Hugh nods.

"Extortion attempt duly noted. You have until Stanhill disarms the charges to reconsider your position."

Davis stands up. "*Okay, first, let's try some discretion. Secondly, Hugh, we need him to do this hack. We may have minutes before the rest of the crew wakes up, and we need to have a plan ready to go by the time that happens. We can do this without the explosive backup, but we need to know whether or not we need to do it at all first. You can hog-tie him later, but we need to do this hack as fast as possible, and that means using Max to do it. And Max, shut the fuck up. We get that you think you can do a better job leading this team, but maybe you two can save the pissing match until after we're not in space, possibly about to be sold to the Imperium for a big screen TV, okay?*"

Hugh takes a few deep breaths. It's plain to see that at this stage, he's liable to just knock out anyone disagreeing with him for any reason.

"No," he finally says. "You wanted this done quick, you should've called me first instead of wasting your time with the firecrackers. Doctor Kilgore is not going to do the hack, we're falling back on firepower in case of the crew deciding to screw us, and you do not have the privilege of calling me Hugh. This is not a fucking democracy and I won't have you motherfucking consultants patronizing me. Now, I'm getting Stanhill and Angel before something happens to them, and anybody who wants to discuss my orders some more can do so while sucking my dick."

Davis throws his hands up in the air. "*If this is how you want it, that's how we'll do it. If this backfires and we get screwed, it's all on you.*"

"It's always on me, that's what being in command means. Now kindly shut up."

Hugh keys the radio.

"Angel, Stanhill, you guys copy? Grab your shit and report to the cargo bay."

"Sir," Taylor interrupts. "Riviera's right here. We're only missin' Stanhill and Arketta."

Hugh looks around and spots Angel after an intense look. Damn, the kid's good. Blends in everywhere.

Hugh keys the radio again.

"Stanhill, wake Arketta and bring her with you."

Gatac wrote:

Hugh looks around and spots Angel after an intense look. Damn, the kid's good. Blends in everywhere.

Hugh keys the radio again.

"Stanhill, wake Arketta and bring her with you."

Luis had already started waking Arketta after the first message, and by the time the second comes in he's pulling his own pistol from its hiding place while Arketta goes through the motions of getting out of the bunk. Luis has worked with Hugh long enough to recognize his "You won't like me when I'm angry" voice, and thus he keys his own radio, "Stanhill here, sir. Ready to move out, but Yaris just headed to the bridge. What's the situation? Should somebody follow her?"

Arketta wakes with both a soldier's readiness and a soldier's frustration at losing precious sleep. *What goes on?* she whispers.

Luis lays out the situation, and Arketta's inclined to follow Hugh's orders before anything else is discussed. The captain doesn't seem in the mood for individual initiative.

"What's going on?" asks a groggy Clay from above Arketta. The lime hair sticks out from the privacy curtain.

"Not used to shiptime," Arketta replies, feigning more grogginess than she feels. "Goin' to shipchef, look for caf."

Clay grunts and shuts the curtain.

Semo accepts the gun from Max, ensures that the clip and all rounds are removed, then tosses it in a box. He then imposes his own massive body between the impromptu bombs and Davis & Max, waving them back as necessary to get them out of jumping range of the explosives.

"Mellish, move these carefully over there by those crates," Semo says waving an arm while eyeing the spook and the scientist.

After several moments, Semo notices the oddly-shaped item in Max's hand. It takes another second to realize what it is. Once again, he holds his hand out, a very serious expression on his face. "The detonator, please."

Davis steps slowly back, not wanting to get in the way if Semo needs to take Max down.

Max fixes his eyes on the opposition.

"You really want to go out this way? We were this close to cracking into the Imperium and you want to go start playing GI Joe Patton. Nicely played, Captain. I'll be sure to note you going batshit crazy when we're both drummed up by a Court Marti...Oh...Wait, if we die, there won't be a Court Martial...There won't be an Earth for that matter. That's a bit ironic? You try and bust me for doing my job and I reply by blasting us all into deep space...thereby removing the one chance that miserable planet of ours has in keeping out the bad guys. I guess it's a matter of personal pride now. Although who's to say you or I can ever be trusted again? The minute I let go of this switch, Sergeant Putupu here is going to beat me until you give the order to stop. So where's the incentive, hmm? Meanwhile, we've wasted at least five, make that ten minutes of precious time we don't have wherein Davis and I could have been rigging up our one and only insurance policy against our seemingly bastabbing crew of rejects and deserters. The only thing we can possibly agree upon is to do our fucking duties. That means you telling these grunts who and where to shoot and me figuring out how Tab A goes into Slot B into the umpteenth alien device. Now, are we done here Captain or we all just going to be some open-ended footnote in some CIA file that's burning in the crater where Langley used to be after the Turai have finished with their widescale planetary bombardment?"

