Post by EmperorMyric on Mar 22, 2021 16:01:09 GMT
Lost Star, a lawless place where everything can happen, be it good or bad. There, inside a rather small room of a fairly small bar sat two individuals. They were Davian's agents sent here for a mission. Beside them there would be 6 more heavily armed Davian troops who acted as escorts, an armored cybernetic tiger lying lazily next to the door and a winged SAI floating on the room's corner.
Taking a drink from his alcoholic beverage, Orochi eyed the guards one by one, next to him sat what could only be explained as a very bulky, very heavy-looking Dectrothian woman, augmentations covered most of her body, as she sat with Orochi, also inspecting the guards. Even on Lost Star, so many guards might arose suspicion, but the place they chose was seedy, the bartender watching the scene closely, probably with some sort of firearm under the bar within reach. Orochi turned his small, white pupils towards the agents slowly, as if scanning the room before settling his eyes on them. "So." He began with a somewhat high-pitched tone, his voice not appearing to sound like that of some grizzled veteran or some mercenary.
"I hear from my friends that you need some help." He gave a slight shrug "I can give you help, few questions asked, but you know that my services aren't free." He turned to face them fully now, his arm tapping on the counter next to his beverage in an odd sounding way, like a beetle being dropped on a wood surface "So let's get to the point, what do you need me to do?"
"To bolster our forces for the ongoing war, more specifically to support our forces in offensive and defensive operations. In short: to help us kick some asses." One of the agents replied: "People said, 'the more, the merrier' right? And we happen to need more hands in this."
The other agent continued: "And of course we know this business is not free, so let's talk from there. Firstly what can you offer and what is your price?"
The bug-like creature tapped what would be described as fingers on the drink, lost in thought it would appear, before focusing his gaze back to the agents "Well then you asked the right person in your circumstances. I can offer 150 vessels ranging from Escorts to Destroyers, of course in exchange for 75 Light Tanks that you may have to offer. The Dectrose Military aren't too forthcoming with selling their stock of Duelist II Light Tanks, and your Hussars might prove to be a valuable asset in my service." He gave a grin "Though if you want, I can increase my offer to 250 vessels if you can provide to me 50 Anti-Aircraft Vehicles."
To Orochi, the offer seemed fair, he would get some much-needed ground assets, in return for assisting the Davians in their conflict, such a gain would also open up other contracts that may come his way that required tracks on the ground.
"Such price is... reasonable." The agent looked toward the bar's door and thought for a few minutes: "Alright we will exchange 100 Hussar Type II Light Tanks, export version, as well as 50 Anti-Air Vehicles along with technical support and training for your boys for the service of your 250 ships. We heard that you and your men do have rather solid fighting experience and we hope that's the true. Besides, as a military man, we hope that you would be honorable enough for us to trust you."
"Also, Mister Orochi, you may want to try this." The other agent put a bottle on the table: "QL wine, it's one of our unique liquors. You won't find it here. This one in particular was handmade with natural materials."
The bottle stood in place like a soldier at attention on the table for a moment, before Orochi broke the silence "An additional 25 Light Tanks of your newest stock? Not even the Dectrose would match that kind of offer, but before I sign any kind of contract, What exactly do you want my men and machines to provide in the way of 'services'?"
"Indeed it's additional 25 Light Tanks. For the service, let's see... I'm sure you had heard about our war against the invading AURA. You would also probably know that several factions had come to our aid and there was a big shooting in the Voi Con system. And you may or may not know that these AURA are trying to seduce or threaten our friends to stop helping us through a so-called 'negotiation' and some 'third parties' are trying to chuck their nooses into this war. Thus we feel it is necessary to find some other solutions. There is a lot of work so here are the details."
The Davian's agent opened a small visualized galaxy map and put it on the table. The holomap was small enough to see from afar but would provide enough detail for those sitting on the table.
