The first thing that Jegora noticed upon groggily rising from his sleep was a steady, high pitched beeping coming from the direction of his desk. Groaning to himself, he rolled up to a sitting position and ran a hand through his shaggy hair. He had been on duty far too long, and his hair had gotten out of control. He resolved to fix that problem as soon as an opportunity presented itself. Jegora then rubbed his neck and jaw, and grimaced. He needed to shave too.

Standing up and moving over to his desk, Jegora muttered a curse when he discovered that the beeping noise was none other than his comlink, informing him that he had a call waiting. Picking up the comlink Jegora quickly accepted the call.

“What?” he said gruffly into the small device, hoping that whoever it was would be quick and to the point. Jegora wanted to go back to bed.

There was a dry cackle of static, and then Angel’s voice issued from the communications device. The more his squad leader talked, the more and more Jegora wanted to throw his comlink across the room.

“Try not to sound so grumpy, Jeg,” Angel said, sounding rather grumpy himself. “Round up the kids, we have another mission.”

Jegora took several deep breaths, calming himself. “So soon?” Jegora asked, not understanding why command would send an exhausted squad with low morale back out into combat. They Jesters had returned only a day ago from their previous mission, and tempers were still flaring from various disputes among the squad members. Plus, there were two new troopers, and Aeos had come down with a mysterious illness that would keep her out of combat for some time. In effect, the Jesters weren’t even at full strength.

There was another crackle of static as Angel sighed. “I don’t like it anymore than you do, but orders are orders. Now get to it.”

Jegora muttered something that Angel must have taken as an affirmative, because the squad leader closed the link. Stepping inside his small ‘fresher unit, Jegora washed before getting dressed and stepping out of his room. On his way out he grabbed a bag full of the essentials he kept ready to go at all times. Weapons and armor would already be on the ship, but Jegora liked clean clothes every now and then.

Jegora’s bunk was second to last in a dead end hallway, Angel’s being the last room in the small corridor. Turning left Jegora made his way out of the Jester barracks, banging on doors as he went. From inside the rooms came various shouts and groans and curses, but Jegora paid them no mind. He was in a foul mood, and so he had no sympathy for his squad mates. As he banged on the last door, which led to the room Jager now shared with the newest member of Jester, Moelik Hond. Still angry over the newbie’s attempt to draw a gun on him, and thinking that maybe one of the pair hadn’t survived the night, Jegora thought he better check in and make sure that everything was as it should be.

Rapping sharply on the door, Jegora heard a muffled moan from inside, and then silence. He knocked again, this time harder. When he was met with nothing but silence, Jegora knocked a third time, this time yelling, “Jager, open up.”

There was a pause, and then Jegora heard Jager begin to swear vividly as he made his way to his door. As the room door slid open Jegora was relieved to notice that Jager had managed to find some clothes to put on before answering the door.

“What do you want?” Jager asked angrily, his voice dripping acid.

Jegora smiled, an action that didn’t reach his cold eyes. “Mount up, we have another mission.”

Jager swore again, rubbing red and tired eyes, and this time Jegora’s face split into a big grin. He may not have been any more eager to go on this mission than Jager himself, but he couldn’t help but enjoy Jager’s discomfort.

Changing the subject, Jegora said, “Where’s the kid?”

Jager stilled instantly, and Jegora had a very bad feeling. All of a sudden there was a banging from a supply closet some distance down the hall. Jegora looked at the closet, then back at Jager, who had the grace to look slightly ashamed. Jegora began moving then, this time towards the banging noise, but Jori beat him to it. The Zabrak sergeant hit the control panel, opening the doors to the closet, and instantly Hond jumped out, trying to strangle Jori.

Jegora was moving quickly now, even though Jori seemed to be holding his own. Although Hond was enraged beyond reason (Jegora couldn’t blame him) and seemed to be capable of overpowering Jori, the Zabrak seemed to be holding his own. He kept moving, constantly deflecting the blows Hond threw at him. Still, a few hits had landed, and Jegora knew that if he didn’t get there soon both of the combatants would be injured enough that it would affect their performance on the mission.

Reaching the pair, Jegora reached out and wrapped a massive hand around each of their shoulders, and then literally threw them in opposite directions. The action hurt the stiff muscles in his back, and Jegora grimaced in pain, but it ended the fighting.

Jori was the first back on his feet. “Sith spit, I was trying to help you, you crazy bastard.”

Hond just snarled, and then his eyes found Jager, standing some distance back. When he met Jager’s gaze, Hond’s face broke into a feral grin. Jegora knew right then that there would be further trouble, but he thought that maybe it was what they both deserved. In any case, they we’re running late, and they couldn’t waste anymore time bickering.

“On your feet, both of you,” Jegora said coldly. “Get your gear and get the landing pad, and if there’s anymore fighting I promise that you’ll regret it more than you can imagine.”

With that he left for the shuttle, although not before noting Jager’s smirk and Hond’s outright sneer. They didn’t believe him, but that was alright. They didn’t have to believe him. They didn’t even have to fear him. After all, Jegora wasn’t the one they would have to deal with if they started anymore trouble. No, if anything else happened, Jegora figured he would let Angel deal with it.

***

Three hours later the eight troopers were loaded into their Sentinel-class shuttle, which was moving through hyperspace at an impressive rate. The passenger cabin was completely silent, most of the Jesters trying to catch up on some much needed sleep. Although Jegora needed rest as much as the next trooper, he was going over the briefing for their mission. From what he had read so far it appeared that a minor official on some backwater planet had received several death threats from an unnamed terrorist organization, at the same time an important New Republic diplomat was supposed to be visiting his planet. The Jesters had been called in to serve as a protection detail. Overall, the mission struck Jegora as trivial, a mission that could have been handled by any other storm trooper squad. Still, orders were orders, and as Jegora shut down his data pad he couldn’t help but feel betrayed by his superiors. He had served the Corps faithfully, and he would continue to serve faithfully, and so he didn’t understand why Command wouldn’t allow him and his squad a chance to rest.

Readjusting in his seat and leaning back as far as he could, Jegora put such heavy thoughts from his mind, slipping easily into a deep sleep.

***

It was some time later when the Sentinel-class shuttle jerked sharply, jolting Jegora awake instantly. He quickly unfastened his harness and stood up. He was the only Jester to do so, but then again he was the only Jester with any real combat flight experience. A jerk like that could mean only one thing: the Jesters had been forcefully pulled out of hyperspace. That, in turn, usually meant one of three things. First of all, it could be that the ship was pulled out of hyperspace by a natural occurrence, the navigation computer having failed. That was bad. Second, an interdictor cruiser could have pulled them out of hyperspace with its gravity wells. That was also bad, but unlikely, as interdictors were expensive and Jegora couldn’t figure out why one would be out here in the middle of nowhere. The third possibility, and the most likely choice, was that someone had placed an gravity mine that would pull any passing ships out of hyperspace. That too was bad, because that meant pirates.

