[b][i]Natasha Zhang[/i][/b] 

"So, an AI just like Realist," Natasha said, "All right, you can have your authentication once Laurey has a look at your systems - Just a basic measure to make sure you're not some sort of enemy mole..."

Then she spoke to Ki’Tlex and Queen Anne’s Revenge with a sigh, “More than a few million. We lost a huge amount of money gained through stock market manipulation because we decided to be overzealous, and now we’re getting it back. However, we're going to need a lead, and so we're going to have to sort through the Galactic Dark Web for it, if those of us who have computer skills want to spend a day or so doing it… By which time they’d have spent most of their stolen loot, as Joey here said.”

She then sighed and said, “Now let’s all go contact Moonstrike -”

[quote=@Starlance]
A few hours sailed by since meeting the Kanarussian transport. Avelyn spent the majority of the time in the astrogation deck, admiring the blue and orange void that lay just outside, the three inch graphene-reinforced window the only thing standing between ten seconds of agony and a grand total of 90-ish seconds of life. [color=#FF2E00][i]‘Like at Proxima.’[/i][/color] a thought surfaced in the back of her mind for a brief moment before being banished. She didn’t see much point in hanging around all of the new arrivals and eavesdropping, now that they’ve spilled onto the ship like water out of a pierced barrel in bigger numbers than anticipated. After all, there was a fully sanctioned deep dive scheduled for all of them. Primarily, she wanted to find a calm place with no traffic to order her thoughts on how to approach the Captain. Ultimately, brutal honesty seemed to be the best approach. Natasha was a soldier after all, a profession where dry facts were the norm.

In the end, there were three possible outcomes she could think of. Option one: They solve the problem. An ideal, but unlikely time and fuel consuming exercise, not to mention the potential added exposure. Option two: Some other branch of Moonstrike is asked to solve the problem. Much more likely, but much more nerve-racking. Having some insight into their operations did not leave a good impression of Moonstrike as a whole. Maybe Avelyn’s expectations were too high. Maybe the rest was more well put together. Or maybe they were even worse. A grim prospect. And lastly option three: She gets booted off the ship for being a security risk. Very much not ideal, yet at the same time likely and worst of all, completely understandable.

Figuring the new arrivals have had enough time to settle down by now, she set out to find Natasha. After a minute of asking around to track her movement, she caught her going into the conference room. [color=#FF2E00]“Captain. Can I steal you for a minute? I bring bad news, but don’t shoot the messenger.”[/color] she tried to lighten the mood a bit, even though there was nothing funny about what she was about to say.

[color=#FF2E00]“Now, I’d like to preface this by saying I intended to first pull my weight and then ask for favors, but shit’s moving fast and we’re not as inconspicuous as I hoped”[/color] Avelyn took a deep breath, [color=#FF2E00]“Right. So, unsurprisingly, many of us still have a family out there, even if they probably think we’re dead. In my case a mother and father. And as long as the Ascendancy doesn’t know we’re working against them, all is well. The problems start once they figure out any of our identities, and although some prefered to call us by numbers, they’ll connect the dots if our names and faces land on their desks. And if they’re half as smart as they’re dickish, they’ll use anything or anyone to screw with our efforts. Now Flame has already identified himself to the Richthofen during your little episode with the 11th fleet remnant, so his old folks, if still alive, might be fucked already. I’ve seen a few black sites and what they do to people there.”[/color] She didn’t say it, but knowing her arcane arsenal, it wouldn’t take a genius to figure out what the Ascendancy had her doing there, [color=#FF2E00]“And while I can’t speak for anyone else, I can say with certainty - and please forgive my honesty - that compared to my parents, everyone else, this crew included, is and always will be second rate to me. So if I wake up one day to see that Jonas and Sola Vernal were arrested on the news.. Problem..”[/color] she paused for a moment, trying to judge how the captain was receiving this, [color=#FF2E00]“I was hoping Moonstrike could arrange for the aforementioned individuals to be discreetly removed from Ascendancy territory and into alien - preferably Korta or Rau’Ve - space where they’d be mostly or entirely out of harm’s way. Ideally, we would pick them up ourselves to make it easier on them, but I can’t ask that of you, given how out of the way Epsilon Theta is.”[/color] Avelyn finished, bracing for the worst.
[/quote]

