(Cleared) High Riders: On the Prowl I

[Tamiyo]

Somewhere in the empty space between Worlds, among empty stations and drifting asteroids, a lone ship waits, patiently watching the darkness in search of prey. It was still and silent, its cold exterior giving few hints as to what sheer malice waited within...

"...I'm booooooored..." Tamiyo slouched over the control panel, her arms hanging lazily over the opposite side. They'd been waiting for hours by then, even though they had made sure to pick a pristine spot, right between two of the more merchant-heavy Worlds in the area. Of course, she'd already forgotten the names of both.

Nearby, one of her associates was busy making a chair regret every decision in its short life as he leaned his immense weight back into it and peeled the skin from a fruit she'd also forgotten the name of with a tool that looked to be halfway between a sickle and a macuahuitl. This was 'Porkchop', the fittingly pig-themed co-founder of their up-and-coming gang. He was one of their best chunks of muscle on board, though his massive gut would imply otherwise. As chance would have it, he wasn't wearing a shirt, so that very mass of flesh was on full display, showing off his "Wild" tattoo to any in the room. Even his navel was inhumanly large, poking out like the snout of a pig, which his tattoo had taken full advantage of.

With the poor lighting of the bridge, which shared a room with the crew quarters due to the lack of space to begin with, his face was shrouded over. Better lighting wouldn't have made much of a difference anyway, since he was always wearing the same gas mask whenever he did anything. "You've been 'bored' thirty-seven times already," he pointed out, his already-deep voice being mutilated as it tried to filter through the mask. In the end, it came out more like the voice of a beast than a man, which suited him perfectly. "I counted."

Tamiyo simply waved a dismissive hand at him, locking her eyes onto their radar once again. Eventually, if they were patient enough, someone would stumble into range and find themselves stuck between a rock and a very well-armed place.

[Mika Roost]

This place was a dump. She couldn't say it out loud of course since she's practically within earshot of everyone else on board. This ship was small and often cramped with porky over there taking up much of the breathing room. Unfortunately, that lump of fat was a large contributor to this so-called gang. But even if that was true, he'd better think twice about getting close to her or her sister. She wouldn't care if everyone turned on her, but she wouldn't hesitate to riddle that gut with lead if he ever so much as make a move on Alex.

Again, unfortunately, Alex had to work close to him because she knew how to handle the tools to deal with the gear they have. She's practically the ship's engineer at this point, which gave the sisters a leverage that some could not claim to have. It was a good balance of interests. They would cooperate with this gang to the best of their ability, and they payed the sisters handsomely for their services.

The Roost sisters weren't strangers to this scene. They were born into it, and it showed. Mika knew how to care for her guns, and explosives were second nature to her. Not to mention she was a crack shot with almost any gun she could carry, and she's scary with blades. Alex on the other hand wasn't as good with the guns, explosives, or knives, but she made up for it with her driving and piloting skills in addition to her affinity towards tech as previously mentioned. As far as Mika was concerned, they were too valuable to be taken lightly by their bosses.

With an exhale from her mouth hidden behind her scarf, she put down the rag she used to clean her gun and settled in to her bed. Actually, this place wasn't a dump. With the pretty rich girl they had as a boss, this ship looked much better than the hideout they grew up in. At the very least that was one reason why she'd want to stay. aside from the sum she and Alex got for joining in.

[Tamiyo]

About three of the unoccupied crew members, who had taken seats on a nearby set of ammunition crates to fiddle with their personal equipment, stood up and approached the 'lump of fat', asking him to help them with an apparent issue with one of their weapons. They handed him a lever shotgun, which he turned this way and that in his massive hands. According to the three, its lever wouldn't move. He took a hold of it and, with something akin to a snapping noise, cocked it with no issue at all.

An empty, mangled-looking shell was dispensed from the side, and he handed the weapon back. Its original owner moved the lever back and forth a few times, the problem being completely gone now. With a quick word of thanks, the three left Porkchop to do something else. It was relatively quiet again.

A call came from the center of the bridge. "Got something!" Tamiyo announced, gripping the sides of her radar table with a new vigor. "A couple somethings, actually," she corrected herself as upwards of ten objects appeared on the display. She froze as she processed this new information, likely not having been mentally prepared to really find anything.

