Futuristic Burning Sails [OPEN]

[joshuadim]

Vance was quiet for a moment as he finished his first platter of dumplings and moved to his first platter of stir fry. "...no." he replied as he quickly chewed on a mouthful of noodles. "Or... I mean... I don't know. I'll probably continue to drift to the end of time it seems." He stared for a bit into his noodles before taking another big bite out of them and setting the plate aside, moving on to another serving of dumplings. At least food helped give him some feeling of fulfilment as his mind wandered back to where home was. "I don't really have a place to call home. Not in this time anyhow."

He didn't even finish chewing on another dumpling before he looked at Amy with a question: "I've read about what happened with that whole Starvis incident... well, what they wanted me to read anyway. What was up with that?"

 

[Viper Actual]

Nathalie looked at the items presented before you. She glanced at Hjalmar, then at the items on display all around the store and then back what had been laid out before her. Had she not been masked the owner would have been able to see the incredibly disgruntled expression on her face. Still, gear was gear and what she didn't keep herself she could always trade, sell or have modified later down the line.

In Nathalie's case it was an easy decision; the blade gauntlet. She had come across similar designs before used both by allies and hostiles during her time with the SSOID. Usually hidden blades or any other concealed weapon for that manner had their own personalized twist to it. In this case the blade on the inside of her arm and could be swiveled around into an alternate, more traditional, mode. Minor use and bloodstains aside it was a good blade and because of the lack of markings or heraldry she guessed it had been custom-made for some corporate liquidator or the like. If that was the case then Nat sincerely hoped that the blade and the gauntlet was of better than average quality.

She pointed towards the blade. "I'll take the gauntlet. You can keep the rest."

Hjalmar nodded and swiped a palm-mounted scanner over the blade, checking it out of his inventory system. "Shall I put it on the usual account?"

Nathalie was inclined to agree first though a unregistered purchase by an unidentified SSOID agent might make them suspicious. She shook her head. "Won't be needed, I have some credits to spend." She nodded towards Damien. "I'll pay for my partner as well whenever he picks something."

Nodding, Hjalmar smiled briefly before carefully packaging Nathalie's blade into a charcoal-colored military hardcase. The foam padding inside adjusted itself to fit the blade and its gauntlet perfectly and before closing it up Hjalmar placed a black SmartCard with the name Asgard printed on it in bold white letters while the backside of the card showed the date of purchase and other details needed for a possible refund or repair.

As Hjalmar placed the case on the counter he turned towards Damien. "Find anything you like?"

 

[Breadman]

"I'm a bit limited on what exactly Starvis was or what it did exactly." Amy looked around out of habit. Nothing obvious stuck out, but she still felt like she needed some form of preparation just in case. "But I'll tell you everything I know first-hand and second hand from those who stood their ground there."

"I already told you that I went to work with Valk and my brother for another company. We worked for the Terikka-Beladonna company. We were given a job. Go cause some trouble on a planet, then take an artifact in the confusion. Sounded simple enough. Except that it went sideways due to bad luck. Me and Valk took the worst of it. She got a chunk of her skull go missing and me...this synth skin isn't a vanity thing." She pointed to her face with her finger "We got better, but while we were out cold, we got a visit from the Death vigil." She pointed to her face again "They tend to look like this in case you weren't briefed on them. Anyway. Their leader at the time, Mordecai, wanted the artifact we were carrying as it was part of an archive. There were three pieces in total. We had one, YsCom had a second and after that encounter, we picked up a second one. We chased each other all over the galaxy afterwards with pieces changing hands a few times, but eventually the Vigil got all of them and were planning to activate Starvis itself.

Mordecai had a dream of a perfect unity between organics and machines...and with him in charge. Popular theory is that he got the idea while working for Sol and procedurally getting more and more of his body replaced with mechanical parts. Its unclear if he found Starvis to achieve his dream or if Starvis started manipulating him somehow, but it didn't matter in the end. He amassed a fleet over the skies of the planet the AI was named after and TBC backed by YsCom launched their assault to meet them. Eve can give you the details on what exactly happened there if I'm right about her. The battle ended with the death of the majority of the Vigil's leadership and some of our own. A select few like my brother Alex, our captain Taylor Caine and Yanim Terikka, our leader really, 'died' and came back. I'm not sure what happened exactly.

From what my brother says, they 'died' and were there with the AI itself. Arguing with it. It wanted to do what Mordecai planned, but without the egomaniac in charge. Except it wouldn't ask if you wanted it or not. Forcing its version of peace on everyone. While there were in there, entire fleets were being wiped out trying to penetrate the planet. Final options were being considered across the board from what I've been told. To this day I'm not sure how they did it, but they stopped it. Somehow they convinced the AI to stop. As thanks it...made them into demigods." She stopped for a second. She still has a hard time believing that part herself. "No other way to describe it really. They don't age, there's a certain aura to them now.

Sorry, it's hard to explain. But that's my incomplete version of events. I'm sure if we ever meet the others, you can ask them." she finished off the drink she had with the meal "Better retelling than me anyway."

