Emily

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ThePsuedoMonkey
Posts: 53
Joined: Thu May 31, 2012 3:41 am

Emily

Postby ThePsuedoMonkey » Thu Sep 20, 2012 5:56 pm

Hassifa was not a great captian. Sure there was always Nikola there for support, and together they "liberated" every slave ship they ever came across, but Emily had chosen to follow them. She chose us. She did everything asked of her without question: when Hassifa said they would tear apart every ship "from here to the federation base" while their ship sat there, unarmed, Emily stood at attention in the teleporter just waiting for the two mantis to join her.

It became a routine for her, destroying the crews of every ship just as easily as her first crew were destroyed on that rock. Of course it was a challenge she enjoyed at first; three souls against the galaxy, never knowning which of them would make it back to the ship in time to repair its damage. Xemu was from the first slaver ship, and a third mantis made the engagements all the easier. That thing was insane; it tore apart everything it faced with no regard for anything else, and would sit in the medbay at night sharpening its mandibles as the medbay built them up. Emily had grown fond of the scars of battle, which could never be fully healed by the second cheapest medical bay one could find, and she was proud of the way her scars struck fear in the eyes of her foes. With Xemu along, the whole thing just seemed less entertaining, and the new scars were never as impressive.

Narth joined the boarding parties soon after, and Hassifa put Emily in the bridge. Most people might enjoy the challenge of piloting a space ship, but Emily knew there was little point to it, as you might be able to avoid one missile in ten by yourself in this thing - but that was what the drone was supposed to be doing anyway. These controls were never designed for a rockman, and Emily broke more than a few of them while dodging plasma-laser volleys. And she thought she knew routine before this.

The engis came soon after, and may as well have been faceless constructs as far as Emily was concerned. She knew they were there, but never bothered to approach them, let alone learn their names. Like so many rats scurrying about to make repairs as if they were little hunks of flesh. She didn't hate them, since they did their job almost as well as she did hers, but she wasn't as fond of them as she was of her scars.

Hassifa seemed to lose his nerve by the time they reached the Federation base, having accomplished his personal goal. It was Nikola who agreed to take on the final assault, though that's not how Hassifa remembers it. En route, a rebel cruiser began attacking them, and Hassifa did what he does best. He ordered decompression of the entire rear of the ship to deal with the assault team, while his team beamed aboard the enemy. The enemy ship put up more resistance than expected, so Hassifa didn't pay much attention when his command module informed him that intruders were in the bridge. "Emily can handle this one," he thought, as the intruders had been breathing vacuum for a while. He continued his assault.

When Emily saw the intruders force the cheap doors open she smiled, or at least did something similar to one. She wailed upon the first assailant, ignoring her station as Xemu might have done. His corpse eventually gave no resistance, and she hurled it at the second assailant. Feeling excitement for the first time since entering the bridge, she continued her retaliation. Every blow she took only served to motivate her further, knowing how glorious these new wounds would look after the medbay finished with them.

When Hassifa returned, he didn't even notice his pilot. After the team finished patching up in the medbay he ordered the FTL jump to the bridge, an order which was responded to with static. He and Nikola entered the bridge, and saw naught but corpses. Knowing his failure, Hassifa dragged the remains of the rebels to the airlock, while Nikola simply watched with a fire brewing inside him. After regaining some modicum of control, Nikola sauntered up to Hassifa, threw him against the deck and hissed a single word before returning to the transporter: "pilot." Hassifa did not respond in kind, instead he returned to the bridge, stopping only to position a pile of rocks into a more dignified position. Hassifa is not a great captain, but is getting better all the time.

...

After a fierce battle with the rebel fleet, their prey flies off, ignoring how half of itself has been destroyed. Hassifa knows the damage to his ship is eclipsed only by the firepower of his prey. He plots a pair of FTL jumps to a Federation repair post, unsure how to catch up to the foe. With the ship operational again, he consults Nikola on what to do, but makes the mistake of suggesting they flee. The inferno inside him tempered by the previous battles, Nikola desires to evicerate his captain for this, but knows the captain is ignorant of his faux pas. Instead he exclaims "you knou nothing of your sssship!" while he spools up the advanced FTL navigation which had never before been useful. Nikola pauses only briefly at a pile of rocks before returning to the boarding party.

...

Nikola shreds the shield generator of the foe with the away team, the remaining inhabitants dispached, save for an ignorant fool manning a laser array. With the final shield bubble dissipating, the hull begins to shudder and heave as lasers batter the ship unabated, as the missiles did after the engines were disabled. He makes the call back to Hassifa; "finissshed." Nikola looks at all he has wrought while his team waits for the teleporter. As they begin to beam out he mutters "for you, Emily."
ThePsuedoMonkey
Posts: 53
Joined: Thu May 31, 2012 3:41 am

Re: Emily

Postby ThePsuedoMonkey » Thu Sep 20, 2012 5:58 pm

This was inspired by my first playthrough on normal, with the Basilisk. I've got to pay more attention to boarders :(
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Kieve
Posts: 952
Joined: Tue Sep 18, 2012 2:21 pm

Re: Emily

Postby Kieve » Fri Sep 21, 2012 2:34 am

Brilliantly told, sir. Bravo.
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TheAzryte
Posts: 55
Joined: Sun Sep 16, 2012 7:51 pm

Re: Emily

Postby TheAzryte » Sun Sep 23, 2012 10:31 am

'Emily', now in theaters. Truly a great story, the morale being get better doors?
Personal fleet: Kestrel A & B, Engi A&B, Stealth A, Mantis A&B, Federation A&B, Slug A, Rock A, Zoltan A&B and Unidentified A.

GDM
ThePsuedoMonkey
Posts: 53
Joined: Thu May 31, 2012 3:41 am

Re: Emily

Postby ThePsuedoMonkey » Sun Sep 23, 2012 3:45 pm

:D I still seem to always decide against upgrading doors until something like this happens. :oops: