Nora squealed excitedly as she found two large dropships capable of carrying 30 personnel each prepped and waiting for her in the lower starboard hangar. To give her additional reason to be giddy, amongst the full 50 personnel she requested were the six additional units she had requested as a retinue. As her gaze landed upon the familiar sight of her sister’s blonde dreadlocks, Nora grinned from ear to ear as she danced childishly in front of everyone.
“I totally thought you guys would be going with Mori!” She exclaimed as she ran up to Havoc squad who stood in front of the mix of soldiers, medics and engineers all idly chatting as they waited for their mission debrief.
Stephanie snickered as she shouldered her repaired chainblade, smiling and signaled with one hand, “The boss here is the one with our orders.”
Nora quickly looked and cocked her head to see Ebony nervously standing at attention, far more nervous and stiff than anyone else in the massive hangar. Stalking towards the fit Egyptian woman, Nora made no effort to hide her wandering gaze as she inspected every inch of Ebony, striding around her and causing several others to take notice which brought the immediate noise around them down.
“So, how come you’re here instead of with Mori?” Nora reiterated once she stopped in front Ebony.
Ebony didn’t shift her gaze from directly in front of her, as if attempting to see through Nora who stood in her way, before stating, “Shepard’s orders ma’am.”
“Aweee,” Nora said with a smile of adoration towards the old woman before the way Ebony said “ma’am” registered in her mind. Nora’s face shifted to a look that made it appear that she was grossed out.
“Listen, you’re hot and all,” Nora said aloofly gesturing to Ebony’s body with caused the woman’s brow to furrow in confusion before Nora continued, “But some how you just made that very unsexy. Like, if you’re aiming to impress me- you’re doing a very bad job at it.”
Nora’s professionally annoying personality got underneath Ebony’s skin as her face hardened, “First off, I am not trying to impress you and second, I am straight, so whatever idea you have in your head; you can forget about it.”
By now, everyone in the large group had their eyes on the two as Nora started giggling manically. “Says every girl ever!” She exclaimed before saying, “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard that lie, though this whole stick up the ass personality is definitely a huge turn off.”
The group standing behind Ebony began snickering to one another as Ebony’s face twisted in disgust forcing her to break her stoic demeanor and angrily point at Nora with a step forward, “You’re dating the Lord Inquisitor, and you’re fucking psychotic. Even if, what the hell makes you think I would want to fuck you instead of beating your annoying ass into the ground?”
Nora clapped her hands tightly together close to her chest and resting her chin on the tips of her fingers before cocking her head to the side as if she were observing something obscenely cute with a small, endearing smile spreading across her lips. “Awe, you just say the sweetest of things, we’re going to have so much fun together!” Nora stated quickly and sharply before she glanced at her sister who struggled not to lose herself in silent laughter, “Has she always been this much of a charmer?” she asked as she glanced at everyone in Havoc squad.
Aleksei, who had been hiding his quiet laughing behind his fist, lost it first and let out a deep, loud laugh causing wide spread laughter to break out through the crowd. Even Taylor managed to lose his own stoic demeanor knowing full well that Nora was only picking on Ebony, or not, after considering who the antagonist was.
“Sorry EB, but you walked right into her trap,” Taylor said loud enough to be heard before hefting his light machinegun up to his chest. After dealing with her a few times, Taylor was well aware how Nora operated, “So, what’s the plan Nora?”
Nora’s attention snapped back to reality at the question, ignoring the baleful glare from Ebony, “Oh, right! The plan!” she exclaimed before moving far enough away to be seen before clapping to get everyone’s attention. As everyone regained their composure, grinning in excitement, “Alright, so the plan is… okay so I spoke with Harlock, the captain of the pirate ship we’re heading to.”
Stephanie made a clicking noise to get Nora’s attention before signing, “That fat bastard is still alive?”
“I know right?” Nora mused as she giggled, “But yeah, so, we’re going over there. Anyways, we got doctors and engineers to help get the ship in working order and get people patched up, who will be guided by my very bright and likely not to get you killed students as well as stand guard over our squishier people, which includes Big Man, Playboy and Mad Doc over there,” she stated pointing at Henry, Aleksei and Jackson who all cracked amused smirks at their newest nicknames given to them by Nora.
“So yeah, remember to watch out for things like trip wires, pressure plates, overly shiny buttons and ya know, anything that looks like it’ll kill you which will be a lot of the ship,” she added before someone interrupted with a question.
“Why are we fixing the ship?” a man called out from the middle of the crowd.
