The ship known only as RLS-90 hung in orbit around a planet with no real name. Or maybe it had a name and he just didn't care what it was. There was a war going on- wars meant hostages and prisoners, and that meant opportunities for profit. The ship's main task for the Alliance was smuggling, after all, whether it was goods or people. So a few under-the-table deals with the local government and he was set.

But RLS had had trouble lately with his slave collecting runs. Several of them recently had been interfered with by ADD agents. So he was especially cautious as he signalled the transport sub-ship to lift off. He'd almost filled it to capacity- over eighty new human women to train and sell on the black market.

If nothing went wrong, this would be a very profitable trip. But how likely was it that nothing would go wrong? So two of his fighter sub-ships flew with the transport ship, keeping watch for any attackers.

Kaylee came around the planet slowly, having picked up a signature a moment ago on her patrol. She'd been ordered to patrol the area of the warring planet, but not to get involved with the warfare itself. Her main objective was to make sure the Alliance didn't decide to use this opportunity to capitalize on one of the things it did best; slave trade. She flipped a switch inside the Deuce, signalling back over a coded channel to the nearest HQ that she had a possible sighting of activity, and beaming along two feeds, one from her ship's cam, and the other, the display her sweep sensors brought her; four ships, one larger than the other three. The two smallest appeared to be guarding the middle-sized one, apparently a transport. If she was right, then it was fairly obvious what was being transported. She picked up her comm and flicked on the switch. "Possible Alliance activity spotted in Delphia system, light activity, possible hostages aboard one of the vessels. Requesting backup ASAP...permission to engage and secure any civilians?"

She waited a moment, anxiously awaiting the answer. She hadn't been spotted yet, otherwise those two fighters would be cruising her way, meaning that she had the element of surprise. Knowing that, it would be a simple matter to take out the fighters and neutralize the carrier without destroying it, and possibly to lead the frigate, whatever it was, on a chase until backup arrived to help her take it out. It was the frigate itself that had her worried, however...she'd never seen a model like that and had no clue what its capabilities were, what its systems must be like...she was snapped out of her thoughts by the crackle of a response coming over her speakers. "Acknowledged, Agent McAnnaly. Permission to engage granted. Take out those fighters and secure the carrier by any means necessary, but do not, repeat, do not destroy the vessel. ETA to backup, ten minutes. Give 'em hell."

"Roger. Commencing offensive action." She said, hanging her com and accelerating. "Well, then, let's get this hand started." She targeted the two fighters with the Deuce's computer, firing off a missile at each of them as she came in, seekers so as not to hit the ship between them. For that, she aimed her assault cannons carefully at the thrusters on the back of the ship...and fired in two short bursts. She was rewarded with the sputtering of light as the engines died, the ship moving through space purely on momentum now, but still very much intact. "Yesssss, and the ace of spades is in my hand. Now for those two...and to see what our mystery ship has in his hand." She watched her missiles close in on the fighters, streaking towards the mystery vessel through space, warming up another pair of Diamondheads to send its way.

As the first missile hit its target RLS screamed with fury. "God damn it, not another one!" The first fighter was instantly blown to shreds. The second made an attempt to swerve out of the missiles' path, but it still was hit and torn in half. And Kaylee's laser fire neatly severed the thrusters on the transport sub-ship.

But before these events were finished, the response from the main ship had begun. A massive laser blast fired out from the back of the ship at Kaylee's vessel, and at the same time two new fighter sub-ships blasted out of the docking bay and soared out in her direction. The main ship curved around into the path the transport was taking, obviously planning to catch it as its momentum carried it forward.

Meanwhile, RLS sent a message to Kaylee over open communication channels. It was short and to the point, delivered by a skull-faced robot with a metallic voice- "I am in no mood for interference! Surrender now and I may be merciful."

Kaylee swerved to the side, contemptuously dodging the powerful but poorly aimed blast of energy and noting the main ship's movement. "Awww, how cute...an avatar...what's wrong, too scared to show your real face? Show it while ya got it, baby..." She gave a wicked smile. "Cause I'm about to blow it off." Her blue eyes sparkled fiercely at the display, as she cut the comm line, sealing off communications with the enemy ship, and sending a wicked backfeed along the line as she did so, the equivalent of slamming the phone while the other party had it to their ear still...except about five times meaner. She sent a burst of fire from her assault canons the main ship's way, then fired her jets again, soaring towards the transport, ready to defend it and keep it out of Alliance hands.

"Kay, any time you wanna send that backup now..." She noted that there was still no sign of said backup as yet, nor even continued promises of such. What the hell was going on back at headquarters? There should have at least been a confirmation of dispatch sent to her by now...she concentrated on the ships coming out again, firing off two short bursts from her canons their way. She decided to save her remaining missiles, since the Deuce couldn't carry many of them anyway...she might need 'em later, so for now, she'd just show them a good time with her AC's. "Kay then...let's play some hard tag. Hope yer ready..." She muttered to herself, sending her craft spiraling 'up' from her former point of view, hoping to either lead them into a chase, or to make them think she was breaking off the attack and try to secure the transport again.

