Post by ingen on Apr 13, 2023 15:53:42 GMT
Irenians/Imaginese - Chris
Khasar - Beef
Gracie - Ievpop
Teddy - Mando
Eliana - DM
Jor - Snowy
The “Prosperity” was what could only be regarded as a Spaceship that dripped in opulence. The private vessel of Jareth Vindice Newton Nimblus III, the exterior shine of its pearlescent white coat was matched by the sleek, modern interior. Roughly 500 metres in size from top to tail, it was fit for a small compliment of staff, private security, and piloting team, along with Jareth’s immediate circle and himself. Staff quarters were nothing in size compared to the suite that Jareth called his own, however. A bed that could sleep half a dozen venturing just off a self-care and spa room were all very fancy, but the real centrepiece was the formal dining room, which is where the collection of new hired individuals found themselves.
A large, polished, wooden table, with seating for a large gathering, or small banquet sat centrally in the room. The walls decorated with beautiful digital display screens, today showing an animated representation of a beautiful woodland scenes from the planet below, that the “Prosperity” now orbited. For it was here, circling the planet known as “Irena II” that our collection of individuals had been invited.
Each had been approached by a third party, purposely with the same message:
“Wealthy individual seeks your assistance in retrieving a family heirloom. Will pay VERY handsomely.” Along with the coordinates for the location of the “Prosperity”.
Each party had arrived within a few hours of each other, as had been the design, and had been directed after docking with the ship to the dining space, where they had sat in a relatively uncomfortable silence, although not for long. Once the final “invitee” had arrived, one of the guards who had been stood by the doors of the room ducked out, returning moments later, and announcing the arrival of the host; Jareth Vindice Newton Nimblus III.
The gentleman himself was older, but that did not take away from his stature. Bronzed skin almost glistened in the light, his greying hair greased back, his curling moustache and small goatee trimmed to perfection. He walked with a shining cane, which he put a little weight on as he walked. His clothing was immaculate. A fine, tailor jacket, comfortable, but certainly expensive. He walked into the centre of the table, taking up a chair that looked directly across at the invitees, as if they were about to take part in one big interview. As he sat, a servant, a short young woman with a blue sheen to her skin, poured a gorgeously dark red wine into a glass.
“Please Kaso, bring some of the ’53 for our guests…” gesturing across to the invitees. His voice a deep rugged tone.
He took a sip from his cup, before placing it down and looking directly at the party:
“Well, what a collection we have here. I was told you’d be interesting, and my my, they were right weren’t they? Well…you were intrigued enough to accept the invitation, so please let me tell you more of our…predicament.” He paused, choosing to take another sip in the gap.
“The Nimblus family has been a part of society on Irena II for hundreds of years. There’s a reason for this. We OWN Irena. The mines, the ship yards, we own it…or we did. We’ve long been at loggerheads with the authorities down there…they are so caught up in their “democracy” that they forget their place, and don’t understand how important it is to have a family like ours around to keep things going. I wont bore you now going on about the inner workings of our politics, but needlessly to say this time their “revolution” has made it…impossible for me to stay. The “Radicals” have taken over. They’re invited the “Socialist Republic of Imaginarium” in to help administrate, and I’ve read my history…these types of revolutions end with people like me being lined up against a wall.”
Pausing, he looks around at the individuals…
“The job is straight forward. I have withdrawn as much wealth as I can and do not intend on stepping foot on the planet again. In my rush to leave however I have left…something…at my estate. Forgive me, but I wont go into the details until you are there, just in case the authorities intercept you…I can’t have them knowing about…it. You will be rewarded greatly mind…”
He pauses again.
“Oh my…my manners. I am so very sorry, I haven’t even given you the opportunities to introduce yourselves. You will soon be working together soon after all…please, let’s go around the table…”
He looks again to the party, as Kaso begins filling the cups of the guests...
Sitting down with her feet on the table was Gracie Palina. Previously a military pilot for the consulate of Astril she decided to go private. Just for the money, there was nothing else to it. She had to fund her desires somehow.
Gracie looked more like some punk, emo, biker, goth hybrid then an ace pilot. It was an attempt to separate herself from military roots the best she could, it worked most of the time. She had short black hair with purple bangs that covered one eye. She wore a sleeveless crop top leather jacket over a dark blue sports bra and had shoulder, elbow and kneeepads. Her hands were covered by black leather fingerless gloves with metal studs embedded in them. She wore a short black skirt and had tall combat boots. The exposed skin revealed numerous biological connection ports she used to connect to her craft alongside her genetically enhanced musculature. The look was finished by a pair of aviator style sunglasses.
As their employer stepped in Gracie did get her feet back on the ground as a sign that she actually cared about what he had to say. It was their mission after all. Once Jareth asked them to introduce themselves she spoke up first.
“I am Gracie, Gracie Palina. My callsign is Smackdown, if you prefer to call me that. I am a pilot for hire with my very own fancy ass stealth assault thopter. I can fly us under the radar no problem and if we ever get into trouble my craft is packing heat. Just remember to wear your seatbelts, you don’t want to become paste when I have to pull some elite manoeuvres.”
She had complete confidence in herself. Gracie had no doubts, no worries, with her behind the wheel nothing can go wrong. She was considered an ace pilot after all so how can this job compare?
Right next to Gracie was a younger white man, most notable thing being his clothes; he was sporting a navy blue blazer over his black shirt, black trousers and dark brown boots.
He had short fair hair and green eyes which were often busy darting around the room looking for details.
He arrived earlier than most others, simply hitching a ride in a small shuttle he rented earlier which looked mostly empty, save for some clothes, food and water, but an experienced inspector with proper tools would be able to find hidden stashes of ammunition and weapons neatly packed along plenty of fake ID’s.
Unlike most of his colleagues, he almost never used anything he took into that shuttle and relied more on wits rather than guns to resolve problems at hand.
He was more drawn to adventure, and the money he earned would help him avoid asking for more from his superiors back on Malaak, and he could even send it back to impress them if he ever got in trouble.
As Jareth walked into the room, he stood up from his seat and waited for him to start talking before sitting back down, focusing on what he and Gracie had to say.
He gave off an aura of calm, smiling pleasantly at Jareth when he entered the room, he was enjoying making small talk with others before his arrival. When Gracie finished introducing herself, the man stood up again and started talking in a fruity voice:
“My name is Teddy, and where I come from most people don’t have surnames. I have many other names, jobs and skills which tend to change depending on what the mission requires. I’m adept at fighting or peacefully solving the problem, whichever one you would prefer. It won’t be my first time retrieving valuables from their rightful owner, who was so tragically robbed of what was rightfully theirs. Especially saddening considering how good of a host you are mister Nimblus.”
He sat back down and nodded thankfully to Kaso as his drink was poured.
Eliana stood just away from the table looking at some of the screens, she had been sent here by her owners to partake in this assignment.
Eliana was a small woman of about 5’ 5” with alabaster skin with glowing blue irises and a deep crimson hair that was braided down her back. She wore a short sleeved drab khaki brown tunic that was covered with a khaki chest armour accompanied with shoulder pads that bore her identification digits AZ-1506, attached to the chest armour was a webbing system that carried her essentials and a standard revolver and a hilt for a knife. Her lower half was covered by the same drab khaki brown coloured trousers with some khaki thigh plates finished off with some brown thigh boots with shin guards over them.
As their employer entered she turned her head to listen to the man and analyse what he was saying about their mission.
She then listened to the first two of her compatriots speak and introduce themselves before she spoke up herself.
“I am Cricaen Azerty unit AZ-1506, designation Eliana, in other peoples terms I am an android, my skills change from mission to mission depending on what is needed. I am here at the request put out by our host Mr Newton Nimblus III” She spoke in a calm voice that had a sort of automated tone to it.
The next sat at the table was...
Well, the most immediately obvious thing about them was that they weren't actually an animal, but rather a humanoid plant, which some might recognise as a Lumnaed. Large leaves formed a head of 'hair' atop their head, their only meaningful facial feature being two sharp yellow eyes.
They wore thick, purple armour with light blue stripes and markings, dotted with mint green lights, over a thick black bodysuit and with cables visible connecting the armour sections, their helmet with a large rounded orange visor placed on the table, their similarly coloured rifle leant against the table and a pistol on each hip. The boots of the suit were rubbery and thicker than almost any other part of the armour, rising to the knees and meeting the armoured kneepad, while the gloves were similar though thin enough to remain dexterous, an armoured vambrace mounted over the top. Interestingly, the shapes of the armour and the way light shone off it seemed to indicate it wasn't wholly rigid.
"Greetings." the figure spoke, their voice audible and clear but emotionally dry, almost but not quite robotic in intonation, and their accent was utterly indistinct, like something that had a fluent understanding of the language but little actual experience in its use.
"I am Jor Mkactel. Jor is fine, if you struggle to pronounce the entire name. My specialities are much more...straightforward. If our team finds itself attacked, I am best suited to dealing with it. I also have some skills in perimeter infiltration and demolitions, if those become relevant." the floral humanoid introduced, giving a nod.
"I was offered this job by an agent of Mr Nimblus III, and thought it would be suitable for my abilities. I look forward to working with you all."
The final figure was a small but terrifying-looking man clad in thick fur robes, topped by a curious fur-lined hat with a small conical peak from which a horsehair crest dangled. His face was wizened and windburnt, and he had a thick mustache that started just either side of his nose and dropped down past his jutting chin. When he spoke, his voice was gravelly and somehow nasal and deep at the same time.
"Khasar Teeverchin, of Eastern Wu," he grunted, and then slugged the wine in one, pulling a face as if surprised by the contents. He chose not to elaborate on his skillset, that single statement appearing to have exhausted his capacity for conversation, but the Galant Industries GI-2461 carbine propped against his chair and the flanged mace at his hip suggested he was used to close-quarters work, whilst the goggles around his neck hinted at hoverbike familiarity, the natural evolution of the famed Wusian horsemanship. Finally, a quiver of arrows was slung on his back, although it had only four arrows in it and no bow was immediately visible.
“Well, thank you Mr….Teeverchin…that was wonderful, and might I say that you are every bit the diverse party I was promised aren’t you?” Jareth said, as the group finished introducing itself. “All with such skills, and with such…variety…I am very excited to see you all in action…which is why we are here so, please let me share the details of the job.” He had such positive glee in his voice, the words spilling out almost lyrically.
Jareth took a sip from his glass whilst tapping on a tablet which lay on the table with his other hand. The display screens surrounding the room changed away from the woodland scene and became filled with a map on a blue background, white lines outlining the very clear boundaries of a very large mansion, and it’s surrounding grounds.
“This is my former home, the Crystal Hall Manor.” Jareth began. “Up until very recently, it was the home of my family for 12 generations…I need you to retrieve…something…of great importance from my home. I am quite assured that the local populous have no idea it is there, and I would like to keep it that way. As such, I will not go into details at this moment on the contents of these…spoils…and I will inform you in greater detail when I am sure that you are within their grasps. Suffice to say however that if this…thing…fell into the hands of the new regime…well it would be at my disadvantage whilst I was trying to secure a new life for myself.”
He tapped on the tablet again, this time zooming out to show more details of the surrounding ground.
“The Manor is 4 miles from the nearest settlement, a town called Avala, a bit of a nothing place, but a place with a garrison of soldiers newly imported from Imaginarium and a local space port. The Manor is also surrounded by 3 miles of thick woodland, and there is one roadway into the estate, as well as a landing pad on site. As you can see, we have several smaller buildings on site as well as the main house itself. How you wish to conduct the business of getting in is completely up to you. You are the professionals after all. We can offer your transport down to the surface, although with…ahem…’Smackdown’ here, I think you may have that covered.”
“In the first instant then, I would ask that you successfully gain access to my former home. Once there, I will be in contact with these,” he motioned to a guard stood by the door, who brought over a black case. Settling it down on the table they unfastened the locks, and lifting the lid showed off a data pad and earpiece each for all members of the party.”
Jareth smiled and looked back at the group.
“The successful retrieval of my items will be rewarded with 3 SIGEC each deposited into an account of your choice, and of course, I will retain your details for further such…work.”
He pointed at his glass, and around the table, motioning for Kaso to refill the glasses of everyone.
“So, unless you have any questions, what do you think? How do you want go about this?”
RoastBeef — 01/11/2021 13:32
Khasar scratched his jaw absently and squinted at the maps on the display screens. He raised a finger and pointed at the town. "Drop us at the spaceport, we'll say we're mercenaries after the bounty on your head. I'll hang around, leave some little surprises in town to keep the garrison occupied in case things go wrong, then go sit on the road to your manor. The rest of you can fly closer and try sneak in, someone deals with any anti-air lying around whilst someone else grabs the treasures, then you come pick us up from the landing pad at the manor."
He leaned back, crossing his arms, seemingly pleased with himself. He wondered if Jareth would react to the mention of a bounty - he had not heard of any such bounty, but he figured that this man had not left his family estates by choice and that either the new owners would have put a price on his head, or Jareth would at least believe they had...
Gracie was not a tactician, she was just the one flying and all the important operational planning was left to desk jockeys who knew the exact range of a certain shitfuck anti air missile so they could instruct her in turn. But she did know a lot about her ornithopter and it’s capabilities so she chimed in on the discussion. “Yes yes, I can get us close by flying under radar. I can keep the perimeter under watch while the rest get inside and do their thing. The craft has some backup thrusters for a speedboost if we have to hurry.”
Gracie avoided drinking anything. She may be gung-ho and a bit wild but she was still a pilot and even with her biomods potentially cleaning out alcohol much quicker she would not risk it. It was not just her own live at stake but her reputation, equipment and her fellow comrades.
“It may be a little early to ask but I do need help with doing pre flight checks for my craft. So once we are done discussing I would like an extra pair of hands with that.”
Eliana looked over the maps of the house, her eyes flicking from screen to screen as she processed data and kept it in her mind from the houses’ exterior to the details about the town that he gave them and the garrison. She didn’t want to deal with a garrison with only one person focusing on weapons and that being the strange plant creature that was with them that identified itself as Jor. She then turned and pivoted on her heels and looked at Khasar and then at their employer “As Khasar just mentioned is there any emplacements that would be needing to be dealt with and if so are they manned or automatically controlled” She asked Jareth.
Just after she finished talking to Jareth, she then looked at Gracie “If you require assistance with the checks I can try to be of service” She offered.
“Ah yes…” Jareth spoke, addressing the Eliana. “According to our intelligence, there’s never been any anti-air ‘weaponry’ held within the vicinity of Avala or it’s space port. Now, bare in mind our intelligence is a few days old now, and we do know that Imaginarium has moved troops into the area. My understanding is that these are simply forces brought in to help maintain the peace following the uprising…it would surprise me if Avala had been turned into a fortress…but perhaps you have better intelligence than I?”
He turned to face Khasar.
“You certainly seem to have your sources? I never said anything about a ‘bounty’ on my head…but certainly it is true…the new regime would like me to ‘stay’ on the planet…it would perhaps be wise to assume that there may be added security at my former home that has been placed there since I left…”
Khasar's face split into a gap-toothed grin, and he wagged a finger at Jareth, thrilled with himself.
"You are my source haha, but it is good to know. How much is this bounty on your head?"
"Certainly less than I am paying you my friend...otherwise I would have to watch my back now wouldn't I?" Jareth responded, with a casual wink an equally toothy smile, and a finger point at Khasar.
"Well played. I like you."
Gracie chuckled as she overheard the conversation between Jareth and Khasar and then turned to Eliana. “I would definitely love your assistance. It’s not anything complicated don’t worry, just making sure all the hatches close tight and the doors don’t rip off during flight.” Gracie gave Eliana a wink and then leaned forward to take a datapad an earpiece.
“Hey Jareth, you want these back at the end?” She said while waving around her hands holding the 2 pieces of equipment.
She listened to Jareth and nodded “Either way if there are anything that use a computerised system I should be able to get into and either take offline or take under my control for a brief period of time” She replied
She then went back to looking at the maps as Jareth and Khasar had their interaction before she was talked to again and turned to look at Gracie “Of course I can help with those tasks” She replied with a small smile.
Teddy left others to give their ideas, listening in on them and considering different ways to approach this. He liked the idea of pretending to be on the hunt for Jareth, it would certainly grant them access to his manor, although under watchful eyes of Imaginarium troops, with an excuse of ‘gathering intelligence about their target’. Ideally they would want the main road to the manor secured in case things go south quicker than imagined, but that could require more people than they had. Teddy did, however, have one idea…
“I like how you think Khasar, but I say we go one step further and assume greater control of the situation. Pretending to be on the hunt for mister Nimblus will certainly grant us access to the manor if we are successful, but what then? We would be under constant supervision by present Imaginarium troops. Having a man on the inside would help us tremendously with that problem, so I propose we split up into two teams, one pretending to be after the bounty and other tasked with reconnaissance and infiltration. Team Bounty would make their presence known and arrive at the spaceport while others arrive early and try to get themselves inside the mansion, ideally disguised as the guards there."
"The fact that the garrison just arrived recently gives us an opportunity to justify ‘late arrival of a couple unassigned soldiers’ or something akin to that. Once inside, the team would blend in and stay quiet, passively gathering info about the place until team Bounty arrives. With a bit of time, we could arrange to be the actual escort that is supposed to keep an eye on the ‘mercenaries out to get Jareth’, effectively giving us a free pass over most of the mansion without raising suspicion. Once we retrieve the items in question, assuming that they are small enough to be concealed, bounty hunters can call it a day and we would escort them out of the mansion and into the woods, where the stealth thopter would pick us up. We would be home with the items and nobody would have to die. Nobody is the wiser about our mission.”
Teddy took a sip of wine and let the plan settle in on others for a moment.
“Alternatively we could take the guards out one by one as the ‘bounty hunters’ come up and they will help us deal with anyone who remains alive. We could mine the road if the garrison has access to mines, and use the thopter to hold off reinforcements while we get out.”
Khasar raised an eyebrow then wriggled his nose.
"Ehh, not a bad thought except one big problem. None of us look Imaginese and none of us speak Imaginese, and even if we did I think faking membership of a foreign military is pretty tough to do for more than like 5 minutes. The moment someone asks us any details we are screwed and they'll march us out to a wall somewhere," he said, "but you're right about not letting them know we are interested in the manor. We should tell them we think he's out in the woods somewhere far from the manor, so we don't make them suspicious."
Gracie had to process teddy’s plan for a good few seconds before fully getting it but then she spoke up just like Khasar.
“I agree with Khasar, we are hardly inconspicuous. So let’s not try to infiltrate a foreign military? I do like the idea of trying to avoid combat though. Pretending to be on the hunt for Jareth would give us some cover for a while, until things go bad of course. So long as they don’t inspect my craft I can keep its weapons hidden, pretending just to be a transport and scout. Would help reduce suspicions as well.“
The floral humanoid's unblinking gaze remained unshifting under the discussion. Finally, waiting for a pause, they cut in as the discussion reached the point of pretending to be those they weren't.
"Overcomplication is just asking for trouble. A diversion is a valid approach, but disguises are unnecessary. We are mercenaries, paid to look for evidence of our actual client's whereabouts. If we are stopped or found out, that is what we have guns for." they suggested, the voice seemingly emanating from their face.
