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((her you go. A summary is at the bottom.))

Richard outleigh, terran representative, stood in front of a crowd of people. Among the crowd he could see some people with wings, some who reminded him of wolves, a few like rats, and one who wearing a kimono.
Richard pushed a hand through his short red hair, and began to speak.

"You-all of you-have been chosen to crew this ship, the first of it's kind. You were chosen for your exceptional skills in your chosen fields, be they piloting, repairing, commanding, or just plain serving drinks. It is nessecery for-Ah, screw it."

Richard threw a stack of papers off of the podium he was standing infront of.

"Right, to hell with the inspirational speech. This ship is capable of travelling faster than the speed of light. It isn't even finished yet-the nav AI is unfinished, the ship is understaffed, the hardpoints aren't loaded, and we still have no idea wheter the whole thing will just explode on startup or not. But damnit, we need you!"

Richard slammed his fist down on the podium, and behind him a screen showed a picture of a teenage girl. She had blue skin, white hair, and red eyes. She was bound and had duct tape wrapped around her mouth and the back of her head. A few people in the crowd shifted uneasily.

Richard pulled out some glasses and began to read from a sheet of paper he had left on the podium.

"As of 1500 hours last night, contact was lost with the Anuz system, a yet-unsettled system. at 1900 hours a video, featuring the above picture,s several others, and a demand for several billion credits was released to the web near centerpoint station. It was locked down and has yet to reach a major audience in the public. At 2300 hours a small fleet, consisting of three cruisers and one medium battleship, gated into the system. They were promptly destroyed."

Richard adjusted the glasses on his face, and went back to speaking.

"To those of you well versed in popular culture, you may recognize the girl in the picture behind me. She is known to the public as Megumi Musashi, hit terran popstar. Flight logs show that she was on a luxury curise ship-we believe it's escort craft to have been destroyed and captured by the "Wings of Death", a pirate group claiming responsibility in the video. Now, you'll have to bear with me for the next part."

Richard folded up his glasses and put them in his pocket.

"Her rescue is the primary goal of this mission. This may seem odd, but she has several billion followers, and a large number of them are coverging on centerpoint station for a convention hosted by one of her many fanclubs. If word got out that she died because of our inaction, it could create massive riots and a spiraling cycle of bad publicity leading to the dissolution of the Alliance. That's where you come in. The majority of the pirate fleet is probably guarding the gate, and information gleaned from the video shows that they are holding the hostages on AnuvIV, a earth-like planet in the system. The plan is simple; you jump into the planet's orbit, land a small group, rescue the girl, and get out. The gate is far enough away from the planet that the pirate fleet will take around three days to get to the planet;you will probably need nowhere near that much time. Your ship is being used for the job because the other end of the Anuz gate is in a Arnoran/terran battlezone, and we couldn't possibly get a Super-dreadnought through there to break the pirate fleet."

Richard took a breath.
"Now, any questions?"

((summary:the entire crew is inside the mess hall, where Richard, a terran representative to the alliance, is briefing the crew on thier first mission. They are to rescue a popstar from pirates before news of her capture leaks to the several million angry fans in centerpoint station.

Centerpoint station-a massive space station, it borders on being it's own planet. Home to the Alliance government, shipyards, and around five billion residents.
Super dreadnought-the heaviest type of ship in existence. They can render a planet uninhabitable in only a few minutes of concentrated fire.))

Aleksander stood and spoke, making sure he could be heard. "What about the other hostages? Are we to attempt their rescue as well, or is she the only objective?" He sat back down, waiting for an answer. The mental cogs were not yet spinning, but that was because the rules of the game hadn't been made clear.

From the back of the crowd stood a rather tall blue-skinned man, whose eyes were all-green. He opened his mouth and began to sing in deep, musical tones for about ten seconds, then stopped. Talish stood there, befuddled as to why people were staring at him.


"Oh! Pardon me, I keep forgetting that you humans don't speak that language." he explained, clearing his throat.

"How do you propose getting through whatever had destroyed those ships to the planet in one piece?"

"If I can get a flight of Arkies past the defences, my boys can take 'em out and fly cover for a landing team." said a red haired Human nearby. He was young and was pawing the pistol at his side in anticipation.

A seven-foot Jahorian beside him snorted, "As if an Arkalite would stand against weapons that can take out a medium battleship." he laughed, shifting the weight of a massive assualt rifle slung over his back.