Porkchop didn't miss a beat, however. "Groups of three, grab a bike and ready up in one of the locks!" he instructed in his monstrous voice, which carried a great power even though it was muffled by his mask, and rang easily throughout the bay. Many of the men there immediately rushed into trios and crowded the exits to reach the bike hangar.

Tamiyo looked at him, blinking a few times. "Uhh... Thanks?" Porkchop didn't speak in response, but simply gave a meaty thumbs-up and a loud snort... which was soon followed by a short fit of coughing. Of course, he didn't join any of the bike teams himself. Despite how helpful he'd be in boarding a ship, this looked more like a group of fighters than a stray merchant.

[Mika Roost]

As Mika was drifting off to sleep waiting for something to happen, she was pulled back to consciousness when their leader reported possible targets. "Finally..." she huffed to herself as she quickly made her way to the hangar. She was pleased to see Alex already waiting by two gray bikes. As soon as Mika arrived, both sisters saddled into one. Unfortunately, they needed a third wheel, and one was eager to join them.

Mika breathed a deep sigh when he recognized who it was. "John..."

"Mika, Alex. Hmph, looks like both of you get to see the best in action, up close and personal! Don't worry, I'll slow down so you can keep up."

Of all the creeps in this circus show, it had to be John. "Whatever, creep. Just follow my lead and I won't feel the need to shoot your face off."

"Follow you? Hehehe, gladly."

I swear, I'm going to sabotage his bike when we get back.

The trio activated their environmental fields, which allowed them to safely go out in space without the need of clunky and restrictive space suits. With how fast they needed to be to pull off their heists, mobility and flexibility were the key.

The hover bikes in the hanger lifted off , each rider revving up their engines in a chaotic symphony. Mika brought along her lever shotgun. It only had one shot loaded at a time, but the rounds were huge more than a match to vehicular plating. The only drawback was the recoil, which was the worst thing when out in space. That kick could cause her to spiral when shot to the side, which was no problem to the trained shooter, but what she worried about were the guys who stuck too close to her.

She also had some charges handy in case she wanted to get up close and personal with a large ship. How she loved disabling turrets and thrusters with those things. But along with all those armaments, their bikes also had weapons of their own. It was different for each, depending on preference of course, but most bikes were armed with machine guns or lasers. In the trio's case, it was the former.

Everyone was ready. All they needed now was the signal.

[Tamiyo]

Tamiyo watched the dots on the radar as they came closer to the broad side of the ship. In her focus, waiting for a good time to release the bikes, she completely missed how the engineers around her, Porkchop included, had stopped speaking. Many had left their seats, approaching the windows to get a better look at the strange thing they saw outside. Porkchop began to speak.

"Captain..." "Waiting for a good time, Porky, hold up," she interrupted. He tapped her shoulder, insisting, "Captain..."

"I said, not now." "Captai-!"

She slammed down on the button to open the locks and release the bikes, turning to glare at her persistent benefactor. "What?" He simply pointed a flabby finger at the window, and the ship beyond. She turned to see what he was so worried about...

It wasn't a ship.

-+=+=+-

The doors to the locks shot open without a word over the intercom that hadn't been installed yet, and the bikes were jettisoned into the open space outside, with only their own air bubbles to keep their pilots separated from the vacuum. There, waiting for them, was a a large group of... submarines. In space. They weren't entirely like submarines, admittedly, but looked the part better than they did the part of fighters. They were large finned things with spotlights atop their heads and turbines at the shoulders, with a maw in front that took up half the body. Behind the teeth were what could only be described as torpedoes stored in their throat. They moved with a natural fluidity more akin to a creature than a vehicle, and there were fourteen in total, against the veritable army of forty bikes. They approached from near the rear of the ship, but apparently something else had appeared in front, and the bridge was silent.

OBJECTIVE: Destroy the Living Subs!
Subs: 0/14

As soon as the bikes appeared from the side of the carrier, the Subs all grew frenzied, dashing toward them with their massive jaws snapping at empty air. The Subs were outnumbered, true, but each one was several times the size of a single bike. Its jaws could probably bite into a full-size travel ship, judging by the proportion.

[Mika Roost]

"Go! Go! GO!"
"Give 'em hell!"
"Burn 'em out of their ships!"

