Futuristic Starpath: Burning Sails [IC] [CLOSED]

[The_Rifleman]

Jackson finally came down from the armory to join the rest of the crew for the mission after hearing on the radio that they were ready to go, having already infiltrated enemy space with relative ease. He sat down near the back and quickly stripped and field cleaned his guns he was just using, to have them be ready, not if, but when. He didn't place much trust in the scalpel team, especially after seeing the rock man walk in with oversize shoes and he had to hold his laughter in.

Hammer team was what this mission needs, and when the time comes, Jackson would be ready. He stood up and paced near the back, unable to sit still and contain his excitment. He took out the hammer he stole from engineering, and slowly rubbed it in his hands, feeling the rough metallic texture. He couldn't wait to feel the crush of enemy's skull in his hands.

 

[Viper Actual]

Daniel watched as Jackson paced back and forth. "Jackson. Relax" He shook his head. "You're making me nervous."

He gestured towards his ears. "Did you bring hearing protectors this time? Helmet? Anything?"

 

[The_Rifleman]

Jackson stopped pacing and then felt all over his head with his free hand. Huh.

"I got caught up in the excitement i forgot. Be right back..." He quickly sprinted back to his room where half his gear was strewn across the floor and bed. Searching through the piles of grenades, shells, dynamite, battle relics... he finally found his headpiece. That'll do!

He quickly sprinted back to the crew, even more excited. "Check it out, tactical beanie. Mufflez all noise and has earpiece inside it. Badass as fuck man."

 

[joshuadim]

Vance did a few stretches for his muscles, keeping himself loose and nimble as he waited the beginning of the combat operation along with the rest of those assigned to Hammer. They would only be called if things went bad for scalpel, and rapid response would be needed to ensure Scalpel wouldn't be torn apart before they arrived as backup. The prospect of having to work with someone like Jackson was equal parts amusing and worrying. The man was a wild card in the way he behaved and acted, and wild cards usually don't end up well from his experience.

"Are you just naturally this hyperactive over the smallest things?" Vance asked with an amused expression.

---

Albert stayed in the lounge with a small glass of gin and his notebook splayed out onto the table in front of him. There wasn't much for him to do until the operation ended, and wrote a bit of fluff for his book for the downtime, to not only expand the amount of words he had in his draft currently but also as experimentation with what material he had currently to write about at this moment. He would, of course, resume regular writing once the mission was over and he could interview the people that participated, but for now this is what he was braintstorming over.

He had invited Vincent to share a few drinks and to spend the time away earlier, and hoped that he would show up to make good on his offer. The gin was quite good after all.

 

[Breadman]

The last mission helped him shake off any rust he had from the freezer. Petar stepped into the armory with a confident stride, feeling ready to break back into the business that he had left abruptly decades ago. He got a bit distracted when the radios suddenly turned on and Nara spoke.

"Da, keep communications between us going. If shit breaks down, we're going to need that." He added his two cents to that. Not much else he could say. Like he told Lauren, his expertise weren't stealth and subterfuge. But if Nara was eager to take the initiative, then giving the young blood the chance could be better than dumping that to someone who didn't want the job.

A quick look around, told him all he needed to know about those that will be under him if scalpel fucked up or shit hits the fan. Ready and motivated. Just someone was missing. Where was Derick?

"I see dumb" He said while looking at Jackson "Where's dumber?"
---
Vincent was somewhat relieved that he wouldn't be going on the mission. Not much he could do on either team. Not in right now at least. Still a prayer for success and good luck was had before they would depart.

After some time the padre would go back to the lounge, until the team would come back there was little to do but wait. Lucky for him, he wasn't alone.

 

[DG-117]

Pearl spent a great deal of her time alone on the Mordred, seemly disappearing from the rest crew after the ship had set sail from the Shadespear Terminal's Stardock towards the planet of Sielia. Pearl was busy working deep within the bowels of the Mordred, trying her best to keep everything within working order. She wasn't quite ready to open to any of the new shipmates. The thoughts of her past comrades aboard the Guillotine weighted heavily, for while Pearl wasn't quite on a regular basis with most of them. Their brutal and sudden deaths along with Valencia's had shaken Pearl quite severely.

