Cedric was standing straight, observing pensively at the officers of the Ravager. They sat in comfortable, white cushioned seats. He wondered just how soft they were, the segments of the cushioning being separated by some unknown seams. Unfortunately for him, he had no choice but to stand. The Vixen at the head of the table had already voiced her distate for Cedric's presence, conversely Smarts seemed rather amicable towards him right off the bat. Perhaps it was because he was a male.
"Now then, since we have a new member for some reason."
The vixen clearly attempted to lower her voice for the second half of her statement, but it was hardly low enough to be unheard. Cedric was quite positive it was on purpose.
"Scourge right?" The vixen placed a paw on her chest, almost as if she was attempting to establish her self-importance with a simple gesture - like how an executive might introduce themselves to the crowd in a meeting. Her bright honeyed orbs gazed about the blue hued and well-cleaned room, waiting to see if her companions would speak first. It was clear they had no intention to do so until she was finished first. Clearly, she was the Alpha here.
"I'm Prez. You've already met Smarts." She turned her muzzle to a male raccoon sitting casually in one of the chairs to the left of Smarts. The illumination from the battle holo shown upon his banded face, detailing the outlines of his slightly thick fur. He wore a casual graphic tee that displayed a ship design he was not familiar with. The words 'Fly high!' Were imprinted on and below the ship, marking the shirt as anything but not average. The slight rippling showed that he was not much one for exercise, but he did not appear to be overweight either. A comfortable set of blackened pants covered his legs down to his feet paws, unobstructing their movement. His legs were casually splayed ontop of the battle table, the rest of his body leaning slightly back thanks to the giving angle of the chair he resided in. He gave Cedric a little wave.
"That would be Chill, our defensive operations officer." Prez said quickly.
"What's up? Say, mind if I get a smoke?"
Cedric shook his head, surprised by his laid-back demeanor - like one would act when simply resting at home or talking amongst friends during a casual outing. Given his nickname, perhaps he should have expected that. He removed a bacco stick from within one of the interior pockets of his trench coat, the half filled packet still more than enough to serve his wants for the day. He gingerly handed it Chill, quickly flicking his lighter to light it for him. Chill nodded his thanks and inhaled deeply of the tobacco-like substance.
"Ah, that's the good stuff. Thanks man." Chill's voice was average-toned, the words from his short muzzle slowly and deliberately drawn out. If Cedric had not known differently, he would have assumed he was under the minor influence of recently smoking marijuana.
Cedric nodded his welcome, "No problem."
"Anyone else?" Prez asked, clearly irritated. Subtle head shakes followed her question. Cedric shifted the lone ash tray on the round table to a more comfortable spot between himself and Chill, making it easier for the both of them to shake the ash from their bacco sticks without needing to stretch. The table idly beeped, almost as if acknowledging the movement.
Prez then shifted her head to her left, drawing to attention a male ferret wearing a form fitting black turtleneck sweater. Khaki shorts covered his furred thighs, it seemed to be of a business casual make - no cargo pockets were visible. He pushed up a set of fine rectangular glasses, much different in appearance than Smart's rounded spectacles.
"That's Books, our quartermaster. Handles all matters referring to supplies and currency, wherever it applies."
Cedric nodded in acknowledgment.
"Good to meet'cha."
Book's voice was somewhat higher pitched, like a subdued penny flute. A very slight Irish accent was woven into his speech, making Cedric consider where he was born and raised.
"Next to him is Cleaver, our offensive operations officer."
Next to Books was a large tigress of a woman, her stripes covering the span of her almost entirely naked body. Her massive bust was barely contained within a leather harness, and her modesty was protected by nothing more than a leather thong. A great single edged blade rested on her back, secured by a hybrid sheath. Unlike popular media depicted, having a large blade completely enclosed in a sheath on the back does not work - as one would have to either grab it multiple times and pull, or have a specially made one that allowed the sheath to flip. This tigress's sheath was a hybrid of a sling and a proper sheath, allowing her to easily remove or replace it with one hand - and quickly slide it back. An intelligent design, one that Cedric had to praise to himself.
