You were relaxing on your ship as the unmistakable sound of proximity warning going off.

...interesting.  Might be bad.  Dave checked the cameras and/or windows to see what it was.

You can see a couple of ships descending from the clouds. They appear to be eighteenth century sailing ships, somehow.
This message was last updated by the GM at 21:48, Sun 19 Feb 2023.

Okay, then-- Earth was still pretty strange.  That was cool-- a nice feeling of coming home.  Also a sign that he might be able to fit in a bit better.

He attempted to hail them.  Sure, they might not have radio, but it was worth a shot, right?

As you hailed the ship, the cannons on the decks of the ship began to fire lasers at the city below. A squid-headed alien with a pirate hat on answered your hail.

"Yar, ye best be surrendering and hand over as much loot as ye can!"
This message was last updated by the GM at 21:49, Sun 19 Feb 2023.

Dave laughed.

"You stole your pirate dialect from Treasure Island?  That's sad.  How about you surrender or I open fire on you?"

He armed his ship's guns.

"Keep firing at that city and I take you out now.  That was your one warning.  All I give... and I've been a hell of a more successful pirate than you, too."

"It would seem we're at an impasse then," the squid-head said. "...or we would be if I didn't have more ships."

Another three ships descended from the clouds.
This message was last updated by the GM at 21:49, Sun 19 Feb 2023.

"Wouldn't be the first time I've faced a challenge," said Dave-- and he set his ship directly at whatever the captain's ship was!  El Liberador's guns were fine, but not nearly as effective as his own weapons, in his experience... and if he took out the captain, that might disrupt their entire plan.

"Perhaps we can settle this in a more appropriate way. You and me, boy," the captain said.

"Oh, I'm fine with that, Captain Squid," said Dave.  He opened the hatch and used his flight pack to shoot over to the deck of the enemy ship.

He was waiting for you, holding a laser cutlass and what looked like an early pistol.

"Brave of you to take the challenge," said Dave.  The plasma blade crackled to life from the vambrace.

"Ready?"

"Aye, lad," the other space pirate said.

(OOC: Initiative roll.)

21:48, Today: Dave Houston rolled 23 using 1d20+5 ((18)).

(OOC: Go)

Dave flew directly at him, plasma blade slashing!

22:28, Today: Dave Houston rolled 16 using 1d20+11 ((5)). And probably missing...

The pirate dodged out of the way and brought his own sword down at you.

(OOC: Toughness save - dc 21)

21 exactly!

Dave's armor easily deflected the blow, and he struck back with his plasma blade!

21 this time, Damage 9

You manage to give the pirate a glancing blow that drew some blue blood.

"Damn you, laddie! Youll be getting it!"

He fired a laser blast from his pistol that went wide.

"So who are you, anyway, Captain Squid?" Dave asked, attacking again.

27 this time, which is a Crit thanks to Improved Crit, AND it's mulitattack!

"That's Captain Kra'ken to you, laddie," the pirate said as you made him drop to a knee for moment.

"So do you yield?" Dave said, holding the plasma blade warningly.  He didn't drop his guard, though-- in his experience, that was just a bad idea.

There was a sound as a bunch of pirates on the bridge decloaked, with rifles trained on you, as suddenly the ship rocked. A trio of young human women appeared. One flying with a short cape, carrying two others. One dressed in red with a pair of goggles and the last had white hair and a bunch of silver orbs surrounding her.

"Get them all!" Captain Kra'ken ordered his men.

Dave unleashed a gravity pulse at the appearing pirates, catching Captain Squid in the blast if he could.

Cone Damage 10, Selective if that helps

"I expected the treachery," he commented, "but not the help, which I'm very glad for!  Hi, I'm Dave!  Let's kick some pirate ass together, OK?"

"Sounds good to me!" the girl in red with the goggles said as you blew away half of the pirates. She disappeared in a and suddenly a few pirates went flying with her appearing on the other side of the ship. The other girls joined in the fight as the pirates blasted back.

(OOC: Two DC 21 toughness saves)

17:58, Today: Dave Houston rolled 22,17 using d20+15,d20+15 ((7,2)).

Dave shrugged off some of the attacks, but not all-- he was getting hurt.  But he'd had worse, and this was no time to back down.  He fired another Gravity Pulse, shaping it to not hit his new allies.

Yay Damage 10 Area SHAPABLE attacks!

