once again the Merchantman is caught between the two ships and even with it's drones providing fire support the ship has a hard time meeting the two ships coordinated attack. M'kira easily avoids the drones fire and dances nimbly around the heavier ship. although her guns fail to do any damage to the drone she targeted.

      "Son of a bit....." The captain shouted in anger as he was thrown out of his command couch and into the floor as the ship bucks hard as it's starboard fuel cell detonates under the impact of tyhe Crow's Mass cannon. Cease Fire!!!, damn cat where did you learn to shoot?" Cease fire and I'll withdraw, there ain't no money worth dying over."

OOC: at this point you can continue fire or accept his terms, or whatever you want his ship has take two critical hits and he is losing systems so he can't effectively fight back.

T'risa looked over to the others on the bridge, to let him go without something in return was too magnanimous in her opinion. They needed something in return. After all the Crow had taken some damage.

"I suggest we accept his offer providing he turn over all details on his employer. Perhaps if M'kira destroys another drone or two we might further persuade him of the futility of his current course of action. Currently we seem to be in a better position to press our advantage. So his employer and all details or we continue. Everyone agree?"

T'risa looked around for the others opinions.

"I am being agree with you T'risa." Aziza decides, having thought it over.  "I am being think you are best choice for being speak with him on our behalf to be avoiding misunderstanding.  Please to being handle negotiations?" she suggests.

T'risa nodded switching the ships comm system over to her station.

"Commander of the heavily damaged pirate vessel, I am Colonial Marshall K'mahda. You are guilty of the serious crime of piracy against a rescue vessel on its way to relieve some souls in jeopardy. I will ask one thing and one thing alone  in return for clemency for this act. The sole reason I am inclined to grant clemency is because you have delayed us enough on our mission of mercy. However, any subterfuge on your part will result in your vessel being destroyed and every crewmember surviving being charged and tried as a pirate. I believe the customary summary punishment for such is death. To begin with return all of your drones to your vessel and shut down all weapon systems, including the drone inside this vessel. Your captain should then make his way to our vessel with all documents and materials in original formats relating to the targeting of this ship. You have 10 seconds to agree to these terms before we continue firing. Any subterfuge will also be met with extreme force. If you comply with these terms, we will not assist you with repairs, but we will not fire upon your vessel further. Our fighter shall make sure your vessel does not disappear back into the depths from which it first appeared, any movement towards it shall also be seen as your abandonment of this truce."

T'risa opened a comms channel to M'Kira.
"Any of the drones fire on you or try to gain a tactical position on you destroy them. If the merchantman moves towards the cloud destroy it."

T'risa took a deep breath.
"Rhic....see if you can get a good draw on their power supply. Let's hope the captain agrees. Start the countdown timer please. Mark it at ten seconds. Commence firing at that point. Aziza....I think a maneuver to put us in his rear quarter might be adequate to make him consider his next move most carefully."


OOC:
12:31, Today: T'risa K'mahda rolled 22 using 1d20+13. Diplomacy. Phooey!

Laughing M'kira smiles having been listening to everyone's conversations. Before T'risa begins negotiations with the Merc captain. "I agree. He's so angry with me right now he wouldn't listen to a thing I had to say. Besides if I know T'risa she will have him eating out of her hand soon enough." Her voice was filled with confidence and a touch of affection for her friend.

Keeping a sharp eye on the surviving drone and the ship it belonged to she answers the com almost instantly. "Already on it. Let's hope he complies. Mmm Didn't you have some on board problems with intruders? One of them might talk and I also wouldn't trust him as long as he's got someone still active onboard."

  " The facedancer is down, but the Doc is working on her so she might make it." Rhic reported as he checked the monitors," Leo did a tap dance on her face."

  Colonial Marshal?" The man sounded genuinely alarmed and angry." What the hell are you hauling on that thing?"

   " Sending stand down codes to all drones," The captain spoke as a high pitched shreik filled the com channels for a split second," I want my people back, we were paid to Jack a cargo pod not get into a dust up with the CA."