"We know where our target is, we should stick to acquiring it as much as possible."
"Okay okay," said Khasar, raising his hands, his ragged woolen fingerless gloves calling for quiet, "so here's the plan. We all land in town, say we are mercenaries following up a lead that Jareth is camped out in the woods eating nuts and berries or whatever. Pilot drops you three off in the woods," here he jabbed a stubby finger towards Eliana, Teddy and Jor "then hangs around to give eagle eye view and help as needed. You three sneak into the manor, plant boy takes out any anti-air, you and robot lady go find the goods."
He leaned back in his chair and rested his splayed hands on his belly, seemingly pleased with himself. "Me, I stay in town, leave some little surprises here and there as insurance, then go sit on the road to the manor and slow the garrison down if they realise what you are doing. Once you have the package, we all meet at the manor's landing pad and get out of there. If something goes wrong, we meet back in the woods."
“See this….this is why it is good to network, hire professionals. I had such a good feeling about your all!” Jareth spoke, standing up, bringing the short meeting to a close.
“I look forward to seeing the endeavours of your works. Yes yes, please take the communicators, they are yours to do with as you please. I will be on one of the channels directing you once you reach my former abode, but they work like any typical communicator, press here to do the chit chat across to your new…comrades in arms” chuckling to himself as he once again referred to the ear pieces now being provided to the group.
“Please, make whatever adequate preparations to the fleet vehicle you wish…by my reckoning it will be dusk in Avala in…oh about an hour…maybe the best light to do your deeds. I wish you the best of luck…” giving the group one final nod and a clap of his hands as he takes his leave from the room.
---- ---- ----
After a little while, the group found themselves escorted by the same tall guard who had stood present at the door of the dining space, back through the “Prosperity’s” cargo bay, a small enough space, the entirety of which was taken up by the aforementioned Thopter.
“Hey…Mr Nimblus would like me to tell you that we have ourselves a small arsenal of gadgets and weaponry, taken from the Nimblus company arsenal…” the guard said, speaking with a thick, twang of an accent. He was not muscley per say, but there was something in the way he carried himself that suggested to all the party that he had great core strength. His face, angular, clean shaven, with a small scare above the left eye brow. Dark brown hair shaven short adorned the top of his head. The deep blue uniform, made of utility trousers and a tight fitting compression shirt, clean on.
“He…er…says that if there’s anything you require, you should come speak to me, see if we can’t…you know…muster up some assistance. Name’s Rashan by the way.”
Gracie’s ornithopter stood ready in the cargo bay. It’s sleek angled black exterior giving of a definite aura of stealth and special operations. It rested on 4 human like mechanical arms which gave it an almost animalistic predator vibe, as if it was waiting to pounce on unsuspecting prey. Its 6 wings were currently folded back to make it more compact. There seemed at first glance to be no cockpit, the place where one would normally go consisted of the same black plating. No weapons were visible yet as they were folded into the hull to maintain the radar deflecting shape. The troop compartment of the craft was accessed by a back ramp. Lastly, there were a pair of small jet thrusters hidden into the general shape of the craft.
Gracie walked up to her craft and did a quick walk around to make sure it wasn’t scratched by any of Jareth’s goons. “Rashan you said? Well I can use somebody to help load up my weapons. Just give me a second to turn this thing on.” After Gracie said that she went up into the troop compartment and opened a little closet in the floor where she kept her pilot suit….. suit was definitely a strong word, seeing how consulate pilots have to link with their craft through the skin or bioports placed over their body the suit had to be a very minimal design. It was just for preserving dignity when getting in and out of the ornithopter.
After a quick change into her suit she approached the front of the ornithopter and found the lever used to open the cockpit. She gave it a strong pull and as it sprung back into its normal position the front of the craft began to open up. The top part moved up a little and then slid forward, a small step assist folded out and down to the ground for Gracie to climb up onto. The interior looked more like a great heap of guts and organs rather then a flight control system. There was a convenient cocoon like indent for the pilot to enter. Gracie turned her head to look at the others. “Say goodbye to my pretty face for a while, since I won’t be leaving my craft until we are back and safe. Oh, his name is Jackal by the way.” With these final words said she sat herself down into the biotech cockpit. The rest didn’t get a good look of how she connected before the cockpit slid back shut.
There was a small moment of nothing and then the entire craft began to twitch and move. The ornithopter suddenly became uncannily alive in its movement. It did not move like a machine but rather an animal with metal skin. After a few seconds there was a sound of static coming from the craft before it cleared up and Gracie’s voice was heard though several speakers installed on the in and outside of the thopter. “Hello? Check check, are the speaker doing good?”
Eliana left the room and picked up a datapad and ear piece as she left and went after Gracie to help her with the pre-flight checks like she said she would. She followed Gracie around the copter and listened to her when given instructions and did as she asked when she was told. She stood back as it began moving and began coming to life. “Yes you are coming through the speaker fine” She replied as her hair whipped around from the down draft from the crafts engines.
Khasar seated himself on a nearby crate and watched Eliana and Gracie go through the pre-flight checks, coaxing the complex aircraft into life. He pulled out some jerky and chewed absently as the others busied themselves about the ornithopter. It was a strange looking machine, but it seemed reliable enough, almost like one of the big military robots the IJN used.
He gave a thumbs up as Gracie ran the speaker test, then turned to Rashan.
"I am pretty much set, but if you have any remote explosives that'd be great." he said, as if ordering breadsticks to go with his pizza.
“Not got any up here in the ship m’afraid. But uh…if I heard right you’re gonna be the guy sitting in Avala right? Boss had a ‘hub’ for his mining operations just north of the space port. You know, garage type place, where they fixed up the mining trucks, equipment came in and out…should be able to find some blasting explosives there if you need ‘em.” Rashan said, replying to Khasar.
“Be careful though…doubt you’ve ever come across Irenan’s before…they have so rarely got off planet. Tall folk…pale skin. They say it’s as white as the moon, because the sky can be so dark on Irena II. That’s another thing…don’t be surprised if you have little in the way of day light. We will be going down at night…but it’s rare you get a clear day down there…and the clouds block out so much sun. The Irenan’s have grown up in it, and they know how to use it to their advantage. It’s them who caused this “rebellion”…”
Jor had followed to the hangar, but primarily watched as the vehicle was prepared. The growling engine and heavy forward track section of jungle treadbikes he knew, the howling roar and whooshing air of marshland hovercraft he knew, but aircraft were largely beyond him, alien ones especially.
He decided it was better to stand and watch rather than risk breaking something.
Still, the helmeted visage of the floral alien turned to Rashan as he spoke.
"My thanks for the offer. Though, unless you have a few grenades, I have everything I need." he spoke, his voice as accentless and lacking in inflection as ever.
"Though, I do have one question for the group. We have figured out our plan of approach..." he raised his voice some, his head tilting to the side after turning back to the ornithopter.
"...but how do we plan on getting back to orbit?"
“We’ve got a transport that can do the job. You get in and out, and we’ll arrange a landing site…alternative is you use that bird of yours, meet us in the atmosphere and try and land the same way you’re going to be exiting soon…” Rashan said, responding to Jor, motioning towards “the bird” Thopter that Eliana and Gracie were doing the once over.
“How’s that all sound? We good to go?”
Khasar gave another laconic thumbs up, finishing his jerky and wiping his hands on his ragged jacket. He hoisted his pack and stumped over to the ornithopter, ready to go
Teddy used the brief pause for thopter maintenance to go back to his shuttle and get all of his gear ready. Since he would be going down as a merc, there was no real reason not to carry weapons. Opening the secret compartments that served as part-armory part- miscellaneous storage, he decided to switch out his outfit for one more befitting of a mercenary.
His tasteful clothes were carefully put back into their place, changed out for a worn out leather jacket and military pants. He perused his armory for a bit before finally deciding to take his “Pljusak” multi purpose shotgun, along with several variants of ammo for it.
Tossing his fancy boots aside for old-looking, rugged military boots, he put his throwing knife in them. He wouldn’t need anything more, as he always had his pistol on him. Finally, before putting everything back in its place and locking the shuttle, he put on a heavy-looking watch, a wonderful little thing that had many purposes, from recording and navigation to storing information.
With this completed, he arrived back to where everyone was chatting just in time to cut into the conversation.
“I reckon we should use the thopter. After all, we have a highly-capable pilot for it. And the speakers are working well.”
He slowly walked over to the thopter and nodded to Khasar, waiting on everyone else to be ready to go.
With the Thopter prepared, and with the crew loaded up ready to go, the Prosperity began its rapid descent into the atmosphere of the planet below. Ushering the gang into the Thopter, Rashan tested each earpiece to ensure that everyone was in communication with each other and the ship, and gave the count down for the disembarking in the skies above Irena II.
As the ship dipped into the gravitational pull of the planet, turbulence began to shake the entire vessel. Clearing the hanger bay, leaving just the gang in the Thopter prepared for drop, Rashan began the count down process in the ear of each member of the hired squad.
“Ok then people…10 seconds to go…Hanger doors. Open…start your engine…8…7….6…Thopter prepare for exit…4…3…2…1…Go go go!”
The orders come as the Thopter emerges from the ship, several miles above the planetary surface…the descent will be rapid, and the ascent of the ship back to orbit, away from enemy scanning is equally as quick.
“You are good to go…you are about 15kms south of Avala.” The voice of Rashan comes through once again on the communique channel. “I am sending the map of the area to you now…hey, you guys should thing of a name or something…Alpha Squad…no…think on it?”
“Hold tight everyone, here we go.” Gracie’s voice was heard through the earpieces and a small camera inside the transport scanned her cargo to make sure they have their seatbelts on. The thopter crawled out of the hangar on its four limbs and pushed itself out and towards the planet surface.
Once free from the ship the thopter went down in a shallow unpowered dive, the arms retracted into the hull and the wings slowly folded out to catch the atmosphere. The craft shook as it began to pick up an increasing amount of speed from its descent, there were no windows and the only light came from bioluminescent moss inside a see through plastic rod mounted flush in the ceiling which gave of an eerily white light.
Gracie being one with the machine felt every little shake and tremble. The altimeter was not just an instrument to look at but a part of her senses and once the craft got low enough and could catch enough atmosphere in its wings she extended them. What once was a frightening dive now turned into a gentle glide down.
Then the wings began articulating, a rapid buzzing sound came through into the troop bay as the ornithopter’s wings came to life. Now at cruising speed the thopter headed towards Avala, the map of the area was projected into her mind. “I am not against codenames, although I don’t have one ready right now.”
His head lolling slightly as he rode out the bumpy ride through the atmosphere, Khasar's face was hidden by his thickly furred hood, the luminescence gently illuminating him.
"Gracie can be Bug Actual, I will be Bug 1, Teddy can be Bug 2, Eliana Bug 3 and Jor Bug 4. Sound good?" he grunted, arms crossed
Jor swayed slightly, small wood-like hooks slipping through his armour to hold him in place.
"A callsign would be advisable. For convenience, if not dislike of each other's names." Jor nodded.
"I will agree to Bug-4. There are...'bug people' on my homeworld. Three separate species, in fact. I have met two of them." the plant-man mused aloud. "Though neither I nor any of you have any similarity to them."
Eliana sat there softly illuminated by the thopters interior white glow. She then looked confused as Khasar spoke about codenames and them being bugs
“We are not bugs though, and Eliana or AZ would be fine for me” She replied
Teddy sat next to Khasar, calmly gripping whatever there was to hold on to so that he would be less affected by the turbulence, he used the time to make a terrible attempt at a joke.
"You have to be bugging me... Sounds good. Bug Actual, ETA?"
“Well, hell…we don’t have to go with call signs…I mean no one else is gonna be on this frequency…was just a thought.” Rashan’s gravelled voice replies in the ears of the team, somewhat put out by the lack of call sign initiative being taken by the gang.
The descent from the atmosphere to Avala is quick. As soon as the Thopter reaches below the cloud line, the sky is darkened. With only an hour or so left until night-time proper, a thick dusk hue embraced the horizon, the twinkling lights of a settlement emerging one by one as the dark swallowed up the valley below.
As the Thopter moves closer towards its objective, the aforementioned settlement, the guiding lights of the spaceport on it’s southern side illuminate a path for the vessel. Still, descending through the turbulence makes the journey itself a little rougher, but as the Thopter drops to a thousand metres or so above ground, the wind begins to settle.
Avala’s spaceport itself is ram shackled. The first thing of notice as the Thopter comes into land is just how run down it is. There are signs of life on the ground below; the odd person moving across the landing pad, ships parked, powered down, awaiting their owners to return, but leaving plenty of room for other ships to come to rest. The terminal and control building sitting idly to the side, a large concrete structure, it’s balcony overhang almost glaring out in apathy at the rest of the port. Clearly designed for industrial transports rather than commercial, it seemed that the whole purpose of the spaceport was to put everything above the cosmetic. In fact, on closer inspection, some of the port itself was damaged. The charcoal remains of burnt-out industrial vehicles, along with a warehouse on the far side, showing signs of some form of recent conflict.
What else seemed out of place however were the ships parked at the power station, and their accompanied supplies. Even if the make and model were unknown to the party, these were clearly small gunships, the red star emblazoned on the tail the emblem of the Socialist Republics of Imaginarium. Surrounded by cargo also carrying the star, this was the first clear sign of the Republics involvement with the new regime here on Irena II.
The second sign was the small contingence of soldiers. Dressed in the standard Imaginese military operative dress, who viewed the arrival of the ship (The landing of which had not been questioned) and made their way towards the Thopter to make checks and to ask questions of the purpose of the landing.
With the Thopter safely landed, and the gang beginning to disembark, the soldiers, stood awaiting, their body language neither threatening nor welcoming.
“Good evening,” one spoke with a thick accented common tongue. “Please…what is your purpose here in Avala?”
After a moment's silence Khasar spoke up in Galactic Common.
"We are here to find Jareth Nimblus and claim the bounty on his fat head. We paid good money for a tip that he might be here, and we thought we'd help out the glorious Revolution by bringing him in." he said, pulling a stick of gum from his pocket and chewing obnoxiously.
Teddy stood behind Khasar, watching what was happening and wondering if they were going to ask for proper ID or not.
"Quite a lovely mess they left you to deal with here..."
He said more to himself than anyone else, noting the bad state of the poor spaceport.
Jor spoke up next, sounding almost robotic through his helmet.
"The longer Nimblus is alive, the longer someone else has to claim the bounty."
A beat.
"I do not intend to let that happen."
Gracie was listening in through the ornithopter’s microphone system. While the other were talking her vision was focused on the gunships parked nearby. She tried to identify their rough characteristics, whether they were more transport focused or heavy on armaments.
The craft didn’t stay still, it moved a little now and then. The occasional shake of its wings, the readjusting of its landing arms. Much like how a normal person would not just stay perfectly still when sitting down.
Eliana stood there quietly, she was looking around the dilapidated space port taking in the sights and the number of personnel that were hovering around. She then just looked at the soldiers as her companions talked and hopefully got them through
From Gracie’s vantage point, she had a relatively clear view of the gunships parked across the landing pad from the Ornithopter. The ambient lighting from the large orange lamps that illuminated the entire space port allowed the ships to be shown in full. 3 ships in total remained parked, although the space between the second and third ship alluded to the presence of a 4th vessel, not currently docked. 2 of the vessels seemed larger in nature, a transporter ship of some kind, compared with the one smaller, clearly combat orientated ship, although all shared similar characteristics: Large twinned jet engines either side of a hold all, a protruding tail out the back with the red star emblazoned.
-
The soldier, a woman of slight built beneath the harnesses and plated armour typical of the Imaginese forces, looked in at the group of travelers. She cast an eye over all of the group, an odd collection of individuals, as they addressed her on their business on the planet. She listened to them one by one, before addressing them once more.
“This mess?” She said, replying directly to Teddy’s point and gesturing around her at the burnt remains.
“This was the locals. This Mr Nimblus is not a popular gentleman. If you head down to the mine you will find all kinds of colourful language describing the man and his ‘crimes’.” She pointed in the direction south eastward, towards the looming towers of the mine.
She looked to her colleagues who stood either side of her, both looking cold and ready to finish up their discussion with the new group.
“Another group chasing Nimblus then, is it? Works for us. There’s a few of you bounty hunter types out on the planet now I’d say. They must be offering a decent reward. As I say, they really seem to hate this guy, and his bourgeois ilk…but Nimblus especially.”
She sighed, before diving into a clearly prepared dialogue.
“You are very welcome to stay on the planet. The revolutionary authorities of Irena II are happy to have you here, providing you understand that this is a delicate time for the nation. As you are here for work, I will outline some of the dos and do nots of your stay. Whilst you are here in Avala:
- Please ensure that your firearms remain holstered whilst in the town itself. The locals are particularly jumpy, and there is a large contingent of Imaginese forces around. We do not want any misunderstandings.
- The tavern in the centre is open for business, but is being used as a temporary hold for some of the Imaginese forces in the town.
- This one pertains to you directly; Mr Nimblus’s home, as you are aware, is North east of here. If you wish to access it, please clear this with the guards on the gate of the property. The house is currently locked down by the revolutionary forces, but hunters are allowed to gain access for “clues”,….although gods know what you’d find that no one else has.
Any questions?”
Khasar shook his head, squinting around at the town. "I think I will head to the tavern first. I need a rest after that ride. I can catch up to you all at Nimblus' mansion," he grunted, glancing at the others.
If the Imaginese really were planning to let Teddy, Jor and Eliana just stroll right in this job would be much easier than they had anticipated, but even so he thought it best to plan for the worst. He turned back to the ornithoper and liberated his hoverbike, a battered old Sugukase model, not as sleek or powerful as the military-issue Shiroyamas they had these days, but he was comfortable with it, like an old pair of leather boots.
He busied himself with the bike, loading his bag onto it and readying it for travel, grumbling at the truculent machine as he did so.
Gracie zoned out a little after inspecting the other landed craft. The ornithopter was still roaring and ready to go. The hoverbike was firmly attached with cables and clamps to the floor of the thopter so getting it free was a slight hassle but not very difficult.
“Well then, see you later!” Her voice came out of the craft speakers first before she switched to their earpiece comms to hide her following sentences from the nearby soldiers. “What if other people already found what we need?”
The ornithopter suddenly became less animated. It’s landing arms and wings becoming statuesque compared to their previous livelyness. Gracie temporarily disconnected herself from the movement systems to take a little break.
Teddy nodded, considering the information... This was turning out to be good so far. Free access to the mansion wasn't part of the plan, but he sure as hell wouldn't turn it down.
"Very well, we will bring this 'gentleman' to justice. I think we are ready to go to the mansion then, aren't we? Checking if intel was correct should be our top priority. So, unless anyone else here has something to ask?"
He said, looking at Jor and Eliana.
“I have nothing to add, going to the mansion should be our priority to gather as much information as possible to see where our hunt will lead us next in finding this Mr Nimblus” Eliana spoke as she did a final sorting of herself and her equipment.
“Fair enough” The soldier spoke to the group. “You have this landing spot for the next 24 hours. If you’d like a little longer, then just find me, or whoever is on guard at the time…it’s not a problem, we are just monitoring who is moving in and out.”
