Stars and Spacefarers (Open/ Accepting)

[Chibi Kitsune Warrior]

Esra squeaked in surprise as the pod shook violently, tipping the crate she was hidden in over and throwing her on the floor. She glanced around in a panicked manner, confused as to what was happening. Her first trip into space was turning into quite a frightening experience. The lights in the ceiling were flickering on and off as the pod began to shake yet again. No, no, no! I knew it! This was a terrible idea! she screamed in her mind. She stumbled to her feet only to be thrown down again. Finally she crawled into a corner and curled up with her hands over her head.  

[Silas Parrish]

"Cira!" Trav screamed into his comm. "Wake up, tendril-head! Rraznik, can you maneuver so that my friend here is within our gunner's range?" The Leviathan rumbled his compliance, and he moved of his own accord, breaking out of the orbit which had been obscuring him from scanning. Rraznik readied his biggest weapon. Trav could hear Pilot shouting in protest.
"Stop, Rraznik! You'll kill the Captain! Let the young Miss take over with the anti-strikecraft guns." The Leviathan growled in protest, and fired a warning shot, painting the black ether with blue lightning. "No, no, no! You stupid thing," grumbled the Pilot, trying to reassert his control of the mindful ship.
"Pilot! What just happened? Did Cira just use one of the beam cannons?!"
"I'm sorry, Captain! That weapon cannot be controlled by an outside operator. The ship fired, himself. I cannot establish control over Rraznik at this time. He is fighting my every signal!"
"Rraznik, listen to me! You don't want to hurt your Captain, do you? If you use the big guns, the Peacekeepers will find me, shoot me down, and then they'll be after you! I know you don't want that awful collar put back on you."

~ ~ ~

Kenat spat upon the ground.
"You will repair this module! And you will do it for the price we agreed upon," the Luxan grumbled, his breathing sounding quite snakelike. The shop keeper was adamant. To prove it, he tossed the heavy circuit board back into Kenat's face, striking his hard beak. The Luxan was not injured, but was more than a little miffed. He hissed alarmingly and seized the engineer's collar, drawing the little Rodian uncomfortably close to him. He considered smashing in that scaly green face for a moment, but thought better of it, and released the engineer. With a snarl Kenat took up the burnt-out module and stalked away. He heard the engineer curse behind his back in that strange Rodian tongue; it seemed this particular Rodian had never heard of translator microbes. With another snarl Kenat struck the shopkeeper from several feet away, his tongue's stinger injecting its adaptive toxin and knocking the Rodian out cold. He hurried quickly away, headed for Hayate.
"We need to go. Now," he growled to Captain Hyl.  

[Mr_BlueCamo]

Cira then woke up in the gun seat of the cannon she was at and tried to fire but it seemed that the ship was acting on its own and the gun would not fire. "Gah! Why did I agree to get on a ship that has a mind of its own!? Captain my gun wont fire your darn ship is doing his own thing."

James looked at the board and saw a few jobs that interested him and decided to go with a cargo job that possibly implied smuggling, but they never put that on the public boards or authorities would catch these people easily. He then put down the coordinates of the client and started heading back to his ship.  

[Silas Parrish]

"Cira, the main weapon is the only one unavailable to you. Shoot down the interceptor craft before Rraznik destroys the Captain's pod!" urged the Pilot.  

[Chibi Kitsune Warrior]

((There's not really anything I can do until Troy posts again... x - x))  

[Mr_BlueCamo]

"Well silly me the gun was in safety mode." Cira said as she switched it to active mode and shoot out the cockpit of the pursuing craft.  

[Silas Parrish]

((Moving on!))
The pod began to shake violently as its fledgling drives failed to propel it away from danger. Trav cursed as the firefight erupted in earnest on all sides of him. Rraznik was beyond reasoning, and was blindly attacking whatever he perceived as a threat to him. Trav scanned around the space near him, seeking some sort of waypoint or safe haven. The Leviathan was too far for the transport pod to reach in its damaged state. Trav sighed, and cut power to the engines, lowering the tiny pod's energy signature, while keeping navigation and life support active - while there was power. Hating to do so, but knowing of little else to do, Trav waited in silence until the world's orbit carried him away from the sight of Rraznik fighting to destroy their pursuers. He hoped and prayed that the Leviathan and its tiny crew would pull through.  

[Chibi Kitsune Warrior]

"Hyl, I'm picking up something on the radar," Nate informed, leaning over the softly beeping console. Hyl was on her feet and leaning over him almost instantly. Several metra's away, according to the radar, two ships and what appeared to be a pod were exchanging fire.
"Well, that isn't hardly fair," Hyl commented thoughtfully, watching as one of the ships shot relentlessly at the pod. "What do you think, Nate? Want to go lend a hand?"
In a few moments, they had turned the ship toward the battle, and in a few more minutes, they had found the battle itself.
Hyl took her place in the captain's chair yet again, snatching up the mic for the intercom.
"Attention crew, this is your captain speaking. We are approaching the scene of a gunfight and there may be some unexpected turbulence... Or something. Buckle up and hold on tight!" Hyl replaced the mic and glanced out the window.
From what she could gather, the tiny transport pod was being attacked by what appeared to be a rather ratty combat ship. Another ship was orbiting the battle a short distance away, shooting at random.
Hyl squinted slightly and pursed her lips, a habit she had formed when she was a child that meant she was thinking hard. She then reached over and pressed a few buttons on her console. "Preparing pulse cannons," she informed. "Target acquired. Firing in 3... 2... 1."
The ship vibrated slightly as the cannons fired on the attacking vessel.  

