The YWS Fleet

My head collided with the bridge of his nose, breaking it and his hand on my shirt released. I shot through my holster and down through his foot then planted my foot on his chest, sending him sprawling. Shots began to fly and the room reflected the colour of the blasts, ionized blue and a neon green. Miseno had folded out his rifle and was swinging the metal butt of the gun around and attacking any of the crew that came towards him.

I faced back towards the opposing crews Captain, just in time for him to grab my shirt and throw me across the room. I flew across the bar, I took time in the flight to shoot through my holster again, still not drawing my guns. I caught him bang in the centre of his chest, knocking back over a table. I collided with the back wall a fraction of a second later, hitting the floor next. I lay there groaning.

One of the enemy crew came at me with a chair, I pushed away from the wall and slid across the floor, grabbing a broken table leg and swinging it at his feet as I passed. His head hit the floor with a crack. I stood and turned to face the fight. An old western was taking place. My crew had taken refuge behind the bar and the other crew had flipped the metal tables over and hid behind those, flicking shots over and round the sides of the tables.

I hit the floor and crawled over to the tables. They didn't dare put their heads over the top in case of being picked off by Miseno and his rifle. I gestured to my men that I was going to flip the tables up. They nodded, though somewhat troubled, as they realised I would be in the open.

I held out my hand to motion a count down. 3. 2. 1.

I flipped the table down, legs in the air, revealing 5 startled crew, I wasted no time to jump up and sprint to the next table, leaving over the top of it and shooting from my hip, guns in holsters. I picked up a dropped rifle and swung it round like a baton, smacking it into the side of heads.

A burst of plasma hit my leg, sending me spinning to the floor. I was swarmed and 3 of the enemy crew stood over me with blasters aimed.

'MISENOOO' I roared, despite the fact of how scared I was, it did not register in the yell. The 3 men above me dropped and hit the deck. I lay on the floor, grasping my leg. Polin ran over and helped me up, swinging my arm over his shoulder.

'Good work, I'll buy you all a drink later on.' I said grinning, which turned into a grimace. We met up with Tom, Paul, Kirk and Harry back at the dispersing point.

'That explosion was spot on lads! made the perfect distraction.' They grinned back at me, Tom's face was blackened.

'Tom, exactly how much explosive did you use?' I asked, still hanging onto Polins shoulders.

'7 grams.' He replied.

'7?'

'An old high school experiment of mine, just double dosage and shot around the place.' He held up a slingshot and smiled.

'Old school, I like it.' I smiled back at him and shook his hand.

'Captain?' asked Polin as we walked back to ship.

'Yes Polin?' I said look at him.

'How did you manage all that without taking out your pistols? That was incredible!' He said.

'It was wasn't it? They were stuck, blasted strap got caught. I winged it.' I replied.

'Got to try that some time.' He said turning back to the street.

Spoiler

YWS Name: AriaAdams

Review Stars: none (she's rather new)

Appearance/Description: She's rather pale, which is understandable as she rarely leaves her ship. Her hair is dark, almost black, and her eyes vary between black and brown, with a tendency of seeming amber-ish under certain light (or if she has high temperature). She likes dressing in the old-fashion way - in shorts and shirts her father sees as too opened, Dr Martens boots and hats of all kinds, and she often adds a bunch of gadgets she invented herself (and her AI friend put together, as she was always better in designing things than in even caring how to make them work). She's never afraid to ask if there's something she doesn't understand, but she doesn't like being bossed around and told what to do. She pilots the ship, with her father as the captain, though she rarely really follows his instructions, choosing her intuition over them. She heard the rumors of MacGuffin's device and the Gryphon still being in a relatively normal shape somewhere, and she enjoys imagining she, out of everyone, will be the one to see them first.

History: Aria is the only daughter of captain Lionel Adams. Tehnically, her father was never trained in the YWS fleet - or, for that matter, any other - but he's proud of being the one who's "crossed the Universe and returned from Beyond". On a pirate ship commanded by his brother, but that must never be spoken of.
His wife, however, Aria's mother who died in the known incident involving the SPEW and Nate's kidnapping, was a respected officer at the fleet. At the time they fell in love (after a while of attempts from his and denials from her side), she was piloting a ship full of prisoners (in hope one of them might be important to the fleet's rivals), and the surprise attack left Lionel the only survivor. Though mourning as he was, he got out of his broken cell, took over the ship's commands and flew away, reporting as captain Adams as he returned to the base. Then he took her baby daughter and her android friend, found himself a ship and ran with the others as the fleet was - so he thought - destroyed. When they heard the news of survivals, at the time Aria was 15 and learning to pilot the ship, her father decided to head to meet the others, and so they've been traveling and searching for them for three years. She will rarely miss a chance to retell that story, never forgetting to add the "..but that must never be spoken of." part, but she only does it because she knows they almost never encounter someone to whom that story could be of importance.

Ship Name: Bonaparte

Fleet: it states YWS, and James (the android) keeps it visible though Aria's father often talks of covering it up so then be in less potential danger

Ship Type: Old little medical vessel

Appearance/Description: When she says old, she means really old. Though it has a capacity of eleven when it's in it's best mood, it hosts only the three of them, and Aria knows the ship's outside is really a lie. Though it's probably older than her parents, with a tendency of shaping the inner space at will, it's, thanks to her father's old friends, equipped with technology she finds awesome though nor knows nor cares how it works; the ship is way bigger from the inside (especially when it feels like it, as computer seem to be some kind of failed state-of-the-art), it has a reliable cloaking device, one little portable teleporter (in its test phase, but nevertheless), system able to understand thoughts as commands (although James is the best one to use that, as both Aria and her father tend to be a bit too sarcastic for the computer to process), a nice supply of medicine (from the old days, and some looking very suspiciously), and a machine that was supposed to be a genuine MacGuffin's, but it's obviously a copy and it can only produce books and bananas (also, at its own will). One may count James under the ship's accessories, as they're built from more or less same matter, but Aria will never forgive the one who says that. From the outside, the ship is black, completely round and surprisingly fast, with a nice set of algae from who-knows-which quadrant, that just won't come off but otherwise don't seem to be doing much damage.