She motioned towards the entry and exit point of the Space Port, that faced out onto a main road way, which was illuminated by orange street lights, and a few metres along it northward, the lighting of the settlement known as Avala.
“The “Chateau” of Nimblus is North West of town. If you make your way to the town square, you’ll find the main road that leads out that way, and the tavern if you’re looking for accommodation, or a drink, but as I say, don’t be put off by the Imaginese using it as a temporary hold…there shouldn’t be many of us there at this time anyway…patrols and that you know? Well…best of luck to you.”
She moved and ushered her 2 comrades to fall back, to allow the group to move on their way.
----------------------
Avala itself was a bit of a nothing town. A typical mining centre, it’s local architecture dominated by easily built, mass low rise residential lodging for the native population who gained employment from the mine itself, who’s pit wheel towers loomed over the valley. As the sun faded behind the hills, the streets themselves were cast in the bright orange of the streetlight that the group had seen from the Space Port.
Passing by houses upon houses, there was little activity on the streets themselves. Only a passing Imaginese military car going out of town passed the group as they moved to the centre itself. In fact, more than moving vehicles, burnt out trucks, lorries with barely discernible branding of the “Nimblus Mining Company” lay scattered across the streets; the remanence of some conflict in recent days.
The town centre itself saw a little more life. More signs of the Imaginese military presence were visible, with military trucks, vehicles, and equipment piled up, and parked, with large group of soldiers, kitted out in the standard infantry wear, sat around a bonfire just set alight in the central square.
The neon lights of the tavern itself illuminated the parts of the square not cast in the light of the fire, it’s bright green and red signs emblazoned with words in native Irenan, the translation of which read “Miners Welfare”.
The rest of the square was made up of shops, currently shut, and a building identifiable as an office; the “Nimblus Mining Company” logo once again identifiable across the door way. It’s windows smashed, the sign again of discontent and anger, and graffiti sprayed across the front in both Irenan and Universal Common. The latter of which was more infrequent, but one word could be read multiple times; “Murderer”.
“Well… This town must have seen better days, that's for sure. I’ve always found towns built around a single industry a bit risky to live in, and sometimes just plain sad. Anyways guys, I think we should head to the chateau now.”
Teddy took the quickest route towards it, going along the road with his comrades, frequently thinking to himself if other mercs, if they were present, could be an opportunity. Or perhaps a liability? You can never be too sure.
They will have to find out if there even still are any when they get there.
Khasar's hoverbike glid slowly through the night, and he took care not to direct its hi-beams at the seated Imaginese troops, curving gently round to the front of the bar where he dismounted, stamped his feet then headed inside.
The town looked like a warzone, and he supposed in a way it had been, but it seemed obvious that people weren't too fond of Nimblus either. Reflecting a moment, he realised that might not be so surprising. After all, the Imaginese were supporting a local revolution, not invading outright, so there had to have been some sentiment there they were already exploiting.
Inside, he made his way to the bar and, in accented Common, ordered a vodka. He figured if there were Imaginese troops about, there would be vodka about, even if the Irenians weren't big consumers. He took a look around the room, looking specifically for the back door and to see who else was enjoying a drink on this chilly evening
The Road to the Chateau
The roadway out of town towards the Nimblus Residents fell away from the illumination of the streetlights, leaving the advancing party in the dark. Soon, the concrete blocks of Avala made way for thick trees, pines of some sort, that gave the air a soothing freshness, and a stillness that seemed at odds with the destroyed vehicles that littered the road, a now common sight on their journey.
About 300 metres out of town, the road was once again illuminated in unnatural light; a road block of some kind, set up barricading the path ahead. 2 vehicles, easily identifiable as Imaginese Military, sat at crossed angles, their head lights shining down the road way, capturing the party as they moved.
“STOP!” A voice from behind the lights shouts out in common. “State your purpose!”
Tavern – Miners Welfare
The inside of the Miners Welfare, whilst not a glamourous establishment, faired better than the battle torn streets of Avala, and whilst not crammed with patrons, it certainly was not ‘dead’. Imaginese military, who having occupied the upper floors of the building as a temporary base, made use of the downstairs as ‘respite’. Half a dozen soldiers sat at a table in the corner, dressed down and out of their armour, playing a friendly game of some kind, and chatting. Across the opposite side, 3 gentlemen and a woman, Irenan natives, sat around a circular table, watched Khasar as he entered, following his path across to the bar.
The bar itself seemed rather well stocked, and the bar hand behind, another Irenan native, older looking, with bright blue eyes and pale white skin (with black facial markings), stood seemingly organising stock. Catching Khasar’s eyes, as he walked towards him, he shouted something in Irenan, through a doorway to the left behind the bar, which led to a kitchen in the back. As Khasar approached, he returned the stock to its place behind him, and gave a slight smile to the newcomer, taking his order of Vodka.
“So…” he began in common “You aren’t with the military are you, friend?”
Inside the tavern, Khasar shook his head without saying a word, instead just handing over a prepaid credit chip which he pocketed again once scanned. Squinting around the room as he entered, he had spotted a half-dozen soldiers which was ideal; they probably had a vehicle parked nearby. He could rig it to catch fire or put an explosive near it to trap it in a crater, causing havoc and drawing troops towards the tavern whilst they went about their business, but that could wait.
He took a sip and then winced and sucked in air through his teeth; Imaginese vodka was strong stuff.
Gracie had walked along with the rest of the crew towards the mansion. It was definitely a strange sight to see such a vehicle walk on all fours like a feline predator. Especially since it acted so lively. As the blockade halted their advance Gracie lowered herself closer to the ground to not seem as imposing, well as non imposing as she could be in her ornithopter form.
She awaited a response from her mercenary comrades, feeling that a friendly face would be more welcoming to hear rather then a weird machine.
‘This planet could have been a relaxing place to stay, quiet and separated from the rest of the world, if it wasn’t for the revolution.’ Teddy thought to himself while strolling along with others, for some reason suppressing his urge to make small talk with his colleagues.
His train of thought came to a halt when he noticed the roadblock ahead. However, he wasn’t worried, and calmly proceeded towards them until someone from behind the lights shouted at them to stop.
Seeing as nobody else was answering, he took up the mantle of the spokesperson for their party, at least for now.
“Good evening sir. We are bounty hunters, new arrivals.” He said, giving the guard a warm smile, showing his hands to indicate his weapons are holstered.
“We came here to help with chasing after Nimblus, and your comrades at the spaceport told us that the mansion is open for us, and that we just need to clear it with you before we proceed.”
The floral humanoid marched at a steady pace, keeping pace with the others, their face invisible under the visor of their helmet.
He had never actually seen an environment like this. He had seen trees, of course, they covered almost every biome on Izut that wasn't lifeless arctic or the actual ocean in some form or another, but never so...sparsely. In terrain like this on Izut, there would be dense jungles nobody could hope to explore in full.
Granted, half the trees there would be trying to kill you and the other half would be concealing animals also trying to kill you. Like musket geckos and whipraptors and the giant six legged amphibians nobody could quite come up with a name for aside from 'Big lumbering thing what kicks your ass and ends your expedition'.
Part of him was glad he had left those behind.
"Indeed," he started after Teddy. "We came looking for clues to Mr Nimblus' whereabouts, so we might put a bullet between his eyes."
Jors monotonous tone was working to his advantage in this one instance; he sounded exactly the same lying as he did when he spoke the truth.
Tavern – Miners Welfare
“Huh…not wanting much of a conversation, is it?” the barkeep sighs, as they watch Khasar take in their surroundings, and drink down the vodka.
As Khasar finishes, the man once again unscrews the bottle, and proceeds to fill up the glass one more time.
“This one is on me friend. Our town maybe a little…er…on the rustic side now, but someone has to show a little bit of Irenan hospitality…don’t worry, you don’t have to say a word.”
He finishes pouring, and screws the lid back onto the bottle, before returning it to its place on the shelf above.
“Lot of new people coming and going these days. Especially after they put that reward on old man Nimblus…that piece of shit scumbag. If you’re one of those bounty hunter types, I hope you find him.” He leans in to Khasar. “Just make sure he suffers, give him a taste of what he gave us...you got it?”
The Road Block
The guard, standing blocking the road gives the towering ‘Thopter the once over. The odd sight, and this odd collection of individuals who accompanied it were certainly not something they had seen before, but they were getting used to a whole collection of individuals coming to Irena.
“Bounty Hunters hey? I had heard that it was a decent prize for that old crank, but I had no idea it would bring so many of you.” He looks behind him, up the road way that leads directly to the manor itself.
“Well, we’ve been told to give you access…so you’re welcome to go. You’re not the first though, there’s been a whole bunch of folk looking up there. Hey Viktor, are there still some others up there now?” he shouts over to another guard who is sat within one of the vehicles, warming their hands on the heater.
“Yeah…group of 4 or so went up about 40 minutes ago.” The voice shouts back, deep and rough.
“There you go…so you’ll have company up there. Try and keep it civil, please.”
With that he ushers for the vehicles to unblock the road, allowing the party to continue.
As the party walked on and as Gracie’s ornithopter walked past the guards she stopped to ask something quickly. Her metal body turned to the closest one and her mechanical voice left the speakers of the craft.
“Excuse me, but is the airspace restricted or not? I would love to stretch my wings”
She put on her best innocent voice she could which was helped by a little distortion from the speaker system.
Teddy nodded and continued, along with others, his way towards the mansion. But soon he realized that Gracie wasn’t yet ready to go, so he decided to stop and wait on her to see what she was up to.
Besides, he had never actually seen anyone fly. Her capabilities would be good to know and could be of use later on, so he paid close attention to what was about to happen.
“I see, well it will be good to rake the brain of others for information when it comes to finding our foe, that is if they are willing to help and comply who knows in this business” Eliana shrugged as she carried on walking towards the mansion
She stopped and turned on her heels when she noticed she was now a good 10 feet in front of the others and wondered why they had stopped.
Only for Jor to walk right past, hand resting on his rifle, though he paused to look briefly over his shoulder.
"If there are others, we should be quick. Every second we spend here is another second they have ahead of us." he stated flatly.
Tavern – Miners Welfare
Khasar raised the glass in thanks to the innkeeper and then sipped at it. He sniffed, staring into the glass, then squinted up at the bartender, his eyes barely visible.
"What did this Nimblus do to you?"
“OH my friend…how long do you have?” The bar keep snorted at Khasar’s question. “I do not even know where to begin. The man treated this town…this entire region, as his own little fiefdom. You know the mine up the road? That was ‘his’, and we, his serfs, working it for minimal pay. I mean, look around you friend, do we look rich here?”
An Imaginese soldier came to the bar, asking for a refill of his glass, which the Bar Keep provided, whilst continuing to Khasar.
“He owned everything here…and if you didn’t like how things were…say you had a grievance…well Nimblus and his cronies would find you. Any talk of challenging working conditions, BANG…you were found with a hole in your head the next day…shit, buddy of mine had the audacity to ask for time away from work after his first born…they beat him so bad that he couldn’t SEE the child for 3 months.”
He paused for a moment, placing both hands on the bar, and looking directly at Khasar.
“I have no idea how they did it..but you could be chatting all secret like to a buddy, someone you trusted with your life…and they’d still know what you were talking about…still come and find you.”
The Road Block
“Restricted Airspace? For…that…thing?” the Soldier at the roadblock asked Gracie. “Hmm, I mean I got no problem with it, as long as you don’t cause any issues. We’ve got whirly birds out on patrol, so just make sure if you are flagged, you respond…got it?”
“Affirmative, will do”
The ornithopter shifted around to get the wings clear from any bystanders. As it shuffled around on its landing arms which it had used to crawl along with the team the rear ramp into the troop bay lowered down to the ground in silence, it’s opening accented by a soft thump as hit the dirt.
“All aboard then, better then walking right?”
Gracie said over the team’s intercom as the mercenaries all boarded her. Once everyone was seated the ramp closed back up. Taking a few steps back the ornithopter began to wind up its wings. Soft flapping at first but quickly becoming a loud and droning buzzing sound. Gracie jumped into the air by giving the ground a firm push with her landing arms, providing a little boost to get the craft airborne. The feeling of wind against her metal skin was a welcome reprieve from walking, this entire mercenary thing was much better then sitting at base with only the occasional practice flight. She pitched the craft gently forward and began to fly the final distance towards the mansion. The arms were folded back into the hull and became numb to her as they were cut of from control for now.
Tavern – Miners Welfare
"Sounds like a piece of work," replied Khasar in his slow, monosyllabic accent, looking pensively into his glass before taking another sip. "The price on his head is for him alive, but I'm wondering if this man should even make it to trial. Think the community would show its appreciation to a man if Nimblus had a painful...accident?"
“Eh! You wont see many complain!” Replied the bar keep. “But, I think that the revolutionaries want to make an example out of him and all the other criminals and traitors. They’ve already started their tribunals of the burzhuazia…sorry, the umm, how you say…lordship? Rich people? I don’t know the correct translation.”
He picked up a cloth and began wiping down his bar once again.
“The price must be good though; we’ve had plenty of hunters looking for him in recent days. His mansion has been swarming with them. He’s long gone in my opinion…”
Flying in the Sky
The Thopter glided over the tree line quickly, ascending hill towards the soft summit, and the huge household now coming into view. Despite being some distance away, the house was clearly not abandoned, as flood lights lit up the exterior, bringing light and life to the sight.
A crackle came in the ear of the party members, as the communication devices, given by Nimblus back on the ship, came to life. The familiar voice of the old man broke through:
“Friends…this is Jareth. What is your status? I do hope you are finding success.”
Teddy enjoyed the ride. Although struck by a violent revolution, this planet still had beauty to it- even wastelands have something poetic to them, telling a story of a life that once may have been before it was extinguished.
It was quite amazing that one of the team members brought a freaking thopter with them. He had never seen one before, but just from watching it fly he couldn’t help but admire the pilot, her skills, and what this machine could do. HJe should perhaps look into it more later.
Upon hearing the familiar voice, Teddy tapped his ear and responded to Jareth:
“Jareth, Teddy here” He remembered that the man was a bit disappointed that they weren’t using callsigns, but he couldn’t do much about that now..
“We are in the Thopter and en route to the mansion. We talked to the local authorities and got the green light for everything. We are proceeding with the plan.”
The thopter flew over the trees towards the mansion. Already from this distance Gracie began to scour the local area for a landing site. Her vision augmented by the craft’s sensors she felt her eyes sting as she focused and zoomed in.
“By the goddess this mansion sure has a lot of activity. This is probably going to get messy whenever we try anything suspicious.”
Gracie announced over the troop bay intercom. However once Jareth started saying stuff over their communication line she shut herself up.
Eliana sat there quietly listening to the thopters sounds of the craft as they flew. She took a brief moment to look out at the lands they were flying over and saw what Gracie was on about before Jareth suddenly started talking.
She saw that Teddy was responding to him so left it to him to say they were fine, she was more concerned with how the rest of the op would go after seeing the activity around the mansion and knowing there were more bounty hunters inside.
Jor didn't seem particularly bothered with the passing scenery, more concerned with checking over his own gear and fitting a suppressor to his rifle. He looked up, slightly, as Jareth and Teddy spoke, before raising a hand to his helmet.
"Unless something goes wrong, we should be arriving there shortly. Where exactly is this item you want retrieved?"
Tavern – Miners Welfare
Khasar digested this. If the bounty for Nimblus really was so high, then perhaps it was worth turning him in after all. He would still have to go through with the original contract in order to get back to Nimblus, but that was just a bonus. If he played it right, he could collect two bounties in one day.
He finished his drink, ordered a bottle of vodka and then crossed over to the table where the Imaginese soldiers were drinking, pulling up an empty seat.
"Hello comrades, your uh...good health," he said, planting the bottle on the table. "I hear there is a bounty on an old man who used to live here. If I could find him, could you collect him?"
The Imaginese soldiers, absorbed in their conversation and small scale card game jumped as Khasar pulled up a seat at the table. There was a brief moment of silence as they took all of him in, looking him up and down, getting a read.
The soldiers were young in the face. Six in total, a mixture of men and women, their uniforms were dressed down, and with no signs of body armour or weaponry within reach, they showed the clear signs of a group currently on break from assignment. The soldier closest to Khasar, a tall, tanned man with a shaven head was the first to break the silence, with a toothy grin.
“Well now stranger. To your health as well!” Taking the bottle in hand, and pouring out drinks to the entire table, Khasar included. “Aye, that is right. The locals have set a big old bounty on the man...plenty out there looking for the guy, so yes, if you found him…and that is an if, we could arrange collection, and a man like yourself would be well rewarded. Why? Do you have the man?” he said with a chuckle, leaning in as if to learn Khasar’s secret.
Flying in the Sky
The Thopter came closer and closer to the fine mansion structure. The building, a sprawling 3 storey building built in futuristic, modernist style, with spreading outhouses around a flood lit garden space, soon covered the entire ground beneath the Thopter, and apparent signs of other land vehicles, trucks and cars, lay parked around the driveway space in front of the home, albeit that sign of individuals, namely the other bounty hunter team somewhere within the ground difficult to ascertain. A small landing pad, suitable for the Thopter, presented itself on the western side of the site.
Once more, the voice of Jareth filled the communications of the Thopter team. His smooth voice conveyed a confident tone.
“I am glad to hear things are moving along! You are making fine progress.” There was a brief almost awkward pause as Jareth considered Jor’s question. “I appreciate that not knowing the details of the target is difficult. I am simply wary of giving too much away. Our information suggests that the rebels aren’t even aware of its existence…but, alright…you have done well so far, I can provide a modicum of trust.”
There was another pause, and an audible inhalation of breath over the communications as Jareth prepared to divulge his sensitive information.
“You are looking for a computer. It is in the basement of the house, behind a hidden panel. I need the data that it contains. It is off the grid so to speak, and the only way of retrieving this vital information is by physically removing it. Does that satisfy you for the moment, Jor?”
Gracie turned the ornithopter towards the landing pad. In a graceful dive she landed herself upon the pad in a single smooth motion. The landing arms caught the fall and softened her impact to the point where those in the troop bay would merely be given a slight push from the landing. The wings of the ornithopter folded back and the engines became eerily still with just the humming of the nuclear power source present, it’s noise dampened by layers of isolation from the passengers. The exit ramp lowered down and Gracie’s voice was heard over the troop bay intercom.
“We have arrived, you may exit at your leisure.”
Eliana stretched as she stood and she did one final check off all her equipment and clothes before exiting out of the Thopter. They now at least knew what they were looking for, so it was easier in one way now they just had to do it without raising suspicions from the other hunters and the military she thought to herself as she walked off the landing pad.
"Yes, it does. If I need more, I shall let you know. For now, I will do what you're paying me to." came the plant's flat-voiced reply to Jareth, before he lowered his finger.
"And make sure nobody else does so first." he grunted, hopping off the ornithopter with a nod to Gracie.
"Let's go, and let's make it quick. If someone has a problem with us here, we best hope our benefactor does not mind his old estate being given some bullet holes." he stated, starting off for the manor at a brisk stride.
A computer? All of this for what was on it… It must surely be more than sentimental possessions then. Who knows what could be on it.
It would be for the best if he could get a copy of those files for himself, just in case that something went wrong.
