It seemed that Ray's shots were doing little damage. Actually, it seemed that they were borderline useless as the Troopers kept walking! Their armor wasn't anything special-in fact, they were already damaged: covered in cracks, had dents and holes-those suits have seen better days. And yet, the troops marched on, firing their lasers at Ray and Kitcha.
Meanwhile, the Martian Mechanic and Belle looked outside to see the ship in the air blasting down at any and all ships in the yard and docks with it's cannons, searing hot metal and debris flying through the air.
"Well damn...one of those was mine." Bella mumbled as, at last, the City's defenses started to return fire against the ship that just seemed to pop out of nowhere. Their lasers and missiles fired back at the ship in the air. But much like the troopers, they did nothing! Only instead of the weapons just not being effective, the ship seemed to have some powerful force fields surrounding it, keeping the ship safe. However, with it's shields up, it did seem to stop raining down laser shots and missile fire at the least.
"Okay! Now is a good time to be getting out of here!" The Martian shouted, running to the control room and starting to turn on the engine as more of those Troopers started to walk to their ship, all armed with their own rayguns as they started hailing the laser bullets.
"Oh, hey there", Kitcha greeted Ray as she ducked behind cover. "I see that you've made time for our new friends..."
The alien held her blades defensively as she turned around the corner, preparing to close in... when it occurred to her that these soldiers were not reacting to having freaking laser bullets in their bodies. "Ohhhhhh, that ain't good..." she quickly doubled back on her action, hiding herself once more.
"Forget your fragging box!" Kitcha shouted, motioning Ray in the direction of the ship with a fierce glare. "We got a ride to catch!" She explained, keeping her eyes on him as she gradually stepped away from the skirmish... but not with frustration or impatience. Well, some impatience, but mostly with focus. She was concentrating her psychic powers to give him a surge of adrenaline, hastening his movements.
edited 12th Feb '16 8:02:59 AM by Cedi
Ray pursed his lips. Dammit. Would he really have to leave his crate? It had cost him 500 credits. He quickly sheathed his rifle, taking out his pistol and turning it to the ice beam. Attacking them directly wouldn't work. But he could delay them. As he headed for the ship, he shot a thing, white beam from his gun, emptying a full clip. Not at the enemies, though. At the ground at their feet. They'd have to learn to ice skate if they wanted to board. Aided by Kitcha's psychic powers, Ray boarded the ship.
"Nice place." Ray said, running in. He looked out the window. A small part in the back of his head recalled the conversation in the club. About undead. Maybe this was it. Or maybe it was just pirates with a fancy shielding system. He found the Princess as soon as he could.
"We have to stop them." He said, firmly. It was completely on impulse, but he felt obligated to protect the people in this city.
"Oh yes, we should be doing the Police's job." Belle rolled her eyes, "In case you haven't noticed, but literally nothing is stopping them."
The Mechanic, meanwhile, was starting to turn the ship around so it was facing the ship as he prepared the ship's weapons, "This is a good way to show off my baby's weapons! Look it!" He pressed a button as a laser cannon fired from the ship and struck the enemy ship, breaking through the enemy's shields and getting a direct hit-it certainly lost some power since it had to break through the shield, but it did it!
But then the ship started firing their own lasers at them now. And our Mechanic wasn't as good at piloting as he was at firing, so they were hit right back. One of the shots even piercing the hull and hitting the mechanic in the chest! So now someone else has to pilot this bird!
Ray hadn't really thought it through when he'd said they had to stop what was going on. Immediately after saying it, he expected the others to talk him out of the amazingly stupid idea. It was a good thing nobody here was actually dumb enough to-
Dammit. Ray took a moment to mourn their loss. Alas, poor Mechanic. We knew you not at all. Ray pushed him out of the chair, then took the controls. He'd played video games before. They were careening towards the ground, so if he pulled it up, it would stop them from dying, right?! Right! They were now going skyward.
"Uh does anyone know how to pilot a ship? We need to open up a com link." Ray said. As he said that, the onboard computer opened up a commlink. Convenient!
"Send this to Marigold. We have Princess Belle-Abalon, and would like to board so we can discuss terms of surrender." Ray said. With that, the video was sent. As he clumsily flew the ship, he turned over his shoulder and gave a thumbs-up to the Martian princess.
"Marigold...?" Kitcha tilted her head. "You friends with this psycho commander or something...?" She asked, taking a seat conveniently adjacent to Snakeye as he said his part.
"Eh... too late now", she shrugged. "Useful or not, a hostage's a hostage. Anybody got some rope?" She casually inquired, swiveling towards the most-definitely-in-earshot Belle without a concern for her objections.
"I didn't know you were into that sort of thing." Ray said to Kitcha, just barely missing a skyscraper. "Snakeye, you pilot this thing. I don't think you could do much worse than me." He got up and let the Biotron take the wheel as he turned to Belle.
