of the Main Engineering, the Doctor launching behind her wondering how calloused her palm had gotten from hitting the ground so hard with the cane.

 

[Livia Maddox]

The crisis came soon enough.

It had begun with a blip on the sensor scans, little more than an unnamed asteroid and little less than a large Corvette the blip had fallen off the Operations officer's personal radar. Soon another such blip appeared. Then another. Tactical was alerted, as was Captain Maddox. She heaved herself through the decks to the Command Centre and fell into her Captain's Chair with a well deserved huff, her cheeks red and lungs fuming. Cardio. Couldn't get much cardio in when one was post-injury.

"Report!"

"We've got four confirmed. . . . five. Five bogies not a part of the Convoy."

"Trajectories. Show me." Flinging her hand up, Captain Maddox called forth the Sensor readouts to a slim holoscreen built into the chair. Her eyes narrowed. "Ambush?"

"Almost certainly, Ma'am."

"Scan in our sensor wake. Did they come from behind or whichever other direction?"

The Sensors operator's fingers flew across his console. He looked at the screen and not the Captain. She felt easier with that. To the task, not the ego. It was a better sign than the missing blips had been. "Definitely from the other side of the planet. Looks like they were hiding in the planet's sensor shadow."

"What information on the ships?"

"Small, I'm not detecting any serious power surges. They appear to be waiting on the convoy."

"Tell Science and Engineering their window to deploying the satellite defences has shortened. I want them to pick up their pace slowly, don't give the blagards the idea we've been spooked."

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Ensign Myles, my tea is cold. Be a dear and warm it up." The Ensign balked, snapping to and taking the lukewarm cup to do as instructed.

 

[Livia Maddox]

"Comm, open a channel to Captain [member="Jorus Merrill"]."

"Open, Ma'am."

"Captain Merrill, it appears we have curious visitors hiding in the asteroids. Nothing the Sikke Vahan can't handle, the satellite network is in mid-deploy and we have the convoy in our sights. It would behoove us both to hurry the convoy along to the planet, Sir. Give me less to defend and more room for slag. Maddox out."

She rubbed her forehead. In the lurking pre-battle Livia felt an odd sort of jitter which helped her embrace the plan ahead. Without the glitterstim, this jitter lanceted across her forehead. She felt spaced out, yet in that newly created mental space Livia believed she could feel the strings of the impending battle more quickly.

"Helm, Starboard engine couples full stop in five. Full burn Port engine couples."

"Y-yes Ma'am!" She clung to the arm of the chair and hit her internal comm. "All hands, brace. Engineering, brace for internal gravitic stabilizers screaming all get out."

She took her finger off the button. "Now, Helm!"


The Sikke Vahan spun just in time to miss a small boarding craft making a dead man's pass to the bottom of the ship. "Tractor control, lock on to that ship and freeze it."

 

[Livia Maddox]

Ensign Myles gripped the side bar of the small off-Command galley. His teeth clanked together as the Morellian knocked his knees and shut his eyes. His very first trip. Had the Captain noticed how wide-eyed and confused he'd been standing on the Command Deck gawking at the potential impending danger? Surely, oh surely. Myles grabbed the delicate teacup and fumbled, amber liquid sloshed out of the cup and splashed over the saucer onto Myles' uniform. "Oh . . oh no. No! No, no, no, no."

Grabbing a cloth was simple enough, harder though was cleaning up the damage on his crisp blue uniform. The splotches of tea soaked into his jacket, he started wiping it down when two letters flopped out of it and hit the floor. "Oh my sweet aunt Lippy, them's the Captain's private mail."

He knelt down as the ship's internal gravitational field surged to keep up with the sudden spin of the gargantuan ship, lucky him. One of the letters (the most recent one) was fine, the other? As the envelope curled open, he saw blotches of spilt tea across the paper. "Me life's going snuff. Snuffed out. Poof! I destroyed the Captain's letter. . . Bet she won't mind if'n I make sure it's truly and utterly garbage."

He pulled it out of the soggy envelope and unfolded the thick stationary.

'Dearest [member="Ilias Nytrau"],

By the time you read this my ship will have likely already returned. I say 'my ship' do I mean it? The Sikke Vahan's new name is still tacky on the hull, the crew doesn't know me from the fresh paint in the Officer's Mess and the Captain's Chair doesn't feel right. Not worn in. Oh Ilias, I know you'll find a smirk on that golden face of yours when you think of me messing about with the dials and features of a brand new Command chair, I might smile myself if I wasn't desperately afraid the crew will take me for a lackadaisical fool with well coiffed blonde hair and drifting blue eyes.

Truth be, I hope they come to like me well enough, respect me at all times and comfort me with their efficiency and grace under fire. The Sanctum has been a gentle waterfall on an arid day and I hope desperately above all things I don't mess this opportunity up. I do hope you understand the pride of an officer pushing into a new command. I do hope I return after this letter.

