8561/The Dangers of the Business

The Dangers of the Business
Date of Scene:	29 July 2019
Location:	Nova Empire border
Synopsis:	A number of people come to the rescue of the Guardians as a small bounty hunter fleet hunts them across Nova Empire space
Cast of Characters:	Star-Lord, Power Girl, Beta Ray Bill, 7665, Mon-El

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Star-Lord has posed:
Space travel is long and boring at the best of times, usually. Whether you're warp capable, or use jump points to get around the galaxy, it's still a long haul across unfathomably long distances....

So when a small ship pops put of a jump point right on the border of the Nova Empire with serious visible damage, it's probably a fairly big warning sign.

Then another... another. Yet another. Another. ANOTHER. Six ships in total pop right through the jump point, going after that small ship, and they immediately turn an assortment of weapons on it. Missiles, lasers, plasma cannons, some sort of shockwave based weaponry? The small ship is dodging it all quite well, honestly... but the occasional laser hits the ships shields as it continues to run. One of the larger ships pops out fighters that stream for the ship as well.

Whoever it is in that smaller ship is an obviously competent pilot... but they have an /overwhelming/ fleet bearing down on them. They're obviously outmatched if they can't get to the next jump point in time.

It's odd though, there are no transmissions of any kind coming from the ship.

Power Girl has posed:
Space was vast, cold, dangerous and quite often lonely...but when the cold isn't a bother and the radiation that would kill most actively sustains you? Well, sometimes it was the perfect place to take a break. Besides, the beauty of the planets and stars as she weaved her way through the solar system and beyond would likely never be lost on Kara Zor-L. Put simply, it was too pretty.

The best part about the expanse of it all was the chance to relax a little, to loosen the grip of caution a kryptonian had to have on Earth lest she cause unwanted destruction on her adopted homeworld. Tearing through space and pushing herself almost as fast as she could truely go, the blonde woman wrapped in white and red weaved her path all the way towards the edges of Nova space...only to stop so suddenly that the deccelleration may well cause a flash of light around her. There wasn't truely 'silence' in space, but 'sound' didn't quite work the same either without the medium of air for it to vibrate through...but that hardly mattered when a sudden armada of ships jumped right into your field of vision.

Beta Ray Bill has posed:
As the Milano is being attacked by a serious of small ships, there is perhaps no sense of worry as a panicking individual or someone on the run. Especially since there was no sign of actual distress like a call out into the space. So, imagine the surprise of Beta Ray Bill, the Justice Faux-Asgardian of the Cosmos, when he sees the Milano on the run from such ships.

With Stormbreaker in hand, the mighty battle maul and brother-weapon to Mjolnir, Beta Ray Bill sails across the stars towards the point of attack, before he lifts the hammer up and darts it forward, lightning blasting from the Hammer's surface to try and strike at one of the ships!

Its then that he sees Power Girl also in the area, but he sees her as a passerby and not a threat.

Blackjack O'hare (7665) has posed:
    The Migrant fleet is a motley collection of old ships, old war ships that is. Sure the fleet may not have a single hull newer than fifty years, but the tonnage alone is usually more than enough to keep pirates at bay. Two ancient heavy cruisers, a pair of carriers, a few destroyers, cutters, and well who knows what the rest of them are. There may not be a fighter screen to speak of, but the moment ships begin warping in? Yeah they react pretty quick.

    Less heavily armored bulk carriers and transports accelerate, as the fleet's fighting ships begin to disperse. Like a well oiled machine the two heavy cruisers execute a braking burn and turn to port, veering off to the side to get themselves into a blocking position. Gunports swinging open, missile tubes swinging open as radar,LIDAR and god knows what else all comes online. The bulk of the civilian fleet kills their burn as they slide behind the cruiser's drive signatures, hiding their exact trajectory as they make the jump to lightspeed.

    A pair of cutters pivot in place before firewalling their engines, executing a pretty radical course change as they race off to port and starboard in an attempt to herd the fight towards the heavy cruisers. The Milano has been seen by this fleet before of course, and vice versa. Indeed the voice that crackles over the wireless should come as no surprise. <<Fzz This is Fleet Commander Cash O'hare of the Rabbit Migrant fleet. To the vessels attacking the Milano, cease fire and reverse course at best speed. You are conducting offensive operations against an allied vessel within our safety perimeter....This is your only warning, please disregard it.>>

Star-Lord has posed:
As Beta Ray Bill comes in and shoots his lightning at the lead ship, he does a fine job of disabling it's engines and short circuiting the ship in general. The ship, it seems, is not shielded against electrical attack, and goes dead on the water. The remaining five ships and assorted fighters continue their pursuit for now. Though the biggest ship in the group (where the fighters came from) responds to the Migrant Fleet, "Attention Migrant fleet!" Comes a synthetic voice... though it's slow, as if translating, "we are Falmon Company, a group of bounty hunters, and this is a legitimate bounty claim within Nova space. Stand down, or we will defend ourselves!"

