Commonwealth [Inactive]

Thomas smirked, "bad move, friend." Now he could take any action against the hunter he desired, and self defence is nice and legal. He pulled back the charging handle of the machine gun and opened fire on the bounty hunter, the shots the hunter fired at him made loud pinging sounds as they impacted the wide metal shield attached to the gun mount. Meanwhile, a small automated turret on the front of the hovercraft detected the incoming threats and launched three mortar like shells that detonated in proximity to the missiles, destroying them.
 
Vex just shook his head. "Alright Alice, a bit more of a direct approach might be needed. Let the 20mm loose on that hovercraft, and divert a decent amount of power to the shielding, in case he turns that .50 on you." he ordered, ducking behind cover. The .50 caliber rounds that impacted the rock he was behind were doing a decent number on it, and he wouldn't have much time to stay there. His ship flanked around behind the hovercraft and began to let loose with 20mm rounds, targeting the engines and fuel sources. At the angle the ship was at, there wouldn't be many options for the craft to survive.


Vex began lobbing grenades in the direction of the hovercraft as his gunship was firing, attacking the vessel from two sides. He didn't expect the grenades to actually do their job, since the missiles didn't do much, but at least it would direct more attention to the front. It was a solid tactic that he had used multiple times in the past, when dealing with his targets. Not many survived.
 
Thomas opened a comm to his ship, "Long range anti air missiles now! That ship needs to be history or I soon will be!" The missile interception system destroyed the grenades in the same manner as the missiles, but there was little Thomas could do against that cannon.


Back at the Providence Spirit, two large panels slowly slid open, creaking tremendously as they went, four two metre long anti air missiles fired leaving brilliant flaming contrails in their wakes. They turned and began heading at full speed toward the bounty hunter's ship.
 
"Vex, two anti-air missiles inbound. Deploying countermeasures." Alice said. Vex nodded, keeping behind the cover as best he could. "These guys are amateurs..." Vex sighed, continuing to lob grenades. His ship continued to fire, two smaller missiles launching to intercept the anti-air munitions. They collided, causing a massive explosion 100 yards from the ensuing battle. "Give it up, Merc! I saw your ship, there's nothing you could have on board that can touch me!" he yelled over the gunfire, suddenly tossing grenades over where his two lackeys were hiding.
 
"I have plenty of surprises" Thomas opened the comm to his ship again, "We need reinforcements."


After sending that final message he leapt from the hovercraft and took cover behind a rock. One of his men was killed by a grenade, but the other grenade missed and the soldier lobbed a stun grenade at the bounty hunter. They both shielded their eyes as a blinding flash of white light was emitted from the stun grenade.


Three VTOL drones took off from the ship as two more hovercraft poured from the cargo hold. The mercenary crew was not holding back any longer.


Thomas pointed a laser designator at the ship from the ground for the UAVs to target their missiles.
 
The stun grenade did nothing, at least not to Vex. Such was the advantage to being mostly non-organic. "Two more hovercrafts incoming, as well as three drones." Alice reported. Vex shook his head and sighed. "Surprising. Bomb the hovercraft that's here, and move to an altitude where you only have to engage the drones. Pick them off with the 20mm, then come back here to help us engage the other two craft." he ordered. The ship dropped a heavy explosive on the unmanned craft before rocketing skyward.


Vex used the ensuing explosion as a distraction, boosting out of his cover towards Thomas and the remaining thug. His armor would be able to withstand small arms fire without a problem, but he didn't have much time before the other hovercrafts arrived.


He slid to a stop, coming around the edge of the cover that Thomas was using. He opened fire on them from less than 20 yards away, his eyes flashing red. If he had a mouth, he would have been grinning like a maniac.
 
The drones kept at standoff distance from the ship and started firing small air to air munitions.


Thomas grabbed the assault rifle that was slung over his back and fired a thermite grenade from the under-barrel launcher, aiming for Vex's torso.
 
Vex sidestepped the grenade, but just barely. Had he been a split second later, he'd have been fried. Cursing under his breath he boosted forward, closing the distance between them in an instant. This had to end now.


His hand shot out, aiming to grab him by his shirt, the long blade sliding out of his other arm. "Either we end this messy, or we end this clean." he growled. "I'd suggest calling off your boys so we can talk this over. Unless, of course, you don't mind your buddies showing up to see your head missing."


Vex had been bounty hunting for well over twenty years, and due to his penchant for seeking out high-interest targets, has been through damn near everything this galaxy could think of. There wasn't much that caught him off-guard anymore.


Alice was dealing with the drones easily, deploying small, anti-munitions rounds to deal with the air-to-air missiles. His ship cut loose with the 20mm cannon, hailing rounds on the drones from a safe distance.
 
Captain Fuller had been standing off to the side, bemused at the two mercs trading blows for custody of him. He was really important. He continued to fire his assault-pike, killing the second merc on the hovercraft. Then he saw drones approaching, so he set the boomerang function on his assault-pike again and tossed it at the drone. The drone fell and crashed into another hovercraft that was approaching. he looked into the distance, noticing a settlement nearby. "Well, I'd love to stay and chat, but I've got some business to attend to."
 
Thomas pulled a serrated combat knife from its sheath within his trench coat. "I have an idea how we can end this cleanly, we can team up." He pointed behind Vex with the knife, "The bounty is escaping."
 
"You don't have much to offer, Merc." he growled, his blade poised at the man's throat. "I can let him run, I've got something of his that he'll have to come back for eventually. Now, how about you call off your dogs, before I have Alice drop a tactical nuke on your ship?" he offered. "I can survive the fallout. Can you?"
 