As much as he was a trusting person, he would need to stay cautious of those around him- even his team. He liked them all well enough, but they were after all strangers.
“Very well, thanks Jareth. Let’s hope that the basement itself is not too heavily guarded, and we should be able to leave without any murder which would make our lives much easier in the aftermath.”
He let Eliana be the first one off the Thopter before he stepped out himself.
“That was a smooth ride Gracie. Be at the ready should anything feel wrong. Oh and Jor? Please let's use that as a last resort only.”
Looking around, he noticed that save for the eye sore that was a bunch of military equipment, guards and hunters, this place looked quite nice. He wondered for a moment what had Nimblus done to cause a revolution here. To an average Malaakian, Nimblus would be seen as a weak man, unable to hold his position and thus not be deserving of it- But why would those that rose up against him join Imaginarium? Perhaps they feared outside interventions? Who knows, but Teddy found it all to be very peculiar indeed.
Tavern – Miners Welfare
Khasar glanced around surreptitiously, then pulled out a pipe and began packing it.
"Yes," he said "and no. In a little while there might be some commotion at Jareth's old manor. If you and your comrades let my friends go about their business, then once we are done I can lead you straight to him. All I ask is that you wait for my signal."
It was a calculated risk, but Khasar was optimistic. Not only would this stop Imaginese forces from interfering, and meant he didn't have to mess around with diversions in the main town, but it meant he could theoretically collect both on his share of Jareth's payout and collect the Imaginese bounty on the man. Plus, he hated rich people as a matter of principle, or rather hated their hubris and found it funny when their lives fell apart.
The Imaginese Soldiers, who had been full of smiles and jest grew serious at Khasar’s comments. A few look at each other in a curious glance, whilst the man with the shaven head leaned forward, lowering his voice so only Khasar and the crowd at the table could hear.
“Wait wait wait…you are being serious here?” He glanced to the crowd, who looking back at him and Khasar, simply shrugged in confusion as to how to progress. The man continued. “If what you are saying is true…and you can lead us straight to this…Nimblus fella…I’m going to need some information. Who are your people? What do they need us to…”ignore” as it were so that they may go about their business? What “signal” are you proposing…what EXACTLY are you cooking up here?”
Thopter – Landing Pad
The Thopter, having safely settled on the landing pad, now sat within the comfortable embraced of the reflective lights which illuminated the house. Parked on the west side, a large, tiled path way led directly to the side of the mansion.
To the right (south) lay a dark expanse of woodland, which came short to a front lawn which flanked a long driveway from what the group could imagine to be the house’s main gateway, a stair way leading down from the landing pad to the ground, and presumably the front entrance to the mansion.
To the left (north), a larger back garden, statues, and fountains visible under decorative light, albeit the water features seemed turned “off” for the time being. Whilst no visible signs of life could be seen from the windows now visible from the Landing pad, the house did now show signs of internal lighting being on. Someone was definitely “home”.
Jareth once more returned to the group’s ears.
“I cannot tell you what those beasts have done to the house since we left…so I can only give you information based on my own experience. I have a 2 floor basements, and the sub-basement being where I need you. As I see it, you have 2 ways of getting down. The stair wells and elevators are central in the house. These are the most direct ways of getting down. Alternatively…I have a secret stair well in the “Breakfast room” to the northern side of the house…I leave the details to you on which descent you would prefer…let me know if you need any more information.”
Gracie began to use her craft’s sensors to look around while the rest of the team disembarked. She was looking out for anything that could disrupt their escape. AA guns, guards with MANPAD’s, heavy machine guns. Hell even a regular machine gun could cause damage at such a close range to her wings or sensors.
“Don’t worry, I will keep my guard up. Although if anyone tries to come at us I won’t hesitate to bring the heat.”
The thopter turned around on its 4 landing arms to get a better all round scan of the surroundings.
Jor nodded to the added information, approaching cautiously with rifle in hand.
"I suggest either the secret stairwell, or a combined approach to pincer anyone who may have found the sub-basement before us. As for entering the manor..."
He paused, his head swinging slowly as he observed the building.
"Why not the front door? Avoid looking too suspicious."
Teddy was pondering his options. One one hand, the secret passage could save them some trouble, but if they were found out it could raise suspicion. He leaned towards agreement with Jor- having someone take the secret passage while most of them went to the front door. From there they could see what to do further.
He looked past the pretty scenery that was somewhat disturbed by the imaginese occupation of the estate. Perhaps one day he could rest in a home like that- an unlikely end to his adventures, he knew.
“I am with Jor on this one. We should be able to stay in touch over the devices we use to communicate with Jareth, the only question is who wants to go through the secret passage? If nobody else wants to, I am willing to do it. Gracie, any secondary objectives like stuff that could shoot us down? Disabling them should be a priority. Not that it will be needed if we all decide to do this quietly. Remember, we are just bounty hunters looking for clues, no need to cause trouble.”
Eliana listened to Jareth as he spoke about the new information and she now thought as she approached with more caution.
“A Pincer movement sounds the most effiecient, though we just have to make sure that no one sees the person taking secret passage”
“The front door seems the most logical way to enter and I am willing to go down the passage in the breakfast room” Eliana offered the group.
"I am not a subtle person." Jor grunted, never breaking in stride. "I will go the main way. I would suggest only one, or two of us take the hidden entrance."
ievpop (Consulate of Astril) — 12/04/2022 14:46
Gracie was still scanning the area as she answered Teddy’s question. The ornithopter began to move on its arms slightly to get the better sensors around. The soft thumping of padded metal hands against the landing pad reverberated slightly as the metal animal looked for prey.
“I don’t see anything yet, I doubt they have much. Seems pretty overkill to instal dedicated AA to guard the mansion of someone you hate. Why would they care?”
Gracie was half joking and half serious.
“AA is probably there to stop things coming in to destroy the place and hide it’s secrets or that is what I would assume” Eliana replied to Gracie “And to stop anything leaving if there was an incident or a hidden little escape craft they didn’t know about”
“But for now let get inside then we can split up, myself going through the secret door and the rest taking the normal way to the basement” She spoke to the group.
Tavern – Miners Welfare
"Keep it down, gulig miin," hissed Khasar in annoyance as the Imaginese soldier spoke aloud, drawing attention from around the bar.
"Maybe there's some scuffling between bounty hunters at Nimblus' estate, but nothing you need to concern yourself about if you keep your men out of there. Once that's all done, I'll be able to find out Nimblus' location, and then I can go to him, send you the signal and you swoop in and get him."
He paused for a moment to sip at the vodka, sucking in air through his teeth.
"You might be wondering, 'why not just arrest this man now?' and that's a good question. I'm only here to distract you anyway, so if you bag me then the plan goes off without me, the others'll realise I've been lifted and will disappear for a while, and since I don't know where Nimblus is right now you'll never get him. A bit of patience though, and I can lead you right to him. It's your call."
The young faced soldier took in Khasar’s face, attempting to get a read on the individual, and the seriousness of his proposal. There was a delicate pause, as he hummed over the words, his colleagues staring down the interaction, also wearing a stony expression. Finally, he broke the silence.
“Alright.” He nodded as he spoke. “The house is you and your friends. We’ll “arrange” for the surveillance on the house to go quiet for a bit. We’ll be waiting though.” His jovial tones from a moment ago were replaced by something altogether more serious. “Do not make us regret this decision…please.”
The Manor -Main Entrance
Traversing the steps down to the front side of the manor was easy enough, the landing pad giving way to the large, ornate terrace, driveway and front lawn with ceremonial grandeur. The stair well winded down from the heighted position of the pad where the Ornithopter had landed, leading directly down to a tiled terrace and pathway. Half-baked in the light of the manor’s own lights, and that of the moon, the path gave some level of exposure, though the threat itself seemed minimal. Looking inside the manor itself through the many grand windows that peppered its’ ground floor, the party passed several impressive rooms.
.
First, a library containing thousands upon thousands of books, which normally would sit upon a grand collection of shelves, but now found their home thrown across the floor, the room itself victim to whatever search had been contained within the house. Its neighbour, a gallery, the art from which had now been removed, and only the sun-bleached walls betraying the fact that once large paintings had been held here.
Finally, the main entrance to the manor. A giant double door, left ajar, led into a receiving room, and a small, elongated set of steps that led through another set of double doors, and to the main hall beyond. From the entrance way, the main hall seemed still, though a faint noise could be heard coming from beyond deeper in the house.
The Manor – The Secret Entrance
Heading around the back end of the manor, the landing pad led directly down to the finely cut lawn of the estate. A more hidden route, the manor itself kept its height advantage on the grass, with a 3-foot wall between the ground floor and the lawn. This allowed any individuals travelling this way to press up against the wall and be covered from view from all except the closest of individuals occupying the terrace above them. A view of the manors exterior however was difficult to come by without lifting ones self-up and onto the wall, but the sounds of knocking, of movement within the house grew louder, and louder still.
Tavern – Miner’s Welfare
Khasar nodded and slapped the table with his hands. "Good, good! By the end of today I will be a wealthy man and you will have brought a bad man to justice"
He stepped away from the table for a moment, ducking out into the parking lot behind the bar. He placed a call to the others on short range comms.
"Hey, I heard things are going to be quiet at the mansion."
He returned to the room and sat back down, taking another sip of his vodka.
"So tell me," he asked "what will happen to Irena II once the Imaginese have set it all to rights?"
The soldiers muttered as they watched Khasar returned to them , quietly discussing with furious intent. Their own brief conversation ceased as he once more took his seat at the table and listened to his conversational continuation.
“We’re just peacekeepers here, friend.” The male soldier who had led the conversation so far, said.
The shorter, darker toned female coughed, and picked up the thread.
“Yes.” her tones tuneful, with the drawl of the western republics of the Imaginese home state. “We’re just here to help with the transition as the Irenan’s go about…cultivating their society.”
She took a sip of her drink, before settling into the conversation further.
“Truth be told, we’re providing everything for the new government to establish itself. Wouldn’t be surprised if we are here for the long term…what about yourself, friend? Where are you from?”
She placed her drink back upon the table, as a group of four older looking Irenan gentlemen, their faces lined with years of ‘hard work’, who had recently arrived at the tavern, began strumming tuning up what appeared to be home made instruments.
.
The Manor
The eery silence of the household engulfed the approaching party. The noise that had rumbled at the back of the house seemed to instantly stop as the front door creaked, as the group stepped over the threshold. From the exterior of the back garden of the house, Eliana, approaching from the boundary wall met with the radiant light of the interior, but with an unnatural stillness.
The interior was opulently decorated. Swirling marble floors lay throughout the house, polished and refined oak furnishings ran the length of the walls, and up the banisters that flanked the curving grand staircase, that the party entering through the main door could now see. The only signs of disturbances were documentation and some furniture, knocked on its side throughout the property, ransacked.
Then, as quick as a flash, dancing from spaces hidden behind doorways, sofas, and a like, came the rains of fire. Individuals, dressed in an array of body armour, emerged, all guns blazing from their hiding places. In the entrance way, a bounty hunter held a position on the stairwell, whilst a further 2, stationed beyond the main hall, fired from the doorway.
For Eliana, the glass smashed as they peered in from the outside, as an emerging bounty hunter shot from behind a sofa.
The bullets fired rapidly towards the party…
Jor approached steadily, rifle hand firmly gripping his battle rifle as his eyes scanned their surroundings from behind the large orange visor. Artistry in architecture was largely unheard of back on Izut; the Lumnaed weren't a particularly artistic people. Not to say they couldn't appreciate it, but that they weren't too creative when it came to coming up with things that didn't serve an explicit practical purpose. So, the floral being couldn't help but take a few mental notes for if he ever designed a building in the future.
One that wasn't for a simple spartan purpose, anyway.
His free hand reached up to his helmet comm as they stepped through into the hall.
"Understo--" he had begun to reply to Khasar, before a cacophony of gunfire echoed down the halls. His armour's warnings rang out as he felt two impacts punch through, one cutting a gap between plates while the kinetic gels softened one enough he now had a piece of metal somewhere in there. Recoiling, the plant dove for cover, returning fire with his rifle as bolts of colour shot back at their attackers.
"So much for what Khasar's friends said." he grunted. Turning, he grabbed the cushily padded seating he had taken cover behind, armour plates unlocking and shifting as extra arms sprouted from them, plunging in as he wrangled the furnishing, beginning to push it to give their attackers less room to flank and maneuver.
"Push them back!" he called to the others, resting his rifle on top and snapping off return fire.
Teddy was no coward- he was soft hearted by some standards perhaps, and valued life.
Even his own life, and he wasn’t about to throw it away needlessly.
As the hail of bullets zipped all around him, it became clear that their plan had failed, or that Khasar himself betrayed them for one reason or another. A bullet lodged itself into his body armor, knocking the breath out of him as an explosion of pain hit him like a truck in that spot.
This was no place to die, not for a cause this insignificant.
He pulled on his earpiece as he ducked for cower, not bothering to return fire and instead just running away, dodging and going around obstacles. He had sprained an ankle several times, and it was a minor miracle he wasn’t shot dead by a sniper or some other hidden threat.
“Gracie, this is Teddy! The plan was a failure, we need immediate evacuation.”
Eliana noticed the shooter to late as she looked through the window and she took hits to the chest and went down onto her back from the sheer force of them. Something had gone wrong she thought as these people were here waiting for them.
She took a moment to regain herself and let her systems do a quick diagnostic, no breaches, all hits absorbed by chest armour, integrity holding at 60% for chest area.
After this was done she pulled out her revolver and took a deep breath before standing quickly, scanning the area and firing off return shots at her assailant. She then heard Teddy through her earpiece and now understood they were also being shot. “Wont an extraction be more difficult thanks to the Air Defences that were mentioned” She spoke as she ducked down to reload.
The tavern
Khasar smiled broadly, his rounded cheekbones creasing.
"Oh, I'm just a Dong Wusian, one of the glorious Jade Empire's embarrassing little cousins. I didn't feel like sticking around to listen to them lecture us on their culture, which is actually ours that they stole."
He took a sip of his vodka and sucked in a breath through his teeth. "So I took off."
He listened as Jor responded, only to be cut off by gunfire. He pulled a surprised face, clicking off the comm, then threw a quizzical eyebrow at the Imaginese as if to ask whether they had anything to do with the static-distorted sounds of gunfire that had blared from the communicator's speakers.
“A Dong Wusian?” the woman rhetorically asked. “We’re from the original neck of the woods then…so to speak.”
She watched Khasar intently, as he pressed his earpiece to himself, the gun fire from the manor house radiating in a tinny fashion for all on the table to hear.
“That sounds…interesting. I take it that is “your friends” at the house?”
“Yes, I am guessing they have met the other bounty hunters who have been given access.” The man interjected.
The Manor
The flashes of fire could be seen, illuminating the surroundings of the manor itself, visible even for Gracie on the landing pad. The crackle of fire was loud throughout the communicator system, its sudden eruption panic inducing.
The fire continued, from cover, from the embedded Bounty Hunters, who took issue with the party coming and taking “their spot”. And whilst the group returned fire, it soon became apparent that more of the mercenary group were supplanted throughout the manor. Another 2 mercenaries appeared on the stair well, one loading up what appeared to be a plasma rifle, the other, taking aim with some form of carbine. Another, dressed from head to toe in what appeared to be some form of plated armour, appeared towards the back where Eliana had found herself.
They seemed disordered, but many in number. There seemed to be no form of coordination in their attacks yet, aside from the surprise in which they had rushed the party, something that perhaps a more organised opposition could take advantage of.
"Ah, you're from western Imaginarium then?" he asked. "Taashaal!"
They listened to the sounds of gunfire for a few seconds more and then he tossed his earpiece onto the table.
"Sounds like it. Well, if they end up not getting the item I'll just call our mutual friend and tell him we got it anyway."
THE MANOR
Gracie was shook to attention by the sudden flashes and sounds of gunfire. The entire craft she inhabited swung around its weight and the weapons hidden in her fuselage revealed themselves. The chin mounted autocannon switched belts to AP, not because they were facing anything armoured but rather to avoid any potential of hitting her allies with explosives.
“Affirmative Teddy, on my way now.”
While certainly not designed for direct fire support her thopter had enough locomotion to sprint like a leopard to where the rest of her team was. The interior was cast in shadow as the craft sunk its hands into the soil to slow down and swung the chin cannon around to aim through the windows. Upon confirmation of targets Gracie shot a few short burst towards the hostile bounty hunters. The heavy thuds of shells being fired was certainly a step up from small arms, she hoped to encourage the bounty hunters to find cover instead of shooting her team.
“Get in! I will cover you all!”
The back ramp slammed open for them. She could have just flown away, however Gracie did not feel like that was the right thing to do. Despite her mercenary sensibilities she found it distasteful to just abandon them here. There was a core of selfishness to it though, it would be much better for her reputation in the long term.
Jor was well aware of how outnumbered they were, and that his improvised cover wouldn't last for long.
Still, he wasn't about to back out as much as Teddy had immediately wanted to flee for the hills just because a few bullets were thrown around.
Besides, Eliana was still entering and he didn't much like just abandoning someone without a word.
And these bounty hunters didn't have fire support on the grade of an aircraft. Still, as it was they held the interior like a wall and as it stood the group was just waiting to be shot.
They needed to mix things up a little.
First, Jor heaved the sofa up slightly, tossing a smoke grenade under it, hissing as it spewed its smokescreen.
Then, the floral being ran forth, as fast as he could, beelining for the stairwell, gun flashing as he loosed bursts for where he had seen the man with a plasma rifle.
Eliana saw the newcomer and remained ducked down at the moment as she thought, from hear she could hear clearly the firefight that was going on out the front and then the heavy chin cannon fighting and Gracie telling them to get in over the comms. “AA defences will be activated and blow us out of the sky, why do I feel like no one remembered they existed” She spoke as she began rifling through her webbing and pulled out two grenades, the first one being a flash grenade which she primed and threw into the room. She let it detonate before she threw in a just a normal frag grenade hoping the flash worked and they wouldn’t see this one coming.
“Quite frankly, I don’t think we have a choice anymo-”
THUD
He felt sharp pain spread across his body, starting from below the right shoulder. He collapsed to the ground, shielding his face from the fall with his arms as he landed painfully just in front of the lowered ramp.
He was the first to make it, but now with exit so laughably close, he had been struck down. He tried standing up and succeeded, albeit barely. His legs were shaking as he slowly made it inside the thopter, shots still being fired in their general direction.
He tried to find a cover behind one of the seats as he checked on his wound with his left hand.
Fuck.
That's a lot of blood…
His vision started going a bit blurry as he struggled to alert others to his condition.
“Fuck… I'm hit! Need- Aagh- Medical attention-”
The silver lining was that he wasn’t left behind, and that Gracie hadn’t left them all to die. Unlike some other teams, this one had a smidge of self respect and a righteous streak. Orr at least a bit of honor if not that.
Tavern – Miner’s Welfare
“That’s right. Well, Musa and I are from the Ingoan Republic, but Boykov here, well he’s a big old city boy from Steysigorod, aren’t you?” the woman said, directing a gesture towards the third soldier who had so far remained silent.
