William Liam Tinmall
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All Liam wanted to do right now was to curl up into the Null's cockpit and ignore everything that was going on in this ship.
Instead, he was treated like a criminal by the people that had way more power over them, trying to reason with a trigger happy pilot that resolved all his problems with a psychic assault on his enemies.
"Please, Valrin," he started, internally cringing at how petulant his voice was right now, "You have tried to interfere in every situation since we landed here. Just... stop..."
Already prepared for the eventual fallout, Liam started to look at bth sides of the argument, and trying to not react with surprise and confusion at Vicious true face.
“I guess we’ll be on our way then,” Daniel replied.
The AF army pilot was surprised to see Valrin actually bothering to shake hands with the alien, but any positive impression he may have had of the psychic was thoroughly erased when he wiped his hand on the wall, and then on Daniel himself.
“Really?” Daniel said, giving Valrin a completely nonplussed look.
Before they could all walk away from this scene, another issue presented itself. Apparently the Ceran base’s staff thought the three needed to be seized and brought under control. Obviously that was absurd, only Valrin deserved that kind of reaction. But it was in Daniel’s best interest to not let this escalate. However, he didn’t feel like dealing with this himself, not when there was someone here better suited for it. He turned to the reptilian alien.
“I suggest that you be the one to correct this…misunderstanding. Unless you want to make this worse for everyone,” Daniel told the saurian.
"Glad that we came to an understanding" Valrin grabbed Vicious's limp hand at his side, weathering the murderous glare he recieved in turn. After he shook his hand Valrin then wiped his hand on the wall, then on Daniel, as he proceeded to start walking back to the ship.
Valrin paused in his walk to look back at Vicious: "do you want us to handle that or should you?"
The reptilian looked at Valrin with naked contempt, knowing full well what letting him “handle” the current matter would entail. Then he glanced at Daniel and Liam, and took their words into consideration. Out of everyone here right now, Vicious truly was the one who could diffuse the current situation. Without speaking another word to the trio, he swiftly faced the guards and got his words out just before they could call for help.
“It’s alright, I have this handled.”
However, Vicious was met with looks of disbelief, with one of them even visibly sneering at his words.
“Really, lizard man? Because to us, it looks like they’re too much for you,” one replied, a slim man with a rather crooked nose.
“Yeah, let the professionals take it from here merc, now if you'll excuse me...” another proclaimed, this one bulkier than the other, square-jawed and bearing the appearance of a typical action movie hero. Undaunted by the disrespect shown even by what should be his friends and allies, perhaps telling that such treatment was nothing new to the alien; Vicious simply points at the patch on his chest: The Sunrider's badge, and as the guards looked at it, their sneering expressions slowly, painfully turned into realization before big man disengages his radio.
“Alright, fine, you've got jurisdiction over them, now what?” the one with the crooked nose asked.
“They were assigned to be the Sunrider’s auxiliary forces until further notice, so escort them to a secure area,” Vicious replied. The guards turned to the trio.
“If that’s how it is… Okay, you bunch, follow us. No more funny shit, understand?” The guards then proceeded to lead the mismatched group to where this auxiliary force should be, with Vicious falling a few paces behind the rest, keeping a watchful eye on Valrin in particular.
Inwardly, however, Vicious simply wanted to sink to his knees at having averted the worst. He knew full well that neither Kayto nor Ava would follow through with his suggestion if Valrin had shown even less restraint; Ava, while she had wisdom beyond her years, simply hadn't seen and experienced the same horrors a Psion wreaked upon those it considered its lessers and Kayto too much of an idealist to consider sacrificing anyone, even mercenary scum like him. With that in mind, the alien could only hope that the dice would continue to keep falling in his favor...
Elsewhere, aboard the Sunrider, the bridge crew collectively loses their breath at the situation somehow resolving itself, having watched the entire fiasco through the reptilian's hidden camera and very much glad that the first kills for their ship wouldn't be their fellow Cerans, especially a member of their own crew at that. The first to speak now that the tension had diffused was Ava, expressing her utter disbelief and exasperation of things to come.
"Auxiliary crew, really?"
"Ava, they wouldn't accept being anywhere else other than here, for better or worse..."
Young and green as Kayto was, he could clearly see just what his ship represented to the outworlders; their quickest and safest ticket out of Cera. As much as he agrees with their intention to leave, he also knew full well that getting rid of them wouldn't be as simple as going to the nearest neutral port and sending them off their way, not with PACT making moves on the sector and how the void of space has gotten so much more dangerous ever since that day 10 years ago... Regardless he'll press on, he now has responsibility over these strange outworlders and what sort of Captain of the Ceran Navy would he be if he didn't step up to the challenge?
"Captain... I really don't like that look you have."
"What?"
"Your eyes were sparkling, the exact same way they did during the Sunrider's launching."
"Urk... Was it that obvious Ava?"
His 2IC simply sighs and gets back to work, leaving the matter to hang over the young captain's head.