"Good to meet you." Cedric began, however before he could say anything further he was interupted by her somewhat graveling voice.
"So you're the one who dusted my brother..." Cleaver said accusingly.
Cedric nodded, there was no point in attempting to deny the accusation.
"Yes, I apologize." He said somewhat in a low tone. Cedric knew that such an empty statement may not do himself well, but at the very least he could try and convey that he regretted his actions. Cleaver waved a large paw in the air, dismissing his apology.
"Don't bother, he deserved it. That's what he gets for being weak."
Prez cleared her throat, refocusing the officers' attention on her.
"Now that introductions are taken care of, it's time to discuss our current battle plan going forward."
Cedric crossed his arms and shuffled back and forth just slightly, already growing uncomfortable with being forced to stand. His gear was comfortable, but Cedric hardly looked forward to standing for however long the meeting would be.
"Now then." Prez began, leaning back in the comfortable high-backed chair and cupping her hands together in solidarity, like a calculating businesswoman.
"We're hitting a convoy, that much is obvious. What may not be obvious, is that they are smuggling weapons to the colonies. Two freighters and a tender. The Tender is our target."
Smarts pushed up his circular glasses gently, readjusting them. They didn't quite like resting on top of Smarts's muzzle as he wanted them to. He looked in Cedric's direction.
"Do you know what a Tender is?"
Cedric nodded, he knew full well. "Carries logistical and repair supplies for the fleet, right?"
Smarts nodded, seemingly pleased as his short hair bobbed up and down. "Indeed." He stuttered, "Carries food, water, luxury goods, bedding, clothing, all those things. We aim to take that for ourselves."
"And the smuggling freighters?" Cedric asked. Prez interrupted, iritation evident in a somewhat shrill voice.
"How about you shut up and listen first? Then ask questions."
Cedric's anger swelled but for a moment, but he shoved it back down as well as he could. She wasn't entirely wrong, he should probably hear the entire plan before asking questions. He nodded, and Prez answered with a nod of her own, "Good boy."
Cedric's eye twitched.
"Now then, there are the two freighters smuggling weapons to the colonies. Our informants tell us that the tender is also hauling extra supplies, much more than they need. The tender will be behind the freighters, away from danger. Assuming of course, that danger doesn't come from behind. Naturally, that's where we will strike from. Pay attention to your maps." Prez shifted into a more professional wavelength, both in her voice and her body language. Clearly, she was well versed at her job. Prez splayed her paws out on the table, its holographic screen glowing brightly in response.
With a quick splitting gesture and a raise of her paws, the hologram formed a 3D image of an asteroid field. The asteroids were close and clustered together, confusing Cedeic. Three small blips on the bottom of the screen relevant to Cedric appeared to depict three of the Ravager's corvette escorts. A triple column of blue blips towards the top depicted what Cedric assumed was the convoy.
Cedric raised a hand before Prez proceeded further, "Asteroids within asteroid fields are spread an incredible distance apart, why are these asteroids so close together? If one asteroid gets knocked out of place, the entire field could become a cataclysm zone."
"That..." Prez began, surprise evident in her voice. "Is actually a good question. It used to be the site of one of the Empire's mining projects several years ago. An accident in the main mining station's engine room caused the station to explode, obliterating all the asteroids around it in a very large radius. Time passes, and the asteroids break themselves into smaller and smaller pieces until we have the field we see now."
Cedric nodded, but still had one other question. "By that logic, the asteroid remnants should be flying off into nowhere - how are these still clustered together?"
Prez spread her paws wide and then gestured them together, zooming out the 3D image as one would a smart phone or tablet. The new perspective revealed the answer to Cedric's question - a large gas giant that somewhat reminded him of Jupiter.