"- Firstly, we need escorts for some of our transport units to relieve our forces for other tasks. Specifically we want you to provide 50 ships to escort our transports from this point to this point." With a motion of the agent's finger a road appeared which linked 2 points on the map. The first point would be located just outside of the Northern Part of Davian's territories and the other point would be somewhere just outside the Western Part of the IRS's sphere of influence: "Now you will notice that these points are staying outside of anyone's border and I can assure you those points are indeed... empty. Our transports and their escorts would arrive at the beginning point; your escort units would be there and escort them to the end point, at the end point we or our friends would take over the escorting. Of course we would provide warships of our own throughout the journey.
In case of a raid, then we expect you to fight back while you wait for backup. Also, this part of the road may prove to be dangerous as it's rather near the traitorous Anthenera's territories." With another motion, part of the road between the known Anthenera's territory and the phasic zone glowed up: "We had chosen the road to be as far from their known territories as possible, but more attention may be need. It should be noted that the convoys may or may not include vessels from our friends."
"- Secondly, the rest of your ships would be kept in reserve somewhere, ideally near our territory or within your FTL's range. This would allow you to quickly jump into our territories should the invaders try to attack us. This would give you some element of surprise. The location of this staging point and communication method can be negotiated later but we suggest you to keep your forces near the transport road so you can dispatch forces quickly to stop the raid."
"- That's the defensive part of our current territories. Here's the more tricky part Mister Orochi. In case the AURA and the third party troublemakers successfully pressure our friends to abandon the fight or in case our current situation is untenable then we will need to evacuate our entire territory. Now that it seem hard to do but truly it's not that hard since 19th sector is in fact no more than a military and mining operation so the scale won't be too large. Besides, we are already removing unnecessary elements from our territory back to other sector. If this happens, then we need all your forces to protect the evacuation. Detail for this would be worked on, in case it does happen."
"- Lastly, in case we make an offensive ourselves against them, then we expect you to join it with most of your forces. The plan for the offensive would be worked on later."
"Well Mister Orochi we hope you now have some knowledge about what we expect you to do."
"Hmm, it's pretty well-thought out, I'll need to set up shop at several points along your route, But I can assume you will likely be using FTL travel to get to the points, and the only stops you'll be making are course corrections to keep yourselves away from the hostile territory. As long as we know the stops, if you're attacked we'll have an advantage in knowing the location as well as response time. Of course, I don't expect much in the way of trouble, but you do sound like you need more than 250 combat vessels. If I can gather up some used cargo freighters, I would imagine you'd pay me a little extra to have them crewed and for my men to assist you in evacuation efforts."
He weighed the risks and benefits in his head, siding with what would appear externally as a losing party might cost him reputation or even assets, however, if his PMC where to successfully complete their missions, he could likely expect more lucrative payments in the future. Hosting his forces in the Davian's territory proved to be another concern, if AURA attacked in force, the best his small group of vessels could do is harass the enemy or screen against carrier attacks. The latter was likely a better option, shooting down larger missiles, intercepting some of the smaller ones and fighting snubcraft and drones would likely be his best bet. For now, this was the first real contract, and if AURA settled down, or at best couldn't locate a target, that would be the best outcome. Then he'd simply guide transports out, a dull, but rewarding job.
Though the offensive talk gave him some worry as well, his forces where not large enough to tackle an enemy bloc, and he spoke up on this "The only real concern I have is your talk of offensive operations. My small vessel count would hardly make a dent in a combined AURA force. The best we could do is screen for your vessels, or begin hit and run tactics on their logistics. Though we couldn't keep up those kinds of attacks for long because the enemy will start countering our attacks. Being reasonable, I would ask to opt out of your larger engagements, and instead be present at your smaller skirmishes. Realistically, my smaller force just wouldn't be effective at large battles."
He twitched his antennae, deeply gazing at the agents, as his Dectrothian friend finished her drink and gave a look around at the gathered group. "So, write us out of the large offensive operations and we can consider it a deal."
"Like usual, we will use our FTL drives to jump from one point to the other." The agent replied: "So your idea to set up shop along the arriving posts is a sound strategy. Anyway, as you said, the second part of the road would be rather safe as we had not detected any troubles there so you better watch the first part. Besides to ensure the safety of the convoys, we may change the arriving posts from time to time and would announce it to you should it happen. Communication and secrecy would be important here."
The agent then turned to the second part of the conversation: "Indeed we need more than 250 warships and in this kind of total war everything count so if you can gather those freighters then we can negotiate about it. Even if we don't have to evacuate then they would still be useful for transporting goods or serve as logistic units. Not to say these Non-Davian ships can be seen as neutral and would have better chance to avoid being attacked."
"That argument is actually... reasonable." The agent thought for a while: "Your small forces may not be effective in a large scale battle and we all understand that you need to preserve your forces. Yet we still need more hands on our part so how about this: in case of large offensive operations we may call for your service, yet it would be considered as separate contract and of course you can decline it. I think that way both of us would have much wider options. That way you can, in one hand be able to preserve your forces while in the other hand can join the show, earn more rewards, loot and boost your reputation. For us we have yet another option as your ships would be useful as screen or skirmishers. For looting, we would assure most of the loot would belong to you. What do you think?"
"For skirmishing battle, we're ok with it but we want you to be careful to not waste your forces. Shall we have a deal?"
He tapped the bottle of wine a few times, thinking deeply, weighing his options, the new terms that they spoke of, the loot and reputation would be a boost, and he could make more profit off of any large battles he could pick and choose from, and then gain loot from that, gaining more assets. breathlessly, he nodded and took the bottle in his grip "It's a deal, the Whistling Arrow Intergalactic PMC is at your disposal."
"So be it then." The agent gave out a nod: "The Divine Davia Empire is appreciating for your service and would honor this contract."
The other agent then spoke: "Alright, before we start, I hope you understand that this is genocidal war on AURA's part and these so-called 'civilizations' have not shown any idea about honor nor mercy, so expect no quarter and load of underhanded tactics on their side. Besides, don't feel surprised if they try to bribe or threaten you to abandon your contract as they have no honor and think everyone are as traitorous as the Anthenera."
The first agent then put a finely crafted wooden box on the table: "Finally Mister Orochi, consider this as a gift." He opened the box. Within it was a state of the art, golden-clad plasma rifle: "We typically give it to first contacts and friendly factions."
"Now with your allowance we have other work to do." The agent stood up followed by the other: "Alright everyone we are done here."
Then in a sudden move nearly all customers within the bar stood up and quietly walked out.
"We will meet again later Mister Orochi. Godspeed."
Taking a drink from his alcoholic beverage, Orochi eyed the guards one by one, next to him sat what could only be explained as a very bulky, very heavy-looking Dectrothian woman, augmentations covered most of her body, as she sat with Orochi, also inspecting the guards. Even on Lost Star, so many guards might arose suspicion, but the place they chose was seedy, the bartender watching the scene closely, probably with some sort of firearm under the bar within reach. Orochi turned his small, white pupils towards the agents slowly, as if scanning the room before settling his eyes on them. "So." He began with a somewhat high-pitched tone, his voice not appearing to sound like that of some grizzled veteran or some mercenary.
"I hear from my friends that you need some help." He gave a slight shrug "I can give you help, few questions asked, but you know that my services aren't free." He turned to face them fully now, his arm tapping on the counter next to his beverage in an odd sounding way, like a beetle being dropped on a wood surface "So let's get to the point, what do you need me to do?"
"To bolster our forces for the ongoing war, more specifically to support our forces in offensive and defensive operations. In short: to help us kick some asses." One of the agents replied: "People said, 'the more, the merrier' right? And we happen to need more hands in this."
The other agent continued: "And of course we know this business is not free, so let's talk from there. Firstly what can you offer and what is your price?"
The bug-like creature tapped what would be described as fingers on the drink, lost in thought it would appear, before focusing his gaze back to the agents "Well then you asked the right person in your circumstances. I can offer 150 vessels ranging from Escorts to Destroyers, of course in exchange for 75 Light Tanks that you may have to offer. The Dectrose Military aren't too forthcoming with selling their stock of Duelist II Light Tanks, and your Hussars might prove to be a valuable asset in my service." He gave a grin "Though if you want, I can increase my offer to 250 vessels if you can provide to me 50 Anti-Aircraft Vehicles."