[Mr_BlueCamo]

"Pilot try to get this monster ship under control its hard to fire the guns." Cira said over the com then she saw the other ship firing at the bounty hunters saying, "Who are they?"  

[Silas Parrish]

"I... am... trying!" the Pilot insisted. "Rraznik, please!"
From the bounty hunters, there was no answer. They did not give so much as a hail. They were interested only in the price on Leviathans without control collars. Two more strike craft entered the space around Rraznik as the gunner shot down the first. Shots from yet another ship impacted the wreckage of the downed interceptor. A retrofitted Firefly had entered the fray from afar.

Kenat waved his Qualta blade excitedly as he marched in circles around the bridge of the ship.
"There, now! Keep them running! Drive them toward that magnificent Leviathan's kill radius, Nate. Hopefully they will take care of the rest. Failing that, take them out as they shy away from the Leviathan's guns!" The two interceptors were fast, but neither of them could take much physical abuse from outside. One pilot radioed his fellow, and bugged out, catching a stray plasma bolt. The other one radioed his employer, and transmitted the images of the unique living ship.

Kovac gasped as he realized that the secure line was being used to contact him. A backwater world was playing host to his quarry.
"Prepare for FTL jump! Get to that damned space-whale before it Starbursts! Battle stations!"

Trav winced at the noises and vibrations he could not experience, but could easily imagine. He sighed heavily and powered up the pod once more, but only just long enough to speak a single garbled phrase to Rraznik:
"Starburst! Starburst now, Pilot!"  

[Mr_BlueCamo]

Cira continued to fire at the enemy ship but due to Raznik going crazy she only managed to nick the ship then she heard the captain's transmission then said, "But sir, what about you?"

X'lor then turn to the rest of the bridge then said in a firm voice, "You heard the captain battle stations! We got us a renegade Leviathan to catch so move!"  

[Silas Parrish]

"I'll be fine! I'm an android," Trav tried to say. He was cut short as the internal power failed, and the craft began to rocket end over end into the small world's atmosphere. He kicked in the door leading to the cargo bay from the cockpit of the small pod and rummaged around for the spare space suit he had stuffed there in case of an emergency like this one. He pried off the lid of the nearest crate, and was surprised to find a green-skinned girl hiding inside.
"Oh... hello."  

[Chibi Kitsune Warrior]

Esra started as the door separating her from the cockpit split apart with a crash. Her head swung quickly from left to right as she searched for a place to hide. However, the captain caught sight of her before she could move. s**t... she thought, eyes wide and mouth frozen into an oh-no-I'm-caught smile. She rose slowly, suddenly afraid of what the man might do to her.

***

Hyl bounced excitedly in her chair, laughingly maniacally as she repeatedly fired at the ship, pushing it toward the Leviathan. Meanwhile, Nate tried hailing the transport pod.
"Leviathan transport pod, this is Firefly transport Hayate; what's your status, over?" Nate vocalized, signalling at Kenat and Hyl to quiet down.  

[Silas Parrish]

Trav rolled his eyes and tossed the suit to the girl.
"Put this on." He knew that it was unlikely she had ever been injected with translator microbes, but he spoke in his own language nonetheless. He sighed again and braced himself for the inevitable cold. His heavily modified body could survive in vacuum - but not indefinitely. He heard the comm buzzing as the last of the transport's power left it, but he could not answer it.
"This ship won't last long," he said pointlessly. "Our only chance is abandon the pod and suspend ourselves in space, and see if we can't signal that Firefly." He grabbed a pulse rifle he had stashed in the pod, and smiled briefly at the girl, pointing to the Chakan oil cartridge in the weapon. He then signaled her to step back, and violently smashed the weapon against a support rib inside the pod. He picked up the sweet odor of the oil as one of the cartridge ruptured.
Trav flashed a wicked smile at the girl, and signaled for her to hurry up and secure the sealed suit.  

[Chibi Kitsune Warrior]

(I guess she doesn't have the microbes... I hadn't thought about it 'cause I forgot about them, but I can't think of where she might have gotten them.)

Esra clumsily fought her way into the suit, wondering the whole time if she was doing it right and what the purpose of it was. Is he gonna throw me into space!? she panicked, glancing nervously at him. The first smile he gave her relieved her somewhat, but the last one left her feeling decidedly anxious. Her worry finally got the better of her. "Are you gonna leave me in space?!" she wailed as she adjusted the suit.