Abara opens a channel to Harper and delivers his ultimatum. You hear a static burst which quickly resolves itself into derisive laughter.
"State-of-the-art ship, is it? Could’ve fooled me." And then Robo-Barbie’s trained ear hears something like doubt creep into his voice.
"But I see now that you did take out my elite crew, so I suppose you can’t be entirely without—"
Meanwhile, at his engineering console, Redstone’s fingers are a blur as he works to redirect the ship’s power. The lights on the bridge noticeably dim as every single spare watt that the ship has available is funnelled to the weapons systems. Somewhere, Captain Darcy’s private mini-fridge loses power.
With the pirate still mid-monologue, Logic subtly manipulates the manoeuvring thrusters and the
Raptor gently rotates around its centre of mass until, finally, the ship’s entire laser battery is brought to bear against the pirate flagship.
With a nod from Redstone, Logic gives the signal. The screen goes white in an instant.
As the screen adjusts to the brightness of the barrage and you blink away the after-images, you see the pirate flagship beginning to come apart. The lasers hit their mark and then some.
Abara again:
"That was only a small taste of what this ship is capable of, I was hardly able to restrain my weapons officer. Next one’s gonna be deadly, your choice Captain Harper!"
Silence.
Robo-Barbie pipes up:
"This is check, checkmate in one, Captain Harper. Concede as if your life depends on it."
Harper’s voice comes on over the comms. He is clearly shaken, but no less contemptuous than he was before. Robo-Barbie, you can hear from his tone that surrender was never on the cards.
"You may have stopped us this time," he says.
"But you know we’ll be back stronger than ever!"
Trying his best to concentrate despite the pirate’s maniacal rambling, McGunner begins to pick off debris heading towards the
Raptor with one of the auxiliary guns. What’s approaching is not strictly a collection of boarding vessels, but they certainly are the remnants of ships, and they are no less dangerous if they were to collide with your vessel.
Harper cuts the connection and you watch as a ramshackle escape pod ejects from the command deck of the flagship. Its engines fire and it accelerates rapidly away from the disintegrating hulk … and straight into the debris cloud left over from the pirate’s initial attack on the Gate.
After a moment, there is a tiny explosion against the darkness of space. And then nothing.
In the hours that follow, you work to make sure the ship is secure and organise pick up for the remaining pirates still on the Gate. By mid-afternoon, Darcy emerges from the medipod and joins you all on the bridge.
"So," he says with a yawn, cup of coffee in hand.
"Did I miss anything?"OOC:
And I think we’ll leave it there! Thanks so much for playing everyone, and especially for your patience while I figured out how to run a PbP game—it’s much appreciated. If anyone would like to give their character an epilogue, please do!