Atroxa & Alenaeon

[Atroxa]

To say that things were chaotic was just a bit of an understatement. The ship that Astraia was in had a port that she could look through, but she had to press her face to the glass and crane her neck to look behind the ship, to the Citadel. Fleets of ships streaked past them, going the other direction, heading for the fray, only a few were going the same direction as them, fleeing the fight. The Geth attack on the Citadel had been so sudden and so overwhelming, not many people had had the time to escape, and even those that had had been destroyed. It was only because her father's ship was one of the fastest out there and he could afford some of the best pilots that they had been able to escape.

Only Astraia was on board though, her mother was back on Earth, doing her thing, and her father had remained on the Citadel, refusing to abandon his business, planning to bunker down with his hired mercenaries to protect it from the Geth. Her father was a trader, and often had dealings in the Terminus systems, as a result he had quite a few mercenaries on the pay roll to protect him and shipments. She had two with her now, ordered to protect her, but she could tell they were scared. The Geth hadn't been this far out of their system ever, and it was unnerving fighting a bunch of machines that were practically considered boogeymen to most of the Galaxy.

She merely sat in her seat, face drawn into a tight expression of anxiety. Astraia was beautiful by human standards, long rich brown hair that fell in waves down her back, a soft heart-shaped face, and dark moss-green eyes. She was poised, elegant, everything that was expected by society of her gender. And she knew it.

Right now though, that was pretty far from her mind as she stared out the port, watching the dreadnaughts and fighters race by them, feeling angry as well as scared. She couldn't believe her father, staying behind to protect his precious business, and sending her off like a child. Astraia knew though, in the back of her mind, that she was very much still a child, even though she was twenty-three. She would never admit it, not even if she was tortured. But she'd never had to work for anything in her life, she'd never had to go without, she'd never had to worry about anything of real substance or important. Sometimes she wished she did have worries and concerns that actually meant something, but she never seemed able to muster up the courage to strike out on her own. It didn't help that her parents liked having her under their thumb.

They neared the Relay, and the mercenaries that had been standing in the cabin, staring nervously out ports of their own, sat down to brace for the strange pulling and stretching sensation that accompanied mass effect field travel. Within a moment the world returned to normal and they were in the Exodus cluster, the pilot having to wait a moment and check the ship's system read outs before he reconnected with the Relay to take them on to the Local cluster and then on to Earth.

 

[Alenaeon]

Brellus smirked as he saw the ship approach the relay. So someone had decided to come and run through his new turf. He waved his hand lazily to give the order to launch the attack. He justified his actions as helping those in need in this case, if he could beat them and take them captive, well he deserved their wealth and they needed his protection. His 'skin' had an brownish grey color to it, his face completely unmarked which had often been a point of conflict for him. He was dressed in a sleek black suit of armor that he managed to get from pirates on the outer sectors.

His crew set to work almost immediately, heading in closer to intercept the enemy ship, preparing the weapons to fire, their trajectories being calculated for if the ship attempted to leave and any other factors that could be played into this. Some of the men got their space suits on, ready to board at a moments notice. Brellus sat at attention at his chair as they signaled the other ship, trying to open communications.

His own ship was small and fast, designed more for hit and run operations then dedicated combat but it served his purpose ably. The hull was a light grey color, with almost no markings on it. The design choice was intentional by the captain, a symbol through a lack of information about the ship and it's crew. The engines flared on as they prepared, the glow pinging off the typical radar designed to detect ships.

If communication was opened, Brellus's face would come up on their screen. He gave his demands slowly and carefully, hoping they had an understanding of the shared language of the Citadel. "You will calmly submit yourselves to our demands, first you shall allow my men on board and be prepared to give all of your valuables, then we will give you shelter on board our own ship for your protection. If someone else is willing to pay the fees for your travels, we shall of course release you into their custody. If you resist, we shall be forced to open fire." He closed the link and waited for a response.

 

[Atroxa]

Astraia stared out the port beside her, out into the inky blackness of space. She was told that for people who grew up planet side, the vastness of space could be unnerving, and while she had lived on Berkenstein for most of her youth, they had traveled enough when she was grown up that space had never really bothered her. And now she'd spent the last six years living on the Citadel with her father. Her mother was gone most of the time. Her parents were still married, but they lived very separate lives, they didn't hate one another, but they didn't love one another either. She thought they might have once, but right now they seemed content with the arrangement they had.

She hoped her father was okay, and wondered what was happening on the Citadel, what that huge ship had been. A Geth ship? It hadn't looked like anything she had ever seen before. It had almost looked... alive.

In the cock pit, pilot and co-pilot were checking all of the ship's read outs, making sure that everything was in order. Jumping through the Relays put a lot of strain on a ship, and it was dangerous to try and go through if anything was wrong. It could get everyone killed, and neither of them particularly felt liked dying today. They'd already escaped one deadly situation, that was more than enough for one day. They were both so lost in thought, thinking about the chaos they had just left and wanting so badly to get to the safety of the Home System that they didn't notice the soft glowing ping on their radar indicating an approaching ship.

So both men jumped a little when the console rang softly, indicating an incoming transmission. They looked at one another, surprised, and worried, and only then looked at the radar. “Shit,” the pilot growled, “Please dear god don't let this be what I think it is.” He pressed the button to accept the transmission, and a Turian's plated face shimmered into view, and the recording played. Both men felt their hearts drop into their stomachs. “Tell the mercs,” The pilot ordered his co pilot and the younger man hurried into the cabin.

“We're being ordered to allow some pirates to board,” He told them, eyes wide.

The mercenary in charge, though there were only two, was a grizzled man who Astraia was pretty sure was a former marine and a growl rumbled in his chest, sneering to show teeth slightly yellowed from a heavy smoking habit. “Fucking pirates,” His voice was scratchy from smoking as well.

“What do we do?” The co-pilot asked.

The mercenary narrowed his eyes, “Let them board, they'll just try to shoot us if we run. We'll handle them once they get on board. This ship is bullet proof right?” He meant the interior, he knew the exterior had only minimal shielding to handle the overpowered ship ammo, but the interior was built up to handle small arms fire.

“Yeah, it can handle anything but a rocket launcher,” the co-pilot nodded.

“Let's hope the bastards don't have one of those,” He muttered before the co-pilot left. He looked to Astraia now, “Miss Braddock, we're going to have to put you back in the captain's quarters, you stay in there until I say alright?”

She hated the way he talked to her, like she was some kind of child, too simple minded and soft to understand much of anything. Astraia frowned and stood, “Very well.” Her tone was sharp, annoyed, but she managed to keep the worry out of it. She didn't want to show that. Pirates made a lot of things run through her mind, and she didn't like any of them. John, the other mercenary, walked her back to the captain's quarters, which annoyed her, she could walk down the hall on her own, and she went and sat on the bed once the door closed behind her.

Back in the cock pit, the pilot had flipped on the recorder as soon as his co-pilot returned, “This is pilot Gregory Vance of the Kalistrad, we will comply with your request.” He turned it back off and sent it, and glanced at his co-pilot, wondering what was going to happen next. They got out their own fire arms, knowing that out in the cabin, the mercenaries were lying in wait for their 'visitors'. Usually Gregory would think two mercenaries against a bunch of pirates was just ridiculous. But Alexander Braddock was one of the richest humans alive, he could afford the best. The men in the cabin were one man armies.