From the Milano, a transmission comes, "oh please, like you have the first idea how real bounty hunters operate, a-hole!" *pew pew pew* More plasma... but then a missile clips one of the Milano's thrusters, "Shit, ROCKET! Starboard back thruster is hit!"

Star-Lord, it seems, doesn't realize his transmit key is still pressed.

Power Girl has posed:
Power Girl didn't have a radio perse, she couldn't communicate nearly as freely as the others, but her senses could at least pick up on the transmissions...mostly. Of course, the warning and threats sort of fall by the wayside when there's suddenly lightning and rockets flying through the air.

"What in the hell?"

With her flight propelling her forwards, the Kryptonian woman zips towards Beta Ray, stopping short of actually getting into arm's length. "Hey uh...lightning guy. What the heck is going on here?"

Mon-El has posed:
    Lar had been on his way back toward the Sol system after having successfully tracked down the one called Grail and sent her Kal's way when the Legion vessel he is on picks up on a familiar signature. Upon closer examination, he is able to identify Star-Lord and his team aboard the Milano, and being attacked by a bunch of mercs apparently.

    Well, he -does- owe Peter one, for helping him out of that situation on Omega some time ago. So he exits the airlock on his ship and speeds off toward the enemy fleet, letting loose with thermal vision on the main engines of whichever vessel appeared to be presenting the highest threat to his friends. He attempts to hail them as well. << Attention Falmon Company. This is Lar Gand of the Daxamite Royal Family and the Legion of Superheroes. >> He begins. << Leave my friends the hell alone, or I'll rip your ships in half with my bare hands. >> He probably wouldn't -really-, but if they know he actually can, maybe they'll do the smart thing and haul off.

Beta Ray Bill has posed:
After Beta Ray Bill's strike rings true, he floats there with his eyes narrowed. He wore Asgardian armor, if Power Girl could identify such a thing. "I do not know." he turns to look at her, and notices that she's...not wearing any armor or any space-capable gear. He assumes she's alien, despite her human appearance. "It appears as though we are interrupting a bounty affair."

He never liked mercenaries.

But then he sees Mon-El arrive. "It appears this is becoming quite the incident."

Blackjack O'hare (7665) has posed:
    Half-worlder test subject solidarity is apparently a thing! <<Falmon Company, this is Fleet commander Cash O'hare. Get fucked.>> Those cutters throttle up to full power, dumping chaff and a trio of torpedos before rolling up and down to execute something of an enormous barrel roll over the enguagement. Ordinance and chaff delivered, they peel off in perfect time and begin their bombardment with light autocannons. It's mainly harrassing fire, intended to add to the chaos. The real attack of course, are those torpedos.

    The torpedos come up to speed within the chaff viel, before all six burst into open space and begin screaming towards that big ship. Its a masterful fleet action, but then again the Rabbits have always had something of a knack for team work. The big heavy cruisers begin spooling their generators, powering up their cannons but with the Milano in the field they're holding fire for the moment.

    <<Captain Rocket, please proceed through the picket line and dock with the "RMV Outer Cold". Look for violet Naviational lights, please advise your friends to follow at best speed. How copy?>>Half-worlder solidarity yo.

Star-Lord has posed:
"This is Star-Lord, Captain of the Milano. Thrusters are damaged and precise flight is no longer possible. We're heading for the jump point and getting out of dodge. Clear." Indeed, the thrusters on the starboard putter out, and suddenly the Milano is a lot less like a ballerina... and much more like a jackhammer as Star-Lord just maxes out the engines. It's taking all his focus just to keep them going straight with the way they suddenly are spinning rapidly.

The response from Falmon Company is quick. The autocannons hit shields and do little more than drain some power... but the fighters immediately turn back as they and anti-torpedo laser fire from the large flagship start to lay down a defensive perimeter. The laser fire isn't nearly as effective as it should be, but the fighters manage to take down most of the torpedoes.

Of course, a few manage to get through, impacting the shields. A few 'holes' in the shield open briefly as the power capacitors are briefly overwhelmed.

Because of the attack, Mon-El manages to get through a gap in the shield from the torpedo attack as the capacitors race to compensate, the combined power of the fleet and Daxamite attack manages to disable yet another ship.

Soon, an encrypted burst transmission can be seen by anyone with the equipment going between the ships... and moments later, the ships stop their pursuit, activate grappling beams and turning back for the jump point.

The fighters... keep going, probably confident in their speed to catch up to the Milano. They /are/ pretty fast, but almost certainly not Kryptonian and Daxamite fast.

Beta Ray Bill has posed:
Beta Ray Bill sees others arrive, namely Blackjack O'hare. He cannot hear their transmissions, but when he sees the bounty hunters attempting to run away, Beta Ray Bill pursues, if only to give them further reason to not turn back around. If Mon-El tries to pursue as well, Beta Ray Bill will attempt to stop him.

"Do not pursue any further! They are intelligent enough not to pursue this fight."

He holds Stormbreaker a little tighter though. He knows that someone can attack in the blink of an eye, even if they are running away...and he will not hesitate to toss the mighty hammer with destructive force.

Mon-El has posed:
    Lar watches with satisfaction as the fleets pulls away. So it seemed like they were smart, after all. Good. But apparently some of the fighter pilots weren't. Sigh. He flies after those that remained, and shooting at them with his thermal vision. Sure, he could just tear them apart, but if he doesn't have kill anyone, he won't.

Blackjack O'hare (7665) has posed:
    Those cutters sweep back into the fray, rushing down to bracket the Milano before a braking burn to normalize their speed in perfect harmony. Magnetic grapples firing after to snag the Milano between the two, before executing a neat roll to steer the trio through the gap left between those heavy cruisers. <<fzzz RMV Complication for Milano, idle your drives we've got ahold of you. Power down your weapon systems please, set IFF to mode D and make ready to land.>>

    Those heavy cruisers pivot, closing the gap between the two of them and put more than a few million tons of armor between the Milano and her attackers. <<This is Fleet Commander Cash O'hare, if you're friends of Rocket and his crew please follow him aboard the RMV "Outer Cold". Follow the violet landing lights, we're preparing for combat jump once all are aboard. Do not be tardy. Migrant fleet out.>>

    and well hiding behind those cruisers, theres an older corvette bristling with antennas and an enormous hulk of a assualt carrier. It's massive portside docking doors parting slowly to expose the violet landing lights beyond. The carrier's defense turrets are up, but theres no fighter screen and it's cannon ports are closed so it's as close to a blinking "Welcome sign" as you're liable to get in deep space.

Star-Lord has posed:
When it becomes clear that the cutters have magnetics available to them, the engines on the Milano are cut, "Migrant Fleet, I am cutting engines." It doesn't take long for the Milano to be guided into the hangar.

Meanwhile, the fighters that were speeding along did /not/ expect those thermal beams to reach them! They dodge and weave and are actually fairly nimble, making hitting any of them a difficult proposition. Still, this many high powered beings covering their target? The Company seems to be thinking twice about the payout. It doesn't appear to be near enough to take on this many aggressors at once. "Falmon Company disengaging... but we do not forgive.... or forget." Moments later, the ships are all back through the jump point back deeper into Nova space. The fighters aren't far behind.

Blackjack O'hare (7665) has posed:
    Inside the carrier's flight deck, well it's jam packed with drop ships. Tractor beams take care of guiding the Milano onto the deck, before the cutters can peel off and zip off to light speed. Indeed once everyone who's coming is aboard, the carrier and those cruisers dash into the safety of lightspeed. Yet another fleet action executed with precision, but of course.

    Out on the flight deck though, well bunnies clad in stark white overalls stained with grease come running. First two, and then five, and then ten and well soon theres more than thirty of them carrying parts or pushing tool carts towards the Milano. Then come the welders, the riveters, the painters, the fabricators and well soon theres a proper crowd of mostly white four foot tall bunnies getting to work without a single word spoken.

    Blackjack isn't long in coming, though he's in a comfortable looking "Prdo Corporation" T-shirt rather than his usual combat gear. The hundred or so black and brown bunnies who fill in behind him though, well most of them are packing. Anywho casually Blackjack ashes his cigar to the side, before sipping after his tea. "Welcome aboard the RMV Outer Cold, Infantry command Carrier of the Migrant fleet. You may keep your arms on your person, but we ask you stay together. We'll get your ship squared away, but in the meantime why don't we have a bit've lunch and tea?"

Beta Ray Bill has posed:
Beta Ray Bill looks at the situation resolve itself, and he seems to be calmed. He looks at the Milano for a moment before he looks to Blackjacks carrier. He doesn't join the victory party, and instead he swings his mighty hammer and flies away from the scene of the incident.

After all, many planets still have problems, and Beta Ray Bill was always a rather busy fellow.