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Post by EmperorMyric on Jun 8, 2021 10:20:56 GMT
AME076/5/2
Lost Star: Administrative District
The hit had already gone out and Curry was getting annoyed about the prospect of having to work over his designated shift hours.
The missings persons case was clear, handed down supposedly from top brass to be handled by whoever had the time or the patients and contacts to carry out the job. Curry had the contacts, and the information, he just didnt have any time or patience hell neither did anyone in the entire fucking department. HT. Co was a designated search agency which operated out of Lost Star, they specialised in tracking down individuals and missing persons, half the time it was for some rando hick who had wandered off from his wife and who had paid alot of money to try find him, other times it was for corporate hit jobs or any form of bounty hunting. HT.Co didnt care about why their charges were being found, only that they were.
The case was for a perculiar individual and Curry gave it a brief look over. He didnt have the time to investigate, he was already up to 18 cases so far this week, instead he quickly called his boss and asked for the nessecary funds in order to hire some arms and legs. It was usual for the company to hire out free lancers to do the leg and dirty work, while HT employees directed them and worked systems and info mining in the background, it looked like this would be such a time.
As such it took a few moments for Curry to put the job out onto the Ancnet. Anyone on Lost Star would likely be jumping it in moments for a quite hit of cash.
It took exactly 617 seconds from the time the missing person message was originally sent out for a new ship in system to suddenly arrive. It was a 36 meter long former and heavily stripped down and modified Coalition escort craft that once was a part of the new colony and fleet but was no longer. Instead at the helms was AI Shard - 471 ‘SADIA’, a fragment of a coalition AI that shattered when its original ship was destroyed in the flight to Kepler and now had the simple goal of survival through success of Ancnet bounties that seemed to be in a constant excess. The machine for the most part relied on pure logical reasoning for success but over years of independence it was beginning to develop a slight personality from its parent AI and purpose. In a methodical and mechanical manner the easily forty year old vessel made its way to the location the message was sent from on Lost Star, the ring system and the ruthless economic hub of this new galaxy.
The Knights of The Frontier Legion within the UNE Military Colonial Force had often times, even for Colonials, been known to carry out black operations mercenary work. Said work was usually done by Freeblades or Ronin's with no lords nor masters but their own. One such Freeblade was former Veteran Sergeant Rhakar Tynarus a former member of the Tempest Ravens Chapter of the 63rd Frontier Defense Corps and he was always a problem soldier, more akin to the Gray Omega's Chapter of the Steel Wolves under Chapter Master Logan Dragonmoon. Rhakar thought to himself as his destroyer blasted through the void, a 2km chiseled monster of guns and armor that looked as if it were carved from the spires of a mountain range and turned into a starship, about the past and of a potential future. Unfortunately for the Frontier Legion, like most Knights, were unable to have families much less children due to them having sexual instinct and all that removed from their minds. Rhakar was a tall and strong man at 8'7" with more strength and intelligence than necessary for a Knight but he still had a job to do. His ship was en route to the Lost Star due to the information put out on Ancnet and he sat in his command chair overlooking the files his AI Richard provided across his HUD
Rhakar looked over the information again before telling Richard to cease feed of data. He tried to relax but his hand still flexed over his plasma blades dormant hilt. "Exiled from my brothers and sisters and now on some missing persons mission....as if i needed this" he thought to himself. His ship and crew were some of the best Destroyer class and Destroyer crew the navy had ever produced from the Academies in the UNE forward systems but Rhakar still had his doubts on the captains loyalty as he looked at him subtly through his helmets 360 degree scanner unit in his helmet. The Penitent Blade soon exited void space, a lethal and howling portal of psychic fury and storming violence was torn open upon reality vomiting forth the 2km monstrous bulk of the Blade into real space when Rhakar gave his orders
Rhakar: "Shut down void drives, switch to sublight plasma engines, raise void and deflector shielding. Arm Plasma Cannons on passive energy feed and Sensor officer start your track, i want as much of the area mapped out as possible. Communications officer scan for communications nodes. I want an update on what this place is....." he said then paused "....and send the crew to their battlestations" Before standing up and walking towards his armory to review his weapons and train a bit
The others weren’t the only ones seeking to take up the contract, but they were far more likely to be drawn by a certain emotional pull to it than the Poisonites. The Poisonites Syndicate had used HT. Co for business operations in the past. They had historically proven to be an effective means of mobilizing galactic assets to find people about the voids of space that the cartel wanted. Likewise, the Poisonites had previously acted on a couple of occasions as a local hired augment to acquire information on their homeplanet. Now the Poisonites had caught word of a rather amicable proposal put out by HT. Co for a missing person. It was irregular for the Poisonites to involve themselves in such contracts when they did not involve finding someone on Natar, but this was different. Not due to some compelling sob-story or morally-hooking cry for help. Put simply, the cash was good. It certainly compensated for any costs required for the Poisonites to extend themselves all the way out to Lost Star.
Mernis Onoro, the man at the top of the entire Poisonite operation, himself was going. Armed with his traditional attire: A dusty old overcoat that disguised his layers of cloth and a shoulder holster, a set of black denim trousers tucked into his thick leather boots and some thin, long gloves that did nothing to hinder his ability to go for his trigger. For head protection, the merc kept with his iconic wide-brimmed hat. If anything it would help to keep a low profile on his face. His wear was simple, it did the job in offer mobility and some protection, but most importantly it prevented Onoro from effectively declaring to the world, ” I am an armed gunman outfitted with enough layers of armour to take on an artillery shell, i'm here for trouble!”. In other words, his outfit allowed him to do his job and how he liked it: Professionally and with discretion.
The Teliran freelancer simply slipped a handful of cards into a worker’s pocket and nodded as he stepped off from the merchant ship’s ramp into the streets of Lost Star. Despite having no apparent clue exactly where the main offices for HT. Co were located, and a complete stranger to the Administrative District, Mernis did not even stop for one moment. He might be new to the place, but he was wiser than to give away any sign of cluelessness or vulnerability when in an unknown environment.
Instead, like a machine, he briskly began gliding down street after street. Clocking any landmarks as they showed up and processing an idea as to the location according to the description of its surroundings given by the company worker’s back at the Natar branch. It took a short while, but just like it was nothing, the silent freelancer zeroed in on the HT. CO headquarters and suddenly made a beeline straight towards it.
After a brief system wide trek in the older human made and stripped down escort craft it docked inside a hanger in Lost Star close to the H.T. Corp headquarters. Stubby landing gear extended from the bottom of the small hovering warship to touch it down on the landing pad the second the thrust stopped, it was perfectly calculated. It took a few minutes until a humanoidal figure clambered out unnaturally from the bottom air lock carrying a long black carry case. It was Shard 471, an old Centauri combat robot with an equally old Coalition made artificial intelligence using it as a physical avatar. After briefly paying the dock to keep his ship there and turning on strong security measures the robot sent off above ‘ground’ to the HT Corp head quarters for the mission dedicated solely to acquire more currency to improve ship functions and operations through bounty hunting and other odd work, the payment provided here was substantially enough. Shard 471 worked on its own, long lost to the remnant fleet that came to this new galaxy, and quite simply desired in an AI sense survival. It walked through the streets and crowds carrying the case beside it while its sensory systems and processors took incredibly accurate readings for all surroundings and people to be catalogued and analyzed. The machine itself was six and a half feet tall and clearly robotic, smooth yet utilitarian metal panelling made up its legs that ended in claw like feet, similar for its arms that had semi visible black muscle esq fibers assisted with strong servos for its accurate observations. The chest was seemingly utilitarian as well, with a bandolier over the shoulder and to the side of the constantly moving sensor node filled head. Shard 471 had a slight uncanniness for its appearance, it was clearly inspired from the human form but was neither male nor female, it was simply a machine. It continued to the headquarters for the job.
Only a mere handful of Artificia had decided to leave the relative safety of Unanimity space's boundaries. They all had their reasons, be it simple adventure, boredom, a seek for funds and fame, a want to explore alien cultures, or simply because they wanted something else to do. The Artificia knew all too well what the galaxy thought of them; Ancnet had made sure of that. That only meant only the bravest among them had decided to go ahead with it anyway, while the majority of them remained behind the guns of the Navy, and even further on the far side of the wormhole in the Arades Rift.
Meyhna was among those few. A vibrant though not overwhelming tone of orange clad in a light envirosuit with her hair tied back into a loose bun, Meyhna hadn't really been sure where she was going in her wanderings, but had found herself on Lost Star. A lot of humans--and other things, admittedly--, too many guys with guns to let her feel safe shanking anyone who tried to flirt with her, and not enough money to leave again. That left her in a predicament. It was to her fortune she found the notice for the missing persons case, reading it over ignoring the catcalls of a local drunkard. She should probably leave her helmet on more often. She could probably afford a ride to a more favourable dump with the reward from that. Checking that, fortunately, nobody had stolen her weapons, Meyhna strode off for where it said to go.
HT.Co HQ was located in the main administrative segment of Lost Star, on Ring 1, known as the most grand and lucrative of the three rings that orbited the Accirus star. The district itself however, was far from grand, but it was extremely lucrative. It was like one giant maze of monolithic blocks, each huge tower was hundreds of stories tall, housing hundreds of companies who paid by floor space. Some had only one floor to themselves or shared with smaller companies and only had a room or two while others had many floors all interconnected, the richest had not only one entire block building but several of them. HT.Co was in the latter half.
The company was massive and the data pings from the job had shown those who had taken it up a waypoint system to to the HQ of the company, one of the lesser grey blocks which rose for kilometers into the sky, like a concrete jungle which blocked out all light on the dark streets below illuminated by small yellow street lights. Surprisingly, there was little security here. HT.Co had some unarmed security guards out front by the doors and many more inside. A full checkpoint system was found inside the block building where they were heading, a receptionist sat at a table on one side while security guards saw a steady flow of people move in and out through weapons detectors and sensor systems. It seemed security was tight, and a no weapons allowed sign was displayed on the wall in front. The guards were there to oversee such and confiscate those weapons that were brought in, handing them back when people left.
Curry was on the 147th floor. However those who had taken the job were directed to floor 61 for full briefing and data about the subject and job.
Shard 471 made its way through the security checkpoint in a concise and efficient manner. When asked to turn over its weapons it removed the pistol bandolier from its ‘chest’ and the black case. The robot opened it to reveal 2 guns in it, one is a long barreled light machinegun and a plethora of other parts while the second was a sub machine gun of sorts. It left them with the security officers under the pretense it would get them back later, and they were not incredibly needed, the physical strength of the frame itself was a weapon enough. Every action the robot made was with purpose and it took a quick route up the elevator to the 61st floor. This job would hopefully provide it with enough money to repair the failing cooling system on the escort vessel, and for its own self improvement. This is what the AI thought about on they way up, along with pouring over the known case file again and again while scanning the nearby space. As the elevator reached the 61st floor the Shard 471 stepped out to see what was there.
The Knight had arrived via Redhawk class dropship after docking his destroyer at whatever dockyards lost star had and entered the building quietly. He observed the "No Weapons Allowed" sign and thought to himself "Well i'm a weapon and my armor counts as such....best not tell them i suppose" and hands in his rather large 100 round belt fed .80 caliber armor piercing incendiary kryptium cored Punisher Rifle with its XVT-72C pattern multi-spectral scope and plasma rifle underslung attachment that essentially made it a combi-weapon of sorts even if its charge capacity was naught but 3 shots before needing to reload the power cell. However, weapon specs werent necessary for the moment and the knights vambrace mounts were retracted into the armor given he couldnt feasibly remove them but he did take off his shoulder mount and pistol and put them down with the rifle. He then, after doing what was necessary, continued to walk forward to go meet with his employer.
Mernis himself had spent little to no time dilly-dallying. Arriving, the mercenary glanced to the sign so quickly it was almost uncertain that he had even seen it. Yet as he passed through the checkpoint, he almost robotically deployed his holster to the guards and allowed the check after consulting with the receptionist before silently continuing his journey. There was no point in taking a weapon into the first meeting with your paymaster really, except for protecting someone’s ego from feeling the disempowerment of losing hold of a weapon. But Mernis didn’t particularly care. He was nothing if that practical.
Making his way through the lobby and up to the 61st floor, the mercenary headed in without another word and simply waited. Leaning on a wall rather than finding a place to sit down. He always preferred to remain on his feet unless he was explicitly told no to. It gave him a greater ability to act if something was up.
Inside the room standing passively as well was the robotic frame of Shard 471, the sensor laden head on it moved to focus onto the newly arrived Mernis but none of its limbs moved. It to was one of the people that have taken up the bounty, an artificial being out for cash. The machine itself was around six and a half feet tall with smoother panelling on its limbs, its torso was rather slimly utilitarian with visible structural elements and the black artificial muscle mimicking fiber that provided its movement along with sensors. A voice coming from it spoke out, it was clearly a human sounding voice speaking in the common tongue of Lost Star, it did not have an accent nor did it seem to be neither male nor female as it addressed Mernis. “Another client for H.T. Corp missing persons case if I were to presume?”
Meyhna strolled in with a lackadaisical stride, handing over her twin double-barrel drum-fed smartshotguns with little fuss; if it came to it, she had other ways to defend herself. Not that the guards needed to know, if they didn't already. The Artifician woman eyed the others with a mild air of caution, but kept her hands to herself for the time being as she made her way up to the 61st, entering quietly, overhearing 471's words.
"Looks like we're becoming quite a crowd." she muttered, popping some gum in her mouth. "Might get cramped in here if it keeps up."
The meeting room itself was quite small indeed, massively drab and grey with no decoration other than some holographic pamplets concerning some old jobs or locations. Several seats dotted the room and a large holographic projector was located up front. When all had been assembled and they had taken their seats the holographics sprung to life creating an avatar of Curry (although much slimmer, well defined and generally not looking like him at all) and a data file on the missing persons.
"Good day all. Thank you for taking this job, the person in question we are looking for is rather devoid of details. Her appearance, and yes the gender does conflict with the initial file, we like to give the definitives when you get here, is a lithe and skinny women, mid thirties of Metropolitan descent, she supposedly has no hair and very fair skin complexition" The emitter brought up a visual ident of her "Her name as far as we can tell, is Twelve. However her background or anything about her has not been provided nor can we find anything on her. The employer requires her to be found as soon as possible, she may not even be on Lost Star but when you find her bring her back here. Payment is 250,000 Credits. Half up front now half when the jobs completed, if you fail your job or fuck something up expect that initial half to be taken from you. I will be your HT liason and offering backdoor and intelligence support. File says she is some kind of crazy so expect her to possibly fight you"
He then paused "Any questions?"
Mernis had given little more than a half-hearted nod to the robotic automation that had asked for their association. Instead choosing to remain silent and waited for the guy actually paying him to be here to actually show up. Surely enough, Curry did make his… Appearance in all the splendour of someone who couldn’t be arsed with traveling up and down a set of floors. Listening intently to the rather simple briefing, the Teliran simply broke the initial silence by inquiring.
“Is it 250,000 creds per person? Or am I splitting the reward with… Them”
Onoro bluntly asked, pointing and nodding to the others,
“The… Circus trio. The fleabag, the lightbulb and the walking photocopier? What’s the deal here?”
Meyhna huffed. "Hot shit coming from the knifeeared blueberry who doesn't look like he's slept since he was born." she grumbled, turning her attention back to Curry. Or, the projection of him, rather. "More importantly if any of us want anything, do we have any leads to start with? A springboard, so to speak?"
The Knight was silent until he got insulted and decided to poke a jab at him to show he wouldnt be messed with "Says the blue-skinned bastard who's got ears that make my scars look like beauty enhancements alien" his voice is gruff and menacing with a touch of a slight growl...
“This frame does not have a photocopier on it, your attempt at humor is invalid. Is there any information regarding Twelves last known location, or an image of Twelve that could be transferred over me to run through an image database to find current matches over cameras on Lost Star.”
Shard 471 replied to the present group. It did not seem to take the attempted insult from Mernis, however it did make a refute at its point. Shard 471 also ignored the animosity of the Artificia and the clearly augmented animal like creature, but it was still paid close attention to for further analysis. Currently however, the Shard had far more pressing things to use processing power on, such as attempting to find matches of those with that description on lost star. Another thing pressed the automatons robotic mind. “Which race is Twelve?”
The Teliran gave a little grin under his wide-brimmed hat at the responses to his slight against the gang. If anything, it was refreshing to hear people not just laughing off or trying to ignore his attempts to anger them. Back at home, leading the cartel effectively terrified anyone from having a spine, so something like this was a welcome surprise for the Teliran, though he did not show it.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t think you people were the sensitive type.”
He bluntly responded, maintaining his gaze over to Curry the entire time, awaiting an answer to his question.
The hologram of Curry flickered for a second before he replied.
"The money will be split equally between each party here, your all here because you were the lucky bastards to take this job, you all seem different no doubt that will help with the investigation" He tried very hard not to laugh at the jokes said aloud and clearly was bad at hiding stuff before he replied more.
"We do have two leads yes, an information broker down near the Shipbreaker yard and also a charter captain who said he was too lazy to come to us. You might be able to convince him to give over some information. Any monetary costs incurred by these interactions will be paid for by HT.Co however you have an alotted limit of 100,000 credits to use. This is a high profile case but we are not spending more than we can spare for it. Im sending the location of both to your personal links including the full image of Twelve, I have conducted some initial survelance sweeps, and found nothing at current. She is a human of the Metropolitan strain, in case you have no idea what that is ill send that info across too"
Mernis immediately scowled at the idea of splitting the reward, he preferred to turn a bigger profit and avoid teamwork, but in this case he relented and slowly nodded. Pushing himself off of the wall and moving forward a little, crossing his arms, the mercenary simply asked.
“Any rules and no-goes for getting answers from leads…?”
"That information on the 'Metropolitan Strain' will be needed. For the 100,000 it is to be split across the four of us as well, right? Or is it the more preferred payout of 100,000 per person. Does this 100,000 also carry over to us once this assignment is completed?"
Shard 471 replies back to the far slimmer image of Curry, the AI using that frame already was attempting to search public records to figure out some more on Curry out of its own jest. It would also attempt to use the facial mapping of the other three and runs them through the Lost star and Ancnet records to see where else and what else they have done before this. All of it was in order for this machine to further develop an understanding of what each and every person involved in the case was up to. The same sentiment was held with Mernis in that they should have gotten 250,000 a person, not split up among the other three questionable ones.
The Knight was still silent as he observed them. The data on him or his warriors was scant and very little was known aside from overview data and rumors/speculation but the details would elude 471. Rhakar thought to himself while he breathed very slowly, it even seemed like he didnt breathe at all, "Hm.....an odd bunch. I just pray nothing goes wrong. Its the last thing i need." before speaking up "So we have very little on Twelve aside from her being human of the Metropolitan strain and last known sightings?. I'd assume there's rapid transport on Lost Star or will we require our own methods?" he held a questioning and professional tone with no hint of emotion which was of course due to extremely good emotional state to vocal tone control
"Dont shoot them in the head or cause a huge scene. This company dosent mind violence or nondescript methods but outright execution or warfare to get what you need is a no go. Looks bad on the record. Also dont take months finding her, we want this done fast. Other than that its entirely up to you. As for payment its split 4 way, you get half now half when you complete the job. As for transport thats up to you, theres plenty of rapid transit links across the Ringworlds but if you prefer your own travel whatever, its your case now too handle it how you wish."
The facial mapping search would take time, despite the high bandwidth here the sheer population of Lost Star, not counting the trillions who came and went every day was going to take days even weeks to full search through. Perhaps there was some way the search could be assisted, either by hiring out a datacenter or getting help from a technologically inclined individual.
"But yea thats basically it. Good luck, I expect to hear from you soon with regular updates" Curry closed the link and the room once again became a bland empty space. It seemed now that the hunt was on.
Hot soup.
It didn't mean much to most people, certainly not in the richest districts of Lost Star, but for Zeno Cupric, it was the nicest thing he'd had in a while.
The mystic fairies of the Okekolu Accord learned long ago the best way to get around the greater galaxy was by shaking hands, and the InterSECT cop's hands had been shaking nonstop ever since he'd taken up this case. From simple food deliveries to every hoop he had to beat his wings through just to dock here, he'd been busy, and something soothing and so simple was sweet relief at this point.
Enyo Associates was a piece of work. Fraud, laundering, bribery, executives suspected of embezzlement, and the one that made life really inconvenient for Zeno, race fixing. Each time their name came up when some gangster or white-collar crook squealed and a billion-Astropolitan-Ting case kicked off, they were able to roll just out of the way of their suits getting jail while everyone called foul and the netizens all yelled at the Interplanetary Section for Extraordinary Crimes and Tactics to get off their butts and do something.
Well, Zeno thought as he took another spoonful, ladies and gentlemen of the public, may I present: something.(edited) [15:50] He checked the clock sitting at his desk in the elegant sloop that was his InterSECT-supplied office for this leg of his assignment, thought for a moment on how he was supposed to get from the docks to outside HT's offices in time, then snatched a burner phone he'd been supplied and called Curry's office.
"Hmm." the Artificia leant back on her heel, putting a hand to her chin. "As for our leads...the information broker is likely the more reliable source, but he's probably not gonna want to hand out info for free, and he's not gonna be as easy to persuade either. Depends how much we feel like emptying our corporate provisions. What do you all think?"
The Knight's face was neutral and calm betraying no emotion whatsoever, however, he was contemplating how he would go about doing this. He flexed his right hand over his Plasma Blades deactivated hilt for the time being to try and keep occupied
"My sub processors will be able to run some degree of facial processing to assist in the search. Locating the broker and allocating needed funds to procure its information will be needed."
Shard 471 said outloud, it processed the information that was said by Curry around not shooting the people of interest in the head and ran it as a less needed collateral damage. The silence from this "Knight", or atleast from what the AI has picked out from the Ancnet, was rather sparse beyond for a super soldiers designed for war and used by a colonial power known as the UNE. More skimming of the Ancnet was also being done, such as the locations of known information brokers to facilitate their search.
This machine did not seem to act in an incredibly emotion filled way, and didnt even bother to turn its head when it spoke, it already knew what was going on around it from sensor systems and cameras. From what it had already gathered, the Artificia appeared to be a looser cannon, not all that abiding to rules based on its cross comparison with other species emotions. The Teliran managed to seem rather hot headed as well based on a similar cross analysis.
“The information broker is also likely a capable swindler. I won’t pay him just to tell us they saw her in some bar.”
Onoro replied to the Artifician looking over to her, adding,
“If this captain has information that he’s simply too lazy to deliver or sell to the company, he’s also likely an idiot. I doubt it’d be too much work for me to get any information out of him- And for free too. All i’d need is a pair of pliers and some personal details on him.”
Turning to stare at Shard 471, looking the machine up and done for a short while as though he were inspecting some kind of car or domestic appliance.
“Are you programmed to interrogate people?”
The call to Curries office was about as quick as anyone would hope, endlessly being handed back and forth with cheesy telecom music playing down the line at every interval. Eventually the call connected and Curry, having just finished the briefing picked up the phone.
"Hello, this is Detective Curry speaking"
---
The group which was now wondering what to do next found itself pushed out of the briefing room. A small chime had sounded and the door opened to reveal 3 corporate looking security guards who waited for them to leave before entering the room themselves, the next batch to be briefed on some sort of job that the group were not privy to. Once again it was back down the corridor, with several other briefing rooms on either side before they reached the drab elevator, which was locked in to take them back down to the ground floor.
The lobby once again was quite busy. The security guard next to the elevator giving the group a scowl as they walked out. They would have to collect their weapons on the way out and then decide who, and how they would progress their plan of action.
Zeno cut right to the chase as he wandered around the sloop, preparing himself and his mode of transport - Lost Star was a big place and if you hoofed it you were either keeping a low profile or into that "think global, act local" stuff. Not Zeno's scene.
"Cupric here," he said, "About the Metro kid. I got my part; I just need to know if I'm doing this alone, or if I got buddies."
Rhakar headed back outside after retrieving his punisher assault cannon and started reviewing the relevant data before making up a plan of action in his head of going to the Information Broker but also waited for anyone to have followed or formed up with him to discuss a potential plan of action. In his mind he was annoyed at best due to the lack of data but if someone wanted to hide of course there'd be a lack of data. He started performing weapons checks as he observed the people of Lost Star with his 3D HUD scanning every species and all their features while he fiddled with his massive 15-20 shot mass driver propelled semi-automatic .80 caliber Punisher Assault Cannon and did internal diagnostics of his armor, subsystems, modules, and various other systems such as his Shield Projector, Healing Unit, Speed Booster, Anti-Grav Impellers for fall damage from great heights, Enhanced Optical Units embedded into his Visor Slits, Sensor Package, plasma and solid kryptium cored anti-infantry and anti-armor micro-missiles, shoulder mounted particle pulse micro-beam cannon, all manner of stuff.
"I have entirely free will, Onoro, there is no restrictive programming preventing that."
Shard 471 said this to the Teliran as its LIDAR picked up the newly arrived security guards and took its cue to head back down to the lobby. The Morality of the question and general behaviors of the Teliran were being analyzed, and so far it presented him as being a human quality known as "Sly", definition of "having or showing a cunning and deceitful nature.".
The possibility of violence seemed to be rather high from this mission, especially considering that 'Knight' calling itself Rhakar seemed to be prepared to fight an entire army. Currenly the actions of the Artificia did not seem to be alerting any overtly negative connotations and for the most part seemed to be safe.
As the robotic frame reached the lobby it quite simply just retrieved its roughly 5 foot long black case of weapons and held it off to the side while it awaited for the others to finish up.
“I see, you may be of use in this venture.” Mernis as he set off with the group to the lobby. Wandering over to the collections area to reequip himself with his trusty revolver along with his collection of incendiary, smoke and fragmentation grenades. Rejoining the group, the mercenary looked among his peers before stating,
“Unless there is other business to handle, I recommend we get moving to the shipbreaker yard immediately and close in on the informants. We can either actually seek out this captain, or go along with Lampshade’s plan to seek out the informant first.”
Mernis looked to Meyhna briefly, adding,
“Alternatively we could divide into two groups and target each of the assets simultaneously.”
Rhakar looked up at Mernis as he stood up and nodded. He spoke calmly and politely "I Believe splitting up is the wisest course of action assuming we retain communications contact. Who shall lead the team to the Shipbreaker yard? I have my own destroyer I can ferry whoever comes with there assuming I'd be sent there. However, I'm open to other options or assignment for the mission." He stood near perfectly still as if a statue had been carved and brought to life then slapped down right there. He also spoke with an analytical voice that more or less showed his professionalism at all times. His armor was also absent of all markings or identifiers to his old Legion as was his way same with every Galactic Knight Mercenary.
"I never said anything about going for the informant first, I was weighing our options." she frowned slightly. "But, that's also a plan. We split up, we can be in two places at once. Save time. How about it?" she asked. "Who wants to go after who?"
"You got buddies im afraid, corporate put quite a high priority on this. Not enough for a crack team their all occupied but you got some randoms who have signed on to the contract, here ill show you their location. Tell them I sent you, if they give you any shit have them call me"
---
The brief info packets which had been given to the team outlined both potential leads and the vague information that they had on their target, twelve.
The information broker was a Cylaurian known purely as 'Todd' a break off from the Union who now worked on Lost Star in the information bussiness involving the less than legal activities of smuggling narcotics, people and other more exotic goods. His typical location was in Backbreaker Cove, also known as the Shipbreaker yards, a gigantic dock section where one in five of all ships across the galaxy ended up supposedly to be broken down. He was known to be somewhat elusive and didnt take kindly to being found.
The ship captain however had a bit more information on her. Tazi Nagal captain of the Fever Dream was a known trades women of highly dubious nature, just as likely to take regular shipment jobs as she was to transport highly illegal matters. She was always willing to take a job and while immensely fiery had a particular interest in fine exotic alchohols.
It was a testament to HT.Cos intelligence system that such individuals were not only well known but stored on the system without authorities using it to hunt down criminals who were wanted.
Zeno laughed; like his speaking voice, it was a melodic sound that went a way to explaining his reputation on the Motor Club Council Street scene as a heartthrob, even if it was well-known he was a one-woman man. "Hey, well, your guys read my profile when you vetted me for this. I'm a people person. Comes with the job. Anyway, seems like I've got to get moving, so I'll get outta your hair and start making my dough. I'll be sure to let my new friends hear me coming." With that, he hung up.
Prep work was a bit of a process for Zeno, like it was for any investigator of this sort, he thought. He wasn't one to pack heavy, but what he did carry, he dotted every I and crossed every T on. This was before he was known in Okekolu space as the system's fastest crimefighter, maybe barring the Kraterion Easy Ratter and his worrying knack for running into trouble whenever he took his stunt circus to anywhere that even whiffed slightly of danger, and it showed with his priorities.
He started with the car nestled in the sloop's largest cargo bay, an older custom job that wasn't quite as fine-tuned as some of his later work. A model domestic to his people, it still had the nano-thick polymer transfer badges of a Prester Kalhayan Turbo II, a model that the Prester Motor Company had stopped making for several years and that enthusiasts like Zeno and his crew kept alive. So much of its body and internals had been altered that the badging and the last remnants of its silhouette, particularly around the roofline, were the last nods to a piece of hot rod royalty, considered the last of the front-engined Presters. Everything else was functional street racer chic that probably would have fit in with any driving scene expensive enough for Lost Star - an almost lewd front splitter jutted from the nose, hiked up in the middle to scoop air under a venturi system running down its underbody, ending in a gargantuan diffuser exiting the tail and a biplane tail wing with adjustable flaps on its left and right sides and a bright rear light bar on its underside near the tail where it was most visible, side skirts accentuating a quartet of fat cheater slicks on black carbon rims with spokes so thin someone could shave with them, and a mostly-red paint job designed to be seen from space. The whole thing squatted like some predatory animal, and on the inside it seemed like the cage that beast would have been held in for the safety of those outside.
A bright yellow rollcage deliberately clashed with the black and red interior; a couple of curved racing seats and a web of straps and harnesses provided crash protection and Zeno's effects as an InterSECT officer were in the glove box: an equally-domestic (and equally-modified) Auto-Power handgun firing electrostatic needles, and his wand, a custom job called the Rattler and a design courtesy of the same mind behind his car. He treasured all of them highly.
A light tug at a handle sent its left-hand gullwing door opening and he got inside, an action closer to wedging himself in than entering and exiting a normal automobile. He slammed the door shut, the muted click highlighting just how light anything from the Little Light, much less a hardcore race car like this, was before he strapped in, opened the cargo bay hatch and started the engine.
The snarl of a piston engine echoed through the general area as the Kalhayan's lights flashed on and Zeno started the dance of gas and clutch that was demanded of pretty much any car with no power in its lower rev range. The machine protested against slow speeds, lurching grumpily forward as the engine blipped and grumbled. Then once it was off the ramp and on terra firma, he pointed it towards the spaceport exit and let it rip. The popping cackle turned into a menacing shriek as the Kalhayan scrambled forward like a cork from a champagne bottle and on just as ballistic a trajectory, squatting on its rear suspension before hanging a turn to get on Lost Star's streets proper. The fact the car was scaled for Little Light peoples and thus dwarfed by anything else on the streets, closer to a half or third-scale model of a car than most of the human-sized vehicles on the road, mattered little as its noise was enough to announce its presence, from the angry V10 wail on acceleration to the hiss of wastegates and Detonol-driven anti-lag that reported like gunfire when he let off the gas.
Zeno was right about one thing - the others would sure as hell hear him coming as he made his way to join them.
"As dictated before, Mernis believes that the two of us would be best suited to recover information from the broker. Splitting up will increase the ability to cover more information in a shorter period of time."
The disembodied and robotic voice of Shard 471 said outloud to the other three group members. It did notice a flaw with the Knights plan, such as that public transit would be much faster than by his craft, seeing the developed nature of Lost Star. It's computer systems were already coming up with multiple routes to get to the broker, all of them designed to get there as quickly as possible and to avoid a majority of interference from both pedestrians and vehicles.
On the topics of vehicles, the threat processing systems onboard the robotic frame picked up air vibrations coming from that of an internal combustion engine, and the distinct ones of that from an automobile. There was a car approaching and fast, it was not something it alerted the others to, as it could simply be a yuppie testing out a toy of theirs.
The Kalhayan did indeed approach hard and fast, and the rapid-fire downshifts were an announcement that the car was coming in hot. It ran up the near side of the street and rolled to a stop, ducking into the nearest open space. One last blip of the throttle and the engine ran down, shutting down with a little pause, as if whoever had rolled up was expecting applause for making good time there.
The door opened, and out came Zeno. Now that he was in the light, or at least that someone could get a look at him, it was pretty obvious he was an Okekolu fairy. All two feet of him was small and doll-like, and his aggressively cutesy appearance was cut by his choice of wardrobe and his bearing as he fluttered up with his shimmering wings beating with the noise of a desk fan.
His skin was copper, his hair a sort of rust that bordered on violet and dramatically cut so the right side of his face was draped by it, and judging by how it shone, he took very good care of it. For a top, he wore a form-fitting black tank top that looked stretchy and was covered by an open jacket that seemed to be made of some glossy red material. White shorts, red driving shoes and a dark smart watch completed his outfit, and with every passing moment it looked harder and harder to believe this guy was a cop. Maybe that was the point.
His eyes seemed to tie together his whole look and remind anyone with any doubts of who he was: he had the look and bearing of a gunfighter, someone who could read a room and be a few steps ahead of his opponents if trouble arose. As it didn't look like any trouble was coming his way, he exuded a casual, even untouchable, aura. He approached the group and gave them a cocky smile.
"Zeno Cupric," he said. "Curry sent me. Sorry I'm late - I don't go fast when my wings are tied with red tape. I didn't miss anything important, did I?"
“Lost Star isn’t the galactic hub for commerce and trade for no reason… There are simpler and less obvious ways of getting around that shuttling a warship back and forth.” Mernis explained crossing his arms, he had started to pick up the sound of the approaching vehicle, prompted by his Teliran hearing, but continued to speak.
“I don’t care who intends to go after who, just sort it out.”
With that, Zeno made his appearance. Grinding to a halt in his automobile, causing the Teliran to wince a little from the sound. Taking a look at the newcomer, Mernis seemed almost depressed by the appearance of yet another figure to divide the bounty amongst. His piercing stare was only brought upon the fairy for a few seconds until Zeno made his introduction before inquiring in a tired voice,
“No, nothing. So who’s going after the information broker and who’s going after the captain?”
Zeno nodded. "Now, if our info's right, the captain's got a soft spot for a good drink, and I've got a secret weapon back at the sloop that oughta move her real fast. I say my chances are better with her." He chuckled. "I thought I was gonna crack it open when this was all over, but it makes a good bargaining chip otherwise, I guess."
Rhakar looked on at Zeno and at Mernis. He didnt find Zeno to be assuming rather he was extremely....adorable. Not fitting for a warzone. But he supposed that was more or less what he was going for even though he thought of him as little more than a pesky child. He spoke professionally though with no hint of what he was thinking. "I volunteer myself to go with Zeno to the Captain. Should be helpful if he has extra aid." "Nice, we got a volunteer," he said, looking Rhakar up and down. His expression was a little unreadable, but he was taking his time examining the Nezerian.
Zeno thought he was good at reading people, he'd used this skill his whole life, and finding a real blank like this was either a really good thing or a really bad thing. If it was really good, then he was talking with a pro who could slip into any role he was asked. If it was really bad...judging by those weapons it'd mean the guy he was talking to was good for only one thing. He had to find out for himself.
"She, by the way, the captain's a she. So, tell me one thing, and be honest," he said. "You a good talker?" He gestured to Mernis and Meyhna, then to 471. "Any of you good talkers? I'm gonna need someone slick with me to do what I'm thinking of. We butter up the captain, get her to like us, and I sweeten the deal with a taste of home she's gonna go gaga for. Unless you guys brought something better, natch.
Oh, yeah - and I need some names. Nicknames if you want; I won't pry."
"Meyhna." the Artificia blinked, looking somewhat disinterested. "I can talk to people I guess, though I'm no super negotiator. I think the broker might like people who don't fanny about and get to the point a little more, though." she shrugged, glancing at the Nezerian. "I don't care either way, though. I just want the job done."
"Shard 471, frame model 'RI-MK4' Cyngi Robotics frame, production year of 2358. As stated prior I will be conducting information gathering from the Data Broker with Organic Mernis. Organic Rhakar and Artificia Meyhna stated previously to seek out the captain."
The machine was not phased or seemingly directly impacted by the flamboyant nature of the arrival of Zeno Cupri and the small organics behavior beyond for another thing to analyze to further develop a makeup and psychological background for the current group of five, currently standing at a payout 50,000 per person if it was split evenly. 471 doubted it would result that way.
471 still held onto the case of guns by his side like it was not even there, an insignificant weight without any real visible strain on its servo and pneumatic controlled frame. On the top of the robot the sensory array near where a head would normally be panned down at Zeno before back up and at the others.
“Mernis… And i’m good at whatever I’m paid to do.”
Mernis bluntly replied to Zeno, grinding some dust from the pavement below between his thumb and forefinger as he tried to maintain his patience with the group. Getting some impression of what kinds of people he was dealing with the Teliran opted to finally put the foot down and actually prompt a final plan.
“Fido and the Fairy Godmother will go together to handle the Captain. That destroyer will help to make sure they can actually reach her if she’s not surface-side for whatever reason…”
Turning his attention, he looked to the two AI’s before stating,
“Lampshade, Shard and myself’ll get the information broker to cough up their lead.”
Moving his hands to his hips, the cartel leader glanced at the band of misfits. His face didn’t seem to portray any kind of enthusiasm towards the mission as he broke his short silence by inquired in his husky Teliran voice,
“Anyone got an objection? Rendezvous outside of the HT building. If you don’t get there in the next 24 hours, i’ll assume those not present are dead, dying or useless… Whichever the case, the remainers will carry on with the case. Let’s start moving.”
"Hey, I'm not gonna complain," Zeno said, actually smiling as he heard Mernis talk. He'd keep the nicknames in mind - if he had to keep his cards close to his chest, nicknames. If he was talking to these guys normally, normal names. That'd fit. Except for 'Fido,' but he'd already had one lined up:
"You heard him, Tiny, you're with me," he said, fluttering up to Rhakar and giving him a firm pat on the shoulder. "If you gotta use a full-on destroyer to make that magic happen, make it happen. Just tell me when you've got that thing up and running and you're on your way; just lemme know where the cap is and I'll try my bribe."
He then looked over at his car, and seemed to feel genuine embarrassment if his expression was anything to go by. "Sorry about the wheels - I...didn't know who I was going into this with and just kinda packed for myself."
Rhakar was honestly amused for once by a Xeno and he grinned behind his Helmet. He responded to Zeno. "May as well lad. The Destroyer Penitent Blade is a decent ship and I prefer my own ride however normal travel by maglev train would likely be much better than a Purpose Built warship showing up there. I think it best if we go with that Idea." He was calm and good natured despite the battle scarred face under his helm.
Zeno smiled wide now. It looked like this guy sounded like a pro after all. "Sweet! I'll meet you there, then. We get to the stop and get this going." He then flew over to his Kalhayan, got in and drove off. He was excited to get this started, and it showed with the way he wailed back to his sloop to get his bribe.
Jade Ribbon, 18 Year, Very Special. Half-brandy distilled from the nectar of a flower that grew in Okekolu space and just a short drive from Palalagi and half-havelange. the legendary qanis distillation brewed by a secret recipe confined to a starship that journeyed to find the psychic seeds and bring them back, come hell or high water, before they spoiled. It was a prize with a story behind it, and something he wasn't willing to part with unless it was just that serious.
Good thing he took doing whatever it took to fight crime and bring justice very, very seriously.
The transport options across LS was incredibly varied, from traditional maglevs, to hyperloops, shuttles, exquisite limos, FTL beacons and more. While their destinations were some way away, Brasstown and the Shipbreaker yards respectively the two were in more or less the same direction and on the same primary ring. Maglev was the best route to go and as such Rhakar, Shard, Meyhna and Mernis found themselves boarding one of the primary hub loops of the ring, the station was bustling, completely crowded with people of all kinds both going in and coming out. The station and the surrounding area were well defended with Lost Star guards as numerous gates oversaw people going In to board or to exit, those going in were charged for the travel, 20 Credits to get to Brasstown outskirts, 40 to get to the Shipbreaker Cove. Beyond the gates was the platforms, each sealed with special shields to prevent air from escaping, at least platform the sleek forms of the maglevs came to rest, opening their doors so that the doors opened into the shield and allowed them to bypass any conventional airlock, for the tunnels they travelled in were total vacuum.
The trains themselves were, despite being highly new along with the station itself, covered in graffiti, damaged pieces and substandard chairs. All the seats were taken and the carriages were packed, the air filtration and conditioning system was working at full capacity but it was still uncomfortably hot, and it stank of sweat from many species. Talking was rare and most were content to sit or stand in silence as the train rapidly sped off into the vacuum tunnels, accelerating to impossible speeds within moments. The small windows on board showed little of outside Lost Star being mostly constrained to the vacuum tunnels that had set small window ports, from outside the rings could be seen and other districts they went past.
As the group of four approached Brasstown a large Reptilian Jorgal seemed to be getting irate with a Carnaithian, the two in some sort of argument right next to the group, it wouldn’t be an issue until the Carnaithian pulled a knife, and stabbed the Jorgal in the chest. While lethal for some races the Jorgal didn’t flinch, grabbing the Carnaithian and throwing him through the air, towards the group of Rhakar, Meyhna, Shard and Mernis. Incoherent screams and shouts came from the people all around as they got knocked down or tried to dive out the way but it appeared the reptilian wasn’t done, marching forward and barging others out the way to get to the man he just threw, a knife still protruding through his chest.
Zenos passage was much less chaotic. The huge motorways of Lost Star were open and expansive, with no speed limit or real rules of the road he could let rip and go as fast as he wanted. While likely a bit slower than the maglev the travel was without the inconvenience of others although some racers were coming on Zenos right, each one was a sleek streamlined hover vehicle made by Harold Motor engineering whoever these racers were definitely rich kids.
Meyhna, among those shoved clear, narrowly avoided crashing into the equally bemused form of...some sort of amphibian, catching herself with a pole. The orange Artificia growled as she righted herself, the fabric and material of her gloves groaning, the noise inaudible in the mounting cacophony, as her fist clenched. The Artificia's rumble grew to a snarl as she stepped more into the roughly opened clearing in passengers. "Hey! Overgrown crocodile with the anger issues!" she called. "You mind learning some fucking patience until you and the furball can get off the damn train? This car is a crowded stinkpot as is, I don't think anyone here wants to put up with your fucking temper tantrum!" she added.
Rhakar now, feeling he needed to intervene activated his suits particle shields, self repair unit, and speed booster if necessary and sent a neural command to his shoulder mounted plasma caster to spool up to full charge. He then began walking towards them shouting, his helmet amplifying his voice to a commanding pitch. "Hey! hey hey! stop fucking fighting you bastards!. We're all trying to get to our destinations relatively intact and in peace and I'd rather not let dozens of people die aboard this train because you two can't get along and use some discipline to not kill each other!." They could clearly see he wasn't messing around what with a plasma weapon aimed at them on his shoulder and inside the armor his body was tensing its muscles and the like for combat because his secondary heart was pumping artificial non-addictive hyper steroids and combat stimms in the event he had to fight. His body could easily wash them out of his system though from a myriad of other augments so he wasn't worried if a fight didnt come to it and he was running a Combat High because it wouldnt last after a few minutes of inactivity.
Shard 471 meanwhile was standing firmly in the train car not exactly interacting with the other passengers beyond for holding on to a hand rail to not fall over from the train jostling around. It had the ubiquitous black case full of firearms on its back and in its right hand it was carrying a plastic case labeled "Morland's Toolsmiths" that it bought earlier for some odd reason.
The other contractors aboard the train seemed to be doing well.. Atleast until the fight between a Jorgal and a Carnaithan broke out, it wasn't something that the AI particularly cared for or deemed necessary to get involved in beyond for stepping out of the way to not get hit. However the sudden escalation by Organic Rhakar was needless, it seemed prior to that if Artificia Meyhna would be able to handle it, albeit not the greatest action to take in the current situation.
Meyhna's eyes went wide as she tensed as she saw the shoulder gun light up, a hand drifting to the grip of one of her shotguns. "Woah, woah! Calm down there spam can! Intervening's one thing but a plasma gun is a-fucking-nother! Big contrast between calling for no violence and turning on a gun that can do the opposite!" she called, gesturing to the maglev's interior. "We're in vacuum, dimwit! If you hit the hull with that thing, everyone dies, except maybe like four of five of us! Or did you forget that? Turn off the gun before you make the biggest mistake of your life."
"Keep in mind Humanoid Glowstick I'm not going to shoot but it pays to have some manner of defense not just sit there and let people knock you around like a fucking coward. I have no intentions on shooting them unless attacked first." Rhakar told her calmly and serenely for the most part but internally he was furious.
Meyhna made an assortment of exasperated noises, seemingly attempting to start a question beginning with 'wh' in rapid succession as her face contorted and her hands cycled. "Self defence? Self fucking defence? You're in military grade power armour! You're in a god damn sealed tin can with lights and gadgets! You're in the best spot if your own dumb ass blows a hole in this thing or the lizard decides to start throwing swings!" she gestured loosely at the exoskeleton in question. Rhakar in general, in effect. "And plasma doesn't discriminate if you're using it in self defence or not! You could pull the trigger and end that scalehead's life, but what's to stop some plasma from scattering off and melting a hole in this high speed pressure can flying through a vacuum? Turn the damn gun off before someone bursts a blood vessel and I have to draw my own! Gods above, use some common sense!"
Mernis was practically absorbed into the crowds of terrified onlookers at the offset of violence. This wasn’t his fight nor did it need to be, and so he slipped into the leagues of civilians watching as the Knight quite literally decided to bring a gun to a knife fight. But while the Teliran was content with avoiding intervention, Meynha was not.
The following argument between the Artificia and the over-equipped juggernaut eventually made Onoro raise a brow to the fight. The Teliran was growing increasingly annoyed with the entire situation and what he deemed to be the lack of professionality on display. It all broiled right up until he could stand by no longer, especially with the fact that Rhakar right now did indeed threaten to descend the entire situation into a civilian massacre.
Emerging from the hordes of onlookers, Mernis muttered to Shard as he passed by,
“I recommend you back me up. The last thing any of us need is a public death and our paymasters under threat of some kind of investigation.”
Approaching the Knight, Artificia and brawlers, the Teliran simply crossed his arms and bluntly demanded.
“I suggest you all back off before anyone does anything drastic…”
Before finally tilted his head to direct his glare straight towards Rhakar.
“...Or stupid, like threaten to kill everyone on this train for the sake of saving everyone on this train. Look around you, cowboy.”
The sensor module on the frame of Shard 471 looked over at Mernis and tilted up and then down in a faster motion, what a human would call a nod. The machine let go of the hand rail and followed behind Mernis while addressing the current threat level, which was currently rather large. It did not doubt its ability to subdue either of them with some more planning needed for the knight... But the fact of the matter is that it was not a needed course of action and was avoidable. The robotic voice spoke out from the frame, in support of Mernis and directed at both Rhakar and Meyhna.
"Contract stipulation states that this force escalation is a prohibited action, and can result in terms of contract being deemed null and void."
As the people on the train picked themselves up and shouted with anger at the Jorgal who had thrown the Carnaithian the man stood up and looked ready to fight against once the Jorgal stepped forward. He hesitated when Meyhna started shouting along with several other individuals.
"This... Rat scammed me and has tried to kill me! Ill skin hi-" He stopped as the Nezerian came forward, the plasma gun on his suit charging up as he made his demands. As the whine of the plasma inducers spun up the screaming began, people desperately scrambled away, over the top of each other as they fought to clear the carriage, several people cried out as they were trampled even as Meyhna, Shard and Mernis attempted to reason with the situation. The Carnaithian ran, and the Jorgal backed away holding his hands up, the knife still embedded in his chest and bleeding.
"STOP... WE DONT NEED... TO ALL DIE... HERE!" He grunted in fear.
Mernis’ eyes darted about the place, clocking almost everything that was going on among the chaos. From the Carnaithan’s flight to the sound of pain among the panic as civilians desperately tried to get away from the violent gunman. Returning his gaze to the scene, Mernis had almost entirely forgotten about the Jorgal in all of this.
“He scammed you huh? That’s too bad friend- I understand the importance of ensuring con-men don’t get away with promised money.”
Mernis assured, he seemed almost concerningly friendly now as his personality turned from a grim sternness to one clearly trying to pacify the atmosphere.
“Say, if you’re that desperate for money- Perhaps I have a job for you… How does 10,000 credits sound?”
With that, the freelancer began to smile and open his arms out in his attempt to reason, and even hire this complete stranger.
"Yeah, what...what he said." Meyhna gestured to the Jorgal. "You got a knife in you, by the way." she added. "So everyone turn all their guns off, everyone calms down, the lizard and the fuzzball can wait until they're off the train, and we can spend the rest of this train ride calming our nerves. And nobody needs to be on the receiving end of an explosive decompression. Alright?" she called, her eyes darting about but repeatedly coming back to the power-armoured soldier. "Alright, let's go with that."
Zeno saw the hovercars pulling up on his side. He remembered the bottle of Jade Ribbon that was safely stashed in the Kalhayan's center console, just the same as he'd bought it a year ago. That meant he was safe to focus on these guys. Harolds, one of the many names someone from the Little Light would have to know when it came to racing something from out of sector. Hover vehicles weren't as popular as the Street-class wheeled machines in Okekolu space, certainly not in Astropolitan space, but man, oh man, could someone race them. The Yunicka Transcontinental was dominated by designs like that, scaled back for Little Light pilots, so a savvy racing fan knew their ins and outs.
Zeno knew their ins - they were quick when they had the room - and their outs - to be quick, you needed that room and a good hand to keep straight more than you were sideways - and versus a wheeled vehicle, a good enough racer had a chance.
I'm that good enough racer, Zeno thought. To signal his intent, he downshifted to get in the Kahlayan's real power band, just past the five-digit mark on the rev counter. The howl of the V10 and the sudden spurt of brilliant blue fire from the exhausts and screamer pipes spoke volumes.
Ready when you are, fellas.
Rhakar simply stood there powering down his cannon and went back to sitting down. Why did he try to intervene? what the hell was going through his head at the time?. He simply sat there reflecting to himself and ruminating on his actions as per normal conduct with Knights after they fuck up. There isn't much to say but he was angry mainly at himself. It would've been easier had he taken his destroyer by himself.
The Jorgal looked down and pulled the knife out of his chest, he seemed unfazed as the wound, now free of the knife jiggling around clotted nearly instantly and the skin slowly began to grow back over it. He threw the blade to the floor and shook his head.
"I don't need... Money which will end in... Death" He began to back away slowly, stepping over two bodies of individuals who had been crushed to death by the stampede off the carriage from the sheer terrifying whine of the plasma cannon. One was a normal human buissnessmen, his cold body bleeding onto the floor from his mouth where his chest had been stamped on, the other was a young Dectrothian women whos face was caved in from the same way.
The automated conductor message began to play as the train slowed down.
"We are about to stop at Brasstown east outskirts, please remember your luggage and watch the space between the track and the station. Thank you for choosing Lost Star Hyperloop" The message ended in a chime and swiftly the train pulled into the station, it was the off point for everyone by Rhakar and already the doors opened to the rush of people getting off the train in fear, the Jorgal amongst them.
Shard 471 looked down at the two corpses on the ground and then back at Rhakar before shaking the sensor node side to side before stepping off of the train at brasstown. It was a clear violation of the contracts stipulation that resulted in the death of two people, it was likely that Rhakar would be apprehended later on for two counts of murder in the third degree, as well as whatever local justice will be carried out. The two dead on the ground were organics clearly, they were so fragile, like a polished piece of porcelain smashed under a hammer. Shard 471 stood straight on the platform and looked at Mernis and Meyhna and waited for the rushing away crowd to clear, and after the train left. “Probability of Organic Rhakar compromising the Contract, 80%. Suggestion to dock portion of his pay for actions undertaken that will directly impact contract completion.”
Meyhna stretched her arms as she stepped off the train, looking relieved to be off the flying pressure can and somewhere she had room to move. She chuckled and sighed at Shard's suggestion, pinching the brow of her nose. "Well, at least there's still a train. If we'd survived I bet the destruction of an entire maglev would've gone down even worse. How many people were on it?" she asked rhetorically. "Anyway. Let's not wait around. I think a walk to find this broker should do our moods some good, eh? Stretch our legs a little." she added, starting off away. "It'll do mine good at least.”
The three cars who had been racing each other took close note of Zeno and his Kahlayan and especially noticed his downshift. The lead car was a bright and extremely sleek yellow vehicle with no roof and a surprisingly unaugmented kid inside. His blonde long hair matched the car colour as two girls in the back cheered him on. Black colour inlays gave the vehicle a stripey appearance as a huge oversized spoiler protruded from the rear to force the hovering cars rear downwards to prevent it from easily taking off from the large jet engine inlaid into the back of it.
The two cars behind him were both of the same build albeit all black with some small yellow highlights. Each was fully enclosed and with tinted black windows to ensure that the occupants could not be noticed, they were either his friends in loaned cars he had bought them or his family guards or handlers trying to keep up. The teenager looked to Zeno and grinned and gunned his engine which roared to life.
Mernis was rather unresponsive to the rather immediate escape of the civilian. It wasn’t as though he intended to keep him around at any rate. The Teliran didn’t even take a moment to stop once he had stepped off the train, instead immediately setting off at a brisk pace down the street, simply nodding to the pair as he passed them by. Beginning to use his tactic of strutting as though he knew where he was going, while simultaneously clocking every landmark, sign and detail he came across to constantly guide him as he wandered.
“If the walking tincan keeps thinking with his gun, I don’t think there’ll be anything left of me to actually complete this contract.”
The Teliran replied, his eyes darting about his surroundings as he did so. Keeping his head low to try and avoid distinguishing himself on the street.
Zeno saw the lead car - it was hard not to see that kind of yellow; he had to applaud the kid - nod just slightly under acceleration and he fired away in kind, the Kalhayan roaring through its power band as it spurted forward. If there was any inkling he was now anything other than just another joyrider on Lost Star's highways, this was going to go quite a ways to quashing it.
The roar around him, only partially walled off by a V10 soprano, was telling him he wasn't doing a one-on-one, and the black Harolds kept chase as best they could, prompting him to drive fast and hard, but with caution - the same caution he was drilled with when it came to pack racing of any kind.
He wheeled his car around the outside of the gentle curve of the highway, feeling the aero working to keep him planted and the front wheels telling him how the road was through the suspension. A kick of his left foot and deft shifter work and he was back up a gear, surging ahead.
Sergeant Rhakar immediately began walking to the rendezvous point with Zeno to go meet the Shipbreaker Captain. Rhakar was still extremely annoyed if not full scale angry at himself for pulling a Plasma Weapon upon 2 individuals when the damnable xeno or outsider handled it without bloodshed. He was a Knight Emperor-Damnit! not some common mercenary killer.....granted he became one as well after he lost his honor and took up the Freeblade Oath but he still refused to stoop to others levels. He sighed heavily behind his helmet and observed Lost Star around him as he walked remembering home and the girlfriend he left behind centuries ago to become a Galactic Knight in the first place and the fact she died to Alien Raids on the Imperial Border that fostered his hatred of Aliens in general for the most part aside from various exceptions.
"There were around forty to fifty on board of the car we were on.. Walking to the broker will be thew easiest way to not waste funds."
"Organic Mernis, the Nezerian is the subject of 'walking tin can', correct?"
Shard 471 addressed both Meyhna and Mernis right after the other in its same methodical and rather dry voice while it was walking maybe a few feet away from both of them, but its body language if it ever had any did not really distinguish that it acknowledged either of them. The sensor node that was the cloest thing of the head of the robot was constantly taking in data to be analyzed for both its own map making, threat analysis, and to determine the fastest route to the broker that they were currently on. during this same period as well, the AI accessed the Ancnet to try and discover more data about the Broker before they committed to it.
"I imagine he is, yes. Possessed of about as much forethought as one, if that little show was any indication." Meyhna sighed. "Anyway. I think now is as good a time as any to ask; do either of you actually know where this broker is?" she asked. "Cuz an aimless romp around Lost Star is a great way to get either mugged, abducted or killed, to my knowledge."
“Yes.”
The Teliran muttered back rather simply as he continued to navigate his way down the streets until coming to a stop. Turning around to the Artifician and replying, arms crossed,
“This Todd figure has only been identified to be present in Backbreaker Cove. Nothing else. I presume his presence or a place of potential presence will become apparent, or our paymaster’s might’ve given some better specifics.”
The streets of the area surrounding Brasstown looked like something of a cross between the eastern soviet bloc and a shanty town. Huge grey and drab concrete towers adorned the streets surrounded by makeshift tents, awnings and hovels most being small gun merchants trying to sell weapons they had even scavenged or bought from Brasstown itself. While they were on their way to Shipbreaker Cove, the huge location was right next to Brasstown and their influence zones overlapped, this was where they were expecting to find Todd.
“Good gun good gun you get good gun!” An old decrepit women shouted to Mernis as she tried to shove a Restavian SMG in his face. The people here were covered in grime and soot, and the air was thick with industrial fumes as the great forges and factories of Brasstown, still a way off blew in the direction of the towns surrounding it. Now and again they could see the Troikas arms, individuals covered with guns but never using them, only the brass knuckles on their fists to enforce order to make sure the markets were paying their due.
In front beyond more faceless flats stood the huge wall of Shipbreaker Cove, and beyond the mega foundries and breaking facilities of the galaxies ships. A few streets more and the atmosphere got cleaner, the drab buildings less blackened and the people less dour, they were all much well-built, many had cybernetics and their destination was close. A small entertainment complex which contained hotels, bars, brothels and holotheatres, their man was somewhere in there. ----- The empty carriage was a short ride to the dockyards next to the Shipbreaker Cove (although the line between the two often blurred much to the rage of some ship captains…) the maglev coming In to the station with a chime and opening the doors for Rhakar. The small station was just as busy and he almost had to push through a crowd people getting on, this time nobody seemed to care about a power armoured individual. Outside the station however Zeno was nowhere to be seen and looking up and down revealed a titanic latticework of docks holding all kinds of ships from numerous factions or species from across the galaxy.
The captain’s ship would be some journey up and across or at least that’s what the information had been given. The crowd on the street outside the station moved swiftly, albeit for a clear patch which surrounded a black suited individual, he was tall and inhumanly lithe. His gaunt pale skin gave off a sense of dread and just looking upon him conjured primal urges to stay away, revulsion and fear. ----- Zeno quickly overtook the lad and his catchers, however the Harold engineered vehicle kept its foot in the race, rapidly gaining while moving between several cars. The road was a huge expansive pathway with no set lanes and here and there a piece of wreckage or full smashed up car could be seen. It didn’t help that as Zeno kept on ahead was two large cargo containers, between them was a small gap and either side was oncoming traffic, the chance was small but if they pulled in they would crush him. The yellow sportscar didn’t so much scream like his wheels did but it howled with it’s a grav units and additional thrusters which coughed and pulsed in time with the kids reactions on the wheel. He saw it too and seemed to grin.
Zeno was a bit uncomfortably reminded of the rougher races back home, and it showed in his driving. He became a little more cautious, sacrificing no speed but reducing any movement and adjustment to enough to pick a lane and keep space. In fact, it was even worse than the roughest races back in the Street Festivals, as back there a wreck would be put out and cleaned as fast as possible, racers getting out of their stricken cars and watching from the sidelines or rushing back with their wrecks to get something prepared for the next race. Here, it seemed machines were left to rot.
He had to make a move. He decided to aim for the containers and hold his pace for a moment, pulling ahead of the Harold and watching those containers to see what would happen. A twitch in the wrong way and he'd let them close in and stay behind for his own safety. If they kept that lane open, he'd gun it.
Well, Brasstown was a slum that ran off selling the means to war, enough to arm a small country or a mafia by the looks of it, the lack of guns being used however seemed to indicate that there was some form of higher power to enforce their own rules and regulations on the land, if such a thing could be done in Lost Star. Some form of gang seemed to be the most likely of suspects here, or some incredibly corrupt business, maybe a blur of the two.
The Shard's main task however was not dealing with the crowds and people of this slum, but to rather head through and get to the multi use building where the contact awaited. It still carried its carry case of guns, locked of course, and the power tools case following Mernis and Mehyna.
"If the broker is initially non compliant, other forms of persuasion can be done to secure additional conatacts with varying degrees of usefulness."
The old vendor rushing into Mernis' personal space somehow had evaded the Teliran's perception. Having been paying greater attention to his whereabouts and trying to direct himself through the streets that focusing on those around him, the elderly woman caught him completely off guard. It was lucky Mernis didn’t stab her on the spot, having instantly crammed his hand into his coat and clutching a knife on the inside in surprise. Wide-eyed for but a split second, he had fortunately not withdrawn any of his weapons out into the open, though in such an environment he doubted it would’ve drawn much attention anyway. Mernis to his relaxed posture; simply barging the vendors that approached him aside like saloon doors.
“If the broker is initially non-compliant then I suggest you use that electronic head of yours to try and obtain any personal information on the guy that you can. The maximum satisfaction for this contract also requires discretion, and that can be better achieved without leaving a dent on em...”
He remarked as he peered about his surroundings as they began to approach the focal area to the broker’s whereabouts, before turning his attention to the Artifician as they all entered the complex.
“Y’sure you’re up to this kind of job, girly?”
Rhakar began his journey to the shipbreaker captain in silence thinking about how he'd best approach the situation. He instructed his AI to run all non-essential systems at low power and exercised impressive discipline as far as he was concerned. He was annoyed with himself, mainly for his actions on the maglev but he decided it wouldn't be best to mope about it. Everyone nearby would be able to note his armor had no markings upon it aside from his personal heraldry to signify his removal of identity with the Frontiersmen Legion. As for the man in the suit Rhakar felt a sense of unease and anxiety but quickly squashed those feelings. He was a Frontiersmen not a scared pup, but the psychic aura....now that was one of the freakiest things he's seen in his multi-century career.
"I wouldn't be here if I wasn't." Meyhna shrugged. "Maximum satisfaction is preferable, but if your tricks don't cut it don't get surprised if we go for a rougher approach." she added, glancing at the decrepit woman but paying her no other heed. Wasn't her business, and it wasn't her that the woman was trying to shove a gun at.
The orange Artificia turned her attention to the entertainment complex. Considering what she knew of the galaxy's opinion of her people and how she was stood in the by-and-large lawless Lost Star, she didn't have high hopes for what they'd find in there. Besides their man, hopefully. "And if anyone in there tries to catcall me or something I'm gonna break a jaw or two." she added onto the end.
The entertainment complex was huge, a large dome with concentric rings, each one leading to more extreme and prestigious establishments which either sold goods, hosted events, served food or put on shows for clients. The outer two rings were open to anyone, the large entrance was pretty crowded as individuals hung around talking to others or moved back and forth in and out. The huge holograms on the front of the entrance danced and played, begging people to come inside with sexual flirtations. ‘New Aracia’ was the name of the place, and it seemed genuinely well taken care of.
As the group made their way inside they were forced to follow the spiral that led around, normal shops and brothels and clubs made up the outside as the internal light turned from at least natural back to artificial again. A dull red glow permeated everything as holographic billboards and more advertised their stores, the bustling crowd of people moved with them. All the while being watched over by the security, men dressed in greyish suits carrying large assault rifles. They had no knowledge of precisely which venue their man was in, just that he was in here or at least frequented this place.
“Is there anything I can help you with?” A man dressed in a very revealing latex suit asked, looking them up and down “It seems like you are either new here or looking for something specific” He grinned. He was flanked by two other men in wildly outlandish clothes, both augmented it seemed as they carried no weapons but both looked like bodyguards. ------ The lane was kept open, for the Harold motor and Zeno, it was a brief opening which while dangerous held its course. Both streaked through just as it closed, the gap becoming too small for even Zenos Lesser Light sized vehicle.
The road was becoming dangerous now, more traffic and wrecks. The two cars swinging and gliding as they deftly maneuverered through previous burnt out and uncleaned wreckage left on the large road. It seemed Zenos answers had been found here, the two cars which had been trailing behind him were gone entirely, just the bright car in front kept going. Zeno was closing on him and the saw an opportunity, another opening in some incoming traffic, they were close to Zenos turn off point now, the shipbreaker turn off was minutes away. The bright car turned into the oncoming stream, determined to gain even more of a lead, the kid laughing as he turned to look at Zenos car with a smile. That was all it took, a tiny moment of lapse. The car came out of the incoming traffic trying to overtake, it was fast and sporty like both of their vehicles and in an instantly it almost collided. The kid had just enough time to activate the grav units, throwing the car over the top and to the side. The vehicle disappeared into more traffic, no smoke and flames thankfully, but he was gone. ----- The horrifying man stalked off, leaving the area to return to normality. It had been like nobody had chosen to notice him and had subconsciously just avoided him.
“It’s best not to stare at them. They like to take notice in those who are intrigued, it doesn’t end well” Standing next to Rhakar was a large women, dressed in what appeared to be a tight form of power armour the plates seemed to have come from a variety of sources. Union trooper, Capitol Hydra Guard and RSC Gladiarus all combined together. She was smoking a cigar as her extremely long and spikey red hair washed over her form, a gigantic shotgun was placed across her back and a nice energy mace sat de-activated at her hip.
“Yea, before you ask I am the one your looking for. I didn’t want to come all the way to your hired man but I thought I would meet you here, quite the commotion you travelling it seemed. I am Captain Tazi Nagal of the Fever Dream” She took a nice puff of her cigar before tapping it out and blowing it to the side “So who the fuck are you?”
"Rhakar Tynarus. I was hired by a man named Curry from a corporation operating out of Lost Star called HT.Co. I just want to ask some questions regarding a missing persons case file and you're one of the contacts that was listed. If you have somewhere more private and with less ears than the two of us then that'd be great as I'd hate to deal with some random bastard pulling a gun because he heard intel he wasn't supposed to and decided to take a potshot for some hit." Rhakar said the last bit with a touch of amusement but under his helmet he was grinning at the delicious Irony. His AI pitched a question in his consciousness as well Wasn't that what you just did Rhakar? seems a tad bit hypocritical or counterintuitive does it not? and Rhakar simply responded Not quite the same situation as I wouldn't be the one to almost and most probably shoot first. Now shut up and with that their mini-conversation or rather banter ended abruptly in the Mindscape of Rhakar's power armor.
Shard 471 did not seem to be utterly phased by this sight of a rather evident brothel, it was aware of its function to provide organic species with mental and physical stimulation, but not much else of that seemed important to the AI. What was important was to secure the broker despite where he was within this establishment, no matter what they needed to get through. Over the ancnet the AI was peering over thousands of files to try and discern more information about the broker. Where he worked, what he did exactly, what he did officially, his or her name, their associates, what they did in the past, who they used to work for, whatever he could find from their digital footprint that was on the Ancnet. Sure it would take a while, but it would be more worthwhile than sitting around or following Mernis and Meyhna.
The sensor / camera head on the clear former combat robot turned down to look at the man dressed in strange attire. His face was cataloged, same with his actions, what he says, and those nearby. If anything this robot could possibly be seen as a bodyguard for the Teliran and Artifica, it did not reply and instead let Mernis or Mehyna do the talking.
Mernis looked over the gentleman infront of him rather indiscriminately. Whether it was some kind of flirtatious move or an analysis of what kind of person he was dealing with wasn’t quite clear. After all, the smirk he seemed to bear had for the most part been plastered across his face since he left the Headquarters.
“Know any Cylaurians around these parts, handsome? I’m trying to connect with one… I could make it worth yer while…?”
The freelancer inquired, bearing his sharpened teeth as his smile grew. His head tilted slightly in an almost cutesy manner despite his clothes portraying himself as anything other than cute. With his hand planted on his hip in an almost sassy manner, he looked over to his companions.
Zeno bravely sliced through the highway as it got more and more dangerous, a thought running through his head as the Harold kid kept pace: this guy's pals either chickened out or binned their rides, but the yellow car's driver was good. He had potential. That or a lot of luck, if he didn't run out of it somehow-
Then it happened. He was barely missed by traffic and the kid even more barely missed the oncoming car, the Harold popping up and over, then out of sight. No scrap, no sudden stop, no smash. Luck and skill, then. Zeno smiled and thought he'd make a fine racer someday, if he kept at it.
With his exit coming up, he kept the power on. He couldn't afford to be late. The V10's siren song signaled his arrival as he drove to the shipbreaker yard, taking the exit and slowing down enough to keep control through the turn. Blue fire popped from the nose-exit exhausts as there was a whoosh and bang.
On Zeno drove, until he finally arrived. More downshifts reporting like Jericho trumpets, more making the mere act of parking a showstopping arrival. Zeno pulled out the bottle of Jade Ribbon from the armrest compartment, still pristine. Auto-Power at his hip, Rattler at his belt, and one last check of his hair, and he fluttered out of his Kalhayan, locked it up, and headed off into Shipbreaker Cove.
Meyhna's look of disinterested fatigue and the slightest hint of exasperation only seemed to grow. Why could things never be simple? Why could people not dress properly? Granted the man looked like he was in the business of wearing even less, but it did the orange Artificia's mood no favours. Nor did Mernis' reaction. She had her doubts it was genuine, but that also did her no favours. "Yeah, looking for a Cylaurian, like uh...like what he said." she muttered, rubbing her brow with a glove. It then occurred to the Artificia that she had never actually seen a Cylaurian before.
The woman looked Rhakar up and down and nodded "Yea we can go back to my ship. I hope you have money or something good to pay me though I dont give out information for free, I have a ship to run and a crew to keep employed or at least not backstabbing me." Tazi replied beckoning Rhakar to follow. The two walked for some time, taking an elevator up to a further deck and onto a huge docking area that was many kilometers across. There were many ships here, some Capitol, some Triarch, one was even Union but looked nothing like the normal vessels they owned.
"Here is my girl" She gestured to the Fever Dream it was an old United Federation ship but looked extremely modified. The moment was somewhat broken when the sound of a loud engine could be heard, seemed like Zeno had finally caught up.
----- "Cylaurians aye?" The man seemed to pose dramatically. His two bodyguards seemingly mirroring his moves.
"Well there are a few here, but if your looking to connect with one..." He grinned, the sides of his mouth coming open revealing some surgery he had done to make his smiles bigger and menacing "It means your likely looking for Todd. Say my handsome fellows, what would you want with him? He doesn't casually take visitors, at least" He looked them over "Not your kind. Your not working for the enforcers are you, if you are this isn't going to be pleasant" His bodyguards had small slits open on their arms, showing off briefly some top end cybernetic weapons. It was a scare tactic, and the surrounding bustling seemed to continue without issue.
Zeno, bottle in hand, flew up to find Rhakar and who he guessed was Tazi. He was casual as one could please, looking just as at home there as he did anywhere else there were machines and the promise of danger. He took the ship the two seemed to be looking up at as his icebreaker.
"I can just feel it, that's hardly a stock machine," he said, pointing at the Fever Dream. "A lifer in the modifications business can always sniff out another, and you know what a hot rod like that tells me?" A flip of his hair, another quick injection of the dramatic. "That thing is loved."
He extended his hand to shake. "Zeno Cupric. Curry sent me." He looked over at Rhakar. "...too."
“Oh please. Put your toys away.”
Mernis demanded rather dismissively at the implied threat, waving a hand towards the men. The entire anatomy on display by the trio infront of the party was more off-putting than the freelancer cared to admit. It made him wonder what kind of social norms would even be required to necessitate such
“If I were here to bring trouble to you or this Todd guy, I would’ve caused it by now. God know’s I have the connections to rally the firepower. So no, we’re no enforcers. I’m a freelance worker, currently dealing in the business of small-time delivery.”
With a grunt, the increasingly annoyed mercenary continued,
“I need his help to locate an object of great value to my contractor. Now are you interested in helping or are you looking to be a hurdle here?”
"Likelihood of threat from weapon systems visible..... Low."
Shard's AI core deduced this itself without saying outloud, these bouncers with the man present were likely there for show, not exactly tell. However there was a possibility that their bite could match their bark. The robot took another mechanical stride closer to Mernis in an effort to help improve their probability of success through intimidation, which the war robot had a reasonable amount of from its durable frame that was nearly two meters tall.
Likewise, the machines continued to dive through the Ancnet to dig up the dirt on the Broker Todd and his organization here. It was the work of sifting through every single file that the machine's processors could be allocated to handle without overriding key systems. If they had more information, it would be certainly better for those searching for Eleven. The main sensor head on the top of Shard turned to look down at the man, the central camera focused down on him and dilated a little bit in a dull red glow from the lens. A deeper voice speaks out from the robots frame, different than the neutral one that was normally used, this one sounded incredibly masculine and robotic, with the sole intent of intimidation.
"Not being a hurdle will be beneficial."
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Post by EmperorMyric on Jun 8, 2021 10:21:28 GMT
Rhakar nodded to Zeno. "And that my dear Captain was the other Lad I intended to mention but it somehow slipped my mind."
Rhakar was mostly still bemused by Zeno's presence and he made no show of feeling otherwise because he figured it best to be open and transparent with those he worked with but it didn't seem in anyway insulting, he might just like Zeno or he might legitimately find him and his getup funny. Either way Rhakar doesn't mean anything by it, but in the back of his mind he still worried about the horrifying individual he spotted and when they'd be heading back to Tazi's ship as the nature of this discussion would likely attract......visitors or some bright-minded bastard with a gun to start shooting them.
Meyhna's desire to commit violent felonies mounted the moment the human called her handsome. Or, them as a group, but she wasn't here for sugared words. "No, police work isn't my kind of thing. Enforcers can hire some other shmucks, I don't care enough for whatever tribulations they have. Listen. You probably have people you'd rather be talking to, and so do we. If you know where he is, we'd appreciate it if you told us. If not, I see no cause to continue this conversation." the Artificia sighed, tensing imperceptibly under her suit, putting her hands on her hips. "Do you know, or don't you?"
There was a tense moment as the man and his bodyguards stood posed and almost ready to fight before he made an exaggerated face.
“I like you guys! You have flare! You have spice! Pizazz for sure! Alright I’ll tell you where you can find him, deeper in is a bar called Olive Garden he frequently hangs out there and drinks, if he isn’t there then I can’t help you but good luck! I will see you around” He made a cutie smile and waved as the party moved past, but he leaned in close to Mernis, extremely quickly and whispered in his ear.
“Be warned, don’t fuck with the guy. He isn’t some mega soldier but those who even talk funny or disrespect him go missing, he has very powerful sponsors, be careful” He moved away and blew him a kiss pretending he had been whispering sweet missives to the man. His bodyguards moving out the way.
It was ironic, the further they moved in the spiral the more debauched the places became, very flashy and trippy drug dens lined the circling street, more brothels promising exotic lays and more elaborate and extreme clubs. Those in this area seemed to be dressed extremely too, most were high and dancing around, but on the side was a small bar, the ‘Olive Garden’ laid out in traditional Italian aesthetic and looking perfectly normal inside despite the insanity going on outside. Upon entering a small wooden door to the alert of a traditional bell the group would see a huge disconnect from the outside, the huge amount of sound disappeared and the windows looking out showed a traditional old time historical high street. It was mellow, relaxed, dimly lit by candles and low lamps and with lovely violin music playing. Wooden chairs and tables lined the place and some waiters went back and forth providing home cooked ordered food, up the front was the bar. Countless bottles of different aged liquors were lined up along with huge blocks of cheeses and various hanging bits of meat and salami. At the bar nobody sat on the high stools apart from a single Cylaurian dressed in a brown suit, and a short pale man who stood in the corner wearing a black suit, gloves, glasses and fedora. It seemed they had found ‘Todd’.
The files that Shard had found were small, most were actually locked off by encryption but those that were open denoted the man ‘Todd’ or ‘Malin’ or ‘Illysth’ as being possibly ex Union. He was a renowned infobroker in this entire section of Lost Star and rumour had it, had multiple large scale black sponsors including at least supposedly, BGS, Rondam and even so they said the Ghosts of the Tradex. The man in black to the side of the bar, seemed to support the latter.
This was much, much further out of the league of a simple manhunt job than they had been told.
------ “Hello there, yes your friend didn’t mention you” Tazi gestured to Rhakar “But yes she is well loved, at least by me not all of the crew approves. Quite the ride you have there as well, not every day you get to see someone from the Little Light. Come we will talk aboard my ship”
Tazi led them through a large opened cargo airlock, being used by most of her crew who brought aboard supplies and the like. They saluted her as she came, leading them up some old redecorated corridors and elevators to her personal quarters. They were expansive, filled with flashy jewels, weapons, paintings and furniture which was inlaid with gemstones and brilliant minerals. She clearly showed off her wealth as she gestured for them both to sit down, parking her large armour in the corner on a rack she stepped out of it, revealing a chiselled muscled women in a skin tight bodysuit. She seemed uncaring if it showed off her body as she came to sit down on an intricately sown large chair.
“So you’re here to learn about Eleven right? I hope Curry told you that I expect payment”
The warning from the oddly-dressed gentleman did not go unclocked by Mernis. Though his head almost snapped 90 degrees the moment the man whispered right into his ear, the Teliran did nothing but nod slightly. Returning his attention to the party, Onoro opted to look at the pair quietly and simply move on. They didn’t need to know such information about Todd, for now at least. Besides, there was a chance these AI’s had perfect audio-receptors anyhow.
Their stroll to the Olive Garden was brisk and short. Stepping in, the Teliran couldn’t help but put his guard down a little with the change of scenery. The relaxing atmosphere the place exuded did not push the syndicate boss into a false sense of security outright, but did calm him. Looking around at the doorway, they surveyed the place before nodding towards the alien at the counter. Slowly approaching the figure, Mernis murmured through gritted teeth to Meynha and Shard,
“Think this is our guy?”
He inquired, his eyes occasionally gravitating towards the man in black. After the warning the man from outside had given, the freelancer was naturally more inquisitive about everyone in this establishment and their business here than before.
Zeno smiled. "Yeah, I understand. I have a habit of announcing I'm around anyway, so it's not much of an obstacle."
As they made their way through the Fever Dream, he couldn't help but be reminded of home. The opulence, the flexing he could feel from every decoration, the stories they must have been able to tell, it reminded him very much of a series of trophy rooms. The 3K clubhouse was an awful lot like that, and he seemed very at ease getting that same vibe before they reached what he assumed was her private quarters or some kind of office, and she sat down.
"That's the long and short of it. And yes, he did mention. I'm not so hot on hard currency at the moment, but I did bring something I thought you might...well, add to your collection."
He presented the Jade Ribbon 18 Year he'd been carrying like an artillery shell up until then, all understated roundness and champagne bottle-aping proportions to sell its specialness and apparent exclusivity.
"Know a lot about qanis? Because if you do, I think you'll know what this is. And it's got a story, too. I'm willing to swap this - and that story - for some info."
Meyhna had looked gradually more tense as the trio advanced. She was silently glad they'd gotten out of that conversation when they did, but the nature of her people's origin made her uncomfortable as they proceeded into the steadily more hedonistic inner layers of the spiral. She silently hoped she wouldn't have to deal with some drug-addled stranger trying to get at what was under the spacesuit.
Fortunately, Olive Garden's sign came into view before that happened. Heading inside, Meyhna froze dead at the sharp change of pace on the inside. What she'd expected she didn't know, but it was nothing as tidy and respectable as this. The atmosphere had made Mernis relax just a little, but if anything it made the orange Artificia that little bit tenser. There was a reason a place like this survived as it did in the sea of sin outside, and not knowing why put Meyhna on edge.
"Yeah, we can hope." she breathed in response to Mernis' question. "You were the one talking about less forceful measures, you can do the talking." she added. "We're the, I dunno...muscle if something goes sour."
"This frame does not possess organic muscle, likelihood of a metaphor of physical backup from Artifica Meyhna: High... Facial recognition matches subject "Todd" with the subject present, near 99% certainty of a match."
Shard observed this dining facility named the 'Olive Garden' and followed suite, the AI had never had to go into a restaurant before nor really had any desire to besides for self fulfilling needs that it had to survive in this galaxy. Any customary things that could be present from this 'Olive Garden' were not entirely important, besides for a brief footnote in the AIs memory bank.
In a more discrete tone the AI addressed Mernis and Mehyna, one that would hopefully be barely audible to the rest of the room.
"Keep on walking, information dive on the broker has revealed affiliates and sponsors in high places... Best course of recommended action is to prevent violence and carry out the meeting in a diplomatic fashion."
"Indeed he did Captain Tazi. I assume you brought payment Zeno? I seem to recall you saying something about it during the briefing no?" Rhakar asked Zeno before coming to a stand still and removing his Helmet which revealed a Battle Scarred and Hardened Warrior with eyes that sort of say "I've seen tough shit so dont give me a hard time or I'll break your ass over my knee" or something like that. He was relatively well groomed too for his fur given his people considered it societally acceptable to keep your fur neat and proper. Although he intended to let it grow out and become unkempt in terms of his "Hair" and "Beard" like growths later. His eyes were a moderately bright lilac due to his unique genetics and his teeth, especially his incisors, sharp as knives capable of shattering steel bars effortlessly
Mernis nodded to his companions, promptly muttering back rather casually,
“I know. The fairy told me.”
As he continued his journey, the Teliran speedily added,
“The gimp guy from a minute ago. Not the wacko elf that joined the case. I’m not gonna try and cause a scene here or threaten if I don’t need to. But I got friends in high places myself… And well, when two people can both draw knives on each other, that’s called escalation. I’m willin’ to wager this guy isn’t going to risk annoying every powerful friend he’s got by pushing them into the spotlight; causing them a major ‘n’ costly interfactional crisis. Especially if that crisis was caused just cos he didn’t want to give some nobody and two synthetic’s some pointers to what they were lookin’ for.”
With that, the mercenary crammed his cyan-skinned hands into his coat pockets. Lowered his head ever so slightly and finally came to a halt before the Cylaurian.
“...You Todd…? I’m here to… Humbly ask for his aid in a little job.”
“Yes the question about tracking down that women, Eleven was it? Sent by Curry in HT.Co that mans a bit of a slob, but he has a wife and daughter named Olivia. She wants to be a dancer you see, sad however that his marriage is fraying and he doesn’t realise it.” The reply was almost instant and the Cylaurian known as ‘Todd’ hadn’t even turned around yet. He finished a glass and then turned, his long snout and multiple eyes moving slightly as his feelers tasted the air.
“Todd will do yes. I know why you are here. I was informed rather blandly that representatives on behalf of HT.Co were coming to see me regarding it. As such I watched you all the way, including your two friends off seeing Captain Tazi, I must say that incident on the maglev was rather… Interesting”
Todd gestured for the group to take a seat on a larger table up against the wall, the comfy cushion wall seats allowing more than enough room. Todd himself sat down on the wooden chair opposite, his black suited accomplice moving to stand beside him in total silence, there was something unnerving about the man, something only slightly inhuman. “So you want to know who, what and where this women is hmm?” He paused, taking out a large cigar and lighting it, putting it to the end of his snout and taking a big puff “I will tell you, but you must know I don’t just trade in money. Money for me is immaterial, far too simple. I trade in information and secrets, here in Lost Star both are like gold dust, so do you have any secrets and information for me worthy enough so that It may trade for my information hmm?” -----
“Oh I do indeed.” Tazi eyed up the bottle with a smile “Looks like someone told you about my collection of rare brews.” She rubbed her chin for a moment before nodding “I’ll accept your offer, I will tell you whatever you want to know but I won’t lie to you I don’t have much information in regards to who she is, but I can tell you where she is right now, why she was gone and how she got there” Tazi stood up and collected three glasses from her side table, picking up a crystal glass of brown alcohol she placed it on the table and poured three glasses, one for her, Rhakar and Zeno. Gesturing them to drink.
“Her name was Eleven, you know that but she didn’t go by any other name, at least not from what I could see or hear. She wore pretty ragged clothes too, I offered her some of mine and it looked like she had been on the run for a while. She told me she was trying to run away, to escape what they had done to her but she didn’t elaborate even when I asked, Eleven didn’t talk much but from what she told me it was some kind of experiment judging by what I saw when she wasn’t looking, I’m almost certain it was psionic in nature. I don’t know where she came from although one of her tattered jackets had a symbol from Capitol on it so not sure if that was where she was from or she just scavenged it somewhere. She asked for a lift to somewhere that she could disappear easily, so I took her to End of the Line. From there she disappeared, but I’m sure she was looking for black contract work in investigation, if that’s the case I might know some people.”
Zeno sat, took a dainty sip and listened in. From the way his big eyes subtly shifted his gaze from moment to moment, it was clear he was diving headlong into sleuth mode. Now it was time for him to earn that InterSECT dough.
He ran through the story in his head - likely psionic, so psychic anything would have been a next step, so would anybody psionically sensitive. Not exactly magic, but close enough to give it the good old-fashioned college try. His mental notes were squeaking as he brought his proverbial marker down, and a couple of things stuck out to him.
"Interesting. Did she seem like the black contract type?"
Another sip, like he was using his drink as a punctuation mark, or a preamble for when he tugged on a line.
"Could you tell me if anything out of the ordinary happened in her presence during your time with her? Psionic activity, unusual foot traffic, atypical visitors?"
Mernis cocked a brow to the fact that this glorified tripod seemed to have eyes and ears across the city. Knowledge available on everything that was transpiring and access to any info he desired. This alone was enough to make the freelancer both intrigued and annoyed at Todd’s demand for the party to effectively offer tribute.
“If you have so much knowledge, ties and power, how come you haven’t bothered to collect the girl to further your own ends? Surely someone as knowledgeable as you would have no trouble tracking and taking her? So what’s holding you back from taking advantage of any such opportunity by yourself?”
The Teliran sat himself at the corner of his seat at the table, always ready to rise to his feet once more as he began to pry into Todd’s own reasons.
“Some sense of morality from being born in the Union of Worlds? Don’t think so. No gain in it for you? I’m sure the appreciation of an information-collecting company like HT would be a great asset to you.”
With that Mernis leaned in, staring at the Cylaurian as though he were challenging him.
“Or perhaps it’s because you don’t actually have any info ‘n’ just want us to tell you every important thing we know… I don’t take kindly to being conned. So if you want us to babble on anything, you better start proving you’re actually worth your salt, Cylaurian.”
"....Likelihood of Organic Subject... "Todd"... lying... 75%. Large amounts of information on Organic Subject... "Todd"... suggest a desire to remain anonymous, likely from wanting to hide from others."
Shard walked and stood near the right of the seated Mernis, the war robot seemed to be as stiff as a board and its larger frame towered over the seated Teliran and Cylaurian, its voice was digitally deepened to the tone used before to possible help in a more 'soft' intimidation of Todd without needing to use physical means yet. However the other names mentioned on the Ancnet, Malin and Illsyth, were also of interested. He ran a second and third search concurrent with trying to gather more information about this specific Todd to find out about them. It was likely that there would be more than one Malin and Illsyth, so the search started out broad and slowly limited down to those that were in Lost Star, those that associated themselves with Todd based on public records.
The scratched arm of the war robot moved to remove the longer black carry case off of its back and set it on the ground to lean upright. Shard did not open the case yet, but it could rather easily. Mernis seemed to be leading off the efforts rather well to 'shake down' Todd, it was doubtful that was a real name, however it was likely more guards were inside of this restaurant and nearby in plain clothes. The search did produce something, Olive Garden, did come up and matched with what was present on Lost Star. It was originally from Old Earth.
"This restaurant is mimicking the Old Earth region of the Apennine Peninsula, or Italian Peninsula.... Why did Organic Subject "Todd" choose this establishment?"
When Rhakar heard psionics he looked up, his right ear twitched, and quietly mused to himself on how psychics could manifest unless they were just that evolved. In any case Psychics were incredibly common in the Hexaverse. Rhakar never really gave it much thought as the Imperial Military encountering Battle Psychics or Mages of sorts as well as fully magical or supernatural as is the case with the Vampyrians on the Supernatural part was not uncommon but it was rather rare in some instances. Rhakar considered his options before speaking. "Captain Tazi I believe I could in theory search for Eleven via psychic means. Nezerians, my species, are all entirely psychic, I'm out of practice but I could very well attempt it. Only issue being If I'm not careful the psychic pings, like a form of active homing radar if you will, could be picked up by others." he turned to address Zeno "Although, it really depends on how we're going to go about this mate."
Meyhna pinched the bridge of her nose, grumbling under her breath. The first words to leave her mouth mimicked her own thoughts on the matter. "Nothing can ever be simple..." she rumbled. Of course the information broker had to be shady and in a weird and out of place locale. Of course they didn't want money. "Like to remain anon, yeah? Hang low? I'd guess you want us out of your hair just as much as we want out of it." she paused, glancing at the Cylaurian. "Hypothetical hair. Didn't intend to be insulting there. Point is, getting convoluted and spooky just drags things out. My red-eyed associate here is already getting inquisitive, and I doubt you want someone trying to pry into your background and how you operate any more than I want to sit here and endure a two-way debate. Like he said, though, if you want something from us, you gotta prove you have what we specifically need."
Zeno raised an eyebrow at that. "You can pick up psychic things happening at - potentially - the End of the Line from here?" He looked down at his drink. "If that's the case, I guess I could afford to take another drink." He then remarked, "The End of the Line, huh...well, that's why I'm asking if we're racing a time attack here or if we're driving against a pack. Any pirate or hotshot that wants to take their chances with Eleven could make this a lot harder for us. Knowing the probabilities is part of playing this kind of game, get me?"
"Zeno, In all fairness I don't know where that is or how far. I can at best try and seek her out by looking for her unique psychic energy signature. This is assuming she cant hide it or hide amongst a group of psychics. Even then, I am extremely out of practice. I never really saw a large amount of usage in psychic abilities because one tends to rely on them more than physical ability, intellect, or natural senses. When we're on the road I can try though if that's alright" Rhakar responded to and corrected Zeno to some extent. His ears sort of panned around to take in as much auditory input as possible while his tail more or less stayed still occasionally swishing to get blood going. His whole demeanor just oozed professionalism and he had really no interest in dragging this out more than he had to.
"Well, you just need to know that that's far." He studied his head, paid attention to all the little movements he was making. He chuckled. "Pardon me for saying it, but you look like a Kraterion who thinks he's hearing trash talk. You really are antsy to get going, aren't you?"
Then he turned back to Tazi. "Sorry about that. Questions are still on the table. What was Eleven like while she was with you; what was your read of her?"
Rhakar shrugged at Zeno's comment in a sort of whatever you say context and returned to paying attention to what Captain Tazi had next to say. He'd explain more in the car or whatever mode of transportation later.
“Interesting. The fact you have said those very things tells me much more than I need to know, that you know quite simply nothing about what’s going on, let alone how things work behind the scenes here. The last person to talk to me like that ended up as a slave for the Coronans. But seeing as you’re quite new here it seems I shall have to give you the benefit of the doubt.” Todd took another puff of his cigar then looked at Meyhna.
“I don’t think you quite understand. You’re here, and that tells me that you need information, HT.Co does not contact someone like me for a small or simply job. I don’t quite care myself for Eleven although one of my benefactors does immensely, but they have not paid me to act on such and so I stay here doing what I do best. I don’t need any particular information from you, but you need such from me. Nothing is free here, and accepting your money is worthless to me. As such you may pay me for the information you need with something that I perhaps do not know, a secret for a secret. I do know where she is, I also know who and what she is and both where you can find her and how to get there, but I am not just handing that information over” He began a snort of a laugh.
“Do you really believe that I will just tell you in order for you to trust me? I don’t care about trust, I care about information. And I also do not like being conned, and telling you this for free only for you to tell me something I already know is quite honestly Mr Mernis, a con. So if you give me what I want, simply and without issue I will happily give you what you want, no strings attached, no lies. Or would you rather not find out about the fact that Eleven is one of the most sought after living weapons in the galaxy at the moment hmm?” He smiled looking then to Shard up and down. “I like the place, it would have been bought out years ago by the various brothel cartels that take up the central areas. It existed on the previous Lost Star as well and I am a firm patron of such a calming and respectable establishment, call it sentimentalism if you wish. There, you see? That’s a free piece of information, for trust purposes”
------
“No, she seemed like the ‘I just escaped and don’t want to be found’ Type. That’s what worried me. As for what happened I kept hearing her voice in my head when I was near her, quite faint but it was there. Sometimes she even spoke to me when I came to see her without letting her know, without using her mouth then rapidly realised and spoke normally. Maybe she was a telepath. I did have some men come to see me after the journey, they were pretty strange, looked ex Capitol and asked if I had seen her, they were asking all the ships which had been to EOTL. I told them I hadn’t seen her and they didn’t question further.” She took another drink. “End of the Line is a quarter of the galaxy away from here, I would doubt you could even comprehend that distance. Let alone penetrate the Black Threshold.” She made a confused look to Rhakar, he was new to the galaxy she thought.
“As for how she was, well quiet, confined. Looked like someone who had been abused and locked away for a long time. I would know that look anywhere” She looked down into her alcohol as a dark look came upon her face.
Mernis didn’t seem very pleased at this guy nor his overconfident attitude. Furrowing his brows the Teliran spat back without hesitation,
“You’re not the only person with leads on this asset, how’s that for a little bit of information?”
The freelancer inquired as a mixture of a similarly minor release of info and a not so subtle reminder that Todd wasn’t their own means of tracking down this individual. Standing up, hands planted onto the table, he further added,
“If you worth a grain of salt like you claim to be, then how about you actually lay out what kind of information you want rather than wait for us to squeal every last thing we know until you’re satiated?”
He was seemingly unphased by Todd’s efforts to emphasise how much important Zero was, nor by the Cylaurian dropping his name. Still staring into his eyes, Onoro finally stated,
“I couldn’t care less what we’re exchanging in so quit explaining it to me. Tell me the price, not the currency. Are you wanting information on someone specific? Something of some specific magnitude? I’m a busy man, Todd, and I have other work to do.”
Zeno took notes. Some mental, some written by scrawling them in a little black book, appropriately scaled down. It looked like he was using his wand to do it, the Rattler having obligingly turned into a penlike stylus that left a perfect trail of jet-black ink in its wake, the ink turning red whenever he made a mental note on something he really needed to keep in mind. Every bit was important. Every detail, one more corner to turn that made the track he'd drive down.
"I see..." Another punctuating drink, then he continued. "So it sounds like that was their only visit, if just the visit to you. They were canvassing the whole yard, it would seem."
Another quick drink. Then he caught Tazi's expression darkening as she went silent. His voice shrank too, after he quickly considered what he should say next. "...I apologize if that took you to a dark place."
Then he worked more magic. A swish and flick of the Rattler, and all the text he wrote down wrote itself again on the page under it. He tore out the first page and kept the little black book, handing Rhakar the tear-out. On it were his notes, written out in very loopy, pretty handwriting that looked like Okekolu script turned into basic written language:
-Jacket likely hers, just escaped custody -Limited control over psionic faculties, basic control but no finesse -Human subspecies according to file, but definitely not naturally psionic -Ex-Capitol agents possibly in pursuit, could be ruse but Capitol jacket on subject makes that unlikely -Definitely not EOTL material -Time-sensitive, subject is in very high-risk situation
Rhakar analyzed all of this in a matter of seconds and converted it to memory before looking back at Zeno and nodding and saying "Well, if she's a quarter or half the galaxy away from here I may as well tell my Destroyers captain to spool up the Plasma Drives once we leave but this feels more and more like a race against others who're hunting her. When we first started I'd imagine'd it would be something along the lines of just a quick ask questions from leads and take off running then find the individual but apparently it's a tad bigger than I first entertained." Rhakar had his AI connect to Ancnet and sift for information on this capitol and to figure out what and where End of The Line is.
Todd was clearly full of animal fecal matter originating from a male Bovine. Even the AI knew it, Todd, if that was his real name, was lying and simply trying to extort them for the sole goal of 'entertainment' and to essentially play them like a fiddle, a metaphor from Old Earth. The robots sensor module on the top of its durable frame moved in a very quick manner to perform quick scans of the faces of other patrons in the bar. There were roughly eleven visible, excluding Mernis and Mehyna, it was logical that a majority of them would be restaurant goers. However, this was Todd's territory, it was also logical to assume that some were bodyguards.
A similar process to before happened again, the faces were run through Shard 471's facial recognition software to figure out who these people are, their names, birthdays, relations, what their activities are normally like, who they work for, what they do... On Lost Star, it could be any of these things, in this portion of this massive ring world, anything could be possible. Any one of these people could be a threat, considering what they did know about Eleven.
Shard's sensor node moved again on his vertically stiff frame to focus in on the strange 'human' sitting next to Todd. If anything this was his primary bodyguard, the facial recognition software went to work again, however not all of the stuff about his face matched with the normal tolerances that make something 'human' according to the original programming. Something was wrong here in this house of oddities.
"Organic Subject... "Todd" is attempting to extort us, 85% of accuracy in assumption."
“Well good for you, if your leads were of any worth would you be here right now?” He smiled looking over to Shard who seemed to be analysing the individuals around them.
That was the thing though, Shard was to put their faces through scans, analyse the Anc net and discover who they were. Only they didn’t have faces, only blurred pixelated messes where their faces were, every single one of them. They had been normal people when the group had occasionally glanced over, or seen them out of the corner of their eyes but the moment Shard focused their identity and image was gone. They were fake, but yet they were real. IR scans and more showed they were actual people, but their faces were missing. As one they all turned towards the group, any sort of murmuring of chatter was gone.
“Oh you finally noticed, don’t mind them they are not important. Don’t do anything silly and they won’t bother you they will just go back to how they were. As for specifics, well tell me something interesting I might not know about your nations, or yourselves as people. If there’s anything interesting in there for me I will let you know, tell me some dark secrets that I can use later when I’m doing this exact thing again with someone else who may have ties.” He sat forward, he was remarkably relaxed given the situation and judging by Cylaurian body posture he was as calm and truthful as he could be.
----- “No its ok. We all have our demons. I was once a prisoner too for most of my life. When I found her in the docks begging people for help I asked her what was wrong, when she told me she was running and saw the Capitol logo on her arm I knew then what I had to do. No before you ask she didn’t pay me, I took her to EOTL myself on my own coin.” She swilled the drink around in her cup with a blank expression before looking to Rhakar.
“I wouldn’t take your ship in there if I was you. If you don’t have ties to EOTL your ship would be blown to pieces the moment it turns up, let alone the fact you don’t have a hope in hell of navigating the Black Threshold. It’s not just some place you can stroll into like Lost Star here, it’s a hard to get to elites club for renowned pirates of the major families, those with ties to them and their suppliers. If you’re not one of them your dead the moment you show up.”
Zeno smiled before taking another drink and writing a few more notes. "Thank you. That tells me a lot, you've been very helpful." He looked at his Rattler and turned it over in his hand. "Yeah. Hell of a place - I've never actually been there myself, but I hear enough that I know the most widely-circulated rumors. She's right, you know - a ship and swagger aren't enough. You need an in, some kind of trump card. Unless you're volunteering, and trust me, my ears are open, I've got that handled." Another dramatic little drink, like an exclamation point.
Mernis was practically going to explode with impatient anger through his calm facade at this point. A clear grimace across his face, he simply stared at the Cylaurian silently for almost half a minute before finally shaking his head and shrugging,
“Maybe the robot or the bug-light knows something useful for you. But as far as you need to concern yourself with me? Well, I'm just a small-time freelancer trying to make enough money to get this Teliran country-boy through life, my friend. I don’t think I'm going to be getting a high enough sum at the end of this case to make shilling out anything else I might know to you worth my while.”
Tilting his head, the Teliran gave a small smirk as his eyes glared to his opponent on the opposite side of the table. Not even taking a moment to gaze upon the other occupants of the room, seemingly unconcerned or unshocked by such a revelation. Instead, the mercenary put his boots upon Todd’s table, one resting upon the other,
Rhakar nodded to Zeno and rolled his neck briefly before replying "Very well Lad. I guess the Penitent Blade is only useful in a dockyard here at Lost Star, or can we take her as far as possible, stash her somewhere then use your in?. This'll be more deep cover shit than I'm used to if anything. Speaking of ships, Captain Tazi if I have to leave my ship here do you perhaps have an open dock space?. I'd rather not have to deal with random bastards getting aboard my ship and be shot to hell by the automated internal and external defenses and the ship defense troopers."
Todd was stalling. Trying to use time as his advantage to break the group into submission, to pry into them for his own personal gain. Mernis seemed to have already felt some pressure, but put it off to the side to get the information. It was almost admirable. For Shard however, time was not an issue, but it was one in the case of Eleven. The rest of the people in the room, save for Meyhna, Mernis, and this 'Todd' were spooks. Off the radar, they were here as bouncers, people that the AI could not track and follow to figure out anymore of Todds relations... People that no one would miss if they die. Or, they were people that did not wish to be found, either for criminal past if such a thing existed on Lost Star, or to remain unseen. Likely the latter.
"Organic Mernis, Artificia Meyhna, all other people in this room are different than majority of other humans. They are not matching any recognition that I am running. Very high likelihood of being armed security for Organic that self designates as 'Todd'"
All of these figurative concepts were running through the AI's processors within this frame... Some small things without any true connotations to satisfy Todd's desire for information would be useful.
"My self designation is 'Shard 471', original manufacture date of my software was 2347 Anno Domini at KOLN, European Commonwealth, as a smart sentient station management AI for Callisto Deep Extraction Corporation. I came in possession of this frame 16 years ago after the Event, frame designation is Cyngi Robotic Infantry - Mark 4, production year of 2358 Anno Domini, designed for the Centauri to fill a counter insurgency and infantry role. Last 16 years have been spent to secure parts and money to acquire parts to ensure self preservation protocols."
Meyhna was silent. The Artificia had secrets. Even for a species less than a century old, their history gave them a fair few. Things they'd just kept to themselves, and things you would be shot dead for giving away. She was no high ranking agent privy to Sameh's secret diary, of course, but there were things most if not every Artificia knew. Unfortunately, none of them Meyhna considered worth little enough to exchange for the whereabouts of some girl.
She did have one idea, though. Didn't know many details, but she knew more than the news did. "You've heard of the Kaikoma Incident, right? About two, three years ago? Psychotic gestalt bitch cracks a Dectrose planet, over 12 billion dead in a matter of a couple hours, yeah? Nobody really knows why. All that's known is everything obvious. Pair of DE fleets have a scuffle in orbit, big fuckoff nanite ship appears, big scary glowing ship shows up and shrugs off everything the gestalt ship throws at it, planet is shattered as gravimetric sensors explode. Shredded by gravimetric lensing. All that's true, at least as far as I know." she shrugged. "But, I also know that all of that happened because of an Artificia reported missing a few months earlier. Kidnapped. Escaped, fled to Kaikoma. Don't know what happened on the surface, since everyone who would've seen is either missing or dead. Big fight broke out I assume, gestalt lost her temper, billions of people dead. The Artifician girl's still MIA, but if the gestalt was willing to go to those lengths to take her, I doubt she's dead."
"If you want an open dock space you got to pay for it and find it yourself, I dont spare coin so easily. Theres plenty of them around you just have to pay." Tazi replied holding her hand up to Rhakar.
"Before I do something extremely stupid and offer you a lift to EOTL to try and help this women, what do you want with her? Has HT.Co actually told you who wants her, and why she is trying to be found? It could be one of two possibilities. The Order of Serenity or the Brotherhood of the Great State. Both of them track down psychics especially those made by Capitol. But the latter... Just hope its not the latter. Curry told me there were more of you, where is the rest of your group?" Tazi was now starting to fidget, all of these revelations were making her uncomfortable at the prospects of this meeting.
----
Before Todd could speak the bartender pointed over at Mernis, he in fact did have a face. A gruff old man who was frowning.
"Get your damn feet off that table this is a restaraunt not some run down saloon, damn kids"
Todd looked at the bartender then nodded and turned back. He seemed somewhat disinterested with what Shard had said, after all robots even sentient ones were quite common across the galaxy. But Meyhna. Now Todd was interested.
"So Kaikoma and all those dead were over a single one of your species... How interesting. Now you have my attention. Why was she so important may I ask?" He flickered his tongue out similar to a snake before putting out his cigar. "Those Gestalts are extremely shallow affairs, still your information is good enough. What precisely, do you wish to know?"
Zeno smirked and shook his head. "Off pursuing other leads. I wouldn't worry about them; they're probably fine."
He then paused to consider the rest of Tazi's warning. His eyed widened at the names: one, maybe both, just sounded like bad news. Cults, or worse. "Not exactly the sunniest names if you can read between a few lines, huh? I'm afraid Curry was pretty terse with me; I'm aiding in this search in exchange for some information on an ongoing case I'm involved in. Not to go into too much detail, but if you own stock in Enyo Associates, I'd advise you start selling; just say you didn't hear it from me."
Mernis seemed to not be very moved by the bartender’s reaction, simply glancing up and inquiring,
“And what if I don’t?”
The mercenary didn’t appear to be very interested with what the rest were discussing, but he was certainly clocking what was being conveyed by Meynha just as much as Todd. Any information worth giving to this guy, after all, was worth selling to some other sucker another time at a later date. Apart from that, the Teliran didn’t care to add or react to this account of an entire planet, instead muttering to Meynha,
“Better make your question a good one...”
The faced man was likely one of the true humans at this restaurants. It was still an unsafe environment, their safety relied for the most part on what Todd decided it to be, and for now they atleast where on the Cylaurians good side. Shard 471 was unaware of this event that Artifica Meyhna mentioned, however if what she said was true, it could hopefully serve as their metaphorical 'golden ticket' to secure some of their information on Eleven. However, Mernis needed to not jeopardize their welcome.
"Organic Mernis, the elderly human subject likely is affiliated with organic that self identifies as 'Todd', there is no need to run the risk of overstaying our welcome here."
The robots sensor head pivoted around to look at Meyhna and then back at Todd but made the assumption that Meyna would take things from here.
Rhakar looked at Tazi for a moment before replying "Captain who or what is the Order of Serenity and the Brotherhood of The Great State?. Do you know anything about their tendencies or capabilities?. I feel like we'll be encountering them if they're looking for Eleven too. It's probably a smart option to learn as much about them before we have a chance to encounter them. Why do they even track down psychics as well?"
"Can't really say for sure." Meyhna shrugged in response to Todd's inquiring about the mystery Artificia. "I think she was Navy, so that might have something to do with it. But who knows what goes in the head of someone who splits planets in temper tantrums. Anyway." Meyhna rolled her shoulders. "So, right to the chase. Where is this Eleven girl? How do we reach her?"
Tazi nodded to Zeno on the notion of selling stocks before turning to Rhakar.
“The Order of Serenity is an isolationist and pretty mysterious organisation that heads their HQ out of Minsin. They rescue and supposedly rehabilitate psionics across the galaxy and help those with the gift who get into trouble or have nowhere else to go, nobody knows why or for what purpose but so far they have been pretty benevolent at least from what I have heard but judging by the times there’s sinister shit everywhere so I wouldn’t be surprised.”
She took another swig before speaking again.
“As for the brotherhood, they are what has come out of Capitols fall, they were always an extremist group, and extremists of extremists at that, all about total state control and some pretty fucked up shit. They teamed up with the ‘Army of the Panopticon’ during the war, the Capitol psyops division which created all those clone soldiers, psions and more. BGS and the Panopticon headed something called the Avalon project, it was to create psions from non psions, they say 20 went in and only some came out. I’m certain Eleven is one of the original bunch, now the BGS is searching for what they lost, their nasty people and they have terrifying stuff supporting them you better hope they are not involved” She shook her head. ----- “Then ill kick your damn ass myself you god damn punk, kids these days!” He shouted angrily, giving Mernis one last chance before he intended to storm over and remove the feet from the table himself.
“Actually Luigi does not work for me, he owns this place although I technically do, I keep him well catered for. I ask please respect the man’s livelihood” Todd smiled before answering.
“Eleven is currently in End of the Line, related but not the same thing as the pirate group, the descents of Lu Xaobo. It is a huge space station, lawless and run by the original galaxy pirate houses, it is what Lost Star was before this” He gestured as if to mean the Ringworld “When the pirate houses were fought off they made EOTL as their new lawless paradise. Eleven went there hoping to drop off the radar of her pursuers. It won’t work of course, only slow them down, as of right now I heard that she was last trying to find work, desperate to bring some coin in. As for how you reach her…” Todd leant back.
“You would need to find someone who would take you to End of the Line, going there yourselves in any old ship would get you all killed, you have to have passage there otherwise they kill you. That ship captain your others are meeting, Tazi, she has a pass, she knows a lot about EOTL you see, a great deal. Certainly more than me, Lost star is my playground. Anything else?”
Mernis’ locked eyes with the bartender, a cocky-yet-calculating look came about him. He then glared over to Todd, and then to his party.
“Well Luigi should learn to not pick fights with people who specialise in the ‘removals’ business.”
He threatened as he looked back to the man behind the counter. With a smirk, the mercenary sat in silence for a few moments to allow the tension to fester between himself and his adversary before suddenly blurting out cheerfully.
“A bit of fun banter between a restaurant owner and his patron is always fun! No? Just tryin’ to pull your leg bud, you seem like a hard-workin’ guy.”
He suddenly and jovially assured with a grin crossing his face as his boots came off the table. His eyes returned the Cylaurian and his cheery facade quickly disappeared once more.
“Yeah. Tell me about your buddies. I know you have sponsors and I want to know exactly why they’ve decided you’re worth protecting.”
"Other names that this subject "Todd" goes by are 'Malin' and 'Illysth', with suspected associates within the BGS, Rondam, and Ghosts of the Tradex. These are the sponsors that Organic Mernis are talking about, dilvuge on them as he stated."
Shard 471 said down to Todd and the man sitting beside him. While this was going on however, the AI started its own small investigation on these organizations, the BGS, Rondam, and the Ghosts of Tradex by doing yet another dive into the depths of the Ancnet. The AI had heard of The End of the Line before, it did not seem reputable or relatively safe.
But if this Eleven was in the End of the Line, and Organic Rhakar hasnt killed this captain Tazi or the small Zeno Cupric yet, they could potentially confirm their information before progressing.
"Well, damn," Zeno remarked, shaking his head in pity. "So they are a collection of bad news with funny names. When I get the chance I'll reference those names against some of my resources and see what shakes out. You're doing a good job laying that down, more than a few people from my neck of the woods sound like they'd be targets - actually, if you're curious, I've got a history with stuff like that. Since we're all sharing, I mean, the least I could do is actually swap a story.
I mean, I did say that Jade Ribbon's got a tale, right?”
Rhakar thought for a moment before nodding to Tazi "I'll need to have a look at the Capitol later in whatever database has them relevant. Although I dont mean to prod nor pry but....how do you know so much of likely high level and terrifying information to any degree or is this the vague overview? I am actually quite curious. As for the Serenity, any people who seem too nice to be believable are often hiding the darkest secrets in my experience." He said calmly but Tazi raised a couple suspicions he'd note for later.
"Nothing more from me." Meyhna shook her head, crossing her arms. "Not unless you know of anyone else of note on her trail we might wanna know about." she added.
This place they seemed to be on course for wasn't anywhere...well, most people went close to. For good reason, too. The Artificia was having doubts, but something told her there was more on the line than money here. She decided to keep her reservations to herself, for now.
Tazi looked reluctant for a moment before nodding.
“I used to be Capitol born, low level nothing fancy. Same old regime of repression and totalitarianism. One day I got sold off to one of the pirate houses in exchange for something I don’t know about, if you didn’t know Capitol used its population as its currency backing so at the end of the day lives were literally money. I was used as a slave in labour and more for several years before I got my chance, I killed the man who enslaved me and his closest crew and set the rest of the ship free.” She gestured around herself.
“I inherited everything he owned, and now I am a free pirate who does whatever the fuck she wants. I know things because I have the ear of many top dogs in EOTL and a fair few links in LS. Information is power here, if your ignorant you won’t last long” She finished her glass.
“So what’s the play, you got your information what do you plan to do now?” ------ “Because I know things, I’m not about to divulge my entire life’s fairy tale to you and give you every wart I own on why I have so many high end sponsors my friend.” He swilled his glass.
“The Brotherhood of the Great State finds me an asset because of my knowledge, given their situation they need information, fighting the occupation and all eh? Rondam is simple, I do business with them and them for me I’m a corporate advisor and their bio tech is some of the best on the market. As for the Ghosts…” He looked up at the suited man standing behind him. “I can’t say”
With the digging on the net it became apparent to shard that the title ‘Malin’ was in fact not just a name, it was the name of a Union battlecruiser. Given the fact that Todd was once a Unioner with such a code name it was indeed reported that the Malin was lost with all hands on patrol around the eastern reaches. As for the others Rondam was a fairly well known bio tech mega corp across the galaxy with big pharma links into several factions, BGS being Capitol extremists fighting occupation and the Ghosts being enigmas which surprisingly little was written about in certainty.
“Anything else or do you have places to be?”
Zeno likewise drained his glass, wiping the corners of his mouth afterwards. "Seems pretty cut-and-dried from my point of view. We bribe our way to a ride to get us to EOTL, we duck in, find the kid, duck out. Depending on what we find out about who's asking for her, we get her to the clients or find some kind of safe custody in case they're a line to either of those guys you just warned us about." He looked around, like he was afraid someone was listening in, then continued. "Oh, yeah, and personally, if the Order decides to be a branch of the Creepo Depot, I show 'em just how high above my weight class I fight. The Brotherhood can find that out for free."
Shard began to piece together the information that he knew about 'Todd' so far, multiple links suggested that he may have his finger in this pie. Not only did he exactly know where Eleven was, he knew the captain that had her. The same captain Tazi that Zeno and the Nezerian dead set on killing them all through his own actions.
Union desertion, the Ghosts, Big Pharma, and the Capitol. This was certainly far larger than what they were initially led on to believe. The robot looked over at Mernis and Meyhna.
"I do not believe that Organic 'Todd' has further information relevant to what the H.T. Corp contract entails. I suggest leaving."
Mernis was quick to respond, simply rising to his feet as he shook his head in reply to Todd. He seemed rather concluded and unemotional towards the whole affair. As far as he was concerned, there was nothing he could purchase from this colonial worth the dividends he would receive. Especially when they already had enough to go on now.
Turning to Shard, the Teliran gestured for the group to take their leave as he tipped his hat to Todd. Giving a little smirk, the mercenary politely muttered
“I’m sure you have people to speak to now, Mr. Todd. Unless there’s anything else my associates have to plead from you, we’ll be on our way.”
"Yeah, thas' all from me. I'm sure you have things you'd rather be doing and people you'd rather be speaking to. Uh...thanks for your time, and the info, I guess." Meyhna shrugged as she started to step away. "Sorry for the trouble." she added, this directed at Luigi, before with an offhanded wave turning and heading for the exit.
Well. They had more than they had before, and the orange Artificia really wasn't sure what could be done with the reasoning behind an involuntary planetcrack, but as far as she was concerned, it wasn't her problem to deal with.
“I can respect that. Say if you have the money I will take you. Your already here and I know the route, besides I can probably pick up some smuggling jobs while I’m there, get your friends over here and we will set off either later today or tomorrow” Tazi stood up and placed her glass down.
“Your free to hang around in the docks or move off to do something else it will be a while before we move just be back here in 12 hours minimum. I ain’t gonna be happy being late” She gestured for the two of them to see themselves out of her quarters seeing both Zeno and Rhakar out of the door.
“I do not trust her. My experience tells me she is hiding something potentially dangerous or that she could be working with our enemy that was too easy” Rhakar stated to Zeno almost with an anxious tone, he made his way back towards the docks down from where they had come before “I suggest we prepare ourselves for such an eventuality” he checked over his plasma cannon as they moved to the docks outside the ship. He was almost paranoid.
----- Todd bowed.
“No trouble at all my friends. Thank you for stopping by and spicing things up, I wish you luck on your ventures I do indeed have other matters of business to attend to.” He took a sip of his drink as they neared the door.
“Oh and one more thing, be careful of that Nezerian of yours” He smiled to himself and waved as the group exited the little Italian restaurant and once more went out onto the bustling and blaring street of the complex. The party was still going as individuals tried to entice them to join in, they had got what they came for now was the best time to find somewhere quiet and find out what had gone on between the other two and captain Tazi. It was overall quiet evident that this was much bigger than Curry or HT.Co had led on.
Zeno tore out another page of his notebook, showing notes that amounted to Capitol being bad news, and that there was no way Tazi would willingly work with anybody Capitol-backed. He said as much.
"She was wronged by the Capitol system. The deck was stacked against her until she had to kill her way out of it. If the only heavies she knows of are an unknown she doesn't trust and some extreme Capitol remnants, what does she get out of working with either of those groups?" He handed Rhakar the page. "That they leave her alone? Not much of a motivation."
Mernis only briefly paused, standing still by the doorway for a few moments after Todd had made his final comment. Lowering his hat a little, the Teliran made no reply and simply left. Once more embracing the open air, if you could call it that, the mercenary started to immediately make his way back towards the station to set on a course back to HT.Co.
“We’re now in a race against time.”
He simply noted to Shard and Meynha as he made his way back down the widing, busy streets. While Todd didn’t seem to be particularly interested in this case, it was now certain there would be others who would, and Mernis personally doubted Todd wouldn’t pass down the opportunity to keep other hunters out of the loop.
Shard looked at Todds bow like an alien thing before following Mernis out to the train station to head back to HT Corp, the machine was still cautious about leaving this casino and pleasure den for the unknown danger factors that could present themselves. The AI for one, had its own reasons to believe that they were getting in over their heads, such as the involvement of the little known Ghosts and the 'menace' of the Capitol also having their fingers in the cake.
"Organic Mernis, now that we are out of earshot of Todd, though he likely has some manner of watching us now, we are for certain involved in something far more in depth than what Curry let on. It is best to discuss with the other two, if they are still alive, back at HT Corp where there is the less likely chance of being listened."
The AI paused for a moment as it walked.
"Todd mentioned to be careful regarding Rhakar. Do you reckon it is any more concern than normal?"
"With his track record I wouldn't be surprised if he's blown up another train by now." Meyhna grumbled. "Otherwise, we best hope he's just advising us to keep an eye on him in case he gets any worse." The Artificia looked entirely disinterested as she walked, her pace described as anything but leisurely; she wanted out of this den as fast as possible and strolling about would do that slower than she liked. "But yeah. There's a lot more with this girl than we thought. Do we even know who wants her? I sure as shit don't, but with all these, uh...unsavoury types involved, I'm not sure they're any better."
“She could be lying about everything, I’ve seen plenty of liars who have tried to craft intricate traps of endless pitfalls for those who trust them only to be torn apart by my own forces. We Nezerians are excellent at telling if people are lying, and she seems to be, I don’t like her.” He turned to Zeno.
“That blue man told us that we should rendezvous back at HT.Co after, we should return and meet up with the rest, I don’t trust them either but they may have found out more information. Knowing is half the battle and I expect a major battle.” Rhakar kept walking seeming like he would be off to use the maglev while Zeno took his car back to where they had come from.
It would be a much more uneventful journey for Zeno on the way back, there was no wreck of the racer he had encountered on the way so it was doubtful the kid had crashed and died. And there was no insane drivers willing to give him a race this time, in fact judging by the time of the relative day the traffic was relatively calm allowing him to go full throttle on the way back to the offices.
----- None of the others were hampered as they left the entertainment complex and headed back to the maglev the various weapons sellers once again attempting to sell them all kinds of guns as they bypassed Brass Town edges and came back to the maglev. It was relatively less busy at this time of day but it was obvious something wasn’t right. Several individuals got off the train in the hurry one cursing loudly as the party hopped back on. To their amusement Rhakar stood gripping the hand rail, those still on the train staying well away from him, he nodded to them.
“I hope you acquired the relevant information, we have found quite the amount ourselves and have secured a ride to End of the Line. Me and Zeno were on our way to rendezvous with you at HT.Co, Zeno is driving there as we speak.”
Before he left, Zeno said one last thing. It was different, his body language and tone flashing of experience that his dress sense and his species normally hid so well.
"Gut feelings are powerful. ...they can still be wrong."
He fluttered away and drove back. The relative calm of the roads this time let him think. He wanted to probe further - this Rhakar guy was starting to look like the sort of fellow that had a particular talent for digging himself into holes - but he was on the clock and didn't need it. A good drive also had that wonderfully therapeutic effect on him, the sounds and feelings of pushing something whose limits he knew to the last millimeter refreshing him as he drove. When he arrived, announcing himself via throttle blips and anti-lag bangs like usual, he got out of the Kalhayan looking fresh as a daisy.
"Currently, we do not. However there are other parties at play here beyond for ourselves. I urge that we all take caution in this... I doubt that whoever contracted HT Corp solely worked through the organization and Cury to find this eleven.... There is more information but it can not be discussed until we arrive at HT Corp."
Shard replied back to Meyhna as they walked towards the train past all of the scalpers and gun salesmen. It dropped the formerly deep and intimidating tone that was used around Todd back to its more neutral tone, back to something more normal. However, when the AI spotted the sight of the people rushing off the train and the facial recognition software detected an unfortunately familiar face. Bad timing in this manner could have been an understatement.
"Mernis, Meyhna, there is the aforementioned Nezerian present onboard the train."
Shard stepped aboard the train after wading through the crowd hurrying away and still held onto his few carry cases and looked over at Rhakar when he asked his question. The machines voice shifted back into the one with the deeper tone when addressing the supposed 'knight'
"That information will be disclosed once we reach a secured location that is less likely to be bugged.... Seeing how many people made it an effort to leave the train in a rapid manner, I am estimating a 73.12% chance that a repeat on the outbound journey happened."
“That fleabag is nothing but trouble, robot.” Mernis replied as he made his way through the crowds that filled the streets. “What I take more concern in is that the three-legged foreskin knew we were coming and that our pet dog is a troublemaker. Which means he either has a contact in every crowd on Lost Star, or he… Or an associate, is having us followed.” He answered to Shard, casually stopping to inspect baubles before returning to the party.
“Whoever wants her is none of my concern.” The Teliran replied to Meynha,
“My concern is what I agreed to do, which is finding this broad and getting the job done. All I need to know is that these goons that aren’t paying us to get the girl are powerful, and will be very interested in us.” Sighing, the freelancer added,
“It’s a wonder they don’t just offer us a better price… But perhaps that’s what they intend to do once we’ve reached her.” The hordes of escapees fleeing from the maglev as its doors open caused the Teliran to reach into his coat, only to withdraw his hand once more at the sight of Rhakar. Onoro didn’t seem very amused to see him, simply remarking,
“I’m glad to see you haven’t killed half the train because a boy stole a lollipop.”
The freelancer rather snidely remarked as he slipped down into one of the open chairs that Rhakar had rather kindly made free for the party. He didn’t seem too willing to part with any information they had already gained, not when he could just explain it once with the rest of the party with them.
"Wouldn't that be a twist, we go all that way and suddenly offered more money to fuck off or something." Meyhna shrugged. "Guess we'll see."
The Artificia didn't sit down on the train, instead looping her arm around a pole and leaning lazily on it. "Yeah, we gonna see news about you popping a different train?" she asked with a smirk.
"Your humour is as always beyond exception" Rhakar replied as the maglev took off back towards the administrative district.
"One of these individuals tried to tarnish me so I ensured that they would no longer do so. Nobody was killed and hence the situation is dealt with" He smiled under his helmet the Nezerian taking pride in his perceived superiority.
The train ride was not as eventful as the last, everyone had already cleared out the carriages and clearly whatever menace Rhakar had caused had been before the others attended. Still the prospect of a bug or being followed was clearly an issue, and Rhakar had accepted the fact they couldn’t talk about the details in public transport, at least for now.
The first to get back to the offices was Zeno, his quite hallmark car pulling up to the street outside of HT.Co with a distinctive racket. But as he looked, something had clearly happened. The HT.Co building was cut off, surrounded by Lost Star security vehicles and a cordon, individuals with coats and guns stood guarding while special individuals went in and out of the building. HT.Co-workers seemed to be at the windows working out what’s going on and a crowd had appeared around the area being kept back by the security. The same sight came to those who had gotten off the maglev and now walked to the office building, the situation seemed almost too perfect.
“It appears something bad has happened” Rhakar stated out loud as if his enhanced senses could almost determine the exact sight in front of him, he immediately tried to search through his HUD to find out any news instantly finding an article.
“Some firefight or murder in the HT.Co building, four dead confirmed. No details” He added. Of all the crowd however, it was the fully armoured Echo which stood out, the individual appeared to be deep in thought, like he had seen something important.
Paskin watched as the group of individuals paused together outside the HT.Co building, clearly assessing the situation. If he was the gambling sort, he'd bet they were here for the same reason he was.
He nimbly weaved around the growing number of security before moving towards the group, pivoting to stand in line with them and folding his arms.
"If you're here looking for Curry, I regret to inform you that he is among the deceased. Yisk'lyn cowards gunned him down while I was downstairs."
His head turned sharply to look at the group. He recognized some of the races present and definitely sized them up as the type in the same line of work he was. "Paskin Brell, at your service."
Mernis came to a halt at the sight before him. Bustling security and civic confusion all lay before the group. It didn’t take a genius to point out that something was wrong. The rather sudden introduction from the Echotian only confirmed this. Looking to his side to inspect the freelancer, the Teliran raised a brow, muttering,
“Yisk’lyn? Who did this?”
He didn’t seem very heartbroken or moved about the death of Curry, but very disconcerted by the prospect of his paymasters being threatened. Returning his glare towards the building before him, he caught the unmistakable sight of Zeno, to whom he quickly honed in on. Speed-walking towards as he pushed onlookers aside. His face revealing a rising level of concern and frustration until he finally pointed towards the fairy, standing before him and blurting out,
“What happened here?”
Zeno looked around as the driver's side gullwing door opened and he rose into the air. He was a little relieved that he had cleared his head on the drive, because his eyes went wide with shock and he kept furiously fluttering his wings to get a good vantage point.
"...what the hell?" He rose a little more. "What the hell?!" He descended again to avoid making too much of a spectacle of himself, and Mernis was just in time to see Zeno clutching his head, looking dreadfully confused.
"Who the - now what the crap do we do? I just parked here and all this was going on!" He clenched his teeth and sunk his face into his palms. "Somebody must've known this contract thing was going down. They - whoever 'they' are - got here first!"
“Well deduced, detective.”
The Teliran chirped rather dismissively, turning away from the building to face Zeno head on, the shady freelancer went on to add,
“We clearly can’t depend on these people being a reliable informant to keep us going during our investigation; not in this state. But i’m sure as hell not going to be putting my hat up on my contract, and they can think again if this attack makes my contract null and void. They’ll stick to their promises if they want to continue getting help from my people… Or having tongues to speak with anyone for that matter.”
He seemed to almost snarl the final words from the corner of his mouth. The group was now certainly alone in their investigation now. It was uncertain now if anyone left alive in HT.Co was now even aware of the case. But a contract with a mob boss isn’t exactly something one can shake off with the sympathy card,
“Your pet canine tells me the contact you met with has been persuaded to take us to some place relating to this girl of ours?”
"Yeah, where she was dropped off," Zeno said, shaking his head. "It's no cakewalk either - great, I'm getting paranoid about saying it out in the open. Anyway, Tall, Dark And Awkward's right. We have less than twelve hours to kill between then and now, and if we want to find a safe place to talk shop, we better hustle."
He paused for a moment and then continued. "I almost want to sit in on the autopsy, see if it sounds like any names I heard while we were there. Did you hear any talk from your guys about a Brotherhood of the Great State or an Order of Serenity?" "I mean...unless they were super-professional and packing weapons that would be really out of place in their necks of the woods."
'I wanna hug him like a teddy bear' Meyhna breathed as she glanced at Zeno, before shaking her head. "Not...particularly, not unless the robot's found something." she shrugged, gesturing to Shard. "Mostly just told us where to look, which from the sounds of things your captain friend told you as well." she added.
Great. A burning home base and their contact had told them everything a ship captain already knew.
"I do not appreciate the humour" Rhakar chimed in, his ultra sensitive hearing able to pick up the chatter "I am not some canine, I am a Knight of the United Nezerian Empire and I have fought in such battles akin to likes you have never seen in this galaxy such as the shattering of Ultrez and the seige of Kalar. I would ask for you to curb your tongue, but I agree with Zeno. We must find out what happened here and lay low until Captai Tazi can provide us a lift to End of the Line, if she is even trustworthy to do so" Rhakar had made his way over. Clearly disgruntled and eyeing up the Echo who had seemingly joined the party from out of the blue.
"You might have been in some big battles, but you really need to do more beats before you can get the rhythm of this kind of thing, especially a beat like this," Zeno replied. He then snuck in some additional info. "...besides, try not to brag in earshot of a Clearwing, will you?"
Mernis raised a brow as he shot a sideglance to Meynha, nodding before his eyes seemed to light up a little with surprise. Returning his alarmed stare to Zeno as he momentarily stuttered.
“W- Wait, wait. Who- Who told about the Brotherhood of the Great State?”
He raised a hand as if to try and physically force a stop to the progression of the conversation for a moment as he tried to backtrack.
Shard had been mostly silent throughout this entire encounter, the machine took in the sight of this new arrival and mapped his face to a recognition log. The entire sight of this all, atleast four killed with Curry possibly among them, was very very troublesome... While the robot did not have any real concern for Curry, him being killed was not good. Shard stepped up next to Meyhna and answered her question.
“The information that Zeno speaks of is true... We need to find a safe place out of this street... Organic Rhakar, I implore you to stop acting ‘Like a walking shag carpet’, this is a phrase used by my creators.”
Paskin eyed the group, wary of the looks he was getting from the armoured knight, as he slowly became more familiar with their current predicament.
His helmed head cocked to one side as he listened, a clicking noise emanating from his throat. "Though I may not have been as familiar with our employer as the rest of you, I can offer my services should you require them? His death is a sign of larger happenings of which I too would like to see resolved. Come, let's find somewhere to talk. I'll buy drinks."
“It sounds like we’ll need all the contractors on the job if we wanna take on the world.” The Teliran responded to the Echo, “We’ll kill two birds with one stone and get to this Captain’s ship. I suspect it will be safer to talk once we’re out and away from public ears. In that regard…” Mernis proceeded to look back to Zeno,
“I’d recommend you find somewhere to safely park up your car and head along with us… Unless this ship of hers has the necessary fittings to get a car into? If that’s the case then I suppose wolf-boy will need to lead us and we can meet up with you there.”
Zeno shook his head and sheepishly smiled. "Hell, have you seen how dinky it is compared to all the rides around here? I'd be pretty shocked if there wasn't room, or a ramp or something. I could always duck back to my ship to get some boots and tie-down straps."
Rhakar snarled "Foolish machine..."
He then turned to Mernis and Zeno "Tazis ship has more than enough room for your automotive, I suggest we move there now. We can wait on her ship until the time comes it is defensible and safer than being outside. And if she does turn out to be untrustworthy I will show her what a Galactic Knight can do"
With the odd comment made the group had a destination. Once again Zeno travelled back by car, the eerie quiet of the roads now giving off suspicion more than actual confort riding. As for the maglev it was also quiet, but the incident in the office district had been enough to cause some deterrence, the group riding together in the carriage had little interaction with anyone else. This time Rhakar kept to himself, surprisingly not causing any incidents although it could have been for the lack of people aboard. It was a shortish journey and the docks had changed little since they had left. Rhakar pointed out Tazis ship from afar.
"That one. This way"
The walk was a bit longer, but the docks were certainly not quiet, with all sorts being offloaded and loaded they had to dodge and weave through some of the crewmen of other vessels, the tale tale sing of Zenos car being the noises it made came up behind them. Before them was Tazis ship, the crew were busy loading crates aboard, hermitcally sealed and seemingly reinforced.
Mernis wasted little time in getting into the ship, carrying out any officialities that were in order before immediately scambering up into the metal beast. He seemed somewhat relieved to finally be somewhere where he could put his feet up and take a while to put his work in the hands of someone else as he wandered towards Tazi, whom he presumed was the captain,
“Tazi, yes?”
He inquired before offering out a human handshake,
“Mernis Onoro. ASN Freelance Operator. You’re gonna get us to this place you’ve been telling the others so much about?”
Paskin followed Mernis, giving a backwards glance to the rest of the party before clambering aboard. His instincts told him to be wary of those around him, but he nevertheless had committed to seeing this job through regardless of the obvious dangers. Something to entertain him between jobs.
He took up a position a respectable distance from Mernis, his old habits as a KingsGuard placing him in a silent observatory role, listening for what might be useful information.
Zeno poured it on as he drove back to the Fever Dream. Now that he was thinking somebody had their number and was dialed-in enough to beat them to places like HT, he started worrying he was being tailed somehow. The kid probably wasn't, that'd be crazy, but he was aware he was in a quite unique machine that announced itself wherever it went. He'd have to run. But that was fine with him, he thought.
So, so many had tried, but nobody had ever successfully chased down Zeno Cupric, and he wasn't about to let some schmucks sneaking about and killing their contractors in an attempt to cut them off at the knees be the ones to finally manage it.
Instead of parking like normal, he found a way into the shipyard in the Kalhayan, dancing around shipping containers, loaders, gantries and the odd vehicle to roll up to the Fever Dream and look for a ramp or anything that looked like one. Then he found it. Some of her crew were loading on some very reinforced-looking crates, and there was a ramp he was pretty sure the car could clear. He noisily rumbled up to the crew and honked his horn.
"My logic center is fully functional, Organic Rhakar. I suggest you ensure that your equivalent is operating correctly as well."
The AI passed off on the Nezerian in its own last word before riding in silence on the train over to the Fever Dream. Rhakar seemed to be considerably more 'hostile' than beforehand, but that was not saying much. This newcomer, Paskin, there was not that much to make out about him for now besides for being cautious.
At the Fever Dream, the robot paused a bit and let Paskin and Mernis head aboard first, its head turned around to look backwards and caught sight of Zenos car. The vessel itself was well, a starship, there was nothing truly remarkable about it beyond for its details being locked into a memory bank as it will likely be important later.
"Cupric is here, do any of you know where Captain Tazi is onboard?"
Tazi stood in the opening of the Cargo bay, directing the inload of the huge crates. She could see the group coming from a mile off and then sighed.
"Yes I am Tazi. I guess your part of the group? Yea im gonna get you to EOTL so I hope you guys aint bringing much trouble with you, but are packing credits" She smiled.
The car beep was clear as crew got out of the way, the small car pulling up the ramp and into the ship. Tazi made a look which resembled looking at something cute, she had heard the car horn and had been angry at the thought of keeping a car on board taking up valuable space. But looking at it now and its size she couldnt say no.
"Park it back corner ill make sure my guys give you a clear reverse out" She then looked to the Artificia and the Robot.
"Hell of a diverse team you have here, I guess you went back to Curry and updated him on whats going on?"
The Teliran didn’t seem to react to Tazi’s smile even if he did see it. Instead, the freelancer simply nodded to her confirmation. Her inquiry about Curry, however, immediately provoked Mernis to shoot back,
“Dead. He’s dead, HT got raided. I have reason to believe we’ve been under watch, so I recommend we get out of here before this entire ship joins him.”
With that, Mernis began to turn and find some spot where he could settle down, adding on his way out,
“Credits will not be a problem, I will see to that once this mission is complete.”
"Yeah, place was a special episode of a crime show by the time we got there." Meyhna nodded, crossing her arms, her eyes remaining firmly fixed as Tazi looked over her. "And as the blueberry said, unless you like your ship with the most immersive flame decals this side of the glowing fat bastard at the galactic core, I suggest we not waste time." she added. She didn't know this woman and wasn't too inclined to like her, but the tiny moth man and the unreliable fuzz marine both seemed trusting in her--the latter's opinion was almost entirely discarded--so the Artificia was marginally less tense than she would be otherwise. "How long's it take you to get there from here?"
Paskin watched Mernis head over to search for accommodated seating, deciding not to follow him as he was still getting a feel for everyone.
He was still interested in hearing from Tazi however, so decided to stay and listen to what they had to say.
Zeno crawled up, deep into the cargo bay before stopping the Kalhayan, killing the engine, and getting out. He had a straight shot in case he had to get out of the cargo bay and do some driving, and he didn't expect to have to do any at the End of the Line, but this wasn't about driving - it was about getting his car out of prying eyes and away from any of the apparent gun ninjas that snuck in and offed Curry while he and the others were doing their thing.
The car's trunk - more accurately a liftback due to its dramatic, swoopy, fastback hood - popped open and he got to work. Bright orange chocks unfolded into wheel boots that wedged the Kalhayan's wheels into place. Next came bright yellow tie-down straps with shiny quick-releases that he clicked into place in the bay, and with a few firm shoves, he confirmed his trusty machine wasn't going to go roaming around it as the Fever Dream moved. There was one last thing to set up. He armed quick-releases on the tie-down straps and the boots and synchronized them to the Rattler, lights on the assemblies flashing green when he set them up. These were Clearwing-issue, made for impromptu drops and quick escapes just like this. If he never got to use them, hell, he thought, he'd fire them anyway - he got them issued and they weren't part of his expenses, he might as well use them.
All that done, he flitted back into the Kalhayan's cockpit, pulled out an unassuming-looking drive of some kind, fluttered up to meet the others and signaled he was there. By the time he arrived, everyone was talking about the assassination. Nothing he hadn't already said, but speaking of that...
"Right. I'm guessing we're safe enough for us to talk about those names we caught, aren't we?"
Shard did not sit down, sitting down was unneeded at the moment, the machine however did lay down the two carry cases it had brought with it on the ground next to its frame. It went inside the hanger and addressed captain Tazi in a blunt, neutral tone all the while taking a quick facial scan to keep it on the ever growing database of information.
"If H.T. Corp will still honor the contract stipulations, yes, payment will be fully possible. If not, it will be done as Organic Mernis has stated."
With an attempt to not clang up the floor that much with its metal feet, the robot walked towards Zeno while looking around for other doors to head out of the vessel and ways into other decks. Now did seem like a very good location for the rest of the names, they would be underway shortly anyways.
"Organic Mernis, Organic Zeno, Artificia Meyhna, Organic Paskin, {{{{Error}}}}- Designation Irrelevant - Rhakar. Now is likely a safe time to discuss our findings from our two expeditions, although more possible security could be taken by waiting until the vessel is underway from Lost Star. The choice is up to your discretion. Although, what is currently not a secret is that Eleven is located at the End of the Line and it is likely others are searching for subject Eleven at the current moment."
Tazis face went cold as ice.
"Curries dead?" Tazi stood there for several moments as Meyhna gave the details.
"4 days." Tazi replied curtly and briefly before striding forward to the crew around the entrance loading in the crates.
"Everyone arm yourselves, we dont have long. Load everything you can as quickly as possible, get the PD units online we are going to need the extra firepower" The other men around the loading dock, around fourty in total all nodded and dispersed, making their way to the armory. Some already stayed and pulled weapons out and Tazi herself pulled out and checked her fine ivory coated Assault Cutlass, checking it was loaded before walking over to the group.
"Whatever your going to discuss, do it quickly, from what you just told me we dont have much time to get underway. Ill have my men keep full watch, they hit HT.Co covertly, they wont hit us so quietly not with what we are packing. You super wolf get out there and cover my men, your a soldier type" Tazi pointed.
"As a galactic knight I will acede to your wishes, no foe will get past me. I once took out an entire enemy platoon on tantor-"
"I dont want your fucking life story, do it and you wont get left behind I need insurance for my own men too" Rhakar, visibly irritated nodded and walked out onto the platform, the crew giving him strange looks.
"As I was saying" He continued on the coms "I took out an entire platoon, I even watched gods bat-" He was cut off mid sentence. Collapsing to the floor as the sniper round went straight through his helmet and killed him instantly. The supposed super soldier had been useless.
"And thats what I suspected" Tazi mumbled "Everyone inside! Forget the crates, lock the ship up and lets get ready to go! Come on look alive!" She gestured to the group "Sorry about your friend, I can get my crew to retrieve his body, lets continue this on the bridge"
"The corpse is optional, not joining him on the floor is the goal!" Meyhna called, in nearly an instant her twin double-barrels were in her hands. "Beehive." she muttered to the weapons, the magazines clunking as the breech reloaded. The Artificia fired off a few shells in the direction the round had come from, more intended to get the sniper to keep his head down than in any actual hopes of hitting them. Civilian casualties, evidently, be damned. "Yeah, lead on lady! No idea who's out there but I have a suspicion its not a lone sniper!" she called, backing up the boarding ramp, shotguns raised.
Paskin turned as Rhakar hit the floor, his helm scanning for targets, as he drew a sleek, red pistol from beneath his cloak.
He said nothing, ensuring that those he came with were inside before following. His cloak began to making a whirring noise only audible from a close distance, before he began to appear more transparent.
Zeno's eyes were wide with shock as he saw Rhakar suddenly shut off by a sniper round - at least, he guessed it had to be a sniper round with it coming from nowhere like that and the shooter not being in the room with them. It always sucked to see an ally bite the dust, even when you didn't know them too well, but all he knew of this guy up to that point was that he didn't really talk unless it was to run his mouth off about home. Something about his last remark prompted him to at least say something to try to turn off the shock in his mind.
"...should've had his gods handle this one," he half-heartedly said. "I'll cover you! Just don't forget to leave with me!"
Then, he took his Auto-Power in his left hand and his Rattler in his right, the latter extending into a swordlike weapon about as long as he was tall, perhaps a little longer. Panels flipped open as the weapon continued to transform, and revealed Resonite rails running down the weapon's length. They glimmered as the Rattler's true form came to life, and it and Zeno were imbued with a golden shine.
"I'm guessing he was going for something like this," Zeno said as he concentrated and looked out at the horizon, the Rattler pointing him as if dowsing for the sniper. Whatever he was setting up, his eyes weren't following his scan, darting this way and that for any flankers or closer opposition.
Mernis’ head instantly snapped around to face the commotion; his body squatting down instinctively as the Teliran looked about. Watching as the others withdrew their weapons and pointed them in the general direction to where the unknown marksman had taken their shot from. Onoro instead simply held himself behind some crates to spectate the others for a few moments, listening out for any other gunshots before sprinting up into the ship, his baggy clothes, wide-brimmed hat and billowing cape disrupting a clear image of his figure for any potential assailant as he made his escape. Once into the ship, the mercenary simply stood upright, adjusting his collar. Once more the Teliran began to rush from room to room, looking about any cargo for any signs of sabotage or planted explosives within the vessel as the others began to retreat into the vessel.
"Organic Zeno, get to the ship."
Shard was already on the move towards the Fever Dreams cargo hatch behind the rest of them, the machine quickly opened up the longer carry case and drew out a long barreled machinegun and quickly loaded a magazine into it. There was no time to contemplate Rhakars sudden, yet 'Ironic' demise, all that was coursing through the electronic computer of Shard 471 was preservation of its frame, completion of the contract, and the survival of the other contract holders.
The sensor nodule onthe top of the robots frame spun around in rapid succession to locate the origin point of the round and other possible sites of intrusion by this sniper. 471 worked on a backstep, dashing in between crates and boxes towards the fever dream wit hthe weapon raised. If the sniper fired off another round, it should be possible to get a shot off, but for now it was making a zig zagging beeline towards the cargo door.
Whoever had made the shot was good, very good.
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Post by EmperorMyric on Jun 8, 2021 10:21:57 GMT
The round had come in at a high angle, likely several kilometres up on another gantry or ship. The round effortlessly cleaning through Rhakar as the crew scrambled aboard, no other shots came in at first but as the cargo ramp began to raise several individuals simply decloaked in front of the ramp, and started to lay down fire into the cargo bay before it closed up. They were dressed in civilian clothing but carried Capitol guns, their skin was dark and hazy like they were not totally there.
“Tazi caught a glimpse of them as she directed the group through one of the corridors which led upstairs to the bridge.
“The Panopticon…” She breathed, the tell-tale sound of fear creeping into her voice.
“Lock down the ship! I want internal sensors on don’t let these bastards get aboard!” Tazi commanded, the crew which had gone to get weapons returned taking up positions behind the crates. Fortunately for Mernis it didn’t look like any explosives or tampering had occurred but they had bigger problems when the three Panopticon phase troopers simply walked straight through the closed cargo door without any care in the world, their black skin whispery and their eyes red just like their horrific Skia linage.
The fire from the men felled one quickly even as it coalesced but the other two were in rapid motion, passing through crates both did not have their guns but they pulled out their phase chakrams, slicing several of Tazis men apart within moments.
“Shit one of you get to the bridge, tell the crew to get moving now! We have to deal with these fucks” She pointed at one of the BGS Panopticon soldiers and fired with her cutlass, the shotgun blast going straight through.
“Come on you abomination lets go around!”
Zeno's attempt to seek out their attackers by syncing the Rattler to whatever major physical disturbances they might have been putting out backfired on him when the Panopticon soldiers suddenly appeared. He was whipped around, his weapon nearly flying out of his hands as they appeared around the ramp and it started closing. The energy charged in his Rattler...well, it had to go somewhere.
He pointed himself straight at the closing ramp and pumped his wings, buzzing up and over the hazy men between him and the ramp, pointing the Rattler at the nearest one to his path and letting a jet of force loose. He aimed the Auto-Power best as he could as he did so, trying to hit two guys at once as he got back inside. Hit or not, making some noise and giving them something other than Tazi's men to tangle with was the point.
They were barely myth to him, these Panopticon guys, but they looked like they fit his mental image of what his "gun ninjas" would be like.
He started tearing for the bridge, hoping these shadow weirdos couldn't fly, too.
"Ral'lan'kes." Paskin whispered to himself, before turning and firing several shots into the closest of these 'Panopticons'.
Cloaking devices activated fully as the figure of Paskin seemed to vanish from the visual spectrum; two swords appearing in his grasp as they suddenly disappeared as well.
With an incredible burst of speed, the Echo dashed towards the figure he had shot at previously, laying into the figure with energy powered sword slash after sword slash, dipping out of his assault and then diving back again in a matter of moments.
It wasn’t long before Mernis had returned to the entry room, poking his head through a doorway to see the ongoing firefight.
“Hmph. Nothing is ever simple...”
The mercenary muttered to himself as he watched rather calmly from the doorway while the party battled with the intruders. Holding his body behind the door frame as he glanced around; the freelancer watched as the Echotian blended into the background and the fairy zoomed straight past him as he darted for the bridge, nearly causing the mercenary’s hat to fly off. Apart from unholstering his pistol, he didn’t really do anything to help his comrades or even draw any attention to make the threats target him. Instead he simply spectated the battle to see how the others attempted to handle the situation and how effectively they fared.
"Organic Mernis, This circumstance leades me to believe that Organic Todd is what a human would call 'A rat bastard', end quotation."
It seemed strange to Shard 471 that Tazi did not have some form of a radio or something on her person to contact the bridge crew of her vessel. Strange was a bad way to put it, more like unlucky even though luck was not really a thing beyond for mild superstition. Shard turned off the safety of his machine gun and directed it at a crate and opened fire as one of the Panopticon walked through it in a short burst. These were the ghosts that Todd was linked to. It had to be somehow related to the faceless men and women in the 'Olive Garden', it only made sense, Todd was playing both sides somehow.
The war robot was rather well, brutish and very mechanical when its combat protocols kicked into action, short janky movements of the arms were made to level the machinegun that it soon only held in one arm to lay down fire on one of the Panopticons as it phased through the wall. Its other arm picked up the machine pistol out of the carry case and fired a short burst of rounds past Paskin to hit the Panopticon all the while making a slight retreat back towards the door to cover the others.
"Best hope there ain't more of these shits where we're headed." Meyhna grumbled, twirling her shotguns. "Alright you sorry sacks of shit, which one didn't read the fuckin' keep out sign?!" she called, levelling them at the one attacking Tazi. "Cuz' the punishment is lethal force!" she added, quietly regretting trying to sound cool. Nonetheless, she made good on her threat, opening up in a cacophony of shell fire.
The bridge wasn’t far as Zeno burst onto the scene, the crew already dealing with the klaxons alerting them to gunfire below deck and they seemed to be making hasty preparations to cast. Off The XO, a huge burly guy with arm tattoos turned to the form of Zeno.
“Who the fuck are you and- wait you’re the people we are taking? What the hell is going on?” He exclaimed first in confusion before finding his baring’s and still looked confused. The crew surrounding him looking uneasy with several drawing weapons.
The Phase soldier which had briefly turned incorporeal to allow the bullets flow through him seemed to have no problem ignoring the cloak of Paskin as he came in, attacking as if he could see the Echo as clear as day. The phase Chakrum came up again and again, matching the speed to block even as Tazi joined in to assist Paskin. The assault cutlass blasted a shot at close range which just passed through the foe before she struck hoping to catch the figure between the Echo and herself. Blades flashed and flared as the figure seemed to contort, move and dance in horrific ways to match their moves. This was no easy kill, the Phase troopers of the Panopticon were lethal killers, and the figure took one slash proper from Paskin drawing black blood before it battered Tazi into the wall with a fist and then sliced out at Paskin aiming for his legs. The figure then took several hits from Meyhna and seemed to flinch, clearly it was hurt badly.
But the second kept coming, leaping at Meyhna and Shard as it flickered and walked through the gunfire laid down, beheading one of the crew close to them as it brought down its Chakrum on Meyhna looking to bisect her in a single swing. A crewman managed to get a shot through its chest at point blank but it didn’t stop the thing, black blood splattering the floor.
Zeno responded with a flourish and changing his posture, placing the tip of his Rattler on the ground and pointing his gun well away from everyone on the bridge.
"Zeno Cupric. I'm with those guys you're carrying. ...good, you already kind of know what's going on; we're boarded by incorporeal wackos and we need to get off the ground now and pray none of them fly!" He pointed the Rattler's butt around the bridge. "Do you have any ways to catch them? Smoke weirdos, gun ninjas that can go through walls and look like they're not rendering properly?"
Mernis peeked his head around the corner once more as he spectated the ongoing battle. The movements of these assailants seemed far too efficient at negating attacks for the freelancer to bother unloading his ammo wildly in their direction. Shoveling into one of his coat pockets, the Teliran withdrew a fragmentation grenade before glancing into the room. For a moment he went to prep the grenade before realising he wasn’t the sort to destroy an entire transport, with himself inside in an attempt to rid the ship of its invaders, and instead shoved it back into his pocket once more.
Instead, he slowly withdrew his revolver and raised it to his eye-level. He began waiting, training his pistol upon the head of Phase trooper advancing upon Meynha and Shard. From where Mernis was standing, he effectively had a shot at the side of the head of the Phase. Mernis didn’t fire yet. Firing while they weren’t already occupied trying to evade or fight someone seemed to give them more than enough time to dodge or phase through these attacks. Mernis continued to watch for an opportunity to catch the trooper unable to evade the sneaky headshot; ideally at a moment of disorientation or preoccupation.
Paskin felt his muscles moving, felt his heartbeat quickening, every swing of his blade was instinctual from years of training. He felt the skip in his chest as another of his strikes was deflected away as another drew his blade across the ghostly figure's shoulder, drawing blood.
He was actually enjoying himself.
Paskin leapt back as the attack aimed to sever his legs, uncloaking as the shots from Meyhna staggered the figure. A quick twitch of his helm towards the Artificia allowed him a nod of thanks before he leapt back at the Panopticon a moment later. Twin energy blades spun in his grip before suddenly stabbing forward from different angles, twisting back and slicing back, before slashing across in a macabre dance of lethal echotian training.
One of the three phase troopers were injured, and coming towards both Shard and Meyhna with intent to kill. Tazi and Paskin seemed to be handling themselves well, but the one charging was the more pressing concern.
Shard sprinted up to Meyhna and attempted to push her to the side and out of the way of the Phase soldier. The AI raised its light machinegun and sustained its high rate of fire into the Phase soldier at the time that the Phase soldier attempted to return back to the real world to take it down. Onboard the Fever dream, this was nto a very good situation in any way whatsoever, the group had intended to get out of Lost Star and into the End of the Line. Shard estimated that they would be able to clear out the remaining phase troopers if no more showed up, or if they did not run out of ammunition.
471 picked up Mernis lining up a shot, hopefully he made it count.
Well, y'know, she'd hit one of them. That was good. The one trying to split her harder down the middle than most Artificia-aimed innuendo meant was less good. The glowing orange woman had no such intentions, but she found herself shoved aside by the robot, Shard finding Meyhna far lighter than he may have thought. Meyhna swore as she scrambled back to her feet. Shotguns were proving unreliable. "You wanna see what's under this hardlight face, huh buddy?" she growled, pulling off her glove. "Well lemme help ya!" she added, her voice raising to a half yell as, raising her hand, she split the hardlight skin of her hand, sending forth an explosive blast, hoping Shard didn't mind being just on the edge of the concussive wave.
“The hell are you talking about?” The man looked at him like a weird before he obviously but two and two together and realised.
“Oh shit you mean them” There was a brief second of everyone standing still before they burst back into action “ALRIGHT YOU FUCKS GET US OUT OF HERE NOW SKIP THE CHECK LOG!” The XO shouted before turning to Zeno.
“Yea I something for those bastards, helm raise interdiction give us a field a few hundred meters across” He grinned maliciously.
“Sir you know that’s going to fuck with and anger the dockmast-“
“I don’t give a fuck when we will be dead anyway do it!”
----
The trooper fighting Paskin seemed to flicker for a brief moment before coalescing into a solid form, the interdiction field had been raised and the troops were unable to phase out. This didn’t even seem to make them flinch, truly the Panopticon phase troopers were beyond emotion. As Paskin came in to strike with his twin blades from the different angles the left black cleaved through the troopers left arm even as it stepped in fast to inside Paskins guard, and sliced the Chakram at the Echoes mid drift, committed to the attack Tazi could only fire a shot to assist as the round went through the troopers body following up from behind with a slash to its back. It was dying, but it was determined to kill or cripple Paskin before then.
The rounds punched through the trooper as the interdiction forced it back into reality, and Shard had been quick to protect Meyhna but the slash was still in motion with the Chakram and despite its phase qualities no longer working, the strange psionic blade was still capable of making a mockery out of armour, the trooper continued his strike ignoring Meyhna as the blade came down to slice down Shard, it wasn’t quite enough to destroy the robot even if it fully connected but it would be damaging. Directly after the trooper had sliced down it was thrown sideways by the explosive blast. Still not dead the thing stood up, bleeding black blood from countless holes until before it could strike again the shot of Mernis pistol took it down, the round hitting its head and causing its body and remains to decompose and its chakram to merely dissipate.
Zeno could feel the field raising as an imperceptible thing in the periphery of his mind, reacting weirdly with his magical attunement and his Rattler. It made his hair stand on end and gave him that odd feeling for a second, the one where it felt like someone far away was talking about you and you couldn't guess why you thought it. Then another instinct kicked in of his.
"So...let me guess. Someone still has to go down and take them out, right?" He raised his Rattler again. "Because if you need all hands on deck for this one, I'm down."
From beneath the folds of Paskins cloak, a third and fourth energized blade emerged. The Panopticon had made the mistake of recklessness, and would pay dearly.
One of the blades stabbed downwards into the phase troopers elbow, attepting to force the Chakram down and away from the Echo, as the second stabbed at hip of the dying trooper.
The two upper arms of Paskin twirled the blades in his grasp, before stabbing them down at his foe, hoping to end the fight then and there.
Shard attempted to backstep away from the phase trooper to avoid the strike, but the robot was too slow. The phase blade cleaved off the machines right arm, it fell onto the ground while clutching onto the light machine gun with a clank but the robot did not seem to flinch or budge from this. An explosive blast was another thing however, Shard jerked around a bit from the shockwave but managed to recover itself.
A loss of a limb was not entirely concerning, it could be replaced and repaired, what mattered now was securing the ship. Shard raised the auto pistol in its left hand and began to move towards the Phase trooper attacking paskin while letting off some small bursts.
"Tazi, how long until your crew can get us moving."
Mernis had squinted as he finished off the trooper battling with Shard and Meynha. Looking to check on if the second hostile had caught wind of his presence, the Teliran relaxed his position beside the doorway upon seeing that the Panopticon had not and was still battling with Paskin. The mercenary, instead of taking aim at the attacker of the Echotian and Tazi, opted to lower his pistol to his side and merely observe the situation. A room-full of teammates versus one last trooper didn’t seem worth adding yet another team-member to the mix. Turning around and starting to wander off towards the bridge, the Teliran strolled casually into the control room and muttered,
“Things are getting wrapped up now.” Paired with an oddly friendly smile.
"Teamwork, uh...makes the dream work. Good job gang." Meyhna nodded as she shook her reforming hand, pulling the glove back on and picking her shotguns back up. "Now we just gotta finish this last bastard." she rolled her shoulders, lining up the guns. 'Slugs' she muttered, the guns clicking, lighting up a second later. Phase-capable or no, Meyhna wasn't about to exercise any minimum of force. She didn't want to take the risk.
“Yea, no doubt the captains giving them a rough time” The XO replied. There was a noticeable rock of the ship as it engaged its drives, pulling out of the dock rapidly with no heed to the other vessels around. Already the communications console was lit up with high priority feeds from the dock master demanding to know why interdiction had been raised to other vessels arguing that they had current rite of passage to leave and not them. It had suddenly become a clusterfuck.
“Helm take us out of here, if anyone even thinks about trying to stop us or board us, shoot them out of the void”
--- The dying troopers chakram was riposte by Paskins strike at his elbow, and the swords came down to impale him but not before the trooper lunged forward, more or less torn apart from the energy blades the things mouth opened to an extreme degree revealing night black needle teeth and aiming to take a bit out of Paskins right shoulder, just after it had made its strike and had used the last of its energy the thing finally died and dissipated, leaving the cargo room empty. Tazi, who had been ready to swing her cutlass relaxed somewhat.
“This isn’t necessarily over” She turned to some of her men “Sweep the ship, there could be more of them” The movement of the ship showed that they had left port. It seemed they were now heading finally towards their destination.
“Panopticon scum” She spat to where the trooper had disappeared “At least we know one of those who want Eleven. Come on, we will make the bridge, we can talk there” Tazi gestured, leaving the cargo room through one of the bulkheads.
Shard locked the pistol to the side of its leg and picked up the machinegun and placed it in the carry case before closing it and latching it to its back. The machine was missing an arm, which was quite problematic to say the least, 471 was not particularly pleased by this and picked up the missing right arm and began to walk while performing a damage diagnostic.
"Captain Tazi, how long is the normal trip time to the End of the Line?"
Diagnostic complete. Damage report as follows.
> Right arm servo 1 - 4, destroyed > Connection point for right arm servo 1 - 4, destroyed >Right torso LIDAR, minor damage >Wiring jacks for right arm, destroyed >Armor Panel 3 - 5, destroyed >Right arm power supply unit, destroyed >Right arm servo control unit, intact.
Reccomended solution, full right arm repair, minor torso repair. Parts will be procured from aboard the vessel.
Zeno had made it through enough hallways to see the others, led by Tazi, making their way up to him. He flipped from feet-first to headfirst, angling his wings and body to slow down and hovered in place as everyone made their way up to him. Then he turned about and flew with them.
"Okay, now I think it's safe to ask: what the hell were those things?" He looked around, hoping anybody he didn't recognize was far enough out of earshot before he continued. "I can only hope that we can keep things simple and connect it to either of those two entities you mentioned," he said, gesturing to Tazi.
Meyhna gave a sigh of relief as the last trooper died, arms relaxing as smoke wafted from the muzzles of her weapons, her orange eyes drifting to the small, digital ammo readouts. Oh. What timing. They'd actually stopped because they were dry. With a click of the releases, the magazines dropped from the weapons, impacting with a metallic thud as she reloaded, making sure not to leave them behind. "Well, hopefully we won't be seeing any more of those any time soon. Hopefully." the orange Artificia grumbled as she made to follow Tazi. "Whole lotta trouble for one girl. I hope she's worth the trouble."
Paskin sidestepped the trooper as it ripped through his blades, letting it fall to the ground as he spun his weapons in his grip. Returning them to their sheathes hidden within the folds of his cloak, he turned to Meyhna.
"I doubt there would be so much resistance if she was not."
He turned, inspecting the group as they gathered themselves.
"Have we sustained any injuries?"
"About a week if everything goes according to plan" Tazi replied to Shard before staring at the machines arm "We got some machine shops down in the engine compartments, probably has some tools you may need to put yourself back together" She commented as they all made it to the bridge.
"They were phase troopers, Panopticon soldiers which were augmented and turned into... Something else. We know the Panopticon and the BGS are after her now for sure, if we encounter any more of those things I garuntee you it will not be as easy. They know we intend to go after her, and they know our capabilities. My people are scouring the ship right now for any potential infiltrations but even if they come back clean theres no garuntee they are not on board, as such keep yourselves prepared."
Tazi nodded to the XO as she then took her seat on the rather lavish captains chair, inlaid with various tapestries she flickered between several holographic interfaces as the vessel pulled free out of dock, she sent the dockmaster and apology and gained clearance for full travel out of Lost Star.
"This is new territory for you guys now, and this is my ship. Try not to break anything or disturb anyone and we should get to End of the Line just fine." She smiled, but despite it her face looked hollow. The Panopticon had spooked her considerably...
"You got some quarters on the lower decks, I can show you them if you want" The XO said aloud in his booming voice.
"Organic Paskin, damages are currently moderate but are repairable with some time."
The machine replied back to Paskin first and began to follow Tazi with some degree of caution, bits and bobs of Shards destroyed arm were held in hand even as they went up to the bridge. BGS was a name that popped up in the AI's search of information on Todd, it was incredibly clear now that Todd was a rat bastard who was supplying all sides with information. He knew their every move it seemed like, and was quite open in sharing it to Meyhna and Mernis while they were in the out of place olive garden.
"Organic Todd likely informed the BGS of our actions, he is playing both sides of the search, wanting to supply all contracts with information no matter how clandestine they may be. There will likely be more of them at the End of the Line racing for their prize."
"What is the path to the Engine Compartments? These repairs need to be done to maintain prior efficiency."
Shard did not turn or move its body around but addressed the XO aboard this lavish, if a bit tacky, bridge. They were in the clear for hopefully a few days now, unless some more of those phase troopers came out of the woodwork.
Meyhna nodded slightly as she took in the bridge, hooking her gloves on some straps of her suit. "Nice ship. Nicer lookin' than any the Unanimity dockyards spit out." she muttered, glancing over at the XO. Why a ship needed such a metric unit of a man--presuming that was why--was beyond Meyhna, the Artificia used to the norm being that crew were typically smaller folk, dealing better with the internal spaces of a ship than some. "I, uh, I'll wait 'till we're in the clear. What counts as clear, anyway."
Looking to the XO, Mernis shook his head.
“I’ll make my way down on my own, I think i’m gonna do one last check of this ship myself… I’ll leave you lot to it. Something tells me we won’t get another chance to properly rest and keep our head down for a while so I suggest everyone takes the chance to take inventory and get some rest.”
He muttered before tipping his head casually to Tazi in a somewhat thankful gesture. With that he began calmly strolling out the door. The Teliran would proceed to disappear into the ship before eventually finding his way to his quarters.
Zeno nodded at the XO's mention of lower deck quarters. "I'd appreciate that. I'll follow along." He was still clutching his Rattler and did a few more flourishes with it before catching it in a sort of icepick grip, then glanced around and kept his head on a swivel. "Excuse me. I...still dunno if we're entirely safe."
Paskin acknowledged the machines response with a swift hand gesture, before turning to keep watch; his blood still pumping fiercely through his body as he began to pace.
"With things like that out here, I would bet a decent sum that 'safe' is an unattainable state."
Tazi nodded to them as they left the bridge, also seeming to leave the bridge to make her way to her own quarters. The XO leading most of them down into the depths as Mernis went off to do one final check of the ship. The insides were not exactly brand spanking new, but they were not so old to be falling apart, the ship was a newer model but it had definitely seen some mileage.
The XO first brought them to their sleeping quarters, clearly for the occasional guest the rooms were small, single bed and a table and some shelves, nothing fancy and certainly not a good quality cruise. Still it was somewhere where they could rest and that was what counted. Shard was then led to the engineering decks, where loud machinery and the roar of the reactor could be heard along with the oppressive engine heat and scummy air which filled the large open compartments. Here crew worked to keep the machinery running and several maintenance workshops were clearly present.
“Your welcome to use the workshops here for repairs, help yourself” He nodded to the robot before leaving Shard alone, the materials present should be more than sufficient. The ship so far looked clear as Mernis made his way down empty corridors or peered into various rooms. The occasional crewmen eyed him with suspicion as they went about their duties but it was clear to Mernis that this vessel should have a lot more crew, rooms, corridors and even sections of the ship were all but unused. Even most of the storage bays were empty some containing cages for slaves, from the old owner of the ship had Tazis story of the ships history held any sway. Still he found no Panopticon phase troopers ready to jump out and kill him and now glaring secret areas where the crew performed evil rituals.
On his way back to the bunk rooms to rest however he happened to notice Tazi herself down one of the corridors. Considering most of the ships corridors were quite dark due to the lack of crew Tazi was surprisingly well lit up, at first it looked like a torch in her hand, but upon a closer look she seemed to be carrying fire herself. It was a brief glimpse as she rounded a corner and was gone.
What was probably Spartan for anybody else of normal size was pretty large for Zeno. He took a deep breath and stretched once he was sure he was alone, and then set down his weapons. The ritual of stretching and loosening up soon gave way to meditation, trying to realign himself and balance for the sake of his magic powers. He hovered in place, eyes closed, the buzzing of his beating wings the only sound he let in his ears.
A pervasive thought kept nagging at his mind - most of his other equipment was stuffed into his car, and he didn't quite know if that was caught in any of the fighting. He needed a Plan B if his precious Kalhayan got tagged, or worse.
For now, the most important piece of Okekolu kit aboard was him.
Deep breaths, still silence.
Focus.
Dakel, upon finding his own allotted quarters, chose instead to wander the ship. His restless heart desired movement, and he stalked the ships interior ensuring that there were no more threats aboard. Paranoia, he wouldnt call it, but he wanted to be sure.
The darker corridors of the ship were of no concern to Onoro. Infact, they were something of a welcome surprise. Their solitary atmosphere and low illumination were far more appealing to the humanoid bat as he made his last rounds through the vessel. It was, rather, the sight of Tazi and her seemingly supernatural abilities that put Mernis on edge as he caught a glimpse of the strange ability. Peering silently over at her as she disappeared down the labyrinthian network of the ship. The Teliran opted to try and shake off the thought, this was a galaxy of strange absurdities after all.
Mernis eventually made his way to the group’s quarters. As he closed in on his room, the Teliran made one last check of his own apparel. The team’s stint in Lost Star had put them in numerous tightly-packed situations; whether that be the packed transport system, the in-your-face behaviour of the crone in the industrial areas, or the sleazy figures around Todd’s. Now with the knowledge that opposing forces were eyeing the team, it was a better time than ever to check that no stalker’s had placed any tracking devices or warnings on his personage as he watched out to see if anyone else had made it to the quarter’s yet.
Shard did the equivalent of a nod to the XO as it descended into the machine shop and did a quick scan of the area to find the location of tools and general machines to conduct a self repair of its damaged body. 471 sits himself down on a workbench and carefully sets down the cleaved in half arm rather neatly, carefully like one would care for a child and picks up a wrench to begin undoing some of the more common connecting bolts on destroyed portions of the shoulder joint. While the AI did not exactly need to solely use this body, much lest as it was one of the hundreds of thousands produced by the enemies of old earth, it was the sole form of bodily survival that was available, letting its performance be nearly destroyed would compromise survivability and ergo the contract.
It seemed a bit odd that there were this many organics and such an oppressive heat present, air filtration systems likely have not been replaced or added to in many years, same with poor radiator systems. The Fever Dream did not seem like it was a particularly safe vessel for Shard 471, however it was the only chance they got to travel to the End of the Line on the edge of the golden expanse.
Meyhna spent a while in her room once she had finally decided to go there, checking over her suit to make sure it was intact--and deciding to shed its weight for a while--and then cleaning out her weapons. The orange Artificia attempted to get some rest, but the recent occurrences, and the dangers they potentially still faced, made her all too restless. So, she decided to wander some. Get to know the layout of the ship a little better. If push came to shove and they faced an emergency, it'd be far better than trying to navigate blindly. So, stretching her arms and hooking her thumbs in the pockets of her pants, the Artificia waltzed back out, drifting aimlessly.
The general humming pervaded and penetrated all the decks as the Fever Dream made its way out of Lost Stars almost comically packed trade and ship lanes and out into the dark void of space, the huge form of the Ringworlds actually becoming tiny in the background given the huge distances. While the ship could jump from closer to LS, it did not have the clearance and Lost Star had large interdiction networks to help prevent any crazy streamers from ramming it in suicidal displays of insanity. As such the ship continued to the outer reaches of the system, into the jump lanes where countless vessels both left and arrived in system, a congested area which signified the front door of Lost Star.
The ship continued past numerous sensor outposts, data relays, defensive installations of the Tarnished Knight system and temporary stop over ports as it made its way into the designated jump zone. All in all it was a 9 hour journey, plenty long enough for rest and recuperation as most of the crew had also retired to rest before the FTL jump.
As such the ship was even deader as Dakel prowled its length, the occasional member looking at him strangely as he made his rounds. Only the engineering deck had any real activity in it as Shard made his repairs, workmen going back and forth to operate and maintain the huge power capacitors, circuitry and the reactors themselves. Sometimes they would make their way over to the repair bay where Shard was working to conduct some of their own work or to grab some tools, each one giving a nod to the machine. It was true for all engineers, anyone working in the spaces was to be respected, and given the temperature most of them envied the robot as the workmen operated in just trousers. As the vessel approached the designated jump zone, D-8992 a brief alarm sounded across the ship signifying the soon transition to FTL space. The Fever Dream soon steadied itself as it charged its drives, an even more high pitched whine which seemed to echo through the hull. Tazi rapidly made her way up to the bridge as the preparations to jump were made, it was her who would give the order and her alone who would make sure the calculations were correct. She took her job seriously.
“Alright all hands, prepare for Alcubierre translation, destination is End of the Line. Approximately 5 days travel. I want everyone on standby, we are not having a repeat of two months ago. Helm give us the signal”
“Drives are charged and ready ma’am” Tazi nodded. Time to get these guys to their destination… Are they ready? she thought to herself.
“Then jump”
There was a brief moment of dislocation, the feeling like one suddenly falls when drifting off to sleep before the ship enclosed itself in its bubble and disappeared.
Zeno, for his part, had spent those nine hours with what passed for him as productive work. He'd decided he was balanced enough after a session of meditation, armed with that secure feeling of his aura fitting him like a good pair of underpants: you didn't feel it on you, and that was the point.
With time to go he had fluttered around the Fever Dream to search for his car, and found it and its tools mostly intact. Screaming red paint and obnoxious yellow tie-down straps greeted him as uninterrupted shapes of color peeking out from behind cargo containers it was nestled in, with no damage to show for it. Parking it well away did its job.
His equipment, his data drives, all the stuff a lawman like him needed on the go, he had, nestled in the liftback trunk of his Kalhayan Turbo II. No need to worry about seeing out the rear window, not when its ridged back revealed the numerous rear-view cameras and sensors it used in place of a mirror. Hidden discreetly (and of no real use now, but whatever, he thought) were police-band scanners, backup sensors and everything he'd need to relay information out in the field. Typical cop stuff.
He popped open the driver's side door and sat down just to have somewhere to sit while he pored over his notes and what he knew so far, and it didn't tell a pretty picture. The weird smoke guys and the groups Tazi outlined, they had to be related. Like hunted like, that was just the natural way of things when you were tracking somebody down. It was what made him such a legendary figure in the Little Light's driving scene, after all. If you needed to catch a driver who'd gone bad, you sent Zeno Cupric and his buddies.
He chided himself mentally as he started feeling himself nod off in his seat, the first thing that always seemed to happen when he was on a case and parking his ride.
He remembered the cases that he'd won from a driver's seat or after having driven as hard as ever. Wrangling the Bladefucker monster truck in the First Smurf War, pursuits further back in his home of Belle Woods, suspecting and then sniffing out cheaters at a controversial Street Festival at Yunicka Prime.
This had to be just as easy as those...right? No, they had to be, he told himself.
And then, the cargo bay's gravelike silence was split in two by Zeno's snoring, punting itself rudely out of his open gullwing door.
He was at least courteous enough to know this sort of thing happened, and left a note on the door to the now-empty quarters he left behind in his usual, loopy script:
"Working on my car in the cargo bay MIght be doing it late ...don't ask if you hear stump grinder sounds -Cupric"
Five days worth of travel, more than enough time to finalize repairs in the cramped quarters of Tazis ship. Shard was making reasonably good progress on the repairs to its arm, new parts that could not be replaced by common materials were milled out, such as main structural components, however the AI had to be creative in some portions, such as electrical components that had to be made of cannabilized together parts and whatever could be found. It was not the best, however it would do until factory made parts could be acquired.
The AI left the machine room and headed up to their 'quarters' a few hours later with its newly repaired arm and body, only to find that it was empty with a note on it from Zeno and pondered the meaning of 'stump grinder sounds'. Nonetheless Shard simply waited in the room tending to its firearms and equipment for the long journey ahead, such as plugging into one of the outlets in the wall to charge up the secondary batteries.
"Cupric is located in the cargo bay. Location of Meyhna, Mernis, and Paskin is unknown." Shard said to itself outloud.
Just after Shard’s analysis, he was interrupted by the Teliran freelancer calling out,
“Organic Mernis has entered the accommodation compartment.”
As he entered the room. Mernis went straight for a bunk as he slipped a few documents into one of his side pockets before wrapping his coat up and putting it by his pillow. One might have mistaken the mercenary’s search for a bed as lazy or sleepy. But working through the daylight hours had always easily tired out the nocturnal alien bounty-hunter who found the opportunity to recharge and get rid of his sluggish exhaustion to be a welcome surprise.
Lying himself down, the Teliran quickly tilted his hat down, covering his eyes with the brim to shut out the room’s light. Going silent for a few moments, one might’ve expected him to go to sleep. But instead, Onoro raised his hat again; his brows furrowed as he stared over towards the robot as though he had suddenly thought of something.
“Why’re you on this contract? You’re a robot; you don’t need money.”
After the first day, Paskin had settled. He wandered the ship, face exposed, for most of his waking hours; only seeming to disappear once the sleeping cycle had set in. His form could be glimpsed like a recluse, black-clad phantom, watching the others go about their business while anticipating the destination ahead. He meditated in open areas of the ship, legs crossed, swords placed before him as he mumbled his House of Shadow rites over and over again under his breath. Once, this practice granted him the serenity needed to act with a cool head. Now it simply was done out of habit.
The Artificia aboard the ship had mostly kept to herself, lending her engineering knowhow where asked for but otherwise seeming content with her own thoughts or keeping shut in her room. A crew of mostly humans wasn't a tremendous crowd for Artifician socialisation. Not that she intended to even if they were all alien; a trip to End of the Line, a trip back, and she would likely never see these people again.
Well, under any realistic likelihood at least, but from what she knew, faster-than-light made that old human adage ring true to some extent, even in a galaxy as large as this. 'It's a small world.' she muttered to herself, staring out the viewport at the warped space beyond the vessel, constellations buckling and fluttering as the vessel fell among the stars. "Hopefully, not too small once all this is said and done." she grumbled. "Always nice to have some breathing room."
The Alcubierre journey was actually surprisingly smooth given the ship. Most third party civilian transports had an odd rattle which seemed to indicate the ship would fall apart at any moment. But not the Fever Dream she had been lovingly maintained and that was quite evident in how she ran.
The outside of the vessel was the heavily distorted, red shifted moving space-time common of all alcubierre drives. The vessel was well on the way and the board was green, no issues of any kind. Tazi sighed and sat back into her captain’s chair as she watched the strange surreal red stars slip past.
“Ma’am may I speak plainly?”
“Do you ever not Ranal?” Tazi quickly replied not even looking at the man but fiddling with her chair controls.
“Why are we helping these people? No doubt they are not paying us enough for this journey, is this tied to that girl?” He asked, standing near to Tazi. She took a deep breath before looking around, the crew were also looking at her. Rolling her eyes she turned to Ranal the XO.
“No they are not paying me enough for this journey. But yes it is about the girl. Ranal, she is in danger and I cannot let the Panopticon get her again, I cannot loose her like this for a second time. I thought she would be safe on End of the Line” She looked almost defeated.
“Not that its my place ma’am but why care so much about some freak?” The word made Tazi twitch.
“Because Ran she’s my sister. She got incarcerated when she was young because she spoke out against the state and she had… gifts, she was chosen for their projects. I was lucky, they didn’t find out about me. And remember Ran I am one of those ‘freaks’ too. I don’t reveal my past because we all have skeletons in our closet here. But this time I may be able to help in some way and if these people can help her get to the Order.” She snapped. Ran seemed to not reply for a few moments as the crew looked to each other.
“I see. I am sorry ma’am, I didn’t mean to speak out of turn you have been good to us. We will help you however we can” The crew saluted. And Tazi nodded now somewhat drained. Covering her face she slumped back into the chair.
“Please be ok Daina…”
Hours later, Zeno stirred. He'd fallen into a deeper sleep than he thought when he decided to get some shuteye sitting in his car. Old habits sprung to the surface when he slowly opened his eyes and realized he was sitting in the driver's seat, and he startled himself awake. With practiced swiftness he threw both his hands on the wheel and tensed his feet over the pedals, one on the throttle, one on the brake, ready to make up for a lapse in his reaction times. He waited for the world outside to make a move.
Which it didn't. No, he wasn't shocking himself back awake to avoid a collision during an endurance event or something, he was on assignment, and in a cargo bay where he'd securely tied down all his stuff. He practically deflated with relief, shaking his head and wordlessly chiding himself for looking dumb.
With that out of the way he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, climbed out of his car, slammed the door shut and grabbed some stuff out of the back in sleek cases. He took a little check of his own breath and winced - smelled like death.
It was time for him to find the nearest bathroom, clean up, and then see how everybody else was getting on. He spread his wings and buzzed away, needing to be refreshed.
Shard turned its 'head' to look over at Mernis as he entered the room and took note of the documents he slipped into his pocket, the sensory equipment couldnt quite make out what they were, if they were important it could be figured out later. Portions of the machines right arm and body was repaired with different colored parts, unpainted, bare, and seemingly new for a repair compared to the sea grey of all the other parts.
"All of the designations for people, such as organic, are intended to throw off others, Mernis. As for the contract, I do not need the money and dont really see the point of currency existing in the first place besides for organic races to feed on greed with one another. However, it is these types of people that I need to pay for spare parts I can not construct, fuel for my vessel, other backup frames in the event this one is destroyed."
The AI paused for a brief moments it processed a question to ask Mernis.
"Why are you on this contract? You do not seem to be the particularly caring type?"
Mernis seemed to look down, nodding. It made sense that an AI would still need to buy things for personal upkeep, even if they didn’t need to eat and drink. Shrugging it off, the mercenary simply look back to the robot, giving a sly smirk,
“I care about people...”
With that he returned to covering his eyes with the brim before adding,
“...As long as those people got money worth carin’ about... Where i’m from? If you went about doing everything for free and out of goodwill, you’d’ve empty pockets and a dyin’ family.”
He proceeded to pause for a few moments until he murmured to himself,
“...And my ‘family’ needs a whole lot to survive…”
The steady droning of Zeno's wings got closer and closer as a far more fresh-looking Zeno showed up to put away his note and set down his cases.
"Hey, guys. You all holding up?" he asked, sticking his things in a neat stack. It seemed the cop in him came out with how oddly organized he was for somebody who dressed (and drove) like some infamous street racer.
Meyhna had eventually left her room, bored of its small confines. She was used to such quarters, the Artificia had spent most of their existence aboard starships after all, but usually there were a couple things to do to occupy her time. It had occurred to the orange being that she didn't wholly know their route, and had walked up to the door to the bridge intending to ask if she could see the course charts. Her hand had been inches from the door release when she had overheard the dialogue within, her hardlight visage darkening. Families were a largely foreign concept to the Artificia. They were the ken of humanity, many species generally but their most hated enemy was also their most well understood one. Unable to reproduce and made individually by machines, familial connections were something the Artificia did not, nor ever had. Maternal or paternal instincts and affection, sibling bonds and rivalries, all of these were something Meyhna had no true understanding of, no reference or analogy.
Still, she knew they meant a lot to humans, if not why. On one hand, it was all the more information to work with and not all of it was good. The woman they were after--this Daina--was connected to some project, no doubt the origin of why she was so sought after. If it was enough to warrant moving around to such obscure places, and the devastation of an entire corporate complex, and an attack on a lone pirate ship like this, Meyhna was having increasingly dark thoughts about their odds. It wasn't all bad, she supposed. Tazi had personal--familial--stake in all this. If nothing else, it meant Tazi could most likely be trusted. For as long as everyone stayed on the right side of this job. 'Maybe another time' she thought to herself, Meyhna stepping away from the door, slowly turning and walking away. The others didn't need to know this yet, too many people knowing secrets was dangerous. She'd tell them when it became important.
Paskin's form drifted into view from down the corridor as Meyhna began to walk away. His helm was adorned for the time being but he still cocked his head slightly as the Artificia approached.
"You seem troubled? Tazi not keen on visitors this hour?"
"I've been troubled since we set out. I'm having increasingly worried thoughts about what we're up against." she grunted, hooking her thumbs in her pockets. "And no, she's not. Business we've no part in, best we leave her alone for now." she explained, starting to amble onwards. "What's got you roaming the ship?"
With the comparative calmness of the ship, it was almost universally felt by everyone as the brief jolt and strange feeling of dislocation pulsed like a rapid wave down the vessel.
They were no longer in FTL anymore.
Bright red lights and warning klaxons blared and the unmistakable voice of Tazi appeared on the ships PA.
"All hands battle stations! We have just been interdicted, ready weapons and man your stations!" The sudden commotion was reinforced as crew began to fill the corridors and the like, making their way to designated positions. It was obvious that they needed to go to the bridge to find out what the hell was happening. It was not difficult although sometimes having to weave in and out of the crew was an annoyance. Still the moment any of the party came onto the bridge, it was to find Tazi in the middle of a communication, it was a video call with a large gruff man staring on the other end. He had a lot of gold chains around his neck, and a tattoo of the Veronis Reavers on his cheek.
"-And such your either going to pay me a lot of money, hand my brothers ship over and everything you own or I'm going to come over there and gut you. If you do the first option I may let you live as my personal fuck toy. Consider that a humble kindness Tazi, nobody kills a family member of mine and gets away with it, what you think you were safe just because you became friends with End of the Line? Well I'm sorry to say little girl that they are no longer the top dogs anymore. Now power down your drives and weapons and make this easy for me" Tazi looked surprisingly passive in response.
"Well if your ability to fuck is like your brother I would rather kill myself than endure the boredom. So I shall have to decline on your gracious offer Quinlan, honestly I haven't even been running from you, I'm just surprised it took you this long to find me." She spat "Come and get me"
She cut the link and turned to the others "Alright we aint going anywhere, we are interdicted and they have a modified Hlaer Sabot ship out there, we are not outrunning them. They will try and board, they want this ship intact it was that fuck ugly bastards brothers, and they will want me too. So if you fine friends don't mind looks like we will have some company soon. Quicker we deal with this the quicker we can save Dain-" She cut herself off from finishing the name.
Meyhna snorted at Tazi's response, an amused smirk crossing her face. It matched her opinion on humans overall, to be frank. "--the girl." she cut in as Tazi cut herself off. "I know. I guess standing around here won't do us any good; I'll fetch my gear. Anywhere specific you want me, let me know. I'm no stranger to shooting boarders." she stated, eyes on the captain, turning and striding right back out the door. Granted, it'd been a while since she'd had a fight aboard a starship, but an automatic shotgun down a hallway was an automatic shotgun in optimal position. Hopefully she wasn't too rusty. "Well, it's certainly a break from the monotony." she muttered.
Zeno splayed his limbs as the ship shuddered around him, expecting to suddenly crash into something. When that didn't happen, he heard the chaos announcing itself with all the decorum of a rock bouncer flipping over. He grabbed his Rattler and Auto-Power and flew off to meet the others on the bridge and was greeted by some tattooed rap star wannabe talking trash to his ride.
He joined the staredown when he said his spiel, but his response after Tazi cut the feed was to roll his eyes and grumble.
"'No longer the top dogs anymore...' sounds like a paperwork thing. An intel thing. Great, more busy work for me when this is all over. That's gonna make Honey's day," he groaned. "Not to worry, ma'am, I'm not a stranger to this kind of thing, either." He followed Meyhna out, but not before turning around and adding a little parting shot. "Though usually I'm jumping into the other guy's jaws and yanking out their tongue, and not the other way around."
"If they expect to find anything but teeth, they will be surely mistaken."
Paskin smiled beneath his helm, patting Zeno on the side before readying himself to repel boarding parties.
"I've got a couple hundred credits burning a hole in my pocket to the one who kills the most cocky fucks, so keep count."
"You are doing this contract to ensure the safety of those you care about, that is an understandable goal to take up the contract."
Shard replied quickly back to Mernis upon hearing his rather sound reasoning. Even as an AI 471 has learned much from its seventeen years in Ancerious, to understand what pushes people to do what they do, how those actions will set them up for future survival. Almost all actions are done to secure the goal of preservation of oneself, someone they care to preserve, or the preservation of an idea.
"However, what is still something I do not know is ho-----"
The warning klaxon interrupted Shard and the message sent the AI into a more defensive state, Shard began to load in fresh magazines to its autopistol and machinegun before maglocking them to its back. Something has gone terribly wrong.
"This can wait, we need to find the others."
Shard chambered a round in its machinegun and began to head up to the bridge, Tazi likely knows where the others are at. Finding Tazi is important, if their ride going to the end of the line is destroyed by whatever just interdicted them the contract would no longer matter
The crash had likewise thrown into action as his body jerked upright from his bed. Looking over to the automaton with a confused glare, the Teliran jumped from his bunk and hastily threw on his equipment back onto his person before darted for the door.
“The best place to check will be back on the command deck.”
As the pair made their way back to the effective rendezvous point, the Teliran seemed less on-edge as he seemed deeply concerned. He never liked being on ships for this very reason: He was no ship pilot which always meant his survival depended on the effectiveness of others when he was aboard them, and if there was any principle the mercenary stuck to it did not place your life entirely in the hands of others.
His serious glare was, however, immediately broken by a shocked stare as he entered the bridge and was met with the sight of Quinlan. The realization effectively froze the Teliran to the ground as it dawned on him what was going down, but the petrification was only momentary. Without another moment to waste, the Teliran was shuffling back; keeping his signature wide-brimmed hat down to obscure his identity as he carefully went back to sneak out of the room. If a battle was about to occur, then the last thing he wanted was for this to turn into bad blood between the Reavers and the Poisonites Syndicate.
Quinlan didnt seem to notice Mernis at least on the video call, being more concerned about Tazi before the link was cut.
Tazi herself nodded to Meyhna, clearly the Artificia knew in some capacity and Tazi was not about to have a heart to heart chat right now.
"Alright their going to board us, which is quite ironic seeing as they could just as easily destroy us with their weapons but they want this ship. TDLR version is I killed that bastard’s cunt of a brother and took his ship and crew because they hated him too. Moral of the story is its time to kill this fuck as well, no doubt he will be leading the charge. Fever Dream has quite a few airlocks but those are small and easy to defend, I’ll put crew teams of arms man on them. We need to defend the cargo section that’s where they can break in just like those Panopticon spooks did. No doubt this time there will be a lot more of them. We kill this bastard, cripple their ship and get the fuck out of here deal?" Tazi said aloud as she pulled a cigar from her coat pocket and flickered a fire from the tip of her finger to light it.
"Don’t ask. I’ll tell you later" She finished half taking in a puff. The crew also seemed to be arming themselves from various small concealed hide away which contained guns. The XO pulling out a rather large automatic shotgun with a smile.
"Let’s get down there"
---- It didn’t take long for Quinlans ship to match vectors and come alongside. Fever Dream did have some weapons but it was predominantly point defence and while those weapons now fired to try knock out enemy boarding points they were quickly neutralised by return fire, rocking the ship with the impacts. It was a blessing that the man intended to board, and as the large boarding segments unfurled to latch on to the ship’s cargo doors the obvious signs of thermal cutters became apparent as yellow and orange glows began to grow on the bulkhead.
“I swear I’ve been here before doing this” Tazi muttered taking cover behind the various equipment boxes. At least there was plenty of cover for the ship crew who also filtered in.
Zeno smiled and nodded to Paskin, giving him a quick thumbs-up before closing his eyes and pausing for a moment. When he opened them again, his fluttering wings had a brighter shimmer than they usually did; something was definitely different but it was hard to tell what.
"I swear, if they bust in through the cargo bay and smash up my car, I'm making them pay for it!" he said, cracking his knuckles and getting a crick out of his neck.
Mernis had managed to shuffle his way back into the group once Quinlan’s communication had come to an end, casually rejoining them as though he had been on watch at the door. He hadn’t talked throughout his entire journey to the cargo bay, nor did he once he was there. Strolling among the crates until he wound up nestled into a small nook near Shard, the Teliran took his revolver and once more took aim. Yet it only took a few moments after Paskin’s remark for the Teliran to grunt out, having waited for the chatter to die down,
“I’ll match that for whoever blows Quinlan’s head clean off fastest.”
That ought to provide enough incentive to stop this ragtag crew from slacking or sparing this guy’s life if they see him defenceless and wounded. If not, Mernis thought, he’d just have to cut the loose end before he had a chance to yap. Onoro had no concern right now for the bullets that were about to fly, the rest could handle the grunts, Mernis had his eyes out for only one man.
Meyhna had disappeared for a time to get her gear, appearing again in the cargo bay with her suit and dual shotguns, automatic bolts cocking themselves with an audible clack clack as she levelled them, in time to hear the exchange. It was to be expected she supposed, in the calm before the storm. If 'incredibly tense with every index finger on a trigger' counted as calm.
"Just don't be a cocky dumbass yourself. Every moron who gets himself shot is one less gun we have on our side." she grunted, rolling her shoulders. "Live fast, die fast. I'd prefer to die last."
Paskins BLCK-cloak rendered him invisible once more as he took up a position; his two charged blades hung loosely at his sides as he readied a pair of sleek crimson pistols. His warhelm gleamed with a red light as it began picking out his allies arranged before him.
This is gonna be fun.
"It would be preferable if no boarding actions took place Meyhna."
Shard directed towards Meyhna in a slightly annoyed tone at the fact they had to fight again. This is not some game to win or something to take pleasure in but a fight to get done with as soon as absolutely possible. Tazi getting the vessel to somehow avoid the far faster Sabot ship would have been preferable in all accounts, yet that was not the case. Instead Shard had to stand and fight or this would all be for nothing.
The targeting sensor on the 'head' of Shard began to scan the breach beginning to open up in the cargo door, the robot did not need to worry about depressurization, nor did Meyhna, but the other organic colleagues did have t o worry about that. Shard deactivated the safety on the machinegun and set up its bipod on the top of a cargo crate near Mernis pointing at the cargo door. Once something came through the breach who knows what chaos will unfold.
The Cargo bay was surprisingly well lit this time, the crew piling up crates or moving things around using what few minutes they had left to try create some slightly better fire zones and to try deny the enemy the use of cover. In all around 40 crew had turned up to defend the initial point but Ran had ensured that large forces were present at numerous points beyond in case of fall-back. Tazi wasn’t under any pretences though, she would use every dirty trick this ship had in order to kill Quinlan and be rid of these damn bastards.
The ship rocked again as a PD unit near the hangar was destroyed, the Sabot ship effortlessly rolling and turning with its RCS to line up perfectly with the Fever Dreams hull. The Veronis Reavers were all about speed and surprise. This time they had no surprise, but they did have speed and as one of the various pirate houses which had operated alongside Lu Xaobo they were not lacking in training and gear either. A clank signified the link between the two vessels and the cargo bulkheads began to glow as high powered fusion torches were brought to bear against the metal, the colours changing from red to orange to yellow and then finally white hot before gouts of molten metal were thrown flying from the hissing torch that had broken through.
It was only a minute until the bulkheads came apart, collapsing to the floor in a half pile of glowing molten metal which seemed to not bother the armoured forms that stepped on over it. The Veronis Reavers were acting casual, no doubt due to arrogance as they formed up. Each one was dressed in some strange hybrid power armour crossed between the Unions typical military suits and a myriad of custom systems and designs which had been added on, each carried a modified Capitol CFA-45C with extra clips and what appeared to be larger calibre. Their armour was a dark blue crossed with motes of dark red and custom paint jobs adorned many of the men, about 20 at least from what could be seen. Beyond the steaming hissing remains of the bulkhead it was hard to make anything out including with IR scans. None had fired yet but each held their weapon ready seemingly aimed at a different person.
“Oh Tazi you stupid bitch. This could have been done without any bloodshed, without anyone getting hurt and without damage to this nice vessel and yet your freak ass decided to do this the hard way.” The voice seemed to be coming over some kind of PA.
“I’ll be nice and give you a chance to surrender again, in honour of the fact my brother was fond of you”
“Fuck off” Tazis replied was short as she made a gesture and launched a searing bolt of flame into the nearest trooper from her hands. The crew immediately opening fire with her and in return the attackers did the same. Jinking and weaving they were fast picking off crewman who were exposed with precise bursts of fire. The one immolated by the strange psychic fire screamed as he melted, the fire seeming to eat away at him in an unnatural way.
Paskin wasted no time, seeing his opportunity to engage, the echo leapt from his position and into the wake of the psychic fire.
Energy blades churned and sliced with an expert precision, whilst his twin pistols discharged at nearly point blank range. Keeping his eyes out for the firing arcs of his rag-tag squad, Paskin weaved through the boarding party with graceful ferocity.
The fight kicked off, and Zeno started dodging and dancing through the psychic fight exploding in front of him. Now this was really starting to feel like a local case. He was growing more amused with this Quinlan guy's commitment to theatrics. He was trying to figure out how he was doing it, like an audience member attempting to dissect a magician's trick. Unfortunately for Quinlan, it was more like a magician trying to deconstruct another magician's trick.
"Hey, is this thing on?" Zeno replied to nothing in particular as his magic began manifesting itself. Ghostly hands, about the size of a fairly average-sized human hand each, started getting more and more visible as he flew along and began feeling the floor, the walls, the ceiling. Anything he figured could have been carrying this not-quite-PA signal, he felt around for. "You're quite the showman, but I'd work on that personality if I were you." he continued, looking around as the ghost hands surrounding him shimmered and shone, and he checked them as they drifted back to him and he checked them, the magic hands making gestures like someone checking for dust by rubbing the surfaces of objects gently. "You'd never make it in the business."
He spotted the next nearest troopers, and several of the magic hands suddenly superimposed over one another. As he did so he started letting rip with the Auto-Power in his off hand, shooting electrostatic darts at bullet-like velocities into the fray to suppress his opponents as the hands started crackling with electric energy of their own. Then came the Rattler in his primary hand. The electric hands suddenly stuffed themselves in the weapon, as if they were arms slipping into sleeves. He pointed the wand, and with a bright flash of light and a terrible bang like a railgun discharging, he fired electricity into the nearest enemy boarder, less like a lightning bolt and more like an electrified fist leaving an echoing sonic boom in its wake.
He wasn't done. As other targets scrambled and repositioned owing to Tazi and Paskin kicking off the game, he caught other boarders momentarily in the open. He spotted a straggler, and more of his free magic hands clenched into fists and flew at this unlucky foe. Each attack was punctuated by a similar gesture from Zeno - if he needed to shoot his Rattler, he pointed it like a large pistol and shot it. If he needed to throw punches, he raised his other hand and made pistol whip-like motions.
All that Mernis could do was immediately huddle deeper into his position as the room suddenly lit up; illuminated by the blasts of gunfire and infernos unleashed by each side. Holding onto his hat as projectiles whizzed to and fro, the mercenary slowly and cautiously poked his head from his position to gauge the positions of their enemies. The Teliran couldn’t help but scowl in disbelief in the cocksure attitude some of his comrades were pulling off; Mernis sure as hell wasn’t that prepared to risk his life to potentially draw fire away from a few others. Instead beginning to crawl towards Shard, the bat gripped onto his revolver and looked about the place as he hissed over the sound of gunfire.
“Do you see Quinlan?! If he doesn’t show we’re all fucked!”
The Teliran for the first time seemed to wield some actual visible emotion beyond scepticism, disdain or professionalism. His face instead betrayed a sight of genuine concern for the seriosity of the situation, bearing his gritted teeth as he watched men before the pair collapsing to the onslaught. A blast nearly clipped his chest as it smashed into the crates in front of him, causing the freelancer to duck before firing off a few from around the side. There was no way that this squad of mercenaries and ragtag sailors were going to survive through attrition and face-on battling with the entire population of that ship of men who had built their entire lives on doing this kind of stuff. This wasn’t good.
Shard was behind one of the boxes near the rear to get a good field of view on the now open breech and the professional and very well equipped powered armored soldiers. Tazi's crew and themselves did not seem to have very good odds on their sides, they would not be able to hold the hanger for very long. Once Tazi attacked first with her psychic fire that consumed a man, Shard opened fire with its old Mars produced machine gun at the powered armored troopers to try and suppress them for its allies.
Once Mernis managed to crawl over to Shard his magazine ran dry and began to reload it, there was no need or real ability for itself to engage in close quarters with the powered armored troopers for now. There was a lack of available weaponry nor need to. Shard replied quickly back to Mernis and finished reloading his machine gun and fired back from where Mernis was being attacked from.
"Quinlan has no reason to come aboard until the vessel is mostly secured. We will not be able to hold the hanger for much longer and a retreat to a more defensible and tighter position is necessary.... Were you aware of what Tazi and Zeno can do?"
Fast enemies were always a pain in the ass. Not only because they were a trial to hit in the first place, but because they were usually smug and arrogant about it. Fortunately, in Meyhna's head, several dozen projectiles in two cones was a damn sight harder to dodge than a string of bullets, and that was exactly what her weapons fired. Keeping low behind a crate, Meyhna lit up, one trigger pulled immediately after the other, a cacophonous storm of shot flaring out the four barrels of Meyhna's weapons. The Artificia focused on those trying to flank the defence, forcing them to stay on the front.
"I don't recall you fucks being invited!" she yelled. "And trespassers will be shot!"
Multiple of the power armoured individuals went down in the opening assault, as they opened fire in return. Two straight up went down to Zenos strange powers, another to Paskins energy blades, several more to both Meyhna and the assorted crews directed fire power. It was a pretty large opening tally especially when such individuals were sporting capable armour, but even as their number were cut apart with blades, electrocuted to the extent of death and riddled with countless impact holes the rest of the force came to the fore. They didn’t flinch, they didn’t fall back, and they did their job. These Reavers were used to preying on organised military forces, this was nothing new to them.
Despite the optical cloak of the Echo warrior the troopers who had witnessed their fellow being cut down by the blades instantly switched to thermal IR view, the energy blades which had done so much damage and the heat of the warrior himself giving more than enough of an outline to engage. One of the troopers actually stepped forward firing at Paskin one handed with the CFA, its huge calibre rounds barking loudly in the air as he seemed to also pull something out of his pouches, the two other troopers either side of him pulled back slightly, also laying down fire where they could. Another two troopers sought to rush Zeno, while watching one of their comrades be smashed into a bloody mess by the strange abilities one let off a burst of heavy rounds at the small Little Light denizen while the other primed a grenade and threw it into his vicinity. So far, it seemed despite Zenos searching he could not find any suspiciously cloaked figures, perhaps Quinlan was still on his own ship. It was something which was played out as Tazis crew were slowly killed, the huge heavy piercing rounds effortlessly making a mockery of the crates and cover provided, nowhere was truly safe. A hail of fire was targeted at Meyhna and Shard which tore through two crewman and splattered their remains on some of the cargo crates.
Tazi was in the thick of it, immolating power armoured troopers with her surprising power. Mens helmets burst open screaming as burning white hot energies erupted from their throat and eyes. Others were just melted from the outside and the rounds which sought to impact her were reduced to little more than molten debris and redirected away. Tazis own eyes burned with fire and yet despite the heat of the blaze surrounding her it did not seem to hurt or affect the captain. So this was what she had been keeping from them, and she had been remarkably adept at concealing her nature to both Zeno and Rhakar. Still it was extremely handy. “You always make things difficult. Fine fine I guess I can just settle this another way” The PA of Quinlan mused over the sound of gunfire, he was enjoying watching this. All of a sudden several projectiles were fired through the now cooling bulkhead and into the cargo hold, each was the size of a large grenade and no explosions were forthcoming. The devices did not detonate, but as one of the crewman picked one up and tried to throw it the three suddenly opened with a hiss of gas. The crewman gagged, his eyes going glassy and contorted with horror, spasms wracked his body as he dropped to the ground unable to breath and painfully contorting with uncontrollable muscle spasms.
“GAS! GAS! GET OUT EVERYONE OUT!” Tazi screamed.
Meyhna's gun clicked as it ran dry emptying into one of Quinlan's men, the Artificia dropping into cover and releasing the spent drum as she reached to reload, pausing and blinking as she heard Tazi scream. "...Gas?" she mused, before a grin crossed her features. "I suppose it's time to leave then? Even us inorganics don't wanna be left behind, eh?" she chuckled to the others as she stuck new magazines into her shotguns. These ones were marked with incendiary warnings.
Meyhna leapt out of cover, a swooping kick sending one of the gas grenades back through the cut open door, followed by a volley of incendiaries just inside Tazi's ship to give their boarders something to think about. The other shotgun thundered, this one aimed back through their foes' entry, incendiary after incendiary sailing through in a ceaseless storm heading straight into the opposing vessel's hangar, Meyhna laughing as she backed to one of the doors out. If one of the man's crewmen got in the way and ate an incendiary to the head, his loss. The shotgun running dry was answered with her lighting up with the other one, focusing fire through. Whether she was covering the crew with her steady fire and backing up was anyone's guess, though she disappeared proper when that gun too ran dry.
Paskin heard the triggerpull of Meyhna's shotgun only a moment before the roar leapt out of the barrel. Stabbing into one of the nearby troopers, Paskin pivoted in order to shield himself from the incoming blast with the man's body. Using the hilt of his sword as a fulcrum, Paskin forced the mangled body-shield of a man into the line of fire of the three behind him. He felt pain in his lower left arm as something burned past, cursing to himself as another gout of fire threatened to incinerate him.
Ha! The Heat of battle indeed
Throwing the plausibly dead Reaver back into his compatriots, the Echo used the brief instance to return fire with his pistols before nimbly leap-rolling into the relative cover of Tazi; hoping that her menacing display would conceal him for a second.
“I knew there was something off about this Tazi woman. Nothin’ about the fairy godfather over there thou-”
The freelancer began to finish as he went to take another shot towards the enemy. Rising up and over the crate whilst leveling his pistol, the mercenary seemed like he was about to get a clean shot. The confidence he held in his rise seemed yet emboldened by the cheery quips of his fellow fighters amongst the death and carnage. Yet before he had a chance to fire the crates in front of him exploded from a direct hit from the enemy; splintering into a hundred dozen pieces.
Mernis’ body was immediately sent flying back before smashing onto the floor a short distance behind Shard with a distinct crushing sound. For several moments the Teliran didn’t even make a sound. His body merely trembled and shook from the shock of the blast as the mercenary’s head slowly rose from the floor. A stream of crimson red soon began to ooze, and then meander down from his face as he cupped the side of his head with a gloved hand. Even as parts of his leather overcoat began to darken with his own blood, the mercenary said nothing nor did he begin to scream. Yet his face detailed an expression far from stoic immortality. Instead it was haunted by a look of someone clearly in shock, his eyes almost bulging from their sockets as his entire nervous system and mind tried to pull itself together. His battered form steadily began to shakily clamber onto all fours, then onto his feet, before stumbling his way between crates and out of the hangar. It was fortunate he was already leaving by the time the gas was spreading.(edited) Even once the injured Teliran was out of harm's way, several halls into the ship, he still didn’t make a sound. He made no noises beyond seething, grunting and mumbling as he began propping himself against the walls of the ship. There was so much blood coming down from his splinter-strewn skin now that the sight of his bluish tone was long-gone; replaced by the gorey-red sight of his own mortality and the purple of his bruised body. Still clutching onto his revolver, even as his twitching hands revealed themselves to be spasming messes from the impact, Mernis began to skulk deeper and yet deeper into the belly of the ship.
The Teliran eventually made his own way to a small storage room down a corridor. All he could hear now through the screaming ringing of his deafened ears was the bumbling rattle of distance fire from down the hallways. Mernis might not’ve been made out for this kind of fighting, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to let himself die today. Collapsing onto a wall opposite the door, the Teliran slipped down against it and onto the floor; hissing in pain as he impacted the bottom. Wincing in anguish, all he could do now was wait and hope his comrades could hold their own as he began to inspect his own war-wounds and set about doing what he could to deal with his injuries.
Oh crap.
Suddenly the fight exploded around Zeno with far more intensity than he anticipated. The big boss was playing smart, and his buddies were all in - organized, skilled. It looks like they were ready to live up to the trash talk. He found himself dropping altitude and frantically zigzagging to stay away from the rounds chasing him like an angry snake made of sparks.
Crap, crapWHAT THE CRAP-
He screeched to a stop and saw he was flying right at a hand grenade. He changed course in a sparkly windstorm and started doubling back and backpedaling, feet kicking and barely missing crossfire, and he threw his physical arms over his face as his magic hands tried to surround him like a cocoon to catch or at least slow down spall coming at him from all directions. He then stopped fluttering his wings and slid along the ground just as the grenade went off, his tiny body making it easier to make himself as flat as possible.
It only helped so much when the grenade went off. He felt the stinging of spall and some shrapnel having ripped tiny slits in his wings, but his body language looked more like a wrestler overselling a hit: lots of drama, no actual damage. He was stiff and spasming, blindly firing as he tried to fall back.
The magic limbs told the whole story. Caught within them was all kinds of shrapnel and spall, and it seemed Okekolu magic involved some form of sympathetic sense. That extrasensory touch backfired badly on him as the feeling of being torn through with shards of metal exploded all across his body, but he still had enough presence to not simply dispel the hands. Steering away a bullet with them and feeling tremendous agony was preferable to stopping it with his face and feeling nothing at all.
Not that it looked like it was helping him. He staggered and looked sick, desperately biting back the urge to scream in pain or throw up. He gave in with a disgusting-sounding cough and ragged breathing as he struggled to get his bearings. Making things harder was that age-old bugbear of fighting aboard a starship without ear protection: in space, noise has nowhere to go. There was just the all-consuming, high-pitched whine of having his sensitive ears blown out by an explosion. Temporarily, he hoped, by the way he could gut feel the noise of his footsteps and that sickening retching he was making, but for now, it just wasn't happening.
He could make out more canisters being chucked into the cargo bay. No matter what those were, it was time to leave. He beat his wings intermittently, the feeling of fresh wounds very unwelcome, but the feeling of moving more quickly was slightly better. He continued shooting to cover his retreat, done in clumsy, pained hops like he was bouncing across the surface of a low-gravity world.
Shard did not have any time to reply back to Mernis after their cover was blown by the shrapnel. The Teliran was not the only one affected, though the robot got out of it much better than its organic counterpart fallen down and climbed back out of the rubble. Time was of the essence now as the last magazine on the machinegun ran dry laying down fire into the breach after the Artificia kicked in one of the gas grenades, Tazi's forces and themselves had folded in the hanger.
The robot ditched the empty machinegun behind a crate as no matching ammo existed any more on the ship and drew its autopistol and began to scamper to a different piece of cover closer and closer to the door to get out of the hanger bay. Shard laid down a quick bolt of fire from the machine pistol at one of the powered armored troopers while its robotic frame was getting to another piece of cover. A burst was aimed at their hands, the pistol ammunition had no hope of going through powered armor, but hopefully enough to disorient or throw off their aim for but a second.
Cupric, the so called 'fairy godmother' by Mernis was spotted by Shard as it retreated back to the main door, he was injured, hurt, hopping away. They needed to get out of here alive, Cupric also had the slight issue of not seemingly having a respirator to deal with the gas. Shard offered out an arm for the smaller creature to grab onto as the machine made its way past.
"Lets get out of here."
Just as Shard crosses the threshold out of the hanger a lucky shot from a CFA impacted the back strikeplate, its explosive payload threw the robot forward with a flurry sparks flying from the inside from the blast, it struggled to stand back up as Shard was working against its own mass but the pistol was raised and fired the last shot in the chamber down range at the offending boarder.
Zeno saw Shard pass by and heard its voice not too long after. He had a way out. He could drop his guard for a moment to stop some of the pain. He dispelled his ghost arms, dropping shrapnel and spall to the floor in a burst of ringing from metal shards gently dropping to the floor and cried out as his body loosened up and he staggered closer. The fact that he could hear a little of that meant conclusively that his ears were going to work eventually, when the ringing finally died down. The pain persisted, but his magic did its job.
"'preciate it," he said as he stowed his Auto-Power, stretched out his now free arm and grabbed Shard's hand.
More crew who hadn’t had the chance to put on sealed vacuum suits before the boarding died horribly as the gas got to work their writhing bodies ignored by the Veronis Reavers who sought to let them die in pain. Several more were cut down as the fire intensified, the retreat from the main cargo hangar clearly in full swing, between the invisible killing air and overwhelming fire the position was lost.
Crew also scrambled into the corridor beyond, yelling for those still able to get in before the gas did. The assault of the enemy was briefly stalled, as the incendiary rounds from Meyhna exploded in the umbilical connector, filling it with fire and shrapnel. With their reinforcements cut off the men of the Reavers continued to move forward, firing their heavy rounds, within moments all had managed to escape apart from Tazi herself. Surrounded by the burning air the killing gas could not reach her and her anger only made it burn brighter.
“Get off my ship!” She screamed, there was a white burst of heat before she practically set the entire cargo section on fire. The troops in the corridor briefly closed the bulkhead, the fire rushing all around it as Tazi directed it using the additional fire from the explosive rounds back into the Reavers ship. With most of the initial attackers now little more than molten slag or screaming burnt mess Tazi slumped slightly in exhaustion before rushing the bulkhead, banging on its surface. Her men opened it just in time for several bursts of fire to follow her, one catching her leg and blowing much of her calf off, causing the captain to scream in pain and collapse on the floor. “Come on we have to get out of here!” One of them shouted through the vac suite, several picking the now crying and raging form of Tazi off the floor and helping her get to the second bulkhead, with the group ushered to the other side the second was closed, this time far thicker.
“We need a medic!” One of them shouted, another man rushing over and rapidly trying to get to work on Tazis now ruined leg, it was bad and she was losing a lot of blood. She took off one of her gloves and used it to bite down on as she moaned and cried out in pain. The situation was dire, the bulkheads wouldn’t last long and while they still had additional forces the initial engagement had in all likelihood barely touched the Reavers numbers.
In the still burning cargo room a new squad of Reavers deployed, their armour keeping them safe from the non-directed flames, the cargo going up wherever it was caught. They rapidly began to survey the door and began to deploy breaching charges, but it was the huge dark form which strode from the flames which took center stage. A massively modified suit of Triarch Forgemaster Power armour revealed Quinlans presence, in one hand he carried a looted Union phase blade and in the other a Carnaithian automatic grenade launcher in addition to two weapon mounts on extendable arms behind him. He clicked his fingers and the umbilical bridge briefly retracted, venting the entire cargo segment in an explosive decompression extinguishing all of the fires within moments. “Oh Tazi you really fucked up this time” He said aloud over his internal coms before tearing one of the crates open. He smiled staring into the stock of stolen BGS bio tech that was within.
“Jackpot”
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Post by EmperorMyric on Jun 8, 2021 10:22:23 GMT
As the bulkhead slammed behind them, Paskin's cloaking field dropped momentarily, revealing his black robes slick with blood.
Is that yours? No, couldn't be.
He looked back over the other members of his rag-tag troupe, thankful that everyone had made it out moslty alive. For a moment, he had considered staying behind, but Tazi was his top VIP at the moment and his hardwired training wouldn't allow him the liberty.
He sat for a moment, allowing him the briefest of respite, before standing once more and heading over to stand near Tazi.
Zeno took tiny steps with his wings drooping and an expression looking like he'd had his pride shattered. Part of that might have been because his car ended up in the line of fire anyway and was probably in a terrible state, but he was quick to quash that thought:
"I know what you're thinking, and no...I know what I was doing bringing a car along, and..." He sighed, hating to admit the second part. "...that's not the worst thing I've let happen to it. I just hope we all didn't have stuff packed in there that we might have lost."
He looked over his companions. "But that can all be replaced. Not you guys, I'm not about to get replacements for all of us. Here, let me...try to get a look at you all." With flinching as if he was flexing recently reset bones, Zeno called forth his hands again. Little seams in them looked sealed back up, like his incorporaeal second body needed some time to heal, too. They started glowing with a wan light, something warm and imperceptibly comforting about it. "It won't heal any of you guys in an instant, but I can do something for the pain. Should help the rest of you guys do your job."
Tellingly, he tried not to look directly at Tazi. He didn't look unfamiliar with the sight, but he did look noticeably put off. It was like no matter how many times the veteran cop and Knight of the Thundering Vow saw and inflicted wounds, he could never get used to it.
Even as the sound of crewmen rushing down the corridors to reinforce areas outside thundered by, Mernis made no effort to rise. Instead he remained seated against the wall of the storage room as blood continued to drain from the cuts of his bruised body. Having gotten a chance to rest, he looked himself over. The nature of his injuries fortunately meant there was nothing in the way of critical harm for Mernis.
He winced as the Teliran withdrew a couple of rags from his overcoat and went about covering the worst of his wounds. It took him a short while to have picked the worst of the debris from his largest cuts and cover them accordingly. By the end of his care his bandaged face made him look more like some battered, knock-off mummy than a mercenary. Having dealt with the most glaring trauma to his body, the Teliran inhaled slowly; listening out for the violence to resume.
Things were silent now, but this was surely temporary. Onoro chose, instead of rushing back to the frontlines, to take the opportunity to recuperate from the shock his body was still reacting to. His limbs were still so shaky he couldn’t shoot a barn if he were standing inside it nor did he feel the focus to handle any fast-paced decision making for these elites invading the ship. “I should’ve listened to the fucking guys…” The frustrated mercenary hissed at himself as he was left to his solitary introspection, the regret of going for one more solo contract setting in. What had he been thinking?
The defeatism and hopelessness Mernis felt in that moment, however, was fleeting. He wasn’t one to go down meekly and if this contract was going to be the death of him, then he sure as hell wasn’t going to go down from some rookie-error or not being in the right state of mind. Rising to his feet and leaning against the crates in the room, the Teliran sat silently, picking away at the shrapnel in his skin as he waited for the firefight to recommence. Left with nothing but his revolver and his bitter thoughts.
Shard struggled to stand up as electric motors and hydraulics whined in a stressed manner, a control unit was damaged. Some debris and broken strikeplate fell out of its back as Shard limped away down the hall. Internal programming briefly considered the fallacy of abandoning this mission, but this ran into a loop of logic. What would be done next? There was no way off this ship without fighting.
"Tazi! Get me a gun! Anything would do"
Shard looked over at the fleeing Mernis and the wounded Zeno briefly and noted their own injuries and the destruction wrought upon this frame, the controller for the hydraulics switched over to the secondaries, it should last for a while as a backup.
"My AI core can be recovered if this frame is to fail. Zeno, get to the medical bay, we can handle this.”
Meyhna ducked behind a wall, chuckling as she dropped the spent mags from her shotguns and reloaded. "Well, they certainly ain't the ragtag crapshoots your run of the mills are. Die all the same when shot though." the Artificia chuckled, glancing over as Shard spoke, raising an eyebrow. That was a lot of human not-dying juice spilling out of her leg. It was easy to forget when blown open humans didnt seal over like Artificia did.
"Call it a hunch, tin man, but I think she's a little preoccupied with the missing fuckin calf she's got there!" she called. "Here!" she added, tossing one of her shotguns with a spare mag following, and gripping her remaining one with both hands. "Those are six-gauge SLAP slugs! Make 'em fuckin count! And I want that gun back when we're done so you best not break it!" she called over her shoulder, positioning herself just out of sight around a corner away from the doors.
Tazi ignored Shards question as she continued to scream mutely in pain into the glove she had been handed and bit down hard on it. The crewmen knew that moving her would do no good, and that she would probably fight them for not keeping her on the frontline. Instead they brought up a medical brace, wrapping it around Tazis ruined calf it locked in, drilling into her form and administering hard painkillers, coupled with Zenos handy abilities Tazi stopped screaming for a moment and the glove fell from her mouth leaving her panting and sweating as the brace went to work, using healing micrites and nanites to repair the damage done and somewhat allow her to walk.
“That didn’t go according… to plan” She managed, despite the pain relief Tazi was immensely tired, having just gone all out with her powers she needed time to recover.
There was a large thump which reverberated through the deck and floor, as the first bulkhead between them and the Reavers was blasted through by a breaching charge.
“We can’t… Stay here. I have some surprises to slow them down but… Gah fuck… We need to yield more ground” Tazi ignored Quinlan over the intercom as she got two of the crew to help her to her feet as she gritted her teeth again.
“We head back a deck, to the next line then we deal as much damage as possible then rinse repeat. Ranal is trying to call in a few favours I’m owed, no doubt Quinlan wants to hunt me down in person so that buys us time. We just need to keep buying that time” She winced in pain as they began to move. The next line was a deck back, the signal being given so that crew and anyone who had escaped but was left in this segment could also pull back. They moved through another double bulkhead into a room beyond which was a small mess hall, since now packed with objects into makeshift positions.
The crew waved them over, along with several other individuals who had been in the area.
“If anyone has any big powers or bright ideas nows the time” She smiled.
---- Many of the crates were being shipped back over to Quinlans vessel, Reavers taking one each and using small RCS packs to cross from ship to ship now that the umbilical tether had been totally ruined. They all worked in vacuum as Quinlan made sure the units were intact. They were apart from some which had been damaged or destroyed in the firefight or firestorm. He smiled. The BGS were going to pay him big time for recovering their equipment, no wonder the Order would pay so much to get their hands on BGS technology. Find out how they worked, and find a way to counter the soul harvesting, mind blank units employed. Not healthy for his current employer. But this was just the start.
“How long until we can get throughout this ship.”
“Breachin’ Should take coupa mins boss” Quinlan nodded, not the answer to the exact question he asked but good enough.
Zeno looked back directly at Tazi now that she was getting back on her..."feet" was a bit of a misnomer, but the thought worked well enough. "Slow them down, huh?" he asked. "Well, at least that's something I think I've still got in my tank. It looks like they really didn't like electricity, so if it's safe to do that again, I'll deliver." He thought for a moment. "Say, what was our new best buddy grandstanding about with 'really fucking up this time' and what 'jackpot' do you think he's scored?"
Mernis had meanwhile taken himself back onto his feet. While the pain of his injuries continued to bite into his skin all over, becoming almost more unbearable now that the shock and panic of it all had worn off, he was well enough to hobble from the room. He quickly became shuffling down the corridor, keenly looking around every corner he could. After a minute of searching he found what he had been searching for: An intercom panel.
Rushing over to it, the Teliran hesitated to make the call he was about to. It was becoming rapidly clear to him though that there wasn’t much hope of getting out of this alive by riding on the defence of Tazi. Without another moment to dwell on what was undoubtedly going to be a bloody mess of explanations and favours, he punched a series of buttons on the screen and sent out a communications signal to the comms panel in the main loading bay; sighing as he did so.
Meyhna made a somewhat lazy effort to make sure those who could move did so; the more people they had holding a gun was all the more they had to thin out their new bunch of unwanted companions' ranks. And the fewer she had to deal with. For the dying and dead, the orange Artificia paid little attention, muttering frustration under her breath. If she'd known power pirates would be a problem on the way, she would've considered finding a less troublesome way to End of the Line.
"That depends what you got in stock." Meyhna sighed in response, twirling her shotgun around by its slightly oversized, ring shaped grip guard. "Airbursts are a bitch in hallways so if you have any of those, that might thin the herd." she shrugged. "I have a doubt any coolant pumps or whatever run by any of those hallways, but if they do I have a doubt power armour built for combat is built for exposure to reactor-grade radiation so busting the shielding on those would help. Just spitballing on that one though. Other than that, not really." she muttered, turning lazily and keeping watch, shotgun held firmly. "Other than bullets, obviously."
Paskin helped some of the injured to the new location, setting them down behind cover and ensuring they had a gun with bullets.
"As much as I'd love to watch them fry in their armour, I would prefer not to share the same fate should something go wrong. Perhaps if we eliminate their leader, Quinlan, we can end this seige before it turns into more of a bloodbath?"
"Cutting off leadership is always useful in sowing disorder among the ranks. I am not familiar with this vessels design, but if the gravity generators are still under our control we could increase the force in the captured areas if the design allows for it, make every step immensely strenuous even for powered armor, try to slow them down that way."
Shard replied mechanically back to Tazi as they began to fall back, while this was not a surefire way to slow or stop them down it could work. Every step would take more effort, the pilots would take more strain, hopefully it could buy enough time to kill Quinlan and for Tazi's backup to arrive, whatever that could be.
The machine picked up Meyhnas shotgun and did a quick visual check to confirm roughly however many shots were left, every slug counted now.
Meyhna's face shifted as she thought, before sinking behind cover, deep cognition burning in her hardlight head. The orange Artificia turned her head, glancing at Tazi. "Hey, so, for safe boarding you want boarding clamps n crap right? No way fragile-ass umbilicals are gonna hold an entire starship. We don't have guns and such, but we do still have engines, right?" she started, more explaining her train of thought than anything, an eyebrow raising. "So...how much would it fuck em up if an abrupt burst of engine burn at full throttle suddenly rocked those clamps attached to the main framework of their ship with force?"
As for the shotgun Meyhna had thrown him, there were twenty four in the drum. Twelve a barrel. The spare held the same.
"And how would those clamps be typically fastened?" Zeno asked, perking up a bit. "Would they be mechanical, is it suction, magnetics...if I knew how they worked I could disrupt their operation further." He fanned out his magic arms. "I haven't even shifted out of first gear with the depth of my repertoire, ma'am. It's all at your disposal."
Tazi grimaced as the crew carrying her propped her up behind the 2nd row barricade, quickly slumping to the floor with a sigh of exhaustion. She looked up to Zeno and closed her eyes briefly before replying.
“I should be straight with you. That cargo we were moving onto the ship, some of it is BGS equipment that I had friends smuggle out. Their some kind of mind blank units, small things that you hook onto someone and it takes away their higher brain function, turns them into a non-conscious zombie which can then be controlled by the BGS. From what I’ve been told it harvests your soul or some shit for use elsewhere while you get turned into a zombie slave. We had taken a load of them from BGS by intercepting a small shipment which intersected through Lost Star, the plan is to take them to the Order so they can dismantle them and find out how they tick so we could reverse the effects and counter BGS horrific technology” She seemed to stop and briefly drift off before snapping back.
“Judging by what Quinlan said, I think it’s safe to say he’s employed by them and was sent here to retrieve the cargo. Killing me is just a very appealing coincidence” She grimaced as she tried to move her bound leg. “There is a coolant line that crossed the section we were in, it’s not a main one but it can at least slow them down. We also have some high density penetrator ammo which I wanted to use as a fallback, should give our guys a chance to really lay into their power armour. But killing Quinlan…” She sighed “I don’t think that would be to our advantage. Don’t think it sentimental, think about it, Quinlans here to kill me and he’s giving us time. If we kill him the Reavers are likely going to be mad, they might grab the cargo and then just blow the ship up with their own. The longer their honchos alive the longer we have. Increasing gravity may help too, our plates don’t go too high G but enough to make them work for it.” Tazi shifted around trying to get comfortable.
“It’s a nice idea” Tazi then responded to Meyhna “But I worry that their ship is studier built than ours, it might do more damage to the Fever Dream than us. It could work if we then tried to hard burn away but they have way more acceleration power than us, we can’t run away. But perhaps we could poke out of an airlock and fire some big weapon at the clamp, may slow them down at least, and their magnetic” She smiled. ------ The first few cargo crates were being transferred back over to their ship as the Reavers finalised the charges into the corridors beyond. Quinlan was taking a moment to scan the digital inventory and make sure that he had acquired as much as he could. Thankfully the Fever Dream hadn’t managed to load everything when it had sped off thanks to his employer so some of it had been secured on Lost Star itself. Along with the body of some random crew member who had been shot dead, they hadn’t bothered with his corpse. He turned to notice the coms panel however near him bleeping with an incoming call.
“Oh a crewmen who wants to rat the bitch out perhaps?” He muttered. Taking a step over he punched the receive button and patched it into his helmet.
“Hello there. Whoever you are I sure hope you’re trying to surrender to me and make my take-over of this ship far easier. I’m even willing to pay” He smiled.
Meyhna rubbed her chin as she thought, nodding slowly. "Damn, you've a solid point there." she muttered in response to Tazi. "As much fun as it'd be to watch half a ship's hull cladding peel off, I don't think we're in a position to compromise this ship any more than it has been. Still, electromagnets need a damn lot to hold a ship in place, that's almost certainly a link to the main grid..." her voice turned low, eyes narrowing, before her head rolled the other way to look at Zeno.
"Oi, mothman. You said you might be able to disrupt em?" she asked. "You think you could cause something, I dunno, a little more destructive? Overloading backlash, cascading grid failure, that sort of thing? Do it bad enough and we might even make his ship pause long enough to give us some breathing room. If you're concerned about getting shot at by EVA guys, I know how to fight in space." she offered with a smirk. "Though I might need a more precise gun. A laser might do."
He nodded. "It's a stretch, but I could give it a try. I could use this against the hull to induce a current," he said, raising his Rattler, "...then ride a charge right up those cords. Never mind my own energy, military-grade boarding clamps need a lot of electricity flowing in the right direction to work. A short would suck. For them."
Mernis swallowed as he awaited the crackling to be replaced by the clear audio feed of Quinlan’s unmistakable voice growling through the intercom. Onoro was even halted momentarily by the mention of money for turncoating, before it became quite obvious that he was neither trusted by Tazi and the party, nor had the insurance to preserve his life after the rest of the ship had been dealt with. Inhaling once more and clearing his mind, the Teliran went silent before breaking into yet another of his two-faced demeanours as he broke out with a boisterous,
“Quinlan you’re a bloody madlad you know that…?!”
His tone was almost as though he were one friend revealing himself to another; referring to what was up to now wholesale carnage as though it were some fraternal hijinks and just a casual chip on his shoulder. “It’s Clawsman, Poisonites gang!” He chuckled, grinning, he hoped that Quinlan was atleast conscious of their last dealing, “...How’ve you fucking been, man?” The Teliran continued on from his casual attempt at small talk to quickly follow,
“Look Quin, I don’t know what shit you’ve got with this woman, but she’s got some contract signed in advance with a gov from the ASN. It’s one thing to mess with small time ships, but you’re gonna piss off a lot of bigwigs if you fuck this place up.” The syndicate boss sighed, giving a moment for some thought before shaking his head man,
“We gotta meet face to face somewhere Quinlan, let’s work some shit out- I don’t know. Poisonites have got a lot of jobs coming up, and you can get a piece of that pie. You ain’t gonna get shit but a gang war and a ton of gun-ho fucking militaries if you blow this shit apart.”
Paskin looked to Tazi, and then to the others of his ramshackle squad. They were missing one.
If they were going to succeed, they needed their plan to work. "Its our best bet at this rate. I can accompany Zeno or stay here to keep the goons busy while they work. I suppose that's anyone's call."
"We're getting a plan together. I will be able to provide covering fire to keep them off your back on the hull, Paskin, you seem better equipped and suited to keep Quinlan's men at bay inside the ship than I am."
Shard replied to the group as their plan was formulating. Getting the Sabot ship slowed down and stopped would be their ticket out of here for now, atleast until their FTL kicked in. What mattered still was getting out of this place and to the End of the Line. It was starting to come together now for AI, Todd, Quinlan, BGS, the equipment Tazi was smuggling, and Eleven, all parts of a wider puzzle and leaved together.
A key component was missing however, the various employers with their names and motives hidden and unknown, pushing the little switches and buttons for this orchestra of chaos to unfold. For Shard however, what mattered first and foremost was the securing of Eleven, whatever her real name would be, in order to complete the contract.
"Is everyone in agreement? If so, there is very little time to waste."
Quinlan for a moment was visibly taken aback by the voice of Mernis.
“Mernis, you son of a bitch your still alive, well I’ll be damned ha-ha” He laughed out loud “I’ve been good, this new patron is giving me all the fancy coins, all the new toys and plenty of exciting jobs. I have never felt so alive! How come you are here? You know I’m trying to kill this fucking bitch of a captain” He then carefully listened to what Mernis had to say, the grip on his weapon tightening slightly as the Reavers men now prepped the last charges to blow into the next compartment over.
“The ASN government aye. Some big contract… Well that certainly sounds like the opposite of what my patron told me.” There was a dark pause like he would blow Mernis off before he sighed “But I’ll meet you, and hear what you have to say, for old times’ sake. I know you Poisonites saved my gang some serious money a few years back, consider this a return favour. But I am getting this gear that much is non-negotiable. Tell me where you are and I will meet you there, but in the meantime my men are still going to be securing this ship until you convince me otherwise”
He waited for a location ping before gesturing to two Reavers to follow him. They would blow some other bulkheads if need be. He didn’t fully trust Mernis, after all he had been told this was on behalf of the Order, but he also did not want a full on gang feud with friendlies either. Quinlan growled in frustration.
----- “If you’re going to do it, do it now” Tazi grunted, almost totally vindicated by the sudden shudder and thump which immediately followed “There goes the bulkhead. We will hold them here, do what you need to do to break us away, I’ll have Ranal accelerate as much as we can away, give us some time where they cannot reinforce.” Tazi gestured for a hand up which one of her crew helped her with, she loudly cried out in a moment of pain before standing, barely.
“Alright get going. You, gravity plates to maximum power, lets slow them down, when they enter the kill box blow the coolant then switch to HVAP. Make them bleed for this” She managed to make a small smile to the group and a nod “Good luck” one of the crew who had gotten into an armoury locker round the corner threw a larger Triarch precision laser rifle Meyhnas way.
The passages to the outer hull were short, thankfully they were already close to another small maintenance airlock and the cramped dull grey interiors of the passages clearly had not been used for a while. Still the small airlock was enough to fit them all in, just, thanks to Zenos smaller size at least. Still with a hiss of air and ensuring all were void tight the stars appear beyond as the door opened to the vacuum. Everything was quiet and still as they could see the Sabot ship close by, almost touching them, the umbilical bridge was still attached although clearly damaged and beat up. No Reavers could be seen but one thing that was a threat was just above them, the bulbous form of a point defence laser array, if it wasn’t taken out it would likely vaporise all four of them in a matter of microseconds.
Still they were in position.
Mernis quickly chuckled and reassured,
“Fine by me, Quini. Pinging my location now…” He muttered, pressing down on one of the panelled buttons to send out a ping to the loading bay before stepping back. The Teliran immediately exhaled and shook his head as disdain took over himself. The bitter repulsion at his own weak will to just call the favour and leave the others to their own devices was quickly dissipated once the sound of Quinlan’s boots closed in from down the hall. By the time of Quinlan’s arrival, Mernis was already standing and waiting to greet Quin and his entourage with a signature Onoro grin snaking across his face. Shifting his coat aside to show the trio where his gun was as a reassurance, the Teliran quickly greeted with a simple,
“It’s been too long, Quin.”
The Teliran got straight down to business by defending himself as he raised his hands to explain,
“I did say that she only had an advance-signed contract. This cargo she’s carrying, and you’ve got business with, has got nothing to do with the ASN. All I've been told is she’s got some hush-hush deal going on with S’older Tetlisun to transport an ex-Capitol warhead to a shitstain backwater called Dotreq. It’s for some staged war the Admin has planned as part of his creepy scheme tying into this notion he has that the Galaxy’s gonna-” The Teliran promptly went silent; realising he was getting into pointless prattling,
“-That ain’t the point. Point is, Tetlisun wants this ship, and this bitch, alive ‘cos his future plans involve her- And I’m talking DEEP shit here, Quin, you don’t wanna piss him off over it. Politicians have gone missing over this. Speaking of the broad- Do you know what the deal is with her and this fire crap?”
Shard did what could only be assumed to be a nod towards Tazi and began to head out towards the airlock with a shotgun in tow. As shard moved through the compact airlock, in essence crawling through the passage while processing the demands of the mission, destroy the suspension boom and disable the laser. It would be enough for them to get away quickly, hopefully at least.
As the robot got to the airlock, it did not step out but instead was waiting for the other members of their team, instead Shard peered out of it with the sensor module where its head ought to be to assess the situation. Zeno had the firepower to take out the PD laser staring down on them and the umbilical boom holding them back. Everything would need to be in unison.
"Zeno, you have the firepower to take out the laser and the boom, get them down quickly one after the other. We can handle any of those troopers that could try to swarm us. Hold onto something when we get moving."
"Eyo," muttered Meyhna as she adjusted to the weightlessness of space, "Don't make the little guy do all the hard work. And, uh, don't make any sudden movements." she added, nodding at the form of the point defence laser. "If we don't, it might think us space detritus."
Unfortunately, that particular bit of detritus had grabbed a laser rifle on her way to the airlock.
Slowly, Meyhna unlimbered the weapon, shouldering it with careful, almost sluggish motions, a hand shifting the power slider all the way to the front, watching the ammo counter drop from 30 shots to 5, accounting for the shift in power. Reaffirming her grip and lining up the gunsight, she slowly drifted it over the laser node's optics. "Here's hoping it doesn't have backups." She pulled the trigger, and the muzzle flashed.
Zeno started summoning more of his magic arms and began frantically feeling for something he could conduct through. The air started turning tingly as he built up power, and his big eyes were searching for an imperceptible something. As soon as he could find a link to from the bulkheads to the hull plating and finally to the magnet, he could send a charge. The longer he waited, the more he could charge up...but time was already running out.
He said as much. "Point me; point me!" he shouted.
The Echotians choice was easy, even as he enjoyed the thought of high-tech-hyjinks, his skills were much more suited for the heat of combat.
His cloak flickered for a moment before he disappeared from the visual spectrum, red eyes fading as he took up a position behind the barricades near Tazi.
"May we live, or die honourable deaths" He whispered.
“It has indeed” Quinlan replied as he walked into the dark room, the modified power armour making him tower over Mernis and fill the bulk of the room including blocking the doorway. No doubt Quinlan had no intention for the Teliran to escape if things went south.
“Transporting some ex Capitol stuff huh? I see. It doesn’t surprise me that Tetlisun is up to his usual antics then, I remember the things that got passed down to us back in the old days when we worked together to help negotiate with that corporation, man I can’t even remember their name but the Union sure sent them packing.” He folded his arms however to make himself more imposing.
“Regardless of whether the cargo was important I am taking it, that’s my job here. However you say this women has a contract eh?” He leaned over to Mernis “A lot more than politicians have gone missing over what my patrons are doing Mernis, I can’t tell you everything but this is big, bigger than anything we ever did before, bigger than the ASN, bigger than the gangs. That women was part of a project, conveniently ex Capitol as well, they turned her sister into a weapon but Tazi” He sounded angry at mentioning her name “Was special from the start, she escaped but my brother caught her and used her. She killed him and now I want revenge” ------- On the outside of the hull the movement from Shard, Meyhna and Zeno did not go unnoticed but by the time the PD laser had swivelled into position to fire the laser shot had impacted its optics. Focusing through the outer lensing shell the laser shot rapidly burned the inner optics and the surrounding areas, a moment later the beam weapon tried to fire but the dispersed energy merely illuminated the group like a torch, the blue light only doing so much to slowly heat up the group’s outer layers of their suits. With the laser destroyed that was it, already other reactions were being seen but Zeno was already ready for them.
Fully charged and ready to go Meyhna had now taken out the closest threat which left Zeno to do his thing unhindered by a sudden impending possible death. He had already felt the magnets and the link to the hull and he was fully able to determine what points were needed to be jolted. With a motion the power was sent, the electrical current racing through the electromagnets of the umbilical bridge instantly shutting them off, almost immediately a small gap began to appear between the Fever Dream and Quinlans ship appeared, and with a sudden jolt the flare of the Fevers drives ignited to push them away. They couldn’t escape, but perhaps the time they now had they could deal with the boarders currently on ship. ----- Tazi watched Paskin go invisible but she held her hand up for him not to attack just yet. As the Reaver troopers rushed round the corner they hit the increasing gravity fields and one fell to the floor despite his armour while the others suddenly had to squat and fight against the sudden pressure. The rest behind took cover and tried to give covering fire but it was in vain, the 7 troops who had rushed into the gravity field could only attempt to shoot back as the coolant dump was enacted, the liquid immediately turning to gas as it hit the air. It was however, more than enough to flash freeze the troopers in place, despite their internal suit heating freeze them inside too.
A small cheer came up from behind the barricades as Tazi then signalled the crew to fire at will.
Paskin almost fealt a twinge of regret as he watched the Reavers get blasted with the frigid gas.
Almost
Immediately he reacted, standing as his warhelm identified the most vulnerable targets that were now petrified in ice. His twin pistols barked rapidly as he tried to bury as many bullets in his foes as necessary.
Quickly ducking back behind cover as those around him opened fire, he readied his energized blades and awaited the end of the volley.
Mernis remained silent for a little while, an expression of quiet thought resting on his face, merely replying with a simple,
“Hm.”
The Teliran went to take a seat at a nearby bench; pulling his coat over his chest a little as he took his seat. The freelancer finally broke the quiet by insisting, “Well you can’t be having her until she’s completed all these troubles I have with her; that’s for sure, Quin. I’m up a creek without a paddle until i’m through with my business with her, which means if you don’t wait to take her, then we’re all gonna lose. I’ll lose, you’ll lose more crew than you have to, we all suffer.” He explained with outstretched arms.
“But if you’re willing to let this ship go, take the cargo for all I care, then I can get my gang’s and the Association’s business finished with her. Once I’m done, I'll get word out to you of her location.” With that, the Teliran rose once more to his feet as he added, “And you can do whatever you want with her, I'll see to it that she won’t even be prepared for you to walk right in and do whatever the hell you want with her. Once my business with her is over, you can pass her round your crew to use for all I care. But there’s only so much revenge you can get on someone by having one of your men dispatch her instantly with a shot through the head; which is what’s gonna happen if you continue this fight.”
Mernis didn’t even hesitate as he looked the Veronis captain square in the eyes and apathetically promised, “Let me finish my work with her and you’ll have the stupid broad on a platter, trouble-free, after.” The Artificia cheered as the magnets holding the ship together failed, throwing a fist into the...figurative air. "Hahaa!" she let out, shaking her head as she fumbled with her suit's gear. "Well, y'know." Meyhna muttered, the Artificia's EVA pack fired to get back to the airlock, lowering the power on the rifle as she kept it shouldered, looking out for any of Quinlan's men that might've been looking for trouble. "I was hoping for a little more explosions, but I guess we can't see whatever that did to their power grid, ey?" she chuckled into comms. "Now we just gotta get back inside, and pop any bastard that tries to stop us from doing so!"
Zeno cricked his neck, as if his magic was in fact physically strenuous too. "Well, what can I say? I'll always take solving a case clean over doing one thoroughly. Clearwings are surgeons."
He hefted the Rattler up and it was easy to see that more of his magic limbs were fused within it, and without use of his wings, he instead loped down the nearest hallway, scanning it as he went. "Eyes open, keep your head on a swivel. You're right; we're not out of the woods yet."
Other ghost arms he was trailing behind him slid their fingertips across the ground, then clenched into fists. They did something different this time; they seemed to condense into something like clouds, and the way they were moving, they looked heavy, or perhaps just tense. Zeno was ready to bring it.
"My head is a swivel, Zeno. We should meet up with the others and clear out this ship before that Sabot ship catches up with us again."
Shard activated the electromagnets on his feet and began the march back to the airlock, the robot was covering the rear of their small posse of three. It could feel the thudds and vibrations on the hull from the metal feet meshing with them until Shard finally got into the airlock as the last of the group while keeping a metaphorical eye out for. The shotgun Meyhna gave it was still at the ready to help defend them if need be, which they would as everyone know knew where they were with the PD on them.
"Talk about being in the spotlight, they should be delayed long enough for us to clear out the rest of them.*
The AI shouldered the gun and had it at the ready while walking backwards in the rear to keep the others protected. It turned on the radio for Paskin and Tazi.
"If you have not noticed, the magnets are down. What is the current status in the ship?"
Quinlan attempted to rub his chin, the gauntlet of the power armour rubbing the bottom of the helmet instead. He looked down at Mernis.
“I am going to take a stab in the dark and guess you’re probably fucking me Mernis.” He left a cliff hanger as if to unnerve the Teliran before continuing “But, we do go way back. Alright you have word, we will take the cargo and then withdraw, we will leave this ship and you can do what you need with that women. Then she is mine and I will be coming for her, you better have her ready for me. Because if you fuck this up I’m coming for your head too” Quin went to turn around before the sudden burst of acceleration made him take a step back.
“What then… Report!” he shouted into the coms for Mernis to hear.
“The ship has broken away from us and is attempting to accelerate away. Cargo is almost all reclaimed boss we just needed another 15 minutes” Quinlan turned back to Mernis.
“Is this you fucking with me? This needs to be the part where you tell me that this is just the death rattle of those who are fucked. You tell them to redock and I may consider upholding our deal still. They refuse and we do this the hard way and you’re coming with me after” ----- Tazi smiled as she saw the three make their way back to the barricades in the corridor, incoming rounds panging off walls and exploding on the crates.
“I see we are moving. Nice work guys we got some of em with the cooling but there’s plenty more. If we are lucky we can kill the remaining fucks and at least buy some time” She grimaced again as a shot of pain went through her from her leg. Her few men fired back as the Reavers advanced through the ice covered remains of their friends, the troopers knowing of the increased gravity now worked with it to move as quick as they could. Two went down however, one to Paskins pistol shots and another to a lucky shot by a Fever Dream crewman.
“We just need to whittle them down here in the bottleneck and then-“ Tazi paused as a screech over the internal coms interrupted her. “Ello Ello. Captain Tazi, I see you have broken away from my ship, a mighty fine if futile attempt by someone in your position. Fortunately you have some good friends on board, or one in particular. You are to redock with my ship and let my men recover the cargo in your bay, if you do that I may likely let you go. If you don’t believe me, believe one of your own. Go on tell em Mernis” The voice of Quinlan making Tazi scrunch up in anger, the Reavers hunkering down and holding fire for a moment.
