That morning there was the good, the bad, and the ugly.
The good was a beautiful early morning meteor shower, sending wonderful, quite colorful arcs of light across the sky. As you sipped the first fresh coffee you've had in a few weeks, you felt your mind slip back into a reliable routine...far removed from the bizarre alien worlds you were thrown into.
But then there was the bad news. Apparently, a certain Captain Scruffstache came to collect Louis away from the Academy late in the night. An incident from his pirating days was finally catching up to him, and the Academy had no choice but to obey the cold realities of bounty law (which had, from a legal perspective, been previously established with sufficient precedent that, despite protests from Tarto and Saerthe, the Fleet's administration could not simply wholesale abandon...).
The ugly was of course Tarto's task, a thorough scrubbing of the Flighty Foundling.
Not the work itself, perse.
Being moored just outside the large chamber of the Spelljamming Nexus, essentially bolted to the side of the large rock constituting the Academy, you all have plenty of fresh ocean air and sunshine. The gnomes are off harassing some new group of cadets with their manuals and procedures, so in place of their annoying mnemonic songs is only the crashing of waves some 400 ft below. Compared to lassoing a logbook from a deadly asteroid field, reprovisioning an abandoned beholder vessel, or one of Bacon's crazy simulations...it was not that bad.
The ugly was what happened next.
Deep in your tasks, the shadow of another ship zips over the slick deck. It appears to be preparing to dock with the level just above you. A Damselfly class, like a giant metal insect. Its hull gleams a metallic, starmetal sheen, reminiscent of the vessel briefly spotted just before the Star Lancer attack...a vessel Saerthe was urged to desperately outrun.
It seems they have caught up.
Ropes drop from the vessel, knocking the main deck with a soft plop near the stern castle. Two brawny, hippo-headed commandos zip down the lines on steel loops, hitting the deck with solid thuds. The Damselfly peels off rapidly to the opposite side of the Academy tower. One of the giff points at you, snorts, and says "Get off our ship."
...before pulling the pin on a Mk III Thermospatial Nills Bomb and tossing it right at you.
Only Lazuli seemed to have the mindset to react...
The Foundlings shipboard ballista are, as before, available to you. Your reduced crew size might not make that a great idea, however. 1 action to load, 1 to aim, 1 to fire. The mangonels are under maintenance and have no ammo. Reminder its a long way down.
@KingGoblin Lazuli up, getting the jump on them as the grenade is midflight.
Round 1:
Lazuli <--UP
Seal Team 6
Yahs, Celsior