Nora pointed towards the center of the group excitedly, “Good question! No, seriously, that’s a good question and the answer to that is-I kind of got to thinking when my darling beloved gave me command of this operation… you know, after a mild panic attack,” Nora snickered to herself before pointing at the significantly smaller starship that was off the starboard side of the Archangel that sat visible through the hangar’s barrier.
“I know our goal is really to try and steal their ancient bullshit so we can find the Eden but then I wondered; why steal the tech when we could just steal the entire ship? Plus that would give us two ships instead of one-and everyone knows the more the merrier!” Nora explained spastically before giving Ebony a snide smile and a wink for good measure that caused light hearted chuckling to break out amongst the group and another angry glare from the hacker.
“Plus, its a lot harder to fight throughout a pirate ship so taking it over just makes more sense. So! While everyone is off doing their thing; Me, my sister, Eye Candy and Closet-Case here, will head to the bridge, kill everyone and take control of the ship. Once we do that, don’t hesitate to kill anyone who resists, us pirates can be stubborn.” The group chattered in agreement, whether they were agreeing because she and her sister were ex-pirates or because the Archangel crew have become respective pirates over the past year.
“But yeah, supposedly we’ll have guides to get us to where we need to go but keep your eyes peeled because shit be crafty. Now, lets get moving!” Nora clapped causing everyone to cheer before they began loading up between the two dropships.
While everyone loaded up, Stephanie, Taylor and Ebony approached, the whole time Stephanie making fun of Ebony for falling for Nora’s bantering.
“Is Mori aware of this plan?” Taylor asked to change the subject before Stephanie could instigate a fight.
Nora turned to them with a bright grin before shaking her head, “Nope, so its going to be a nice surprise for her. Plus she did tell me not to break our ship so this is essentially killing eight birds with one stone…” Nora then began counting in her head and on her fingers, “Or five, or whatever,” she added.
With nothing left to add, Nora and her little retinue boarded the closest dropship and rocketed towards the targeted Raider ship, Nora weaseling her way into the cockpit and taking her seat in the copilot chair before leaning forward to inspect the dash.
Playfully tapping her finger on her lips, she identified the button she was looking for, “Hey Harlock, I’m on my way with some fixers and shit so try not to shoot me down, yeah?” she said as she pushed the button.
“You’re way too trusting, you know that?” Harlock responded which caused her to snort in amusement.
“Not at all, I just know you''d rather not go toe to toe with the Lord Inquisitor, even if she is sexy as the day is long,” she quipped knowingly as she considered everything Morrigan would do to Harlock if he tried to be bold enough to shoot at her. She couldn''t lie; the thought of Morrigan tearing into the bloated man sent more than joy down her spine as she heard the man cackle at her comment.
“Ha! You have a fair point there. Well hurry on up, little girl, I gotta really nice bottle waiting for you on the bridge!” he responded jovially at the sudden return of Emilia Flannigan.
“Awe, you really know how to make a girl feel welcomed home!” she cooed as her amusement began to rise knowing the look on his face when he sees not only her, but her ornery sister as well; both of which had been long since forgotten by the pirate clans, respectively.
She instructed both pilots to head towards the closest hangar which was sealed by one massive foot and a half thick steel door and guarded by two twin barreled rotary cannons before being forced to hold position as they waited for the door to open.
Impatiently, Nora pushed the communication button that was locked into the ship’s short range frequency, “Hey Fat Ass, I can''t help fix your ship if you don''t open the door!”
“Yeah, yeah, keep your tits on! My guys just finished securing themselves and my cargo, so just give me a sec.,” Harlock said as if already exhausted of her as the giant door began to slowly open across the center. Nora watched a vacuum attempt to suck out the contents of the hangar only for everything, and everyone, tethered and shaped down to the hangar surface.
“Right, I almost forgot what it was like to not be on a fancy ship… does this make me spoiled?” Nora asked curiously as she glanced at the pilot who merely shrugged.
However, once the hangar gate finally opened, Nora could see an immediate issue with her plan as she looked within the pirate ship’s landing zone within the hangar. Inside were a vast array of crates, containers, machinery and a small handful of starfighters that took up the majority of the space where her dropships would land.
Nora groaned, “Lazy ass pieces of…” she cut her rant short as she pushed the communications button once again, “Harlock! Open your other hangar, we can''t get both ships in with all this garbage you got in here!”
“Don’t be knocking my haul, girl. I’m carrying some good shit… anyways, no can-do darlin’,” Harlock responded.
Gritting her teeth, Nora slammed her first on the arm of the pilots seat, “What the hell do you mean “no can-do”?” she complained before groaning childishly as she rubbed her face in frustration.
