Trensham (X-Protmi II)/Motmos/District 268/Spinward Marches, 069/1106

Leaving Trensham, the Short Walk jumped for Trexalon, where being actively sensor scanned was explained as “completely normal routine, sir”, bought fuel and jumped again for Pavabid.

Ruguelka-class Vargr Corsair

“Type A Trader Short Walk, this is the independent privateer Rant Absolain, you are about to be boarded. Cease acceleration and retain your current course; open your exterior hatches and power down your turrets to indicate surrender, or you will be disabled. If we have to disable your ship, we’ll get less when we sell it and we’ll be pissed. You won’t like us when we’re pissed. You should really surrender. You have one hour.”

There was a frantic discussion of options. Wombat was in favour of getting really really close and trying to shoot through the vehicle bay doors to bypass the armour. However, he couldn’t describe any realistic process to avoid the Rant Absolain shooting back with double the firepower immediately afterwards. With no fuel they couldn’t jump away, and there was no way the Walk was going to be able to run away in normal space. It was Feng who tabled the idea of an EVA counter-attack. 

Steve managed a fumble on his Vacc Suit skill

Preparing carefully, they activated the six Shadows and armed the Tyrex team as well as FIFA Dave and Jesse Wales, then - wearing three of the Shadows like backpacks and carrying one of the mining drones between them, leaped into empty space and jetted quietly to where the Rant would come to rest if she continued her current braking trajectory.  If she didn’t, of course, it would all end rather badly. Once there, they braked with air jets and worked really hard at appearing like space debris. Wombat very nearly managed to set off into the gravity well of Vokshar, but they’d sensibly strung safety lines and the others nudged him back to safety. 

No, it didn't look like that. But it felt like it might have...

An hour later, Wales broadcast the surrender message, sounding as scared as he could act. He also put a subtle wobble in the Short Walk’s trajectory. As expected, the bay doors at the rear of the Rant Absolain opened and the 50-ton Cutter undocked itself in slightly obscene fashion before turning to head towards the Short Walk 50km away. As it did so, Feng, Nevada and Wombat slipped inside the slowly closing clamshell doors. 

Inside there was gravity but no atmosphere. While Wales stalled and ‘fumbled’ the docking and surrender process, Wombat set the drone to work on the bay ceiling, cutting a circular hole through into the engineering section. Nevada shot up through it as the air rushed into the bay and found an unfortunate Vargr in a ship coverall clinging desperately to a strut as the hurricane tried to hurl him across the room. Nevada shot him as the air pressures equalized, the LS systems screaming at the overload. 

Wombat located the power plant from its’ energy signature - of course he couldn’t read Gvegh; none of them could, but Nevada’s suit computer was able to translate at a basic level. The emergency disconnect switch was easy enough to find, and Wombat threw it. Lights, guns, computers, drives, doors, communications all stopped working; only the life support carried on, connected by a separate circuit. Feng radioed to Wales, and the Tyrex weapons specialist Demario gleefully blew the Rant Absolain‘s cutter to bits. 

Moving forward through the corsair’s corridors, the intruders riddled the medic, captured one of two gunners who had set up to defend the bridge but had the sense to surrender, and triggered a hasty change of captaincy within the bridge, resulting in an unconscious captain and surrender by the astrogator and pilot. 

While Nevada and Wombat went to deal with the last gunner, Feng turned to the prisoners and tried to assert dominance. Vargr are inherently swayed by more effective leadership than they currently have, and the Astrogator and gunner ducked their heads and acknowledged her superiority. The pilot, unwisely, stood tall and eyeballed her. With a single blow of her Stunfist, she flattened him; and then in an inspired piece of cruelty, forced the remaining prisoners to space the unconscious captain and pilot through the nearest airlock. 

Oeerrk the Gunner

Vitsek the Astrogator

With the pirate threat averted. Wales ran the Short Walk through her skimming routine while the others planned for the next step. The captive Vargr - Oerrkhorgarr the gunner and Vitsekthaedzsu the astrogator - had been quite happy to negotiate helping jump the Rant to Collace in exchange for the promise of a head start; the normal fate of a captured pirate was pretty abrupt and terminal. So with Oerrk piloting, Wombat to engage the Jump and keep them covered and Vitsek as astrogator the Rant was able to jump. 

The Short Walk went first, so they could explain to Collace SysDef why a Vargr corsair was about to turn up, and 6 hours later, the Rant jumped after them.

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Session Date: 12th Sept 2023