As she rejoined the ragtag mob of defenders, Meyhna loosed a few shots from her laser rifle at the Reavers as she moved to take cover, the power not quite ramped up to 'screw naval defence weapon sensors' but plenty enough to slag a hole in a powersuit. "Mission accomplished, mag-clamps burnt out and someone's day ruined." she grinned, looking to Shard. "Ey tin man, you wanna swap guns? You're probably a better shot with this than me, and I'd like my shotgu--" she was cut off by the PA, glancing around as Quinlan spoke. A sly, mischievous grin came onto the Artificia's face as he finished, crawling to and snatching the microphone for the PA in the nearby wall, raising it to her mouth, the quality of the speaker audio only exacerbating the synthesised edge of the chinese-accented voice.
"Suck my hypothetical hardlight dick, ya fat fuzzy bastard!" she laughed. "You can thank yours truly for the thought of overloading your mag-clamps! On that note, ya sure you don't wanna make sure your own ship's fine, buckaroo? I've heard that docking clamp overload on ships as big as yours can have some quite, eheh, detrimental effects on its power grid." she grinned, turning and holding out the mic to Tazi. "You wanna add anything, miss cap'n?"
Zeno rolled his eyes. He seemed tired of this, enough to flatly let Quinlan have it, then go on verbally mowing down everyone in his line of fire.
"You forced my friend here to trash my car. Unless you're here to deliver me a fresh Prester, I'll start counting all this as assaulting an officer.
Maybe if ratting out your own inside man wasn't such bad form, I'd consider getting your buddy off with good behavior, but unless he starts producing Kalhayan parts from his pockets I'll run in the one in swatting distance.
You don't want this smoke, friend."
Mernis smiled, “When has anybody trusted a Teliran?” He joked dryly. The comment would prove to be a poor choice by the turn of events that quickly ensued; his eyes widening as they darted to look at Quinlan’s response. His gaze deadened as he realized what had just happened. The look on his face perhaps portrayed the most depleted and frustrated man in the galaxy.
“...Those prats.”
The mercenary shook off his anger as Quin began interrogating his old business partner,
“I- I didn’t have any part in that Quin, I don’t know what the fuck they’re thinkin’.”
Slowly nodding to Quin’s demands, he shuffled to the comms and listened into the power-armoured pirate give his speech The Teliran waited for a moment as his heart sank at hearing the namedrop, that was going to be hell explaining to the people piloting this ship; especially after his wait before intervening. The depressed gaze on Mernis’ face only reached new extremes as Meynha saw it to be a high time to further piss off the leader of this relentless assault. Marching to the panel and practically punching his knuckles to unmute the PA, the Teliran growled out,
“You stupid fucking pyschos, what the hell do you think you’re doing!?” The freelancer hissed before pausing, calming a little, and placing two digits to the bridge of his nose and explaining, “...Look I managed to work out a solution with Quin… He and I have history. If you keep fucking aggravating the situation you’re not only going to ditch your one chance at survival, but you’re gonna ditch it pointlessly. Quin’s taking the cargo; the cargo he’s already obtained I might add. Jus’ stop shooting at his people and let them withdraw… I’ll explain any questions later.” The PA echoed out with a screeching blare to mark the end of the message. Moments late it blared back out,
“Oh, PS. Thanks for the search party you bastards.”
Paskin, a little disappointed if he was being honest with himself, stood up from behind cover and uncloaked himself. As he took a step forward over his cover, he holstered his pistols and shouted at the mercenaries.
"It appears your boss has spared your lives. As much as we would love to continue to slaughter the lot of you, you will have my grace and be allowed to retreat."
There was a low rumble from his chest, as Paskin thrummed in order to settle his heart. "Consider this a courtesy. Any who remain will be hunted for sport."
Illogical. This was something that went through Shard 471's main processor, their sole goal with hiring out Tazi's ship was to get to the End of the Line safely. And in doing so protect the ship to ensure a safe arrival. Instigating a further fight against a foe that just accomplished their goal did not seem wise.
Shard stoop next to Meyhna and stuck out the arm made of mismatched parts with the shotgun in hand to give it back to her.
"I hope I will not need this, but we should just let them go Meyhna. Our bounty for HT corporation is not to hunt down pirates.. No ill intent Captain Tazi."
The robot bent down to pick up one of the rifles laying on the ground from a dead crewmate and checked to see if it still had any ammunition left in it and peeked above the barricade to see if Quinlan was still following through his word.
“Ah, an Artificia. Such a dirty mouth, no wonder humans made you as slaves. I think you will find my ship is fine and currently accelerating to redock with this blasted vessel. I’m currently debating whether I even want to kill you all in person or just withdraw and then atomise this ship with you all on it. Besides rat out? My fellow officer your good friend here is trying to get you all out of a great deal of danger” Quinlan grinned.
At Meyhnas comment Tazi merely turned to her with both exhaustion and annoyance. She merely shook her head. Sighing deeply and running a hand through her hair Tazis crew looked at her as if they had been totally defeated, still they waited to see what their captain would do. At Shards comment Tazi actually nodded.
“Your right. You’re not here for my mess. I do not feel offense to your comment Shard. Realistically I do not know if the help message got out or not, but right now this seems like the only way for us to withdraw and get to End of the Line. I may not like it, I may want to kill him even if it takes down my ship and I may need that cargo, but I won’t sacrifice everything for it.” She growled in anger as the Reavers down the corridor merely kept their guns trained, a few of them flinched at Paskins comments wanting to shoot the Echoe where he stood.
“Stand down everyone. I am sorry, this is the only way. Your friend may be a sell-out but he may have saved us.” She replied over the coms after.
“Quinlan. It’s me. I accept. Take the cargo and leave, it’s yours” Immense weariness had entered Tazis voice.
“My my, this is a rare day indeed. Here that Mernis?” Quinlan turned to the Teliran “Seems like they are taking what you offered. Fine my ship will re-dock within minutes, we will take the remaining cargo and then leave. Reavers that are on board will withdraw” His command led to the troopers further down the corridor moving backwards, now fully withdrawing to the cargo hold.
“And what guarantees do we have you won’t just blow the ship up when you leave” Tazi replied. Quinlan merely laughed.
“Guess you will just have to trust me, shock horror aye?” He looked down to Mernis once again “You may go. Don’t think I don’t know this is some kind of sham, but our history together means I can’t leave a debt unpaid. Go back to your new friends and hope they don’t kill you, if we meet again I don’t think it will go this well again.” The huge power armoured man then left the compartment, the Reavers withdrawing to the cargo hold as the Sabot ship very quickly made the same course, extending the docking clamp once more. The Reavers collecting up everything that was left and rapidly moving it across. Quinlan took one more look around as he surveyed the destroyed hold before giving a grunt and withdrawing. The ship was once again theirs.
When everyone had left and it was just the Fever Dream, her crew and her passengers again, Zeno stood there and looked off into the distance, as if giving the whole situation in general one long look.
"I need quarters," he said, beginning to walk off, a sort of tired frustration buried deep in his tone. "Any quarters."
Mernis frowned as Quinlan made his remarks, this situation was far too volatile for the freelancer to feel comfortable. Evidently, however, the pirate leader was in a far more forgiving mood to the group’s badmouthing than the Teliran had thought. With a brief nod to Quinlan as he took his leave, Mernis simply commented,
“A deal is a deal; I will uphold it.” He muttered, before he too began to leave. Turning for a second,
“Oh, and Quinlan?” The Teliran gave a rather teasing smile before muttering, “Keep yourself out of too much trouble.”
It was only a few moments before Onoro appeared once more to his group. His hobble and blood-stained makeshift bandages which made him look more like he had come out of a medbay than talks with the ship’s invaders. Trying his best to strut and disguise the fact that he was still a little shaken up and on edge from being struck during the fight. Stepping over a body and coming to a halt just short of midway across the room from the entrenched crew, Mernis stared and then nonchalantly muttered after a few moments of silence.,
“No, thank you.” Before looking between the other party members present.
The crackling hum of Paskin's energy blades went silent as the echo deactivated his weapons, sheathing them with a simultaneous flourish before concealing them beneath his cloak once more. As he watched the Reavers retreat to their ship, Paskin rumbled in his throat before turning to what remained of their forces. True, the majority had survived, but when he looked around at the bodies of the the Reavers, he wondered if it had been worth the losses?
He set to work on stripping them, keeping his mind busy in the wake of such a dramatic shift in events, sorting through any of the fallen's belongings and leftover weapons. For years he had scavenged off his targets on Lost Star, the habit of taking something to remember the battles and the foes slain engrained into his routine.
As Mernis returned to the group, the echo's helm looked up to ensure he was still in one piece, before returning to his work.
"You are a good talker, Mernis."
Shard stepped in front of the barricade and lent the rifle on the ground once the conflict finally managed to resolve itself. At least for now, who knows what would come of it at the End of the Line, or Quinlan breaking his promise and word. While the conflict was not resolved through a victory or a full on repulsion of the his Reavers, getting them out of their hair was good enough.
The AI took note of Mernis' bruised and bloodied body, the Teliran looked a little worse for wear... Something every one of their party seemed to be experiencing at the moment. Shard as well
"Tazi, what direction is the medical ward."
Meyhna in reality was a touch disappointed--that trick usually worked. The only visible indicator of this was the Artificia deflating a touch, taking back her shotguns from Shard. She didn't seem all too much relieved at seeing Mernis, nor did she respond for a moment after he spoke, leaning against a makeshift barricade.
"Yeah, yeah." she muttered. "Thanks for being knuckle deep in Reaver trouble 'n all that." she grunted. "I didn't look for you because I thought your ass was either somewhere safe or dead." she then gestured to the dead Reavers. "Not to mention, 'actively being shot at by armoured pirates' makes it a touch difficult to make search parties, if you didn't know before." she added. "A clue for the future."
One of the crew turned to Zeno and gestured for the Little Lighter to follow him, the crewman looking just as tired as the man he was trying to help.
Tazi seemed to drain of all of her energy as she turned to the group.
“I will be on the bridge if you need me.” Just as she spoke a message came over the coms.
“The Reavers sabot ship is accelerating away, looks like they kept their word but they seem to be performing acrobatics on the withdraw” Tazi briefly shook her head.
“At least their gone. Ignore them, re-plot our course to EOTL. We need to make up for lost time, check the ship and ensure there isn’t any hidden surprises” There was a ping of acknowledgement before she turned to the sight of Mernis approaching the group. Her eyes narrowed, but while she hated the fact he had past history with such a man he had quite literally saved the ship and her life.
“I do have to thank you, your quick thinking got us out of that. Not wholly intact, but intact enough. I owe you my life, all of you as well” She turned to the whole group “The medical ward is down this direction, you escort them” She pointed to another crewmember who gestured for Shard to follow.
“Rest up as much as you can, we will conduct what repairs we can and we will be on our way to End of the Line. Use the time before we get there wisely” The tiredness in her voice eclipsing all else.
Paskin sorted through what was left of the Reavers in the hallway; setting aside high caliber rifles, ammunition, grenades, and what remained of their seemingly Union-style power armour. Turning one of the mercenaries over, the echo spied the curious pouch that seemed to be latched onto the frontal armour of the dead man. Cautiously, he inspected the small growth-like object, noticing its heartbeat-like movement before wrenching it from the body. As it lay in his grasp, it seemed to unfurl like a flower, before the holo-like image appeared. The echo warbled to himself, closing the semi-organic devise and storing it within his carrying devise on his thigh.
Over the next few hours, Paskin set about dissembling the guns, re-assembling them with ease as he inspected their mechanisms and quality. They weren't bad, not bad at all.
The grenades were up for grabs, as well as all but one of the rifles, which Paskin kept for himself, along with one of the compact combat kits. Where-ever they were heading, he imagined some heavy weaponry would suite him well enough.
The thanking from the captain seemed to be responded to merely with a polite nod from the freelancer,
“I’ll keep that debt noted.” He replied with something between a smirk and a teasing look; it wasn’t even discernable whether the Teliran was joking or not.
Onoro wasted little more time hobbling around as he set off en-route to the medbay with Shard to accompany him. The Teliran seemed a little intrigued by the towering bot trudging beside him, occasionally giving a side-glance to examine the automaton.
“...’There a particular reason you want to join me on my little visit to the school nurse, or are you just that in love with me?” He nonchalantly inquired. Mernis was never much of a talker. However, if there was anything in the galaxy he’d be okay talking openly to, it’d be a machine.
Zeno's footsteps were slow. His energy seemed a little low, and he didn't take being unable to fly outside of painful bounces too well. "Hey, do you mind if I take a detour? I need a medbay. Nothing crazy, I just. need something to bind my wings back up, any sort of...membrane coagulant or something. I didn't totally unpack from my car, and...yeah."
He didn't wait for an answer too long as he started picking up speed and hoping he'd find some path to patch himself up properly.
"Neither. I doubted your ability to safely make it to the medical ward without keeling over."
Shard said to the wounded Mernis as the robot walked alongside him, the machine definitely seemed to be damaged as well, there were sounds of grating metal and chaffing from blown joints and battle damage.
The machine waited until they were out of earshot of Tazi, it did not care if the crewmate heard what he said next as they made their way into the medical ward.
"How much do you trust Quinlan to keep his word?"
"If you need me for somethin', I uh...I'll be around." Meyhna called to Tazi as the woman left. The Artificia went about her somewhat wandering business, helping make sure the ship wasn't leaking air or something and finding Paskin with all the looted guns, taking a few herself and managing to mash them together into some sort of triple-barrelled monstrosity she promptly rigged a dot sight, underbarrel launcher and a sling to. Evidently, Meyhna didn't care much for simplicity.
After that, she simply retreated to her room. No point wasting energy with wherever the hell they were going.
Once more the Fever Dream leapt into FTL the moment the Sabot ship cleared the area and entered FTL itself. It was considerably nicer to be back on the way, but Tazi was unhappy for obvious reasons. She had organised a ship funeral for her crewmembers she had lost a little bit later in the day, their bodies would be given proper rights at EOTL and consigned to the expanse. Still the fact her cargo had been stolen from her angered her. Of course the Order of Serenity wouldn’t be mad with her like Capitol once was but they would be upset with the setback in their plans.
At least she still had one item left. Opening the box next to her captain’s seat she pulled out an example of what she had been carrying in bulk. A strange looking almost head circlet, part bioorganic which was to be put over the head, it was mostly stringy apart from the forehead piece which was a congealed knot of organs including a purple sphere object in the centre. She studied it again before putting it back, the Order could study it in detail at least.
The ship had been quiet before, but now I was practically silent as everyone mourned the loss and damages. Still the med bay was actually fairly busy, several crew were being treated for wounds in a not so large space. An automated robot instantly was alerted when Mernis, Shard and Zeno entered the med bay and it bowed in greeting.
“Welcome. What is the emergency?” its monotone voice denoted that it was not an AI at least. Still it was capable of all sorts of medical contingencies and the stores here of supplies seemed surprisingly capable for a vessel of this size and type.
"Minor case here. Okekolu, speeding recovery of wing tears," Zeno tiredly said, spreading his wings to show there were still lots of little tears in them. "The soul limb recovery won't need any of that."
The Teliran seemed to smirk a little by the response from the humorless automaton, even seeming to laugh a little. If exhaling a large amount from one’s nostrils can be considered a laugh. Mernis didn’t seem to amused by the following question, keenly watching Tazi’s crewman escorting them as he replied,
“I know he’s a man intelligent enough to accept a more profitable deal; even at the expense of personal satisfaction.” Onoro explained. He knew what he was saying was a lie, but that mattered little. Explaining that he was a partner of Quinlan’s and that he had offered to sell Tazi out once his own contract was complete while in earshot of the captain’s crew would hardly be a smart idea.
“Whatever the case. This Tazi woman is a means to us, not an end. I think we need to maintain focus on why we’re here: Acquiring this girl. If Quinlan and this ship’s captain have a spat to settle, so be it. We have one purpose, completion of the contract, everything else is irrelevant to our job.”
The Freelancer outlined as the pair stepped into the medbay. Mernis’ eyes immediately clocked the presence of Zeno, to which he casually inquired,
“What happened to you?” Wincing as he sat down at a seat nearby.
"I caught shrapnel," he flatly replied with a shrug. "Soul limbs caught most of it, and it hurt like hell, but nothing squishy got popped, so it's no skin off my back." Then he slowly flexed his wings, wincing a little and showing all the little tears that went through them. "The rest went right through my wings. It's not the worst thing that's happened to me, you know; one time I ended up with them under my own Monotrack-class bike after a highside. Our wings heal pretty quick, but that's a day-to-week thing, and that's time I'm not going to test. ...you?"
Paskin's time aboard the ship once again became consumed by meditation, interlaced with sessions of modifying his newly acquired rifle. Aside from a fresh clean and process, the symbol of victory alongside the House of Wraith insignia. He allowed himself brief moments alone with the holo-map, exploring its strange biological features and unique method of detection. He was sure it would come in handy in the days to come, and was determined to ensure he was aware of its capabilities beforehand.
“Agreed. Primary concern is contract completion. Nonetheless, I still hold very little trust into Quinlans word, he will find a way to settle this score later. We just need to find a way to avoid it without getting caught in the crossfire again.”
It paused for a second to cut off its rambling.
“What do you believe our chances of returning to Lost Star with the contract are? I have never been the best at gauging organics’ impulse and ambition to achieve something.”
Shard replied back to Mernis as they stepped into the medical bay, looking upon the injured Zeno, physically it seemed to be nothing that couldn’t be fixed. Yet the emotional and other worldly damage was something Shard could never guess. The machine strongly doubted that the robot running the facility had a sense of humor or higher intelligence, but luck was tried nonetheless.
“Shard 471. CDN Combat Frame Mark 3. Moderate damage to physical control, electrical power, and servo systems in the lower abdominal region. Major strike plate damage throughout”
The Automaton moved forward and quickly pulled a small tub of lotion out from one of its compartments and handed it to Zeno.
“Rondam quick recovery gel, apply to areas of skin or wound breakages twice every hour for 5 hours. 10 hours If the wound is deep enough.” The machine then looked to Shard, and alas betrayed no higher intelligence functions “Robot repair means can be found to the right. Merely step into the machine and uplink to assess and repair damages” The machine gestured with one of its many arms to a tall booth, clearly designed to handle heavily cybernetic personnel but it looked good enough to help repair Shard, all it needed was a link in and the machine could read schematics and immediately get to work on speedy repairs. Finally, the machine turned to Mernis.
“Deep subdermal damage detected, possible internal bleeding and moderate blood loss. Small intrusion surgery required, please lay here” The machine gestured for Mernis to be placed onto an open bed. It looked like the robot would operate. Thankfully it would do so with minimal intrusion via keyhole surgery, the details of the op being displayed in a holographic in front of the bed. Cauterise internal bleeding, apply healing micrites to deep inside the wound and apply skin graft to seal and ensure full healing. For such a serious wound it was a quick procedure apparently.
----
The remaining stretch of the trip was surprisingly short, only two more days. The indication they had arrived was the tell-tale jolt upon exiting FTL. During the journey Tazi had mostly kept to herself, probably healing and resting given the ordeal the entire ship had gone through. Damage to the cargo hold had been patched up at least to some capacity but the ship really needed thorough repairs if it was to be truly healed. Still the Fever Dream had arrived, at least to the front door.
Before the ship was the huge expansive form of the Black Threshold. Its contrasting black and white surface almost looked like cells splitting, disappearing and appearing as they came and went, strange white lights dancing around some of the passages. Never follow the lights, that was the number one rule of operating in the Threshold. Tazi gave the entire ship a ping that they were about to go in and offered the party to join her on the bridge.
“Nearly there, just need to navigate our way in and we should be at End of the Line. I trust my medical staff saw to you?” Tazi asked as the ship slowly descended towards one of the black tunnels like entrances. It took skill and knowledge to navigate the Threshold, and thankfully Tazi and her crew ere one of those who knew the way in.
Mernis seemed to be unmoved by the harm inflicted to Zeno’s body; doing little more than take a closer look at the Little Lighter’s wings with an interested, “Hm.” Before sitting back down. The moment Zeno turned the question to Mernis he seemed to shift a little. He returned his look to the fairy as though the question had made him uncomfortable, a laid back and cocksure grin, however, quickly broke through the momentarily off-guard look as the Teliran retorted,
“I got injured.” With a smug wink.
His attention was quickly deviated from Zeno as the medical apparatus turned its attention to him. With a reluctant huff from the Teliran, he took off his hat. The slick-back hair underneath was gelled and combed so much you could’ve thought it was a mirror. Setting his hat aside and giving a sideglance to the room's occupants he muttered to Shard,
“If she doesn’t want to leave, we’ll just have to convince her in some more unconventional way. Every person has a weakness.” The freelancer confidently assured as he went about unwrapping the makeshift bandages from his head, and then the rest of his body, revealing just how bloodsoaked the Teliran had become from the hit he had taken.
Looking at the analysis as he lay himself down the Teliran sighed, “I never like putting my life in the hands of machines…” His eyes quickly darted to Shard, “...No offence, I don’t like trustin’ people either.”
“Now…” He grumbled, exhaling whilst he tried to relax, “I’d appreciate some privacy.” __
Mernis’ arrival to the bridge was immediately met with a nod to Tazi to confirm her inquiry. With all his apparel covering his body, most of which was still stained with his blood, it was unclear just how much he had actually recovered from his fiasco.
“Since our journey is coming to a close, I believe you have some explaining to do. What exactly are you?” He bluntly grunted, “You promised that much.”
"Thank you." Zeno knew it was kind of pointless to thank a machine that didn't have the mind to appreciate politeness, but courtesy was drilled into him. He wasn't going to forget that even if he was talking to next to an inanimate object.
He winced a little as he applied the gel on his wings, showing how flexible they were despite appearing rigid enough to survive beating as quickly as they usually did. Every time he applied it, he folded his wings forward and then pulled one down. Each one bent quite a lot, and then snapped back like a spring as soon as he let go, and he felt air flowing in between all the little rips he still had. His first application sent a sort of numbing chill up his wings, and he slowly flexed them before leaving them alone to start the healing process. He'd remember that - basically, apply every thirty minutes.
"They hit you hard?"
"No offense is taken. If all things come to pass and we are unable to get safe passage aboard this vessel, I do not doubt we can spend the rest of the H.C. Corp money in order to find another ship back to Lost Star. One that is less... conspicuous.. the better..."
Shard replied back to Mernis in the medical bay before turning its robotic back on the Teliran to get its own care and some much needed repairs. Since Shard had gotten aboard this ship the total damage tally was grim, all sorts of general wear, tear, and damage from combat, and having to scrap back together an arm from junk in the engineering hold. While the arm of the medical machine went to work repairing from uploaded schematics dozens of years old, the AI pondered its thoughts on how this was a new record for damage in such a short period of time. Something better left unchallenged.
----------
In the days waiting for their eventual arrival at the End of the Line, an ironic name for certain, Shard mostly spent the days on low power mode, performing much needed system diagnostics and checking back in every now and again with the ships repair robot to get close to spec. Once the call from the bridge did come however, Shard spent no time in getting there curtly.
"Yes, some explanation would indeed be fruitful, fire sprouting from an organics hand is not exactly something that comes by from naturally." The machine stood next to Mernis in its typical straight as a railroad track posture.
---
The buzzing that sounded before Zeno arrived showed he was back up and running. Conversation on Tazi, and with Tazi for that matter, gave him an easy point to step in. "Yeah, I'm ready for more trouble. Looks like the restoratives and regeneratives aren't that far off from what I use at home." He slipped into the conversation and looked around the bridge contemplatively. "I know what I think you are; freaky juju of all flavors comes from the Little Light, and if my first guess isn't right, I bet you my second guess will be."
So, Zeno decided to guess. He clapped his hands and pointed at Tazi with one of them, and a few of his soul arms came out to point at her, too. "You don't have the feel of a magic user, not like you have that leyline-charged aura...you're psychic! Like the Philopsyche, and you've got a mandala stitched in like damn!"
“Hey.” The Teliran said, lifting his head to look at Zeno again, visibly agitated by the persistent inquiries to the evidence of Mernis’ own mortality. “I was hit hard, what else d’ya want me to say, huh?” With that, the mercenary dismissed his attention from Zeno with a simple handwave and closed his eyes, letting the surgery do its work as he shut himself off from the outside world.
Paskin appeared shortly, entering the bridge without a word, nor any sound at all save for his claws lightly clacking on the floor as he idled in the door. He peered ahead at way lay before them, and his posture corrected itself as he entered further in. What wonders this universe holds He stopped short of Mernis, joining them to hear what their captain had to say for herself, though at this rate what would it change? Not much would dissuade them now. Who knows, maybe they were all in for a surprise?
Meyhna arrived last, thumbs hooked in some webbing on her suit as she absentmindedly chewed on something. "Not a lot get to see past this, huh?" she mused aloud, a lazy smirk crossing her features. "Should we call ourselves lucky?" she asked, her tone rhetorical as she found something to lean on. No Artificia had been this close--let alone inside--the Golden Expanse, let alone such a well-concealed part of it. She doubted many races had seen this deep, to be perfectly frank, but a little bit of her kind's prideful arrogance reared its head as she considered her opportunity particularly noteworthy. She'd make sure to remember the experience.
Her eyes glanced to Tazi, shifting whatever was in her mouth to better let her speak. "What can we expect once we're past here?"
Tazi sighed deeply and seemed to sink into her captains chair somewhat at the final questions asking her exactly the truth. As the Black Threshold grew larger to fill the view screen with them approaching Tazi finally nodded.
“Alright ill tell you. I am psychic yea, I’m from Capitol. So is my sister. Who you have been charged with finding. When we were young they tested us both, the would be Panopticon, and they found the potential for psionic power. My sister was a born natural of course but I took my work. Eventually I was discarded but I managed to survive and escape, I worked with the Order of Serenity from then on. They healed me, helped me and promised to help free my sister, in the end we did but she really had been turned into something else. Problem is she was one of the first. To them she is a finely cut gem and they wouldn’t let her go. They hunted us for years so I finally made the decision to give her a life on EOTL, there she could be mostly safe.”
“Turns out she isn’t. I should have kept her close. She is a damn weapon, and the Panopticon are doing something big, I don’t know what and neither does the Order. The shipment that Quinlan took was supposed to help us understand but I only have one example of what I managed to secure left. Either way they need the original 20 back, the Avalon project they called it. They need as many as they can get, and as such they need my sister” Tazi stood up and walked forward gesturing to the Threshold.
“Beyond that you can expect a lawless world akin to the likes of old Lost Star, dominated by pirate factions and buccaneers who have come to escape the civilised galaxy. And somehow, I thought she would be free there. I don’t think you quite grasp the scale of what’s going on my friends, you were not just sent by HT.Co they are not your true clients. You were paid to find my sister so that the Panopticon could find her and take her to her fate. Technically I should kill you all considering you are technically my enemies. But I think by now your beginning to understand just exactly what is at stake here”
Tazi turned to stare at the party directly. She made no aggressive movements, just studying everyone with the knowledge of the truth.
"Mmm. Your sister. Daina, right?" Meyhna nodded as she pushed off what she was leaning on, keeping her hands hooked in her gear as she lazily strode closer to the displays, keeping her eyes on them, finally making it entirely clear that she had overheard Tazi talking to her bridge crew. "You've cut clear n straight with us, so I'll return the honesty. I don't give a shit about human lives, psychic or otherwise. Or Capitol, or this Order. Casualties in the war didn't make me sleep any worse, and I doubt any in the future would either. I don't know any of you well enough to exclude any of you from that." she stated, her tone deadpan. "And under any other circumstances, I wouldn't give two fucks about this Panopticon either. I was hired to find some girl, and bring her back." Finally, her half-lidded stare broke from the readouts to look directly at the captain.
"But I got the hint that HT.Co weren't really a part of this anymore when their offices caught fire and guys started walking through fucking starship hulls to try and get us. And I'd be mighty fuckin' surprised if this Panopticon made a set of psionic weapons warranting plenty of lives offed just to make parlor tricks for wealthy snobs. I don't know if this Project Avalon will affect my people or not, but I'd damn well prefer not to take the risk. If that involves keeping a girl I'll likely never see again out of the hands of some cryptic creeps, so be it." A pause, her eyes turning back to the screens. "Don't expect any suicidal heroics out of me. But I trust protective big sisters more than I do shady organisations. And the Panopticon hasn't exactly given me any incentive to cooperate with them, seeing as they seem to want me dead if I do or don't, so I'd rather buy my chances with buckshot than with phase assassin goodwill."
Zeno gave an almost casually bored tut-tut as he clicked his tongue and shook his head. "Believe it or not, ma'am, this development is a bit of a welcome change in rhythm for me. Usually, I only see a case escalate when I'm rammed off the road by someone I was driving alongside up until that point.
As far as I'm concerned, this is still about serving some justice. The Enyo Associates case can always find another lead, and I was always assigned to just get this little drive lost, without InterSECT much caring how it gets gone," he said, pulling out a little drive from his jacket and waving it about. "So, a case leaping out at me for me to put in the books like this is nothing out of the ordinary. What I'm trying to say is that I'm yours for the last legs of this thing, and it sounds like it's in terms that make sense to me, especially if it sounds like we're doing a smash and grab, and playing for a quick getaway."
"There is a contractual obligation within my programming to complete the job as laid out by H.T. Corp no matter the rapidly evolving scale or potential involvement of exterior forces. Unless there is any proof of failure on the side of H.T. Corp to provide adequate compensation or destroy their end of the contract and to throw away my work like a tool I am unable to stray away from the job at hand. I do deeply apologize."
No sense of malice or ill will was in the robot's voice but merely an explanation of it's own programming and the strong rigidity thereof. Shard turned it's sensor laden head to the glowy at it's rather uncouth and unempathetic statement at the captain who saved their asses a few times already in a small bout of disappointment.
"Are there any leads as to her location at the End of the Line so we can get a move on? I do not believe we will be the only ones looking as well."
“Wow.”
Mernis commented, leaving a brief pause of silence to sink in as he placed his hands together infront of his face and paced back and forth for a moment.
“That IS a lot of information to sink in.” The Teliran looked back at Tazi, a fragile stare upon his face, “I- I just can’t believe an old business friend like Quin would cooperate with people that dangerous…”
Taking a brief moment to compose himself from what looked like a shock to himself. The shaken mercenary stammered, moved by Tazi’s drive to protect her sister, “We… W-we must get this girl before they do, it’s absolutely essential. We’ll make sure she ends up in the right hands, Miss Tazi. As for our contract…”
He shot a side glance at Shard,
“...Well, things have changed. We’ll just have to come terms with the fact that our sense of honor and integrity is more important than petty, selfish emotions.”
Paskin shifted his weight to the other foot as he opened his thigh pouch, reaching in and retrieving the small organic map device he had retrieved from the mercenaries. He held it in his hand for a half-second before looking up to Tazi. "Way I see it, I've already come this far and there's no sport in dropping out now. Hell I might even get to take another stab at those Panopticons."
The echo approached Tazi, placing the object into her hand and using another to close her fingers around it. "We will carve a path to your sister, and woe be to those who cross our path." “Yes. Daina” Tazi sighed as Meyhna said her name. She smiled as both Menhya and Zeno made it quite clear they would help her despite the original situation. For Shard however Tazis body language changed to somewhat more on edge.
“I severely doubt HT.Co ever intended to pay you Shard, given how the Panopticon operates and given how high class this job was my best guess is that they would get you to find her without risking their own assets which no doubt are already busy. Then when they collect her, I am certain they would terminate each of you too, tie loose ends and ensure the knowledge of them looking for the original 20 would stay hidden. I know you have your programming, but their mission is way beyond that I am afraid.” She tried to let that sink in “As for leads, yes I know where to find her or at least where she was” As Mernis began to speak Tazi was not entirely convinced by his demeanour but she replied anyway.
“I appreciate the sentiment. However, if It is a contract you need, I will pay you to help me. Double what HT.Co promised you. I don’t have much, but I can promise what I have left” The crew looked somewhat uneasy about that statement, however. As Paskin stepped forward to announce his help though Tazi smiled, looking down to the object in his hands she eyed it over "I am going to guess you got this from the men..." activating it Tazi nodded to Paskin "Extremely helpful, this should help us not only find Daina easier but also watch out if the Panopticon should come for us"(edited)
“I am sure you will be fighting them a second time. No doubt they will be close by to where they expected us to be going. I last left her with several friends who run a medical joint deep on the station, we should start looking there if anywhere”
Outside the ship the strange empty darkness of the tunnels engulfed them as the Fever Dream made its way further in, the helmsman steering them clear of any tunnels with lights in them. Finally, they reached the exit of the Threshold, a pocket in which the unmistakable golden hue of the Expanse appeared. Numerous ships went back and forth around what seemed to be a entrance into the Expanse, small but akin to the Aedlshaven corridor. Defence platforms and waiting warships scanned the space, all compiled of ship classes from all over the place. As they approached the crew sent off their ID, signalling an acknowledged remark from the silent but deadly form of a heavily rebuilt Tenebrae battleship. As they came in further it became visible, first on sensors then to their eyes.
End of the Line.
It was massive of course, a space station constructed just inside the Expanse and absolutely swarming with ships. Here the last pirate houses came after their struggle tore Lost Star apart and they were forever banished. Here the lawless dregs of the galaxy came to do business.
“We have arrived.” Tazi spoke aloud.
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Post by EmperorMyric on Jun 8, 2021 10:22:44 GMT
“Perhaps we will take you up on that.” Mernis responded to the notion of a new payment, cocking a brow. The indication of the group’s impending arrival resulted in the Teliran turning and gesturing the way back to the loading bay of the ship. Onoro went to check himself over. Had he known he was going to go on a journey halfway across the galaxy into open conflict with an army of shadow ghost-people, he would’ve reconsidered the contract. Especially considering that the reward was now null and void, with the exception of a dubious reassurance of compensation and a pat on the back. That is, if he was lucky enough not to die.
“It might be better for you to hang back, Miss Tazi. Discretion will likely be essential here, ‘n’ I suspect your face will be much more recognizable in this place for anyone searchin’ for us… Especially should we be movin’ as a group.” The Teliran stopped, looking at the team, “...We don’t exactly blend in together as it is, do we? It’d probs be better if we’d split up and make our way to this medical center separately… Even better for you to make sure this ship isn’t lost the moment we set off.”
The Teliran continued, withdrawing his revolver and eyeing up Shard, “-Ya capable of lying?”
"I've got something for this part that wasn't in my car, at least," Zeno said, nodding. "It's best if I tried to slip in myself and run into you later. Now, I'm going to ask you in advance not to laugh if you spot me - I've got this disguise and it's going to look stupid, but you know what they say about something that looks stupid, but works. Dignity in these kinds of ops is an optional extra." He then thought about how he was alone for most of the Lost Star excursions, chose his words carefully...and then disregarded them to amuse himself. "Guess you'd know that better than I."
"Counterpoint is acknowledged. Contract is too risky to be considered anywhere near legitimate and the survival of the self is immensely important. New contract is accepted on my part."
Shard replied back to Tazi as the AI contemplated with itself on whether or not to throw away the old contract for this new, more lucrative one. Seeing and fighting the panopticon themselves, the very same people that organized this whole arrangement of chaos were not going to pay up now or never. At least accepting this new contract would result in some monetary compensation, or at worst a ride back to Lost Star, rather than being left behind in this lawless hellhole.
Mernis was acting rather.... odd prior to the new contract, for what reasons Shard did not know why.
The robot moved to face Mernis when asked with this new query and responded with an absolute deadpan confidence of lies. "I do believe that the Lost Star is the least important place in the galaxy, the galaxy is made of lubricants, and that Mernis has never acted once in a suspicious manner. Yes, I am fully capable of lying when it does not object to current contractual obligations."
"I don't need doubled money lady, I just wanted money for a flight home anyway." Meyhna muttered, continuing to chew. "Any guns you don't mind us--heh--borrowing would be appreciated though. Even if the locals don't give two fucks about us, I doubt our mutual friends the Pannies are gonna let us track down your sister and leave." she added with a shrug, looking up.
"Speaking of, aside from the obvious answer of 'pirates and vagabonds', what sort can we expect there? Any dimwits gonna start a fight as soon as we're off the boarding ramp? Anything else hazardous?"
Tazi stood with the group in the, now extremely deformed, half melted, and blackened cargo hold ready for the ramp to drop as they came in to dock fully. Mernis idea was a sound one, Tazi was known in these parts and given their encounters it would make sense to stay low.
“I agree, I will keep the ship locked down, my contact I am here to see will likely come to me anyway.” She grinned at Zeno.
“I am sure whatever your dignity stripping disguise is it will surely work here, until you see some of the individuals walking around you will understand what I mean” There was a large jolt as the Fever Dream finally came in to dock. Tazi had allowed the team to go through the ship’s armoury and stock up on whatever weapons and ammo they needed for this venture, EOTL was a nightmare and Tazi was sure to emphasise that as Meyhna asked her question.
“Expect anything and everything, this place is lawless so I can’t tell you what may happen or who you may encounter. But keep your weapons close and your wits closer, this place never has the same surprises twice” With a groaning noise the hanger door which had been reattached and repaired albeit still looking half melted and bent out of shape finally opened, getting stuck part way through several times to reveal a bustling and diverse dockyard.
“I wish you the best of luck, the clinic is not too far, just out of this dock and through the barter level. Please find Daina, I can’t thank you enough” Tazi then turned to step back into the ship as the group was left to go out into the chaos of End of the Line.
The dockyard was packed, all sorts of races went to and fro and the atmosphere stank of sweat and engine exhaust gases. Most carried crates or cargo around and occasionally a group of more ‘important’ individuals would push their way through the crowd, threatening with guns drawn. Ships of all sizes were stacked to their side and above as well as below as the mostly stolen and plundered goods went back and forth. Beyond the docks was the barter level, where most of it was bought and sold and which was almost perpetually crowded beyond capacity in nonstop auctions that lasted for days. Nobody gave the party much heed, although the occasional angry or annoyed looks came from those who had to move out of the way from some of them.
Paskin contemplated cloaking himself, removing any prying eyes from his wargear, but decided that an perhaps the sight of an Echo might just be the kind of deterrent he was seeking. His hands rested on the hilts of his sheathed blades, carrying the rifle barrel down in his dominant hands, as they exited the ship. His armoured,clawed boots making little noise over the clamour of the dockyard as he ventured out. Paskin kept a close eye on Tazi, pressing through the crowds towards their desired destination, while at the same time, scanning the faces of those around him for signs of out-of-place recognition.
Shard counted itself lucky that it lacked any smell receptors, this place for certain looked and sounded like the worst possible den of thieves and all of the decadent horrors of the galaxy thrown off into a rock to fester together. The machine had an all too familiar toolbox slung over its back along with a rifle and some ammunition taken from some dead boarders. He made a small mental note to keep better track of his weapons.
As Shard made its way through this wretched hive alongside Paskin and the others it did not really seem to yield much in the way of being pushed around, fitting for a walking pile of metal. One small thing did come to Shard's processor, at least the cut throat nature was up front.
"We shouldn't be too far. Do we still have some eyes on where our friend is heading?" The machine said out loud to the group, careful not to name names or other important information .
If the group wanted to look for Zeno, they'd have had no luck, but there was a strange figure slipping in and out of the bustle, staying away from groups - any groups - with equal, stoic detachment.
It, or maybe he if just by any lack of obvious female visual cues, was a tall, emaciated figure wrapped in cloth and bandages, looking like a wasteland wanderer or just someone who had trouble shopping off the rack, walking with a gentle, swaying, weightless look. Perhaps he was just slow, deliberate and graceful, maybe he was possessed of some of any number of supernatural or metaphysical forces. All that was clear was that this long, lanky fellow was slowly trekking in the group's direction. One or two might guess this was Zeno, but if anyone wanted to look for themselves, well, this was certainly no Okekolu walking about.
Mernis’ stature, nature and apparel made him fight right into the scenery as he paced quickly through the crowds. His fluid squeezes and shimmies around every obstacle and person made his liquid movements almost seem too natural as the mercenary went without barging through anyone. Always keeping his eyes trained ahead and never looking to his companions, the Teliran kept beside the party, but occasionally changing position to give the impression that he was just conveniently walking in the same direction as these ‘strangers’. It felt convenient that the fairy had shifted off ahead; melting into the crowds, it gave him a chance to confront the others.
“I want to make sure you all know that the HT. contract is not yet terminated. It is still in place.” The Teliran muttered, “If you think that woman can afford double what HT could provide us, then you better rethink the situation. Once we get the girl and lovingly reunite her with that broad, she’ll give us a warm thank you. She’ll reveal she doesn’t really have that kinda money and just promised it to get us to go along with it, she’ll give a token sum to compensate saying ‘it’s all we have’, then fly off in her little spaceship with two biological superweapons now onboard instead of one.” Onoro never once turned his eyes, still looking straight ahead as though he weren’t even speaking to them.