Suddenly, a crackle of life came to life on the woman’s radio. Various voices spoke in panic, causing the woman to pick up her device, pull it closer to her ear and listen. They spoke Imaginese rather than common, and after a few moments, the woman replied with several barking words, which incurred a small back and forth with the individual on the other end of the radio. Finally, she got in the last word, and turned to Khasar.
“Seems your friends’ actions have become noticed. I’ve told our people to calm down, and to allow your people to ‘do what they need to do’. Apparently your friends have a copter of some kind as well? Might be worth you telling them that we’re vouching on the AA guns being silent here in this region, but they might wanna stay low…if you get me.”
Khasar nodded and then thumbed his comlink. He started to talk and then stopped, twice, as gunfire and screams interrupted him. Rolling his eyes as if to say "What can you do?" he leaned back in his chair and thumbed it on again.
"Uh Gracie, just to know the AA guns here in town just came online so maybe try stay below the treeline for now eh?" he said, then let go of the button and shrugged to his drinking companions. It was easier than explaining to Gracie what was actually happening.
The Manor
The Ornithopters fire erupted upon the house, causing glass the smash, plaster to fall, and the marble floor to become charred up as it provided covering fire. A stray bullet pierced through the lungs of one of the hunters firing upon Eliana, and caused the other hunters to dive for cover behind anything they could. Whilst most found themselves protected, one of the hunters dove behind a sofa, only to find themselves right in the path of Eliana’s grenade. The concussion of noise burst through their body, their scream falling silent.
The firing, along with Jor’s own smoke grenade, and Eliana’s flash bang grenade created the perfect cover for the wounded Teddy, providing him with the time and space needed to climb into the back of the low hovering thopter. The smoke created its own issues, as it filled the hallways, causing a total lack of vision for everyone, the hunters included.|
Shouts of “Shit, I can’t see!”, “Where are they?” and “Stay alert here” bellowed from upstairs and down, as the hunters attempted to peer through the smoke, but to no avail. With no visibility, and the Thopter providing cover, their options were limited. Some fired stray shots into the smoke in the hope of hitting something, whilst the hunter with the plasma rifle, let loose several shots from his weapon, deep into the abyss of white, it’s shots bright and flashing, lighting a path in the smoke.
Jor maintained his pace; even with the smoke at such ranges standing still was suicide.
Still, this tattered seating was slowing him down, and speed was what he needed right now, especially as a bullet crashed into his pauldron and a second narrowly glanced off his helmet, cracking his visor.
Forcefully casting it aside in the direction of some of the other bounty hunters, Jor sprinted for the stairs.
Flashes of light, the sizzling of heat.
Plasma fire.
Jor let off aggressive bursts in the direction of the hunter with the plasma rifle, two extra arms drawing combat knives as he rushed for CQC range. He needed him dead, quick.
Gracie stopped moving to allow Teddy to enter her troop bay. She stopped firing her cannon as the smoke obscured her vision, therefore she switched to communicating to him in order to try and prevent his untimely demise. The arms upon which the craft walked stiffened to provide a comfortable platform for him. Gracie’s voice came over the intercom, there was a certain rush in her tone as she just received a massive dose of adrenaline. Due to the way the weapon was connected to her there was a certain exertion to using it, although as long as she was in the craft nothing would come of it physically.
“Teddy! There is a first aid kit in the floor of the compartment. Take the small syringe filled with the purple liquid stuff and inject it. That should stabilise you for now. Don’t worry if it feels weird those are just the parasites doing their job.”
With a conscious thought Gracie opened up a floor panel in the ornithopter to reveal a small orang coloured first aid box. Inside would be a collection of syringes and other medical supplies. Not enough to completely restore teddy but it will do fine in stabilising him. Although the purple syringe looked unappealing as the fluid it contained seemed to throb and pulsate as of it was alive.
Elianas eyes brightened and the circles around her iris spun with the blue light as her vision changed from normal to a thermal as she dashed in and pulled out her knife the hardlight blade glowing to life as she ran over to the men who were dazed blinded and many other bad conditions. With one leap she jumped over the sofa and slammed the blade down onto one and aimed her revolver at another before firing off some shots
“How many of these assailants are left that we know off” She asked the group over their comms.
Teddy scrambled to find the compartment as his bleeding got worse. He tried applying pressure to it which, while immensely painful, helped a bit.
Searching his pouches he found the one designated to hold first aid supplies, and searched it for several very agonizing moments before finding the painkillers and tossing them in his mouth. The pills would start to work very soon indeed, but they felt a bit hard to swallow unsurprisingly.
With that out of the way, he resumed his search for the compartment which turned out successful. He pulled out the appropriate syringe and considered it for a moment.
“Parasites…? Ah fuck it-”
He administered a dose in his arm. Hopefully this stuff was safe to use, but that would be a problem to think about later. Right now, he started feeling the combat painkillers kick in. If need be, he could keep pushing himself for a while now with only a minimal sense of pain.
Tavern – Miner’s Welfare
The woman soldier sat forward, cracking a smile at Khasar as he spoke to his comrades over comms. She reached for the bottle in the centre of the table, and poured out a drink for each of party. As she poured the tinted red liquid into Khasar’s cup, she spoke with an easing tone.
“So, if you’re not here to be Bounty Hunters originally, what were you here for?”
Khasar shrugged. "Oh, you know these rich types. He left some trinkets at his house he just couldn't live without. A dolly or a golden dildo or something, I don't know." he replied diffidently, taking a sip of the new red drink and sucking air through his teeth in appreciation.
The Manor
The armoured mercenary hid behind the scraps he found behind the sofa, cowering as his colleague exploded in a violent splash of colour from Eliana’s grenade. He twisted and turned, just in time to watch Eliana vault the sofa, bringing their blades down upon his shoulder, finding the crease between metal and flesh. He screamed out in pain as Eliana fired a shot casually at another colleague who hid by the door frame, who was promptly hit in the wrist, and pulled away out of sight, cursing and shouting as they went. The pain in his shoulder was horrifying, and all motion in his left arm was limited. He thrust up with a fist with his right, aiming at any piece of Eliana he could muster.
Meanwhile, gun fire continued to erupt from the smoke-filled corridors of the main hallway. Aimless, it provided little in the way of cover, as the mercenaries tried to rally and regroup amidst the confusion of the assault. The plasma rifle merc continued his firing, not knowing of the approaching Jor, who emerged from the smoke, the plant being looking like a vicious monster in the man’s eyes. Jor was upon him quickly, the plasma rifle being too heavy to heave in their direction.
Safely within the Thopter, and having applied the first aid, Teddy and Gracie were presented with an opportunity to survey the battle grounds from a slightly withdrawn position. Smoke still obscured the vision, but it was clear that 2 battle grounds had emerged in the house; the back room where Eliana was situated, and the hall way and stair well, where Jor now charged. The back room and the halld led on to each other, but the group was now presented with the opportunity to push the Mercs back into one location, providing there were no more hiding within the house, now racing towards the.
As teddy injected the purple goop he could feel small beings crawl through his body and towards his wound. A strange feeling would fall over the injured area as the parasites began to construct a cocoon over the open wound by hardening themselves over it. Reflective purple chitin began to form itself onto him, layer by layer until it stopped. It was not pleasant but it did stop any bleeding and kept the wound from getting worse.
"Affirmative Khasar. Will fly low." Her response to him was quick and said in a single breath.
Gracie began to lose sight of the targets as they were chased deeper into the manor by the rest of her comrades. She felt unsure of what to do, but her ornithopter did not. Pushed by a predatory instinct her wings unfurled and the craft began to move up a bit. "Hold tight" Gracie said to teddy as the back ramp closed up and the ornithopter began to fly up. She shifted herself up and to the left so that the nose of the thopter was pointed through the windows of the stairwell. The chin mounted autocannon fired a few precise shots towards the hostile mercs, the rapid flapping of the wings created a loud buzzing noise
Eliana looked down as the fist connect with her chest just under her ribs, her armour absorbed most the blow but she still recoiled a bit from the blow. She shook her head as she brought a fist down on his chest with force, “That area is now only at 59% integrity, Whilst it is ill advised to punch an Azerty I must commend you for trying” She said calmly as she then pulled the knife out of the mans shoulder and then aimed it down at his other shoulder whilst also bringing the revolver point blank to his chest and firing.
Teddy had endured worse pain before, but the whole ordeal on his wound was downright disgusting to think about. Not unbearable and it wasn't that bog of a deal, but the crawling sensation was certainly not pleasant.
He noticed that Gracie was warning him about something and managed to grab a hold of a seat just before G forces did their nasty work on him.
He couldn’t do much, as the painkillers messed with his fine motor skills, but he could appreciate the autocannon ripping through the hostiles and hopefully providing some cover for their allies.
“Gracie, I think we need to cut our losses and retreat; we don’t know when the reinforcements will show up and we are struggling to hold our own as is. We need to evacuate them and GTFO.”
And from the smoke, came Jor like a bat out of hell. The man sprinted headlong at the bounty hunter, heedless of the gunfire around him.
He had his focus, after all. Even if the man couldn't bring his energy weapon to bear in time, Jor didn't feel like taking chances, his gun arm stretching as it swung out at force to bat the weapon aside, Jor lunging forth.
A slightly curved combat blade was gripped in two extra arms, swinging for either side of the man's neck. Jor aimed to end this, fast.
Tavern – Miners Welfare
The woman smiled as the rest of the party gave a small chuckle at Khasar’s vulgarity.
“Must be important to him if he hired an entire band of Mercenaries to come after it. You’ve no idea what it is at all?” the question felt poised, as she scouted out for more information.
Khasar shrugged, truthfully. "I'm not sure. He said he'd give us more information when we got into the manor, but since I'm not stupid enough to volunteer for that job I never found out. I could ask, but uh..."
He clicked on the radio and a burst of gunfire and yelling came through before he snapped it back off.
"Might need to give it a few'"
The Manor
The Plasma Rifle Operator could only give out the smallest of screams as Jor slashed viciously at him. A splatter of blood decorated the walls as fell limp to the ground. The smoke that had once covered the visibility within the hall entry way was beginning to clear, enough for Jor to see a further 2 mercenaries lined up upon the stair well. He saw them, they saw him, but as their raised their weapons to target him at the foot of the stairs, glass smashed from the outside in, as the Ornithopter’s autocannons burst through the windows, shredding the men before their own shots could be fired.
At the back of the house, the Eliana’s target thrust as the shot rippled through his chest, a final spit of blood emerging from his mouth as his life force drained away. The final man, who had retreated out of the hall way, having been hit in the wrist, watched as Eliana killed his comrade, and let out a gasp and moved backwards into the entry way, stumbling as he tried to get away from his adversary.
The Azerty took the glowing red blade out and wiped the blood off using her uniform in the crease of her elbow before her head practically snapped over to looked at the direction of the man who was retreating. She stood, her front covered in blood thanks to the close proximity of the shot and she began moving with speed towards the man “Running will only mean you will die tired, so I suggest you stop and face you imminent demise” She said as she fired a shot off when she saw him.
Jor had hesitated for the briefest moment when the two other mercenaries came into his view, processing too slow how to react.
Fortunately, Gracie did that part for him.
The floral humanoid picked up the plasma rifle, the extra arms drawing the knives from the dead man's neck and wiping them off before slotting them back into their scabbards.
Violence, in the other room. Nodding to Gracie's ornithopter, Jor ran for the room where Eliana was, charging the plasma rifle and aiming for the last man.
The flapping wings of the thopter slowed down as Gracie began to land herself onto the ground again. She was confident the others could handle the last man standing without issue. Currently she had bigger fish to fry, a wounded Teddy in the back.
“You ok back there pal?” She said to him over to thopter intercom, keeping the communication of the team clear just in case. The thopter landed softly onto the ground.
His comments about retreating was not taken too well by her, but without a face to show him her silence was loud enough to get the point across.
“Ah, I have been through worse… But since it seems you are intent on risking our heads let's do this properly at least. Is there a gunner’s seat or something? I need more time before I can- ahh- I can get down there and join in.”
He looked around the thopter for anywhere he may be useful as he considered his wound- at least the bleeding had stopped.
“Or can I help in another way?”
Eliana’s bullet flew fast and true, chasing the retreating mercenary out of the doorway. It pierced upwards, into the back of the man’s skull, causing him to stumble, trip, and fall in a heap on the ground, directly at the feet of the advancing Jor. A momentary silence crept over the house, the concert of violence now seemingly at an end.
A crackle of an audio channel switching off mute permeated the team’s earpieces, and the familiar voice of the elder oligarch, Jareth, began to muse in arrogant tones.
“Well, bloody hell. That was like the most intense audio drama I have ever heard. It certainly sounds like you gave whoever was in my house hell. I cannot deny that I wish I could have been there to see it. Those brutes got exactly what they deserve, I am sure. I do hope everyone is still in one piece.”
He chuckled to himself, before returning to a more orderly and composed voice.
“The job at hand then. As I said, there are 2 ways down into the basements. The stairs and elevator go directly down. There is also my secret staircase, hidden in the breakfast room in the north of the house. It is behind the bookcase on the right-hand side between there and the Banqueting hall…not that I will be able to hose another one of those for some time… You need to reach the sub-basement, the second underground floor. Do so…quickly.”
The line went mute again, the house a quiet.
Jor nodded to Eliana, lowering the plasma gun as Nimblus spoke. When he finished, the flora rose a hand to his comm unit.
"Understood. Targets clear for the moment, will keep an eye out. Advancing on objective." Jor responded, turning on the spot, keeping a firm hand on the plasma gun as he strode in the direction of the stairwell, leaving Eliana to head for the breakfast room.
“So uncivilised” Eliana said as she reloaded and looked the dead man before looking at the big plant come over and nod at her. She listened to Jareth as a swarm of nanites clouded around her and began to harvest materials that could be used for repairs.
“See you in a sec then” Eliana spoke as she turned and headed to the breakfast room and for the secret staircase.
The Manor
The silence spread over the house, the faint hum of the Ornithopter the only noise audible to Jor and Eliana as they split apart, and through the depths of the Manor.
Aboard the vessel, Gracie kept the controls steady, as they hovered along the wing of the house, the guns of her ship finally cooling after spraying the mercenaries that had attacked the group. She turned as she felt a presence by her shoulder, and looked to see the pale, sweating face of Teddy.
“Teddy…you do not look good at all!” she exclaimed “Sit down, did you take the first aid?”
“I…I…yes…I think it is making me feel…funny.” A dreary Teddy replied, as he fell into a seat by her side, exhausted.
“Oh damn…it can have this effect. You’ll be fine…just rest up.”
But it was too late. As she glanced across at Teddy, he sat slumped, head back, snoring heavily in his chair.
“Oh Teddy….night night.” She said with a smirk. She tapped to open her communications to Jor, Eliana, and Khasar. “Well, Teddy is out. He’s taken a drug in my first aid and, well let’s just say he could have the best sleep he has ever had. 12 hours or so I’d say. I’m going to stay with him. Will take the ‘thopter back to the landing pad, and settle her down. Let me know when you need extraction or…if you meet anymore of those Mercs.”
Eliana moved through the breakfast room; a brightly decorated space, it was dominated by a long bar like table in the middle of the room surrounded with breakfast stools. To the side, appliances, and a hatch for which food would presumably have been delivered.
“Eliana.” The voice of Jareth crackled. “The secret staircase, there is a button beneath the table closest to the window. Push it.”
Sure enough, a button was easy enough to find, and with a swift push, Eliana watched as the food hatch broke in two, revealing a hidden passage in the wall behind, a dimly lit staircase leading downstairs towards the basement.
Jor moving down the house’s main staircase saw the sleek modernist design change floor by floor into a functional display. Gone were the paintings, statues, and expensive light fixtures, replaced by bare exposed concrete, metallic doors, and safety lights that gave an orange hue to their surroundings. They came to the base of the stairs, and found themselves met by a closed, metal door. Opening it, Jor was met with a typical sight of such a household. Row on row of spirits and wines, held in almost library like display, and at the fair side, an unusual sight, as the wall gave way, splitting in two, and opened to make a doorway. As Jor approached, the sound of footsteps could be heard emerging from it until…Eliana stood within the archway. This was the bottom of the secret staircase.
“The two of you should be in my basement now. To the further side, you should see one final door way, with a keypad.” Jareth’s voice spoke once more.
Approaching the door, it sat slightly hidden amongst the wine racks, but sure enough, it was there, with its keypad glowing. Upon closer notice, the wall the door sat upon seemed to be solid, cold metal.
“The keypad code is 10642. This will open to “the server room”. THIS is where you will find the item. Now listen closely as once you are in there, I cannot communicate. This room is protected in this metal shell from outside interference. It is why we couldn’t simply, well…download what we needed. When you move into the room, you will see several screens. No doubt it will have many things on display, but we do not have time for you to peruse. There is a lot of information. We set one of our data disks downloading before we left but…had to leave before it was completed. It will be done by now. All I need you to do is retrieve the data disk, understood?”
As the code was punched in, the door retracted, and shifted into the side, to reveal a darkened room illuminated by 10s of screens, all glowing and buzzing with information. To the left-hand side, a row of towering units, presumably the servers themselves, stood proudly flashing, and there protruding from inside the central unit, a data disk, some 30cm in length, ready to be plucked.
It was hard not to notice the screens, however. The information flashing across them was ever so curious. Profiles, pictures of individuals, Irenans mostly, though not exclusively. With them, hoards of information, medical records, brain scans, likes, dislikes. All there easily to see.
Tavern – Miners Welfare
“Another drink then? Too the health of you and your comrades, maybe?” the woman raised a glass to Khasar. She downed the drink outright and stood abruptly. “Well…if things are to kick off soon as it were, we best get ready. Tell some of our people to be ready to move. What shall our signal be?”
Khasar took a sip and shrugged. "Let's keep it simple. I will activate my comlink and say, 'looks like you got what we came for' to Jareth. Give me your channel and I will put it into my comlink."
THE MANOR
Eliana looked at everything trying to take in as much information as possible “What exactly is our employer hoping to do with all this data” She spoke to Jor as she began scrolling through some of it deciding they had some time to browse before they did their job, “I suppose it is to blackmail or that is how he got to this position, but wanting it now seems a bit moot seeing as he is a fugitive” She said as she mused aloud, her eyes scanning and zipping around as she looked.
Jor shrugged after a moment.
"We can take a brief look." he started, tapping his comm and confirming it to be unresponsive, switching it off to make sure.
"I'm sure we can think of an excuse for the delay." he added, circling to the screens to take a look at what Jareth was after.
"Maybe he wants to blackmail people, you're right. But that might not be it. If the people who allowed this revolution are in here, this would be very useful information for...whats the human phrase? 'Rolling some heads'? Perhaps even collapse this revolution and reclaim his place here." Jor explained.
A beat, the floral humanoid looking to see if any persons of interest were among this database.
Tavern – Miners Welfare
The soldier leaned forward, reaching for something in her back pocket. She produced a slip of paper, on which scrawled in messy handwritten pen lay a series of numbers and letters.
“This is our squad channel. If you patch into this, we will have direct contact with one another.”
She collected her things, ushering her comrades to do the same. Once fully assembled with their military attire, they stepped away from the table.
“Give us fair warning though, please. We want to get this done correctly.”
The group staggered towards the door, ready to venture out into the Irenan night once more.
