The Ebony Celeste

[Sly]

[All right...here we go. Lots of things to keep track of so please make sure to tell me if I make a mistake anywhere. Like when I said "bow" instead of "stern" for where the firing line was forming in my previous post XD]

"I am going to gut you like a fish!" the rabbit screamed, as he pulled out a large machete. Looked like he planned to finish off Toby now that he was weakened and couldn't run that fast. The rabbit rushed faster to catch up, flashing the blade around as he ran.

--

Qesun's shots hit home. Another F4 grunt went down. However, considering he was making himself the easiest target by being the closest to the firing line, two grunts were aiming for him and firing.

--

Altogether, about seven or eight more F4 grunts went down between the efforts of Qesun's crew, most of the kills coming from the three men with the one in the rear. A hole was starting to open up in the line for them to push through.

Not many pirates were left towards the bow, so the one man they had left on the bow was able to take down two of them. They returned fire...although since the man was merely trying to keep them at bay [I presume he's behind cover?] they probably wouldn't have much luck hitting him back.

The one man left by himself, after the captain went down, was right to be afraid. A few F4 grunts were opening fire on him at the same time now that he was the only one left on that side of the boat. However, it wasn't as many as you think there'd be, since the ones on his side were moving to back up those being attacked by the group of four on the other side.

---

Assuming anyone could hear anything over the racket of the battle, they might notice the distant beating of a helicopter's blades...

---

"You won't have to worry about being tied up for too much longer now, girls," the mongoose whispered, grinning. He began to cut the binds on Tech. "Real interesting story, by the way..."

In the meantime, everyone who was loose was quickly untying the knots of the rest of the hostages.

---

They would have to work faster though. Sly was beginning to ponder killing another hostage. He didn't think it would do much good since the captain's death didn't really bother the attacking crew before...but maybe it would demoralize them and help turn the tide of battle.

[Qesun Vendak]

Toby yelped again as he mustered what he could to try and run again, popping out on the other side of the stairs in a scramble to avoid the blade.

QJ turned right a bit to try and dodge more bullets. And still felt the sting. His left ear rang as one went through it and removed his hat. Another grazed his arm, and then his leg. He fired back reactively hardly bothering to aim, his specific goal in mind distracting him. Toby.

The rabbit was nearly upon Toby now, the flashing blade growing dangerously closer to the kid.

He was starting to breath hard now. He knew he was pushing himself, but he couldn't stop. He had to keep going. A strong bound put QJ onto the pipes separating the ship, and he quickly homed in on where Toby was. QJ let off one more bound and aimed a sharp kick at the rabbit's head.

Meanwhile, with Qesun out of the way the three moving up together found themselves more free to fire and started to take more shots again, making their way towards the opening they were creating. One of them let out quite an excited roar as he went running up towards the next piece of cover he could find

-----

The one at the bow continues to simply keep the remaining at bay, making careful use of his cover and shots.

-----

The last one of the captain's group was staying out of sight now, simply staying behind his cover and praying to whatever gods he held dear that he not end up like those bleeding out.

[Tech Rathgen]

Tech was excited to get in the process of being untied by this mongoose. She knew that as soon as she got out of here, she'd get back to making the movie she was in the process of doing.

Tech whispered. "Thanks Mr. Mongoose. You're very kind. When I get out of here, hopefully I'll be able to do a movie. At least the one I was doing before I ended up on this ship."

Haunt Legrain asked. "So Tech, do you think there's a possibility that, since you're a girl, Sly might not let you escape?"

Tech grinned. "Just watch him try to not let me escape."

Haunt cheered quietly. "That's the spirit Tech."

[Jav]

James' zodiac continued it's bold charge through the swells that raced across the ocean in large, lazy, hills. This was gonna be fun in James' opinion; embarrassing F4 and all. James wasn't usually much into revenge but for a special case such as F4, an orginization bent on the destruction of his species, he had made an exception. The small watercraft, at last, arrived at the bow of the ship. James skimmed the side of the vessel until he found what it was he was looking for; a way aboard. He found this in the form of a rope latter someone had obviously neglected to reel up during all this commotion. "Dadgum folks, Yall just makin this a tad on the easy side aren't ya?"
Somehow this seemed a bit too easy but as far as he could tell it would be his only way aboard so that decision was taken from his hand. He hurriedly tied his zodiac to the rope latter before beginning the long ascent to the deck above. Over the sound of the waves crashing into the side of the ship's hull and the wind howling in his ears he couldn't make out any sounds comming from above him. This too made him nervous as he didn't know what to expect once he arrived up top. 'What was goin on up there?' He recieved his answer upon reaching the top. He cautiously poked his head over the top of the deck and scanned for any signs of immediate danger. '' lets see what's up here'' he whispered to himself.