"She is your first priority, but saving some of the other hostages would be a good idea. I should warn you though, this ship just isn't big for all 200 and the crew. And you won't be going through their defences-you'll be going around."

"You see, they've focused all their defences on the system's only gate-not a bad idea. But you see, this ship doesn't need a gate to travel between systems." Richard let the meaning of his words sink in.
"Yes, this ship can travel faster than the speed of light. Your FTL system should take you to near the planet the pirates are using, so you can skip right past the vast majority of their forces. They're expecting an attack from the gate, which has been the only method of interstellar travel for the past 9000 years-but today, they'll get a nice little suprise."

Rang stood up straight, towering over everybody around him, and spoke in a gruff voice "If we can bypass their defences the why not appear behind their ships and destroy them all?"

"Brigands and the false idol?" came a pair of voices from the mouth of the green-maned Cassian, "They come to see it and they come to worship it, and when it's not there... chaos." The tone around last word sounded like Krassa enjoyed the prospect of the chaos that may ensue. "Louder and louder and then the uproar is quelled with fire."

Sinder walked to his side. "That's enough, sibling," he all but whispered in his own dual voice. He turned his fiery gaze to the representative, "Do we know how many pirates there are; their troop composition; anything? Do we even know where Musashi is being held?"

"We won't destroy them all because this is the only ship with a FTL drive, and it can't take a fleet that large. Besides, this thing costs an insane amount, and nobody wants to replace it."
Richard looked over at the cassians, slightly disturbed by what the first had said, but continued.
"No, no, and no, but it's a completely empty planet except for wherever they're holding everyone. A quick thermal scan should make their position obvious. You'll be leaving in around an hour, earlier if you're ready."

A spider-like creature stood by as everyone was talking and finally spoke up in a hiss-like voice. "We're ready and waiting, let's just get in there and get what we came for..." A few of it's arms were folded, looking casual for it's kind. "All we do is go in, get the hostage, and get out. Simple."

"And, if possible, avoid dying along the way, yes?" Talish added.

"Right, that too..." it added afterwards with a nonchalant wave of one of it's spidery legs. It rolled it's eyes, having forgotten that piece.

"A final question for me. Do the pirates expect a negotiation at all?" Things were turning out interesting. Aleksander had heard rumors of the warp-ship, but had dismissed them as morale building falsehoods. This is interesting. Many new possibilities would be opened. Alkesander turned and noted those who had spoken. Most likely they were the people of import... and they were not all Terran. That will make manipulating them harder..., but Aleksander felt almost eager to start his work.

"No. Our armed response earlier has probably put them off of the idea of negotiation, but since the forces on the planet have the nearest backup several days away, and since the coldwater pact doesn't apply to pirates, threatening is more than acceptable. Just as long as she survives. The ship's computer has the jumps programmed in-first one will take you there, second will take you back here. See ya."

Richard walked off of the stage and out of the mess hall towards the nearest dock off of the ship and back onto the station it was docked at.

************
Alisa Kline looked around her. She was still bound (for now), and there was one guard. She was in a small room, and the guard was armed with a simple Saeder-Krupp light infantry Rifle Mark III, a swiss navy knife, and a Watson caseless pistol. It was a storage room, and there was even a crowbar within easy reach, not to mention the guard's obvious low expectations-he had even gone to sleep in a chair by the door.
Well, looks like it's my lucky day.
She braced herself in an odd position against one of the many crates next to her, shoved with her feet, and gritted her teeth against the pain of her right arm being wrenched out of it's socket. She carefully moved her arms over her head, tears coming to her eyes. After that, it was quick work to snap her shoulder back into place, and it made a slight metal grating sound as she did so-she would need to get that looked at later. Now she had her hands in front of her, a well-armed but incompetent guard, and a bit of time. She smiled inwardly at what the look on his face would be.

The human glanced at the taller being beside him, "You a pilot?"
"Sort of. I'm the mechon commander."
"Those things? Heh, gimme a solid ejection seat under my butt anyday. the Arkalite's a solid platform, plenty of firepower and the speed and agility to make it work. I'm Gary Williams, by the way." he said sticking his hand out the alien took it and shook it
"Rattrap Gonzales. Conquored many worlds with it your arkie?"
"Well....ok point taken. So when do we leave? I want to brief my pilots."
"Soon enough. I've gotta breif the mechon pilots as well."

Rang looked unimpressed at the answer he recieved. "If we aren't going to engage the enemy then why am I needed on this rescue mission?"