It seemed as if everyone had a battle cry when they were shot out, but Mika, Alex and John hung back for three counts. While being on the front of the charge meant a higher dose of adrenaline, it also lowered their chance of survival, one aspect of a charge that she was impressed to know John had knowledge on. But as soon as the three-count was done, the trio broke off from the ship and joined the others.

"Sis. These ships look strange."

"Don't worry, doll. We can take them down no problem. I'll make sure no harm comes to that pretty body of yours"

"John, I swear, if you keep harassing my sister like that, I'm going to shoot you myself."

"Well, if you played nice, I would have--" Mika interrupted him with a gun pointed at his face. "Okay! Geez. I get it." Before he could even finish saying that, Mika fired, hitting one of those floating space submarines and knocking it back.

"ARE YOU ACTUALLY INSANE?!" the biker shouted as he patted his face for any holes. Mika simply chuckled as the three of them spread out to finish off the submarine. The rest of the bikers were dealing with their own problems in chasing down the subs.

"I'll cut it off." Alex said calmly as she put her thrusters into overdrive and circled around to intercept the submarine's course. She took out one of the thrusters, and Mika finished it off.

"That's one down!"

[Tamiyo]

Tamiyo, Porkchop, and the rest of the bridge crew finally regained their senses and moved quickly, making distance between themselves and the windows and passing the threshold where one of the emergency air fields could be activated. A switch was thrown, and that very field was put in place, a shimmering sheet of gas forming to isolate the bridge's air supply from the rest of the bay, which spanned far back behind them. Many of the crew began checking their weapons in earnest as the thing outside latched onto the ship with talons that seemed to pierce the reinforced windows with no effort at all. Not even cracks were left behind, as they looked to melt through instead of shatter it. From the pink glow the four talons emitted, that may have been the case.

-+=+=+-

Subs: 3/14


As a few of the Subs are destroyed, massive chunks of yellow gems, Munny, are left in the empty space, as well as the occasional discarded Gummi block. For the most part, the ships leave no trace otherwise, simply disappearing.

Several of the Subs had already fallen, as even their size and speed couldn't give them the edge. Going off some sort of silent signal, however, they left the bikes alone, leaving the close range to maintain a greater distance and surround the army. There, they turned and opened their jaws, revealing the now-blinking torpedoes within. All at once, eleven missiles were launched toward the as-of-yet unharmed bikes, hurtling toward them with a speed that was unmatched by any of the vehicles in play, even the Subs that had fired them.

As the torpedoes loosely sought their targets out, new ones grew from thin air within the Subs' throats, and they remained still as the ammunition was regenerated.

[Mika Roost]

"Look at those piñatas burst! Break em open!"

Like the excitable fool that he was, John went too far out to chase a sub, only to be chased by their torpedoes when they corralled the Riders. About half of those fired had exploded within the first ten seconds, either being shot down, or hitting their marks, Mika didn't bother taking note as she was focused on not getting blasted out of the air.

"Our ship is under attack!" One of the Riders reported. Looked like this was starting to get interesting.

There were two torpedoes on Mika's trail, and one on Alex'. She couldn't see where John went, but she could still hear his chatter, so he was, annoyingly, still alive. "Alex, I'm going to overload my thrusters and send the bike to the enemy's ship. Get close so I can shoot that missile off of you."

As they planned, Alex cut across Mika, and with a precise shot, destroyed the torpedo that was following Alex. Mika fiddled with the console and set everything to overload. This would of course make it volatile, and that was what she was counting on. She aimed it on the ship that attached itself to theirs, then when Alex rounded back, Mika simply ejected herself and grabbed on to her sister. Her bike crashed into the enemy ship, and the two torpedoes along with it. That should put a dent on its hull.

Mika was perfectly fine in the passenger seat as it allowed her to reload easily, and all she had to worry about was shooting. "Let's take those subs out before they fire another volley at us."

[Tamiyo]

The creature outside pushed its four talons further inside while its coned face tapped on the window. What looked like light taps were enough to put cracks in what was meant to be vacuum-rated glass, and the crew began raising weapons to aim when they realized it wouldn't hold for very long. It reared its face back to thrust straight through...

...only for several objects, most notably an empty bike, to collide with it, detaching it from the ship and sending it to the side, where it spun in an attempt to regain control of its movement.

