The Boo-Ya!, Season 2- Issue 7: Part 4.1

Page 19

19.1: As mentioned, we head back to Madam and Nessa and Dyio Petro on the Boo-Ya!, piecing the scheme together a little later than we last left them at the end of Issue 7. You can see an image of the attack station that we saw at the same time in the background of the shot.

DYIO PETRO

A pop-up battle station? You realize how off-edge that is, right?

MADAM We’re talking about the TA. Big, gaudy, and off-edge pretty much comes with the flarking territory.

DYIO PETRO

(Bubble 2) I’d feel a hells of a lot more comfy if one of y’all had proper experience with something like this.

19.2: Close-up to Nessa at the edge of the table, chiming in with the answer to the Airperson’s remark from the previous panel.

NESSA I do, actually. I was with a speed and sprunge crew many moons back, before I tagged along with the Boo-Ya!. It was a basic robbery of a cargo freighter that was stationed in orbit outside one of those types of “pop-up battle stations” as you put it. Can’t remember where exactly…

19.3: We flash back to a shot of the medium-sized cruiser just about to take off from the cargo freighter, seemingly about to get away with the crime in question. Then, moments later…

NESSA (Cont., Caption) The primary takeaway I had from the operation was how very quickly it went from pretty great…

19.4: …We see the same medium-sized cruiser flying away from a series of phaser blasts that shoot forth from a phalanx of spinning discs that were shot out from the pop-up battle satellite. You can also see a little part of the cargo freighter in the panel left area just drifting about at the same time.

NESSA (Cont., Caption) …to pretty flarking terrifying.

19.5: Cut to the Airperson popping in with an idea that’s tinged note of curiosity given this new bit of knowledge.

DYIO PETRO It’s probably the same design, yeah? Why not gun for the same rear auxiliary entrance bay we used for the Chev operation?

19.6: Madam pops in a beat later, shaking her head with some semblance of confidence in terms of her answer.

MADAM Fair point, D. But even as daft and unimaginative as the Alliance are, odds are strong they’d be ready for it if we–.

CAPALDI (Off-Panel, interecting) Can I pop in with a theorem, Cap’n? MADAM (Bubble 2) Absolutely, Capaldi…what ya got?

Page 20

20.1: We see the AI companion pop into the scene to the right of the screen, addressing the three of them earnestly; the background of the holographic board changing as he speaks to a readout of the base’s electrical grid.

CAPALDI I’ve been looking at a generated blueprint of this “pop-up base” since we discovered it a datum ago, with particular focus on the electrical and HV grid that powers their crucial and secondary ops. Once ya scoop through the mostly blase and basic bits (that I know better not to bore you guys with again), something interesting kept popping up time and time again.

20.2: Same setting/layout as the previous panel. He stops moving a beat later, right as we see a half dozen red marks at different parts of the grid. Each mark comes with little boxes that read a litany of info out to the others.

CAPALDI (Cont.) Their security software, although well respected, has a set of hidden backdoors located at different parts of the satellite. One of those backdoors is placed near its power core. All I gotta do is crack inside, slip the virus in that backdoor which then proceeds to branch out to the other Armadas stationed all around O’Julana, and…

MADAM (Off-Panel) I’m gonna stop ya right there, Cap.

20.3: The good captain stands up from her chair and approaches Capaldi with a knowing and worried look on her face.

MADAM (Cont.) That’s a risky votbett’n move for those of us with fleshy bits. For you though, if they caught ya…

CAPALDI (4Meta Caption)

They’d milk me for every scrap of info on my hard drive before burning it to absolute dust. Yeah, I am fully well aware of that bit of “Oh shite!”

20.4: Back to Capaldi taking a step toward his friend with a reassuring look on his face that pops up in his response.

CAPALDI (interjecting) I know the risks, and I’ve made my peace with them. I mean…itt’s always been you guys who’ve saved the day, who’ve saved my bett’n bacon, time and time again. Doesn’t it make sense that, this time, I’d be the one to do that job?

20.5: As they’re speaking, somewhere in Staehlia’s quarters, we see the glow of a hidden hard drive contained in a solid steel safe.

CAPALDI (Cont., Caption) Besides, Staehlia talked me into setting up a separate data backup after the whole firefight post Morlanna Prime. If it goes south, you can always use that to help keep ya ship from going to hells in a handbasket.

MADAM (Caption)

Fair, fair. Since the chance of steering you away is pretty bett’n small, I wanna tell you one thing.

CAPALDI (Caption 2) What? MADAM (Caption 2)

From the first segundo you came online…

20.6: We move back to the Madam a beat later, finishing off her statement with the true, genuine warmth reserved for the most dearest of friends.

MADAM (Cont.)

You’ve been every bit the equal and vital cog of my ship. One that’ll be hard as hells to top, even if with a clone. So–

CAPALDI (Off-Panel) Don’t get offed- read ya loud and clear, cap’n!