Rushing into the cockpit, Jegora saw that his fears were confirmed. Directly ahead of the Jesters’ transport floated a Nebulon-B frigate, a rather impressive ship that was known to be used by both the New Republic and the Imperial Remnant, as well as the Vast Empire. Jegora instinctively knew that this particular ship was not in use by any military, however. A ship that large clear out here in the wild regions of Vast Empire space could only be in use by pirates.

As the Sentinel shuttle jerked again, this time with the light pull of a tractor beam, Jegora glanced at the pilots. The pair nodded, confirming Jegora's fears. Unbuckling their own restraints, the pilots rose and followed Jegora into the main passenger cabin. The two then proceeded to arm themselves with whatever spare weapons they could find in the lockers, while Jegora conferred quietly with Angel.

“Pirates?” Angel asked quietly. Jegora simply nodded.

“Looks like a Neb-B,” he told his squad leader. “They’re pulling us in as we speak.”

The corners of his mouth tightening slightly, Angel stood and addressed the rest of the squad. By now all of the squad members were awake, although most of them were still strapped into their seats. “On your feet, Jesters. We’re about to meet some new friends. I want you all armed and armored in two minutes.”

Jegora was already at his own locker, doing as Angel had ordered. The rest of the squad quickly followed suit. As Jegora pulled on his helmet, the final piece of the squad's newly acquired Mimetic armor, he couldn’t help but notice that the primary emotion among the Jesters wasn’t fear. It was anger. They were pissed at this turn of events, and they wanted blood.

Right then, at that moment, Jegora pitied the pirates who had thought to make the Jesters prey.

OOC:

Below is a link to the schematics of a Neb-B. The ship lacks a hangar, but we're going to be boarded via the docking tube. We'll repel the invaders, board the Neb-B in return, and take it over.

Don't forgot our pilots.

EDIT- Someone mentioned they wanted to use Mimetic armor, so now we are. Enjoy being invisible-like.

http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/1/12/NebulonB_schem.jpg

"Attention dogs of the empire, this is the Frigate Astarte. You are to relinquish your weapons and surrender peacefully or you will be destroyed" The Jester's paused momentarily as the metallic voice resonated in the confines of the sentinels cabin.

"You'd think that they'd at least try and break the stereotype. 'Surrender or be destroyed'... like, damn" Jager stated as he checked his revolvers chamber, the golden ends of six .454 caliber hollow points gazed back at him. The Jester's seemed to be in high spirits, considering that they had just been pulled out of hyperspace and given an ultimatum that would inevitably result in all of their demises. Nebulon's were large ships and large ships meant lots of crew, at best guess Jager put the odds at five to one but Jeg quickly doubled as he ran off some of the specifications.

"How are they gonna board, I don't see a hanger?" Bright asked as she stepped back from the cockpit's window.

"Probably breach the hull with an external docking tube" Angel answered, his attention almost solely fixed on devising a plan as to how a squad of nine would stand up and overcome such insurmountable odds. The fact that he hadn't already worked one out yet said a lot for their situation. It was then Hond had finished donning his mimetic armor, his distinct red eye's hovering over a barely distinguishable shimmer.

Jager could tell by the look on Angels face that he had finally come up with something . Side stepping Bright he took a long hard look at the trooper. "Interesting" he muttered. The trooper quickly spun around and began to examine himself in the mirror whilst the Jester's fearless leader moved towards the cockpit to take another quick look at the ship.

"How are we gonna sneak nine people onto a ship," Jager queried, the look on both Jegora and Brights face showed they were pondering the same thing. "I mean, they are gonna be using the dock as well..."

"And if we start killing them, they'll space us..." Bright added,

The shuttle shock violently as the second tractor beam latched on and began to guide it towards the dock. Again the metallic voice chimed in to remind the Jesters of their situation.

"Imperial vessel, There is no need for bloodshed. Relinquish your weapons and you will be treated as prisoners of war"

Jager smirked. The wonderful thing about being a pirate was the complete lack of law's and conventions that governed any military or civilian entity, infact that was one of the only things about being a pirate. Perhaps if this was a shuttle full of civilians maybe they would be spared but only to be sold off as slavery at a later date, but this wasn't the case. Instead the shuttle was full of Imperial troopers... Imperial troopers who wouldn't go down without a fight.

"So?, Are you willing to surrender?" The voice questioned. It was then an idea hit Jager. If all nine squad members, save the pilots decided to stealth their way onto the ship... surely their would be captors would suspect something. The sergeant quickly eyed the rest of the squad. What he needed was bait...

"Jori" he muttered. Slowly the rest of the squad turned to the trooper, some with confused looks whilst both Angel and Jegora had caught on to Jager's plan.

"Not that I have anything against it, boss. But your plan isn't gonna work, well, it will work it just needs a few modifications" The sergeant began

Angel raised an eyebrow, "I'm listening"

"Shuttles without passengers don't make sense, sure our pilots could argue that to these guys... but I don't think they'd listen. What we need is a passenger."

"And you want Jori?"

Jager nodded eagerly, glad that his boss decided to see reason. "Yeah,". Jori on the other hand did not, the trooper quickly jumping to his feet

"WHAT! Why me, Why not Stone or Hond?" he exclaimed motioning to both, his confusion and frustration all to apart. Though fear too played a role in his reaction, a fact which no one could blame him for as being taken prisoner by a group of pirates without an exit strategy would almost certainly be suicide. Jager quickly strode over to private Stone, who was sitting down as he readied her gear.

"Jori, before you break into about how its not fair. Do you have any idea what a ship full of blood thirsty rouges would do to a poor lil' thing like stone?" he queried, placing a hand on the privates shoulder as the trooper subtly attempted to shift down a seat. A cackle came from behind the group.

"They'd pass her around like currency" Hond stated.

Jager smirked, "Pretty much... that's also the reason why we are not using Hond."

The shuttle rocked violently again as the docking claps dug into the hull. There was no escape now. It would take them maybe fifteen minutes to cut through the side of the ships hull with the docking tube attached. Jager knew time was short and quickly hurried his outline.

"Right, we leave Jori and the Pilots for the pirates. They'll grab them and move back to the ship, we sneak on whilst they are doing this"

Angel paused, considering the pro's and cons of such an ambitious plan. Though the fact that no one else had said anything and that time was in short supply meant that he was either going to pull one out of an undisclosed location or accept it. "And when we're on the ship?"

Jager's hadn't thought that far ahead yet. Luckily Jegora had. The Correlian took a step forwards and unfolded his arms. "We break into to teams. One goes for the command deck whilst the other heads towards the engines and makes noise"

That was it...