Khasar took the numbers and programmed them in to his holo, before folding the paper up and tucking it inside one of his many pockets. He leaned back in his seat, watching as the Imaginese filed out of the door, then taking another sip before activating his comms.
"How are we doing?" he whispered to the rest of the team
The Manor
Further inspection of the display screens and their information certainly confirmed Jor and Eliana’s theory, but only in part. As they both stopped to gather further details it soon became apparent that beyond just the surface level personal information of Irenan citizens, the data held on the system was extremely sensitive, and featured individuals from beyond the world.
A face of a human looking female appeared on the middle screen directly in Jor’s field of view. The face was recognisable, a blue sheen to the skin, which Jor recognised as ‘Kaso’, the young servant who had served them drinks as they had arrived on Jareth’s ship. The data listed her name, birth dates, her life story, her family relations, her dietary requirements, medical history, her political history, and more. This was more than a profile; this was an intensive detailing of a person’s life.
As Jor and Eliana looked further, there revealed more information. Huge lists of mercenaries, other members of the ruling elite, off worlders, political dissidents and more. If knowledge was power, this find was an encyclopaedia of political capital. A direct list of weaknesses and pressure points on hundreds of thousands of people. With such information at Jareth’s hand, it was easy to see how any political rival could be sniffed out, how any dissidents in the mines he owned were ‘eliminated’ (and indeed, some files featured a large red cross, signifying that the individual was no longer a problem to Jareth), and how even now, the information could be used to his advantage to escape prosecution, and even bully his way into a new life, or attempt to reclaim his life on Irena.
Within the room, Jor and Eliana were out of reach of the communications of Jareth or Khasar, shielded behind the solid metal density that Jareth had made clear had made downloading the information impossible. They were expected to be quick, but ironically, now they stood in front of the overwhelming data bank, this felt like the one place that was safe from prying ears and spies.
She turned her comm piece off, it was useless anyway now thanks to being in faraday cage, after this she kept staring at all the data that was scrolling along the screens her eyes flicking back and forth as she processed it all, “I wonder if I can make a duplicate of all this data in the amount of time we are given” She mused as she went over to a console and inspected it.
“This data would also be super beneficial to the revolutionaries as well who could use it for the exact same purpose” She said to her plant friend.
To Khasar, there would be no reply. Not even any evidence his whisper had been heard.
Because it hadn't.
"Maybe." Jor grunted to Eliana, floral eyes drifting over screens, profile after profile.
"But whoever it gets into the hands of, it can and will deal a lot of damage. A lot of people will almost certainly die, or worse, and a lot of them will not necessarily deserve it. Ideological conflict always comes with this, if our study of the fauna races of Izut are any indication." he shrugged, his visor settling on the android.
"If we let anyone get their hands on it at all. I have an idea, but it depends how fast you are at computers."
Eliana chuckled “I am very good and fast with computers my fauna based lifeform compatriot” She replied to Jor as she was now at the console.
She gave her knuckles a crack, or at least she did the motion of it, if she were human they would have cracked, “So what do you want me to do then Jor?” She asked.
Jor nodded.
"Empty the database copy on the disc so it is only their names and such. Surface information, so a cursory glance makes it seem as though everything is there when actually nothing of worth is." he explained.
"If you like instead corrupt the rest of it so the file sizes remain unchanged but it remains unusable, but I'll leave that to how quickly you think you can do it. The point is, nobody gets hurt with this information, and with a bit of luck, we get away from Mr Nimblus with our due money. I won't pretend I know any of these people, but I don't want to be associated by proxy if someone comes looking for vengeance, and I doubt you do either."
A pause.
"Unless you want to give a copy to the locals."
She nodded and began setting to work, taking time to get into the system and corrupting the file as Jor said making it look the same size and given a cursory glance looked like it contained the information he wanted, whilst she also made a copy for herself and a second corrupted copy that she could give the locals if they needed leverage.
The lines of code, files, documents, and alike fly across the screen in rapid succession. Eliana worked quickly, creating the copy for herself, along with two corrupted copies, all copied across on to three hand sized data drives, ready to be plucked from the server towers. As she did so, the personal information continued to flood across the multiscreen room, showing worker, oligarch, mercenary and alike. Jareth had collected information on everyone, that much was clear. It begged the question, what information did he have on the group?
The data finished copying, and the screens went a scrambled mess of code and colour as Eliana completed the corruption of the data on the system. With that, she and Jor removed the data devices, carrying with them as they left the metal room. As they emerged once more into the wine cellar, their communication devices once more erupted into life with the sound of Khasar, and Jareth.
“What is taking them so long? Khasar, if they have ran into more trouble, you are my only hope…”
Khasar chuckled. "If they are in trouble we'll have a quick talk about my portion of the reward. Where are you? You should get ready to get us out of here."*
Despite his words, he showed no rush to actually go anywhere, instead relaxing at his table in the Miner's Welfare Tavern. He ordered some kind of pastry and a water to clear his head after drinking with the Imaginese troopers, not wanting the key phase of this mission to be ruined by him accidentally committing a DUI and driving his bike into a streetlamp....
Jor's tone came onto the comm next, almost the instant Khasar was off it. The floral alien himself was at a steady stride, looted plasma gun in his free hand as he made his way back up the stairs.
"Apologies for the delay. The package is secure. Moving to extraction now." he reported, before lowering his hand, shouldering his rifle.
They couldn't be sure if there weren't any stragglers, after all.
“Oh are they speaking again” Eliana said to Jor, as she had turned her comms device off when they got downstairs just to be certain that no one was listening even if the place was acting like a faraday cage.
She then turned it back on “What Jor said we are moving to extraction with the package” She reaffirmed before drawing her pistol and heading off.
Jor and Eliana moved back through the mansion, back past the wine cellar, back to the staircase that climbed up and up through the foundations, and into the bright lights of the house’s ground floor. Amongst the debris and remains of the mercenaries they had battled, the mansion maintained an air of quiet that made it unsettling.
Once out into the night, the pair moved back towards the landing pad, the ornithopter, and Teddy and Gracie. The house’s lights illuminated the path, as they moved quickly, the crunch of pebble and stone underfoot the only noise that could be heard, aside from the wild cries of the night-time wildlife that occupied the woodlands nearby.
As they approached the thopter, that creaked into life upon their stepping on the pad, the door swung open, automatically, allowing them to board. Teddy remained unconscious, soundly sleeping after this dose of Gracie provided medical aid.
“Are we sorted? Ready to go?” she shouted back at Jor and Eliana. Jor confirmed, holding the data disk up in the air for viewing, rather than speaking a reply.
Jareth’s voice crept once more into their ears.
“We must be quick. There is a clearing about 6 miles or so from your positions. I am sending the coordinates now. The authorities are scanning our space, so I will come down myself to the site with my team and collect the disk from you. If we move with speed, I can be gone and done before these rebels even know I was here.”
The clearing was isolated and away from the town. The ornithopther was able to reach it with relative ease, but for Khasar, trailing through the wilds on his bike, it was far harder, even with him sobering up from the drinks. It was about 50m in diameter, surrounded by thick woodland that sheltered the sight from the eyes on the ground. Arriving at a similar time, the party regrouped, awaiting Jareth’s company.
Eliana sorted her stuff and stretched as she stepped out into the clearing from the thopter, “So how long do you reckon we are supposed to wait, that is even if our benefactor turns up and doesn’t sell us out” She asked the group in general.
Grabbing a few last bites and brushing the crumbs from his coat, Khasar stood and ducked out of the bar. Taking it slow, he took the opportunity to call his Imaginese compatriots and inform them of the location. Now he just had to wait and send a signal once Jareth himself had arrived.
He parked his bike just under the cover of the trees and then hurried over to the others, ducking into the shadow of the ornithopter which crouched like a huge beast of prey in the middle of the clearing.
"You had a fun time eh?" he asked, his breath frosting in the night air.
"If you consider getting shot fun, yes, I suppose so. I netted a new gun out of it if nothing else." Jor shrugged, the purple-armoured figure leant against a tree at the clearings edge, virtually with one foot in the shrubbery, arms crossed.
"Some interesting things me and Eliana found down there, a shame you were...wherever you went to."
“It was only a minor hiccup that we managed to get through and we got the information our Employer wanted, very interesting information so I hope we get paid handsomely” She spoke with a nod as she pulled out the first of the corrupted data sticks
“And where did you get off to?” She asked him. bouncing off Jors sentence
"Keeping an eye on the garrison," he replied curtly. "We discussed this remember?"
"Ah yes." Jor nodded softly, his gold visor turning elsewhere.
"I admit, I likely forgot. Not very much communication and all. Enjoy your trip? Ours involved bullets." he huffed, his tone as flat as ever.
"The locals bought me a drink, I had a lovely evening." replied Khasar airily, turning to squint into the darkness as though Jareth were hiding somewhere in the bushes
The conversation was interrupted by a distant rumble, that grew louder and louder, approaching the party in the wood clearing. Small lights denoted a vessel descending from the sky, slim lined and stylish, it clearly shared its design heritage with the Prosperity, Jareth’s ship that the gang had met upon.
It touched down, wind blowing through the trees as it released its landing gear, and parked neatly in the opening, in front of the assemble mercenaries. Within seconds, a side door and ramp began to unfold, and as the door opened, bright white light engulfed the party as they waited. A man stood in the doorway, the light casting a him in silhouette, though judging by the flowing fine gown, it was clear that Jareth himself stood before them.
With the ramp completed, he emerged, and touched down onto the ground beneath, the light now catching him fully. He gave the group a large, almost arrogant smile.
“Excellent, excellent!” he began, a wicked congratulatory tone complimented the nod of appreciation he gave. “This is most wonderful. You have the item then. Quickly now, hand it over. We haven’t much time.”
Khasar raised a hand as if to halt Jareth. "Hold on. The money. Let's see the prepared transfers before we hand over this macguffin of yours."
“Ah, the money. Of course.” Jareth said, almost through gritted teeth. Composing themselves, they produced a data pad from their side, and turned the screen towards the group.
“Thorough, yes, I should appreciate such professionalism.” He regained a sense of humour and confidence. “Here you go. Your nominated accounts are all here look. Transactions all prepared to be released. Once you all hold up your side. Now lets conclude this, shall we?”
Jor said nothing, arms remaining crossed, allowing his helmet to confirm what the screen said from a distance.
His helmet turned to Eliana, nodding his helmet in Jareth's direction.
"No point dawdling."
Eliana nodded and produced from her pocket one of the two corrupted drives that she had downloaded.
"As long as there is no back stabbing, here you go Jareth" she said a bit coldly towards him
Jareth clapped, a childish, gleeful joy spreading across his face, and an audible squeal escaping his mouth.
“Oh joy of joys. Well done, well done!”
He reached out with his right hand, grasping the (unbeknownst to him) corrupt drive, and lightly lifting it out of Eliana’s grasp. He looked it over, the smile ever increasing,
*”Rashan, would you check this please?” he beckoned, and a man emerged from the lit interior of the ship. It was the guard who had met the party when they had initially gathered on Jareth’s ship. He took the device, and returned to the small vessel’s interior for a moment.
There was an awkward pause, which Jareth chose to break.
“This is excellent work. Well done. I will keep your details on retainer, that is for sure. I will no doubt have more work for you in the future.” His mind seemed to trail off, with grand plans for the future. “I am so very glad that the research we conducted on you all was thorough. It proved to be right…yes, soon we will be able to get everything back on track.”
Research? No doubt Jareth had to have gathered some intelligence on the group in order to hire them, but how far did his knowledge go? Remembering the data bank held at the manor, and the secrets it told on thousands and thousands of individuals, it did not take a great leap to imagine.
Rashan reappeared in the doorway.
“It looks to all be here, sir.”
Jareth’s face revelled in delight, another quick clap of joy bursting from him.
“Wonderful! Here, here…” He tapped away on his data pad “The money is released. Wonderful work, all of you”
"Looks like you got what we came for," said Khasar, unable to take his eyes off the transfer notification on his holo. It was a fantastic payday, and it was only about to get better. He just had to stall for a moment or two whilst the Imaginese arrived.
"Hey, so now you have it surely you can tell us, what is it we went to such trouble to acquire?" he asked. Jareth's expression made it clear it was something the man had desperately wanted, and in Khasar's experience only two things prompted such joy. Money or vengeance.
Eliana look at the transaction and nodded “Future business could be negotiated depends on the work that you would want doing” She spoke as she put weapons away no wondering how they were meant to leave this place.
“We gathered information for him on the people of the planet” She said casually as she turned her head to look at Khasar.
Jor had been debating whether or not to tell Khasar what they found, but apparently Eliana made that decision for him.
"And whatever he chooses to do with it, is up to him." the man grunted, pushing off the tree he was leaning on.
"As far as I'm concerned, business is concluded." he made a vague, somewhat robotic waving gesture as he started to move off.
And time to get as far from this sector of space as I can, he thought.
“Indeed.”Jareth concluded. “Our work here is done. A pleasure…”
A noise emerged from the vessel. A bleeping alarm made Jareth’s face drop from gloating to concern, and he turned, tucking his head back into the lit interior.
“Rashan! What is it?” he bellowed through gritted teeth.
“Incoming, sire. The authorities! They just…appeared, as if they were waiting on us!” Rashan said, his own worry now registering.
“WHAT?! HOW?!”Jareth swivelled, back to the darkness of the wood, looking upwards to the skies.
Sure enough, a noise now grew louder, and louder, as half a dozen dropships rumbled over the forest canopy, and into view, descending upon the signal that Khasar had so clandestinely fed to them. Flood lights blinded the party on the ground, as the ships circled.
“YOU BETRAYED ME? WHICH ONE OF YOU?” Jareth was in a spin, anger radiating. “RASHAN! GET ME OUT OF HERE!”
But it was too late, Rashan, a rifle slung over his shoulder, was pushing the oligarch out of the way as he headed down the vessel’s ramp.
“Sorry, I am OUT!”the man said, abandoning his boss as he started off towards the woods. “I ain’t getting thrown in prison…”
“STOP WHERE YOU ARE!” A voice bellowed from a speaker from the dropships hovering above. Khasar recognised it as the female soldier he had shared a drink with, though her tone was far more professional in this guise. Rashan however, did not stop. He looked over his shoulder up at the ship, before setting off at a run.
A burst of fire erupted from the ship, as twin machine guns from the dropships wings descended upon the retreating Rashan, who fell in a bloody slump to the ground.
“NO ONE WILL MOVE. THE AREA IS SURROUNDED.”
Jareth slumped. Fury, despair, loss, all crashing over the man like a wave hitting the shore.
“I…I…will destroy you.” He said, spitting his words to Khasar, Jor and Eliana. “I will boil you alive. You will regret this.”
A dropship lowered into the clearing, suspended above the ground, its guns aimed on the assembled.
“Comrade Khasar. We thank you for your cooperation.”The female soldier spoke. “You will be rewarded fully. Mr Nimblus, you are guilty of crimes against the people of Irena II. You will face the people’s justice.”
Jareth scoffed.
“Khasar,” the soldier addressed again, over the megaphone. “The rest of your party…what is to be done with them?”
Khasar glanced at the others and shrugged, his usual terseness reasserting itself now that he didn't have to play the part.
"None of my business. What do you normally do with people who sell out?"
He turned off his holo, tightened the belt around his overcoat, and then clambered up onto his hoverbike with a grunt. Nodding to the gunship, he goosed his engines and disappeared into the forest...
Jor stiffened as the Imaginese appeared in force, though he was seemingly unperturbed by Rashan being gunned down, saying nothing as Khasar and the soldiers spoke.
As much as he'd like to offer the moustached man a plasma bolt as reward for his efforts, he doubted the gunship pilot would much appreciate the gesture.
Behind the visor of his helmet, he watched Khasar leave, grumbling naught but possibly the most vitriolic thing he'd said the entire day.
'Hairy fucking primate.'
The helmet then rolled on the spot, to the Imaginese soldiers.
"I don't know what 'sell out' means in his parlance, but I doubt its actually what happened. Tell me, did he actually mention to you what we found?"
The dropship continued to hover above the surface, though the side doorway opened, the dimly lit interior splashing a hue of red light onto the ground, and a figure, the female soldier, appeared in the doorway. She was dressed in the drab green battle armour and blackened clothing of the Imaginese Liberation Army, a helmet and mask adorning her face, a laser rifle slung across her shoulders casually as she held onto a handle inside the ship with her left hand, and the microphone for the loud speaker in her right.
She lifted the microphone, and her voice, distorted slightly with the removal of all bass tones from her mask, responded.
“Negative. Khasar has aided us in locating this…fugitive.” She cast a look in the direction of Jareth, who continued to seethe.* “My understanding was the rest of your hired party were searching for something at Nimeth’s manor. If you found something that would aid the revolutionary tribunal in their prosecution of Mr Nimeth, then I can assure you of your safety.”*
Jareth spat with anger. Teeth clenched, he growled at Jor and Eliana.
“Listen. Both of you. I can pay. MORE than I have done. Get me out of here and I will make you the richest mercenaries who ever lived!”
Jor turned to Jareth, pausing for a moment.
"Do you...do you see the gunship?"
He wondered for a moment how human brains worked, before turning back.
"We were sent to his manor, you're right. What we found down there was a database on--at the very least--everyone on this continent. Including him." Jor gestured a thumb at the body of Rashan.
"But more realistically, everyone on this planet and it's orbit. Potentially even all of you. All the information a man could want to trip up this Revolution of yours."
A pause. Whether for effect or out of Jor's concerns for human processing speeds wasn't clear.
"I didn't feel comfortable giving one person that much power, and seemingly, neither did Eliana as she agreed to my plan. It's a good thing Rashan never opened any of the files in that database, because everything under the names is useless."
He gestured to Nimblus' ship.
"He had just checked it, so it's probably still there, if you want to see what I mean."
Eliana blinked a few times and looked at Jareth
“Helping you escape from this situation is not within the parameters of the contract that we agreed on, and as Jor has pointed out there is a gunship that would end us the moment we decide to help you” She said clearly
She then looked at the female soldier “Jor just explained it well enough but yes all the data on that drive was corrupted by myself so he could not have that much power, well no one should have that much power” She said with a shrug. “We were just doing a job we were paid to do, that job has ended when he got the corrupted drive we have no qualms with the Liberation Army”.
The soldier stared at the trio, the drop ship softly landing upon the surface, two more still suspended in the air, covering the skies and surrounding the scene. As it touched down, a rush of boots could be heard clanking across the metallic floor, and a platoon of 10 (the female soldier included) launched themselves out of the vessel, onto the floor, and straight towards Jareth. Seeing them charge, Jareth turned, a last desperate effort to retreat inside his own ship and escape, but his old legs were not as nimble, nor as quick as the armour clad troops bearing down upon him.
2 soldiers lashed out, clubbing him in the back with the buts of their rifle, causing him to groan as he fell to the ground. As he coughed and spluttered, they violently grabbed his arms, forcing them behind his back, one holding the oligarch down, whilst the other wrestled with his hands, attempting to put restraints upon him. Despite his protest, Jareth was no match, and before long, he was being lifted, and dragged unwillingly towards the Imaginese Dropship.