 

[ANIMAL MOTHER]

"Big revolver. Crimus. Not seen many those."

Typhon holds it outward in his hands so Drav could get a better look at it before hiding it inside his coat. "Consider yourself lucky." he hushes to her. "Their weapons aren't as 'held back' as others are. Seems having your homeworld suddenly invaded and destroyed will do that."

"Should look around market more. See if useful gear for sale."

"And cybernetics, I hope." he adds. "Lead the way." Typhon also quietly loads his revolver with the ammo he's bought.

 

[SniperComZero]

...Right... Jamie... Jamie... uh. Fuck it. Whatever. Olivia's got her story. She's a news editor for some stupid fringe Sol tabloid that got pulled all the way right back to Sol after VOC-1 fucking exploded. Too dangerous for her to stick around there, and Shadespear's her last stop before she gets back to civilized space. No one's gonna question that. Probably. She had no particular interest in tailing anyone, and in fact was probably one of the last of the group to actually leave the hangar, lighting up a cigarette and puffing on it with a blissed out expression. God, she needed that.

She did catch a couple glimpses of the others making their do's around the market. They all were distinct in their own ways. Vance and that... skull.. face, chick. She'd seen that little kanad kid coming out of a shop, with a kinda snazzy... weirdly glossy looking coat. It's only after she stopped to look at the shop she came out of that her brows knitted themselves in some weirded out, confused kind of manner. What the fuck? Isn't she like. A kid? She shook her head. Wondering whether or not this is just what life's like for kids who're from Kosk', or if she's just... y'know. Anyway. 'sides from that other weird kid, which she's pretty sure is called Shel...by? Something like that. She swears she's seen the kid pop into about five different places now.

Not that Olivia's seen any places that've interested her. Mostly mundane shit. Weapons, food, trinkets, clothing. None of which she really needs right now-- well. She probably could do with a better weapon, but her SMG's served her dutifully for a long ass time. She'd feel bad parting with the thing... and she could probably do with some food.

Yeah. Food's a good idea.

Before Olivia can get to it, though, she's found herself along the edge of the market area, into what looks more like warehousing. Big places, not as many crowds, and a particular shop that caught Olivia's eye. The alleyway beside it led into an even larger courtyard, where the sounds of metalwork and mechanics were coming from, and tools and vehicle and mech parts had been strewn across the far wall. Out of curiosity, Olivia brought herself round the front to read the storefront's sign. [RESTORATIONS]. That was it. The entire sign. It was so curt and to the point that it almost made Olivia snicker. Still, if the place is fixing up old crap, she figured that she could get something cheap from there. Walking in, and...

"Welcome. Are you here to purchase, sell, or have something fixed?" Behind the counter was... some kind of alien. Olivia wasn't really sure what. Thing was standing at least a head or two taller than her, and wore a mask which was obscuring its face. Its voice raspy, and metallic, meaning that it was probably speaking through a translator or some kind of breathing mask. Or a combo of the two. "Oh, nah, I'm just... here to browse." She figured it was some kind of droid, but when they turned around, the tail behind them definitely didn't look like any robot she'd ever seen. Place was remarkably spotless, too-- at least, for a shithole like Shadespear, anyway. On the far wall, something immediately caught her eye.

It was a sword. An honest to god chunk of metal made to cut things and people up. Pretty big, too. The handle'd been wrapped in some sort of rubberized tape, the edge had been resharpened on it, but anything ornate on the thing had been lost, and the metal of the sword had dulled down over what she could only assume was years of use. "Ah. Someone had brought that along as some sort of trophy. I believe they wished for it to be 'looking as good as new'. A pirate type. Human. They never came back to retrieve it. What someone would want with such a primitive weapon, I will not know." Olivia canted her head behind herself, cocking up a brow. "'s a Creed sword. You can tell by the way they engraved shit into the handguard. Lllll. Latin, think they called it." Hey, even if she never actually fought 'em, her knowledge of being on that 'front' sure is coming in handy. "...Creed?" "I uh-- Divinity Creed. Religious hyperfascists who-- it's a long story. Human thing, you should look it up in your own time. Anyway, I dunno how valuable it is, pretty sure officer swords had gold'n shit all over 'em. But you could still probably make a pretty chit off the novelty of it just being one." In all honesty, she was tempted to get it just for the novelty of it being one, but she probably can't justify blowing cash on a vanity piece.

She drifted over towards the armor. It was all either painfully out of her price range, or painfully unremarkable. Except one of the suits that looked like it had been cobbled together from the armor of about five different other factions. Enough to make Olivia take a couple glances up and down. "Jesus. You sell this shit?" And then immediately tense up as she got a rather terse retort. "I have little regard for the 'aesthetics' of whatever people load off onto me. My primary concern is making sure that it is repaired into an order at least as, if not more effective than when it was brought to me." Olivia was thankful that she had her back to them so that she could roll her eyes. "Alright, then surp--... rise. Me. What's that?"