While Pearl turned away from dealing with her deep distress about the matter with over-use of narcotics as Lauren had done. Pearl dealt with her mental stress with self-imposed isolation and obsessive fixation on work. The point of her focus was that of the Mordred. Constantly, fixing and replacing parts of the aging cargo freighter. Operating in a fluid, unnatural fashion like the small drones that had accompanied her. To outsiders, it looked like she was simply another machine operating within the inner working of the worn vessel. As Pearl's physical appearance was unlike many Sanghvi that others had seen before and to the unwary, it appeared that she was just a highly customized automaton.

Yet, as the days passed. It soon became apparent that the Mordred was at its peak of what Pearl was able to accomplish with the tools that were available to her. Now she was simply replacing and reformating systems at random, spending her time doing nothing of meaningful value but it distract her from the loss of the closest thing she had to a mother.

For the small periods of rest and relief, she spent them alone within the locked confines of her room aboard the Mordred. Either working on various pieces of broken or useless machinery that she collected during her travels, things that had been discarded, tossed aside and left among the battered floors of countless space stations and vessels. But for Pearl, it was something of interest, something of potential value, something to help distract her from the crushing reality of her situation. For Pearl was at best an asocial creature. Many met her fear and hatred, for the threat of the Sanghvi still loomed over the Galaxy as their quest for conquest led them to the farthest reaches of space. Even to the Renegade Quadrant back when it was called another name that has been lost to the echos of time. Many even blame them for being partly responsible for the sector current, chaotic state.

Once the Mordred had reached Sielia, Pearl quickly yet quietly left the crew to work with both Taur and Zhao Chang on the Guillotine during the days spent there. Taur was occupied working on restoring the pride of the Reavers, he was able to ignore the restraints of his advanced age with aid of his extensive cybernetic augmentations. Ones that the elder Kercan had personally crafted.

Pearl spent a great deal of time with them, the workload before the Reavers and the assisting Ironbloods was overwhelming. For the number of repairs that was required for a grand Battleship like the Guillotine was already massive undertaking for a fully staffed Naval Stardock, lend alone for a struggling band of desperate pirates.

However, Pearl did her best to help the repair crew, helping with Taur with what she could. She soon noticed that there were a few new faces aiding the old Kercan. A handful of Reavers gathered from other stations, pressed ganged into acting as Taur's personnel work staff. While they weren't the brightest or the most disciplined bunch, they were able and willing to their best and in hard times such as these. It was the best that you could ask for.

Nonetheless, with Pearl back alongside Taur, the two managed to get themselves a whole month's work of effort done in about a week of nonstop operation. Though, Taur could swiftly notice that it was all taking a toll on Pearl. So thus, Taur had Pearl take the last day before the Mordred was set to sail towards the Reaver's next Mission.

Pearl left Sielia yet again, this time she left the familiar world with a sense of tension brewing within her. For while she was able to be seemly absent in the boarding of the Upyrin Freighter, covering the rear of the assault team at the air-lock. This time she could tell that her luck was running low in regards to seeing actual combat in person.

Pearl was very hesitant about the thought of being under active fire, life or death decisions being made in less than instant, the shock of injury and death. It was something that Pearl deeply dreaded but with Lauren having little options. Pearl was forced to serve in a more active capacity, calling upon Pearl to serve as Scalpel Team's electronic warfare specialist.

Instinctively, Pearl tried to isolate herself hearing the news, retreating back to her quarters in the Mordred for a short period before mustering up the courage to gather up her equipment in the armory. It was already fully prepared by Drav for Pearl before she had even entered the armory. Pearl held a deep amount of respect for her, having worked alongside her closely for some time in regards to getting the weapon systems of the Mordred refurbished to a higher standard.

Pearl sent a specific list of requests to Drav's datapad over her implant as she walked over towards the Armory. Pearl had spent a long time thinking over her equipment for such an operation, Pearl was nothing if not overly cautious and knowing that the odds were stacked against her. She meticulously calculated a list of the equipment necessary for such a matter.

