(The following is the GM Post and Time-skip. Let's get this kick-started back up. ^^)

[hider=Joey's Log][i][center]Capta-Err

...First-ma-

...Vice-Cap-

...Fuck it, Joey's Log. Star-date: 0612

It's been about almost a week since Moonstrike the Second gave us our briefing on the situation with the pirates and our mission to stop them. ...We would have been rather quick to proceed with that mission, but things started happening at rapid-fire pretty much right out the gate that prevented us from doing so. In other words: This week really fucked us up.

Where do I even begin with this...? I suppose it started with the wonder-twins, Sam and Iris. I wasn't on the ship in a while, so I had no idea what was going on, but from what I gathered, Iris fell in love with a female Zvezd by the name of Amy, who got attacked by pirates on a mental level, some kind of mind magic or something. She's been locked in a comatose state ever since we left the bazaar, so we've had her in a life-support capsule to keep her safe until she wakes up - [b]if[/b] she wakes up. Understandably, that left Iris pretty down in the dumps as of late, not that I'd know how she was beforehand. It's probably because of that, because of Amy, even more specifically because there was nothing our Doc could really do for her at the time, that Iris and Sam gave Natty the 2-week notice and decided to take Amy with them on the way out. Well, I say 2 weeks, but it was more like 2 days. Still, it was a pretty graceful send-off, all things considered. There was no way of knowing how they'll get Amy out of that coma, but I'm confident they'll be doing whatever it takes to wake her up. That said, I don't really know where they went. Natty told me how they were talking about starting up a farm, so maybe they went to an Agricultural planet to get started on that.

Next was my two friends, Abby and Doc. Abby was on a mission by the time I got here and was supposed to come back by now, but I guess they sent him on another mission immediately after the fact. No idea when he'll get back, but of all the people on this ship, Abby's the one I least worry about. That guy can handle himself fine. Doc, on the other hand, went off with Doruva and Gabe on a mission. Seems something happened near the Kanarusian home planet, some kind of unknown plague spreading itself about - real nasty one by the sound of it. Doc's been sent to contain and neutralize the disease, and since it's so close to the Kanarusian home planet - and it's possible it was a terrorist attack by a certain alien-hating government - Doruva and his pal followed right behind. Until either Abby or Doc comes back, it looks like I'm the last executive officer besides Natty on the ship. ...Which also means if I decide to leave again as usual, I'd be leaving Natty all alone. So, I guess I'll be stuck here for a while.

After that, Tarak of the Star Marines was the next to go. Don't really know [b]why[/b] he left. Happened upon him and Maria staring each other down in the hallway; seemed like a private mental chat thanks to Maria's telepathy. Next thing I know, he comes walking to Natty's room to tell her he had to go on a mission and wasn't sure when - or if - he'd come back to the ship. He said his goodbyes to everyone - even me - and went off on his own. I asked Maria about it, and all she told me was that allies contacted him and asked for his help. ..."Allies", heh, Interesting word to use.

In any case, lastly, there was an incident that happened on Titan that recently came to our attention. Sounds like it got hit with a bad case of civil war over the minerals and what to do with it. It could have been sparked by a third party; Finny's family is on that planet and I doubt that's a coincidence. Since she was the one who brought it to our attention, I talked with Ave to see what she thinks on the matter and we seem to be in agreement: Someone was definitely attacking the kids' families, and indirectly so at that. In the line of work these Star Marines are in, one can probably tell what kind of person they're dealing with by how they do their attacks on someone or something. Manipulating a planet into civil war and then using it as a cover or the smoking gun outright to kill a certain group - a family in this case - reeks of a Black Op. Most likely the Ascendancy, but given how these pirates have behaved so far we can't dismiss the possibility they're involved in this.

Either way, Finn, understandably didn't take it well. Guy made for a ship immediately and just took off to Titan to save them. We of course told MS2 about this, and we agreed our lil Ms. Negotiator, Melinae Vandris, should follow suit. She could help quell the situation on the planet and cool off the war, and if there's anyone who might attack, Finn would be there to help her out.

Personally, I actually proposed that Narvia should come along with her to help Finn out. It's pretty obvious those two hit it off, and despite her...'personality', she seemed perfectly capable of handling herself in a fight. Plus, I can only imagine how she's taking not being around him. But Natty and MS2 seemed in agreement to keep Narvia here. With everything that's happened, we're now short-staffed, and we haven't even started on trying to fight these pirates that we've been on duty to fight. We need all the help we can get...

Sooo... On that note, with quite a few members now gone, that led to our divide and conquer plan getting a bit borked. We have to re-organize the groups of who's doing what when it comes to the tasks at hand. I've already taken the liberty of starting off our efforts by dealing with the Search for that problematic Star Marine we were told about. Most of that team jumped ship, and the only one that was left was Nirrti. While I don't know how good Nirrti's battle capabilities are - maybe she [b]was[/b] designed to also fight Star Marines like this one - but I wasn't taking a chance on sending her to fight someone that we felt needed to have a whole team of magic-users to fight against.