She pointed towards one of the items in the display cases behind the counter. A generator-looking thing that was probably about as big as her torso. The shopkeep turned around, and back again, lacing their fingers together. "A miniaturized ship shield generator, of course. I believe this is some sort of prototype from one of your human nations that never achieved a viable operating time. As such, offloaded onto the black market, and purchased by some pirate band and ramshackle shoved onto a suit of mechanized armor. I am told it was extremely powerful when it worked, but the capacitors died on the operator in the midst of battle, and you may imagine, the operator did not need it anymore. Their employer brought it to some two dozen other mechanics to recoup some of the cost, yet none had the knowledge to fix it. Of course, I took it off their hands, and fixed it up for reuse. It should be as powerful as it was whenever it was first made. Though its shelf life is... limited, to say the least. Its internals are very fragile, and I would personally not count on it lasting more than a month if you plan on using it in any particularly regular capacity." ...You know, a shield did sound really good to Olivia. The thing was weird as fuck, and didn't look like any kind of mech shield gen she'd ever seen... but, granted. They did say the thing was a ship's shield gen design that had been shrunk down. "...Can you make it connect to a standard Sol Type-12L mech socket?" "Trivially, yes." "Sick. Alright, how much?"

She'd loved to have seen the look on their face when she asked that, 'cause they seemed pretty miffed that she was going for it. "...Most seem scared away by my mention of its very limited lifespan, so I have had little opportunity to offload it, and it has been sitting in my inventory for a considerably long time. Fifteen hundred. Plus an extra hundred and fifty for the socket change." Well... that's kinda steep... but. "...Alright, sure." Olivia planted a card down onto the counter, loading it up with the funbucks that Valk gave her and the rest of the crew to spend on crap, and slid it over. "I'll send some guys on by later to pick it up." There's no way in hell she'd be able to carry the thing all by herself if she bought it. "Of course. And your name?" ...Fuck. "Uh-- Jamie. Blackhall. Jamie Blackhall." Yeah, you're a real natural, Olivia. Good job. "Of course. Pleasure doing business. Miss Blackhall."

With that all behind her, Olivia stepped out and smelled the fresh-- well. The air. Now she should go get some food.

 

[Emperor Sagan]

Shelby startled slightly at Lauren's sudden appearance beside him, much like a cat discovering a strange vegetable behind them. He breathed a small sigh of relief when he realized it was Lauren and not some psycho pirate. While he wasn't worried about the others knowing about his recreational leaning, there was still a slight anxious sting to it, a left over from his handlers taking strict precautions on what he could and could not be seen doing in public. Everyone knew he was drugged up at some point - at least half the audience at any given venue was, too, but no one ever knew the full extent of it. Nor did he know, either. The strange moments of blank, empty recollection formed more than a few gaps in his memory, marked with the peculiar taste of vomit, cold rush of other chemical injections, and incoherent seizures.

"A-Ah, well, um. You know. I just sort of like the, uh, pretty colors. Stuff like that." He removed the bags from his jacket and held them up - little cookies in the shapes of various animals and sea creatures, fairly nondescript by themselves, joined with a second bag of colorful sprinkles. Edible Castilian variants for a wide range and combination of refined MDMA and LSD, the results of centuries of commercial specialization to limit, and in some cases, eradicate the damaging effects, while simultaneously boosting the effectiveness. Faster, stronger highs. Longer lasting. In some cases, lesser, more mellow highs, made to last for several hours with a delightful background buzz. Super Animal Candy, Rainbow Sprinkles - just two of many to emerge from the Castilian party scene and anything even tangentially related to clubs, raves, and music. Lacking the crude aspects of both lower and higher class drugs. There were certainly more than just pretty colors involved with what Shelby had.

"I g-guess I can share, I don't mind really, I just, you know, hard to find the right time, usually with being busy and... and stuff...." he rambled. "Anyways. I picked this stuff up on Castilia when I visited. I'm definitely not from there or anything."

 

[joshuadim]

Vance listened intently as Amy explained the series of events from what she knew as he continued to chow down on his latest culinary platter. Some details were more incredulous than others which made Vance audibly guffaw at a few points during her recounting. Unity between organic and machine? Dying then coming back to life? Demigods? Vance thought as he continued to chew on both his food and the information being given. On both fronts it was a lot to digest as he scratched his chin before setting the last of his dishes aside. "Damn. Now that's some comic book stuff if I've ever heard it." Vance joked before chuckling to himself.

Truth be told, it was rather similar in terms of relative outlandishness of the things he had to do and be a part of back in the old days. Although this was considerably on a much grander scale than anyone back then could have ever imagined. Alien machines and demigods... what a strange thing to now have to live amongst. Vance thought to himself as he paid for his food quickly and leaned back in his seat. "Not gonna lie, I don't know what to think about most of that. Craziest thing I ever had to go up against was a 40 foot tall Soviet built robot controlled by a Nazi scientist, but that pales into comparison to what you talked about."

 

[K0mori]

As Vixaya trudged along, she received a message on her tablet to meet the others at the Quicksilver Bar. Glancing at the signage in the market, she was able to follow the directions toward the large and diverse selection of restaurants, cafes, and bars that catered to the equally diverse populations of the Renegade Quadrant. As she walked, she continued ruminating on her eagerness to waste all her money on a flashy pistol when a regular VRI would have done the trick just fine, especially since now, she would be passing by all those establishments with no money to sample the cuisine. As annoying as it was to ignore her empty stomach, it had occurred from her that the supposedly stupid purchase was exactly what she had been told to do. Any VRI would have worked, but she wanted this one. It was okay to want things.

But now she wanted food, and couldn't afford it. She cautioned herself against reckless spending until she could get paid again.

She walked down the stairs and located the bar, slipping in between the foot traffic and taking stock of her surroundings. It wasn't hard to spot Valkyrie and those in her company as they climbed a set of stairs to the second floor of the establishment, and so Vixaya walked to the center of the room where they could see her. She had nothing to say, and assumed that her boss would handle the talking, but she wanted to make sure that she was on hand when it was time to move on. Once she had made eye contact with Valkyrie, she moved on to the game room to observe what was happening with the simulators there.

There were simulator cabinets for multiple types of sports and racing familiar to different parts of the galaxy, as well as virtual shooting galleries and other competitive arenas for the patrons to test their skills on. Then, she noticed the mecha combat simulator, Armored Elite.

She had heard of this one before, but hadn't seen it yet in person. Supposedly, around ten years prior, an Yscom game development team had been hired to create a military training program for a military contractor on Sol, but the contract fell through before the program was finished. The team then took their software and released it, open-source, to the public. Within only a few months, a web of contributors across the galaxy had finished a version of the simulator and ported it to numerous computer architectures. In the years since, it had received continual support and updates to patch in new models, battle scenarios, and historical recreations. Practically every military in the galaxy had appropriated the "game" for their own use, and establishments like the Quicksilver had installed arcade-like cabinets for anyone to step up and play.

Vixaya had heard of Armored Elite before she had ever left Spirra, because the first batch of historical simulations based on the Civil War had already been created and uploaded to the online servers by Black Fleet veterans, and Vixaya's mech, the X-070, was in them. Now, as she stood in the middle of the game room, she watched the players as they tested their skills against each other and the computer, and wondered if she would see some sort of digital representation of herself. As it would turn out, nobody was playing the Kosok Civil War battles at the moment. So, having no money to join the game herself, she simply leaned against a wall and watched others play.

[Amateurs,] she observed. [This would be an easy game to win.]

Then, Vixaya had an idea. She waited until a winner emerged from the current battle, and then approached. "Human," she said in English, "I good, you bad. We go."

The winner of the last game gave her an incredulous smile. "You wanna bet, short round?" he replied mockingly.

"Yes, bet," Vixaya answered while nodding her head. "You pay. Me? No money." She lifted her arm and tapped on her pistol. "You want? Win... take. I win? You... give money. Food money."

Once the human made sense of the offer, he was all too eager to challenge Vixaya, as he had a lot to gain and very little to lose. Vix sat down at the game station to the right of the human and adjusted her seat until she was practically bent over double to reach the controls, but this allowed her to feel as if she were laying on her stomach, which was the correct position, as far as she was concerned. She selected the OBKK 96/97, which only caused her opponent to sneer at her for selecting such an old machine, while he took a brand new model from the Olympian Navy.

The round started with both mechs loaded into a rural area along a sea coast, with jagged cliffs overlooking the ocean. Immediately, the Yscom mech rocketed into the sky as the human sought out his opponent. Vixaya, however, stuck close to the ground, using her jump jets to snake just above tree level in a zigzag. Soon, the human had acquired her, but was unable to get a solid lock. He deployed a series of mortars to carpet bomb the area ahead, but just then, the 96/97 swept upward, twisted over in mid-air as the mortars plunged around it, and fired off a set of laser-guided rockets at the falling Olympian. The human pilot used air flaps to take evasive maneuvers, but having used so much fuel to fly upward in the beginning, rather than building up speed in a more gentle climb as Vixaya had done, was unable to use his overheated engines to assist the maneuver and took a direct rocket impact.

Vixaya then landed her mech in an open field, allowing its engines to cool as the human spiraled into a crash landing in the nearby trees. The fall alone had done terrible damage to his machine, and before he could even get it fully onto its feet, mortars were raining down on his position dealing further damage as Vixaya stalked through the trees. When she emerged in his path, the human found his own weapons systems offline, and let out a series of swears as none of his inputs seemed to matter. Vixaya, meanwhile, could have ended the match by deploying the rest of her rockets. Instead, she switched to the machine gun and dumped several hundred rounds of ammunition into the human's cockpit.

According to the simulator, his mech was never actually destroyed, only disabled. Vixaya had won by killing the pilot directly, just as she had done many times during the war in order to leave the enemy's OBKK in recoverable condition for the resistance. As the endgame statistics appeared on screen and her controls were surrendered to the simulator, Vixaya looked up to her opponent. "Yes, correct... Round short. You buy food now."

 

[Infab]

"Find anything you like?"