[Sly]

Qesun's kick successfully landed on the back of the rabbit's neck...sending the machete spinning away. He definitely didn't look like he'd be getting up for a while.

--

By now, even over the gunfire, everyone on the ship would have known about the helicopter's arrival. The beating of the blades was getting quite loud at this point, and now it was shining down an aircraft light on the group battling their way to the front of the bridge as it approached.

The pilot...a fox, smirked as he pressed a switch on the control panel. On the bottom of the aircraft, a hidden panel started to open.

--

The F4 grunts towards the stern saw the incoming aircraft. They started backing away from the attacking crew as they fired, taking cover. Looked like they were trying to give a very wide berth from their opponents. Still, about three more grunts went down. It wouldn't be very hard for the group of three to reach the stern and the bridge, and get to where Qesun and Toby were. That is...assuming the helicopter didn't have something to say about it.

The ones at the bow and the ones firing at the one crew member alone, likewise, seemed to be hunkering down and preparing for the incoming fire.

--

Fortunately for Jav, the helicopter was approaching from the wrong side of the ship to see him and his watercraft. Although, as soon as it did a flyover, he would be seen, so he'd have to move quickly.

--

"Call me Tim," the mongoose said, smiling.

One of the more burly crewmembers, a bull, waited next to the door leading out of the room. He was now brandishing the knife that the mongoose had used to cut himself loose. He planned to attack the first F4 grunt that came in and attempt to steal his weapon. And then...perhaps with that, they'd have a chance of fighting back.

--

Sly grinned as he saw the helicopter finally reaching the ship. "Party time..." he said, flashing his sharp teeth. "Knock 'em dead baby."

[Qesun Vendak]

Qesun had to stop for a moment at this point. He'd been running at top speed this whole time without break, up and down the thing to help avoid getting shot. 'Fat lot of good that did me' he thought as he felt at the blood coming from what was left of that ear. 'Oh yea. Dad's gonna LOVE paying for that surgery.' He looked about before grabbing Toby's arm. "Come on." He half drags Toby under some of the equipment going down the center of the ship. "Shh."

Toby simply listens, and sits quiet while Qesun stays kneeling, watching what he can of the fighting.

-----

The others notice the helicopter, but in the revelation of the pirates falling back, keep pushing forwards. At this point, they've scooped up weapons from some of the other dead pirates and are using those.

-----

The other man trying to hold the pirates at the bow is more tentative about the helicopter, especially since it has prompted the pirates to back off. To further exasperate, he's running low on ammo. He begins looking for options.

-----

The last living one from the captain's group heads off to the side, trying to hide on the stairs he came up to the deck on.

[Tech Rathgen]

Tech smiled. "Tim is a sweet name. It's so cute."

She got to a sitting position once Tim had untied her. She sat there and waited for any F4 agent to come out, but decided it would be better to wait where she was at and possibly leave last so she won't get trampled by the hostages when they flee for safety.

All Tech knew was that she was going to get at Sly before this was through.

[Jav]

James heard the distant sounds of a helicopter. Were the coast guard here already? "wait..is that the coast gaurd?" James asked as his eyes trained themselves on the direction the sound was resonating from. He slowly climbed out onto the deck, being cautious of his surroundings as he did so. suddenly a man ran out of nowhere making James nearly jump from his skin. He watched as the man began climbing down the latter ignoring James entirely; and it was at this point he saw what was about to happen. He quickly scurried over the edge of the ship and said sternly to the man. "you thieve my boat and I'll snap your neck; you here me?"