Pearl had chosen a section of items for her missions. The most prominent being an assortment of grenades including Chaff, Blinders, and EMPs modified for ease of use by a Sanghvi and were wirelessly linked with her Implant. They were stored across a bandolier running across her chest. She also carried a Mag-Charger loaded an equally wide variety of micro-darts, heavily customized to fit Pearl's hands and where to be interlinked with her Implant with a few additional improvements.

With her gear finally sorted out, Pearl took last moment to ease herself, pausing before the door. She took one last look at herself in the mirror within the armory before walking out of the armory and down towards the cargo section of the Mordred. There, she glimpsed over her new comrades in arms standing about in the cargo bay. She then suddenly realized that she hadn't properly introduced herself to most of them.

Still, overly tensed, Pearl gradually made her way towards Lauren. Meeting her with a gentle nod and making careful eye contact as Pearl approached her. Standing with arms close and body still as she stood before her.

 

[Frankafurter]

Yolandi managed to locate a pilot suit close enough to her size to fit well, with her handcannon in its holster on her hip. She decides she'll be piloting Zou for this, she feels like she's been a little neglectful of him since usually they're a combined unit,not a duo that work alongside each other. She has a light flak vest on over her suit just in case she has to fight on foot, but she pats Zou on his massive shoulder guard and Zou gives her a thumbs up. They're on Hammer, so she's on standby in the cargo bay while the others do the sneaking around. She holds up the bottle of vodka she appropriated from the bar and decides to take a swig of it, she also wanted to be on Hammer, because it mean she had an excuse to go drinking while everyone is worried about not being seen. Indulging in some liquid courage never hurt and she was gonna be in some big league stuff coming up since this is some sort of secret military base or some shit.

 

[Infab]

Lauren continued to check her gear, giving Pearl a nod after a moment, before hearing Nara's voice through her headset. "Alright. You're over comms then." she stated, before looking back to the others. "Oh, a reminder. The atmosphere of the planet is high in carbon dioxide. That means you're gonna need respirators. The planet also has an odd electromagnetic field. That means comms and long range will be severely limited. I asked Pearl to give our comms a bit of a boost to help out with staying in communication with one another, as well as the ship. That should give us a bit of an edge over the fuckers at the Refinery and Outpost."

Eventually, Roku's voice chimed in over the ship's intercom. "Five minutes till arrival. We're landing about two miles out from the refinery. Get ready to walk a lot." he stated, before the intercom switched back off. "And another reminder. The planet's arid. Not much plant life, lots of rocks, and mud pits. And a lot of sand and screechers. Watch for those. Draw a bunch to us, and we'll have Yscom drones breathing down our necks. That also means no fuckin' explosions." said Lauren.

-----------------------------------------------------


​

Chapter One: Mission One
Night Business

The Mordred zipped through the night air, moving out into the wilderness of Eta-Tau VII a couple of miles away from the Outpost's refinery. From what the group could see from the ship, the refinery seemed to still be under construction. The Hyper-Rail line that they'd need to get to towered high into the sky, leading away from a tower on the far side of the refinery off into the distance towards a larger complex. The Outpost itself.

The Mordred soon found itself descending to an open landing zone, touching down on a smooth patch of dull colored rocks. Lauren, and the report, had been right. Eta-Tau VII was dreary and arid. There were large patches of sand scattered about, as well as bubbling tar-like mud pits. Drones could be spotted flying about, specks in the sky as they swarmed above the refinery. Those would need to be avoided if they were going to get into the outpost quietly.

Scalpel team quickly departed from the ship, darting down the cargo ramp. Everyone now had their respirators (that needed one). Hammer team remained aboard the Mordred for now, as the ramp raised back up once the final Scalpel team member stepped off the ramp.

"Testing...Check one, two, three...Got me, Mordred?" spoke Lauren, testing out the group's comms connection with the ship. Zadra's voice replied. "We got you, Scalpel. A little static, but otherwise fine. Test out the team comms." Lauren tapped her earpiece, then tried speaking to the others. All good. "Alright, lets get moving. We only have a few hours to get in there before the Corvette leaves. Thighs, Kal, you two are on point. Watch out for drones, and the pits."

 

[Doomevil]

Once the mission began, Nara immediately placed her respirator on. Grommy had no need for one seeing how carbon dioxide poisoning had no effect. With the guitar case on her back, Nara set up a microset on her right ear.