"Gas giant B-15579, in the Bren system. Its gravitational pull keeps the asteroid debris in check." Smarts pushed up his glasses once more, happy to answer Cedric's question vocally through his stutters.
"I see." Cedric leaned over the table, the light illuminating his ungroomed beard and long hair with a strange conflict of colors. "Does the density of that particular field provide a screen against their sensors?"
Smarts nodded, seemingly quite pleased with his deductions.
"Would that not be too obvious?" Cedric pressed. "Seems the most obvious place for pirates to set up an ambush."
"Normally, you would think so." This time it was Chill who responded, "However, these guys already know they're in territory where there can be pirates. Even if they are on guard, what can they possibly do until they see us? Not only that, but eventually all crews - including ourselves - get nice and lazy when there hasn't been any issues for a long time. People like comfort, ya know?"
Cedric leaned back away from the table, nodding in affirmation.
"Fair enough."
"Once the freighter passes by our position here..." Prez began again, not wanting to waste time as she pointed to the area of the map where the red blips held purchase, like little red birds relaxing on a tree branch or phone line - except the branches and phone lines were asteroids.
"The Baby Cruncher and Runaway Bride will use their harpoons to spear the tender from behind. It's a Williams-class, one we're familiar with the layout of. The tender, which I will acknowledge as the Helmsberg from now on - will be helpless. Once the Helmsberg is speared, the Daylight Dread will forcibly dock with its left side. The boarding crew will pop the cargo lock and take everything they can carry. Our goal is to complete this within fourty-five minutes. Civilian vessels use standard grade HESH rounds, we're not beholden to imperial law. Our three raiding vessels' armor will be more than capable of holding out for the duration. However, if it takes longer than that..."
Chill cleared his throat, and finished her sentence for her.
"The Imperial Quick Response Force will be on us, and their laser repeaters will tear us the shreds."
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Prez nodded. "Ideally, we'll get the supplies we need and be gone, assuming the boarding crews grab the correct things on their way out."
Cleaver slammed a furled fist into a neighboring open palm, to emphasize her next statement.
"They'll get it done. We got the gear, the tender's crew won't stand a chance."
Cedric thumbed his index finger and thumb across his long beard thoughtfully - it was a bit rough.
"Wait, so they're just smashing and grabbing?"
Prez nodded, but not without rolling her eyes beforehand in annoyance, as one would react to the question of a toddler.
"Uh, yes. That's literally what I just said. Are you even listening? Time is of the essence, we get what we need and leave. End of story."
"Get what you need and leave?" Cedric retorted, "Based on this, you don't even know if you'll gurantee we'll get what we 'need'!"
Prez tsk'd in his direction, "You aren't an officer, you don't know how these operations work. You have no agency here."
Cedric let go of an exasperated sigh, it's like she wanted him to fail before he even had a chance to prove himself!
"Look, what if we could guarantee finding what we need without costing more time? That's objectively a better strategy."
Prez slammed her hands on the table. The 3D image slightly fizzed in response, its illumination breaking but for only a moment.
"Are you deaf?!" She demanded.
Ignoring her, Cedric turned his head towards Books.
"Books, right? What do we need, exactly?"
Books, seemingly unbothered by his manner, thought for a moment.
"Technically everything, but our priority for this is food and fresh water. We only have a few month's supply left."
Cedric nodded in affirmation, considering his words.
"If this is a smash and grab, what if the boarding crew grabs too much or too little of something? What if they grab more food than water, what about vice versa?"
The officers looked around, clearly confused about his last statement.
"Nevermind, point being is there is a very real possibility we won't be able to grab what we need. What if we assigned the boarding crews into teams with shopping lists? We have plenty of empty wheeled carts in the storage cells. Assign a small five man team, give them a list and a cart, they'll be able to specifically find the correct cargo and toss it in. We can guarantee we get what we're hunting for without losing time."
The officers looked back and forth to each other, then to Prez queationingly. She responded to their gestures with a powerful scoff.