Natasha nodded and said, “I was just about to contact Moonstrike - I can add your request to what I was going to ask them…”

[hr]

Wow, Not even a few minutes between when he last did so and now, and Nero’s already talking negatively about Joey to the robot and how she shouldn’t follow his orders if it made no sense to her. He was about to say something about it, opening his mouth to speak a “HEY!” while pointing his finger upward but he then thought about it, staring to the left at nothing particular in contemplation. Ignoring the first wave of absurdly obvious slander, Nero’s advice to Nirrti about only following orders that make sense and doing what you think is right [i]is[/i] pretty good. In his shoes, Joey can’t deny that he probably would have told her the same.

With that thought in mind, his mouth closed, he gave a “fair enough” shrug and sat down silently.

He accepted that Nero won this round.

Once Maria gave her report and Joey said his piece, Nero decided to pop in yet again, pulling a “That’s obvious, and you’re an idiot if you don’t think so” card. The kid’s got determination, he had to give him that.

Plus, it seems there’s some use in making him react to everything he says and does; he now knows a few things he didn’t already thanks to Nero: The most interesting of which being the two ‘Bounty Hunters’ looking for Alan, and the Shadows and Monsters they had to fight. At the very least, he did recall some group of odd creatures of a humanoid shape as he headed for the Xuanxang with Avelyn in tow, but he knew nothing about any “shadows”. Furthermore, out of all of them, they were looking for Alan? If it was during or after that White Pillar incident that’d be one thing, but Nero suggests it was “before” that. What’s interesting is, he’s heard of this kind of thing before…

“[b][color=green]Or, I just need someone who’s able to provide any links I’m missing. Thanks for that, by the way.[/color][/b]” He said to Nero with a big ol’ happy smile, as he walks out of the Cafeteria following Natasha quickly.

As soon as they head over to the conference room, asking for some of Natasha’s time, apparently wanting to make a request to her. Leaning on a wall behind Natasha, he listened to what the two were saying. After Natasha made her response, Joey stood himself up and looked towards Avelyn.

“[color=green][b]…Can’t say I like what you’re implying. But if you don’t mind me being honest for a second, We’re glad you told us about this as soon as you did. Honesty is [i]never[/i] easy, especially when it involves something like this. …It hasn’t been that long since that Bazaar escapade. The Bazaar’s cops aren’t entirely affiliated with the Ascendancy either, which buys us some time. In other words, Moonstrike should be able to get them out of this mess before the Ascendancy find the cat out of the bag. …Don’t worry kid, we’ll get them to safety.[/b][/color]” Joey said, one again that playfulness taking a somewhat serious turn. As Natasha walked into the room, Joey followed suit…right before poking his head out to look at Avelyn again.

“[color=green][b]Oh, but before we do, I should let you know, I actually [i]did[/i] try to look up ‘less-than-lethal’ like you wanted. Couldn’t find it in the dictionary; apparently it’s not a word for some reason. But I did find the next best thing: ‘[i]Reckless[/i]’. Performing an action, or in some cases planning an action or just making decisions in general, without thinking, or caring, about the consequences. …I admit, it was some food for thought. But I only [i]just[/i] got it a few moments ago. So… thanks for that.[/b][/color]” He said, the playfulness in his tone back once again, before heading back in.

[hr]

Within the Conference Room Joey made no hesitation heading to a seat and sitting down, his feet on the table as he leaned back. 

“[b][color=green]...Seems you rounded up quite the motley crew since I was last here, Natty. And somehow you seem to be the go-to for transfers and newcomers, we may have to consider buying a bigger ship.[/color][/b]”  He said.

A few seconds afterwards, a blinking red light began to glow, a call signal for Moonstrike.

“[b][color=green]Well well, looks like they’re saving us the trouble. …Welp, let’s do this, Natty.[/color][/b]” He then said to her.