"This is Ms. N. if any of you guys have stealth devices for our big friend to make this easier, now's the time. Mr. G, try to stay off the cameras, that means crouching and getting to cover." Nara tapped on Grommy's shoulder, giving him a nod. "Let's also lower shooting since explosives are out, there's some melee fighters with us, they can help."

 

[Emperor Sagan]

Carbon dioxide did not concern Lucy, nor did the electromagnetic interference present on the planet. The anomalous field was weak enough that it seemed to only be a concern for long range sensors and communications, but even had it been stronger, she knew that her components were thoroughly shielded and protected from such interference. She remained patient and quiet on their descent.

Hourly Reminder: Murder is unethic-

There was a soft mechanical click within her mind as she discreetly disabled one of her ethical protocols. The mental reminders were simple haphazard notices that pinged about in her head constantly, some ranging from only minutes, others to days. Any that could be an unwelcome distraction was paused. For some reason, this particular reminder was the most comfortable to disable. It was like a cool sensation spreading through her circuitry and devices when it was removed from her direct awareness. It was so good, she couldn't help but let out a quiet static-filled hiss of enjoyment.

Once they were outside and on the planet's surface, her sensors did a full nearby scan of the area. It wasn't entirely unlike Karos-III, but the presence of some life and the mud-pits were distinct differences. Karos had ice, but no running water on the surface except during earthquakes. There were numerous instances of mudslides when the crust shifted violently, heating up or releasing underground water across small areas. Seeing the mud-pits here made her take note of the potential active tectonics of the planet.

As the group began to move, Lucy remained near the middle, as she had no ranged weaponry. She remained alert, but part of her mind was stuck on the fantasies of what she could do at their destination.

 

[ANIMAL MOTHER]

Contrary as to how eager he was earlier to show off his commando skills, the pre-combat mindset Typhon has now placed him a little behind the rest of the group, trailing in the back. This wasn’t due to any nervousness or anxiousness at keeping a low profile, but simply that he’s the team medic. If he goes down, that would jeopardize the rest of Scalpel as they don’t have any other medical staff with them.

Nevertheless, he keeps both eyes open and his head on a swivel the further he travels along. The arid environment reminds him of home, and how deep down he still longs to return to it, even if now the chances of him ever doing so are completely and utterly ruined. He pushes the thoughts out of his head, trying not to let it distract him.

 

[Doomevil]

The two-mile trip was going to take some time, with obstacles definitely trying to block their progress. Nara walked behind Nathalie and Kalashi, keeping up while Grommy was near Typhon.

"I think it'll be good to know where our team's strengths and weaknesses lie in before we get there. I'm an engineer trainee, if you want some tools to cut across some vents or panels I can do that. Or I can climb in some high places. Hacking or shooting a gun, that's not my forte, unfortunately." She spoke through her respirator. Grommy heard the conversation, adding in.

"I can punch pretty good and can handle pain good too. So if anyone has a big problem to deal with, I can do that. As for weaknesses, I'm not a techhead, I'm more of a blockhead." He stated.

 

[Viper Actual]

Prior to landing Nathalie hadn't been doing much but sit around inside the cargo bay. She had both double- and triple-checked her gear to make sure it was complete and ready for combat.

Once the team was on the ground and Lauren gave her commands Nathalie complied. While she didn't enjoy the nickname she didn't really care enough to make a big deal out of i

That said Nathalie didn't waste any time. Her combat suit shimmered right before vanishing in thin air.

"Walker, taking point,' reported Nathalie.

 

[ANIMAL MOTHER]

“I suggest we keep the chatter down.” Typhon says sternly. “We don’t want them picking up our signals.”

 

[Doomevil]

"The radio is off on my end for now, we can work better if we actually know each other Typhon." Nara said back, eyes narrowed.

 

[ANIMAL MOTHER]

“Well, in that case, don’t mind me indulging you. Some of you already know of and have experienced my skills as a doctor, but I was special operations too as well at one point. I’m ex-Quds, you see. For those not in the know, that’s the intelligence branch of my people. Stealth ops, wetwork, false flags, hostage taking, wicked things we used to do, and still do now I suppose.”