History: Her father got it, as there was a crisis and everyone was in need of battle ships and big cruisers for evacuation, from a source unknown to her. He named her Bonaparte (possibly after his real family name), and Aria sometimes calls her Party or Bon for short. It's not really known anything else about the ship, and Aria sometimes suspects that her father wants to cover the YWS letters not of fear of enemies, but of fear of the previous owner.

*

"Keep your eyes opened, Aria."

She rolled her eyes, turning to her father while still holding the helm. He sat in the captain's chair, with a small, ball pen - like object in his hands, and his furred eyebrows resembled a scared cat.

"Don't say", she grinned, "I was piloting all the time with my eyes shut."

"Closed."

"Whatever. What are you doing with that?"

Her father opened his mouth to answer her, but lost his words as the ball pen suddenly made a funny noise and coughed ink all over his shirt's chest. Aria bit her lip, catching the gadget as her father threw it away, and looked at him assessing how fast she should run.

"Now, why are you still leaving your stuff all around the ship? Haven't I told you, countless times, how dangerous those messy habits of yours can turn out to be?" He sighed. "And my favorite shirt is destroyed by ink. Where did you find it anyway, on our last trip?"

"You told me", she agreed, switching to auto-pilot and adding this one to the list of her father's supposedly favorite shirts. "A pen won't kill us. Especially as it's not a pen at all, and that is not ink."

"What is it, then?", he asked, and she observed as small holes appeared on his shirt.

"Umm.. It may be alive", she confessed, giving him a grin supposed to be apologizing but seemed more of a proud kind. "Little animal that produces acid as it bites. It won't touch your skin, though." I think. An old guy wearing military jacket and smoking something that smelled like chicken gave it to her the last time they touched the ground - or perhaps it was a space station, she didn't even remember anymore.

Every now and then, an incident such as that one would happen. Her father never stayed angry for a long time, mostly he'd just inspect the gadget and complement the idea after a while, knowing how enthusiastic Aria is about her inventions. At first, those moments were rather rare, as she knew of his paranoid side and did her best not to make him angry for a stupid reason, but lately she's found herself wondering if she's been putting her gadgets around deliberately, wishing for him to notice her and acknowledge her as a fellow officer rather than a child on board.

She sighed as she left the bridge, practically falling into her room the moment she stepped through the door. Bonaparte, so it seemed, decided to shrink again, for unknown reasons as always, and for a moment she wondered why her father had the need for buying technology that was never tested and putting them in their ship. Then she took out a medallion she always wore around her neck - a simple crimson stone she has had since she knew of herself - and, pressing it gently against her lips, whispered 'sing'. The voice she knew better than almost any other filled her ears. It was a voice of a woman, a woman she imagined to be slender and green-eyed, with long hair and smile that can scare away all the bad dreams, and it sang of a fallen city.
Long ago, as a little child, Aria has learned that, as long as she wears it around her neck, no one else could hear the song, and she never told anyone about it.
Not even her father, and not even James.

As Lionel Adams was always so busy with his own problems, watching if any of his old enemies - or worse, old friends - are about to appear on the horizon, remembering Aria's mother in ways he never shared with her.. And her best friend, no matter how improved his skills and his brain were and no matter how good advice he sometimes managed to give, could never understand emotions.
*

YWS Name: Kobain72
Review Stars: One
Appearance/Description: About 5'7'' with hair far too long for a space adventurer, this nineteen year old's time is usually spent contentedly observing and documenting whatever alien environments he can find. However, recently he's struggled to find any willing to be documented and he fears they may have been scared away by some event which shook the whole galaxy recently. He wears compact, blue space armour with a quick-to-deploy oxygen bubble should he need to make an impromptu stop - one of his favourite kinds of stop - on any passing alien object/planet. He is armed with a standard blaster and various items picked up on his travels that he hasn't thought up yet, but they'll come to him...
History: He is definitely not in any way related to that Kobain72 last seen aboard the YWS Station moments before it's destruction, as that Kobain72 has most certainly been incinerated along with whatever misguided plotline he'd blindly started out on. He may have, however, joined up four years ago before drifting away into his own daydreams and personal projects, only recently rediscovering the joy of letting other people read your work.

Ship Information

Ship Name: [Unknown, but Kobain72 refers to it as Stan]
Fleet: ERA
Ship Type: Single pilot exploration craft
Appearance/Description: It's not much to look at, with its dull greys and dented sides, but its got a huge hard-drive
History: Found by Kobain72 while wandering a planet entirely populated by daisy-fields and running couples. He had been lost on there for three days and his camera had run out of film on the second - after the two hundred and seventh couple had asked him to take a photo of them in their favourite field - a fact he considered worse than his inability to find the ship he had arrived on. So when he stumbled over this thing it took negative time for him to acquire it and use it to escape. Ever since then it's helped in a lot more escapes from innumerable unknowable threats, but none more nail-biting than that original risk of a duodecuple date with the eleven most insufferably content couples in the universe

