Lysander the Poet
Hilarious Inquisitor
The Regal entered the asteroid belt, its fate sealed. Those deemed unimportant knew they went to their deaths, but they knew that their sacrifice was for the greater good, to destroy the pirate threat. Oh, how the loyal and faithful are sometimes the greatest of fools. As the ship struck the asteroid’s shielding, there was a moment where it seemed the ship would slow, but the shield dissipated milliseconds later, and the full force of a Coalition Dreadnought collided with the asteroid, The explosion was followed by the structure of the ship penetrating the outer layers of the asteroid, and driving itself into the station. The casualties from the section of the station where there was now the shattered bow of a starship was practically incalculable. And these would only be the first deaths aboard Calypso Station. The entire rock shook violently, as if several earthquakes were happening at once. Alister Blood ran through the streets, and was suddenly thrown off his feet, just as the Bloodhound had come into sight. A suspicious looking vehicle had just departed moments before this occurrence, though he had no idea of its passengers or their intentions. Cursing as he struck the hard metal of the station floor, he threw himself back onto his feet, and continued on, running down the rest of the road, and into the Bloodhound.
The building had been sturdy enough that those inside would not have been too awfully bothered by the shaking. Everyone sat with their drinks in hand, looking around stupidly as the slight tremors of force interrupted their leisure time. Something didn’t feel quite right as he entered the bar, and the lack of bartender was the first thing that caught his eye. A man was crouched behind the bar, and he seemed to be pillaging the stock of fine liquors. Alister unsheathed his katana, and from his position on the other side of the bar, drove the blade through the man’s throat, causing him to drop a few bottles of fine whiskey, that luckily survived the impact. The now bleeding to death thief was gasping for air, and gurgling on blood in moments. The next sight that had caught Alister’s eye was the stood next to him, laying on the ground...and even more odd, was Captain Devaro’s longcoat, which lay discarded on the floor behind the stool. Liam Devaro never went anywhere without such a fine piece of clothing. Gave him a more commanding look, he said.
The burned, ruined remains of a backroom were obvious, and he could hear the familiar voice of a certain pink-haired, pointy-eared woman coming from within. He could see Nova, and once again, something wasn’t right. But first, he would check his investment. He approached the door that would have been Virgil’s office, and pushed it openly gently, greeted first with the dead form of Virgil, which made him smile. A good kill was something he could appreciate, and he definitely attempted to imagine how much fun it would have been killing the piece of garbage. Next to the body, covered in blood that was mostly his, but some of it not, was another familiar face, bound and bagged quite efficiently; Czeslaw Romano. Alister grinned widely as he saw the fear in the man’s eyes as he recognized Alister. ”Don’t worry, my friend...I’ll be back for you in a second. We’re going to have lots of fun together, you and I.” Czeslaw attempted to scream, and cry out, and the muffled voice from how well he was gagged carried a bit as Alister exited the office, but no one seemed to care. It was in a casual stride that he made his way to the store room. His recent encounters had roughed him up a bit, but nothing compared to what he saw next. He had been caught unprepared.
He looked from Nova, to Christian, to the obviously-not-bartender, and then he looked at Rhia, and his face twisted into horror. He maneuvered around the other occupants of the room, and knelt down by her side, finding a weak pulse, and looking over her various wounds and bruises. Alister Blood was not an easy man to bring emotion out of, but it was obvious that this damaged him, deeply. He gently took one of Rhia’s hands in his, and stifled any crying he may have wanted to do at the moment. She had been quite brutalized, and even with all she had been through, she would not last long without medical attention. Alister’s gaze then went to Christian, and he gritted his teeth. ”What in the ******** happened here?” He demanded of the trio, trying to contain the sorrow-turning-into-rage. He did all he could not to lash out anymore than raising his voice, but his hands were trembling with fury. ”Who the ******** did this to you guys?” It took another moment, before a realization dawned upon him. ”Where is the girl? Where is Daniella?”
The rocky ceiling of the asteroid began to give way to a chorus of powerful drills, as large pods full of Halloran’s soldiers descended through the rock layers, until finally piercing the metal of the station infrastructure, and dropping into Calypso Station proper. The troops and mechanical droids swarmed the streets, and just as they had on Kessel, they began to kill indiscriminately. Their orders were still the same; capture Blood and Daniella alive. All others could be killed, and their bodies yielded reward. The troops would begin to systematically take over the station. A squadron violently kicked in a door, to find a pair of pirates standing over a well-beaten down man. Kramer and Locke looked knowingly at the soldier, who looked at the battered form of Captain Devaro, and nodded, looking back at his squad and lowering his rifle. ”Move along to the next one. Converge on the beacon after you clear out your sections.”