It was simple, it was effective but most of all it was all they had. Angel nodded his head slowly, the idea mulling around under his somewhat feminine golden locks, though Jager would never have the balls to make a joke about them. "Jori, lose the armor." He ordered before turning to the pilots, "Boys, the weapons," A look of uncertainty crossed both of the pilots faces. Chances are they never expected to be taken prisoner when they got out of bed this morning. Most of Jester were in the same boat as well. When Jager was dragged out of bed this morning he didn't expect to find himself thinking up a half-cocked, completely suicidal plan as pirates began cutting through his ships hull.

"Right, Jori. So you aren't gutted you've gotta tell them you are royalty" Jager stated, "Because if they find out you're just some shit-kicker sergeant... you'll be seeing the exterior of the ship before you know it." Jori swallowed and took a deep breath,

"I swear, if they violate me I will kill you in your sleep, Luth." he stated, removing his armor as quickly as possible. Both Bright and Jegora held back from laughing at the Sergeants threats of homicide. Jager let out a quick laugh,

"If they violate you, just close your eyes, grit your teeth and think of the empire."

The sergeant scowled at Jager, then at his squad mates who didn't offer much if any support. Angel smirked and handed him a Comlink to the ship.

"Astarte, this is.." He began before hitting a blank. Jager quickly mouthed 'Royalty' as he stuck his pinkie out. With a hasty clearing of his throat Jori continued. "This is Jori Lekrif the fourth, and I accept your terms. We'll come quietly"

An eerie red glow materialized from a central point on the hull. Gradually it snaked its way around in the crude shape of a doorway, its amber tail slowly fading with each centimeter it gained. Jori and his entourage stood quietly as they awaited their uncertain fates. The plan sounded good on paper, but there was a chance that their would be captors would simply storm in and disembowel the sergeant and both pilots without a second thought. Or worse, they might release the docking clamps before the rest of Jester had a chance to disembark.

Jager had positioned himself flush with a storage locker. The pro's and con's of such a hiding place were fairly clear. If things went bad, he wouldn't have a problem readying himself. Though, if one of the pirates accidentally bumped into him whilst they scoured the ship... then there would be some obvious problems.

The red worm that had been gradually eating away at the hull had stopped abruptly as it came full circle. The next few moments were deafly quiet as each and every being on the ship held their breath in either anticipation or fear as to who would greet them.

A low rumbled followed by a mighty "Heave!" emanated from just beyond the hull, an act that was quickly followed by a deafening crash. The trio who stood to greet them hastily withdrew, though kept their formation, as the hull in front of them shuddered. After another brief silence a voice could be heard shouting before another mighty "Heave!" reverberated through the hull. The circular cut buckled under the force of the blow then with a drawn out screech it slammed into the ships floor, shaking the entire craft violently.

A blinding light flooded the ships passenger cabin followed by thick clouds of smoke, giving new meaning to the term 'Smoke and Mirrors'. The maneuver worked like a charm, Jori and the pilots began coughing uncontrollably whilst trying to cover their eye's from the almost blinding flood lights giving the boarding party free reign. Through his squint Jager counted at least a half dozen blasters entering through the makeshift door, the group wasting no time in securing their newly acquired vessel.

"Kill the blinders!, " a hoarse voice demanded, "Check the back, I don't want any surprises"

Jori lowered his hand as he attempted to regain some composure. Jager could barely make out the figure that had taken up a position in front of his fellow sergeant, his vision still spotty from the flood lights. From what he could see the man was tall, though most people were tall when they stood next to the sergeant who measured in at a little over five foot five. Cautiously Jager placed a hand on his revolver, knowing that the rest of Jester was doing the same thing.

The pirate stood sizing his captive up, taking a few steps either side before moving in for a closer look. The clean shaven, conservative looking sergeant certainly passed the visual aspect of royalty though if anything was going to break his little performance it would be the spoken aspect. Jager didn't know Jori very well, in fact he knew very little about him outside of his apparent incompetence that seemed to creep up at the most inappropriate times and that he was a member of Jester squad, or at least hung around and pretended to be.

Though he had seen the kid attempt to act on Baroonda. A performance which ended in Jager, by his account of the events, having to save both his and their targets life from a rectal examination performed via a flamethrower. It slowly began to dawn on him that perhaps Jori wasn't the right man for such a crucial task. He on the other hand had successfully pretended to be someone else on more occasions then he cared to remember. A twinge of regret ran down his spine on realizing such a blatantly obvious fact.

The man grabbed Jori by the chin and Jerked his head to both sides, examining both thoroughly. Though for what reason Jager couldn't fathom.

"The fourth, eh?" The man mumbled as he began patting Jori down for any concealed weapons. "The fourth of what?" There was no space left unchecked by the mans hand's. He was clearly not taking any chances.

Jori swallowed, "The fourth Jori in the Lekrif family."

"Lekrif..." The man ceased his searching, "Never heard of it. Which planet?" it was clear that he was trying to catch Jori out, his piercing eye's studying the sergeants facial expressions for any signs of deceit.

"Iridonia"

His captor paused. "An Iridonian, eh..." cautiously his hands began feeling around Jori's head. "Wha', Did you leave your horns back home?" he chuckled thinly, disguising his growing suspicion. Jori stood silent, much to the mans irritation. "So, either you're lying to me or..."

Jager took a deep breath as he readied himself for whatever was to come. It was clear that this man wasn't buying Jori's little tale and pirates were never ones to take kindly to deceit.

"Or you're a half-breed" A thin smirk appeared at the corner of his mouth. Jori's eye's remained frozen along with the rest of his body. "Some little bastard, half breed of a noble who couldn't keep it in his pants... Bet your mother was the poor little bitch who got stuck with you"

Jori's lack of emotion was starting to worry Jager. Acting was alot like selling a used speeder, seventy percent rested on how one presented themselves, twenty on how one dressed and ten on what one said. The stab at his mother however was enough to evoke at heated response from the sergeant, much to Jager's praise.

"Hey, Leave my mother out of th-" he began before the pirates deceptive smirk gave way to a flash of sadistic rage which preempted a swift elbow clocked the unprepared sergeant across the cheek, sending on his hands and knee's with a cry of pain. The Jesters collectively winced as the sicking sound of a plastisteel elbow pad connecting with a jaw bone reverberated around the cabin.

"I don't like it when people raise there voice at me." he sneared, "And I sure as shit don't like half-breeds" he finished, spitting on his captive. The pilots, who had remained promptly silence through the entire event flinched as the mans gaze cut through them.

"Let me guess... Bodyguards" he sneered. One of the pilots raised his trembling hands to his chest,

"N.. no, we're just the pilots!"

The deceptive, sadistic smirk crossed the mans lips. Jager heard one of the pilots sigh with relief, an act that was short lived. A deafening crack sent the unsuspecting pilot to the floor. It took a moment for Jager to register that the pilot had been shot, the entire movement was astoundingly fast though very showy. The second pilot dropped to his knee's almost immediately, his hands too, where raised in front of his chest as he begged and pleaded with the man to spare him. The small shotgun was leveled at the pilots chest. Jager turned his head away, he could guess what was going to happen next.