   The merc captain nodded to his crew who quickly powered down their weapons and set the drones on a return path to the carrier." as soon as my people are back on my ship I'll transmit the contract, it's through a broker so you won't get much....although I do have some files you might want to look at."

T'risa responded over the comms channel.

"No, you have my word, if you bring any relevant data to me, I will release you and your crew with no further issues. This will however be your last chance at this with me. If I ever catch you in the act of piracy again I will use all forces at my disposal to have your ship obliterated. Your drone is close to being destroyed and your face dancer pet is seriously injured." T'risa paused a moment to let that sink in "Our doctor is working on her now, he thinks she stands a reasonable chance. Now whether that is to stand a reasonable chance at Imperial court, or at living on your vessel....that is up to you captain. I offer you my word and nothing more. We are in the better position here, Captain. My offer is not open to negotiation. Take it or leave it."

   "Well if I weren't setting here in the dark I might decide to see who is in a better position. Oh by the way, I don't trust anyone," The captain replied," I'm a Merc not a tourist on Aphyria VII, we'll have a face to face and I'll collect my girl."

   "somebody put a mass round through my docking hatch, so I'll have to come over on my own. If that little twitch outside makes one move, or I see one gun tracking me. I'll blast her out of space" the Captain growled as he shut down the ships comms.

T'risa looked over to the others on the bridge, feeling both proud and relieved at how the crew had managed to pull through this.

"Aziza, Rhic, can you please stay on alert here and let me know if anything changes through the ships comm."

Her fingers opened up the comms to the rest of the ship.

"It seems as though the enemy vessel is standing down. Doctor please stabilise the An'lasahr woman and have her suited and ready for transport by the airlock. Everyone else, please arm yourselves and meet me by the airlock. The enemy captain has agreed to come aboard in return for some concessions. Perhaps now we shall have more pieces to this puzzle."

T'risa stood up from her seat, ready to head down.

"I don't trust this man as far as I can throw him. I will read his mind to determine if what he is telling us is the truth. Be on the lookout for tricks on the part of his crew. Especially once he's recovered the face dancer."

Aziza nods to T'risa and, puzzled by the Merc Captain's comments she queries Rhictor:
"Mr. Rhictor, Mercenary is being sit in darkness while we are being sit in functional ship.  Isn't this being proof that we are in better position?"

   " Well, yes." Rhic laughed and shook his head." I can see why you would be confused. It's a human trait. We never admit we're defeated, even when the fangs are at our throat."

   "He'll protest and posture but he knows he's beat and he'll behave as long as he thinks he can wiggle out of the trap he's in."

Listening to the com she smiles wondering if Aziza would really try to eat the mercenary or if that was just an insult. She wasn't as familiar with Aziza's culture as she would like to be. Though she did love the grass matts and natural scent the ship had. She transmits for Aziza and crew only!

"We can't be certain exactly what tacitcal position he's in Aziza. For example IF I knew I was in trouble or even if I wasn't I might try to pull something sneaky to get the advantage. For example he's taking a pounding in the current battle. To cut his losses and perhaps carry the day he might try boarding us in force. Which is why not doubt T'risa wants us meeting him in force."


"Another option is to send a powerful explosive device over to our ship. Once he docks well you know what happens next. Course He wouldn't be on board not wanting to blow himself up. Then there's the fact he supposedly wants his crew back which leads me to think IF he care's he's going to behave. Maybe you should perform a full body cavity search on him just to prove he's on the up and up. No  scratch that he would likely fight to the death to prevent that."

The following events couldn't really be called anybody's fault.  M'Kira couldn't have realized that Aziza's paranoia made telling her scary stories equivalent to handing aphrodisiacs to a Tau.  There was just no way it would lead to a happy ending.
Aziza didn't realize that she'd actually acted, however she was a brilliant pilot and her ship had been so heavily customized that it nearly read her mind when she was touching the controls, and her subconscious mind was not happy.
Thus, as visions of horror raced through her mind, the massive barrel of the Mass Driver cannon began to inch towards the Mercenary shuttlecraft. . .
This message was last edited by the player at 15:38, Thu 17 July 2008.

