**Finnegan's Tradehouse**

Goldy eyed the man that had just appeared in front of him, and thought over his options. Usually, he'd taze and then have his guard toss him over his shoulder, but the owner might not come out if everyone willing to speak was captured. Instead, he nodded, and said, "Walk with me, then, and help me find the owner of this establishment. I would... *appreciate* it if you would tell me what you knew. My brothers are dying this second, and we were stolen from our fight."

Elsewhere, outside, all the soldiers and units that had surrounded the little woman and her brigade silenced immediately at her declaration of her killing any of them. None of them were laughing- they all stared at her with such utter contempt, it was likely she may try to kill them anyways. 

One of them stepped forward, the purple-clad, and said, "Shipmaster, you speak boldly when you're outnumbered, with heavy ground units and aerial units waiting to open fire. You're lucky you were shot down the moment you stepped out. You will stand down, immediately, and surrender to our soldiers. You will drop your weapon and allow us to... take it. You should not have attacked our infantry unit. As of right now, your ship is under my command, and through myself, my commander's, until I have successfully secured an exit and interstellar transportation to familiar space. If you're helpful, we will return your ship and a sum of compensation for your time. Generous compensation, from the Commander's own coffers." A bold move, but he hoped they were traders- traders like money. He gestured at the two heavy tanks, one of them coming to bear on the Shipmaster, and even going so far as the bump up the rumbling engines, and roar forward, with a clear view down the barrel- which had a slight shimmering that might suggest a deflection shield to keep debris or weapons out of the barrel.

Above, the three gunships circled, the two larger UAV strike gunships' large, anti-emplacement turrets focused right on the armored suits surrounding the shipmaster.

The the purple-clad continued on. "Our Commander knows of the situation, and does wish to prevent it, but our people are one of war, and we may have been used in an unknown weapon to bring us here. We need to find out if we can arrive home, and your presence is proof that it might not be one way. Now, *stand down,* or your assistants here will be killed. You may have armored battlesuits, but so do we- and we are *creatures born for war.* It's what we do."

He gave her what he would've called a smile, her, a bearing of the teeth.