But there was no shot. Instead of the sounds of entrails splashing against the metal floor, the feint tinny crackle of a voice over a com link could be heard. He could barely make out what it was saying, but by the way the man had refrained from executing the second pilot it must have been important.

"No... Everything is just peachy down here.... Just some shit-stain half breed noble. Lekrif. yeah, I' never heard of it either" The shotgun's deadly gaze was lifted towards the ceiling as the man's focused shifted from the task at hand. The pilot again sighed with relief and shakily rose to his feet, shooting a quick look over at his partner, who judging by the muffled groan hadn't had the fortune to die.

"No. The kid's still alive... Bodyguards posing as pilots... Yea' I'm sure. Do you honestly think they'll spring for the pilots as well..."

There was a pause on the other end, it seemed that the second pilot had quite literally dodge a bullet. But, as with most of her dealings, lady luck had decided this long ago...

"Exactly" the man stated confidently before turning to the remaining pilot, "Shit outta' luck"

The pilot's cries for reconsideration were cut short by another deafening blast from the mans shotgun. A shot that this time hadnt missed its mark. There was no cry from the pilot as his body collided violently with the floor, the dull metallic thud sending a shiver through Jager.

The pirate smirked briefly as he watched the body twitch, "Problem solved. Just keep your skirt on, I'm bringing the kid up now." he announced into the comm before tapping it. Jori had begun to groggily drag himself up from the floor before the pirates took a firm grasp of his collar and began to drag him towards the recently created doorway. All the while whistling a broken tune, a tune which echoed down the docking tube as he moved further away.

This however was not the end of Jester's problems. There were still, by Jager's count, six pirates searching the ship for anything of even the slightest value. A task which was seeming more fruitless by the minute.

"Tight arse Imps." One called from the rear of the shuttle, "Not a damned thing worth stealing here..."

"Ow-much you think the ships worth, then" another queried as he opened and slammed a few empty lockers.

Another cackled, "Who in their right mind would buy a stolen imperial shuttle. Gah, this things worth more as scrap..." The half dozen continued their aimless searching. It wasn't long before they gave up, much to the relief of Jester.

"Listen' up." One called, "Two of you lovely ladies keep searchin', Hell, start stripping the wiring if you have to. The rest of you up standing citizens get back to the ship". With a thankful haste the majority of the pirates vacated the shuttle, leaving their two comrades behind.

Bright was the first to creep out from her hiding position under a row of seats, close to where the door had been fashioned.

"Clear" she whispered over the comm. Outside of their off-duty disdain of one another, the squad operated seemlessly and with almost fluid proficiency. Jager initiated the plan with a knock on the cabinet he was adjacent to whilst Jegora began to slowly advance on the two, keeping as flush with the ships wall as possible.

"Was' that" one asked as he made his way over to Jager's cabinet. It was an interesting feeling, looking directly at a dead man whilst he was blissfully unaware of his impending fate, let alone his assailant. The sergeant waited patiently for the most opportune moment to strike, a moment which presented itself as the pirate turned his back on the cabinet.

In one swift movement Jager unsheathed his knife, placed a hand over the mans mouth and drove it into the base of his neck. The mans body twitched, prompting Jager to Jiggle the knife subtly until it went completely limp. Jegora was now a few mere paces from his target when the man unexpectedly turned, his arms cradling a spare trooper helmet. Jegora slammed a hand into the mans throat whilst jerking the neck upwards and to the right, the move crushing his larynx and separating the spinal cord. Unlike Jager's mark, his target went limp instantly without the slightest peep. He even managed to catch the helmet before it hit the floor.

"Hide the bodies." Angel began delegating "Bright, Hond, up the docking tube. Make sure we don't have any visitors. Stone, the pilots"  Speed was key, the fast Jester moved off the shuttle and onto the ship the higher the chances of success where and there was no telling how long their recent success would last.

“Bright, point. Hound, with her,” Angel barked as the small group assembled before the shuttles new air lock.  The SL of Jester waited until the two designated troopers swept past before signaling for the rest of the squad to drop in line behind them. Mai hung back again. She'd learned the benefits of approaching every situation carefully, and she wasn't about to jump into a firefight with her comrades until she knew how each and every member of Jester held their own. After all. She'd only been enlisted for just over 24 hours.

Their was the sound of grunts from ahead as Mai followed Jager out into a cavernous hangar bay. A motley assortment of shuttles and battered uglies were haphazardly at rest, in various states of repair. Definitely not the main hangar, which meant they were probably a fair way from the bridge.

“Clear sir,” Bright addressed Angel from where she was standing between two corpses, whilst Hond was standing chest heaving over another.

“We need to split,” Angel nodded to Jegora, who seemed to read beyond the gesture and somehow interpret orders.

“Bright. Hond. Mai,” The second in charge picked his team without a moment's hesitation before looking back to Angel, “You want to go get Jori?”

Angel's voice betrayed his lack of enthusiasm, “Alright. Go blow something up would you? Get them away from our end of the ship.”

“This is more like it,” Hond growled softly from where he had materialized once again at Mai's side.

Meanwhile, Angel had gathered the others and was already moving towards the other end of the hangar to a corridor leading to the fore of the ship.

“Form up,” Jegora bit out sharply, his gaze resting on the two Privates. Both were wild cards, hence his decision to pull them away from the others. Better their mission went pear shaped then Angel's attempt to retrieve Jori and find a way out of this mess.

Mai had gathered as much but was not offended. She would have done the same if she were in a position of command. In fact, she was so used to looking over her shoulder when she was supposed to be with friends she wasn't sure that she was capable of relaxing in any situation. A good thing, she reassured herself. Particularly on board a pirate vessel.

The small team of four moved in the other direction, Mai falling behind Hond with Bright bringing up the rear. Jegora ranged ahead, leading the others into the frigates virtual maze of narrow corridors.

“Do you have any idea where you're going?” Hond spoke up as they took a series of sharp and seemingly random turns.

Jegora faltered mid step, stopping and turning back to the other man. He leaned forward, using his voice and height to reinforce his point, “Question me again and I'll shoot you down. You understand? I don't have time for your bullshit right now.”

There was a tense moment in which the two soldiers regarded each other, before Hond snorted, “Whatever you say, sir.”

Jegora held Hond's gaze for a moment longer, then turned on his heel and started forward once more. He seemed satisfied that Hond would do as he was told for the time being. Mai knew better. She'd spent her entire life around men like Hond, and knew that every insult, put down, and demeaning glance was stowed away carefully in the memory of men who typically flew off the handle. They could be more than patient when it came to getting their revenge.

They moved another hundred meters or so before coming to halt before an elevator shaft.

“This leads to the main hangar,” Jegora informed them as they all crowded inside, “No doubt we'll find something valuable there we can destroy.”

“Am I the only one who's noticed the lack of activity around?” Bright spoke up for the first time as the lift hummed to life, “Not just that there's no pirates...no noise either...”