"You honestly think that the boarding crews will do that? Not a chance. The crew are free spirits, the males barely even do any work. It's a stupid idea. Now stop making stupid suggestions and sharing asanine ideas when you clearly know nothing!"
Cedric sighed and shook his head, "So what? I don't have any agency?"
Prez smiled as she leaned back in her chair, "No, no you don't. I said you could ask questions, not give stupid suggestions Scourge. Now then, for -"
Cedric slammed his fist down on the table, taking care not to hit the table too hard. The large thump resounded throughout the room, temporarily silencing the officers.
"I gurantee that if I had two teams of five, I could get this done far more efficiently and properly than this stupid 'grab what you can' idea!"
Anger welled within Cedric. He wasn't an idiot! Whatever stick Prez had up her ass was grating down his demeanor, he would make his point known and his ideas considered. She wasn't even giving him a chance!"
"Oh yeah?" Prez questioned with a side eye, oozing with confidence. Cedric matched her gaze.
"Yeah..." He said after a moment, though he began to lose confidence in light of her own.
"Fine, I'll make you a deal. Get two teams of five together. If they follow your orders, they don't screw up, AND there's no casualties - I'll make you Field Operations Officer."
"Deal." Cedric said quickly, not fully realizing the implication in the heat of the moment. He was far too jaded by his rising anger at his blatant mistreatment.
"Okay, deal." Prez smiled. "Males are so easy. Good luck getting that done in a week. By the way, if you fail, I'll make sure you're with the other males scrubbing the deck everyday. Not even worth breedstock."
Cedric looked to Chill, Smarts, and Books. Chill appeared to be unphased as he finished his cigarette, the other two seemed to be somewhat intimidated. Cedric realized that Prez had an iron grip on the Ravager's pentarchy - they didn't even fight back against her blatant misandry! Clearly, they must be used to it - desensitized by their latest successes, if his rescue was anything to gauge by.
"I'll make it happen." Cedric growled, far more confident and menacing than he originally intended. He lifted his hand to shake her own, she simply rolled her eyes once more and smacked his hand away. What a bitch!
"Yeah yeah, whatever ape. We'll reconvene in six days, if you have any suggestions or ideas about what we can different by then, forward them to my quarters. Oh, and Scourge - make sure you have your team trained and ready by then too, mmk? Dismissed."
Prez reached underneath the holotable and shut it off as the officers rose from their seats with satisfying leathery noises like one would make readjusting themselves on a couch or chair to seek greater comfort. Those that had holopads collected them, and paid no heed to Cedric save for a shy wave from Smarts as he stepped past him. Cedric now stood alone in the room staring at the door, with Kipper nowhere to be found - dumbfounded.
"That bitch cannot be serious..." He said to himself. Given Cedric was still in the room, the lights were thankfully still on. He thought for a moment, stroking his rough beard. Cedric looked back to were Prez sat. Looking around, he gingerly stepped to the chair, and ducked underneath - searching dir the switch or button she used to turn off the table. It took a few minutes, but he did find an obscurely placed yellow rounded button - one that pulsed with a hue so dark that it would be easy to miss, despite being obviously powered.
He gently pushed in the button, and not a moment later it turned green. The table illuminated to life, depicting many programs in low korellei script. He wasn't sure which program he actually needed to see the battle view. He interacted with the table, it wasn't currently holographic but rather flat. The operating system of the table's program was surprisingly easy to identify, reminding him of the Waller 21 operating system used in his own time. Perhaps this was a spiritual successor to it.