"Bella, baby. It would break my heart to not have you around anymore." Ray said. "All I said was that we were gonna discuss terms of surrender." Ray put his hand over the comm button. "Ever take any acting classes? You're gonna pretend to be a hostage of the most badass space pirate crew in the galaxy, alright?" With that, he pressed the comm button.
As if on cue, Kitcha rose out of her seat, pulled out her red dagger, reached out to grab Belle by the arm, and held the blade uncomfortably close to Belle's neck.
"Just don't relax, Princess", she whispered below the microphone's sensitivity, "If you feel too safe, just remember that I accidentally killed a hostage once..."
edited 12th Feb '16 7:27:20 PM by Cedi
"You have a knife to my neck. How am I suppose to relax?!" hissed Bella before the commlink came on to show the 'witch', Marigold.
Even in the projection, the violet-skinned woman looked to be a towering 6'0, her dark blue hair long and oddly puffy as plant vines wrapped around her hair as some sort of decoration as well as around her left bare arm. Her right arm looked to have been covered by some mechanical device. The woman wore a black dress and covered in black roses and had a black witch hat over her head.
"Oh?" Marigold chuckled, "So, you apparently have the Martian Princess?" She looked among the group of people and sucked her teeth as she looked at Bella, "And how do I know this 'Martian' is the Princess?" Considering she wore a hood and robes that covered her face, she was rightfully skeptical, "And, if she is the Princess, then what do you want for her?"
Ray tipped his head towards Kitcha, signalling her to remove the hood and reveal that it was, indeed, a martian royal. "I was on my way to ransom her, when I encountered a particularly well-executed undead invasion."
"Are you familiar with the legend of the Pirate King Gonzales?" Ray said. His voice was an octave deeper all of a sudden. He idly twirled his pistol in his finger, playing it cool. "I've been making a name for myself in the outer rim, so I will forgive you if you are unaware of my exploits." He struck a pose, pistol pointed towards the air.
"I have slain 12,412 men. I only needed 1,000 bullets to do it, mind you, because I could hit more than one of them at a time. I punched a few to death, too." Ray slid over to Snakeyes.
"No less terrifying is my right hand, Snakeyes." He said, and nudged the cowboy robot man.
edited 12th Feb '16 9:47:22 PM by HeroicSociopath
Kitcha was way ahead of Ray, raising one of her free arms as Marigold expressed skepticism. Grasping the top of Belle's hood, she yanked it back in a dramatic reveal of the princess' face.
"This legit enough for ya?" Kitcha asked the monitor with a gruff sarcasm. "Or do I hafta send ya a blood sample...?" She added, clicking her mandibles menacingly.
Marigold looked most unimpressed by Ray's claims, pressing a button on her robotic-looking gauntlet. Outside the ship, an explosion could be heard as the Venuxian Witch rolled her eyes, "I am in no mood for the boasts of some thug from the space boonies."
Bella shot a glare the best she could at the Urani behind her.
However, seeing the Princess being held hostage with a knife to her neck was a lot more appealing to her, "So, tell me...er...Gonzales?" Bloody humans, their names always sounded like they spoke a language other than Common, "How much do you plan on selling this Princess? Perhaps we can make a deal."
"We were going to ransom her to the martian government...For 100 meelion credits." Ray said. He paused for dramatic effect. "But I was thinking we could have an alliance." Ray glanced over his shoulder. Jesus, Kitcha was scary. "Ransoming the princess could be worth a lot of street cred. Join me, and we shall rule the galaxy together!" He said. He was really hamming it up.
With another roll of her eyes, Marigold pressed another button. This time, a missile had struck the ship, causing it to shake and waver in the air, "I grow tired of your dribble, you hairless ape." Marigold seemed to be growing more and more annoyed, "But yes, you're right, Urani, it is a nice proposition. So, here's how this is going to work: my ship is going to latch onto yours and then we can discuss...politics there."
The transmission cut off, the Witch's hologram disappearing as the Witch's Ship began to hover over to their own ship, a connecting bridge coming out and connecting their ship with her's.
edited 14th Feb '16 4:55:32 AM by HydraGem

Ray was forced to abandon his treasure as armed soldiers escaped from their pods. He hurried behind a large shipping container, a bit reluctantly. He'd gotten a good deal on the contents of that crate. Oh well. Where were his newfound allies? It was just as he was wondering this that he saw his favorite bug girl come out of the ship behind him.
"Kitcha. It's always a pleasure." Ray said. He took the laser rifle he had stolen from the Martian soldier and blind-fired from cover. Most of the civilians had fled, so he could focus on keeping them away from his precious box.
"Hey hey hey hey! Don't touch that!" Ray said. The laser bullets wouldn't punch through their armor, but it would superheat it, making it extremely painful to wear. Still, it was really mostly just a deterrent. He couldn't fire his pistol fast enough to be very useful against these sheer numbers.