[Salone]

Jack's eyebrows shot up at the arrival of Julius and his men. Plastering his face with an artificial smile, he feigned relief at seeing the armed group.

"No problem at all Jules, no problem. Was checking the goods and found one that wasn't on my receipt. You know I wouldn't lift what wasn't mine."

He stepped a few paces forward, raising his hands to show that he wasn't hiding anything. If anything, he would have to keep them distracted.

"Tell you what, Jules. You train your rifles off my pretty little face, and I'll walk your little princess here off my ship. You got business that I have no business sticking my nose in, and I respect that. No need for blood."

He desperately tried to search his mind for an excuse. Anything to get them off his ship. Anything to set them on solid ground so he could close the bay doors and just lock them out. From there it was just a matter of lifting off before they could cut their way back in.

Of course, the many prosthetic limbs and implants that kept him going were a testament to just how many of his ideas had never worked.

[CupcakeDolly]

"'Long as you've got your pistol still on you, captain, I'm going to have to insist that we keep you in check. Now if you wouldn't mind herding the girl back into her box, we can finish our repairs -" He waved to a mechanic at his left side who held up their catalyzer, most likely rummaged from the engine while they had been busy with Aria, "- and you can be on your way. And I would suggest that you tell her to put her gloves back on before you do that."

While they had been talking Aria had slipped off her gloves and let them drop to the floor. The white suit underneath covered everything but her fingers, but that was all she needed. As far as she was concerned, every man around her at that moment was her enemy. "This deformed fool does not intend to let you leave here alive. I hope you are astute enough to realize this." She shot a look at Jack that clearly said she doubted he was.

Julius neither confirmed nor denied her comment, only waved the gun in her direction. "In the box, darlin'."

"Fuck you." Aria reached down to pick up the crescent wrench again, her knees shaking as she did so. As expected, the men held their fire. They needed her alive.

[Salone]

"Easy, easy!"

Jack hobbled quickly towards the men, making a mental note to never shop with Julius again. He had wanted to get off this rock a good hour ago, and chances were starting to look like he might die here. The servos in his knee began to whine due to the stress.

"Look, can we just put the guns down? Can't we all just be rational and reasonable? Can't we settle this like nor-"

He was cut off in mid sentence as his knee gave out, putting him in a fall to the floor. As he fell he drew his pistol, shooting wildly at the group before he crumpled behind a pair of steel crates. Whatever slim chance he had of escaping unscathed was surely gone now.

[Espy]

Creeeeaaaak.

"...Well," Liam started, glaring down at the traitorous floorboards beneath his right foot. "I had been hoping to board this ship with less of a ruckus than I got off the last one. Seems like that's not going to happen," he added hastily, glancing up at the rifle-bearing man who was now staring at him from less than eight feet away.

"Erm...I..." He trailed off, awkwardly loading a gun behind his back while plastering a huge grin onto his slightly-devoid-of-color face.

Then another idea occurred to him, and he suddenly lunged forward two steps, drawing a rapier from his belt and thrusting it forward.

[Salone]

Jack leaned out from his shelter of boxes, sizing up the situation before pistol fire forced him back.

"Wait, who as that?"

He leaned back out again just in time to see a blonde youth run one of his assailants through with a rapier. He cheered, raising a prosthetic fist in the air. He only had a moment before the hand was blown away by pistol fire, forcing him to take cover once again. He cursed himself inwardly for being so stupid. Hands could be replaced. Crew hands could not.

"Is it crew hands?" he thought, "Is that what they're called? it makes sense but sounds so odd."

He crawled towards the other side of the now bullet-beaten crate he was hiding behind, firing at Julius and his men with his one good hand. Servo motors and mech fluids trailed from the stump that had been his other hand, making it appear that he was bleeding profusely.

[CupcakeDolly]

The sound of gunfire did little to faze Aria, other than the inexplicable ringing in her ears. She ignored it and ran forward. Wrench in hand, she held her arm out to the side and aimed for the face of the man holding the engine's catalyzer. The momentum from her running and the weight of the large tool did all the work of knocking in the guy's teeth and dropping him heavily to the ground.

One of the men turned his gun on Aria as she picked up the engine piece, but was stopped by Julius shouting, "Don't! You'll get her blood everywhere!"

Aria grimaced under her mask. It was supposed to be a grin, but her face was still somewhat limited as far as expressions, and she didn't put much stock into smiling anyway. While the man with the gun was torn between obeying his boss and avenging his fallen brother, Aria lashed one hand toward him... and jabbed him in the eyeballs.

Contact with skin worked fine, but orifices worked more quickly.

The man screamed - at first, he must have thought, from the pain of being poked in the eyes - but then because something else had entered his body and was working its way through, bent on eating him from the inside out. Aria didn't stop to watch the process, but she could hear the screams as she ran deeper into the ship.

[Espy]

Mind blown by both the fluids dripping from the man's arm (What?! He doesn't seem to be bothered by that at all!) and the sudden violence from the girl (I hope Omega isn't acquainted with her...), Liam had accidentally let go of the rapier, which was yanked out of his hand as the body he'd stuck it through fell forward.

With little coordination and far less thinking, he spun around at the sound of footsteps behind him and instinctively pulled the trigger on his finally-loaded gun.

Half a second later, one of Julius's men toppled over backwards, his face blown apart by grapeshot. That was...less preferable, but I suppose it got the job done. At least he seemed to have a better chance at having living employers now. Seeing that the rest of the men seemed to be more concerned with the man with the prosthetic arm, Liam crept forward and started to dislodge his rapier from the corpse's ribcage.

...Omega better pay me double for this.

[Salone]

Jack kept firing wildly from his cover, trying to shout to this odd newcomer over the screams.

"If you kill them, I'll pay you!"

Thinking he could worry about the hole in his pocketbook if he didn't have the same in his head, he kept shouting as he returned to cover.

"You could work for me! Seeing the galaxy! Meeting new people. You could be happy here! And your own room. Lots of rooms. Get a cut of every job we take!"

He leaned back around, firing off a salvo of shots at the last antagonist. He eyed the newcomer again as he shot, looking more for a response it seemed than actually wanting to hit his intended target.

[Espy]

Missed, missed, missed...and missed. Well, okay, that last one clipped his arm. I guess he gets points for that.

Liam glared in the man's general direction as he finally removed the sword and was sent toppling backwards by the momentum. Great time to draw attention to me. Circling around the last of Julius's men cautiously, not wanting to get into the pilot's (he seemed to be the pilot?) line of fire, if you could call it a line, he figured the best option was to hurl the sword with all his strength at the man's head.

Which he did.

With some luck, the pommel managed to strike him on the ear, and the man collapsed sideways. ...That worked, I guess. I'll have someone else finish him off.

Then he remembered Julius, and here he was, twenty feet away from his more trusted weapon.

[CupcakeDolly]

As quickly as she could without ever having been inside of a ship before - she only had to double back and change direction a couple of times - Aria brought the catalyzer to the engine room. At first glance, the ship's engine looked like an impossible puzzle of wires and oddly shaped metal bits. The more she looked at it, however, the more it made sense to her. It was only a matter of finding what wasn't connected to something else. The only empty slot in the rig happened to be an exact catalyzer-shaped hole, which she fitted the piece into. She stepped back as the engine whirred to life and began to turn.

Aria had barely been keeping herself upright, but the heavy vibration of the ship beneath her feet rattled through her and toppled her to the floor. She stayed on her side, grateful for the rest, and closed her eyes.

Nearly face-to-face with the newest arrival, Julius ignored his men writhing on the floor and kicked the sword to the side. He stared Liam down and raised a pistol level with his head. Before he could think about firing, a shaking hand grabbed the fabric of his pants. One of his men moaned with a mouth full of blood, his eyes rotted into their sockets. Every orifice of his body was leaking, as though his insides had turned to goo.

"Damnit, don't touch me!" Julius desperately kicked the rotting body away, and stumbled as the ship juttered to life.