 

[Emperor Sagan]

"I e-e-excel in many things," Lucy announced shortly after Typhon, almost as if she was speaking to no one but the wind. "My system coordination and processing is u-u-unmatched in the technical field. I am proficient in numerous disciplines, including n-n-nuclear application, biological engineering, and multi-level m-m-managerial processing."

Her voice had yet to improve during her stay with the crew, and it remained static-washed and filled with corruption. Even had these errors been done away with, her tone and mannerism of speech was still distinctively uncomfortable. It was near emotionless, but it held an undercurrent of delusional awareness that kept it from ever being monotone.

"Weakness. I am unfamiliar with animal husbandry and culinary p-p-pursuits."

 

[Infab]

Lauren spoke up next, though sarcastically at first. "Hi, my name is Lauren. I like drinkin', fightin', and killin'." she said, with a chuckle and grin. She glanced to the others, before sighing and speaking again. Normally, this time. "I'm good at shooting shit. Pistols, shotguns, SMGs, rifles, whatever." she says, holding up the SMG she was carrying.

She then let it dangle via its sling at her side, pulling out her plasma saber. "I'm also good at slicing things up with this." She then hit the button on the saber, forcing the green plasma beam to erupt from the weapon. She waved it about for a moment, before hitting the button again and slipping it back into a pouch on her hip. "As for other stuff...I can drive mechs and a few other vehicles pretty decently. Stuff like tanks and APCs. Drove a fighter once, but I wouldn't say I'm talented at it."

She then glanced back to the others again. "I guess I could also be classified as your 'moral support' out here in the field, since I'm your boss. Nothing says 'motivation' like your commander kicking you in the fucking ass and yelling at you."

 

[Doomevil]

"That's pretty good guys. What do we know about these screechers or other bad guys from this Elysium Commonwealth? I heard there was a bit of a fight going on in this territory, something about an Olympian Front. But other than that, I'm out of my league when it comes to galactic news or aliens." Nara admitted, keeping up with Nat and Kal on the front.

 

[ANIMAL MOTHER]

"To put it simply: the Olympian Front used to be the Commonwealth's military, but after the Starvis incident, that Space UN began to meddle and imposed strict standards on them not all were willing to follow, they've been trying to break away from them ever since. Now the Commonwealth wants to keep hold of their power and order over the region from the Front. So much so, they came to us for help..." Looking around to find Kalashi, he cuts her a look. "Is this not right, Kalashi?"

"If any of you read about the cruise liner hijacking incident in Olympian space... that was us."

 

[Doomevil]

"So there was a Space UN..." Nara said to herself when Typhon told her about the Elysian Commonwealth. Back at home, several of the old timers talked about an organization within the galactic community. She, unfortunately, didn't know much about them. But she did know about their past deeds centuries ago, almost like folktales about defending the Galaxy from a large Empire that set planets ablaze.

"Anything about this Space UN? Was there an official name?" Nara asked.

 

[DG-117]

Pearl simply nodded and followed Lauren's word to the letter. Her body's unique chemistry allowed Pearl to ignore environmental hazards such as this planet's toxic atmosphere and needed to do little more than change her visor's settings to suit the polluted climate.

Once the Crew had finally disbarked, Pearl took a short pause to kneel. Letting her body accommodate to the planet's gravity as the Sanghvi were usually a space-bound species that found life planetside difficult due to their silicate nature. Nevertheless, Pearl was able to quickly adapt to such conditions after years of training. She slowly picked herself up off the ground and started to nervously scan her surroundings.

Pearl was quite paranoid, memories of her brief yet tense experiences with Commonwealth patrols were now especially prominent in her busy head. Not to mention Taur and Val's faces after the Phalanx's raid on the Orchomenos colony was particularly worrying. She knew that they didn't really care for the Olympian's cause but they treated the Reavers' well and were generally nice if impatient people. If ever happen there and to them was enough to shake those two, then Pearl knew that they wouldn't treat the Reavers any better here.

Yet, as Pearl was stuck in a state of paralyzation by analysis, she was seemly deaf to Nara's chatter as she dwelled on such thoughts.