Damien shook his head. At the moment, he wasn't particularly interested in buying anything on Shadespear. As he stood there, arms folded, he noticed his holoband blink. A message from his mother. He tapped it, and quickly read over it, before glancing up to Nathalie. "Well, we should probably go meet back up with the others. I'm sure you got the same message I did." he said, tapping the holoband again to close the message. And perhaps they'd find out what they needed to do to get any information on Dazik Noske.

​

"I g-guess I can share, I don't mind really, I just, you know, hard to find the right time, usually with being busy and... and stuff...." he rambled. "Anyways. I picked this stuff up on Castilia when I visited. I'm definitely not from there or anything."

Lauren chuckled, patting a hand on Shelby's shoulder. "Don't get so nervous! It'll be our little secret, alright?" she said, grinning before removing her hand. "Pretty colors lead to fun times, right? Why don't we hang sometime? I'll bring some of my own stuff, and we can have a little party." Eventually, she straightened up and looked around. "Let's go gather back up with the others over at the Quicksilver. I really wanna know what we're gonna be doing. If Nil and Caiden are involved, its gonna be fun."

​

Drav didn't hesitate, walking into the market with Typhon in tow as she looked for items for herself. She carried heavy weaponry, so heavy weaponry was what she'd be looking for. That, and maybe some grenades and such. And boy did she luck out. One of the other gun shops possessed a well-maintained Mark II IP Heavy Kinetic Cannon. The Mark II's were of Upyri make, heavy kinetic machine guns that were usually mounted to technicals and other vehicles. The IP edition, IP meaning Individual Pattern, was a variant of the high caliber weapon meant to be carried around by individual soldiers instead of fitted on vehicles. The recoil was so intense that one had to stand completely still and fire in bursts in order to use it.

That wasn't an issue for a Khergian.

This one seemed to have a fresh coat of paint on it, as well as a few modifications such as improved grips, a sling to better carry the weapon with, and the option to attach a tripod on the bottom. It also featured a modification allowing it to carry large box mags instead of the smaller drums, or be belt-fed from a backpack. Once she purchased it, she slung the weapon around over her head so that it would hang off her shoulder behind her. Then, she hoisted up the backpack full of ammo she purchased for it onto the other shoulder. She didn't need anything else. "Set. We look for cybernetics shop now." she muttered, looking back to Typhon.

 

[Breadman]

"Not to one up you...but they said that Mordecai controlled a 50 foot giant robot on five legs." Amy gave him an awkward smile and was quiet for a few seconds "Your story though, at least part of what you've told me here and there...its out there too. How exactly did you end up from your own time to here." She motioned with her hand. While it drew attention to their surroundings, she meant it in a wider scale. "What got you in the elite of the elite of your country in the first place?"

 

[joshuadim]

How exactly did you end up from your own time to here."

"I was stopping a rogue nuclear missile launch, had to manually change the rocket's trajectory to take it out of the atmosphere or otherwise millions would have died... or worse, a nuclear holocaust would have occurred." Vance stated bluntly. "The rocket, carrying me, went way beyond Earth's orbit and before my body went to sleep a wormhole flung me even further away. Then came centuries of sleeping that honestly didn't feel that long."

"What got you in the elite of the elite of your country in the first place?"

"I suppose it was me saving my CO as well as members of my platoon during the Korean War. A Medal of Honor is something that stands out on a resume, y'know?" Vance continued to speak. "There were about ten of us in that project. I was the only one to fully get the Doctor's recommendation, but I wasn't the only one outside my country..." He then rubbed his chin and shrugged: "There were two others, one from the Soviets and one from China that also were like me. The three of us, despite the differences of our countries and their ideologies and policies, often worked together to deal with problems and threats... Lyudmila and Abraham. But now it's only me left it seems, a literal fossil."

 

[Breadman]

Amy tried to finish off her own food while Vance talked. His story didn't seem as wild as her's, but it felt like he was trying to downplay it as not that out of the ordinary. Despite being a super-soldier that got thrown in a wormhole from a nuke.

"You know" She said as she finished off the last bite "A friend of mine is a result of super-soldier and cloning by Sol and its governments. I have to wonder if he's something of a great great grandson to you. Metaphorically speaking of course."

 

[joshuadim]

It shouldn't have come as a surprise to Vance but he didn't know anything about Sol's attempts at their own super-soldiers. Likely, he had been kept in the dark about that and for good reason. "Sol... had their own attempt at it?" Vance asked with both confusion and concern. "Christ, it's like nobody learned a goddamn thing even after the Gene Wars." His voice became laced with frustration as he pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head.

 

[Breadman]

"It was a long time ago, but yes." She was curious about something he said "My history is rusty due to a lot of things, mainly my father, but what exactly were the Gene wars?"

 

[Viper Actual]

Damien shook his head.

"Suit yourself," said Nathalie before looking at Hjalmar. She placed a neat pile of credit chits on the counter. "Silence is golden."
Grinning, Hjalmar nodded and scooped up thr chits. "As always, a pleasure. Come back soon."

Not likely, pal.

Nathalie made a curt nod before heading for the door with Damien in tow. Once outside Nat motioned forward. "Lead the way," she said with a neutral tone.

