Anath continues to rush toward Maurice’s position, while the pestering Julia heads down the cargo elevator and arrives at Maurice first – seeing his feet sticking out from under a large crate.
Julia is very much reminded of the scene in the Wizard of Oz, where Dorothy’s house falls on top of the Wicked Witch of the East…
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Up in the Hanger Bay, Tristan fires on the pirate standing out in the open, blasting him in the shoulder and then in the neck! It’s the second shot (and a little Luck from Aadi) that does the trick and down he goes.
Talyn meanwhile, activates his Speed Switch and charges off, covering the distance to the ship and leaping into the still open doorway to slash off the guarding pirate’s head with one clean motion of his blade. He doesn’t stop, but rushes right up behind the seated Pirate Leader and stabs the man through the captain’s chair for only 11 Damage, but impales him through the gut – effectively pinning him in the seat.
The next round is spent with the Pirate leader trying to slip off the sword to stand up, while Talyn executed him with a few deer slugs to the head…
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On the Bridge, Nigel fires twice – missing once and hitting once for 14 Damage. Then Wrench crit-punches the poor man’s teeth out – doing 6 Damage and KOing him.
Nigel finishes the man off and kicks the concussion grenades away with his foot, but none of the pins had been pulled and there is no explosion.
Wrench then slams down the fire button again, sending a missile right into the side of the pirate gunship for 30 damage!
The gunship returns fire again, doubling up and blasting the Cardinal with two missiles for 28 and 19 Damage and then staffing it with two banks of ship guns for 18 and 19 Damage, but the ship’s armor soaks both of those. Any more of this and the Cardinal is getting blown out of the sky!
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Then, on the Bridge of both the Cardinal and the Little Bug, a tall thin man in a ten-thousand writ suit, waist-length silver hair, and a long matching cane suddenly comes onto the vid screen. Apparently, he is also on the Pirate Gunship’s screen as well, as he addresses Purgatory Bill before speaking to the your own crew:
“That is enough Bill. They work for me now. You may go.”
There is an awkward silence and then Wrench and Nigel, looking out at the Pirate Gunship, actually see Purgatory Bill on the bridge of his ship suddenly slam his fists on a console and unleash a torrent of silent curses at them.
A moment later, the Pirate Gunship moves away, leaving the Cardinal alone with its rescuer.
“My name is Solomon Wraithstone, of The Wraithstone Syndicate,” the well-dressed man says, “The fact that you managed to survive Bill’s trap for as long as you did speaks of your ability and potential. It would be a shame for talent such as yourselves to fall into the hands of undisciplined Pirates – even if they had decided to let you join them, rather than kill you outright for your ship.”
“No, I have better for you. A job offer. If you are interested, dock your ship on platform SW-3512 and we’ll talk further.”
“Oh, and as long as you are working for me, Mr. Bill and his jolly band of pirates will leave you alone.”