Kobain72

"Zvaaaarrrrgggaaarrrggghhhh!"
I had only been on the moon ten minutes, but I'd already ascertained this was the local inhabitant's death cry, and my theory gained validity as another furry claw swooped over my head before its owner - positioned a six foot arm away from said claw - exploded, spraying everything in a ten foot radius with a viscous, purple liquid I could only assume acted as a deadly acid on this moon, as it simply tasted to me like the long-lost twinkie and so far had had no visible effects on either me or my robot companion, Exposibot.
"Expo, where the hell are we?!" Swoosh-bang!
Replying with her standard level of concerned intelligence, Exposibot got me up to speed. "We appear to have gotten caught in media res, sir. The locals at this point do not appear to be of any threat to us, but we do not yet know at what rate they are capable of evolving."
"Is there any way you can get us out of here?" In the distance a swoosh was worryingly followed by a growl, burp and roar combination.
"Well, sir, I could transport us to half an hour prior to this event for further character development, but I should warn you..."
Swoosh-bang! Swoosh-swoosh-roar-...-bang!
"Just do it, now!"
"Yes, sir..."

I'd always loved watching life. Discovering the different ways it inhabited things and could be changed by them as much as it changed them. Once I found out that obsession could be turned into a job well, then I was set for life.
Two years of flight and survival training later I was sixteen and more than ready by my dad's approximation to leave home and start exploring the deepest, most dangerous and destitute areas of the universe.
So I did, and I haven't looked back since.
(Apart from that planet of giant slugs who attached themselves to your back when you weren't careful and rapidly drained you of salt just up to the point where they realised it killed them. That stuff was uncomfortable.)
Unfortunately, I've been experiencing a bit of a dry spell in the discovering-new-species area of things at the moment. I think it's in part due to an unseen but widely-felt event that happened a few days ago, that has sent these creatures into instinctive, almost mournful, hiding. But partly I think it's because of my people skills.
That was until Stan noticed this moon. This moon, crouching behind its siblings as if it was afraid of my expeditions. This moon that was directly on my path towards the site of the event. This moon that, unlike any I'd seen for days, teemed with life.
"Stan, ready Expo. We're landing on that moon or my name isn't a poorly thought-out, intentionally misspelled pop culture reference..."

"Expo, where the hell are we?!" Swoosh-bang!
"We appear to have gotten caught..."
"Oh dammit, we're here again!"
"Err...yes...sir."
"Is this what you were trying to warn me about...the first time?"
"Yes, exactly this. I should have insisted: I could transport use back half an hour, but..."
"...We'd just end up back here again in half an hour?"
"Yes. I'm afraid so, sir."
"No," - swoosh-trip-BANG! - "It's fine, I should have... anyway, can you remember where we parked Stan?"
"Yes, sir. You're about to trip over him."

Ego battered and space suit in dire need of having a yet-unnamed substance washed off it, I was marking a hasty retreat from that conceptually confusing encounter when a transmission came through I never expected to receive.
Emergency Protocol 42

Skull3670

A dull whirring sound, a feeling like my eyelids were turning inside out, a deep purple wave and a distinct chitinous clicking and I was somewhere distinctly different to where I had begun.
Staring into the cockpit window with what I presumed was a bemused expression were children. Twenty, maybe twenty five of them.
One of them, the largest and therefore pack instinct say bravest and strongest stepped forward.
"Excuse me spaceman," asked the child tapping on the cockpit. "I think you parked on our teacher."
I paused in stunned silence. That annoying know it all voice in the back of head telling me I should have installed a hyperspace nav system. Finally the console clunked to life.

~~Life Support Cycles remaining: 55
##EP42 initiated##
Initiate jump 2/3? Y/N

"Yes, yes, dear god yes!" My fingers raced for the console.
/Y

Grif knocked on the door. Rydia opened it.

"Grif!" Rydia said, before giving him a hug.

"It's time to go. There's a shuttle waiting for us," Grif said. They began walking at a brisk pace to the shuttle.

"How's the Cat's Eye," she asked.

"Heavily damaged, but they're putting it back together."

"The Gryphon?"

"Also heavily damaged. The moment Defiance arrived, she got orders to dock with the Gryphon, and I got orders to report to HQ and to bring you with me," Grif said. They entered the shuttle. Grif took the controls while Rydia entered the co-pilot seat. Grif activated the thrusters and the shuttle left Defiance.

"Good heavens," Rydia breathed. There were YWS ships everywhere, many with heavy damage. Entire sections of ships were hanging by threads, some were missing entirely. The entire outer hull of the Gryphon was effectively slag. Grif piloted the shuttle into the Caldwell, where the SPEW Cat's Eye was being repaired. Grif maneuvered the shuttle around the damaged ship, giving Rydia time to examine the damage. Even so, she was still upset when the shuttle docked.

A few minutes later, they arrived at the briefing room of the YWS Caldwell. Normally it was used for briefing fighter squadrons, but today it was filled with the members of Big Brother. Nearby, on various consoles flashed the lights of AI's. Adelaide appeared, with electronic hair being blown by a fair breeze. Macavity appeared nearby and began conversing with Rydia.

The lights went down as Bartemius's projector went on. He was Nate's AI appeared as a large gorilla. His voice was deep and articulate, like James Earl Jones.

"Greetings to you all. Since the attack on YWS Station, I have been collecting and compiling information about the attackers with the goal of anticipating their next move.

The force that attacked us included upwards of a thousand Utopian warships. The majority of these were destroyed or severely damaged in the subsequent battle and were mostly cannon fodder. However, there were thirty to forty ships which did not match any known Utopian profile. Intercepted communication makes reference to a "Black Fleet." Rydia successfully infiltrated their fleet and I would like to invite her to give her report," Bartemius concluded.