“No smell,” Mai interjected, her voice sounding strange to her ears. The others all turned to look at her simultaneously, their observation making her abruptly uncomfortable. She bared her teeth beneath her hood and attempted to explain,”The area of the ship we just went through was unlived in. Humans have a distinct scent, and it generally taints everything they touch.”

“Taints hey?” Hond seemed amused, “I like that.”

“What does that mean?” Bright automatically looked from Mai to Jegora.

The Sergeant shrugged, “Could be that they just don't use that section of the frigate.”

“Or they don't have enough men to fill it,” Mai spoke up again, somewhat surprised by the urge.

Jegora nodded slowly, “I hope so. Less of them to deal with.”

The lift pinged, announcing that they had arrived at their destination. The metal doors slid open to reveal a brighter and wider hallway.

Jegora raised his rifle to hip level, “Let's move.”

"So I grabbed the bastard by the scruff of his neck and yelled, 'You pay the tab!"

"Nice... then what?"

"Then I threw him to the ground and walked out the door"

"Badass, man, badass" the pirate chuckled, throw a second can of beer to his comrade. The can let out a sharp hiss as it was opened, coinciding with the maintenance door sliding open.

"The' fuck are you two doing?!" The short, scruffy looking pirate who stood in the door way barked at the two. "How does 'Fix the water' translate to sit on your flabby-ass and drink" The two pirates snickered as their superiors face turned a subtle shade of red.

"Relax, we'll ha-" one began before being silenced by his superior as he smacked the can out of his grasp, its contents pooling at his feet.

"Relax!" he bellowed, "Do you have any idea what she'll do to me if the shower's aren't working in" he paused to gaze down at his watch, "Awww, Shit!. You two assholes better have the water running in the next ten minutes, Or I will personally castrate the pair of you then push you out an airlock. Got me!?"  The two pirates nodded half-heatedly and got to their feet as their superior stormed out of the room and down the hall.

"What an asshole..." one mumbled as he sat back down and took another sip from his can, "Adda's really got him by the balls."

"He's always been like that, probably just menstruating or something" The two chuckled before getting back to aimlessly tinkering with the ships water system. A few seconds had passed before one of them put his tools down and walked to the door,

"Gotta take a piss. If he comes back, say I've gone to check the... uh... intake regulation check valve, or something stupid on the lower deck"

"Gotcha'," the second pirate called, his attention still fixed on the series of tubes and pipes in front of him. The subtle patter of feet on the metallic floor echoed softly down the corridor outside and into the maintenance room. The pirate took no notice of it and continued his work, his superiors threat of castration was unlikely to come to fruition but he didn't want to find out all the same.

The pattering stopped just short of the door.

"If you're planning to sneak up on me, forget it... I heard you comin'" he smirked, giving his wrench that was affixed to a large pipe a hard yank, failing to move it. "Sonnuva bitch, come here and give me a hand, w'dya" he stated, giving it another try to no avail. It took a few more failed attempts with no response or assistance from his partner for the pirate to turn and see what the deal was.

To his surprise, the doorway was empty. Cautiously he inched towards it, expecting to be taken by surprise by his comrade but upon reaching the door he was again greeted only by the uninspiringly bland walls of the ships corridor.

"Must be hearin' shit" he mumbled, walking back to the opened wall grate. Again he was taken by an unexpected surprise. His wrench had vanished. Cursing under his breath the pirate peered down the grate to see if it had fallen whilst he was investigating the footsteps, but failed to see it, sheepishly reaching down to see if he could feel it. "Arrgh, dammit!" he cried as he attempted to retract his hand, discovering that it had gotten stuck between a large pipe and the wall.

"Fuck..." he sighed in defeat after several futile attempts to free himself. After a few more quick tugs he felt a tap on his shoulder. "About time you got bac-" he began turning only to see the faded red wrench seemingly hover just above him.

"What th-" he stammered as it struck him across the forehead, the small maintenance room resonating with the disturbing sound of steel striking bone. The barely distinguishable shimmer wasted no time in getting a firm grip around the mans head and jerking it to the right, an affirming snap signaling that his life had been abruptly ended.

"Right boss, clear" Jager called over his comm. A second shimmer dragged the corpse of the pirate who had gone to relieve himself into the room, followed by a third who was covering.

"Next time take a little longer," Angel stated with disapproval as he concealed the body behind a crate. The third shimmer closed the door and turned, only to avert her eye's at the sight of the pirate hunched over the maintenance grate, a trickle of blood traversing the area between the wound on his  forehead to the floor forming a gradually increasing pool.

"Couldn't you have just broken his neck?" Stone queried, as she peeked back at the body.

Jager smirked, though neither of his compatriots could see it through the mask. "When you go for an up close and personal kill, you gotta add some sort of style to it..."

"But..." Stone began only to have her statement cut short by the Sergeant,

"And before you starting calling me bad, why don't you ask Ol' uncle quick and painless over there about that technician which he lit on fire"

Stone turned to Angel, who clearly wasn't listening to the pointless yammering of his subordinate. "Get ready" he ordered, motioning vaguely. "he'll be back to check on the two in a minute"

It didn't take long for the short pirate from earlier to return and check on the progress the two had made.

"You two had better have finished with this or so help me I-" he barked as he entered the room. The poor lighting assisted in obscure the pool of blood that was slowly coagulating on the floor around the dead pirates feet. Angrily he walked up and planted a boot on the dead pirates rear,

"Well?!, Finished or what?" 

There was no response, a fact which warranted yet another boot to the mans rear. Jager moved in as the pirate raised his foot for a third time, throwing his balance. Grabbing the mans ankle whilst it was in mid air, the sergeant hastily threw him to the ground, dropping his knee to just above the mans throat. Both his hands still holding firmly on his Ankle.

"Even'in" he quipped. The man let out a quiet gurgle as his senses caught up to what had just happened. Angel rouse from his position across the room and took a knee next to the man.

"Where have they taken the kid from the shuttle" he asked, his voice calm and collected. Jager raised his knee to allow the man to speak,

"What kid?"

The Jester's SL nodded to Jager, who immediately pressed the knee back down and twisted the ankle. The man let out a chocked cry before the Sergeant eased up,

"Where did they take him" Angel asked again, pronouncing each word clearly and slowly to make sure their prisoner heard it clearly.

"Ma...make shift brig... down the hall from medical" he finished, letting out another muffled cry as Jager again twisted the ankle and pressed down on his neck. Angel raised a hand causing the sergeant to hold,

"Are you sure?" he queried, "Because we hate liars, don't we sergeant" Jager smirked and gave the mans ankle another sharp twist. The man nodded frantically, much to the appeasement of the squad leader. "Excellent" he stated, motioning to Jager for a final time. With a grunt Jager drove his knee down onto the mans neck, crushing his airway before breaking his ankle.