* * *
​

Elsewhere on Shadespear Terminal...

Gently the shuttle bypassed the hangar shields before slowly and steadily deploying its landing gear to set down in the midst of the cramped but busy hangar.
The sound of metal scraping against metal echoed briefly just as the shuttle was about to power down.

Once satisfied with his landing the pilot cut power to the engines with the flick of a switch.
Almost immediately a ramp was deployed and as it touched the zigzag-patterned metal floor five figures emerged from the passenger compartment of the shuttle.

Leading the group was a clearly feminine figure donning a long and hooded cloak. Even with the vague and loose contours of the cloak it was easy to see that the person in question was a woman based on their gait alone.
Following closely behind her were four grizzled and rough-looking men donning similar cloaks though they made little to no effort to hide their combat gear, black uniforms and state-of-the-art weapons.

Upon reaching the hangar floor another person- a man in civilian clothing- approached the group to greet them.

"Special operative," greeted the man.

The woman pulled down her hood, revealing her face. "Duchess," replied the woman, correcting him.
Blinking, the agent nodded. "Whatever you say."

Duchess however was too busy studying the hangar. About one and a half dozen agents. Local sources. A hefty pile of intel. That was what she had to work with in a place like this.

That and the hangar she found herself standing in.

A downgrade for sure. If only Wraith could see me now...

Around the hangar were containers and supply crates with some of the former having been refitted to serve as staff quarters. Two of the larger containers had even been welded together to form an armory and a command centre. Impressive, considering the location.
Much had happened in the years since SSOID's rather explosive internal incident.

People she had worked with had either been killed, transferred, retired or branded enemies of the state. Of course, not everything was bad.
Picking up where Goblin and his superiors left of, Captain Loke Blixthammar picked up the scraps of Taskforce Predator and pieced it back together into something similar.

This new group operated with similar jurisdiction and resources as its previous iteration though it was constantly under the scrutiny of an internal SSOID internal affairs-board. That and the added fact that they now operated in and near the Renegade Quadrant exclusively.
Duchess had in turn been sent to Shadespear and continue gathering intelligence as the previous local SSOID head-honcho had been rotated out pending a investigation of multiple allegations regarding corruption.

Now all that laid before her was hers and hers alone. Duchess smirked before looking at the agent. "Get me the latest intel and prepare a squad."

The agent raised an eyebrow. "Ma'am?"

"We need to remind the locals that we're still around. My predecessor managed to forget that that while pursuing more selfish endeavours."
Duchess looked at the man. "Get to it."

 

[joshuadim]

"From what I read in SSOID archives, it was when every global power on Earth tried to have their own super soldier program to stay competitive in war, and ended up with hundreds if not thousands of juiced up lunatics running around killing people or running warlord states of their own. Most notably after the collapse of the Soviet Union much of Siberia, Central Asia and the far-east was carved up by these supes that once held loyalty to their country. Once that country disappeared, so too did the reins holding them back. Others from other countries followed suit in rebellion against their own homes and caused chaos and misery on a global scale before they were put down with great cost."

Vance shook his head in anger, "God damn it. These people always mess with things they can't control and it always ends up hurting innocent people. All because of me existing."

 

[Breadman]

"That might explain some things." Amy thought of Seth and oh his list of peculiars and oddities. About his nature and that of his siblings. All born of a deadly genetic cocktail made by desperate people clinging to power. She wondered how'd he take this bit about his origin. He either knows and doesn't care or he's blissfully keeping his head out of it. Amy's ears perked up.

God damn it. These people always mess with things they can't control and it always ends up hurting innocent people. All because of me existing.

"Whoa whoa there!" Amy raised both hands while resting her elbows on the table. "Don't do that to yourself." Her tone switched to a more calm one "Yes, you had a role to play in the program, but you're not to blame for the damages they caused. You didn't sign up to sire a bunch of psychopaths or fuel their ambition. Even if you were completely out of the picture, they would have still found someone else to get their hooks in. There's no guarantee that it wouldn't have happened regardless."

 

[joshuadim]

"No, I didn't sign up for that. But it still happened didn't it?" Vance replied as he got up and set down his credits for both of their orders. "I'll pay the tab." he simply stated before gathering his stuff and headed for the door.

 

[Breadman]

She tried, but Vance was still upset about what happened. Hopefully he wouldn't blame himself about it. It happened long ago and he had no say in the matter. In any case, they probably should get going to where Valk and the rest were.

"Come on. Lets see what the others found for us to do. Work will get your mind off of things." She caught up to Vance before they left the establishment.

 

[Infab]

As Nil, Caiden, and the trio of Valkyrie, Zadra, and Eve scaled the staircase, Katja soon arrived to join them. Valkyrie gave her a nod, but the one that showed the most interest and emotion to Katja's presence was Nil. He seemed excited. "Oh my! It's always wonderful meeting new people!" he exclaimed, grinning and quickly shoving his gloved hand out to shake once they got to the top of the stairs. Caiden seemed less interested, but watched Nil as he held his hand out before glancing to Katja.