To Orochi, the offer seemed fair, he would get some much-needed ground assets, in return for assisting the Davians in their conflict, such a gain would also open up other contracts that may come his way that required tracks on the ground.
"Such price is... reasonable." The agent looked toward the bar's door and thought for a few minutes: "Alright we will exchange 100 Hussar Type II Light Tanks, export version, as well as 50 Anti-Air Vehicles along with technical support and training for your boys for the service of your 250 ships. We heard that you and your men do have rather solid fighting experience and we hope that's the true. Besides, as a military man, we hope that you would be honorable enough for us to trust you."
"Also, Mister Orochi, you may want to try this." The other agent put a bottle on the table: "QL wine, it's one of our unique liquors. You won't find it here. This one in particular was handmade with natural materials."
The bottle stood in place like a soldier at attention on the table for a moment, before Orochi broke the silence "An additional 25 Light Tanks of your newest stock? Not even the Dectrose would match that kind of offer, but before I sign any kind of contract, What exactly do you want my men and machines to provide in the way of 'services'?"
"Indeed it's additional 25 Light Tanks. For the service, let's see... I'm sure you had heard about our war against the invading AURA. You would also probably know that several factions had come to our aid and there was a big shooting in the Voi Con system. And you may or may not know that these AURA are trying to seduce or threaten our friends to stop helping us through a so-called 'negotiation' and some 'third parties' are trying to chuck their nooses into this war. Thus we feel it is necessary to find some other solutions. There is a lot of work so here are the details."
The Davian's agent opened a small visualized galaxy map and put it on the table. The holomap was small enough to see from afar but would provide enough detail for those sitting on the table.
"- Firstly, we need escorts for some of our transport units to relieve our forces for other tasks. Specifically we want you to provide 50 ships to escort our transports from this point to this point." With a motion of the agent's finger a road appeared which linked 2 points on the map. The first point would be located just outside of the Northern Part of Davian's territories and the other point would be somewhere just outside the Western Part of the IRS's sphere of influence: "Now you will notice that these points are staying outside of anyone's border and I can assure you those points are indeed... empty. Our transports and their escorts would arrive at the beginning point; your escort units would be there and escort them to the end point, at the end point we or our friends would take over the escorting. Of course we would provide warships of our own throughout the journey.
In case of a raid, then we expect you to fight back while you wait for backup. Also, this part of the road may prove to be dangerous as it's rather near the traitorous Anthenera's territories." With another motion, part of the road between the known Anthenera's territory and the phasic zone glowed up: "We had chosen the road to be as far from their known territories as possible, but more attention may be need. It should be noted that the convoys may or may not include vessels from our friends."
"- Secondly, the rest of your ships would be kept in reserve somewhere, ideally near our territory or within your FTL's range. This would allow you to quickly jump into our territories should the invaders try to attack us. This would give you some element of surprise. The location of this staging point and communication method can be negotiated later but we suggest you to keep your forces near the transport road so you can dispatch forces quickly to stop the raid."
"- That's the defensive part of our current territories. Here's the more tricky part Mister Orochi. In case the AURA and the third party troublemakers successfully pressure our friends to abandon the fight or in case our current situation is untenable then we will need to evacuate our entire territory. Now that it seem hard to do but truly it's not that hard since 19th sector is in fact no more than a military and mining operation so the scale won't be too large. Besides, we are already removing unnecessary elements from our territory back to other sector. If this happens, then we need all your forces to protect the evacuation. Detail for this would be worked on, in case it does happen."
"- Lastly, in case we make an offensive ourselves against them, then we expect you to join it with most of your forces. The plan for the offensive would be worked on later."
"Well Mister Orochi we hope you now have some knowledge about what we expect you to do."
"Hmm, it's pretty well-thought out, I'll need to set up shop at several points along your route, But I can assume you will likely be using FTL travel to get to the points, and the only stops you'll be making are course corrections to keep yourselves away from the hostile territory. As long as we know the stops, if you're attacked we'll have an advantage in knowing the location as well as response time. Of course, I don't expect much in the way of trouble, but you do sound like you need more than 250 combat vessels. If I can gather up some used cargo freighters, I would imagine you'd pay me a little extra to have them crewed and for my men to assist you in evacuation efforts."