“Fat, mother fucking, no-good lazy piece of… ugh! Fine- fuck it!” Nora added as she slumped in her chair in irritation as she quickly considered her options as she glanced into the opening hangar.
“Alright, take us in and we’ll just have to drop out…” Nora huffed before she considered just having the bulky dropships simply land on anything in their way. “Yeah… just take us in,” she conceded to herself, choosing to refrain from starting any problems just yet.
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Following the lead of her dropship, both ships gently entered the space of the hangar and awaited hovering above all of Harlock’s precious supplies and stolen merchandise, carefully keeping from any sharp movements given both ships took up most of the viable space, until Nora got impatient waiting to hear the giant mechanical door to begin closing.
“Hey, nugget-dick! We don’t have viro-suits; kinda need you to close the damned door if you want our damned help!” She announced through the communication link as well as the dropship’s external system.
“Man, you are just all sorts of ornery today, aren’t cha?” Harlock replied in amusement before the sound of grinding metal drowned out any other response he may have said.
Nora shivered at the nostalgic sound as she tried glancing around the starboard side through the angular cockpit only to see her other ship waiting patiently as well, the width of her own ship blocking any view she had hoped to see however, the sound itself briefly satisfied an old longing she hadn’t felt in years.
The moment she heard the giant metal door slam shut, Nora jumped out of her seat and began relaying orders around their new situation over the private channel her comm piece allowed for as she stepped out of the cockpit. As she doled out orders, she signaled for her group to get on their feet as she pushed her way towards the side door of the dropship and opened it.
The smell of grease, poorly filtered atmosphere and oxidizing metal filled the air as Nora took a moment to close her eyes and take a deep breath. “I missed this smell so much…” she murmured before her attention was pulled by her sister who stepped up to the open door and began rigging up the rope for repelling. “Don’t you miss this?” Nora asked over the engines of her ship with a small smile as she gestured to the dirty and disorganized hangar below them.
Stephanie looked down and considered the sight before her. Nonchalantly, she shrugged and signed, “It’s okay.”
Nora scoffed as she watched her sister try to continue her work, “Come on! I get it, you got yourself a shiny new boyfriend and working for my extra fancy goddess of a girlfriend but seriously, you can’t deny you miss this… this…” Nora grew frustrated at the inability to find the words to describe the nostalgia she was feeling.
Stephanie finished hooking up the rope as she listened before snorting in amusement, glancing at her adorably frustrated little sister with a sly smirk before reaching out and signing with one hand, “Okay, a little bit.”
Watching the glowing smile spread across Nora’s face was more than enough for her as she chuckled hoarsely at the delight admitting her own nostalgia brought Nora before looking down below. Without further prompt, Stephanie balanced her chainblade on her shoulder and leapt from the dropship to land on the wing of a starfighter with feline grace and sliding off onto the patchwork metal floor of the hangar.
“I knew it!” Nora exclaimed to herself in sheer delight before she turned back to her crew, “Come on ass-hats!” she exclaimed before leaping from the ship in an attempt to mimic her sister.
However, Nora was not Stephanie and landed directly on her back in a resounding thud upon the ship wing before groaning and rolling off onto the floor.
“Hey! This isn’t a fucking playground! Scratch my shit and I’ll dump your ass here and now!” Harlock shouted over the hangar’s intercom making it known that he was watching Nora and her crew through what ever surveillance he had.
Despite the pain, Nora grumbled and pushed herself off the floor before dusting herself off, “Yeah, yeah, whatever! Look, it’s perfectly fine!” she argued gesturing to the ship as her soldiers began repelling down from there respective ships.
After waiting for her personnel and their supplies, Nora moved her people into the next corridor so the dropships could return to the Archangel and began publically doling out orders to each group as their designated guides made themselves known.
Even though it is unwise to split up groups, Nora divvied out her personnel to tackle multiple problems at once sending one group to go over the engines and what ever FTL engine Harlock managed to splice into his ship while another tackled the atmospheric generator or the ship’s cannons before issuing the medics to handle any injuries they came across while scouring the ship. Nora also made sure that each non-combat group was guarded by her own soldiers along with a member of Havoc squad.
Once satisfied by the level of caution her troops displayed as they began moving through the ship, Nora proudly turned on her heels and began making her way to the bridge of the ship with her small retinue in tow, and avoiding any sort of escort that would have been sent to guide them.