We arrived back at the Cloud Edge, I was taken to the medical bay and bio-plaster was applied to my leg. It stank and I could feel it sinking into the wound, stimulating growth in the cells to fix themselves and duplicate. One of the technicians ran into the room and stopped before me.

'Sir whilst you were out we received a vital message.' He stood to attention.

'What's the message Matthew?' I asked, sitting up on my infirmary bed.

'Emergency Protocol 42.'

'Ah. Right. Pull away from this Port immediately and take our first jump.'

'Aye Captain Skyy.' He turned on his heel and walked from the room. Leaving me by my lonesome.

'Balrick? What is the ships condition?' I said to the air.

'Fully functioning, no hull damages or scars. We are as good as new Sir.' He said appearing in front of me in holographic form.

'Good. Jump immediately and randomly,' I said, standing up was easier and I only had a slight limp left. I limped out of the infirmary and to the bridge. I was given concerned eyes but they knew better than to question why I wasn't in the infirmary still.

'First jump initiating.' Baldrick announced, appearing next to me at the helm.

The screen warped and flashed colours of Hyperspace. When we dropped out we were no longer in space. But at an acute angle in a planets atmosphere heading straight for the glaciered ground.

Spoiler

I just noticed how long this turned out to be, I hope that's ok

She hesitated before stepping down. It's been months since she's been on the ground of a planet or another craft, and she couldn't help feeling like something about to go wrong - possibly the space station they just arrived on will be destroyed. Most definitely, it will be a slow destruction, but just fast enough to kill her before she reaches Party again.
She shook her head, as her best friend appeared from somewhere on her left. I'm starting to be as paranoid as Dad.

Smiling a quick smile at James, she jumped from the ship's door and sighed. It was so disappointingly similar to standing on any other surface that she almost wished for something to happen. Her friend, who's dark green hair fell in curles over his silver eyes, touched her hand for a moment.
Aria had no idea why she'd decided James to look like that - she was very little then, and though she wanted him to be a human, she obviously knew she could give him whatever features she wanted. Her father -or James himself - would occasionally add a thing or two to make James appear a bit older, as Aria's once stated that she wanted him to grow with her. Therefore, her friend was gifted with the appearance of a tall nineteen-year-old, along with the attitude warying from a professional butler to a teasing brat that sometimes seemed younger than her. Besides making her company and trying to produce gadgets her imagination's created, James was passionate (if one may say so for an android) about learning from people he'd meet - and, for some reason Aria didn't know, really crazy about animals - so much that she suspected that those algaes on Party weren't as hard to remove as James stated.
It wasn't hard at all, seeing him in human clothes and with a grin on his face, to mistake him for a real man - except for the hair, the eyes and the awkward social behavior, but Aria's seen real people who seemed less normal when it comes to that.
He seemed thrilled to be on a space station, surrounded by beings grouped around intergalactic sales ships.

"Are you coming?"
Aria frowned, pulled out from her thoughts, and stared at her father as he tied his hair in a ponytail and buttoned his coat up to pointy beard he surely didn't have a day ago. He, for a change, didn't seem paranoid at all.
"Why are you dressed like that?"
"This is a space station", he stated the obvious, "and today seems to be a fair, probably in honor of, well, someone arriving - maybe getting married, this part of the quadrant tends to behave a bit old-fashioned. Which for sure is better for us", he winked at her.
"Okay, and why is that better for us?"
"Because it means all around are buyer from all over the galaxy, just waiting to trade their goods for someone else's."
"So? We're not selling anything."
"They don't know that, sweetie."

She rolled her eyes as he explained to her his plan to strip the buyers bare of their treasures. Apparently, he was well aware of the fact he had nothing to offer them, so it fell on Aria's shoulders to think of good lies to tell the rich - looking visitors, and then bring them to him to discuss the money - while he wanders around in search of cheap objects that can easily be altered to look far more exotic.
*

Aria followed her father's instructions, with James right behind her, more because she wanted to explore the station than really to participate in his frauds. She knew, finding her way through the crowd, that it will take him time to find a proper random thing to introduce as his product, and decided to go and find inspiration for herown gadgets.

"I want a pet", James stated as they encountered a cage full of birds. Aria glanced at them, figuring they're most likely crows painted in stunning colours by their salers, and shrugged.
"Make yourself one. It can be as exotic as you like."
"But I don't want an exotic." He sounded like pouting, undoubtfully imitating the annoying child from one of the books their replicator's recently made for Aria. "I'd like on of these. I promise to take care of it", he was silent for a moment, "and your father doesn't have to know at all."
He seemed almost seconds away from jumping up and down and squeaking, and Aria shut his mouth with her hand.
"You're acting as a kid, James."
"Like a kid", he muttered through her fingers.
"Whatever, just stop it." She moved her hand, and he turned serious.
"I apologize. Will you please let me have a pet? I would very much like to see if I've learned enough to be able to take care of one. I would never let it just fly all over the ship - oh, and I could teach it to eat those bananas we always have too much."
"Damn it, James.. Just buy yourself one and stop bothering."

Two minutes later - judging from his internal chronometer - they left the bird salesman, accompanied by a giant fly on a string. Aria had no idea why did James - or, for that matter, why the hell would anyone - feel the need to trade a perfectly working little music player for an oversized insect, but she knew she'd never win an argument with him. Probably the flies had some sort of unknown power that James, of course, saw as vital for their survival in the unfriendly parts of the Universe.