Thank you, my blessed ginger friend, for the faith that's brought me thus far and I hope that faith continues as I fiddle and break in this new ship.

Yours truly,

Livia Anantha Maddox
Captain, Levantine Sanctum Assault Cruiser Sikke Vahan'

The Captain was nervous? No, couldn't be. She was made of stone. Ensign Myles blew the letter as dry as he could before folding it and putting it back in the envelope. He scanned the letter, sent the scan to this Master Ilias Nytrau, sealed it with a stamp and put it and the other letter in the mail bag.

He'd be the first crewman to give the Captain what she wanted. He would! He was Dunderian Myles, Ensign of the Sikke Vahan! He couldn't command ships or even use the consoles on Command Central yet, but he could brew Captain Livia Maddox the best cup of tea.

 

[Yasha Cadera]

Location: Planet-side Tash-Taral
Southern Hemisphere

Late to the party or better informed? The Sumatiyara was one of the first ships in the convoy to land on Tash-Taral. Okay so it was neither... the Sumatiyara landed on the outskirts of a forested grove with unnaturally large flora. I pull my non-descript jacket across my chest and zip it up to the neck. Spores. Flora have spores and pollen and tiny sticky seeds. It hasn't been that long since Ashin Varanin took me along to cleanse some zombie plant planet and since then I haven't been able to look at the bouquet of flowers Bucket keeps on the living area table the same way again. My endless questions on 'what farm'd you get the salad from?' are beginning to give my bodyguard droid (and self-appointed droid butler no really, he wears a suit now and everything) a nervous tick. Odd things, droid ticks. His neck servos must be wearing on the left side for all the twitching he's come to do.

I hold up the Korriban Compass and wince as it flashes up with the signal from a rather well endowed Sith Alchemical presence nearby. "Ooooh it had to be in the forest, didn't it?"

"Want me to get your nancy girl gloves, Boss? The ones with the lace ruffles on the cuff?" Bucket shoulders his Scattergun onto a mag-plate fused to his back plates and cocks his head to the left.

"Gee, Bucks. That's totes what this situation needs. A dainty little debutante frolicking around a lazy meadow for simply the loveliest flowers for Grand-ma-ma." I quirk my lips to the side and shake my head as I trudge forward toward the plant life. "First sight of a snapping lily and I'm bookin' it."

"Straight for the ship."

"Straight for the ship."

"Straight for the 'fresher."

"Straight for th-ooooh you're getting reset."

"Shall I get the decontaminating anti-zombie shampoo out with the lacey gloves, me'lady?"

"Sometimes Bucket I wonder about you."

"You love me, meatbag."

Trudge, trudge, trudge.

 

[Yasha Cadera]

Location: Planet-side
Southern Hemisphere: Dodgy Forest

On to the trudging through plant bits. "There's sap in those trees."

"Want me to call your boyfriend, sugar-lips? He could huff and puff and blow the trees down."

"No. . . augh! Leaf!" I jump backward and skitter behind Bucket. The SC-1 Battle Droid (with accented learning artificial intelligence) stops and levels his scattergun. Then trills out an oscillating droid laugh. "I'm so playing this recording back for Sparkles, Mulligan and Mikhail."

"Zombie plants, Bucket. Zombie-making flying unicorn-infesting murder plants in my brain. Let's see you get over that in a day."

"I did."

"Mmmmhmmmm?"

"So it took me three days. Do you know how hard it is to get magical dirt out of servo motors and droid joints?"

"No more sentient forests for me, no more deserts for you. Deal?"

"Deal. What're we doing in the Sanctum again?"

"Waiting for Kitt, remember? Cheesecake?"

"Oh right! She owes you cheesecake so naturally you took up the offer of rooting out the bark of all evil on a planet practically no one but the Galactic Traffic Emperor [member="Jorus Merrill"] could fly to in order to what? Hmm? Seal away bad things? Indiscriminate bad things? Smart plan, Boss. Your genius knows fewer bounds than your sex life."

"Shaddap choo." I step on a decomposing clutch of wilted wildflowers and groan. "Whatever this Compass is leading to, it'd better not be a plant."

"Or dirt."

"Or dirt. Sissy."

"Bag 'o bones."

"Cummerbund."

"Prissy pair of heels."

"Subservient Bodyguard Droid."

". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Master."

Victory!

 

[Yasha Cadera]

Location: Planet-side Tash-Taral
Southern Hemisphere: Dubious Looking Tomb in Dodgy Forest

"Oh look! A dubious looking tomb carved into the middle of the dodgy forest! How fabulous, we must investigate." I pipe up, holding the Korriban Compass up to the tomb as it reacts violently to something therein. "Any chance that Compass was actually pointing to the pretty and elegant meadow over yonder is there?" Bucket peeks over my shoulder.

"I wish. Hey! Look on the bright side, Bucket! Looks like the tomb's made out of stone! And lacking any sense of smell, you can't tell how disgusting it is down here!"