===

Kalashi took a brief moment to adjust the seals on her cybernetic body before leaving the Mordred's cargo bay, making sure that it was airtight and ready for active duty. She nabbed a worn set of ceramic plates from her Fighter's tight cargo compartment, the armor was covered in scratches, dents and energy burns from over three decades of service. It served well enough for her then and it should last long enough now. She inserted them in a reckless fashion over her body, jamming them a place with a harsh push.

Kalashi was quite dissatisfied at her current predicament, looking over the rest of the team with an almost hateful stare. Yet, she wasn't left with any other choice as those corporate bastards took away her profession and thrown her back at stage 1, where she was just her "undisclosed discharge" from the Collective's State Security.

However, Kalashi refocused herself back onto the task at hand. Finished prepping her gear, Kalashi grabbed her Plasma-Pistol from the Compartment. It was a custom piece, built specifically by the Collective's many years ago for use in the hands of their Cyber Troops like Kalashi. While the years have not been too kind to the weapon's temperamental systems. It's been kept functional by Kalashi's own hands and is still in very good shape considering the age of the gun and it has enough kick as a standard Plasma Carbine.

Kalashi packed a few other goodies with her such as an Auto-Grapnel, Clip-and-Drop pack and Remote Scanners. She also took a few Concussion Grenades and Pyrophoric Flares along with a disposable Las-Tube, An compact, one-shot laser cannon in case things start getting too hot down there.

After getting her gears sorted and a shot of Tox latter, Kalashi met with the rest of them and started moving out by Lauren's order. She had point, while Kalashi shot Blue a cold state back at her before moving up careful along the rock-line, while acted annoyed, Kalashi didn't mind too much, it was a long time before she had some fun at the front of the spear. Yet she stopped herself momentarily as that pale Lion fuck started pressing her about old times as other rock and his friend pestered about everyone talking about themselves as if this was some kind of fuckin clubhouse.

"You again..." She whispered under her breath, shooting him a much more hateful stare before looking at the rest of the party. As while she hated pirates like the Reavers, she absolutely loathed butchers like the Lions that attack kill without care or class. Who are no better than the scum they hunt.

"Yes, I've worked for these fucking tools many times. I've personally led their kill-teams over this sorry side of the Gaxaly on Hunter-Killer Missions, we usually targeted pirates and rebel groups. But sometimes one Executive wants another out of the picture and get an outside person, people like me to get rid of them so they can take one more step on their bloody corporate ladder. I've killed a lot of people, I won't lie. Criminals, Freedom fighters...Fuck, Even civilians." Kalashi explained to the rest of them in a casual tone, her voice getting a tad more somber at the end.

"Too many people..." Kalashi said lowly with an almost remorseful look on her eyes, staring at the ground for a few seconds before squinting her eyes and looking straight through Typhon.

"But my greatest regret is ever working with you lot..." Kalashi said in a bitter, hate-filled voice towards Typhon.

 

[ANIMAL MOTHER]

Typhon shakes his head, unfazed by Kalashi's grimacing towards him. "That is one of the most sweetest things anyone's ever said about us. Save the hostilities for the enemy, will you? Perhaps today you might get a chance to repay the Commonwealth for all the things they've made you do, right?”

 

[DG-117]

Kalashi eased a little, taking a step back from Typhon as her eyes lessened in intensity. "Maybe..." Kalashi muttered lowly. "They're only one out of a few dozen on my shit list, both of you fuckers are pretty high up on there."

Kalashi Stared at him for a second before letting out a loud grunt under her mask. "But I'm getting paid to kill Corpos today, lucky you," Kalashi said in hostile tone before turning her back on him and taking a few steps forward on the path ahead of the team.

"By the way," Kalashi relates freely over the comms towards her fellow teammates. "The Name's Kalashi, don't forget it."

 

[ANIMAL MOTHER]

This is the perfect time for Typhon to make a snide comeback and he knew it, but unfortunately, they’re all together on a mission that requires their full attention. So for now, he has to walk and take Kalashi’s threat, even if he knows she’s spiteful enough she might actually act on it eventually. This wouldn’t be the first time something like this has happened to him.

“We’ll settle this later, but for now, let’s focus on the business at hand.”