It was amazing how many so-called traders like her father was there. And what's worse, maybe because of James's appearance of a stranger or because of all the gadgets she carried that made her seem like a trader too, they all seemed to want a word with her.
"A good probe, I tell ya, miss. It will take you far if you need to run. Just give me the money so it's saved on my ship, and I'll come back with the thing.." A tall thin man with four ears. Aria rolled her eyes at him.
"I could make you a nice artificial companion, boy. It has a vibrating application already installed.." An old woman without legs, flying on some sort of a platform. James's eyes opened wider, but he made a face that clearly stated he's not interested.
"10001 01 100 1111 01!?" Hard to say what that was. It seemed that James understood and disliked what it said, though.
"Wanna see my invisible identical twin?" A grinning girl with sweet tentacles that seemed fake. Why would anyone pay to see someone if they already knew what she looks like?

"Hey, girl." A human in his fifties, wearing old black suit wit silver YWS written on the collar. He'd blocked her way, showing her a charming arsenal of surprisingly white teeth. "I can sell you a SPEW helmet. A girl's uniform comes for free, if you also buy a gun. If you care to trade me your robot-boyfriend, you get a discount on a ship as well."
"No one sells the SPEW stuff just like that", James muttered, with a tone of 'please don't give me to him' in his voice. Not that she'd ever consider that offer, but there was something in this man that intrigued her.
"I have a ship. But I do need information, so where did you get all that?"
"Sure it's because I'm one of them, on a secret mission. So, the sale is on?"
"Sure you are.. No, no sale. Can you just move for us? I'm late for an appointment with my father." Just in case you thought no one will wonder where we are if we go missing.
"Do I know him? You look so familiar."
"I doubt it."
"Tell me his name." That one was more of an order than a nice request or slimy offer. Aria tried to take step back, finding another man in what supposed to be a YWS fleet uniform.
"Adams", she said, doing her best to act as if not worried at all. Standing next to her, she could see James frowning, but he did nothing - his instincts, though he and Aria's father were working on it, were far from developed. "Captain Adams."
"Not old Lionel, is he? I told you you looked familiar.. We have a history, your Daddy and I, ya know."
She bit her lip, finding James's hand. Though she squeezed his fingers in a way that had to tell him something wasn't right, he didn't react - and it took her a moment to realize he's not moving at all. Nothing she knew of could have put her friend in such a state, nothing but some kind of shocker that would stop his electronics from functioning normally. Feeling an unwelcomed pressure on her back, she decided she didn't want to know what it would do to a human.
"How about", another man said in her ear, "you take me to your father, as my friend here looks after your friend. You wouldn't like to get them hurt, would you, now?"
*

Hours past before James started functioning normally again. They put him and her in the same room - one of the ex supply chambers on Bonaparte - as they took over the ship. Her father, however, got the spot of honor on the bridge, with their two kidnappers and their gang of four others, who seemed to have a long history of piracy, prisons and unpaid debts to discus with him. Maybe out of curiosity or because they knew what they were for, the pirates took all of Aria's gadgets, leaving her without a clue how she could escape.
She knew she can't count on Lionel - he was a brave man when he needed to be and he was known to be good in escaping from situations like that one, but he never before wasn't alone, and Aria was sure he would never try anything, afraid that it could put her and James in danger.

"No available data of past four hours, twenty two minutes, one second", James informed her, and she sighed, explaining to him in short what's been happening. He seemed to had lost ability to keep memories in for a longer time than about thirty five minutes, and she had already told him the same story once before. Fly, which seemed to like that word as a name, decided it liked to circle around Aria's head, driving her crazier with every moment passed.
"James, please, focus. Can we escape, somehow?"
"No usable information found", he replied after a moment. "Sorry, captain."
She ignored his last sentence, hoping it was only a malfunction, and not a proof that her Dad has died and James promoted her, forgetting he never told her.
"Can we try to send a message, then?"
"Where to?"
"I don't know. Anywhere."
"There is a lot of space in Space."
Making jokes. All we needed now.
"Can we or not? Hopefully a ship with a friendly crew will catch it."

James took her seriously this time, got up from the floor they were both sitting on, and approached one of the empty containers in the corner. Then he smashed it with his foot and folded the remainings into a space ship - looking toy around a meter in length.

"Good enough?"
"Really cute, James! I thought you're actually going to help."
He frowned, making pouting face again.
"We just need to put a motor in it. And record a message and pin it to it somehow."
"We'll that's genius", she murmured sarcastically. "And how do we do that?"
"I thought you were the inventor here."
"Well this time I can't come up with something that will take you months to finish. For all we know, my dad might be.."
She turned silent, biting her lip and hugging herself as if it suddenly turned cold. She didn't want to think that way - but she couldn't help it. What if James's toy ship doesn't do the trick?
"I have a motor and recording device", he said, making his voice sound compassionate. It wasn't the real feeling, she was smart enough to know that much, but she felt grateful for trying anyway.
"Can you put it in, then?"
"Well.. If we use mine, you will have to do that."
Not until then she understood what he was talking about.
"No. Oh, no. No way we'll take your parts. What if it doesn't work? What if it doesn't come back?"
"I'll be shutting down now."
"Don't. No, James, don't."
"Make it work, Aria. I would like to see you again."
"James!"

She pushed every single button she found on him, this time ignoring the Fly's attempts to take over her attention, eventually giving up and doing what he'd asked.
If I don't send the message, the pirates may do something with James when they see he's not responding anymore, and no one will help us then.

She realized, about half way through of trying to put the motor and the recorded message on the thing, just how James had imagined sending it. Though her hand could touch the ex container without trouble, the objects made of artificial materials seemed to slide through it - for a moment, she wondered what was the container for. For the next half an hour, she wondered how could she possibly stop the motor and the message from falling out of it. If only she had something made of some kind of skin. Even artificial... I so don't want to use James for this one too.
Fly landed next to her, and she was tempted for a second, but then she decided not to make it swallow the objects, figuring the finders would have to kill it - and she really needed some company while James was out of order. The pet moved towards its owner's head, and Aria automatically swinged her foot in its direction to scare it away. The nex moment she grinned and finished the job with the toy ship.