"Will the wonders never cease?"

"Mooooost likely." I plug my nose and nudge Bucket to turn on his flashlight. He does so and before us is a vault of mossy and mud caked stone built out of the stones left over from some finer and better temple, tower or day. The Dark Side curls through the smell in the air, I gag on the mouldy fragrance and feel my gut turn halfway inside out. We walk downward, ever downward as the channels of the tomb spread off for small in-built cubby holes only large enough for a single casket of stone.

"On second thought, let's go wait for Kitt on the Sumatiyara with a pleasant cup of cocoa betwixt my human fingers." I murmur over the fingers keeping my nostrils closed.

"You started this shindig-shaped adventure, we're finishing this shindig-shaped adventure. Keep walking, toots. . . ew I got tomb-mud in my foot cups."

Anders Sivas and Bucket.

Worst. Explorers. Ever.

 

[Livia Maddox]

Location: Space around Tash-Taral
Levantine Sanctum Ackbar-Class Assault Ship Sikke Vahan

The convoy's ships began surging into string-like dots of spin sugar as they pulled into their final hyperspace jump. Livia pulled a sigh of relief out of her lips as more and more of her defensive charges scattered and disappeared from the ensuing conglomerate of poorly planned ambush ships. Little more than pirates by the look of them, the dotting ships of the Tash-Taral ambush appeared as freighters, mining ships and the odd small corvette. A flotilla of the desperate, or the desperately out-classed, they suspended in silence.

The Captain of the Sikke Vahan was neither silent nor waiting.

"Deploy eight gunships, Cluster Pattern Delta. Have Sec-Tac Commando Teams Two and Four be on hand to board and question the unholy twat who thought it was the best idea in his personal universe to attempt to sneak up and cut a hole in my ship. Bring defence satellites online and forward the enemy coordinates. Fore and bottom gunneries, divide targets, sight and prepare to fire. Comm. Open a wide berth of channels to the blighters."

"Channels open, Captain."

"This is Captain Livia 'Fury' Maddox of the Levantine Sanctum ship Sikke Vahan. The Levantine Sanctum is bringing this area of space into our protection. We take your continued interest in this area, the ships under our protection and the attempt on my own vessel as a threat to our safety. You are advised to power down and chime the Sikke Vahan. Power down or prepare to be fired upon. This will be your only warning. Captain Maddox out."

She sipped her tea and leaned back in her chair. "Once the gunships are away, raise shields. Prepare to fire on my mark."

 

[Livia Maddox]

Location: Space around Tash-Taral
Levantine Sanctum Ackbar-Class Assault Ship Sikke Vahan

"Captain, they're not answering." The Comm officer said smoothing her hair away from her forehead in what Livia could only guess was a nervous twitch.

"They're thinking or stalling. My credits are on a bit of both, we're an imposing ship scale to scale and they lost their element of surprise. As long as they don't have sizeable backup rushing through the Oort Cloud we're stable. How are the satellite defences coming?"

An officer piped up, "33% online, Captain. We're gaining 2% every four minutes."

"What are they doing, having tea with the damn things? Giving them a send-off party?"

"With cake and sprinkles, Ma'am." The Science officer replied, back straight and eyes forward. Livia glared at him, her jaw worked into a small pert smile. "Do inform them the Captain and her Command Crew would simply adore a slice of cake each and if they would blow out the candles in a jiffy it might make me forget our lack of invitation."

"Yes, Ma'am!" The Officer grinned, saluting and rushing to his job. Captain Maddox sat in her chair and let out a tiny sigh of relief. Maybe she could let loose a little with some of the members of this crew.

"Captain, one of the pirate ships is in motion. Appears to be back-pedalling away from the Sikke Vahan and the planet, Ma'am."

"Follow it on sensors. I don't want it doubling back and trying something on us unawares."

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Comm, chime the pirates."

"Channels open, Ma'am."

"Dear Pirate Scum and Associates, congratulations! You've gotten the lovely and doting voice of Captain Livia Maddox of the Levantine Sanctum Assault Ship Sikke Vahan once again. Good for you. Obviously there must be a problem with your comms, as none of you have chimed my intensely weaponized warship with your power down codes and messages of surrender. How ducedly inconvenient, I shall, however, help you. Should you refuse to power down your weapons systems and continue threatening the safety and sanctity of this space, I shall respond by targetting your weapons arrays and sending boarding parties to clear your ships for transport.

This is your final warning. Power down and talk to me. Oh, and Gentlemen? I use that word loosely of course, I do not bluff. Captain Maddox out."

"Where did you come from, Ma'am?"

"Border Patrol in the Fringe. I assure you the locals of that area of space are a considerably more threatening sort than a bunch of fumbling morons who have more ships than sense."

"Two of the ships are powering down, Ma'am."

"Keep weapon's lock. Gunners at the ready."