Stone gave a disgusted cry as the sound of a larynx being crushed under a kneecap accompanied by the sharp snap of an ankle filled the room. Jager released the mans leg and got to his feet, brushing himself off.

"And that children, is how its done" he stated casually, looking over at Stone. Angel got to his feet, shaking his head slowly.

"I'll be sure to give you a gold star when we get back and you'll get another if we make it to Jori before the pirates kill him ... now shut it and take point."

Jager gave an over the top salute before turning to stone, "Goodie. You hear that Stone, a gold star!" The private gave a look of disbelief as the sergeant brushed past her and into the corridor. Again Angel shook his head,

"You'll get used to it..." he reassured her, "You'll have to"

Abalar was not happy; she was upset at the killing method of her squad, especially Jager who did it so nonchalantly. Abalar shivered at the horrible sound the first neck made when it was broken. The sensation only grew when Jager grounded the pirate, twisting his ankle and pressing his knee down onto the man's throat. If it hadn't been for the mimetic, her hold squad would have seen the expression she wore, which wasn't anything short of horrified.

Soon, Angel felt he had gathered enough information out of the pirate and silently told Jager to finish the job. The sound of a larynx being crushed followed by the sound of bone snapping, was almost to much for Abalar. She took a couple deep breaths to allow her mind to calm, then glanced at Jager. She saw him cooling looking her over, almost as if he wanted to see her suffer. The last thing she wanted was another dumb nickname. The others didn’t know, but she had heard one of them call her “banshee”. Abalar didn’t want to be known as “fainter” or such like. She couldn’t get the image out of her head of Jager pile-driving his knee into the pirate’s neck, no matter how hard she tried. Abalar much preferred the snapping the neck option over the way he had done it. She couldn’t even imagine what it had felt like.

“You’ll get used to it,” the SL had said. “You’ll have to.” Abalar felt like disagreeing, but she kept her mouth shut.

The four moved on, Jager in front and Abalar just behind him. They started of in the direction of the med bay. The group seemed to know where they were going, so Abalar just followed Jager. At least the blame wouldn’t be on her if they went wrong, or ended up on the bridge, as unlikely as that outcome was.

As the group slipped silently on, they came across few people. The ship really was understaffed, which allowed faster, less unhindered movement. Abalar’s mind really wanted to stop and think about why there were such few people. The first idea that came to her head was “trap”, but Abalar suspected that was unlikely, as the pirates didn’t even know there were intruders aboard, that is, other than Jori. The next time she saw him, she was going to give that guy a hard kick to the groin and tell him off for volunteering her to prisoner.

They didn’t meet anyone that posed a real threat as the four continued on, which Abalar was glad of; she didn’t know what she would do if another went out the same way as the other two had. They had to stop every once and a while to allow a guard to pass by, but never had to do more than that. Thanks to the mimetic, they blended well into the shadows of the partially lit corridors.

The amount of guards increased as they neared the med bay and supposed “make-shift brig”. Jager motioned for the group to stop more frequently, and Abalar almost ran into him a couple times. They approached a corner, which Jager told them to stop at. Voices could be heard from just around it, one of them was distinctly recognisable.

“Keep the half breed under watch until I get back. I want to run a search on the Lekrif family, just to make sure he’s worth my time. The little shit broke my nose. If I find nothing on him, then I’ll let you now. I’ll be wanting you to restrain him so I can kill him myself,” the voice said. Footsteps could be heard, but they grew quieter, signalling the distance being put between the speaker and the group of four Jesters.

“Stop.”

The heavily sweating pirate skidding to a halt as Jegora jammed him pointedly in the back with his rifle. The abducted crewman had almost led the Jester members astray into several heavily occupied hallways on the course of the ten minute journey to the hangar, a fact that had not gone unnoticed by their ASL.

“Step back,” Jegora continued, tilting his head towards a small room to the side of the corridor, “In there.”

The pirate hesitated, wide eyes flashing first to Jegora, then to the other three soldiers standing at ready behind him. His gaze then skipped to the hallway as if seeking a savior, or a sudden means to escape. There was none. Nor any other attempt by the gods to intervene and save his life.

“In,” Jegora's rifle hovered precariously close to the pirate's face, “I won't ask you again.”

The pirate swallowed, closed his eyes briefly in obvious surrender to his fate, then complied and stepped into the room. Jegora didn't bother to look back at the others as he followed the captive in and allowed the door to slide shut behind him.

The three remaining Jester members regarded each other silently before Bright walked a few meters away to take up a post by the doorway.

“He gets to have all the fun.” Hond had pulled his armor's hood askew so as to slide a cigarette between his lips. He took a deep draw of the noxious smoke after producing a lighter from under his chest plate, “Not enough damn pirates on this bloody pirate ship.”

Mai felt the fur down her spine ripple as the putrid fumes of the cigarette crept skywards, contaminating the otherwise clean recycled air. Clenching her jaw, she forced herself to remain calm despite the urge to snatch the offending item clear from her squadmate's grasp. The acrid smoke was almost like a physical blow to her senses, engulfing everything and blinding her taste and smell.

“Let's keep moving,” Jegora emerged abruptly from the room, stepping over the crumpled form of the pirate on the floor of the room as he did so. The ASL paused as he walked past Hond, “Put that out and get your damn rifle at ready.”

Hond ignored him, taking another deep draw as Jegora took point once again and weaved towards the small side service corridor that the unfortunate crewman had pointed out. Mai and the others followed suit, stopping only as Jegora raised a clenched fist.

“We've hit the jackpot,” The Sergeant murmured into the squad channel as he looked about and into the frigate's main hangar. Her curiosity aroused, Mai edged up next to the second in command, her gaze traveling over the vessel-rich hold to the ship which had caught Jegora's attention. It gleamed pure silver and unscathed in the center of the immense hanger, small pirates clustering about its base as they moved to and from their respective tasks. A brand new SoroSubb Personal Luxury Yacht 3000. Complete with New Republic markings.

Hond snorted from where he had moved up behind them, “Some NR official somewhere has got to be pretty pissed off.”

“That definitely belongs to someone important” Bright murmured as she joined them, “Someone with enough authority to get us into a nice firefight.”

Jegora nodded in agreement, “No more stealth for now. We need to aim to misbehave from here on in.”

“Chances are we couldn't get across unseen anyways,” Hond put in, “Unless kitty here wants to do her jungle thang' and swing across the damn roof.”

“Shut it,” Jegora turned back to the others, obviously thinking, “Alright. Let's use grenades.”

Mai could feel the immense satisfaction virtually radiating from Hond as he straightened in response, “Well it's about bloody time.”

Bloodhound was plain exuberant. He pulled the grenade from his belt and excitedly removed the pin before tossing it under the yacht. The *clank* *clank* of it bouncing along the durasteel floor alerted a couple of the more observant pirates to it’s presence. There was a resounding scream from one as he scrambled over a pile of boxes, falling on his face on the other side. Then there was the moment that made Bloodhounds day. The grenade was rolling right towards a wide eyed twi’lek pirate who had clearly seen far too many holo-vids. He attempted to kick the grenade back, succeeding only it getting it airborne enough to explode in his face. Hond let out a laugh and tossed his cigarette, they might not be going for stealth now, but at the start of the fight it would give them an edge.