  The merc captain's Shuttle pod detached from the ship and began to move liesurely toward the Crow. The small craft cleared the bulk of the enemy ship and with a puff of the thrusters closed on the docking collar maneuvering clumsily to math up with the clamps.

Aziza worries and waffles for perhaps ten more seconds before making up her mind and suddenly swinging the prow of the Strange and Wonderful Black Bird With the Cunning to Use Tools and a Love of Shiny Objects around to bear on the shuttlecraft, squarely aiming enough firepower to destroy several city blocks on the unoffensive craft.
"Mercenary Captain, please being shed Delta V to relative rest position and wait for intensive scan to search for suicide bomb or invasion force.  Do not being move or I am being open fire."

    " What the hell?" was the response from the shuttle pod, then a sudden burst of thrusters to bring it to a relative Halt compared to the Crow." And I thought Mercs were suspicious, hurry up, this thing aint a luxury suite ya know."

Despite the Merc Captain's words Aziza takes her time to do a thorough scan examining the shuttle before deflecting the turrets a couple of degrees, although not enough that they aren't still menacingly close, and giving him leave to dock.

14:23, Today: Aziza rolled 23 using 1d20+13. Sensor Scan.

Smiling M'kira smiles her eyes sharp as she keeps a lookout for anything underhanded the Mercs might be up to. So far everything seems fine. Nodding with approval at the scan she speaks softly into the com. "Any bets on if he has something or not? Looks like not since he's being allowed to dock. Aziza if it's any help once this is over I do have some repair skills. Though I remember you mentioning repair bot's. Might not need help with whatever damage the mercs did."

  The scan proceeds the close proximity of the shuttle pod allowAziza's scanners to pierce the hull and give the small pod a close inspection. no large explosive devices or weapons are detected smd one life sign is detected by the shi[ps systems. The shuttle pod continues on it's way docking with the Crow and locking onto the docking clamps fixxing it firmly to the hull.

Keeping an eye on the main ship M'kira slowly circles Aziza's crow looking for anything unusual. Just in case she wasn't about to take a chance that something was amiss while things appeared to be going so well.

Sends a private message to T'risa knowing she was in negotiations. The info wouldn't get in the way and it might prove helpful. "For the moment at least it's all quiet out here. Hope your having a good time in there. Let me know when I can dock I might want to say hello to the captain. I am curious how he knew my race. That's pretty detailed Intel unless the face Dancer reported the info to him."

Meanwhile Aziza keeps her weapons trained on the mercenary craft, and decides there's no harm in performing a particularly thorough scan of it, in case she might need to destroy the vessel quickly now, or in the future.

OOC~ Take 20 on a scan of the ship.

T'risa left the sickbay momentarily to communicate with the others.

"I detect no deception from the captain. He's infuriated only with his employer. Nonetheless, I'd prefer if both you and Aziza kept a very careful eye on his vessel. Though he might have no deception planned, that does not say anything for the others in his crew. M'Kira I'd prefer for you to remain patrolling outside this vessel until after the Captain has safely returned to his vessel. He's agreed to hand over all relevant information. I'm sure we'll find out how we came to be targetted in due course. Aziza, if you have the free time, I'd like for you to prepare to scan a data disk for any discrepancies prior to allowing the captain to leave. Just to make sure he hasn't tampered with the data or put anything that might cause us issues when we try to read it. I didn't read any deception, that still doesn't mean I trust him."

"Sounds good to me. Try not to have to much fun in there!" M'kira flicks a few controls staying alert and on the move. Last thing she wanted was to present a easy target. With their captain aboard the crow and wounded crew they should be on their best behavior. At least that's what she hopes.

Aziza considers the possibilities, while locking every weapon onto the enemy ship and contemplating what clan the rival Cesti she was hearing about on the intercom.  Seeing as the feeble bald-tailed Pasha clan had already tried to stop the mission twice, and the Pasha's were generally behind all evil in the universe anyway, it was obvious who these Cesti were but Aziza listened carefully to the Merc Captain's description of the rival Cesti, on the off chance that the vile Pasha had corrupted the dupe of some other clan.