In fact, at that point, I wasn't taking any chances, period. So I personally took a ship and rode to the coordinates to deal with this Star Marine. ...Yeah, I know, hypocritical right? But at least if I die, no one on that ship'll miss me that much, and it's not like I didn't have a plan in case that happened. I went down there and met with this Star Marine, 'Shineyd'. Didn't take me long to see what MS2 was talking about with her. I don't know what kind of experiments they were doing with these kids, but I can't even imagine what kind of extra-horrific crap they did to make someone with the kind of magic [b]she's[/b] got. We had an encounter and to make a long story short: I... 'persuaded' her to join us on our ship. Due to personal reason and in the event someone - [b]coughnerocough[/b] - Ugh, sorry, something got caught in my throat - in the event someone comes along and hears this without my knowing, I can't say how I pulled it off. What I can say is it involved guns...and eventually big guns. Point is, she's now on our side, and I'm heading back with her as I speak, so that's one objective scratched off the board.

Even better news, I just received a message from MS2 not that long ago, it seems they're sending a group to help accommodate for the crewmen we've lost.

Once we reach the ship again - which is probably soon since I can see it right now - we'll be re-arranging our teams up and then getting on with the task at hand. We're down, but we're not out yet.

-Joey Out-[/center][/i][/hider]

[hider="Operation: Kraken" Briefing][h1][b][u][i][center]The Xuanxang - Conference Room[/center][/i][/u][/b][/h1]

A meeting was called by the Captain, though in actuality, it was called by Joey using Natasha as his proxy. The whole lot of them probably wouldn't have come to hear shit if that was outright said, so he needed a way around that if he had any hope of getting everyone re-organized after the insanity that's been happening of late. Of course, there was a possibility at least one of them was gonna avoid going into a meeting regardless. In the event of that, Maria is to open up a mental link so that any who are indeed disobeying a direct [i]Captain's[/i] order would at least know what's going on.

Now with the new girl in tow, once people started entering in, Joey made a few claps of his hands before beginning to speak.

"[b][color=green]Alright ladies and gents, gather round. Now, it's been a bit of a rough week for us, I know. So in light of that, let me start this off by saying that if Natty hasn't already done so herself, effective immediately, consider your punishment lifted. Of course, I know a few of you already been doing so behind my back - lookin at you, Little Caesar - but consider this an official notice that the menu's back in full swing. ...To be honest, I've never been a disciplinary type of guy. Usually if somebody gets in trouble on this ship, we leave it to Abby to deal with it. Still, people did fuck up and Abby wasn't around to deal with it, and so I tried to get a handle instead. And as I've noticed this past week even before the people started dropping off, it backfired hard. ...Guess beginner's luck doesn't always work. So, I admit: I fucked up, and I am sorry for that. ...But the fact is, we're now understaffed, we're still clearly being targeted by pirates, and we can't rely on Moonstrike to give us any more aid than they already have on account of their asses being put on a frying pan just as big if not bigger than ours by the same chef. All the while, if the Ascendancy hasn't noticed by now that all the rebel factions' crosshairs are on each other right now and not them, there's no doubt Kherol has, and believe me, that alone is a thought of [i]nightmare[/i] proportions.[/color][/b]" Joey paused for a moment to take a deep breath, taking a quick look at Natasha before once again turning his attention to everyone present.

"[b][color=green]The point is, we're in a bad place right now, so if you have any sort of bitterness, or hatred, or vindictive thoughts towards anyone on this ship - and I do mean [i]anyone[/i] on this ship - then consider this an order. Not from me, but from Natasha over here. From your Captain to all of you: [i]Get, the fuck, over it...Quick.[/i] We're not telling you to like everyone here. You want to despise somebody on this ship for whatever reason, that's your right. But being hostile and making an enemy out of anyone here is a luxury we know longer have. We can't afford anyone making any mistakes from here on out because everyone still on this ship may be the only thing we got left at this point.[/color][/b]" He paused again, and turned to what everybody probably noticed the whole time, the new face that appeared with him on the ship.

"[b][color=green]Well, ...Maybe not [i]all[/i] we have. First off, Let me introduce you guys to our newest member of this team, the Star Marine that Moonstrike wanted us to bring in to help us out. This is Shineyd. Since we were understaffed, and most of the team we sent to..."ask" for her aid left, I took it upon myself to go and convince her to join us. She'll be accompanying us on this ship for some time, so do try to get along with her. The one that our Tipper is going to be giving us decided that she's not coming to us. Instead, it seems she's gonna be with said Tipper and join us from there on her own terms. But even better news, it seems MS2 [i]did[/i] manage to squeeze one last free unit to us. Counted about 24 of them, four of which are apparently exceptional. But they've stressed that this is the last they can do for us. Every other unit, fleet, and ship are focused on defending themselves from an angry mob of rebels. ...Which brings me nicely to the main reason we're here: A briefing.[/color][/b]" Joey paused a third time, switching on the holographic projector in the middle of the room, screens popping up out of nowhere, including a few news channels detailing stories relevant to their mission.