The female soldier made a command in her native tongue, and several other members of the platoon began to search Jareth’s ship. After a few moments, a shout in Imaginese called out from the ship, and a soldier, data disk in hand, the very one Jor and Eliana had handed over, appeared in the doorway. The commanding officer replied, and the soldier holding the data disk stored it away, before returning to his own dropship.
“Indeed. What you say would appear to be true. You may have just assisted in the easiest prosecution of one of Irena II’s most notorious former oligarchs. For this, you have our appreciation.”
A shout could be heard as Jareth screamed expletives, before a rough punch to the gut silenced him, and he disappeared inside the Imaginese VTOL.
“Thank you. I will arrange it so that your passage off the planet is easy. Should we ever require assistance in locating any more fugitives, we shall keep you both in mind.”
She gave them a nod, before turning on her heel, and boarding the ship, which promptly lifted into the air, leaving Jor and Eliana alone in the opening.
Khasar - Beef
Gracie - Ievpop
Teddy - Mando
Eliana - DM
Jor - Snowy
The “Prosperity” was what could only be regarded as a Spaceship that dripped in opulence. The private vessel of Jareth Vindice Newton Nimblus III, the exterior shine of its pearlescent white coat was matched by the sleek, modern interior. Roughly 500 metres in size from top to tail, it was fit for a small compliment of staff, private security, and piloting team, along with Jareth’s immediate circle and himself. Staff quarters were nothing in size compared to the suite that Jareth called his own, however. A bed that could sleep half a dozen venturing just off a self-care and spa room were all very fancy, but the real centrepiece was the formal dining room, which is where the collection of new hired individuals found themselves.
A large, polished, wooden table, with seating for a large gathering, or small banquet sat centrally in the room. The walls decorated with beautiful digital display screens, today showing an animated representation of a beautiful woodland scenes from the planet below, that the “Prosperity” now orbited. For it was here, circling the planet known as “Irena II” that our collection of individuals had been invited.
Each had been approached by a third party, purposely with the same message:
“Wealthy individual seeks your assistance in retrieving a family heirloom. Will pay VERY handsomely.” Along with the coordinates for the location of the “Prosperity”.
Each party had arrived within a few hours of each other, as had been the design, and had been directed after docking with the ship to the dining space, where they had sat in a relatively uncomfortable silence, although not for long. Once the final “invitee” had arrived, one of the guards who had been stood by the doors of the room ducked out, returning moments later, and announcing the arrival of the host; Jareth Vindice Newton Nimblus III.
The gentleman himself was older, but that did not take away from his stature. Bronzed skin almost glistened in the light, his greying hair greased back, his curling moustache and small goatee trimmed to perfection. He walked with a shining cane, which he put a little weight on as he walked. His clothing was immaculate. A fine, tailor jacket, comfortable, but certainly expensive. He walked into the centre of the table, taking up a chair that looked directly across at the invitees, as if they were about to take part in one big interview. As he sat, a servant, a short young woman with a blue sheen to her skin, poured a gorgeously dark red wine into a glass.
“Please Kaso, bring some of the ’53 for our guests…” gesturing across to the invitees. His voice a deep rugged tone.
He took a sip from his cup, before placing it down and looking directly at the party:
“Well, what a collection we have here. I was told you’d be interesting, and my my, they were right weren’t they? Well…you were intrigued enough to accept the invitation, so please let me tell you more of our…predicament.” He paused, choosing to take another sip in the gap.
“The Nimblus family has been a part of society on Irena II for hundreds of years. There’s a reason for this. We OWN Irena. The mines, the ship yards, we own it…or we did. We’ve long been at loggerheads with the authorities down there…they are so caught up in their “democracy” that they forget their place, and don’t understand how important it is to have a family like ours around to keep things going. I wont bore you now going on about the inner workings of our politics, but needlessly to say this time their “revolution” has made it…impossible for me to stay. The “Radicals” have taken over. They’re invited the “Socialist Republic of Imaginarium” in to help administrate, and I’ve read my history…these types of revolutions end with people like me being lined up against a wall.”
Pausing, he looks around at the individuals…
“The job is straight forward. I have withdrawn as much wealth as I can and do not intend on stepping foot on the planet again. In my rush to leave however I have left…something…at my estate. Forgive me, but I wont go into the details until you are there, just in case the authorities intercept you…I can’t have them knowing about…it. You will be rewarded greatly mind…”
He pauses again.
“Oh my…my manners. I am so very sorry, I haven’t even given you the opportunities to introduce yourselves. You will soon be working together soon after all…please, let’s go around the table…”
He looks again to the party, as Kaso begins filling the cups of the guests...
Sitting down with her feet on the table was Gracie Palina. Previously a military pilot for the consulate of Astril she decided to go private. Just for the money, there was nothing else to it. She had to fund her desires somehow.
Gracie looked more like some punk, emo, biker, goth hybrid then an ace pilot. It was an attempt to separate herself from military roots the best she could, it worked most of the time. She had short black hair with purple bangs that covered one eye. She wore a sleeveless crop top leather jacket over a dark blue sports bra and had shoulder, elbow and kneeepads. Her hands were covered by black leather fingerless gloves with metal studs embedded in them. She wore a short black skirt and had tall combat boots. The exposed skin revealed numerous biological connection ports she used to connect to her craft alongside her genetically enhanced musculature. The look was finished by a pair of aviator style sunglasses.
As their employer stepped in Gracie did get her feet back on the ground as a sign that she actually cared about what he had to say. It was their mission after all. Once Jareth asked them to introduce themselves she spoke up first.
“I am Gracie, Gracie Palina. My callsign is Smackdown, if you prefer to call me that. I am a pilot for hire with my very own fancy ass stealth assault thopter. I can fly us under the radar no problem and if we ever get into trouble my craft is packing heat. Just remember to wear your seatbelts, you don’t want to become paste when I have to pull some elite manoeuvres.”
She had complete confidence in herself. Gracie had no doubts, no worries, with her behind the wheel nothing can go wrong. She was considered an ace pilot after all so how can this job compare?
Right next to Gracie was a younger white man, most notable thing being his clothes; he was sporting a navy blue blazer over his black shirt, black trousers and dark brown boots.
He had short fair hair and green eyes which were often busy darting around the room looking for details.
He arrived earlier than most others, simply hitching a ride in a small shuttle he rented earlier which looked mostly empty, save for some clothes, food and water, but an experienced inspector with proper tools would be able to find hidden stashes of ammunition and weapons neatly packed along plenty of fake ID’s.
Unlike most of his colleagues, he almost never used anything he took into that shuttle and relied more on wits rather than guns to resolve problems at hand.
He was more drawn to adventure, and the money he earned would help him avoid asking for more from his superiors back on Malaak, and he could even send it back to impress them if he ever got in trouble.
As Jareth walked into the room, he stood up from his seat and waited for him to start talking before sitting back down, focusing on what he and Gracie had to say.
He gave off an aura of calm, smiling pleasantly at Jareth when he entered the room, he was enjoying making small talk with others before his arrival. When Gracie finished introducing herself, the man stood up again and started talking in a fruity voice:
“My name is Teddy, and where I come from most people don’t have surnames. I have many other names, jobs and skills which tend to change depending on what the mission requires. I’m adept at fighting or peacefully solving the problem, whichever one you would prefer. It won’t be my first time retrieving valuables from their rightful owner, who was so tragically robbed of what was rightfully theirs. Especially saddening considering how good of a host you are mister Nimblus.”
He sat back down and nodded thankfully to Kaso as his drink was poured.
Eliana stood just away from the table looking at some of the screens, she had been sent here by her owners to partake in this assignment.
Eliana was a small woman of about 5’ 5” with alabaster skin with glowing blue irises and a deep crimson hair that was braided down her back. She wore a short sleeved drab khaki brown tunic that was covered with a khaki chest armour accompanied with shoulder pads that bore her identification digits AZ-1506, attached to the chest armour was a webbing system that carried her essentials and a standard revolver and a hilt for a knife. Her lower half was covered by the same drab khaki brown coloured trousers with some khaki thigh plates finished off with some brown thigh boots with shin guards over them.
As their employer entered she turned her head to listen to the man and analyse what he was saying about their mission.
She then listened to the first two of her compatriots speak and introduce themselves before she spoke up herself.
“I am Cricaen Azerty unit AZ-1506, designation Eliana, in other peoples terms I am an android, my skills change from mission to mission depending on what is needed. I am here at the request put out by our host Mr Newton Nimblus III” She spoke in a calm voice that had a sort of automated tone to it.
The next sat at the table was...
Well, the most immediately obvious thing about them was that they weren't actually an animal, but rather a humanoid plant, which some might recognise as a Lumnaed. Large leaves formed a head of 'hair' atop their head, their only meaningful facial feature being two sharp yellow eyes.
They wore thick, purple armour with light blue stripes and markings, dotted with mint green lights, over a thick black bodysuit and with cables visible connecting the armour sections, their helmet with a large rounded orange visor placed on the table, their similarly coloured rifle leant against the table and a pistol on each hip. The boots of the suit were rubbery and thicker than almost any other part of the armour, rising to the knees and meeting the armoured kneepad, while the gloves were similar though thin enough to remain dexterous, an armoured vambrace mounted over the top. Interestingly, the shapes of the armour and the way light shone off it seemed to indicate it wasn't wholly rigid.
"Greetings." the figure spoke, their voice audible and clear but emotionally dry, almost but not quite robotic in intonation, and their accent was utterly indistinct, like something that had a fluent understanding of the language but little actual experience in its use.
"I am Jor Mkactel. Jor is fine, if you struggle to pronounce the entire name. My specialities are much more...straightforward. If our team finds itself attacked, I am best suited to dealing with it. I also have some skills in perimeter infiltration and demolitions, if those become relevant." the floral humanoid introduced, giving a nod.
"I was offered this job by an agent of Mr Nimblus III, and thought it would be suitable for my abilities. I look forward to working with you all."
The final figure was a small but terrifying-looking man clad in thick fur robes, topped by a curious fur-lined hat with a small conical peak from which a horsehair crest dangled. His face was wizened and windburnt, and he had a thick mustache that started just either side of his nose and dropped down past his jutting chin. When he spoke, his voice was gravelly and somehow nasal and deep at the same time.
"Khasar Teeverchin, of Eastern Wu," he grunted, and then slugged the wine in one, pulling a face as if surprised by the contents. He chose not to elaborate on his skillset, that single statement appearing to have exhausted his capacity for conversation, but the Galant Industries GI-2461 carbine propped against his chair and the flanged mace at his hip suggested he was used to close-quarters work, whilst the goggles around his neck hinted at hoverbike familiarity, the natural evolution of the famed Wusian horsemanship. Finally, a quiver of arrows was slung on his back, although it had only four arrows in it and no bow was immediately visible.
“Well, thank you Mr….Teeverchin…that was wonderful, and might I say that you are every bit the diverse party I was promised aren’t you?” Jareth said, as the group finished introducing itself. “All with such skills, and with such…variety…I am very excited to see you all in action…which is why we are here so, please let me share the details of the job.” He had such positive glee in his voice, the words spilling out almost lyrically.
Jareth took a sip from his glass whilst tapping on a tablet which lay on the table with his other hand. The display screens surrounding the room changed away from the woodland scene and became filled with a map on a blue background, white lines outlining the very clear boundaries of a very large mansion, and it’s surrounding grounds.
“This is my former home, the Crystal Hall Manor.” Jareth began. “Up until very recently, it was the home of my family for 12 generations…I need you to retrieve…something…of great importance from my home. I am quite assured that the local populous have no idea it is there, and I would like to keep it that way. As such, I will not go into details at this moment on the contents of these…spoils…and I will inform you in greater detail when I am sure that you are within their grasps. Suffice to say however that if this…thing…fell into the hands of the new regime…well it would be at my disadvantage whilst I was trying to secure a new life for myself.”
He tapped on the tablet again, this time zooming out to show more details of the surrounding ground.
“The Manor is 4 miles from the nearest settlement, a town called Avala, a bit of a nothing place, but a place with a garrison of soldiers newly imported from Imaginarium and a local space port. The Manor is also surrounded by 3 miles of thick woodland, and there is one roadway into the estate, as well as a landing pad on site. As you can see, we have several smaller buildings on site as well as the main house itself. How you wish to conduct the business of getting in is completely up to you. You are the professionals after all. We can offer your transport down to the surface, although with…ahem…’Smackdown’ here, I think you may have that covered.”
“In the first instant then, I would ask that you successfully gain access to my former home. Once there, I will be in contact with these,” he motioned to a guard stood by the door, who brought over a black case. Settling it down on the table they unfastened the locks, and lifting the lid showed off a data pad and earpiece each for all members of the party.”
Jareth smiled and looked back at the group.
“The successful retrieval of my items will be rewarded with 3 SIGEC each deposited into an account of your choice, and of course, I will retain your details for further such…work.”
He pointed at his glass, and around the table, motioning for Kaso to refill the glasses of everyone.
“So, unless you have any questions, what do you think? How do you want go about this?”
RoastBeef — 01/11/2021 13:32
Khasar scratched his jaw absently and squinted at the maps on the display screens. He raised a finger and pointed at the town. "Drop us at the spaceport, we'll say we're mercenaries after the bounty on your head. I'll hang around, leave some little surprises in town to keep the garrison occupied in case things go wrong, then go sit on the road to your manor. The rest of you can fly closer and try sneak in, someone deals with any anti-air lying around whilst someone else grabs the treasures, then you come pick us up from the landing pad at the manor."
He leaned back, crossing his arms, seemingly pleased with himself. He wondered if Jareth would react to the mention of a bounty - he had not heard of any such bounty, but he figured that this man had not left his family estates by choice and that either the new owners would have put a price on his head, or Jareth would at least believe they had...
Gracie was not a tactician, she was just the one flying and all the important operational planning was left to desk jockeys who knew the exact range of a certain shitfuck anti air missile so they could instruct her in turn. But she did know a lot about her ornithopter and it’s capabilities so she chimed in on the discussion. “Yes yes, I can get us close by flying under radar. I can keep the perimeter under watch while the rest get inside and do their thing. The craft has some backup thrusters for a speedboost if we have to hurry.”
Gracie avoided drinking anything. She may be gung-ho and a bit wild but she was still a pilot and even with her biomods potentially cleaning out alcohol much quicker she would not risk it. It was not just her own live at stake but her reputation, equipment and her fellow comrades.
“It may be a little early to ask but I do need help with doing pre flight checks for my craft. So once we are done discussing I would like an extra pair of hands with that.”
Eliana looked over the maps of the house, her eyes flicking from screen to screen as she processed data and kept it in her mind from the houses’ exterior to the details about the town that he gave them and the garrison. She didn’t want to deal with a garrison with only one person focusing on weapons and that being the strange plant creature that was with them that identified itself as Jor. She then turned and pivoted on her heels and looked at Khasar and then at their employer “As Khasar just mentioned is there any emplacements that would be needing to be dealt with and if so are they manned or automatically controlled” She asked Jareth.
Just after she finished talking to Jareth, she then looked at Gracie “If you require assistance with the checks I can try to be of service” She offered.
“Ah yes…” Jareth spoke, addressing the Eliana. “According to our intelligence, there’s never been any anti-air ‘weaponry’ held within the vicinity of Avala or it’s space port. Now, bare in mind our intelligence is a few days old now, and we do know that Imaginarium has moved troops into the area. My understanding is that these are simply forces brought in to help maintain the peace following the uprising…it would surprise me if Avala had been turned into a fortress…but perhaps you have better intelligence than I?”
He turned to face Khasar.
“You certainly seem to have your sources? I never said anything about a ‘bounty’ on my head…but certainly it is true…the new regime would like me to ‘stay’ on the planet…it would perhaps be wise to assume that there may be added security at my former home that has been placed there since I left…”
Khasar's face split into a gap-toothed grin, and he wagged a finger at Jareth, thrilled with himself.
"You are my source haha, but it is good to know. How much is this bounty on your head?"
"Certainly less than I am paying you my friend...otherwise I would have to watch my back now wouldn't I?" Jareth responded, with a casual wink an equally toothy smile, and a finger point at Khasar.
"Well played. I like you."
Gracie chuckled as she overheard the conversation between Jareth and Khasar and then turned to Eliana. “I would definitely love your assistance. It’s not anything complicated don’t worry, just making sure all the hatches close tight and the doors don’t rip off during flight.” Gracie gave Eliana a wink and then leaned forward to take a datapad an earpiece.
“Hey Jareth, you want these back at the end?” She said while waving around her hands holding the 2 pieces of equipment.
She listened to Jareth and nodded “Either way if there are anything that use a computerised system I should be able to get into and either take offline or take under my control for a brief period of time” She replied
She then went back to looking at the maps as Jareth and Khasar had their interaction before she was talked to again and turned to look at Gracie “Of course I can help with those tasks” She replied with a small smile.
Teddy left others to give their ideas, listening in on them and considering different ways to approach this. He liked the idea of pretending to be on the hunt for Jareth, it would certainly grant them access to his manor, although under watchful eyes of Imaginarium troops, with an excuse of ‘gathering intelligence about their target’. Ideally they would want the main road to the manor secured in case things go south quicker than imagined, but that could require more people than they had. Teddy did, however, have one idea…
“I like how you think Khasar, but I say we go one step further and assume greater control of the situation. Pretending to be on the hunt for mister Nimblus will certainly grant us access to the manor if we are successful, but what then? We would be under constant supervision by present Imaginarium troops. Having a man on the inside would help us tremendously with that problem, so I propose we split up into two teams, one pretending to be after the bounty and other tasked with reconnaissance and infiltration. Team Bounty would make their presence known and arrive at the spaceport while others arrive early and try to get themselves inside the mansion, ideally disguised as the guards there."
"The fact that the garrison just arrived recently gives us an opportunity to justify ‘late arrival of a couple unassigned soldiers’ or something akin to that. Once inside, the team would blend in and stay quiet, passively gathering info about the place until team Bounty arrives. With a bit of time, we could arrange to be the actual escort that is supposed to keep an eye on the ‘mercenaries out to get Jareth’, effectively giving us a free pass over most of the mansion without raising suspicion. Once we retrieve the items in question, assuming that they are small enough to be concealed, bounty hunters can call it a day and we would escort them out of the mansion and into the woods, where the stealth thopter would pick us up. We would be home with the items and nobody would have to die. Nobody is the wiser about our mission.”
Teddy took a sip of wine and let the plan settle in on others for a moment.
“Alternatively we could take the guards out one by one as the ‘bounty hunters’ come up and they will help us deal with anyone who remains alive. We could mine the road if the garrison has access to mines, and use the thopter to hold off reinforcements while we get out.”
Khasar raised an eyebrow then wriggled his nose.
"Ehh, not a bad thought except one big problem. None of us look Imaginese and none of us speak Imaginese, and even if we did I think faking membership of a foreign military is pretty tough to do for more than like 5 minutes. The moment someone asks us any details we are screwed and they'll march us out to a wall somewhere," he said, "but you're right about not letting them know we are interested in the manor. We should tell them we think he's out in the woods somewhere far from the manor, so we don't make them suspicious."
Gracie had to process teddy’s plan for a good few seconds before fully getting it but then she spoke up just like Khasar.