She and Stephanie made quick work of carving a path to the bridge, both picking out basic pirate traps along the way: tripwires rigged to explosives, pressure plates built into the floor, laser triggers and other mundane traps one could expect throughout the ship. Though Nora did find one that impressed her which was a giant hunting trap welded to a pneumatic punch built into the ceiling and rigged to a pressure plate through a doorframe that would forcibly slam down on an unsuspecting intruder and trigger the hunting trap to clamp down on one’s head and chest with vicious cut out teeth.
However, even though beginning to feel mildly guilty about it, it was home for Nora and the surprising level of comradery projected towards her and her retinue as they moved throughout the ship made her miss the true pirate life even more.
“No way! Nora?!” Someone called out as she stepped passed by a connected corridor that awkwardly branched off at an angle.
Ebony and Taylor both stiffened as Stephanie stopped at the intersection, Nora comically backpedaling into view as both women turned to see who had called out. Who strode towards them was a dark skinned man of average build, a set of muscles that seemed well toned but were not notable as he carried a massive wrench that seemed far too large for him to be carrying.
He was young, appearing a year or two shy of Nora’s age, and wore a pair of welder’s goggles on and dirty, soaked overalls which made who he was quite questionable. The only thing of true note was his six foot eight height as his body appeared lanky. Carrying a wrench that large though, both Ebony and Taylor set their fingers on the triggers of their weapons as they turned to stand on either side of Nora and Stephanie.
Catching the guarded motion, the man took a small step back, “Wait, hold on, let me set this down,” he managed to squeak out as he leaned the wrench against the corridor wall with moderate effort before brushing off the front of his overalls with little effect.
“So, am I supposed to know you?” Nora asked curiously as she placed her hands on her hips and scrutinized him.
The man’s smile faltered at the lack of recognition before looking over who else stood with her. “Holy shit, and Stephanie? I swear, I thought Harlock was pulling our legs when he said you were here, and he didn’t even mention you were here too!” He stated with a wide grin as he stepped closer.
Nora furrowed her brow as she turned to her sister who equally scrutinized the man. She watched Stephanie narrow her eyes before she snorted in surprise with a wide smile, tapping Nora on the arm and pointing at him. Nora’s brow furrowed even more at the confusing response from her sister until Stephanie finally signed, “Koda.”
Recognizing the name, Nora’s eyes went wide as she looked back at the scrawny, raggedy kid she used to know who managed to become the unrecognizable man standing before her, “No fucking way!” she exclaimed before his smile spread into a delighted grin as he spread his arms.
“I’m almost hurt you didn’t recognize me,” he mused as his arms fell to his sides.
“Oh piss off man, I haven’t seen you in what, like 15 years or some shit?” Nora scoffed with amusement before stepping closer and holding her arms up to hug him, “How the hell have you been dude?” she laughed.
Koda gave her an awkward embrace as he chuckled, “Yeah, it’s been some time for sure. Shit, we all thought you died or something,” he mentioned before letting her go and offering a hug in Stephanie’s direction, who obliged. Ebony and Taylor both shared a look of abstract curiosity before deciding they could relax and took up each direction to stand guard over as they listened to the conversation.
“Yeah well, you should know better than to think I’d die that easily. Hell, even prison couldn’t keep me down,” Nora mused.
“Yeah, she’s too much of a pain in the ass to die, trust me, I tried,” Stephanie signed which caused Koda to laugh heartily as Nora glanced to try and catch what Stephanie had said.
“Can’t say I’m surprised you ended up in prison,” Koda mused which drew Nora’s attention again.
“Ch’yea, right? So how’s shit going with you, dude? How’s working for Harlock these days?” Nora asked changing the subject.
“I’m surprised you still remember,” Stephanie signed with a proud smile.
Koda nodded before shrugging, “I don’t think I could make the motions anymore but I remember how to understand it. As for me, life’s alright. I’m a fixer now so I got that going for me; better pay though no where near the kind of cut a raider gets and as for Harlock, well, the bastard is greedy as he’s always been, but then again, what captain isn’t?” He asked rhetorically.
“Hell, I remember the little twerp that scrubbed rust for scraps,” Nora mused before circling back, “But yeah, greed is creed, right? Enjoying yourself at least?”
Koda nodded as he crossed his arms and leaned against the wall casually, “Yeah, I can’t complain too much. Life as a scrub sucked but this? This isn’t bad. Just got done shutting the main water pump to the upper decks off because one of the pipes burst which sucks, so I hope you weren’t expecting a shower or anything.”
Nora nodded along with what he said as she listened, “Well hey, I got some of our fixers aboard, if you’d like I can have some of them lend a hand?”
