18th of June
Skies over Tanjen
On the Hunter's Ship
Shara sat in her cabin, which was a rather nice affair in comparison to what some of the other crew members had received, and sipped on a piping hot cup of coffee while she mulled over the details of their mission. Capture the Red Hood alive, not dead. The last part was imperative, and not a task that would be easy by any means. Wrangling a pirate as elusive and skilled as the Red Hood would be akin to wrestling a crocodile as it death rolled. “A rather unattractive thought, if I do say so myself.” She mumbled to nobody in particular, rubbing the bridge of her nose between her index finger and thumb as she tried to chase away a headache that was threatening to bloom.
The speakers of the ship whirred to life, and the recognizable voice of Shuda chimed out that it was go time. She didn't have much warning before she felt a small rumble through the floor, indicating that the harpoons had launched according to plan. Her part wouldn't come till later, so she took her time, lifting her cup up for another sip. Suddenly, their ship was jerked and she spilled her coffee all across her forearms and part of her chest, earning a very unladylike curse from her lips. The sheer force that was dragging their ship down was so immense that it took her a moment to regain her footing as she clawed at the walls to help stabilize her as she gathered her equipment. Her hover bike was in a small bay on deck that would keep it secured, spirits willing. Then the ship stabilized somewhat, garnering another colorful slur of cuss words from Shara as she nearly banged her face into the corner of the door while trying to open it.
Shara made her way to the deck to see what was unfolding. “Oh bullocks, you have got to be jesting me. This heifer has some serious sack.” Honestly, Shara couldn't believe it... that the Red Hood would cut her own engines in order to elude capture. A very clever game of chicken, and not one that Shara was willing to attempt to win. For now, however, they were in a stale mate of sorts.
Except for the intimidating Ashan heading right for them, a ball of swirling energy pulsating in his hand. Shara ducked and ran across the deck, a hand slipping into her toolkit. She pulled out a square device, roughly the size of a dinner roll with dimly glowing blue lights on the face of it, and then placed it on the deck, where prongs came out and latched firmly into the floor. She tapped the screen thrice, and then pointed to specific points on the deck with the same finger, as if drawing an imaginary line. A transparent wall of light blue erected itself across the deck in a semi-circle, looming protectively in front of the crew. A stray bullet hit the shield just as it was erected and dissipated into nothingness. Some of the mercs gave her an appraising glance, as if just seeing her for the first time.
She knew what they thought of her, that she was weak. It was better to be thought of as weak, than to be heralded as strong. However, she couldn't suppress a grin and gave them a theatrical bow at the waist before returning to her task at hand. She knew a bit about the people who were employed alongside her, from genial conversing and thorough research into who they were before hiring them. This is what led her to what she presumed was Atlas's clone on the deck of the Hunter.
“Hello Atlas, I must say you look rather dashing, clone or not. Don't you get chilly though? At this height, as naked as you are... BRRR!” She exaggerated a shivering motion, just to see if she could manage to get the Ashan to smile. She casually leaned into him and held three objects out for him to take, and whispered quietly enough for just him to hear. “I assume you know how to use these. These can take care of that, and the other... well, that. It would make me as happy as a grinning sky-eel eating chocolate clouds if the ship remains undamaged.” She indicated the objects or people in question vaguely, and gave him a secretive smile. She knew that he was clever enough to put two and two together.
After waiting for Atlas's confirmation, Shara swaggered off to Shuda's side, her hips rolling with the tipsy motion of the ship as it got gradually sucked down. “Shuda, this doesn't seem as if it is going as promising as hoped. Either we lower on point with their ship and allow Balazar and Tyhr to fight whatever rapscallions they have waiting inside so we can retrieve the target, or we cut loose and try a different approach. That Red Hood... She is willing to abandon all sanity to evade us, not to mention that something in there seems to be punching our harpoons out. It wont be long before whatever it is manages to extract them all.”
Shara glanced about, searching for the two mercs in question. She hoped that Balazar and Tyhr were close at hand.
Aisling