James didn't bother waiting for an answer as he raced for cover. If that helicopter turned out to be non-friendly it might be a good thing to have cover. The aircraft suddenly came into view over the deck, settled into a hover, and shined a spotlight down onto the deck below. A little ways from his position he could somewhat make out people running about as if scrambling out of the way of something. Looked like whatever was going on; it goin down over towards the mid deck of the ship.

"hoo-boy, tell you what, these F4 freaks sure know how to throw one don't they?"

The human took cover under a cluster of pipes and kept his eye on the helicopter. He might have to do something drastic in a minute to 'take care' of that machine.

[Nail Strafer]

A minigun emerged from the hidden compartment below the helicopter, while a targeting crosshair appeared on the fox's HUD. Smiling, the fox pointed the crosshairs in the general direction of the three intruders in a group and squeezed down on the trigger. A rain of bullets ripped up the deck all around them.

---

All of the F4 grunts, at this point, had pretty much ceased firing, preferring to stay out of the helicopter's way and let it do the job. They were all hunkered down behind equipment, just barely peeking out to see what the results of the attack would be. At best they only gave feeble covering fire, just so Qesun's crew wouldn't try to rush them in their hiding spots.

---

"Well...I suppose that will be the end of that," Sly said, smiling...although it faded rather quickly. "But...I don't think we'll be getting the ransom now."

"Why not, boss?" the kangaroo said. He'd been talking to Tech earlier. "We've got them on the ropes now."

"Yeah...but they've killed many of us. I don't think we'll have enough people to hold down the ship if we end up having a brush with GUN or the Coast Guard. I am a businessman at heart, like my father wanted me to be, and a good businessman knows when its time to get out. So give me the detonator..."

Gulping, the kangaroo passes him a remote control. With a heavy sigh, Sly starts inputting commands to arm the bombs planted on the boat. And then it was done. "All right...the bombs will be going off in 30 minutes. Get to the lifeboats. As for the hostages...I suppose we just leave them locked up in there and let them sink to the bottom of the ocean."

Then Sly blinked. "On second thought... Could you get that white fox for me?"

The F4 grunts that Sly wasn't looking at all gave off little smirks and silently chuckled. The kangaroo who'd handed him the detonator walked back to the hostage room, and started to open the door. The bull who'd been waiting behind the door suddenly stabbed his knife through the opening with one hand...and then with the other he started to try to grab the AK the kangaroo was holding.

The kangaroo screamed out as the knife plunged into his shoulder...dropping the gun onto the floor. Sly whirled around at the sound. "What else can go wrong today?!" In any case, the bull was now on his knees, trying to grab the AK and drag it back inside. But an F4 billy goat grunt stomped down on his hand. Now Sly was running over to join the fray, as the other hostages tried to rush the door and overwhelm the bridge. Unfortunately though, the doorway was acting as a kind of bottleneck, preventing the hostages from getting out while the F4 soldiers couldn't get in.

"Enough fooling around!" Sly screamed. "Get back here, some of you! Rifles up! No one gets out of that hostage room unless I say so!"

[Qesun Vendak]

Despite having found cover, Qesun still couldn't help but cover his head and ears as soon as the minigun started tearing through the deck not to far away. Pieces of deck flew about as the minigun cut its way along it. It was almost like an action movie until he looked out at the two of the three who rushed, now a bloody pooling mess. He wasn't entirely sure where the third went, but he couldn't imagine the individual was in a good place now. Qesun was left only the option to grimace and bide his time for now.

-----

The last guy that QJ couldn't spot, James could see was behind equipment taking cover from fire from both the helicopter and the grunts on the deck. Another human. He's paying too much attention to surviving to have noticed James.

-----

The guy at the bow kinda half nods to himself as he looks at the helicopter, kind of a 'yea, not surprised this would go to hell.' He prepares himself for a dash. The F4 grunts he was holding at bay were mostly keeping out of the way for the helicopter and the helicopter was busy with others. He makes a dash, firing a few rounds to try and keep those guys at bay before his gun makes a clicking sound. He scoops up the gun of a long dead F4 member as he takes to his new cover, something that at least provides protection from the helicopter for now while getting out of site of those others.

-----

After James was on the deck, the one guy who went off the side looked down towards his boat. 'You'd have to catch me to snap my neck.' He heads down the stairs quickly jumps onto said boat he was specifically told not to steal and starts trying to do just that.