He ran through the programs, attempting to identify which one he would need. He opened programs displaying stock information, a blueprint of the ship, an audio software? Oh, someone was already signed in. Neat. Aha, there it was - Sketchit 3D Super. That had to be the one. It took him about an hour to sift through the programs that were obvious on the equivalent of its desktop, and upon opening this one it showed a flat view of the same map they were using in the meeting. Cedric scrolled around the map, it was quite difficult to interpret exactly what was where on the flat version of the map. After about twenty minutes of playing around with it, he found a toolbar towards the too. Hovering that with his finger, a drop down menu to toggle 3D appeared. He gently touched it, and like in the meeting before the table sprung to life as a bright light emanated from above the table, and Cedric was now looking at the same 3D map they were seeing before. He experimented for several minutes, identifying the gestures needed to change and rotate the view, basing it off of Prez's gestures.
The battle plan was solid, but Cedric couldn't help be feel like something didn't seem right. Several things didn't seem right, actually. What was the convoy smuggling? Was that really the only one they could hit? Why were they only using three on three? They had more corvettes, they could spare them. Experimenting some more, Cedric noticed a play button - the typical sideways triangle that could only depict as such. He pressed it in the 3D space, far above the map itself - and an animation began to play. Why didn't they use this during the meeting?
The animation locked interaction with the map, as it depicted the red blips moving exactly as Prez had suggested prior. The convoy was a little far from their origin point in the asteroid cluster, but the speed of their red blips far outweighed that if the blue blips.
"Hmm, so not only do we have more armor - but we're faster too..." Cedric noted to himself.
Small lines cast themselves from the small red blips to the rear of the blue blips, the changing hues and colors illuminating Cedric's face as he studied. He jumped slightly as the map zoomed in on what he assumed was the Helmsberg that had just been freshly speared by the Baby Cruncher and Runaway Bride. He chuckled to himself - those were good names.
A full layout of the Williams-class was on display for him now in the space, showing various geometric halls and chambers that were well-organized for cargo transport. A massive red blip attached itself to the left of blueprint, depicting a subdued explosion blowing open the cargo lock. Several smaller red blips poured out of the breach. Cedric steadied his hands on the table and leaned forward, sucking in every inch of movement, like a cat studying its prey.
Cedric scoffed - this was ridiculous! There were many blips depicting what could only be the assault teams - they moved randomly, no rhyme or reason! Prez really intended to just throw bodies into the Helmsberg and trusted that they would secure what they needed. He shook his head with distain, not believing the stupidity of this block of the plan. He continued to watch carefully as half I'd the red blips disappeared when met with small groups of yellow blips depicting the defending crew.
Was she really planning on accepting 50% losses?! It seemed she was, he had never seen such asanine strategy before. Where was the coordination? Where was the caution? Why the hell were they just throwing bodies onboard?! Cedric watched the rest of the animation carefully, as it depicted the entire plan at a slowly accelerating speed - before finally ending at the disconnect of the Daylight Dread from the cargo lock. A prompt on the top of the display asked if he wanted to repeat, or stop. He stopped it, and it faded back to the view of the field as it had been during the meeting.
Cedric sat down with a slight squeak and groan of the chair, protesting his relaxation. He hoped that it would be sturdy enough for him, they were certainly large enough. He racked his brain for several minutes, attempting to brainstorm what was happening. Throwing bodies like that, it didn't make any sense. Cedric decided to explore the rest of the system, seeking any program that indicated it would be used for categorization or organization.
There was only one program left, Xel. It wasn't obvious what it may be for, so he ignored it for now. Since no other options was displaying what he wanted to see, he tapped on that one on the now flat screen. It opened, and a quick scan of the contents revealed that it was the entire manifest of the Ravager.
Cedric scanned through, identifying who was where. There was a plethora of names and callsigns categorized into teams, categories, and groups. As he scrolled through the massive list, he found the block of lists that labeled the boarding teams.
Cedric studied them carefully, and almost all of the names were masculine in nature. He scrolled further, and his mouth dropped in horror as he realized the plan.
She was anticipating those losses to all be male! He swapped back and forth between Xel and Sketchit. He discovered that on sketchit, all the blips within the animation were labeled with names - all coordinating with the name lists he discovered on Xel. Every yellow blip that disappeared, every single one, had a masculine name attached to it.
She was planning on purging the males in the assault!