He weighed the risks and benefits in his head, siding with what would appear externally as a losing party might cost him reputation or even assets, however, if his PMC where to successfully complete their missions, he could likely expect more lucrative payments in the future. Hosting his forces in the Davian's territory proved to be another concern, if AURA attacked in force, the best his small group of vessels could do is harass the enemy or screen against carrier attacks. The latter was likely a better option, shooting down larger missiles, intercepting some of the smaller ones and fighting snubcraft and drones would likely be his best bet. For now, this was the first real contract, and if AURA settled down, or at best couldn't locate a target, that would be the best outcome. Then he'd simply guide transports out, a dull, but rewarding job.
Though the offensive talk gave him some worry as well, his forces where not large enough to tackle an enemy bloc, and he spoke up on this "The only real concern I have is your talk of offensive operations. My small vessel count would hardly make a dent in a combined AURA force. The best we could do is screen for your vessels, or begin hit and run tactics on their logistics. Though we couldn't keep up those kinds of attacks for long because the enemy will start countering our attacks. Being reasonable, I would ask to opt out of your larger engagements, and instead be present at your smaller skirmishes. Realistically, my smaller force just wouldn't be effective at large battles."
He twitched his antennae, deeply gazing at the agents, as his Dectrothian friend finished her drink and gave a look around at the gathered group. "So, write us out of the large offensive operations and we can consider it a deal."
"Like usual, we will use our FTL drives to jump from one point to the other." The agent replied: "So your idea to set up shop along the arriving posts is a sound strategy. Anyway, as you said, the second part of the road would be rather safe as we had not detected any troubles there so you better watch the first part. Besides to ensure the safety of the convoys, we may change the arriving posts from time to time and would announce it to you should it happen. Communication and secrecy would be important here."
The agent then turned to the second part of the conversation: "Indeed we need more than 250 warships and in this kind of total war everything count so if you can gather those freighters then we can negotiate about it. Even if we don't have to evacuate then they would still be useful for transporting goods or serve as logistic units. Not to say these Non-Davian ships can be seen as neutral and would have better chance to avoid being attacked."
"That argument is actually... reasonable." The agent thought for a while: "Your small forces may not be effective in a large scale battle and we all understand that you need to preserve your forces. Yet we still need more hands on our part so how about this: in case of large offensive operations we may call for your service, yet it would be considered as separate contract and of course you can decline it. I think that way both of us would have much wider options. That way you can, in one hand be able to preserve your forces while in the other hand can join the show, earn more rewards, loot and boost your reputation. For us we have yet another option as your ships would be useful as screen or skirmishers. For looting, we would assure most of the loot would belong to you. What do you think?"
"For skirmishing battle, we're ok with it but we want you to be careful to not waste your forces. Shall we have a deal?"
He tapped the bottle of wine a few times, thinking deeply, weighing his options, the new terms that they spoke of, the loot and reputation would be a boost, and he could make more profit off of any large battles he could pick and choose from, and then gain loot from that, gaining more assets. breathlessly, he nodded and took the bottle in his grip "It's a deal, the Whistling Arrow Intergalactic PMC is at your disposal."
"So be it then." The agent gave out a nod: "The Divine Davia Empire is appreciating for your service and would honor this contract."
The other agent then spoke: "Alright, before we start, I hope you understand that this is genocidal war on AURA's part and these so-called 'civilizations' have not shown any idea about honor nor mercy, so expect no quarter and load of underhanded tactics on their side. Besides, don't feel surprised if they try to bribe or threaten you to abandon your contract as they have no honor and think everyone are as traitorous as the Anthenera."
The first agent then put a finely crafted wooden box on the table: "Finally Mister Orochi, consider this as a gift." He opened the box. Within it was a state of the art, golden-clad plasma rifle: "We typically give it to first contacts and friendly factions."
"Now with your allowance we have other work to do." The agent stood up followed by the other: "Alright everyone we are done here."
Then in a sudden move nearly all customers within the bar stood up and quietly walked out.
"We will meet again later Mister Orochi. Godspeed."