Thomas held the knife in his right hand, in a defensive stance, "I have a small army to offer, and more military grade hardware than you could afford in a year. I haven't brought out the pair of main battle tanks I have aboard, nor have I brought out the shoulder launched AT missiles, you could use my help. I have thirty men and women aboard that ship, most of whom are veterans of the Commonwealth military."
 
Captain Fuller noticed two people walking toward him. They were wearing GC assault uniforms. They were the two soldier units that had stayed on board. Finally his luck was starting to turn. He waved them over, then waiting for the right moment, he picked off the last few merc soldiers in the area and approached the two bounty hunters, assault pike poised. The two soldiers followed him in a triangle formation aiming at the bounty hunters as well. Alexi still stood off to the side, holding his own pistol at the hunters. "You guys seem to forget the most basic principle of fighting. Survive the longest and you'll win the battle. Now, this idea I hear of you teaming up seems like a good one. So, I have a proposition for you. I need a crew, and you need to survive. I don't know if you care about politics, but the Galactic Commonwealth has become corrupt, and thus must be overthrown. As of this day, I will live up to the mantle of traitor, which was wrongfully bestowed on me before. I hope to establish a new Commonwealth, designed for the citizens, not the officials. If you choose to follow me, your reward may be great, and you will definitely go down in history. If you choose against, I will either allow you to leave of your own free will, or die trying to claim your bounty.
 
"Now we're getting somewhere... You're not just any old Mercs, you've got ties with the Commonwealth. Still, with everything you have on your ship, that just gives me more reason to order the bombing. You interfered with Hunter protocol, which designates you as a target as well, so unless you have anything of worth to offer me aside from your 'help', then I have no choice but to blast your friends and slit your throat." Vex said, his voice dark.


He glanced at the Captain for a moment, the word 'reward' catching his attention. "Perhaps. If you can pay me more than your current bounty, I might think about it." he said, turning his attention back to the Merc. The man still had a knife, so he wasn't going to just drop his guard at the promise of a new reward.
 
Thomas turned to Vex, "You fired first, I was just watching the battle."


He turned back to Mark, "I'm on your side Captain Fuller, if your money is good."
 
"If I can return to my ship and get into my quarters, I have the payment from my last salary. It won't quite cover your bounties. However, if you choose to follow me, you will be remembered forever, and if we succeed you will be fully compensated for your services and all transgressions erased. If you require a salary as well, I'm sure I can work something out. Haven't you ever wanted to have a purpose other than killing? I'm giving you the chance of a lifetime."
 
"I have a purpose other than killing, money. I accept your offer, Captain." He lowered his knife, just a bit, as there was still Vex to deal with.
 
Vex was silent for a long while, until he pulled his blade away from the Merc's throat. It slid back into place under the forearm plate, his arms crossing over his chest. "Killing is all there is. Even this little venture of yours is going to cause death, so don't act like you're some sort of saint for doing it." he scoffed, distancing himself from the other two. "However, I have a feeling that if the three of us were to continue fighting, it would go on for much longer than I'd care for. I'll humor this little rebellion of yours, at least for now." he said, calling Alice back to their location. "Though, if either of you think you can turn on me at any point, I will not hesitate to skin the both of you alive."
 
"Splendid, now that we've got that settled then. Let's get back to the ship." The other soldiers kept their assault-pikes pointed at the bounty hunters. "How can we expect them to trust us if we don't trust them. Put down your weapons. Coming?"
 
Thomas shrugged and shoved the knife back into its sheath. He stopped briefly to take the dog tags off the corpses of his fallen comrades before following Captain Fuller.
 
Vex's ship came back into view, landing close to the group. To have his enemies suddenly become allies like this bothered Vex greatly, but it didn't seem like he had much of a choice in the matter. He shook his head and walked over, grabbing the crate that was dropped in the battle earlier. "Alright then, let's go." he said, making his way back to his ship. The cargo bay door opened and he walked up the ramp, looking over at Mark. "C'mon, let's go." he said, motioning for the Captain to follow. "I'm going to need you to explain exactly what you're planning."
 
Kuzzuk dropped down from a nearby tree where he had been observing for most of the latter end of the fight. "Really? I had this whole plan thought out where I kill whichever bounty hunter won, save the day, and proposition you to take down the Commonwealth myself! But you guys had to go and do that on your own, depriving me of any combat today! You know how much I was looking forward to killing someone skilled for a change? This planet has gotten SO DULL since I got here. No one wants to do anything for fear of the bugman that works for the local mafia! I haven't killed in weeks!" Kuzzuk shook his head with disappointment, both sets of arms crossed.


"Look, I'm in on the whole 'take down the commonwealth' thing. And if we need a new ship or any crew? Most of the people in the settlement hate the Commonwealth, and would be glad to join a crew to get off this rock. I've also been saving up money from my jobs, been eyeing a small cruiser for sale. Only problem is, I have no idea how to fly it. And no offense, but I doubt one small bounty hunter ship and a shoddy merc ship will take down the Commonwealth. We'll need more ships and men as soon as we can get, and I can offer both, right now."
 
"You've just read my mind. Welcome aboard. You're exactly right. We'll need to build a crew and a fleet first. We need to find an engineer though. My ship, has automated reconstruction programs, but of course, they were damaged in the crash. If we're able to get that up and running, we'll have a GC battle cruiser at our disposal. I understand we all have different reasons for doing this, but could care less."
 
"Sure letting a criminal in on this is wise?" Thomas asked as he looked the insectoid over. "I'm also not thrilled with another person to split that reward with."
 
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