Tamiyo blinked a few times as she took in what had just happened, and let go of the subordinate she'd nearly strangled when she held close to him in the moments before. "Whose bike was that?" she asked aloud, addressing the men around her.

-+=+=+-

Subs: 5/14

The collection of projectiles landed, and the 'ship' was dislodged from where it had grabbed the Riders' carrier. It spun in a manner that looked like a lack of control, but made a smooth orbit around the side of the greater vehicle and came to a stop above, reorienting itself before dashing forward through the crowd of bikes and Subs alike, knocking aside what it didn't hit head on and immediately destroying those it did, all of the Subs included. It slowed once it had passed, facing the remaining forces and opening its limbs proper.

-+=+=+-

INFORMATION: Stave off the Hunter! Every part of it is a weapon, but it can't attack forever.

HUNTER: {|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| 100%}

Once it was steady, it opened fire. It brought its talons together and waved them this way and that, leaving behind pink arrows that shot forward toward the bikes. There was no real gun anywhere on it, and the arrows seemed to be generated from the ends of its arms, rather than launched.

[Mika Roost]

"Hold on." Alex cautioned as she pulled the bike into a quick stop to dodge the arm of that talon-like ship by just a few inches.

"Anyone know what these things are? Automated drones? Aliens?" she asked through the radio, although they didn't wait for an answer to come through to continue the fight. There were plenty of scrap there now, and some of the Riders were floating aimlessly in space with nothing but their environmental fields to keep them alive.

"We better take care of the smaller ones first. Try baiting them to fire on the big guy," she suggested to the other Riders. Alex sped off and fired into the first sub she saw with a flurry of machine gun fire from her bike, while Mika took potshots at the big guy with some explosive ordinance.

"Try going behind it, Alex. I'll try sending a charge to its center."

[Tamiyo]

Subs: 6/14

HUNTER: {|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| 100%}

The remaining Subs, of which there were about eight remaining not counting the one that fell to a certain pilot's machine gun, had regenerated their torpedoes and began locking onto the drifting Riders. They fired, but their missiles had nothing hard to detonate against other than the scrap that they promptly ignored. The most a fleshy target would receive from a direct collision would be broken bones, and a free ride if their grip was strong. Meanwhile, the Hunter was given no issue at all from the ordinance thrown into it, as its pink arrows simply burned through bullets and bombs alike. However, the flurry of shots finally died down as it seemed to run out of juice, instead choosing to glare at its targets in the meantime. It took a particular interest in the paired-up pilots who were riding a single bike, and continuously rotated to keep its eyes on them.

[Mika Roost]

The 'eye' was tracking the sisters in particular, and that made the older one feel uneasy. It stopped that strange energy attack it was doing a moment ago, but the smaller subs were firing off their torpedoes again, but luckily, they only seemed to be interested in the drifters for now. But the rest of the Riders weren't so quick to embrace their demise as some if not all began firing at the torpedoes in hopes of detonating them before it reached them.

"You girls miss me?" a stingingly recognizable voice spoke up just as a bike flew into view, attempting to shoot down a sub.

"Make yourself useful for once and try taking the thing from behind."

"Meow~"

"This isn't the time, John."

"Fine, fine, I'll gather up what I can and see what I can do. There should be at least a third of us left with our bikes."

A quick scan around the battlefield showed small groups of two or three chasing down the smaller subs. They weren't the best at keeping up, but they should eventually take care of it.

"Change of plan, Alex. We can't get behind it while its watching us, so let's try to get it to turn its back on the others."

The younger pilot turned the bike harshly to point the guns at the large eye and fired on it. After a few short seconds, she sped off again to the far side, attempting to get it to turn around. There was one sub that chased them, and Mika promptly shot at it until it broke off, or just broke.

[Tamiyo]

Subs: 7/14

HUNTER: {|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| 080%}

With none of its arrows to deflect anything, the Hunter's face was subjected to a full burst from the bike's guns, and its glowing eyes winced closed instinctively. It reacted quickly nonetheless, its talons whipping together again. There, they generated a large white orb within seconds, launching it in the bike's direction. It made contact with the Sub as it passed through, and exploded in a bubble of light that enveloped it completely. The bubble remained in place for some time, and when it finally shrunk and disappeared, nothing was left.