“If we can get that girl, we tell her Tazi sent us to rescue her, and get her on some willing narcotics freighter, we can get her to Natar. I’ll then let the alcoholic bioweapon know we had some ‘complications’ and we’ll hand her over to her on Natar. We’ll then meet with some HT.Co guys I know down planetside. We don’t reveal the full details of the situation to ‘em, cash in our chips and walk away cash in hand and stress free of having to deal directly with the panopticunts or whatever the fuck their name was. We get the contract done. Money in the pockets. The psycho fire-woman gets her own chance to get her freaky sister back from HT.Co too. Everyone gets what they want, capiche?”
Meyhna didn't try so hard to weave through or so openly keep her head down, strolling along like nothing was out of the ordinary. Still, she knew Artificia weren't very heavy and kept near the others, allowing them to pave the way, so to speak. Her expression soured some as she registered Mernis' words. There was a soundness to his logic, Meyhna made no doubt of that. In all likelihood, Tazi didn't have twice what HT.Co offered, let alone that for all of them. She didn't recall if it was discussed that she'd bring them back out of End Of The Line either. Meyhna didn't much like the idea of being stranded here. Still, Meyhna didn't particularly care that much for the money side of things. Sure, like anything else she wasn't getting any younger, but she functionally wasn't getting any older either. Money would come in time.
"Ah yes, Natar." she grunted, apathy in her voice. "The most unclear destination on Ancnet. Lovely beaches, sprawling cities, alarmingly rushed expansionist development and reports of almost every species that's ever set foot there being eaten for some rich noble's exotic dinner. You'll forgive me if I don't much trust that place any more than I do this one. What's so say you won't screw us over as soon as we're on your home turf?" she frowned a little. "You'd have nothing to lose."
As the group got closer and closer to their destination the stalls of the market and barter areas were jam packed. People called out for new deals of stolen goods while crowds bayed to get their hands-on new technologies or plunder, with civilian containers being craned in and crowbarred open to find out and sell what’s inside. Many even sold these containers whole, mystery purchases where the bidding winner found out what was inside. Both the disguised form of Zeno and Shard went past one of these open auction areas selling ‘surprise’ containers only to hear automatic gunfire when the individual found out it was just filled to the brim with newly printed Mai Mai pamphlets. The sudden gunfight that ensued was excellent cover for the two to slip forward some more.
Another individual tried to stop Paskin in his tracks, the trader attempting to sell him some new armour that had just come onto the market.
“I swear! The PX-2000 is the best Vaanitas armour system they made before the war, I had to smuggle that thing out of the Cricaen blockade! 40,000 credits and its yours my friend! No? 20,000 it’s the deal of the century!” He danced and desperately tried to grab the Echoes attention before looking defeated and storming off for someone else.
As for Meyhna and Mernis the two saw the clinic front first. It wasn’t exactly big, a small two story apartment size place with a dirty medical clinic sign which had obviously been stolen from somewhere else and bolted onto the front. Still it was the fact that two men appeared to be stood outside watching the crowds move about that gave away something was wrong. Just up ahead they could spot Tazi, taking semi shelter behind a market front while eyeing the men. They didn’t exactly look Panopticon but then you didn’t really find out until they shot you with mind powers.
“We have trouble” Tazi said over a different channel than the one that Mernis had used to the party “Paskin do you still have that device? Its worth checking to see if these guys are psions” The moment she had asked there was a wave of feeling, like a bow wave of emotion that seemed to emanate outwards from the clinic, the emotional feeling was anger, and it was obvious that the crowd felt it too as people seemed to take a second to feel strange as the wave moved outwards.
Almost immediately the two men stood outside rushed indoors.
Zeno pulled some of his wraps a little lower towards his brow as he leaned forward and sped up. That shooting was an annoying, unwanted preview of what was to come when they had to get their mark out of the station. He just kept going straight, eyes darting left and right as he tried to check on everyone else's status without giving himself away. He searched with more urgency for the clinic. He thought, 'if I was hiding a super-psionic, where would I do it? How would I do it? Would there be any dead giveaways...'
Minutes later, the clinic answered with a wave of emotion washing over everyone, intangible but very visible. It weakened as it traveled, but he could see a crowd in the distance reacting like they all smelled the same fart. That was either one place he wanted to avoid, or somewhere he had to be nearer to yesterday.
He picked the latter, picking up the pace and making it look like he was just trying to flee a shootout.
For Shard the shootout provided more or less everything he needed to know about this place, an absolute den of cutthroats ad brigands who wanted nothing more than a lawless den to sell of goods and do whatever they want where ever they want. A stray bullet hits Shard at a very wide angle and ricochets off into the ground, the machine ignores it for the most part and kept up with Zeno in this mess of a station.
Up ahead Shard spotted a familiar face, Tazi. She was not supposed to be here, and even to the AI it did not feel 'right' with its self programmed feeling of morality. Shard kept in mind tazi's mention of the Clinic as and her incoming radio transmission as it picked up the pace with Cupric. The machine spoke out to Zeno with what seemed to be a small bit of confusion.
"I thought Tazi went back to the ship. How did she get here before us, this is not right."
Zeno clenched his teeth and he practically bristled under his wrappings - Shard could possibly see it for a moment, like his whole soul was taking a breath and holding it. "She should've said something!" he hissed under his breath. "Things don't feel right. I'm sensing some dangerous vibes. I'm not psychic but my magic attunement's still picking up something. Look, I'm expecting this to get loud. Can I ask you to take point while I try to pull Tazi back if and when things snowball?"
Paskin pressed onward past the annoyance of the crowd, pulling out the bio-device to check the status of the guards just as the men turned to get inside. The Echo gritted his teeth as the wave pulsed outwards from the building; while his biology resisted the wash of emotional energy, He could not help but curse the situation unfolding around them. At this rate, he didn't care where they brought this psion-woman, just so long as they all got out alive.
He took cover behind a nearby stall, opening up the flower-like petals as the psionic device went to work. "Give me a moment, I am sure all will be clear soon enough."
Meyhna, meanwhile, didn't pause. They were here for this girl, and consequences be damned she wasn't about to hover about outside. Hand on the grip of her shotgun, Meyhna advanced for the Clinic entrance, frowning. She didn't feel the psionic aura--Artificia tended not to--but she wasn't oblivious to everyone else reacting to it, nor the two men outside rushing in. That wasn't a good sign if this is where the girl she wanted was here, and she was just about done with outsiders--Panopticon or no--getting in her way.
"You lot can fuck about all you want, I'm gonna see what the fuck is up!" she called into their comm, rushing to reach the clinic entrance.
“I also had the opportunity for you all to be killed when Quin’ assaulted the broad’s ship, instead I staked my reputation on getting you sods out alive. So perhaps a bit of trust is in order, yeah?” Mernis seemed unmoved by the group’s hesitancy towards his plan, especially as their attention was drawn to more present matters. The Teliran squinted and looked to Shard as he noted Tazi’s peculiar presence, muttering,
“That’s because she DID agree to stay on the ship. What the hell does she think she’s playing at…?”
Stuffing his hand into the interior of his coat, across his chest to grip onto his concealed revolver, the Teliran growled, made slightly uncomfortable by the rapidly deteriorating social atmosphere around them as he began to quickwalk towards the building and attempted to peer through the doorway.
As Meyhna stormed towards the clinic Paskins device, which had been handed back by Tazi to help them get around any potential Panopticon interlopers revealed all. Tazi was nowhere nearby, at least her reading that the device had shown before was gone, nowhere to be found nearby. It appeared she WAS back on the ship after all.
However, 5 signatures did pop up on the device, four with a particularly rotten appearance which looked like they were unhealthy or even dying and one which shone like a bright light, that had to be Eleven, Daina. The four others seemed to be surrounding her.
As soon as the group had mentioned over their radios that Tazi should not be there a voice which sounded very close to Tazis responded, clearly panicked.
“My sister sent you! I am sorry I would have eased you into this but I am made to be a communications node, that’s what they trained me for, I cant fend them off please hurry I feel your conflicted thoughts and wants, you stand out like beacons” The voice was clearly Dainas, although how she could use her psionics to casually talk through the radio was another matter entirely. Still Meyhna went first, the door to the clinic was open and inside was already a mess. Shelves stacked with a completely hodge podge selection of medical supplies had been thrown around and were all over the floor, what appeared to be the shopkeeper was dead on the floor, blood streaming from his eyes, mouth, nose and ears, he looked to have died a painful death.
Daina stood with her back to the wall, the assailants having cut her off from fleeing upstairs. She was easy to pick out, her bald head covered in various plugs and cybernetics as she held out her arms to almost push back the four trying to get to her. At this close range every exertion and grunt she made the radios and other communicators seemed to echo it.
Still the assailants were each dressed in brown trench coats, wearing large hats and with no guns. Their skin and faces were deathly pale and almost seemed like they were clones in appearance. Three forced Daina back with their hands almost held together in prayer while the fourth stepped forward with a crown line object, the same that Tazi had been transporting and that Quinlan had stolen back, at its center a purple glowing pearl pulsed softly, getting more vigorous as it came closer to Daina.
Zeno realized what it was he was looking at, and something in him snicked into gear. He was playing in the major leagues, and the scope of his case had changed. Dropping - no, hurling - his drive, he blew out of his disguise, shedding it as ribbons of cloth as he spread his wings and flew inside. Projections of that kind of fidelity and power, delivered at that kind of range, were rare. Really rare. He couldn't afford subtlety anymore as the angry buzzing of his own wings filled his ears while he picked up speed, soul limbs splayed out and ready to reach out and hit somebidy, less like an Okekolu and more like one of his cars. His Rattler at the ready and his target in sight, he was ready for a direct assault and scanned for his first target. Whoever was closest would eat a fist in short order, two if he was pissed off enough.
Mernis practically ducked aside as the figure of Zeno whooshed by, forcing him to jolt aside and grab onto his hat as it fluttered about. Returning to his upright stance, the Teliran looked back and scanned the outside environment; searching for any potential additional dangers or reinforcements with an alarmed look as he backed towards the doorway of the house. Bringing his revolver from his overcoat, the Teliran called in over the comms,
“I’ll keep the exit covered! The rest of you give flyboy and glowstick a hand! I reckon you’re the least vulnerable to these psionic sorts, tumbledryer.” The Teliran grunted. Why did he get the feeling he was going to come out of this bruised and injured again?
"Noted."
This has to be the time for action, to take charge and bring about change. This was there target, what they spent so long and so hard getting to, even if the contract was a wash, at least getting off here safely would be preferable.
Shard took the rotary saw out of its case and began a steady sprint to the open door and into the veritable fire. Daina was just inside, and with four undesirable looking figures that were without a doubt hostile, and dead set on stopping them. The machine lunged into the clinic alongside Zeno with a short and fast slice with the saw towards the one trying to put the crown on Daina.
Paskin moved from the crowd with unnatural speed, stowing the device as he simultaneously drew his own weapons. He watched as his companions covered the main entrance, Meyhna rushing forward, while the winged Zeno soared past overhead. Paskin scanned the upper floors of the building, looking for an advantageous entry point to enter to avoid the inevitable choke point of the front door.
Skirting around the side of the building, Paskin deployed a wrist mounted grappling device. With an almost whip like maneuver, the metallic hook embedded itself, even as Paskin began clambering up the side, using his clawed boots to gain better traction. The barred window of choice stood little chance against the empowered slash of one of his sabers, allowing the assassin to move inside.
"I've cut off their retreat, press the advantage!", Paskin growled into his macrys unit, moving for the stairwell.
Meyhna didn't have the greatest understanding of psionic crap. It didn't concern, largely didn't affect and was entirely inaccessible to the Artificia, so they typically didn't bother to learn about it. 'Weird mind tricks' was a pretty significant chunk of what she did know. What she also knew was a bunch of creepy guys with an identical fashion sense were between her and the girl she was after. And Meyhna wasn't particularly in the mood to play nice.
The orange Artificia dropped low, swinging one of her shotguns up and resting it against her other arm. "Hey dickheads! Try this one on for size!" she yelled, four slugs leaving the gun in four heavy, thudding blasts, one aimed for each of the strangers.
As the group practically stormed the clinic the assailants as one turned to look at the new arrivals, their heads swivelling entirely to stare at the group. The eyes of the beings were black, pure black. Darker than anything natural and it became apparent why Daina was struggling so much to keep them back, they were Nulls. Some kind of Panopticon weapon using anti mandalas and living people they responded at once, drawing a mix of firearms and phase chakrams that the troopers had used before.
The first one to engage was the one which had held whatever device they wanted to put on Daina, the thing was hit squarely in the face as Zeno made his lunge with his soul limbs. The force surprised the creature, knocking it to the floor and dropping the device it seemed to convulse before rapidly rising to its feet, attempting to rather inaccurately fire several shots towards the Little Lighter who was already a hard to hit target. He almost took an accurate shot but the form of Shard charging into the clinic with the saw sliced towards, cutting the things arm off at the shoulder and forcing it back, black, and tainted blood bubbling and spraying from the stump. The creature did not flinch this time, reaching with its one remaining arm to pull a second pistol from inside its coat.
The sound of shattered glass could be heard upstairs as Paskin secured the top floor, numerous medical beds were laid out, most were empty, but a couple seemed to have residents. However, all were dead, their forms seemed to have been aged as if the very life force of the individuals had been sucked out of them, their twisted faces left in pained screams. Still there were no enemies upstairs and with him there they could not escape through this route, the stairs just ahead led down to where the battle was already taking place, the sound of gunshots indicating the others were engaged with the threat.
With the sudden burst of action Mehynas shots rung out clear, one hitting one of the creatures squarely in the chest as black gunk was splattered across the wall. These were not normal people turned into Nulls, they were almost genetically engineered weapons meant for the task. The thing staggered back from the impact causing Daina to step forward and scream with pain but laced with anger she pushed his palm forward and the things head also disappeared into a spray of black blood. The others however were moving, the one having lost an arm took the shot to the shoulder, blowing a chunk out of it but not stopping it from reaching the second pistol. The other two had dodged to each side, taking quick cover to be obscured behind the shelves as one opened fire on Shard with its large revolver, the second charging Mehyna herself and aiming to slice at her weapon with its phase chakram.
Mernis was not having an easy time either, while the group engaged the enemies inside the sudden uproar now occurring within the Clinic had attracted attention. A small crowd had gathered, and several large burly individuals had come forward looking angry.
“Hey what the fuck is going on! Where is Bennis? He never allows firefights in his clinic! Did you fucking come to hit him? If so I’m gonna tear your grey asshole open!”
Even as Shard was an inorganic AI, the tanges of its sentience felt strange around these soldiers holding Daina hostage. It pondered the meaning of this, no exact reason could be put on it, no exact cause or affect for it, nothing about it felt right.
Current goals: -Assailant is disarmed, literally -ditch saw -destroy left arm
-Overarching goal: -rescue Daina
Orders and thoughts flew through the robots processor as it engaged in combat like a flash, the saw was ditched on the ground after it severed the arm and would take too long to ready again. It's left arm darted torwards the pistol in the soldiers hand with the intent of crushing it and Shard drew its own pistol while on the ground in this grapple to take a shot at the null holding the crown.
Zeno saw the other creatures taking cover, and started darting back and forth to try to grab some cover of his own. His soul limbs fused with the Rattler like they did aboard the Fever Dream, but instead of electricity, they suffused into its frame as thin strands like spider's silk, growing thinner and thinner as he loaded them up. Then, when he let them loose, there was a singing sound and a look like something was cutting the air apart. Strands of light that went as fast as bullets were trying to slice cover away bit by bit, nibble by nibble, and Zeno concentrated to keep shots from overpenetrating and generating collateral. That need to do damage to the target and nothing but was something that never left him as a cop.
Paskin leapt to the top of the stairs, weapons at the ready. His keen eyesight immediately was on both the hostage and the device now laying at their feet.
He fired off another barbed grappling wire from his wrist, aiming for the crown in order to pull it out of arms reach of the nulls.
From atop the stairs, he began firing down at the nulls, placing shots at possible weak points: shoulders, elbows, knees, in order to do the most possible maiming without hitting Daina.
Meyhna swore as one rushed her, diving to evade and sending a small medical cart crashing over. Still, she hissed as, rising to her feet, she saw a fresh slice in the material of her spacesuit, the fizzling glow of sealing hardlight skin underneath. At the very least, he wasnt stood between her and Daina. "Hey, dickhead!" she growled, twirling and levelling both shotguns. "This suit wasn't cheap!"
Meyhna held both triggers down, shotguns blazing.
The sounds of commotion from within the building left Mernis half-minded about what was going on around him. He continued to peer around the doorway to try and grasp what was going on inside. This quickly changed, however, when it became impossible to ignore the crowd gathering. This wasn’t the sort of place for harmless bystanders; these people were dangers.
“We’re not after Benis or whatever the fuck you called him, we’re after some bitch that a bunch of people just raided that place to kill or somethin’, now you’ll back off if you know what’s fucking good for you.” Onoro bluntly replied, his eyes locking onto the ringleader of the approaching figures, undeterred nor visibly moved by their imposing threats.
Paskins grapple flicked out from the top of the stairs and one of its hooks snapped around the strange crown, instantly retracting and making it fly up the stairs into the Echoes hand. Now having flanked from the stairs one of the two Nulls taking cover turned to try and engage but it was too late, three of Paskins shots impacted both its chest and leg blowing sections out as it tried to bring two pistols to bear. It flinched and went down to one knee trying to aim again before a singing noise sliced through the medical shelve and took the things head clean off, more tainted blood covering the tiled floor. Another one down by Paskin and Zeno. Sensing an opportunity and with the Nulls now very much on the back foot Daina rushed for the stairs, approaching Paskin and clearly seeking some kind of support should they try rush her again.
“Keep that thing away from me, and whatever you do don’t let it be placed on your head!” She shouted to Paskin.
The attacked going to Shard stalled as the machine grabbed the pistol, cracking it and rendering it useless. However the Null was surprisingly strong, forcing the robots very much powerful arm strength to a standstill, the thing trying to strike at Shards optics before the robot put a round straight through the Nulls throat, blasting it across the store and causing it to gurgle blood as the thing staggered and fell. The other having tried to slice up Mehyna went to strike again, aiming for the Artificias centre mass before taking a shot from Zenos abilities, causing it to stagger it was all that was needed for Mehyna to unload into it. Shots blasted the things chest out, letting it stumble forward to the floor in a dead mess.
Whatever these Nulls were designed for, it clearly wasn’t predominantly combat.
“A raid? You are telling me someone else killed Bennis?” The crowd stepped slightly closer despite Onoros reply and looks. They seemed like pirates, and the blazing symbol of End of the Line told Mernis all he needed to know.
“Thank you, thank you! Daina said aloud as the ringing of gunfire and smoke began to clear. The shouting from outside now becoming very much audible now that shells were no longer flying “Here wait, let me help” Daina moved to the entrance, over the now rapidly decomposing forms of the Nulls and stood next to Mernis. Closing her eyes, the crowd seemed to halt in its tracks before they all nodded to themselves and Mernis.
“Alright what you say is true, don’t be so brash next time” One called over to Mernis, as if the Teliran had said something. The gathering began to slowly disperse.
Paskin glanced down at the crown-device, turning it once over in his hands before storing it away beneath his robes. His attention turned to Daina as she moved for the entrance, at which Paskin, almost out of habit, fell into line behind her as she made her way outside. The Echo scanned for any other hostiles that may have been drawn by the firefight, his upper hands still clutching the modified rifle, while his lower remained hidden within his cloak.
He spoke quietly to Diana, keeping his voice low enough not to carry to listening ears. "Your sister is waiting on the ship, I suggest we get moving before our presents here draws more attention."
Zeno saw the Nulls all falling before the group's combined fire as he peeked out back and forth, finally hearing the commotion in front of him stop, followed b the commotion farther away. He hefted his Rattler up as his soul limbs flowed from his weapon, and panels on it flew open as hot air purged itself from the war wand's body with a hiss and the visible rippling of the heat.
He fluttered over as the Rattler's panels snapped back shut. "My fellow here is right. We need to get moving before anybody else gets any funny ideas about what's going down here." Those InterSECT instincts kicked in as he kept speaking. looked at the Nulls as they decomposed in front of his eyes, looked at the device and cast more magic. Out came his little notebook, and drawings and text obligingly wrote themselves in those same pretty, unbroken black lines. As they prepared to make their exit, he was flying backwards, scribbling down notes and then putting his book away.
The last case was how you prepared for the next case. You only pat yourself on the back when the case had finally closed, when all the branches were run and all the loose ends were tied up.
This was what it meant to be InterSECT.
This was surprising, the raw strength of this Null fighting back was a small shock for Shard. One of the thermal cameras on his sensor head got shattered with little concern from the blows. Shard manuevered a pistol in this close wrestle on the ground to get a shot off at the throat, covering the robot with the black blood just before getting both hands on the neck to finish the job in a crush.
Shard stood up with black blood splatters across its exterior and looked around the scene, they were done here.
"I don't think this will clean nicely."
He picked up the saw and began to walk with the others out of the warzone of a clinic. They had done it, Daina was not saved and no longer the Panopticons. Shard took a good look up and down their saved suspect.
"I agree with the rest, we need to leave."
The Teliran had been about ready to begin firing lead into the crowd when the party emerged from the clinic and deescalated the situation. Mernis put away his revolver; peering over to Daina before commenting,
“I assume she’s the target. Let’s get out of here and do the job we’ve signed on to do.”
Mernis seemed to scowl a little at Paskin informing the target of her sister’s presence, simply growling out a jab, “You aren’t a very good contractor, are you?”
Shifting his attention back to the girl, Onoro grumbled and raised a brow as he closed the distance to her. With a curled smile, Mernis assured, “Don’t worry Ma’am, we’ll get you to where you need to be in one piece. I’ll make sure of it.”
With that, the Teliran turned and gestured for the group to follow as he set off back to the ship at a brisk pace through the crowds.
"Fuucking hells bells." Meyhna grunted, dropping the spent magazine from her shotgun, brushing some blood off her suit and mumbling to herself as she observed the rent cut in the suits fabric and the orange light spilling out from inside, the light armour plating having done seemingly nothing to stop whatever the weapon it had was. "Dammit, what the hell were those guys?" she grumbled as she slapped new magazines in, taking a second to observe the situation. Well. That could've gone a lot worse, she supposed. The orange Artificia twirled her gun as she stuffed the other one away. "Yeah. Let's go everyone, dallying here will just draw more unwanted attention. Let's haul ass, get the girl somewhere quiet, as safe as we can, and unless someone here would like to follow Mr Plasma Cannon's example at Lost Star, keep your fucking eyes open for snipers." With that, Meyhna started after Mernis.
Daina nodded to Paskin “I agree, I can feel her presence it isn’t safe here” She wore pretty typical cloths, clearly associated with the medical facility she had been hiding in. However, the implants and augmentations done to her were also very much visible, poking from her skin around her neck and below her short cut hair. Dainas eyes showed brilliant shades of purple but her face looked haunted, like no matter what she was in pain. Her movements were careful and she did everything she could to stay away from what Paskin held. Still with the death of the Nulls she was visibly more comfortable, likely no longer tortured by their presence.
The crown itself was an interesting object, looking exactly like the one that had been aboard Tazis ship and in the crates, it was slightly different. Being thicker, more elaborately constructed and with a larger purple stone at the centre of its crest.
“I am sure you will, but please be careful there could be more. They will stop at absolutely nothing to get hold of me” Daina followed the group as they rapidly left the clinic and the scene of carnage behind, going back through the now dispersing crowd as she seemed to close her eyes for a bit. As if trying to use her powers. She spoke and walked without opening them as she answered Meyhna “Those were Handlers, Bio-engineered nulls designed to corner and capture Psions that they wish to be kept alive or contained. Normally they travel in larger packs however…” Come quicker.
The gang made its way back quickly through the chaotic streets and more, witnessing the bloody aftermath of the storage wars auction and the bodies left behind along with several large arguments going down over stolen gear buying in the markets. All throughout Daina kept her eyes closed, it appeared she was blanking their presence in the minds of those around them, allowing them to walk through the normally impossible chaos without being noticed. Eventually they made their way to the Fever Dream the ship still had its ramps and compartments open, but there was no sign of the crew or Tazi.
“Something doesn’t feel right” Daina said aloud finally opening her eyes “Was Tazi travelling with other Psions when you came here?”
Paskin's instincts kicked in as he aimed his rifle towards the vacant ship, moving to place himself in between Daina and the empty ramp. He expected there to be at least some form of guard ensuring their swift escape, and the lack of such a force set him on edge.
He kept an eye on their surroundings, scanning for concealed positions that would allow the most amount of cover to visual range. "Not to my knowledge..." Carefully drawing the organic device from its pouch, Paskin opened the petal-like device to see for himself.
Zeno stowed his little book and began manifesting soul arms again as he heard Paskin and Daina talk. "She didn't say anything about reinforcements, that's for sure. I don't want to make any wild assumptions, but I'd guess the guys who were keeping you actually thought about how they'd handle a breakout like this."
Then his eyes were drawn to Paskin eyeing the device, an eyebrow raised. "Got more tricks left? I'd better keep pulling my weight, if that's the case." he asked as he raised his new appendages and cautiously fluttered up alongside him. He was feeling out with faint signals that made him tingle a little, like the air felt electric to him. This technique, upping his own sense of touch's sensitivity to the air around him, would at least tell him if nearby people had either gone invisible somehow or were really disappeared. One way or another, he'd know shortly.
"Paskin, Zeno, Mernis. Do you reckon Quinlan left some of his men aboard that we don't know about or anything else?"
Shard walked with the others and still carried around the bloodied saw by its side, given the rest of the people in end of the line were no strangers to being armed. The empty hangar bay was strange, Tazi was supposed to be waiting for them... This was not right. Tazi was not what they seemed. Shard unholstered his handgun and walked forward up to Paskin.
"Did anyone else see Tazi out by the clinic earlier? Whoever has the radio try and reach her."
Shard looked up at the empty hangar.
"Tazi is a psion...... The fire from before..... Daina, is Tazi a psion?"
Zeno nodded to Shard, feeling the machine's presence as distinct tingles. "I'm not sure if that Quinlan fellow would have men that were capable of that. I'm sure they're professionals...they sure as shit chuck grenades like it...but they were about as stealthy as a Standing Gunner crashing through a drive-thru. You'd probably be able to see the smoke from the next pirate hangout over."
He smirked at Shard's next question. "Is Tazi a psion? Well, she wasn't packing a flamethrower to barbecue my Kalhayan with, I'll tell you that much. If I'll be able to salvage the engine block and maybe the transaxle, I'll be happy."
Mernis was quick to take a few steps back at Daina’s remark to the ship. As the rest of the party took to focusing their alert upon the ship, the Teliran instead kept his eyes half focused on Daina; he was more concerned with keeping her under a close watch. He certainly didn’t trust some creature with powers like hers, especially if she was unpredictable like her sister.
“Quin is a two-timer like any other man with wits ‘bout him. But I don’t think his mates have any strength like the girl is describin’.” Looking back to Daina, the mercenary stomped over towards her, his hat hiding the ill-intending look in his eyes..
“C’mon, we’ve got the girl. There’s no fuckin’ reason to go up against more trouble than we need to. I recommend we find some other ship to get the girl out of here. Tazi will find her own way out, she’s a strong gal… It’s in everyone’s best interests.” Capitalising on the opportunity, the Teliran went to grab at Daina’s arm as attempted to begin pulling her away in a feigned display of trying to help protect the girl.
"Not that I know of..." Meyhna muttered at the mention of psions. Granted, she wasn't very good at sensing that sort of business, but from what she knew they had a habit of showing themselves. Something about having mind beams made people have an inclination towards letting everyone know they have mind beams.
Her head turned to Mernis, not entirely wanting to just run off into the streets looking for some bargain bin ride. "Unless you forgot, Mernis, we're on a station packed to the teeth with pirates, brigands and vagabonds. Literally anyone else we go to for an exit could be paid off or sell us out of their own volition. Merry band of weirdos packing a girl with brain powers? What's the bet that's just some innocent business?" she gestured around at the docks. "Unless you'd like to let us all know you have some convenient contact who can safely and reliably get us all the fuck out of dodge, I'm a little unwilling to put too must trust in random unsavoury goodwill and I'd be surprised if you did. I don't know what's happened to the ship, but Tazi is the only contact we have with a personal stake in Daina's safety, and if that gets us a ride out of this shitshow then hey ho." with a growling grumble and a shake of head accompanied by a low 'Shit', Meyhna turned to the group. "Maybe we should try and get in touch with her. Maybe it's a bad idea, but right now everything feels like a bad idea."
The docking area around the ship which had been bustling with people had mostly cleared out, the odd individual gave the group a strange look as they went past, the individuals disagreeing over a myriad or things, still the empty ramp beckoned and no crew came out to meet them.
“Yes, my sister is a psion, she was lucky to escape the Panopticon when they came for her…” Daina remarked watching Paskin pull out the device, her eyes narrowed but she made no comment. The immediate surroundings showed the blue pulsing of Daina clear as day, but within the ship five such signals now pulsed back.
“She isn’t alone…” Dainas voice was low and shocked. Taking a step forward towards the ship she turned however as she felt Mernis arm grab hers, instinctively she pulled back somewhat but strength was not Dainas strong point.
“What are you doing? My sister is in there and if what you say is true, she is in danger! Let go of me! I don’t care if I’m some focus for your mission the only family I have left needs help!” She struggled to go, wishing to rush into the ship to help her sister if she was indeed in danger. The radio in turn was silent, Tazi was not picking up and calling the ship yielded no results either, the crew were not present it seemed to answer.
“My sister may be strong but if they have got to her it could be just as bad as if they got me!”
As the struggle continued and Daina became more agitated the radio finally crackled to life, it was not Tazi’s voice that came out, but a far more sinister and crackling tone.
”The girl wishes to be reunited. Let her, bring her onto the vessel and we can discuss payment I will make it worth your while”
Paskin turned to the group, his attention momentarily lingering on Mernis's grasp on Daina's arm. His heart quickened as he remembered the Teliran's intentions, fighting the urge to cast the coward aside to avoid dealing with him later. There wasn't time, not now; he was still technically hired by Tazi and her safety was paramount.
"We have five signals within the ship. Assuming Tazi is among them, we owe it to her to see to her rescue. Any of you that wish to cower outside may do so, but unless we face these new threats together they will pick us off one by one and none of us will walk away from this. I refuse to be prey for these fucks any longer, whose with me?"
"Seeing what we saw outside in this station, I doubt the safety of other forms of transit. As much as it may entertain you, going in guns blazing will only get us all killed."
Shard stepped forward up with Paskin, Tazi was their only safe way out of the End of the Line now, the machine knew it. They would simply be hunted down by the panopticon on whatever scrapper of an unknowing cargo ship they hired out, if there was even any money left behind by HT Corp for that.
The machine looked around for the radio and snatched it from whoever was holding it. That ship was a deathtrap, no other way around it. Using a human sounding voice the machine spoke into the radio to whoever was on the other end.
"Bring Tazi, yourself, and the others out into the hangar bay. I want to know what it is you are doing."
Mernis gave a glare to the Artificia before giving a short cackle to her comment about the station being filled with pirates and brigands, with a toothy grin the Teliran inquired, “I got us out of a raid from a pirate by ‘happening’ to be friends with him, what do you think I do for a living you daft LED?”
Onoro paused his departure with Daina as the voice came through the radio. Yet the onslaught of criticism didn’t stop as Mernis turned his face to the Echotian now, with the girl still squirming in his clutch. Listening to Paskin’s prep speech on taking a stand against the figures ahead and not abandoning Tazi; the Teliran simply commented with a smile, “...You don’t get contracted very often, do you?”
Now, with Shard insisting on a confrontation ontop of the rest, the mercenary finally gave a depleted sigh and gave up. Visibly frustrated, the mercenary turned around, Daina still in clutch, and came marching back.
“Fine. You guys want to go on some grandiose last standoff with the bigdick in there and save a completely irrelevant broad because ‘She’s the only way off the station’ -Which she definitely fucking isn’t? Then let’s go. Let’s all stage some heroic rescue so we can prance through Happy-Bunny Green together and live happily-ever-fucking-after.”
With his words becoming only more bitter towards the end, Mernis drew his revolver and began marching up the ramp to the awaiting maw of the cargo hold with Daina as he shouted back,
“Come on then! Follow me. We’re not fucking safer out here than we are in there, if what you guys think of this station is anything to fucking go by… Let’s all go meet the mysterious fucking voice!”
Meyhna's eyes narrowed, her lip curling some. "Sorry for having a semblance of a fucking conscience, you dead-eyed weasel." the Artificia muttered, loud enough for those near her to hear but quiet enough Mernis would likely only hear the fact she spoke at all. "Why the fuck would I think anything of this station beyond what it fucking is? If it was at all reputable why would it need to hide itself away in this nightmare pit of the galaxy?" she snarled back. She sighed, glancing to the others, thumbing at the safeties of her shotguns. "I don't want to be here any longer than I have to be. Unless anyone has any miraculous new ideas, let's go." she grumbled, starting for the ramp.
Daina moved with Mernis up the ramp so she didn’t trip over, still firmly within his grasp before she finally yanked her arm away from him and rubbed it for a moment, a clear frown on her face. Still the cargo bay was empty, no crew or the individuals in question were present and the radio in Shards hand crackled to life again.
”Oh no, we are quite firmly placed on the bridge, do not worry we will be waiting for you” The voice came again. It sounded somewhat inhuman and Daina shivered.
“Tazi is clearly in trouble” She mumbled as Paskin and Meyhna led the way through the ship’s internals, Mernis and Zeno staying next to Daina while Shard brought up the rear, sensors ever present looking for threats or ambushes. It was surprising however given that none of the crew were present, the ship was empty, and systems powered down to low levels. No voices could be heard and Daina seemed to be ever more on edge as they went up stairs and through corridors, eventually making it to the bridge.
The scene was not promising.
Tazi knelt on the floor in the centre of the bridge, hands bound, and skin covered with bruises and cuts. Her face looked up to the group entering, hope disappearing from her looks as if she had not wanted them to come here. Behind her stood four individuals. One directly behind Tazi had a revolver aimed directly at the back of the woman’s head while the rest held SMGs which were aimed at the group as they entered the room.
“Daina… No…” Tazi said aloud as the man behind pushed the pistol further into her skin.
”Quiet” the mans voice was the same one as on the radio. All four of the individuals wore combat clothing under long brown leather coats, the logo of the Panopticon just visible underneath, but it was their eyes that showed the true power. Golden strings seemed to flicker from them connecting each in a sort of inherent link. Each was a clear psion but their skin and faces were pale and looked as if in pain. As the group came in the man with the pistol brought out a crown like the one they had stopped from being put on Daina.
”Nice of you to join us. It appears you got to our charge before we could secure it. Impressive in all honesty your combined skills are quite handy, but this situation is far beyond you. I will ask a simple question, for an exchange. You hand the girl over, we will pay you handsomely and you can go on your way, even keep this ship if you choose. We have no quarrel with you, you’re here to do a job that’s admirable but we have a job too”
“You can’t take her you bastards I will never serve you again!” Daina shouted taking a step forward. The man held the crown up to make Daina cower.
”You were always a weapon and nothing more, its time for you to come home and fulfil your purpose”
“Daina, everyone you have to run…” Tazi managed, her face a tangled mess of swelling.
Zeno's face betrayed a flash of intense anger that was buried almost immediately by professional calm. A discerning eye would be able to see it was still there, in a fire in his eyes.
He had to play the long game. This led to a bigger case after all, against what looked like the Army of the Panopticon - he'd only known of one other group that bore those patches and looked like that, and they were amateurs who wore regular-ass sewing thread. He raised a hand and several soul limbs spread wide, wordlessly telling the others to hold on for a minute.
"One thing, before I decide what to do next. Was this whole contract your game?"
Paskin's hands readied to draw his pistols, flexing in anticipation like a old western gunslinger. His rifle was at the ready, having had it trained on the Panopticons as he entered the room. He thought for a moment as he studied them, laser-focused as his heart raced, adrenaline fueled blood pumping madly through his veins. It would be unwise for them to execute Tazi here and now, as it would rid them of their only leverage and swindle them of their temporary protection. This was a bluff; a desperate attempt to regain what had been lost. He was biding his time, waiting for the moment when it would be most useful, most opportune. Something would snap, and he would strike them down when the moment came.
He wouldn't let them walk out, not without a fight, but he held on just a moment longer. Paskin could taste the blood in the air; the anticipation of a violent confrontation was upon him. He would relish in their screams, in victory, or death.
Almost subconsciously, Paskin reached out to the feeling of Daina's presence next to him, hoping to reach some sort of communication like she had done to them prior. If you've got any tricks up your sleeve to distract them, we need only a moment.
The sight left Mernis visibly concerned. With his revolver constantly at the ready, he opted to say nothing among the hubbub from the others. Though after a few moments he grunted,
“Whatever you plan with her, i’m fulfilling that fucking contract.”
His words seemed determined, but any feeling that he expected to do anything here and now seemed hollow to say the least. He was well-aware that the group was wading out of their depths and into the deep-end since the stranger had warned him so long ago upon Lost Star. But now he understood just how small-fry they were. Even lowering his pistol a bit, the Teliran seemed to have resigned himself of any prospect of defeating whatever these things were.
Now this was a setup if anything, everything was simply rigged from the start. Though the real question is, why go through the whole contract simply to end up in the same place if they did nothing. Shard pondered this while looking down at the clearly tortured Tazi at the hands of the panopticon.
Everything about this situation was tense. The robot adjusted his grip on his handgun and tried to avoid making any sudden movements after they entered into the room. It was clear, once this stand off did end they needed to keep that crown away, tazi would likely die in the exchange.
Shard stood by waiting for Zeno to give his cue. Meyhna grumbled sourly, hands firmly on the grips of her shotguns, having not lowered them the entire time she had been aboard the ship. Any other place or time, and she might've agreed to that, the fate of Daina and Tazi of little concern to her. Unfortunately, they had picked a pretty crappy place to pull this stunt. Even if they kept their word and left them alone with the Fever Dream, they were now stuck on an empty ship with no crew to keep it running and no idea how to fly it back out of EotL. Yeah. Real sweet deal that was. Meyhna didn't like it one bit. Not to mention she took the attempts on their life a little too personally.
That left what to do here. There were several of them with guns raised, but the...team, she supposed, had some tricks up its sleeve. Daina was powerful, she guessed, though Tazi was seemingly out of the picture, but she was afraid of the weird crown the strangers had.
The question was, Meyhna thought to herself, was just how resistant was that crown to gunfire? "Yeah. What the little guy said. Seems like a whole lot of effort on the way here just to corner us here."
The man looked up towards Zeno, looking over the Little Lighter in a way that was like a machine reviewing a threat. There was a pause before he spoke.
”It was one of several contingencies to track down Eleven. We had honestly given up until we were tipped off, one of our associates. I believe you met earlier in your journey” The man seemed to turn to Mernis, his head twitching in a inhuman way.
”And would that be through handing her over hmm?” Tazi seemed to shift then as he replied to Meyhna ”You don’t understand her importance. We do not care about you, we care about our misplaced weapon”
“She is not a weapon!” Tazi shouted, the mans head flicking back down to her to force the pistol mouth further.
“Tazi no!” Daina was starting to whimper but despite the pain her sister continued.
“You remember that time as children, when we used to steal from the nobles… That trick you learned… You need to do it now, greater than ever Daina. You need to escape and get them out too”
”I said silence!” The Panopticon members seemed to ready their guns more as Zeno seemed to hold the que, the others readying their weapons. Daina shook her head as if she couldn’t do so.
“But… It ended badly with so many…”
“It doesn’t matter Daina! Do it now!” Tazi seemed to scream the last part, her flesh immediately began to glow as her skin started to blister. Heat spiking In the command bridge went up immediately as Tazi screamed in pain and rage, Daina was crying even as the mans pistol hand was reduced to a burning husk “NOW RUN! SURVIVE!” She screamed as her skin torched on her face and her hair caught fire. Even as the Panopticon soldiers tried to move out of the way of the now living flames they fired on the party, but Daina was already moving. Closing her eyes to the pain and suffering of her sister she did what they had tried to get her to do in training. Visualising a place in her mind she reached out to each in the group in turn, almost grabbing them with her minds eye.
Tears gushed down her face as she opened her eyes a brief moment, watching her sister sacrifice herself to escape. With one giant effort Daina closed her eyes and roared in pain. The flash of light was brief and in a moment the group would disappear.
Even as Tazi died and her own body cooked from her power she smiled with burnt lips as the group disappeared and the rounds fired hit the wall. One of the soldiers tried desperately to put the crown on top of Tazi but it was too late. With one final surge she laughed through ruined lungs as with a blinding flash of energy she detonated, the entire front of the Fever Dream disappearing into a roiling mass of superheated firestorm.
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