You manage  to take down the rest of the pirates as the other ships retreated back into the sky.

"So are we chasing them or securing this ship?" Dave asked his unexpected allies.

"Secure this one, it's the one that has the leader after all," the flying one said. "Can I ask for your name? You seem to be new here."

"Dave Houston," said Dave.  "Don't have a cool code name that works in English.  Uh, I've been away for a while.  Who are you three?"

The flying one went to speak, but the red one zoomed over and cut her off.

"I'm Red Shift, flying one is Scion and the last one is Tinker."

"Nice," said Dave.  "So:  I might be able to land this ship once it's secure.  Call that a plan?"

"If you would, please," Scion said.

Dave went to the control room.  Were the readouts in English?  It didn't matter to him, but he was curious.

They were not in English, but southern Octonian.

Interesting.  But Captain Squid had been speaking English... must have done his research.

He set the ship to set down gently by the city.

As you set the ship down, you can hear many sirens indicating local authorities must have been waiting.

That was fine.  He waited for them.  Besides, he really ought to set his own ship down somewhere, and talking to the local authorities about that would be polite.

You begin to speak with one of the cops when Red Shift bursts in.

"Hey! Our headquarters has a landing pad you can use!"

"Awesome!" said Dave.  "...Uh, I assume the authorities will want this ship.  I don't know what the legalities are, but I don't think the Octonian government is going to file a protest if they grab it.  Why don't I turn this over to them and then take my ship to your place?"

"Sure, sounds fine. Do you like donuts and those iced cappuccinos?" Red Shift asked.

Dave took a moment.

"It has been," he said, "literally years since I had coffee.  Or good pastries.  Well, the syrup-fried grub ones were actually pretty good, but please.  Yes.  Absolutely."

"Okay, see you there," Red Shift said as she ran off.

"Okay, so," he said to the police.  "Captured alien spacecraft, used by the Octonians that you'll find unconscious on board, who were attacking the city.  Don't go messing around with the controls casually.  The Men in Black will probably show up halfway through.  And if you're done, I'm going to go land my ship somewhere safe, by invitation, on private property.  Safety issue.  Uh, I'll be in touch.  Later!"

He then flew off in the approved manner of superheroes.

The Scion flew over to you as she carried Tinker.

"Mind if we come with you?"

"Hey, I'd love to have the company," said Dave.  "Welcome to my home away from home for the past few years-- El Liberador!"

He showed them into his ship.

"I take it you mean Earth," Scion said.

"Well, yeah," said Dave.  "I literally just got back here yesterday.  Had to check the calendar.  I've been away for three years now, but it feels like it's been much, much longer."

"Wow, that sounds like quite a story," Tinker said.

"And what was that about grubs?" Scion asked.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:30, Wed 22 Feb 2023.

Dave laughed, awkwardly.

"Well, the thing is, while I was out there, one of our best allies against the Reaching Claw were the Hso!chli.  Hso!chli are, uh, basically spiders.  Really big spiders.  Like, bodies are maybe ten feet long and legs about fifteen feet each.  They spin webs, too.  They're very isolationist, hard to get them to talk.  But... uh, we set up a meeting.  Me and, uh, the other leaders of the rebellion.  And it was a huge room full of webs, and I was kind of awkwardly climbing through them...

"...and they, uh, decided somehow that I looked like a cute baby Hso!chli fumbling my way through their webs.  And they, uh... declared that I was the cutest thing ever.  So, on the power of my overwhelming cuteness to gigantic terror-spiders, they gave us help.  And they, uh, gave me presents.  Like, things they give to their kids.  Including these surprisingly tasty treats that were, uh, six-inch grubs fried in some kind of sweet syrup that were surprisingly good.  Possibly the best thing that I tasted out there."

"Ew," Tinker said. "I don't think I could do that."

"...I ate worse out there," he said.  "Food is one reason I'm glad to be back.  In the places I was, humanoids were... pretty rare.  And the food was, uh... not really good.  Mostly.  But the fried grubs were okay."

"Speaking of, Shift's supposed to have some celebratory snacks back at base," Scion said.

"Totally down for that," said Dave.  "If you want some nutrient paste to tide you over until then, just say the word."

He couldn't tell them to help themselves.  It wasn't like the controls were labeled in English.

"Is that the base?" he added.  His ship was, after all, quite fast.

"What?" Scion asked.