The end result of all his hard planning had been... minimal progress, and a lot of setbacks. The Ogryn did manage to knock away one of the subordinates, only for the surgeon himself to blow a hole in his leg. And then the Ork did [i]something[/i] that rendered the Ogryn unconscious, possibly dead. Overall, he had been worthless.

On the other hand, Lucius wasn't in such a great position himself. He still had the Marine in his grips, but as the surgeon helpfully pointed out, he'd break free eventually, bucking wildly as he was. And even if he let the Chaos Marine go of his own will, there was every possibility that he'd just kill Lucius anyway, either before his boss had the opportunity to tell him to stop, or because the man didn't bother, liar that he surely was. Either way, his position was extraordinarily perilous, especially with his persistent injuries and that bolt pistol levelled at him... and that might also be the key to surviving beyond the next few seconds, as it happened. The Marine he had hostage was equipped with his own weaponry, probably something ranged just in case; his armour would likely make for a good meatshield if he happened to die with his throat slit-

'I would advise that everyone hold on to something!' came the voice of the purple-armoured Marine piloting the bizarre ship, and for a couple of seconds, Lucius found himself gazing at a viewscreen that made his own situation seem a tad irrelevant for the time being. An immense space battle, seemingly between all sorts of factions - the Eldar, the Imperium, it seemed even one of the Legio Astartes was there, or at least whatever they had devolved into in the last ten thousand years. And in the same moment, Xepherial had revived himself, and now lunged toward the enemy Marine, threatening to destroy him. How exciting.

And yet this distraction was not to Lucius' benefit, for the wild Apothecary began to move ever more erratically, trying to grab back at Lucius' body to throw him, and it was clear he'd break free in a moment if Lucius didn't act right then. He tore his hand free of the Chaos Marine's helm, grabbed at whatever weapon happened to be at his belt, and was promptly thrown away as, simultaneously, the ship jolted and the Chaos Marine tore himself from Lucius' grasp.

Through the knife still at his throat. Lucius' strength alone might not have gone too far through even the weaker points of Bravis' defenses; with the additional strength of his own power armour, on the other hand, it managed to cut deep into the Marine's neck before sliding out and away with its wielder.

As he fell back, ready to spring away from the floor the second he landed, Lucius glanced at the blade in his hand, noting that it was coated in a layer of crystallising red blood across its entire width. An extremely damaging wound, then - chances are the initial bleeding wouldn't kill his ex-hostage, but the clotting across multiple important blood vessels and maybe even his windpipe would certainly cut off the oxygen his brain needed, at best knocking him unconscious in less than a minute, and steadily weakening that whole time- assuming no Chaotic idiocy went to work on inexplicably keeping him going- at worst killing him in that same amount of time. But, since he was a Space Marine after all, Lucius guessed he'd be more likely to suffer the former situation... meaning he was still good as a hostage.

And in his other hand, the Marine's bolter. Probably Chaos-aligned, but perfect for the situation at hand.

Landing on the hand holding his own weapon, and noting that his fall had positioned him behind Bravis in a way that made targeting him infeasible, he aimed and fired the new gun toward the Chaos Marine’s knees- their backs, the less-protected portions- in a burst of four rounds. The first round struck the first knee dead-on, exploding as it pierced and practically pulping the flesh within; the next two, fired as Lucius moved the gun round, passed between the legs and hopefully struck something of his main aggressor as he brawled with Xepherial; and the final shot glanced Bravis’ leg, just enough to knock him down in combination with the other shot, but not enough to detonate the round properly.

And as his hostage fell, he sprang off of his hand, barging into the back of Bravis to properly bring him to his knees, and at the same moment forcing the Marine round slightly to block not just the main surgeon’s possible attacks, but also those of the surgeon’s other minion, the one-armed fellow who’d been knocked down before. Lucius was now hunkered down behind the body of the Marine with his throat slit, sword hand gripping the back of the Marine’s chestplate to keep him still and upright, gun hand pointed over the pauldron toward his master. If either of Bravis’ allies could target him, they would be flesh wounds at best.

And even then, the surgeon had the gall to try and threaten him with Xepherial’s well-being. His allies continued to be effective, of course. But to threaten them when he was in the weaker position? How dare he? How DARE that maniac tell HIM that HE had to surrender- his train of thought cut off as another glimpse of his past returned to him, the same battle as he had been lost to Chaos in. A slight glimmer of a sword striking a pauldron, as it happened. Interesting.

‘Better idea, whatever your name is,’ Lucius retorted coldly. ‘You and your friend put your weapons down, and we can trade our respective allies to one another. Bravis here’s gone and cut his own neck open. He’s going to die if you don’t give him immediate medical attention.’ As expected, the Marine was already beginning to weaken, making holding him in place that much easier. But weakened would shortly be dead… somewhat shortly, at least. Not necessarily a grand prospect…

‘I’m going to take us into an enemy ship!’ Vedius interrupted from his seat. ‘Prepare for a boarding action, or prepare to die.’ And that suited Lucius just fine, because it only strengthened his position.

‘I reckon you can’t save Bravis [i]and[/i] prepare for the boarding action whilst keeping Xepherial under your blade, surgeon,’ Lucius continued, his voice a monotone over the sounds of the ship’s vibrations. ‘If you wait too long, it might be that you lose out on everything. Best make your choice now, and bear in mind you [i]will[/i] lose an ally if you choose poorly.’