Luis and Arketta, getting no intelligible response from the Captain, head down the steps and towards the gradually increasing din coming from the cargo bay.

Luis makes out the tail end of Max's tirade and can see the heavy hatchway into the bay itself when the expansive room's daycycle lighting comes back on and the cargo bay hatch cycles shut with a final slam.

*Goddamn sonbitch on mother's face*, Arketta swears in English. They were less than 15 feet from the cargo bay door. They might as well be on another planet, and with Luis' demolitions gear in the bay, he can't rig up a breaching charge.

A grunting approximation Imperial mixed with Whiirr pipes through the cargo bay intra-vox. Luis can just barely make out the words from outside in the bay corridor, and then only if he puts his ear to the door. The interior of the ship appears to still be quiet and on its nightcycle.

*Please excuse rough talk. We have... slight problem, doors are for your safety. Me talk no suited for... vox. Yaris speak/explain.*

The ex-Interceptor's voice comes through the vox now. *Um, yes. Sorry to wake you. Shipmaster has picked up an Imperial needleship on long-range sensors. Ordinarily this would not be a problem, as we have an understanding with the locals, but this is an outsystem capital ship. Scans indicate that they're stopping and boarding every ship outbound for the Gateway. Shipmaster asks that you be very truthful in your next response. Use the wall-vox and answer this: If we are boarded, what kind of trouble will you be in, and by extension, what kind of trouble have you brought us?*

Hugh fixes Max with an icy glare.

"Playing suicide bomber isn't the right way to solve our problems, Kilgore. Now hand over that detonator."

He hears the shipboard announcement and turns to Max.

"I suggest you start thinking about how we can use the charges against the turai ship without killing ourselves."

He punches the vox button.

The turai are our enemies. We had no intention of getting you into trouble, but if you wish, we will help you in escaping or repelling boarders.

When Angel is told to 'report to the Cargo Bay', he simply slides out of the shadow he had nestled into and coughs politely.

He gives a sidelong glance to the Sergeant before bringing his rifle to ready.

"This, this here is why civilian contractors are a poor idea." He does however, not make any particular move to either fall in line with the Captain, or foster some sort of ill conceived sharpshooters-and-nerds insurrectionist movement. Instead, he moves back to one of the better covered nooks in the room and takes up a position to cover what is still -technically- a single team of good guys, when the rapidly building clusterfuck dissolves into true chaos.

Arketta keys her radio. *A Needleship has... eight Quads of Turai, maybe thirty, maybe forty interceptors. Normally travels with two to three assault ships for escort. If they're boarding everyone, those Turai'll be spread thin, but they might have more than I think if they planned to board everyone.*

Meanwhile, Yaris sounds genuinely surprised at Hugh's answer. *The Turai are your... ALL of them?*

She's cut off, and Swims' voice mangles its way across the intra-vox. *You help much already.* Was that sarcasm? *Nine hands of Turai wait... shipways. No can repel. No WILL repel. Not when me crew, me ship in danger.*

Yaris now. *We would like to help you, but even if you litter Akamu's decks with their dead, they'll just destroy the ship. You know what fate awaits you perhaps better than we do. If death is preferable to capture, we can space you and save you from torment. We offer this as a show of respect, not as a threat, for you seem to be good people.*

Arketta weighs in again over the team's radios. *This is physics. If we don't stop, they simply cannot catch us with anything that would be able to board us. Just interceptors, and I have to believe it'd be a close race to the Gate. Problem is, they'll know we're not stopping well before we're even within weapons range. I doubt this heap has decoys, stealth, or jammers, and I know it doesn't have the armor to take a hit from a Needle.*

Hugh thinks about this, then keys the comms.

"We appreciate the offer in the spirit it was given, but we don't give up that quickly. How many spacesuits do you have?"

admiralducksauce wrote:

Arketta weighs in again over the team's radios. *This is physics. If we don't stop, they simply cannot catch us with anything that would be able to board us. Just interceptors, and I have to believe it'd be a close race to the Gate. Problem is, they'll know we're not stopping well before we're even within weapons range. I doubt this heap has decoys, stealth, or jammers, and I know it doesn't have the armor to take a hit from a Needle.*

Max keys his radio.

"There's a way around everything..." replies Max, waiting for sidearm to be returned to him.

"...That is, if you're willing to trust me. Look, I will agree the bombs may have not been the best route, but it was the only plan I heard outside of hurrying up and waiting to captured. Although these new developments appear to make any plan, good or not, moot." finishes the scientist, looking at Hugh to stand the down the hounds.

Hugh notes Max's Gimme gesture with disapproval.

"Alright, let's play. What is your plan?"