The Hunter, having spent its weapons once again, stood dormant a second time, following the bike with its eyes. Its face now had a number of holes and dents in it, evidence of the bullets it had been forced to take. It didn't seem to learn from its mistakes, however, and still prioritized facing its target. It didn't take any notice of how it lost sight of everything else, including a second opponent appearing in the space behind.

[Mika Roost]

Mika watched in awe as the eye's attack swallowed up the sub behind them, leaving nothing as it disappeared. That was one thing neither of them wanted to be hit by for sure. Making the thing turn around was the right choice because if it fired another ball like that and it hit the main ship, it would be a disaster.

One thing they learned though was that the eye took some time to cool down before attacking again, so she and Alex had a window of opportunity to deal some damage.

Once again, with Alex' expertise in handling the vehicle, she drifted perpendicular to the eye and shot another volley of rounds before righting their bike to avoid being caught by the creature's attacks that were sure to follow.

Meanwhile, John and three other Riders came up behind the eye and fired into it. With all the others busy with the subs, this was the best he could do.

[Tamiyo]

INFORMATION: Ellipses signal that an attack isn't over. Another part is planned already, so be wary of the follow-through!
Subs: 9/14

HUNTER: {|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| 052%}

By now, the remaining Subs seemed to lose interest in the conflict when they realized so many of the others had already been blown to pieces, and moved to leave the area entirely. The four-limbed Hunter wasn't so keen on giving up.

It began charging another one of its attacks, only to catch a volley of gunfire from behind. It canceled its charge and closed its talons together, setting itself into a rapid spin with its back trained on the bike that had decided to interfere. With its body immersed in a spinning motion, it dashed through the empty space toward the unwelcome guest, closing a rather large distance within moments and paying no mind at all to the debris it barreled through on its way to the target. However much it wanted to ignore the scraps of bikes, there was no denying the dents and gashes they left behind, carrying the potential to cause exponentially more damage than any bullet ever would. The Hunter didn't care, and spun away toward the bikers...

[Mika Roost]

Even though the subs were retreating, the other Riders who were in pursuit continued to chase them down. While sensible ones stopped following the moment they got too far out, the lesser ones were going off on their own. Mika could hear a couple of them shouting for the others to stop the pursuit and help out with the big guy, which was a sign that maybe this band wasn't too bad when it came to common sense.

The eye, being interrupted, spun like crazy and shot itself through space to ram into John's group. It did so with unforeseen speed that the group of four barely had enough time to move out of the way. One of the bikes took the whole thing directly, while John and the other two were blasted back. It would have been a miracle if their bikes were still operable. John's was sliced in half, with the back part being flung to who knows where. He still had the grip on the front part where the guns were still usable. "Now would be a good time for someone to scoop me out of here!"

"Mika..."

"Fine, but if he starts saying something stupid, I'm throwing him back out to that thing."

Mika removed her long scarf and tied an unarmed mine to one end while she wrapped the other one on her hand. While there was no way the three of them could fit on one bike, John would be fine being dangled from it. It made of an entertaining thought. It was now just a matter of who gets to John first.

[Tamiyo]

Subs: 10/14

HUNTER: {|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| 052%}

...after which it stopped, now on the opposite side from where it had been before and with a freshly-charged orb at the ready between its closed talons, which faced the bikers it had just cut through. It floated forward from the Hunter's clawtips, approaching John's severed bike much like it had the Sub earlier, ready to explode with the same effect at the first contact it had with anything. Coincidentally enough, the Hunter's rampage had cleared all debris that could have possibly blocked its straight trajectory, meaning there was nothing to obstruct it unless something was done to intervene.

[Mika Roost]

"Creeper! Catch!" She tossed the weighted scarf over to the other Rider, and he caught it without much trouble. He was then pulled along for the ride while also keeping his grip on his bike's severed front.

"Well--"

"Say something stupid, and I'm letting go."

"Please don't."

With the vacuum of space on their side, it wasn't hard bringing along the extra weight. There was no friction to slow them down once they built up the speed, but the whiplash was still something to look out for. They got out of the way of the white ball while the other other bikers were driving-by, keeping a safe distance after seeing what the eye could do.

John aimed his bike's guns on the eye and fired as he was dragged around. Of course, before he did that, he used a harness on his jacket to clip onto the mine's handle so had more control over the guns. But he had to fire them in short bursts to not affect their path too much. "This was much easier in my head."