“Yeah,” the Captain said, “Despite my… Indiscretions, I’m proud I at least [i]kept[/i] the loyalty of such a varied crew despite screwing them over - Not sure I’m going to keep it in the following months, though,” She sighed and continued, “Well, a bigger ship would be great once we recover the lost money. We might even get one from those Pirates - Call it payback from what they took away…”

Natasha then turned on the comms, suddenly nervous about what Moonstrike one was going to say, and she looked up at the center of the holographic projector table, expecting to see the Moonstrike Sigil - The Moon with two crossed longswords under it - At any time soon.

“[color=green][b]Stealing from thieves who took from us, huh? There’s the Natty I know..[/b][/color]” Joey said in response. As the communications were online, Joey too saw the monitor showing the Moonstrike Sigil.

As soon as it showed up, Joey made a point to press a button on the table, activating the comm systems on the ship so that everyone on the ship could hear the Mission briefing of Moonstrike through the speakers of the ship.

“[i][b]...Hello Xuanzang. This is Moonstrike Two. Sorry for having to contact you like this so soon after the Bazaar incident the other day, we wanted to give your crew some time to rest, and for the new transfers to properly adjust. But recent events and reports have created a rather…complicated situation here at Moonstrike. As such, we need your help once more.[/b][/i]” The voice - now known as Moonstrike Two, not One like the other two times - said. There was an obvious question Joey had in mind in response, that being where Moonstrike One is, But another question was rolling out of his mouth, one he couldn’t help but think about.

“[color=green][b]Actually, you called at a good time.[/b][/color] Joey said, then looked towards Natasha.

Perhaps now’s a good time to tell Moonstrike about what they just learned about the pirates?

Natasha sighed, “As you know, we just got robbed by the Pirates, but it seems that they might have been targeting us specifically.”

She then narrated the entire incident with Alan in the Galactic Bazaar and the attempt to openly paint the Moonstrike Symbol on their ship, and continued once she was done, “They know who we are and they framed us for a public incident, one which cost us a neutral ground and source of resupply. More to the point, by revealing us, they put the [i]family members[/i] of our crew in danger; one of the kids is worried about her parents and maybe everyone else’s.”

A reference to Avelyn, as Natasha continued, “Can arrangements be made for their safety? Moonstrike is capable of that, right? Speaking of fears for one's safety, Bounty Hunters - Some of them able to use Magic [i]as adults[/i], which was implied but never actually stated to be impossible - are pursuing us too, hunting the Pirates. They might attack us in the future.”

She then talked about the two ‘Divinely-named’ Bounty Hunters who had attacked Nero, as well as Blue Crow, who seemed older than even those two but also less experienced.

"[b][i]15 hours or so ago, I would have acknowledged that and passed the request along. However, as stated already, the situation has become complicated. Shortly after the incident at the bazaar, Agent Abaddon was on a mission in pursuit of the pirates in question. He found them in a prison ship docked at the Bazaar at the time, orchestrating a jailbreak...of Moonstrike prisoners. Thankfully, he managed to rescue some of our members, but others were broken free and were taken by the pirates. Their high-ranking members escaped, but they left a few of their own behind, what wasn't killed were captured.[/i][/b]" MS2 explained. Joey, needless to say, was dumbfounded by this, contemplating this messy line of actions these pirates seem to cause.

"[b][color=green]So, just to see if I'm not missing anything...They attack us, rob us, and throw us under the bus for crimes they caused, then they enter a prison ship to...break some of us out of jail...? ...Ah, I get it. Another frame job. They do a jailbreak pretending to be Moonstrike, and break out only their members, and everyone thinks we did it. But what I [i]don't[/i] get, is why the hell would [i]that[/i] make any difference? Moonstrike's made jailbreaks to rescue members before. Hell, this very crew did just that the other day. I'd know, I'm one of the ones they rescued. What makes this one so damning?[/color][/b]" Joey asked.