Katja cautiously shook his hand, as he introduced himself. "My name is Nil! N-I-L. Like a nul amount!" he said, cheerfully shaking Katja's hand before releasing it. "And this is Caiden Valentine! My best friend!" he then said, motioning to the rough looking older man. "Hey." was Caiden's response to the introduction. Once Katja introduced herself, the small group continued on. There was a moderately sized seating area a short distance away, a pair of row of seats which went in a half-circle around a small round table. The seats overlooked the bar area below thanks to the low railing, allowing those seated there to view those coming in or spending their time at the bar or gameroom. Once Valk spotted Vixaya, she gave the young Kanad a thumbs-up from where she was.

They each took a seat, Valk's group sitting in one row while Nil and Caiden sat in the other. Once they had settled in, Valk noticed some of the rest of her crew enter the bar below. Vance and Amy, first, followed by Lauren and Shelby. Then, Olivia made her way in followed by Aesha. Nil noticed the influx of crew as Valk waved at them to get their attention. "So many new people!" he said, his eyes widening. Caiden grunted. "Try to contain yourself."

Nil pouted, flashing the expression to Caiden. "I am perfectly capable of containing my emotions, Caiden. You, of all people, know this." responded the young man, a rather serious tone to his voice, before snapping his attention to the others as some came up the stairs to join them. "Hi!~" he said, giving them a cute wave. "I'm Nil! N-I-L, as in nothing! And this is Caiden! So wonderful to meet you all!"

 

[Frankafurter]

Katja feels her hand be vigorously shook as the odd man with the loud hair practically accosts her to make a greeting and introduction. She notices the glance from the grizzled man next to him, that already is a red flag in her mind that this Nil person is definitely more than meets the eye. She just kind of gives a little nod, "Uh, Inka, Inka Korhonen... Nice to meet you, Nil." Her false name was not actually false, it was her mother's maiden name. There was a twitch of homesickness as she thought about the memories her father shared of her mother to her. She waits until he turns to lead the group back to the intended meeting area before wiping her hand on her thigh as if there was something unpleasant lingering on the grip surfaces of the spacesuit's gloves. She isn't sure what to think of this Nil and his outfit reminds her of some of the more scandalous sort of media she used to consume in her teenage years. She sits with Valk, Zadra, and Eve and tries not to look too bewildered by Nil's extroverted demeanor.

 

[Viper Actual]

While still enroute to the rendezvous at the Quicksilver bar Damien and Nathalie made their way past numerous market stands. Spotting a small stall operated by an elderly Sanghvi offering beautifully carved crystals and rocks shaped into flowers, ships and even faces Nathalie allowed herself to stop and admire the sheer craftmanship of it all.
Gently, Nat touched Damien's arm to get his focus. "Look," she said with a soft voice.

Noticing two potential customers the Sanghvi motioned for them to come closer. It gestured towards its wide selection of carved artwork. "We are proud of our craftmanship. You will find nothing like it on this side of the galaxy."

Usually if a tradesman or shopkeeper used those words it was exaggerated though in this case Nathalie was inclined to agree. She carefully picked up one of the carvings shaped like a Terran sunflower. "Amazing..." She said while rotating and angling it. Upon closer inspection it looked as if the carving had been manually shaped using nothing but the sharp and tough limbs of the Sanghvi.
There wasn't even a hint of powered much less manual tools.

Nathalie looked up at the shopkeeper which nodded. "Thirty."

Shaking her head Nathalie placed no less than a hundred credits on the stall counter. "Thank you."

Bowing its head the Sanghvi collected the credits. "We thank you for your purchase. Farewell."

Satisfied with her purchase Nathalie turned towards Damien. Before she could say anything he grabbed her and turned her away from the main marketplace path just beside them.
Boots stomping down the metal floor could be clearly heard despite all of the ambient sounds around them.
A patrol of ten local security officers marched past the pair. Unusual, sure, but the local security forces wasn't what had caught the attention of Damien.

Following closely behind the security officers were at least fifteen figures donning long cloaks in faded grey or brown colors. Despite their best efforts to hide it the cloaked men and women were heavily armed and well-equipped.

Too well-equipped.

As they walked past them the low buzz of internal communications could be heard when standing close enough and any pirate, mercenary or crewmate worth their salt would have enough notches on their belt to know that these guys were most likely special forces, intelligence or a corporate hit squad.

Nathalie spared the group a glance- a decision which she immediately regretted as her eyes met with the hazel-colored eyes of none other than Duchess herself.
The otherwise gleeful special operative had a rather neutral expression on her face and Nathalie silently wished that Duchess hadn't noticed her stiffening up from the surprise.

Surprisingly, Duchess looked away and pulled down her hood further and Nathalie silently thanked herself for wearing a facemask and visor to cover up her face.

Once the team had passed Nat looked at Damien.
"Let's not stick around."

 

[Breadman]

Amy led the way to the Quicksilver. It was one of those places that was always around every time she was on the station before and it was somehow still standing still. A sort of small comfort when she thought about it. Everything changed, but the Quicksilver remained. One the way, she spotted Lauren with Shelby nearby coming in from their own shopping spree. The bounty hunter entered, followed by Vance and then the others. Olivia and Aesha weren't that far behind despite Amy failing to spot them. In any case, it looked like almost everyone was there save for some.