RLS snarled at Kaylee's taunts, but didn't bother to respond before she shut off the comm line. His systems automatically filtered out the backfeed, but he was quite aware she'd sent it. Oh, this was a frustrating one to be sure. Once he got his hands on her she'd regret being so flippant with him...

But first things first. Power surged through the main ship's shields, absorbing the canon blasts with little effect. The two fighter sub-ships were prepared this time, curving out of the canons path and immediately returning fire. They were clearly shooting to disable not to kill, aiming mainly for the Deuce's canons and propulsion system. As Kaylee turned "up", both fighters followed, neither one letting up on the attacks for an instant.

Five minutes since the call, and still no sign of backup..."looks like I'm doing this the fun way....alright, babies, show me whatcha got." She continued to drive upwards, cursing as she saw her shots deflect off the shield, not harming the ship in the least. "Well, couldn't have been that easy...." The fighters dodged her shots as well, letting them slpatter against the main ship's shields too. Then they returned fire, coursing up after her, apparently hell bent on taking away her ability to fight or to run. She smiled an almost lazy smile, focusing all her attention on the fighters and ignoring the main ship for now. It wasn't moving, and it wasn't shooting at her anymore, so it didn't pose much of a threat.

"That's right...take the bait, good little fish..." She suddenly arched the Deuce into a wild dive, streaking past the main ship, just barely skimming by its shields, and followed it around, going around its underside. Beneath it, protected from any attack from above by the ship's own shields, she turned a solid one hundred and eighty degrees and let her momentum carry her on the course she'd been traveling. She was now flying backwards, just waiting for the ships to appear, following her flight path, since they couldn't take her from above. She kept her jets warm in case they decided to attack from behind as well, planning to give anyone fool enough to come around from that side a viewscreen full of engine plasma before they melted from existence. She gave a glance to the main ship itself, calculating that she was probably close enough that she was out of its effective weapons range. Probably.

It was a clever plan, to be sure. Her only failing was underestimating the main ship. RLS's scanners easily informed him of her current position underneath his ship, flying backward below him. He placed his hands behind his back, eyes closed, going over a dozen plans in his head, then a dozen more...

The two fighter ships came down at Kaylee from either side, instead of in front or behind. The instant they emerged their laser fire lanced out at the Deuce as if they knew exactly where she was- which they did, of course. RLS was controlling them both by remote. Just as before, one blasted at her canons and the other aimed for her jets.

Meanwhile, out in front of RLS-90, the transport sub-ship had gotten close enough to be caught in its tractor beam. Its momentum slowed as RLS began to guide it into the docking bay.

"Come on, come on..." Kaylee muttered to herself, waiting for her opponents to come down after her. The Deuce's canons were primed and ready, just waiting to unload on the first ship that came into her view...unfortunately, the 'into her view' part never happened. Target lock warnings came on out of nowhere, showing approaching craft from either side. "What? How the hell did they know..." Her ship rocked once, starting to spin before stabilizing thrusters kicked in and corrected it. Her weapons display came up on the mini-screen, flashing a red 'disabled' warning at her. "Bastards!" Kaylee spat. She punched a couple of commands and her engines flared to life, starting to propel her forward...before another ship shot them out too. "Damn!"

The Deuce drifted lazily forward, the momentum she'd managed to build pushing her forward...but definitely not at anything close to what she'd need to escape. Only one thing left to try. Her display showed no sign of backup. Only the transport, the frigate, and the two fighters that had just disabled her. Not one friendly ship anywhere in sight. She picked up her comm and sent a broadcast along the encrypted channel back to HQ. "Whatever's taking you guys so long, I'd really appreciate backup just now...I'm as good as dead out here. They shot out my engines and weapons. Is anyone reading me? Please respond." She managed the transmission without yelling, which was a miracle all its own. Still, she wondered somewhat why she even bothered. No friendly units in the area yet, but plenty of enemies...chances were, she was toast. Still, she waited and hoped.

RLS grinned evilly as the report from the fighters came back. Weapons and propulsion had both been eliminated in a flash. "Hah! That will teach you to mess with the Alliance, little girl." An encrypted message came out from Kaylee's ship but he didn't bother trying to catch and decode it. Most likely a desparate SOS. He'd overestimated her... or perhaps she'd overestimated herself. Now, what to do with her once she was captured?

The transport sub-ship was finally led into the docking bay and locked up. As the Deuce drifted forward toward the front of RLS-90, the tractor beam moved to grab it instead. Kaylee and her vessel were lead into a much smaller docking bay off to one side. The little ship was deposited in a blank silver room with only a single door to leave it from. The docking doors closed behind her, and up ahead, that one exit opened up.