"[b][color=green]You guys already heard most of our situation from our chat with MS2. Maria, give Shineyd a mental run-down while I do this. For the rest of us, I'll cut to the chase. We have three main objectives in this operation: Our First-Priority is finding out what these pirates are up to, and ultimately stopping them. This objective will be split into two teams. The Captain, Maria, and Laurey will be meeting up with Mr. Anonymous Tipper. To be clear though, you're not just going there to listen to him spill some beans. He and his ally is also requesting your services to help him take these pirates down. Guy insists on a stealthy team, so you guys be prepared to do some sneaking around. Might even need to do some hacking which is where Laurey comes in.[/color][/b]" The holographic screen showed a map with three dots heading for a humanoid silhouette with a question mark on the face. Maria nodded when Joey gave his order, telepathically giving a summary of the situation everyone was currently in to Shineyd.

"[b][color=green]On flipside of this objective is the team that will follow after the pirates themselves. I believe that team was Ki'Tlex, Alan, Flame, and the Little Caesar himself, Nero. The Pirates are currently moving about in the Outer Rim. Specifically, it looks like they're on their way to the Korta's home turf. Now, You guys already heard it from MS2, but it bears Repeating: you guys are in a difficult and volatile position, and basically, you're walking willingly into a trap. These pirates will be expecting you, and likely knows we want them dead. Good chance we're dealing with a dead man's switch for this trap, so we can't take any chances. As such, your mission is to follow after them and put a wrench in whatever they plans they may have at the time, and try to figure out what this trap is on your end, but do not kill them yet. ...I reiterate we have no idea what this trap is, but Moonstrike seems to have a guess, and sees it as a major threat. Falling for this trap and having it sprung on us, accidently or not, is [i]not[/i] an option. That said, We'll get nowhere tip-toeing around without knowing anything. So, in the event our Tipper can't explain what this trap could be, you have permission to fight and get them near the point of pulling the proverbial trigger. Basically, poke at them to try to get them to show their hand without actually making them [i]play[/i] that hand. Bottom-line: this one's gonna be tricky. So be careful.[/color][/b]" Joey explained, the hologram showing four dots heading for a typical jolly roger image.

"[b][color=green]The next objective is to assist Moonstrike in this Civil War against the rebels that turned on us. This team will consist of Nirrti, Queen Anne, myself... and our new girl, Shineyd. Ideally, it'd be best for all of us if we could sit everyone down, talk it out, and get the facts straight. But these guys have made their decision regarding Moonstrike and as we speak, are on the attack; they're in no mood to talk, so we can't be either. We'll be jumping right into a warzone, lot of them are gonna be firing at us and we're gonna need to fire right back. We are to serve as Moonstrike's Cavalry and stop this fighting by any means necessary. A relatively simple mission, but don't think for a second it'll be easy. These guys are rebels just like us, so whatever we got for our arsenal, they probably got it too. Underestimate them at your peril.[/color][/b]" Three more dots headed into an explosion symbol overlaid by the symbols of Moonstrike and other Rebel cells.

"[b][color=green]Which brings us to the most personal objective of the bunch: Search and Rescue for any and all family relatives to the Star Marines. Let me reiterate that this is a mission not given to us by Moonstrike, but a personal request by the Star Marines themselves. As such, it's only fair that Star Marines Avelyn, Narvia, and Ashton will be the ones responsible for taking care of this. What happened at the Bazaar has put you kids in a spotlight. If the Ascendancy didn't already know you lot were still alive, they do now, and the possibility of your families being targeted is no longer [i]just[/i] a possibility. You all already know why Finnbar and Ms. Negotiator left us; Titan was attacked and thrusted into Civil War, and there's evidence to suggest someone outside Titan had a hand in it. We still don't know [i]who's[/i] responsible for that, but it basically proves someone's on the move against your families. They clearly know a thing or two about black ops, which means there's a good chance whoever you're up against has read from the same books you guys did back in your Ascendancy days, so be careful.[/color][/b]" Three dots began going off the course of the others towards what appeared to be a gif of stick figures grabbing other stick figures from a platform seemingly surrounded by lava...Out of all of them, this was probably the most unprofessional looking of the bunch, clearly made last-minute.

"[b][color=green]That's everyone's missions. If you have any questions, you should say them now. Otherwise, we begin the operation immediately. Each team's jumping on a ship to go their separate ways. Avelyn, My own ship has a bit of space to it. You can use that to rescue you guys' parents. The other two ships should work for our team and the Pirate hunters, Leaving the Captain and her team, with the Xuanxang itself.[/color][/b]" He puts a bow on his briefing and waits for someone to ask him a question, and if no question were asked, or if there were questions but no more after the ones answered, then the briefing is dismissed...

"[b][color=green]Alrighty then guys and girls, We're commencing "Operation: Kraken". ...Let's sink these bastards.[/color][/b]" Joey then said, loading up one of his smaller guns between the two sentences, and walking out.

[center]And with that, [i]"Operation: Kraken"[/i] begins...[/center][/hider]