Bloodhound brought the stormtrooper II carbine up to his shoulder and began to spray the remainder of the pirates with erratic automatic fire. The others were a bit more accurate, taking controlled bursts, but Bloodhound loved this feel.  True, it wasn’t that efficient, maybe only two in every five shots hit anything, and even then it wasn’t necessarily something vital. There was a moment of glee however when a stray shot punctured a fuel container causing a rather lovely explosion.

“Bloodhound!” Resounded through his hood, “Stop!”

“Nyeh?” Bloodhound said, lifting his finger from the trigger and tilting his head sideways.

“They’re dead you star forsaken idiot!”

“Eh, fine.” Hond said, cocking his rifle up.

He followed the others as they made a run into the yacht as the other pirates tried to figure out what was going on. They made it in quickly, and thanks to their mimetic armor, unseen. This was all find and dandy, but one thought ran through Honds head:

“Well, what the fuck now? Cup a’ tea? A cat nap perhaps?”

“Shut it.” Jegora was clearly take a minute to finish whatever plan was brewing in his head, the pirates would be back soon.  “Anybody got any explosives?”

There were a series of negatives. Jegora went back to thinking. Hond wasn’t really somebody who did a lot of thinking, it didn’t really fit him.  Instead he explored. Exploring was good. He wandered around the ship, shoving the occasional valuable into any empty pocked on his belt. Even going so far as to dump a blaster pack in favor of an rather nice amulet.

“Bloodhound, get your ass back here!” Jegora yelled into the comm, effectively raping Hond’s ear.

Bloodhound sighed and turned around lethargically and trudged back to the entrance where they’d come in, bright was gone, Jegora and Mai were still there. Bloodhound sighed again.

“Where the hell did you go?”

“Looking for valuables of course, sorry though, Mai. Couldn’t find any cat toys.” Bloodhound mockingly apologized, “Where did the redhead go?” cutting Mai off before she could say anything.

“Brights outside, looking for something explosive.”

“Oh, explosive, I like explosive.”

“Shut the hell up.”

“I love this place.”

Bloodhound threw himself down into a small couch in the hall area and leaned back, waiting. Silently. So far this mission had been a bore, seemingly endless tedium broken up by a few short seconds of fun. Suddenly it was occurring to him that this might not of been the best line of work to get into. As he languished in those thoughts footsteps approached, careful, cautious. Hond pulled his hood over his face again, the HUD showed the green outline of Brightstar walking up the ramp. He turned his head as she handed Jegora something. Intrigued he got up again and walked over.

“. . .explosive element from a concussion missile, they had one torn apart under a fighter not to far away.”

“Any idea how we’re going to make it go boom?” Jegora said.

“Stick it in one of the engines and turn the ship on.” Bloodhound spoke up.

“Whatever we’re doing, we need to do it fast,” Bright said, “When I was coming back a passed a large group of them. I think one of their commanders showed up and is rallying them for a more organized search.”

“Awesome.” Bloodhound said.

At first Jegora didn’t have a plan. He had only focused on getting to the ass end of the ship and causing some havoc, not surviving afterwards. He had figured his number was up, and there was nothing he could do about, choosing instead to focus on killing as many baddies as he could before he bought the farm. Now that it was just about time for the afterwards, however, Jegora very much wanted to survive. It seemed he wasn’t as comfortable with dying as he had previously thought.

In the end, Jegora had devised a make-shift plan involving some thermal detonators, some well-timed taunts, and the explosive element from some type of ordnance that the Jesters had just found lying around. If all went to plan, the Jesters would lure a large number of the pirates onto the yacht, blow the yacht up, and then try and escape the hangar using their stealth suits. There were a few obstacles in their way, however, not the least of which was the fact that no one was quite sure if the ordnance would even detonate, or how big an explosion the bomb would make if it did go off. If the Jesters lured the pirates on the yacht, and then failed to detonate the ordnance, they would have a bunch of bad guys behind them that they had to worry about. Plus, the Jesters would miss the satisfaction of blowing a large number of enemy troopers into the next life. On the other hand, if the ordnance created too big of an explosion the Jesters could be caught in their own trap, and the explosion might even damage the hull integrity of the ship. If the latter happened then there was no way Jegora and his team would survive, and it was very unlikely that Angel’s group would be able to escape either.

All in all it was a plan fraught with dangers and chances for disaster, but Jegora didn’t have the time nor the intelligence to think of anything else, and so he and his team were forced into action. After quickly explaining the plan to Mai, Hond, and Bright, Jegora moved over to the ordnance core they had moved onto the yacht. After examining it for a few seconds, he had an idea.

“We need heat,” he said, hollering over his shoulder to whoever was in range. “Normally a substance would be used to generate enough heat to detonate the core. We need to replicate that procedure. Any ideas?”

Mai was the first to speak up. “What about our thermal detonators?” the alien said calmly. Jegora hadn’t known the newest member of Jester long, but he was already getting the impression that the Cathar wasn’t easily unsettled.

Jeg eyed the explosive core again, trying to figure out how they were going to make use of a thermal detonator to blow the thing up. In the end he had no idea, and so he decided to improvise. “How many do we have?” he asked his squad mates.

“I have two left,” Bright said.

“Same here,” Mai stated.

“I used them all,” Hond said, grinning wickedly.

“With mine, that makes five,” Jegora said slowly. “Alright, get them ready. Set the delay fuse for the max time, and when I tell you to drop them near the core and run like hell. Hopefully those bastards will board just in time to get blown up.”

Glancing out a viewport, Jegora noted that nearly thirty pirates were getting ready to storm the ship. As he studied the enemy troopers, one of the men saw him. At first Jegora ducked down, alarmed, but then he remembered that they wanted to draw the pirates onboard. Motioning to his squad mates, all four of the Jesters stood at viewports and waved merrily, instantly riling the pirates. A few took potshots, but the ships armor was designed to handle radiation and heat at a much higher level than personal weapons could emit. Drawing back into cover, the four Jesters checked their detonators, eyed the make-shift explosive device only a few feet from them, and began to wait. While they crouched in the shadows, a voice that Jegora instantly recognized sounded throughout the ship.

“Attention crew of the Astarte. We've taken control of your bridge and your captain. Lay down your arms and surrender, this ship now belongs to the empire. I say again, drop the guns and surrender,” Angel said.