"[b][i]...That ship in particular was carrying a load made up entirely of rebel inmates from across the Ascendancy on their way to an unjust punishment. We found out about it thanks to Realist and distributed the information covertly to other significant and trusted rebel cells. Originally, we were to stage a joint mission between us and the other rebels to break them free at a later date with as much preparation as we could muster. Obviously, the pirates were not among them, but somehow they found out about this anyways and made their move ahead of time, all the while pretending to be us. A considerable number of rebel prisoners unaffiliated with us died in the crossfire and is seen as collateral. At best: our brothers and sisters in arms saw us as reckless and dangerously desperate; that we decided to rush the rescue and that led to more casualties than necessary. At worst: they believe we deceived them, that we deliberately had them hold off on rescuing them so that we could rescue our own and doom the rest. This is on top of everything else they have done in our name. For them it was the last straw.[/i][/b]" As MS2 said this, An image of the Prison Ship appeared on a screen, followed by its schematics and several markers indicating rebels of various organizations, a number of which were marked off with a red X to indicate their demise.

Natasha clenched her fist and said, “Those bastards! Not content with attacking us, they allow rebels of [i]other organizations[/i], potential allies, to die as collateral damage so that they can make us look like the bad guys!”

It wasn’t just concern for her organization’s reputation which drove her; she was genuinely appalled by the death of relative innocents in a reckless crossfire. She was not going to forgive easily, that's for sure. Either way, her next question was, “What are your leads to where they are, [i]Moonstrike Two[/i]?”

“[b][i]Currently, they’re outside of Ascendancy space and moving about. We haven’t gotten a firm fix of where they are specifically, but we do have a rough area based on their general direction and eyewitness accounts. We have reasons to believe they’re arranging another heist soon.[/i][/b]” MS2 responded, showing a general star map with a translucent yellow circle outside the Ascendancy space.

“[color=green][b]Another heist [i]outside[/i] Ascendancy space?[/b][/color]” Joey asked. He didn’t quite know why, but something about that line of thought felt…[i]off.[/i] However, a thought popped into his head, a question that seemed to take more precedent.

“[color=green][b]Actually, wait, you [i]know[/i] the general area of where they are? Considering all the crap they’ve done, You’d think they’d be better at hiding themselves from the people they’ve so royally pissed off. Couldn’t we just have a squad of ships hunt them down and blast their ship to dust?[/b][/color]” He asked MS2, to which he could have sworn he heard a sigh from in response.

"[b][i]With respect, if that was the case, we would not be having this conversation. The pirates have declared war on Moonstrike with their actions against us. Everything they have done to this point has been in the name of tarnishing our reputation and ruining us through it. Under normal circumstances, we would get rid of them and send you off on a mission more relevant to our revolution. However, these pirates have a reputation for theatrics, as well as dirty stratagems. They would not be doing something as reckless as provoking an army against them without some kind of plan. We believe they [u]want[/u] us to chase them down, likely baiting us into a trap. Considering the lengths they have gone to get our fatal attention, a dead man's switch - metaphorical or literal - might be involved, to what we don't know. That aside, even if this wasn't the case, the rebel cells they have angered and incited in our name have begun to act in retaliation against us, putting us in an underground form of Civil War. Thankfully the Ascendancy hasn't found out yet, and while half of us are making sure it stays that way, the other half are dealing with our livid brothers in arms. Moonstrike One is trying her damnedest to get everything under control, but most of our hands are tied. Because of this, your escort request is denied; we simply do not have enough free hands to guarantee their safety. You'll have to either wait for this bedlam to blow over, or make these arrangements yourselves.[/i][/b]" MS2 explained.

Natasha said, “I made a promise to Avelyn; if we defeat those pirates for you, will that count as the bedlam blowing over?”

That was all she would ask.

Before Moonstrike Two could answer, Joey raised his hand and said his own piece.

“[color=green][b]If I may, Captain… We could try doing this ourselves. Yeah it’ll divert our crew, but Avelyn had a point back there, we may not have a lot of time before either the Pirates or the Ascendancy gets to these parents. We get them out of the way soon, that’ll be one less thing the pirates can use against us when we kick their asses. We focus on just beating these pirates ASAP, we’d be at full strength, but we might fall into the trap they planted for the rest of Moonstrike.[/b][/color]” These weren’t some run of the mill pirates, and if they have a reputation for playing dirty and they clearly know Star Marines are on this ship, it wouldn’t be all that surprising if they were using the other kids’ family members to pressure them into chasing after them just like they have been with Moonstrike. That’s not even considering the Ascendancy pulling that same stunt. In that case, while it divides them as a result, If they could remove a potential hostage from reach before either of them could put a gun to their heads.

