At first, things seemed to be going ass-up for old Vespin. When Oskar had said the prisoners were released by a space marine, that just sounded stupid. But then, low and behold, out of nowhere a techmarine appears. Of course, the first thing he does is start spouting off like he's better than the next soldier. By the time he's done, though, another one arrives, along with someone who looks like he's gone a little too long without a fix. To top it all off, Oskar goes talking to them like he knows the group.

As luck would have it, though, at that moment the sound of shotgun fire could be heard from the corridor behind Oskar. The pained screams that followed gave a pretty clear picture of what was happening, too. Taking the moment's distraction, Vespin jumps the gun shield of his gun turret, then grabs the barrel to throw it around, swiveling it until it's pointed at the marines. Now, with a thick gun shield, as well as plenty of distance, between him and the marines, he's ready to pick back up.

Just then, though, his men walk through the door. With their shotguns trained on Oskar, the Commissar in the group steps forward. 'You there, ratling! What's going on here? Why do you have that gun trained on Astartes, and where did they come from? More over, I heard your little conversation. I assume this is the man you were talking to, so he will be giving testimony at your court-martial.'

Turning his head back to look at the group of ratlings on the floor below, Vespin smiles. Each and every one of them was on his take. There wasn't a man among them he hadn't saved on the battlefield a half dozen times or more, not to mention how many came through him to get their various fixes in the evening. They were his men, his own personal squad that he led as a corporal.

With a tilt of his head, Vespin gives his second in command the order. "Shoot him." Without hesitating, the second ratling takes aim, and unloads a solid slug into the Commissar's head. With that, he returns Vespin's nod, letting bim know he's taken control. Things had gone from exciting, to interesting, to say the least.

Looking back at the marines, Vespin squares his shoulders. He'd dealt with the blue boys before, but he wasn't entirely sure these two weren't traitor legion. "Listen up. We can do this one of two ways. I can kill you three, and my men down there will kill old Oskar. I walk away with your corpses, throw you out the airlock, and be about my business reporting that I found the commissar dead when I arrived to help my unit."

"Or," he continues, putting his head up just enough to look at the two marines, a somewhat empty show of good faith, "you can let me put the three of you in cuffs. I can then take you to the captain of this vessel as captives, along with the prisoners my men only inflicted superficial wounds upon," At this point, he turns to confirm that was what had occurred with his second, who acknowledges that to be the case. Then, he finishes, "at which point, we can use the man power to take control of the command deck. Enough officers on this ship owe me favors, they'll look the other way if I give them orders I say are from the captain. With that, we can commandeer this vessel until such a time as we can acquire our own."

Looking between the two marines, having realized from their body language the human behind them was of no importance, he asked one last question. "That is what you want, isn't it? To take control of the ship? At the least, Oskar over there seems to be under that impression, and I happen to be in need of a similar outcome."

[@Sophrus][@BCTheEntity][@Wraithblade6]