Jegora smiled. At least Angel’s team had managed to complete their job. Now it was time for Jegora’s group to do theirs. Straightening, he activated his own stealth system, marveling as he slowly faded into the background. Not surprisingly, the other three Jesters followed suit. Then, without any further ado, he tossed his grenade and began to make his way off the ship as fast as he could. Once again the other three Jesters followed suit, and all four managed to make it off the ship just as the first pirates began to board. None of the enemy men and women seemed to notice the slight shimmers that floated away, coming within only a few feet. Once Jegora was in the clear, he began to run.

The thermal detonators had a max timer of only thirty seconds. A good ten seconds had been wasted in getting of the ship. That meant that the Jesters had only twenty seconds to get as far from the yacht as possible before their improvised bomb went off. Jegora hoped that was enough time, both for he and his comrades to get away and for the pirates to board. As fate would have it, it was, if only barely.

Jegora was just inside the nearest hallway when the explosions started. At first it was just the moderate explosions of the thermal detonators. From inside the yacht screams of the wounded and the cursing of the survivors could be heard. Jegora kept running, but he was more than a little disappointed. He had expected a much bigger explosion. Obviously, the ordnance core hadn’t detonated.

It was just then that the core detonated, shattering the yacht and creating a shockwave that forced the four Jesters to the floor some forty meters away. Mai was the first to rise, rolling gracefully to her feet, and the other three were right behind her. Without another word they resumed running, but Jegora knew that behind their masks they were all smiling. Somehow, their plan had worked.

***

The trip back to the bow of the ship was relatively uneventful. It seemed that the majority of the pirates were engaged elsewhere, giving Jegora and his team a clear shot to the bridge. When they arrived, however, they found a good twenty pirates mulling around the bridge doors. Four were working on cutting through the bridge door. It appeared they were making slow but steady progress. Suddenly a sense of recklessness came over Jegora. Raising his BMC-150 blaster carbine, Jegora took only a moment to speak before opening fire.

“Kill the sunsabitches,” he said, his voice cold and steady. Then he fired.

The pirates were caught completely unawares. Although firing made the Jesters much easier to see, their mimetic armor managed to keep them relatively well camouflaged, which confused the pirates even more. Under the withering hail of fire from the Jesters the pirates quickly tried to retreat, only to find that they had nowhere to go. They were pinned against the door to the bridge, and the four Imperial troopers made them pay for that tactical error.

After a few seconds Jegora’s carbine ran dry, but it didn’t matter. All the pirates were dead or dying. Ignoring the moans of the wounded, Jegora keyed his throat mic. “Boss, it’s Jeg. We’re outside. Open the doors, will ya?”

“Roger that. Hang on,” came the reply from Angel.

After a moment the heavy doors began to slide open, and Jegora was relieved to see that everyone was still alive, if a little beaten up. He was about to say something congratulatory when Abalar looked up from a console she had been studying.

“We have a problem,” she said, her voice containing a think undercurrent of fear.
“What’s that? Really? I thought things were going just fine,” Jager said with his usual note of sarcasm.

Abalar shook her head. “Enemy troops. A lot of them. Headed this way.”

She pressed a button, and a holographic feed from a security camera in some remote hallway sprang into life. Sure enough, a large platoon of pirates were making their way towards the bridge. Jegora sighed and began to reload his carbine. It seemed that they weren’t quite done yet.

“Angel we need some help here.”

Despite the fact that his small team was pinned in the open between the enemy, shielded only by the sometimes sporadic capabilities of their armor, Jegora's voice was still cool and collected.

“Two seconds,” Came the brief response.

“Keep moving,” Jegora snapped to the other three, “Don't let them pin us down.”

Mai complied, following Jager as he sidestepped to another corridor off the main hallway. Jegora and Hond broke to the right, ceasing fire as they did so to prevent the pirates from pinpointing their position.

“Grenades!” A large Togorian pirate was storming between the ranks of his comrades. Hulking easily near seven foot he was a physically imposing specimen bearing the scars of numerous battles. Perhaps more intimidating than his obvious strength were the keen intelligent eyes which quickly took in the situation, “Each side of the corridor. Blow them out!”

A string of curse words eminated from the squads channel, though Mai wasn't sure who they belonged too. She didn't have the luxury of pinpointing who had spoken since the pirates were already reacting to the orders. Several metallic objects flew towards their position, ricocheting off the metallic walls and floor. She froze momentarily, her legs tensing beneath her as a grenade rolled to a stop between her feet. Jager had already thrown himself clear behind her. The wall to her left prevented her from copying his maneuver, and the space to her right was equally as littered with grenades. Let with no other choice, Mai charged forwards.

Her first leap was huge, easily carrying her over ten meters as her adrenaline gave strength to her already powerful leg muscles. The force of the explosion caught her mid air, the superheated air wrapping about her slight form and propelling her further along the hallway. Right into the extended arms of the Togorian pirate as he raised both arms in a victory cheer.

She snarled as she slammed into his muscular chest, dropping her rifle in order to better utilize her hands. The Togorian reeled back with the impact, his teeth bearing in a similar battle snarl as he realized he was under attack. He could smell her. One of his own perhaps. But an enemy none the less.

Mai's claws burst through the inadequate armoring at the tips of her fingers, raking into the relatively unprotected flesh of the Togorians face. The pirate responded by slamming a large curled fist into the side of her head. Mai reeled back, her senses spinning, only maintaining her grip on the large warrior as her claws snagged into his fur.

“Get her off me!” The Togorian screamed, flailing about in the center of the hallway. His comrades hesitated, distracted by their pursuit of the other members of Jester by their leaders bizarre behavior.

The others took full advantage of their distraction. Having managed to avoid the first hail of grenades, Hond, Jager and Jegora opened fire from behind new cover, tearing huge gaps in the pirates ranks. At the same time the door to the bridge finally slid open. Angel, Alabar, Jori and Bright emerged, grenades of their own flying into the midst of the pirates clustered about the area.

Having regained her balance, Mai used her hold to propel herself up onto the Togorian's back. Long arms tipped with wicked claws scrabbled briefly for her, but Mai ducked easily beneath them, her breath coming raggedly as she focused on the softness of the pirates neck. Her claws bit deep, pushing through muscle and sinew until they scraped against the roughness of bone. The Togorian howled in pure outrage and agony. He stumbled backwards, attempting to ram his attacker against the nearest bulkhead. Mai ducked low to avoid the assault, driving the wound she had wrought further open as she did so.

Finally, the Togorian buckled, his legs giving out beneath him as he slipped in a pile of his own blood. Mai lept free as he crashed to the earth with another low moan. She stood, chest heaving, the scent of blood heavy on the air. She was panting slighty, excited by the thrill of the hunt and the tangy iron taste on the air. About her the last of the pirates were fleeing back in the direction they had come under the accurate fire of her comrades.

“Mai.”

Angel walked up to her, his gaze lingering briefly on the huge dying Togorian next to her, “Are you ok?”

She forced herself to focus on her squad leader, “Yes. Fine.”

If Angel was unsettled by her intense calm after such a display, he showed nothing, “Alright. Jester. Form up. Lets go find a ride off this thing."