“[b][i]I leave that matter to your discretion, Captain. There is, however, some hope. We’ve received word from an anonymous contact within the Ascendancy; someone made contact with one of our spies and sent in a request for a meeting through our network. They seem to know about the pirates, and is willing to give us information and assistance against them, in exchange for aiding him in capturing them and what they stole. As a show of good faith, they gave us two bits of information: First that there’s a victim of the pirates on their way to your ship to join your crew, the second is that there’s a…very dangerous Star Marine they found that would prove useful against them. We’ll download the coordinates he provided to your Omni-tools soon. He did however make very clear that this particular member of the Star Marines was…’troublesome’, I believe his words were. From what he’s said, she is a ruthless monster that’s likely to strike at you before considering to join you. But he’s guaranteed that she is worth the trouble. Exercise extreme caution when approaching her.[/i][/b]”

“[color=green][b]Rather… generous for an Ascendancy guy to be giving us that for free…[/b][/color]” 

Natasha said, “Because he isn’t - What’s his price? And will he ask for extra to safeguard our family members?”

“Beyond what I already said about aiding him in capturing these pirates and taking what was stolen by them, it seems his asking price is that some of us at Moonstrike turn ourselves in.”

“[b][color=green]So, we basically throw a few members of Moonstrike under the bus?[/color][/b]”

“[b][i]...This person knows that we are not responsible for the crimes these Pirates committed in our name. But we are still rebels against the Ascendancy, and active ones at that. A case cannot be made to clear our names until a few members of Moonstrike turn themselves in as a show of ‘trust’.[/i][/b]”

“[b][color=green]Clear our names…to the [i]Ascendancy?[/i][/color][/b]”

“[b][i]No, to the Rebels. It seems they’re going to use whatever influence they have in the Ascendancy to prove the Pirates to be responsible for the actions attributed to you. A few members of our organization is the asking price of the Ascendancy allowing them to do such a thing and turn the other cheek. Effectively using their corruption to their advantage. …There is also another reason: These pirates know about our movements and the internal workings of our organization, this wouldn’t be possible unless they’ve installed some kind of mole within our ranks. It seems this tipper came to the same conclusion. Judging by just how much they know, we don’t believe it’s someone within one of units, but within HQ itself.[/i][/b]”

“[b][color=green]...Ah, I get it. Moonstrike finds and weeds out whoever’s feeding the pirates information, and we throw them under the Ascendancy’s bus as the price for clearing our names. [/color][/b]”

“[b][i]...Captain Zhang. You and your crew have three Mission Objectives: First, you are to observe and find out what these pirates are planning and stop them once you do. Caution is advised; we don’t know much about these pirates or what sort of trap they will spring against us. Secondly, you are to make contact with this tipper of the Ascendancy, and the two he has given us information for. One should be on its way as I speak, the other we will coordinate and video information about. Finally, you are to assist us if at all possible in dealing with the other Rebel Cells. The more hands we can free up here the better. The details of how you fulfill this, we also leave entirely to your discretion. With that, We’ll leave you to it. …Take care, and may the light of the moon strike upon the obstacles in your way. Dismissed.[/i][/b]” With that, the insignia of MS2 disappeared, once again leaving Joey and Natty in the Meeting room alone again.

“[b][color=green]Caution, huh… A lot of crap we gotta do, so little time. …Say Natty, …“Divide and Conquer”, like old times?[/color][/b]” Joey asked her, essentially suggesting a split up of the crew.

“Yes,” Natasha had ran out of words, but her expression was stormy, filled with barely-restrained anger. “We split the crew…”

[@Letter Bee][@Th3King0fChaos][@The Man Emperor][@Landaus Five-One][@FalloutJack][@Conscripts][@dragonpiece][@Starlance][@jdh97][@Vietmyke][@Sylvan][@Smike][@Senhara]