Hi!~

"Uhm...hi." Amy wasn't exactly sure how to respond to this new person, outside of an awkward wave. Was this who Valk was supposed to meet? Might be since she's right there.

I'm Nil! N-I-L, as in nothing! And this is Caiden! So wonderful to meet you all!

"Yeah, likewise." She wasn't used to contacts being so chipper and looking like that. Although with their outfits, maybe he doesn't stand out that much. Usual crowd was more reserved putting on a tough guy act. Although Caiden seemed more serious. He was either the foil or the person dragged along against his will. "So you guys are with us?"

 

[Infab]

"Let's not stick around."

"Yeah. Keep an eye out, though. They may have someone follow us." he responded quietly, before motioning for Nathalie to follow. He knew a roundabout way of getting to the Quicksilver, so it'd be easy enough to lose them. Still, this whole situation bothered him. Those weren't mercs. Carried themselves too professionally, and were too well equipped. SSOID perhaps? Or some corpo group. The security team that were escorting them were some of the station's security. Likely bought off. Damien's eyes narrowed. In the old days, Sol forces would have got their shit kicked in for showing up like this here, just like the Federation did. Now they're able to stroll about wherever they please. Same with other government intelligence agencies and bounty hunters.

As they walked, he glanced back to Nathalie. "...The way you reacted when you and that woman saw each other. You know one another. Who is she?" he asked. He was curious about who was now lurking around the station.

​

"So you guys are with us?"

"Maybe!" said Nil, grinning wide. "My dear sister has yet to tell us about the details of the job. She did tell us that its rather important, though!"

Caiden chimed in afterwards. "If Non tells us to go do something, it's always important. Otherwise, she'd just send one of her own goons to do it." he said, glancing to Nil He then dug around in one of his jacket pockets, before pulling out a cigarette and lighter. As he slipped the cigarette into his mouth and lit it, he glanced to Valkyrie and the others. "Its usually the same shit, just in different places. Search and Destroy. Usually in a way that sends a message."

"Right. Gotta remind everyone of who's the top bitch." said Lauren, as she approached them and stood behind where her mother was seated. "Exactly." said Caiden, before exhaling a puff of smoke. Nil nodded rapidly. "Dearest sister has far too many people wanting to harm her business, or see her dead. And that simply won't do!~" he said, ending the statement with a song like tone.

As the rest of the group arrived, at least those who were coming to the meeting, Nil straightened up. "Now! Caiden? I believe you have the projector?" he said, looking to his friend. Caiden cocked an eyebrow, before digging in his coat and pants pockets. Eventually, he drew out a small round disk-like object that he sat on the table before them. He tapped on the clear lens at the center of the disk, before Nil began tapping on the holoband on his wrist.

Suddenly, a small holographic figure was displayed from the disk. A woman, clad in a black silky top, a short open sleeveless white jacket, black leather pants and nine inch white heels. She had blonde, wavy short hair, parted just so and lazily brushed to the side. A pair of green eyes peered through a set of sleek yellow shades at the group. "Hello, dearest sister!~" said Nil. Nonara waved at her younger brother, before looking back to Valkyrie and the rest of the group sitting or standing with her.

"A pleasure to see all of you. My name is Nonara, as some of you likely already know. You may have heard of me in some form or fashion. Be it through the news, intelligence reports, or random gossip. In either case, you also know what I do. I don't need, or plan to, explain that." she said. She then reached for something, her arm half disappearing before coming back into view with a holotablet In hand. She looked at it for a few moments, her eyes scanning whatever information was displayed on it, before handing it off again to someone out of view.

She soon spoke again. "I'm currently in the middle of something important, so I shall make this short. One of our rivals, 'The Prestige' as they so eloquently refer to themselves as, recently came into possession of something that belongs to my brother Nil. A spacecraft. After procuring this craft, it was sold at auction to a pair of Upyri known as the Viranas Brothers. These two are backed by ONI, funded privately by the intelligence agency in an effort to gather unidentified tech for research. Currently, they are preparing the craft for transport via cargo vessel from Kalien Station just outside the eastern border of the Federation to Dock 7 of the Ker Naval Shipyards. From there, it will vanish into the Renegade Quadrant to one of ONI's several hidden research and experimentation labs. You will venture to Kalien Station, and you will kill everyone aboard before destroying the spacecraft. No one leaves that station alive. Nil and Caiden will be joining you to make sure the deed is done properly."

She then looked around at everyone. "Any questions?"

 

[joshuadim]

Vance already didn't like Nil as he could practically feel in his gut that under that cheery disposition that there was something much more monstrous underneath. It's those kinds of psychos that he despised the most. And once Nonara started talking and explained what they needed to do he immediately hated her even more than Nil. He didn't need to guess as to what kinds to people were aboard Kalien Station but he asked regardless: "So you're asking us to kill noncombatants on that station? I'm assuming there are given its a cargo station." Vance asked bluntly.