[Tamiyo]

HUNTER: {|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| 010%}

The orb of light made contact with the half of the bike left behind, and there was no more left of it after the explosion than there was of the Sub before. True to its pattern, the Hunter went silent again, following the grouped-up pilots with its eyes while it waited for its power to return. Bullets came and went from many sources other than just the one tethered gunman, as the other bikers had regained their weapons and opened fire. Together, they tore through the Hunter easily, and it began shaking and sparking as it lost far too much of its own vitality to keep its composure.

It closed its arms around its face, protecting itself from taking what last few hits would deal damage too critical to recover from. It spun again, and made a dash for the three grouped bikers at a clearly desperate speed. It closed the distance with no effort at all, and had nearly collided when it opened its arms wide, ready to snap down, likely crushing and impaling the bike and its occupants if given then chance. Time seemed to come to a near-standstill in these last few moments, as in its haste to strike down its targets, it had forgotten itself, and left its face more open than it had at any time before...

React!

[Mika Roost]

The desperation of a dying animal was clear on the creature's actions as it abandoned all forms of self preservation as it rushed towards the three, leaving itself open to the flurry of bullets that came to it. Or would have came to it. "Well I'm out of bullets..."

"Well, I guess you're not that useful anymore. Alex, whip us around."

"Wait, what are you doing?!"

Mika pulled strongly on the scarf and used a knife to cut off the harness John used to keep himself tethered as he flew over the them. He was sent towards the emptiness of space, where another Rider was there to catch him. She untied the mine at the end of the scarf while Alex continued to fly forward, letting the creature follow.

The older sister used the clip on the severed harness to link two other mines to the one she had before, and armed all three of them. She let go of it and drew her weapon, firing dead center on the mines. Just as the mines were about to touch the creature, the explosive bullet hit one of them, and the resulting chain reaction caused a massive explosion which hopefully was the coup de grâce to this encounter.

[Tamiyo]

Some degree of sense came back to the Hunter when the mines were thrown, and it tried to slow, and even cover its face, but its momentum was far too strong already.

Time seemed to slow as the mines detonated, and the final blow was stricken. An unrivaled light shone from the Hunter, frozen in place...

-+=+=+-

The Hunter was silent, and the glow of its eyes had left. Purple fog dispersed from its body, and its image wavered and faded. Before long, it had disappeared into a cloud of drifting Munny and Gummi blocks for the Riders to ponder.

-+=+=+-

"That should do it," Porkchop confirmed as he knocked out one last piece of misaligned glass, allowing the metal shutters to close over the window completely. The Hunter's strange melting technique had bent the window so far out of shape that the emergency shutters became jammed during their attempts to engage, and, being among the strongest of the crew, Porkchop was made a part of the team assigned to clearing the way for them. It was quite a chore as it was, but even he was thankful that something else had gotten the giant creature's attention first.

With that particular issue out of the way, Tamiyo was able to turn off the gas field and get access to the bike that had... 'landed' in the bridge at one point during the battle. She took the hand radio from it, and gave an order through the speaker, "Everyone get together, and get back aboard the Sentinel. We're, uh... We're gonna do a bit of a debrief." Even as she put the radio back, she hadn't quite absorbed all that had just happened. She was well aware that there would be some weird things coming from other Worlds, but what they just saw wasn't anything along the lines of technology. Those things clearly weren't ships. Rather, they were some sort of space-borne creatures, and their weaponry seemed much more akin to magic than anything realistic. Once she had the chance, there was some research she had to do.

Before she forgot, she picked up the radio again, sending out one last message: "Also, make sure you tow in as much of that debris as you can fit in the hangar. I don't plan for us to come out of this empty-handed." The radio was put away once again, and she turned to Porkchop for approval on her cool-sounding dialogue. He gave her a thumbs-up, then moved on to join the rest who'd be meeting the bikers in the hangar.

[Mika Roost]

Mika breathed a sigh of relief as the creature finally died, leaving a bounty of goods for everyone. "Whew. That was way more exciting than what we had to do before." Alex nodded and looked out at all the debris floating around, and how the other Riders were gathering them up in tractor beams. Its going to take a lot of work to get those looking like bikes again.

"Your bike?"

"Definitely scrapped. Come on, let's get what we can haul and land."