It will be really stupid, seeing the bottom of boots and probably laces attached and floating around a toy space ship. But leather seemed to have done the trick, and she was pretty sure the recorder was safe inside now. The other boot played the part of the motor's container, and Aria frowned as she realized that James'd made holes in the toy ship to match exactly some spikes of his artificial heart. If she understood it correctly - and more than ever, she hoped she was able to understand technology well enough - he had already put in the code that should give the ship a push to fly away fast enough.

Throwing it from the middle of the room, observing as it flew through the ship's wall as if it was no thicker than water, she could think of only two things - her best friend, and the message that might save them all.

"This is Aria Adams, pilot of YWS starship Bonaparte. We are an old, assistant medical vessel. The ship's been taken under control of pirates, six of them, and the three of us are held hostages. The accessible information is limited for me. The coordinates will be recorded as a visual file automatically, and there are traceable devices on board.. Please. We need help."
*

Alteran watched gladly as the Highwind Prepared to make it's second jump. He was able to locate their position by using the Emergency Protocol 42 transmission. The Ship stalled before jumping.

"What's going on?" Alteran asked. Mattster was typing feverishly into the console.

"We're receiving a distress call," he said, "It's reading with a YWS tag."

"All the way out here? Where is it coming from?"

"We're getting the location now. It looks like a small station on the edge of our sensors. It's a medical vessel. The signal says they've been taken by pirates."

Altern furrowed his brow. He hated pirates. He hated them more than anything. "Matt, plot a course. We can resume our trip to TSR after we investigate the signal."

"Right." Matt started typing into his console again. Nutty took a breath and got up from her chair.

"Where are you going?" Alteran asked.

"To get my Spork. I already know we're going to be in for a fight." Alteran didn't argue with her. She was right. There would be a fight for sure. The ship moved quietly, readjusting it's place until it was lined up. Alteran watched as the space before them stretched away and they were flying through Hyperspace. It never got old.

They were flying for only an hour before they emerged from hyperspace. The station before them was junky. It looked ready to fall apart at a moment notice.

"They don't have a dock big enough for the Highwind," Bubble's said.

"Figures. Nutty will go with me on the Shuttle. I'm sure the two of us can deal with these pirates."

"That sounds like a bad plan," Bubbles said.

"You worry to much," Nutty said as she walked off the bridge. Alteran followed her. He really just wanted to avoid having to many people on the station when he started to rip it apart. He flexed his telekinetic muscles while they rode the lift to the fighter bay.

Nutty was silent. She had been through numerous battles with Alteran. She knew he had no intention of leaving the station standing. It was clearly a haven for Pirates. A center for illegal activity. And there was a great chance that some of the people who had aided in the destruction of the YWS Station had passed through at some time.

Alteran took the helm of the shuttle once they had reached it. Nutty offered to pilot, but he wouldn't have it. The bay doors opened to the vastness of space. Alteran activated the launch procedures and in moments they were zipping through space. He looked out the window, taking the gleam of his ship. Setting eyes on the station he pushed the thrusters forward.

"They're denying our docking request," Nutty said as they picked up speed.

"Well that's stupid," Alteran replied. He took a deep breath, focusing on the wall of the station that was growing ever closer. "Get your Spork ready," He reached out with his mind. Grabbing hold of the metal and with a great yank ripped it away. The pressurized insides of the station started to lose their oxygen. Pirates were drifting into the expanse of space.

Alteran landed the ship inside the station. Using his powers again he covered the hole he'd created, allowing the pressure to return to the station. Nutty grabbed her spork, allowing her magic to start concentrating.

"Are you going to be able to do much now?" Nutty asked.

"Sure," Alteran took a staff from one of the compartments in the shuttle. It would be a while before he could use his powers again. He'd pushed a little too hard. He hit the button on the side of thew wall, allowing the door of the shuttle to open.

QUAING.
From where she was, it sounded exactly like that when the station was torn apart.

Up until a minute before that moment, Aria didn't even know they were on a station. If it can be called so, she thought as the pirate guy showed it to her from the room. It resembled a giant warehouse, made of pieces out together by someone who's skills in mechanics must have been as good as Aria's ability to create objects from her designs.

She's been trying to fall asleep for years, or so it seemed after she'd sent the message. She sat curled next to James, leaning against the same wall through which the toy ship passed, wondering how much time has passed.
At first she hoped, thinking that someone will find her message soon, and talked to James or Fly as if they were able to understand. But then she turned silent again, hugged herself and sighed, and let the dark thoughts take her over. There was no way that anyone's found her message. She sent it into Space without any coordinates entered, and as James smartly noticed, there's a lot of space there. And the boots? Just how stupid could she be to believe that will work? What, the toy ship will bump into another spacecraft? Or perhaps flow right inside, through the walls? If some random object flew into her room without a warning, she'd destroy it - she wouldn't think of a posibility that inside awaits a recorded message stuffed into a boot.

The pirate guy - whom she just decided to call that way, as she couldn't make herself care for what their names were - entered her room and pulled her out of thoughts, suspiciously glancing at James.
"'Sup with him?"
"Sleeping", she said. At least lies are what I'm familiar with. "He's doing backups, I don't know how long it will take him."
He approached her, standing uncomfortably close.
"You look like your old man, just less ugly."
"Charming. You must be popular with girls."
His eyes narrowed, he grabbed her chin and deleted the sarcastic grin from her lips.
"You should learn not to play with us, kid. Come."
"You should all just die or something!"
She pushed his hand away, tried to run pass him - and ended up pinned to the wall, with her lip bleeding and ther pirate guy's weapon pushed against her ribs. She just then realized how much bigger all of them were. One arm of that guy was about as thick as her leg. And the clasp? She couldn't even get out if she had James's strength.
She stared into his eyes, surprisingly light green, trying to surrender without having to actually say those words. He obviously misinterpretated her glare, as in the next second he pushed a button on his weapon.