Cedric shook his head once more as he leaned further on the table, lighting a bacco stick and puffing on it thoughtfully. Where did this vendetta of Prez's come from? She wasn't just a misandrist, she was actively antagonistic. He relaxed in the chair one more, silently puffing as he rubbed his face, realigning his focus. He wondered if he could intervene in this somehow, his name wasn't on the list. Did she not intend on using one of her strongest assets? Or perhaps, she wasn't anticipating his interference. Several 'hmms' of thought made their way through his mask, laced with its terror-inducing static. He had never been a misogynist, and had never met any others - misandrists included. He had no basis or frame of reference to attempt to extrapolate information from. It was already dinner time, he had successfully spent the entire day studying the table and the workings of the programs.
Cedric turned off the table and rubbed his eyes, only now realizing just how tired he was. In fact, he was mentally exhausted. He needed to rest. Cedric rose from the chair, slowly sauntering to the door. He opened it easily to a long corridor devoid of life. It seemed the crew had finished all their work for the day. The pale yellow lighting of the Ravager shown its golden light about, leaving a few shadows behind thanks to the braced supports that assisted in forming the superstructure of the ship. His sturdy jackboots clicked on the grated floor, the sound of which gently resounding through the large corridor as one would liken to the echo of a freshly tapped glass. There was not a soul to be seen. Cedric lit another bacco stick, his pack almost already exhausted from recent use. Without warning, Cedric jumped slightly to movement in his peripheral.
He rubbed his eyes once more, he must be a lot more tired than he originally thought - especially if he was already seeing hallucinations. He ignored the movement, and proceeded to walk to the mess hall. There it was again, he swore he could see movement to his side. Cedric stopped, questioning if what he saw was actually a hallucination, or something more concerning. He scanned about carefully, slowly puffing his spacer cigarette. The smoke dried his mouth slightly, and he made a mental note to injest more water today than he usually did - he was never a fan of dry mouth. He scanned for a few minutes more, but saw nothing. If there was anybody in this corridor, he most certainly would have seen them. Cedric narrowed his eyes, and looked forward once more - again, rubbing his face to readjust his focus.
"I must be losing my mind..." He said silently to himself as he proceeded forward, the clicks of his boots slightly increasing in tempo as he picked up speed. Without warning, Cedric was slammed into the side of the corridor wall, a warmth began to form on the left side of his cheek - the only small segment not protected by his mask. He jolted to the left, seeking his aggressor. He held a strong stance - but there was nothing there! Cedric frantically looked about, desperate to find - slam!
Another blow against the wall landed him on his buttocks, he felt a weight on his body - as though something was holding him in place with its weight, like a paperweight holding a stack of papers in place with loyal purpose. A wetness caressed the blood on his cheek, and then the weight lifted. As he began to stand to gain his barings once more - he saw it. The tiniest vibration in the space in front of him, like a dragonfly beating its wings against a windy current. A refractor belt! It had to be. He only knew them experimentally, the military was attempting to develop workable shield technology that would bend light around a vehicle or person. Cedric attempted to hide his discovery, feigning ignorance in light of his aggressor. When he moved before, they tackled him against the wall. He attempted to bait his attacker by moving slightly, and the vibration disappeared. They fell for it! Hopefully. He thrust forward with his hands wide, and made contact with a slim shape - he tackled it to the ground, and the vibrations ceased. Revealed in front of him was a female form, like that of a bat. Before he could identify her further, she skillfully wormed her way out of Cedric's grasp. Her agility was met with surprise as he stared forward, the belt mounted on the attacker no longer functioning. Blood showed on her small maw, large membranes for wings were secured to proper arms, large black ears swiveled back and forth like little satellite dishes. Black fur complimenting the form belated its species - a vampire bat.
She lifted a claw to her maw, and with a gentle lick - smiled at Cedric with deep red eyes.
"You..." She stated, giddy from the encounter. "You taste like love!"