They spent some time gathering what they could hold in the beams before setting down in the hangar, dropping the scraps in a pile. Mika wore her scarf like always as the two headed off to where the others had gravitated to for their debrief.

"I got to admit, you girls are as effective as you are lovely."

"Don't make me regret saving you."

[Tamiyo]

Since there wasn't any room dedicated to debriefing, the crew bay was repurposed once again. A gummi block that looked almost like a pedestal was placed atop a wide, flat block that acted as a stage, and Tamiyo stepped onto it to address the crew. She took a moment to look over them, thinking of what she might say. It was beginning to feel less like a debrief and more like some sort of speech, which didn't do much good for her nerves. Still, when she realized that these people already looked at her as a leader, she put it aside for a moment.

"So, first off, I just wanna say that we were not even remotely prepared to come up against ships like this," she admitted. "The Sentinel is defenseless alone, the bikes have no armor, we don't have an intercom yet, and I don't know if there's a single doctor aboard this ship."

She smiled, and couldn't help but laugh a small bit. "And still, we came out on top. They've got all these fancy lasers and bombs, and ships that can run circles around ours, and they still lost! Now here we are, standing here with our first paycheck and more than enough fuel to run a few laps back home with plenty to spare, and where are they? Where are they, Porky?" She turned to look behind her, where Porkchop was waiting with crossed arms. "Running," came his reply, in the same powerful voice he used to say anything else.

"So here's our plan," Tamiyo began her conclusion. "We're heading back home, renting out a nice hangar, getting you all fed, and upgrading everything... Before that, though, I want to know: Who were the three who were in that big one's face the whole time?" She scanned the crowd for pointed fingers or raised hands.

[Mika Roost]

Mika wasn't fully listening to the pep talk when she realized that that was what it was. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy it, but it meant little to her. Besides, it wasn't like she could just walk out of here without having a target being painted on her back. While the pretty princess hadn't shown any capabilities of doing any of the dirty work, she couldn't quite say the same for 'Porky' over there.

The others were congratulating themselves over the victory. The pep talk did its work in raising morale, and maybe that would make life just a bit more bearable in this ship. Honestly, if tables were turned, this ship would be scrapped in mere seconds with all the missing necessities. But she knew this was her life now, and she had to do her part to make sure that didn't happen. They 'died' once already, and she didn't want to have a probable second re-occurrence of that.

One piece of news that made her smile though was learning that they'd be docking and giving the ship some upgrades. Hopefully better staterooms were included in that list. Or at least the aforementioned missing intercom and doctor on the ship. But realistically, how high were the chances of having the latter join? Well, technically, a pig was flying, so anything was possible, she guessed. Plus, there was the handsome pay that sweetens the deal.

Just as things were just about done, their leader asked for the three that were "in that big one's face the whole time." Before Alex nor Mika could be pointed out, John had the self-given courtesy to name the three of them. "Well that would be us," he said out loud, quite proudly as he slung both his arms around the sister's necks and pulling them close as if they were close buddies. "With our superior leadership on the field, skillfulness, and dashing good looks, we've powered through the creatures with no prob--GAH!"

In perfect unison, the two sisters delivered a sharp elbow to his sides to have him release his grip on them. Not hard enough to break the ribs of course, but just hard enough to have him shut up. "I fully regret fishing you out of there." Mika looked towards their leader and recomposed herself. "But yes, that would be us, but don't take his over-exaggeration to heart."

[Tamiyo]

Tamiyo watched the three, rather amused with their 'interactions'. After a glance was exchanged between herself and Porkchop, she spoke again. "I'm sure you don't need me to tell you how much of a help you were, then. Mister... John, I think that is? He seems well aware of that already. I just want to use you three as an example of sorts. Rather than leave each other to drift, you came back together and fought back as a team. It's got me thinking a bit."

She waved a hand. "But you all don't want to sit around listening to me talking about who did what well all day. I want Team A of Engineering to get the Sentinel moving, and Team B to take stock of everything in the Bay. Everyone else, either find something to help with or take a break. We'll be home soon." She stepped off the stage as Porkchop took over, repeating her commands and getting the crew organized as she'd requested. With the attention finally somewhere else, Tamiyo took a few moments to calm her shaking and ease her nerves. She could already tell that speeches were not going to be her favorite part of this position.

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