The shock made her lose herself for a moment. The floor, the man, the wall behind her, everything somehow melted together, her inside seemed to be made of a single, unstable piece, and if the man wasn't still holding her, she was sure she would have fallen. Never before has Aria felt something like that - as if she's being moved to every direction at once, torn apart and held together at the same time.
And then the feeling was gone, she was in her room again, shaking of cold she suddenly felt, and the man held to his ear as if listening to something from inside of his head.
"What ship did you say it was?"

QUAING.

"What the hell did you do!?"
That weapon, pushed against her head. This time, she had no trouble feeling every single part of her own body, struggling to catch a breath - the last thing she wished was to feel that in use once again.
"Answer me, kid, who'd you called?" He put his finger on the button again.
"No one", she muttered. "I don't know."

He grabbed her hand and pushed her to the center of the room, where she fell over James. The pirate guy then pushed another button - this time on the remote controller that was usually in possession of Aria's father - and the wall opposite to the door turned transparent, providing her with a good view of what she now understood was a station. And people and random ship parts, pulled out by the vacuum as the place was loosing its oxygen supplies.

She didn't care, holding her friend's hand as she the corners of her mind slowly began to darken, if the ship she vaguely saw through the rush outside was a friend or foe. She didn't even care if those were other pirates who came to take over the pray. She didn't really mind being taken over - as long as she's no longer a prisoner to these guys and can stay with her father and James.

The image in front of her flickered before her eyes. Don't go, she thought, and then everything turned black.
*

"This is not TSR," said DragonGirl11. "In fact, this is probably the farthest thing from TSR in the entire galaxy. What in the universe it?"

Just half an hour earlier, she had been roused from her sleep for the second time that artificial night, this time by a voice hail. "What now?" she had roared. They had arrived, First Officer Neil informed her. He disconnected the channel and, grumbling, DragonGirl put on her uniform and returned to the bridge.

"It is a space station, Captain," said the security officer at a control panel. "Likely controlled by pirates, marauders, and similar space scum."

"Then why are we here?" demanded the captain. She gripped the back of her chair and leaned on it, staring intently at the screen.

First Officer Neil stepped forward. "There seems to be some sort of conflict going on, Captain. We noticed one ship involved in the conflict was flying YWS colours, and since it was not far out of our way I decided it was our duty to come to their aid."

"Right, right. Excellent decision, Neil. Binni, open a channel to the - what vessel is it?" DragonGirl checked the screen. "YWS Highwind."

In a moment, the hail was answered. "Hello. I am Captain DragonGirl11 of the YWS starship The Maiden Dagger. What is the situation here?"

"A YWS medical vessel, Bonaparte, is held captive there. Our captain and another officer went down in a shuttle to rescue them. Knowing our captain he is probably going to tear the place apart in the process," the Highwind officer informed them.

"Thank you," said DragonGirl. "We will assist in any way we can." She waved to Binni, who closed the channel.

"How can we help?" asked Janet, the pilot, turning her chair around.

"There is no way two people can take down an entire station," said DragonGirl11. "If they can, it is extremely dangerous. I want to rescue our own before they endanger them further. Scan the station, find the Bonaparte, and find out if there is any way we can sneak in there."

Neil looked at his watch. "Captain, the night shift is over now. You'll have to get the rest of the crew to do that." As he said it, the next day's bridge crew stepped out of the lift. DG could tell which were morning people and which were not, because some were sauntering in, others nearly stumbling to their stations.

"Understood," said DragonGirl11. She gave the day crew the orders, and sat back in her chair as scan reports flowed in.

Kobain72

We arrived at the TSR Rally Point with a surprising lack of difficulties or distractions.

Spoiler

OOC: As you see, Aria's just switched from zero stars as it states in her profile, to two, as it says under my avatar. But other than the fact she'll now be a bit different because of the whole pirate thing (you'll see), she's still an untrained, inexperienced young pilot who imagines, but doesn't build her gadgets.
Also, in this chapter, as she's unconscious and James is lacking some vital parts, I'm going to have to take the role or her father for just a little while, until someone does find their ship. Whoever does, please don't forget to keep her young, sarcastic and caring for James

Lionel Adams, standing on the bridge of his own ship and being hold a prisoner, couldn't forget her daughter's face when she lead Dayton to him at the fair. No matter how much times he told himself not to think that way, he couldn't escape the dark thoughts every time he'd let his mind wander to his only child.
She was scared, he could see it in the way her eyes seemed lighter, but she didn't show it to Dayton and his gang. Lionel wondered, though he knew that's partly it was because she didn't know who Dayton is, when did she get to be so brave. For sure, she didn't take it after him - the lying, the looks, the sarcasm, that was his heritage. Bravery? That came from the real captain Adams - her mother, who was probably widely unknown because he had to take the name and save his...
It was still so easy. All the records missing as the YWS station fell apart, no one caring for was the captain even a male. Or an ex prisoner.

I said I won't think about it.

Aria wasn't a child anymore, he told to himself that a hundred times and still he worried sick. She was eighteen - just recently turned so, but still - and besides, she had James on her side. If anyone could take care of her in her father's absence, it was him.
But still...