Koda’s face lit up at the prospect of help until a realization dawned on him, “Our? Now that you’re mentioning it, how are you here? I thought there was only an Inquisition ship in this space? You’re not part of that are you?” His question came out more as curiosity than worry though the majority of Harlock’s ship was on edge that Inquisition soldiers were aboard, Nora’s name being the only thing keeping an all out firefight from breaking out but Nora couldn’t help chuckling at how long it took Koda to connect the dots.
“Surprising, right? Big bad rebel Nora joining up with the Inquisition and going around doing nice things,” Nora joked before Stephanie interjected her own comment.
“Don’t let her fool you, she’s still a menace to society. We do nothing but cause chaos,” Stephanie interjected.
Koda stood there with his jaw hanging over before his brain registered the affirmation of their positions, “Wow… I mean, that’s cool. Do you have your own ship then, or?” he inquired with raised guard.
Neither women could find it surprising. Even though the Inquisition had only a few ships, they were still the one faction that scared the bad and villainous at every corner of the galaxy.
“Nah, that belongs to my woman,” Nora announced proudly with a grin as she crossed her arms, “This bonehead got stuck on a Federation Deathsquad while I was stuck in prison,” she commented as she nudged her head in Stephanie’s direction, “But to be fair, she did get to meet that big lug behind us all the while I tagged myself a smoking hot Inquisitor.”
Koda’s nervousness only increased at the concept that those standing in front of him belonged to the Inquisition, “Yeah, yeah, that’s pretty cool…”
Both women rolled their eyes as Nora scoffed, “Dude, chill. If we were after you we would’ve just blasted the ship, not try and help you guys.”
“Right, sorry. It’s just that… this is more weirder than I expected… but I guess the question is why you’re even helping,” Koda asked tentatively as he unfolded his arms and stood up straight.
“Well, I’m here because you’re my peeps. Babe is off on the MarMar ship because one of the chieftains pissed her off so he owes her a head,” Nora said casually which caused Koda to pale slightly as she continued, “But I did kinda want to ask why Harlock was stupid enough to try and take on one of their ships. I mean, is he just suicidal or just that stupid? But yeah, no, we’re also looking for the Eden.”
Koda furrowed his brow in disbelief as he looked between Nora’s aloof expression and Stephanie’s stern gaze before realizing that nothing Nora said was a lie. “Okay… but… you know that’s a bad idea, right?”
Giggling, Nora waved the notion off, “And since when have I ever let that stop me? Besides, Mori is only looking to talk to the current king. If anything, it’s a worse idea for him to not listen to her especially because she’s got one hell of a mean streak,” Nora stated with a sadistic grin as Stephanie concurred.
Scratching the back of his head, Koda took an awkward step back from the social barrier between the three of them as he tried to formulate a response, “I… uh… Can I ask you a question?”
Nora and Stephanie looked at one another curiously. “How is it, being part of the Inquisition?” Koda asked the moment they asked looked back towards him.
A creeping smile spread across Nora’s lips knowingly, “Looking to switch sides?”
Koda shrugged at the question, “I mean, we all gotta have options right?” Though in reality he was cognitive to sense the possibility of a very violent conflict between the pirate clans and the Inquisition if they did manage to find the Cradle of Eden.
Before Nora could make a quip, Stephanie interjected, “Don’t listen to her. She gets special treatment,” which made Nora scoff in disbelief as she looked at her sister. “But, I can admit the gear is good, the ship is nice and the food is even better, and we obviously don’t discriminate. Unless you’re Federation.”
“Yeah, she’s not wrong,” Nora deflated in agreement before she perked back up. “Plus, we can always use more fixers. Hell, depending on your skillset I bet you could even get into R&D. I know Danson always needs people making shit and such. Oh yeah, its kinda nice because we also make our own supplies rather than hunting and raiding though we’ve had to do that too lately but that’s also fun so it’s literally a win-win!”
Koda’s face took on a contemplative look as he digested the brief yet informative commentary, “That sounds very…low risk, high reward…”
Nora shrugged, “With a fancy ship, it kind of is.”
“I’ll have to think on it but you do make one hell of an offer,” Koda responded after a moment.
“Well let me know and if you want, I can get you in. I do happen to be sleeping with the woman in charge,” Nora mused before clapping and pointing her thumb over her shoulder, “Anyways, I gotta go rip Harlock a new asshole for being so stupid. It was good seeing you though man.”
“Yeah, you too. Both of you take care of yourselves and I’ll see you later?” he asked rather than implied.
With an amused, knowing snort, Nora responded as she turned on her heels and looked over her shoulder, “Oh, you’ll definitely be seeing more of us.”