He watched as the station was destroyed by the forces he never encountered before. The ship behind the broken wall, towards which the people and station parts started flying as the oxygen suddenly ran out, he did recognize.
The YWS Highwind. Captain Alteran, if he was correct and the guy was still alive. Of all the ships that could have come for no reason, it had to be one of a few legends of the fleet? Well, he thought to himself, you could have listened to your kid. Aria was sure they're all alive.
Lionel only hoped no one from it will recognize him. If only he could remember the name of the YWS officer who actually put him in prison, back in time when he tricked both himself and captain Adams and fell in love, leaving her and the child so he could get together with his old friends.

"Company", Dayton muttered through his teeth. Captain Dayton, so it was now. A whole bunch of captains suddenly arising after the alleged fall of the YWS.
His old friend, who was probably a bigger threat to his family that the entire crew of the Highwind, waved to his gang as he pulled out his shocking weapon. Lionel felt dizzy at the mere sight of it - he remembered very well how it feels when it touches you through clothes, let alone bare skin. They used to be part of the initiation process to the family - after more people died than passed, they became popular as weapons and now they make them in all sizes and shapes, including the long-range ones.

Old friends or old enemies, captain Adams? Lionel asked himself. He didn't know what he would answer eighteen years ago. He very well knew now. If the YWSers can save Aria, he'll die helping them. Or hopefully won't.

It was hard seeing what they'd done to her baby and harder still to not be down there organising the repairs. Whoever was in charge looked to be doing a good job but even so her gut instinct was to be down there, supervising on a closer level.

It was a wonder and a credit to the crew that they'd brought her home at all.

A few minutes later they were at the briefing room and there wasn't much time for happy reunions, though Rydia did share a few quick words with her AI Macavity. There was a lot of missing time to account for.

Eyes turning front, she listened with care to the introduction and blinked rapidly when she realised the first item on the agenda was to be her own report.

Rydia took a step forward and smiled at the moderators, her eyes falling first on the gorilla AI. "Thank you Bartemius." She gave a gentle nod and then her eyes roamed back and forth over the ranks, slowly taking in the presence of her friends.

"I can first confirm that the rumours of a Black Fleet are true, it was one of these ships which I infiltrated, though not without great difficulty. For some time now so much of our focus has been trained on the Utopian forces that we've allowed another, perhaps more deadly force to rise."

"I was able to discern that their technology is older than our own but more durable. Their ships are designed for long, drawn out battles and are hard to wear down, even from the inside. I could not discover what their interest is, but I would make an educated guess that they're looking for something. During my time with the fleet, they ran a sweeping course in parallel with the orbit of the Reddit Space Station."

"This is all that I can report at this time, though I did hope to learn more from a Captain's log I took from the ship I infiltrated. It is unfortunately heavily coded and I would like to turn it over to someone with more expertise." Rydia looked around the room for a likely suspect because as much as she loved a good puzzle, she couldn't well be out there fighting if she had to be crammed into a room with a lot of heavy, musty texts.

"Thank you Rydia, I am sure we will find someone suitable," Bartemius said as he took the floor once more, drawing everyone's attention his way. Bartemius handed over to Griffinkeeper next, asking for any information he had discovered since the fall of the YWS Station.

Nutty blasted bolts of magic through the halls of the station. Alteran covering their back as a few pirates tried to strike from behind. He was too quick with his staff. Deflecting their fire and striking them down within moments.

"Have you located the source of the signal yet?" Alteran spoke into his communicator. Mattster was on the other end, calculating as always.

"If you take the next left there should be a chamber a few meters down. I think the source is in there. You know we have help out here," Mattster sounded concerned.

"Keep them in their ship. This is a cake walk." Alteran jammed his staff into a console on the wall. It was a chain reaction as coolant started to erupt from the overhead pipe down the hall they had just traveled. It was a good enough distraction to give them the chance to slip out of sight. The pirates ran down the hall, yelling at each other, trying to find their targets.

"There are more than six of them," Nutty stated.

"Yeah, well..." Alteran couldn't think of what to say. He looked down the hall. There was a door just ahead. Unguarded. He could see a slight flash of light come from the tiny porthole on the door. There was a twang in his stomach. He new that light.

"What's wrong?" Nutty asked.

"Blow that door of the hinges," Alteran said. He started running for the door. Nutty shot a blast off, impeccable aim as always. The bolt zipped by his head, smashing the door into pieces. He used the noise and debris as cover to zip through the room, disabling the Pirates as quickly as possible.

The sharp pain shot straight through his back into his brain. It was nearly unbearable. One of the pirates had gotten the jump on him. His brain went fuzzy, the room started spinning. He just barely caught the glimpse of the magic flying through the room. Nutty always had the best timing.

He fought off the stun. Forcing himself to ignore the pain. He saw the girl lying on the ground next to a downed android.

"That must be the source of the signal. Let's get her out of here." Alteran scooped her up. Making to leave when she stirred.

"James...." she whispered. Alteran saw her eyes linger on the droid.

Alteran sighed. This would make things far more difficult, "Nutty, grab the droid.

"Seriously?" The girl nodded her head unconsciously to Nutty's question, "Fine." Nutty swished her spork, levitating the droid from the ground and dragging it with them.

"Anything else, little lady?" Alteran asked as they started to head back to the shuttle.

"Father..." She mumbled.

"Darn, Nutty, take her and the droid back to the Highwind."

"I really don't like this. I am not leaving you here," she protested.

"I'm just going to find her dad and get their ship. Then we can all leave." She eyes him, not moving a muscle. "It's an order."

"You better come back alive."

"Of course." Alteran handed the girl over before running off down one of the halls. He didn't want to to think about how familiar the girl looked. She wasn't much younger than him, but he knew her face from somewhere.