“I agree with Khasar, we are hardly inconspicuous. So let’s not try to infiltrate a foreign military? I do like the idea of trying to avoid combat though. Pretending to be on the hunt for Jareth would give us some cover for a while, until things go bad of course. So long as they don’t inspect my craft I can keep its weapons hidden, pretending just to be a transport and scout. Would help reduce suspicions as well.“
The floral humanoid's unblinking gaze remained unshifting under the discussion. Finally, waiting for a pause, they cut in as the discussion reached the point of pretending to be those they weren't.
"Overcomplication is just asking for trouble. A diversion is a valid approach, but disguises are unnecessary. We are mercenaries, paid to look for evidence of our actual client's whereabouts. If we are stopped or found out, that is what we have guns for." they suggested, the voice seemingly emanating from their face.
"We know where our target is, we should stick to acquiring it as much as possible."
"Okay okay," said Khasar, raising his hands, his ragged woolen fingerless gloves calling for quiet, "so here's the plan. We all land in town, say we are mercenaries following up a lead that Jareth is camped out in the woods eating nuts and berries or whatever. Pilot drops you three off in the woods," here he jabbed a stubby finger towards Eliana, Teddy and Jor "then hangs around to give eagle eye view and help as needed. You three sneak into the manor, plant boy takes out any anti-air, you and robot lady go find the goods."
He leaned back in his chair and rested his splayed hands on his belly, seemingly pleased with himself. "Me, I stay in town, leave some little surprises here and there as insurance, then go sit on the road to the manor and slow the garrison down if they realise what you are doing. Once you have the package, we all meet at the manor's landing pad and get out of there. If something goes wrong, we meet back in the woods."
“See this….this is why it is good to network, hire professionals. I had such a good feeling about your all!” Jareth spoke, standing up, bringing the short meeting to a close.
“I look forward to seeing the endeavours of your works. Yes yes, please take the communicators, they are yours to do with as you please. I will be on one of the channels directing you once you reach my former abode, but they work like any typical communicator, press here to do the chit chat across to your new…comrades in arms” chuckling to himself as he once again referred to the ear pieces now being provided to the group.
“Please, make whatever adequate preparations to the fleet vehicle you wish…by my reckoning it will be dusk in Avala in…oh about an hour…maybe the best light to do your deeds. I wish you the best of luck…” giving the group one final nod and a clap of his hands as he takes his leave from the room.
---- ---- ----
After a little while, the group found themselves escorted by the same tall guard who had stood present at the door of the dining space, back through the “Prosperity’s” cargo bay, a small enough space, the entirety of which was taken up by the aforementioned Thopter.
“Hey…Mr Nimblus would like me to tell you that we have ourselves a small arsenal of gadgets and weaponry, taken from the Nimblus company arsenal…” the guard said, speaking with a thick, twang of an accent. He was not muscley per say, but there was something in the way he carried himself that suggested to all the party that he had great core strength. His face, angular, clean shaven, with a small scare above the left eye brow. Dark brown hair shaven short adorned the top of his head. The deep blue uniform, made of utility trousers and a tight fitting compression shirt, clean on.
“He…er…says that if there’s anything you require, you should come speak to me, see if we can’t…you know…muster up some assistance. Name’s Rashan by the way.”
Gracie’s ornithopter stood ready in the cargo bay. It’s sleek angled black exterior giving of a definite aura of stealth and special operations. It rested on 4 human like mechanical arms which gave it an almost animalistic predator vibe, as if it was waiting to pounce on unsuspecting prey. Its 6 wings were currently folded back to make it more compact. There seemed at first glance to be no cockpit, the place where one would normally go consisted of the same black plating. No weapons were visible yet as they were folded into the hull to maintain the radar deflecting shape. The troop compartment of the craft was accessed by a back ramp. Lastly, there were a pair of small jet thrusters hidden into the general shape of the craft.
Gracie walked up to her craft and did a quick walk around to make sure it wasn’t scratched by any of Jareth’s goons. “Rashan you said? Well I can use somebody to help load up my weapons. Just give me a second to turn this thing on.” After Gracie said that she went up into the troop compartment and opened a little closet in the floor where she kept her pilot suit….. suit was definitely a strong word, seeing how consulate pilots have to link with their craft through the skin or bioports placed over their body the suit had to be a very minimal design. It was just for preserving dignity when getting in and out of the ornithopter.
After a quick change into her suit she approached the front of the ornithopter and found the lever used to open the cockpit. She gave it a strong pull and as it sprung back into its normal position the front of the craft began to open up. The top part moved up a little and then slid forward, a small step assist folded out and down to the ground for Gracie to climb up onto. The interior looked more like a great heap of guts and organs rather then a flight control system. There was a convenient cocoon like indent for the pilot to enter. Gracie turned her head to look at the others. “Say goodbye to my pretty face for a while, since I won’t be leaving my craft until we are back and safe. Oh, his name is Jackal by the way.” With these final words said she sat herself down into the biotech cockpit. The rest didn’t get a good look of how she connected before the cockpit slid back shut.
There was a small moment of nothing and then the entire craft began to twitch and move. The ornithopter suddenly became uncannily alive in its movement. It did not move like a machine but rather an animal with metal skin. After a few seconds there was a sound of static coming from the craft before it cleared up and Gracie’s voice was heard though several speakers installed on the in and outside of the thopter. “Hello? Check check, are the speaker doing good?”
Eliana left the room and picked up a datapad and ear piece as she left and went after Gracie to help her with the pre-flight checks like she said she would. She followed Gracie around the copter and listened to her when given instructions and did as she asked when she was told. She stood back as it began moving and began coming to life. “Yes you are coming through the speaker fine” She replied as her hair whipped around from the down draft from the crafts engines.
Khasar seated himself on a nearby crate and watched Eliana and Gracie go through the pre-flight checks, coaxing the complex aircraft into life. He pulled out some jerky and chewed absently as the others busied themselves about the ornithopter. It was a strange looking machine, but it seemed reliable enough, almost like one of the big military robots the IJN used.
He gave a thumbs up as Gracie ran the speaker test, then turned to Rashan.
"I am pretty much set, but if you have any remote explosives that'd be great." he said, as if ordering breadsticks to go with his pizza.
“Not got any up here in the ship m’afraid. But uh…if I heard right you’re gonna be the guy sitting in Avala right? Boss had a ‘hub’ for his mining operations just north of the space port. You know, garage type place, where they fixed up the mining trucks, equipment came in and out…should be able to find some blasting explosives there if you need ‘em.” Rashan said, replying to Khasar.
“Be careful though…doubt you’ve ever come across Irenan’s before…they have so rarely got off planet. Tall folk…pale skin. They say it’s as white as the moon, because the sky can be so dark on Irena II. That’s another thing…don’t be surprised if you have little in the way of day light. We will be going down at night…but it’s rare you get a clear day down there…and the clouds block out so much sun. The Irenan’s have grown up in it, and they know how to use it to their advantage. It’s them who caused this “rebellion”…”
Jor had followed to the hangar, but primarily watched as the vehicle was prepared. The growling engine and heavy forward track section of jungle treadbikes he knew, the howling roar and whooshing air of marshland hovercraft he knew, but aircraft were largely beyond him, alien ones especially.
He decided it was better to stand and watch rather than risk breaking something.
Still, the helmeted visage of the floral alien turned to Rashan as he spoke.
"My thanks for the offer. Though, unless you have a few grenades, I have everything I need." he spoke, his voice as accentless and lacking in inflection as ever.
"Though, I do have one question for the group. We have figured out our plan of approach..." he raised his voice some, his head tilting to the side after turning back to the ornithopter.
"...but how do we plan on getting back to orbit?"
“We’ve got a transport that can do the job. You get in and out, and we’ll arrange a landing site…alternative is you use that bird of yours, meet us in the atmosphere and try and land the same way you’re going to be exiting soon…” Rashan said, responding to Jor, motioning towards “the bird” Thopter that Eliana and Gracie were doing the once over.
“How’s that all sound? We good to go?”
Khasar gave another laconic thumbs up, finishing his jerky and wiping his hands on his ragged jacket. He hoisted his pack and stumped over to the ornithopter, ready to go
Teddy used the brief pause for thopter maintenance to go back to his shuttle and get all of his gear ready. Since he would be going down as a merc, there was no real reason not to carry weapons. Opening the secret compartments that served as part-armory part- miscellaneous storage, he decided to switch out his outfit for one more befitting of a mercenary.
His tasteful clothes were carefully put back into their place, changed out for a worn out leather jacket and military pants. He perused his armory for a bit before finally deciding to take his “Pljusak” multi purpose shotgun, along with several variants of ammo for it.
Tossing his fancy boots aside for old-looking, rugged military boots, he put his throwing knife in them. He wouldn’t need anything more, as he always had his pistol on him. Finally, before putting everything back in its place and locking the shuttle, he put on a heavy-looking watch, a wonderful little thing that had many purposes, from recording and navigation to storing information.
With this completed, he arrived back to where everyone was chatting just in time to cut into the conversation.
“I reckon we should use the thopter. After all, we have a highly-capable pilot for it. And the speakers are working well.”
He slowly walked over to the thopter and nodded to Khasar, waiting on everyone else to be ready to go.
With the Thopter prepared, and with the crew loaded up ready to go, the Prosperity began its rapid descent into the atmosphere of the planet below. Ushering the gang into the Thopter, Rashan tested each earpiece to ensure that everyone was in communication with each other and the ship, and gave the count down for the disembarking in the skies above Irena II.
As the ship dipped into the gravitational pull of the planet, turbulence began to shake the entire vessel. Clearing the hanger bay, leaving just the gang in the Thopter prepared for drop, Rashan began the count down process in the ear of each member of the hired squad.
“Ok then people…10 seconds to go…Hanger doors. Open…start your engine…8…7….6…Thopter prepare for exit…4…3…2…1…Go go go!”
The orders come as the Thopter emerges from the ship, several miles above the planetary surface…the descent will be rapid, and the ascent of the ship back to orbit, away from enemy scanning is equally as quick.
“You are good to go…you are about 15kms south of Avala.” The voice of Rashan comes through once again on the communique channel. “I am sending the map of the area to you now…hey, you guys should thing of a name or something…Alpha Squad…no…think on it?”
“Hold tight everyone, here we go.” Gracie’s voice was heard through the earpieces and a small camera inside the transport scanned her cargo to make sure they have their seatbelts on. The thopter crawled out of the hangar on its four limbs and pushed itself out and towards the planet surface.
Once free from the ship the thopter went down in a shallow unpowered dive, the arms retracted into the hull and the wings slowly folded out to catch the atmosphere. The craft shook as it began to pick up an increasing amount of speed from its descent, there were no windows and the only light came from bioluminescent moss inside a see through plastic rod mounted flush in the ceiling which gave of an eerily white light.
Gracie being one with the machine felt every little shake and tremble. The altimeter was not just an instrument to look at but a part of her senses and once the craft got low enough and could catch enough atmosphere in its wings she extended them. What once was a frightening dive now turned into a gentle glide down.
Then the wings began articulating, a rapid buzzing sound came through into the troop bay as the ornithopter’s wings came to life. Now at cruising speed the thopter headed towards Avala, the map of the area was projected into her mind. “I am not against codenames, although I don’t have one ready right now.”
His head lolling slightly as he rode out the bumpy ride through the atmosphere, Khasar's face was hidden by his thickly furred hood, the luminescence gently illuminating him.
"Gracie can be Bug Actual, I will be Bug 1, Teddy can be Bug 2, Eliana Bug 3 and Jor Bug 4. Sound good?" he grunted, arms crossed
Jor swayed slightly, small wood-like hooks slipping through his armour to hold him in place.
"A callsign would be advisable. For convenience, if not dislike of each other's names." Jor nodded.
"I will agree to Bug-4. There are...'bug people' on my homeworld. Three separate species, in fact. I have met two of them." the plant-man mused aloud. "Though neither I nor any of you have any similarity to them."
Eliana sat there softly illuminated by the thopters interior white glow. She then looked confused as Khasar spoke about codenames and them being bugs
“We are not bugs though, and Eliana or AZ would be fine for me” She replied
Teddy sat next to Khasar, calmly gripping whatever there was to hold on to so that he would be less affected by the turbulence, he used the time to make a terrible attempt at a joke.
"You have to be bugging me... Sounds good. Bug Actual, ETA?"
“Well, hell…we don’t have to go with call signs…I mean no one else is gonna be on this frequency…was just a thought.” Rashan’s gravelled voice replies in the ears of the team, somewhat put out by the lack of call sign initiative being taken by the gang.
The descent from the atmosphere to Avala is quick. As soon as the Thopter reaches below the cloud line, the sky is darkened. With only an hour or so left until night-time proper, a thick dusk hue embraced the horizon, the twinkling lights of a settlement emerging one by one as the dark swallowed up the valley below.
As the Thopter moves closer towards its objective, the aforementioned settlement, the guiding lights of the spaceport on it’s southern side illuminate a path for the vessel. Still, descending through the turbulence makes the journey itself a little rougher, but as the Thopter drops to a thousand metres or so above ground, the wind begins to settle.
Avala’s spaceport itself is ram shackled. The first thing of notice as the Thopter comes into land is just how run down it is. There are signs of life on the ground below; the odd person moving across the landing pad, ships parked, powered down, awaiting their owners to return, but leaving plenty of room for other ships to come to rest. The terminal and control building sitting idly to the side, a large concrete structure, it’s balcony overhang almost glaring out in apathy at the rest of the port. Clearly designed for industrial transports rather than commercial, it seemed that the whole purpose of the spaceport was to put everything above the cosmetic. In fact, on closer inspection, some of the port itself was damaged. The charcoal remains of burnt-out industrial vehicles, along with a warehouse on the far side, showing signs of some form of recent conflict.
What else seemed out of place however were the ships parked at the power station, and their accompanied supplies. Even if the make and model were unknown to the party, these were clearly small gunships, the red star emblazoned on the tail the emblem of the Socialist Republics of Imaginarium. Surrounded by cargo also carrying the star, this was the first clear sign of the Republics involvement with the new regime here on Irena II.
The second sign was the small contingence of soldiers. Dressed in the standard Imaginese military operative dress, who viewed the arrival of the ship (The landing of which had not been questioned) and made their way towards the Thopter to make checks and to ask questions of the purpose of the landing.
With the Thopter safely landed, and the gang beginning to disembark, the soldiers, stood awaiting, their body language neither threatening nor welcoming.
“Good evening,” one spoke with a thick accented common tongue. “Please…what is your purpose here in Avala?”
After a moment's silence Khasar spoke up in Galactic Common.
"We are here to find Jareth Nimblus and claim the bounty on his fat head. We paid good money for a tip that he might be here, and we thought we'd help out the glorious Revolution by bringing him in." he said, pulling a stick of gum from his pocket and chewing obnoxiously.
Teddy stood behind Khasar, watching what was happening and wondering if they were going to ask for proper ID or not.
"Quite a lovely mess they left you to deal with here..."
He said more to himself than anyone else, noting the bad state of the poor spaceport.
Jor spoke up next, sounding almost robotic through his helmet.
"The longer Nimblus is alive, the longer someone else has to claim the bounty."
A beat.
"I do not intend to let that happen."
Gracie was listening in through the ornithopter’s microphone system. While the other were talking her vision was focused on the gunships parked nearby. She tried to identify their rough characteristics, whether they were more transport focused or heavy on armaments.
The craft didn’t stay still, it moved a little now and then. The occasional shake of its wings, the readjusting of its landing arms. Much like how a normal person would not just stay perfectly still when sitting down.
Eliana stood there quietly, she was looking around the dilapidated space port taking in the sights and the number of personnel that were hovering around. She then just looked at the soldiers as her companions talked and hopefully got them through
From Gracie’s vantage point, she had a relatively clear view of the gunships parked across the landing pad from the Ornithopter. The ambient lighting from the large orange lamps that illuminated the entire space port allowed the ships to be shown in full. 3 ships in total remained parked, although the space between the second and third ship alluded to the presence of a 4th vessel, not currently docked. 2 of the vessels seemed larger in nature, a transporter ship of some kind, compared with the one smaller, clearly combat orientated ship, although all shared similar characteristics: Large twinned jet engines either side of a hold all, a protruding tail out the back with the red star emblazoned.
-
The soldier, a woman of slight built beneath the harnesses and plated armour typical of the Imaginese forces, looked in at the group of travelers. She cast an eye over all of the group, an odd collection of individuals, as they addressed her on their business on the planet. She listened to them one by one, before addressing them once more.
“This mess?” She said, replying directly to Teddy’s point and gesturing around her at the burnt remains.
“This was the locals. This Mr Nimblus is not a popular gentleman. If you head down to the mine you will find all kinds of colourful language describing the man and his ‘crimes’.” She pointed in the direction south eastward, towards the looming towers of the mine.
She looked to her colleagues who stood either side of her, both looking cold and ready to finish up their discussion with the new group.
“Another group chasing Nimblus then, is it? Works for us. There’s a few of you bounty hunter types out on the planet now I’d say. They must be offering a decent reward. As I say, they really seem to hate this guy, and his bourgeois ilk…but Nimblus especially.”
She sighed, before diving into a clearly prepared dialogue.
“You are very welcome to stay on the planet. The revolutionary authorities of Irena II are happy to have you here, providing you understand that this is a delicate time for the nation. As you are here for work, I will outline some of the dos and do nots of your stay. Whilst you are here in Avala:
- Please ensure that your firearms remain holstered whilst in the town itself. The locals are particularly jumpy, and there is a large contingent of Imaginese forces around. We do not want any misunderstandings.
- The tavern in the centre is open for business, but is being used as a temporary hold for some of the Imaginese forces in the town.
- This one pertains to you directly; Mr Nimblus’s home, as you are aware, is North east of here. If you wish to access it, please clear this with the guards on the gate of the property. The house is currently locked down by the revolutionary forces, but hunters are allowed to gain access for “clues”,….although gods know what you’d find that no one else has.
Any questions?”
Khasar shook his head, squinting around at the town. "I think I will head to the tavern first. I need a rest after that ride. I can catch up to you all at Nimblus' mansion," he grunted, glancing at the others.
If the Imaginese really were planning to let Teddy, Jor and Eliana just stroll right in this job would be much easier than they had anticipated, but even so he thought it best to plan for the worst. He turned back to the ornithoper and liberated his hoverbike, a battered old Sugukase model, not as sleek or powerful as the military-issue Shiroyamas they had these days, but he was comfortable with it, like an old pair of leather boots.
He busied himself with the bike, loading his bag onto it and readying it for travel, grumbling at the truculent machine as he did so.
Gracie zoned out a little after inspecting the other landed craft. The ornithopter was still roaring and ready to go. The hoverbike was firmly attached with cables and clamps to the floor of the thopter so getting it free was a slight hassle but not very difficult.
“Well then, see you later!” Her voice came out of the craft speakers first before she switched to their earpiece comms to hide her following sentences from the nearby soldiers. “What if other people already found what we need?”
The ornithopter suddenly became less animated. It’s landing arms and wings becoming statuesque compared to their previous livelyness. Gracie temporarily disconnected herself from the movement systems to take a little break.
Teddy nodded, considering the information... This was turning out to be good so far. Free access to the mansion wasn't part of the plan, but he sure as hell wouldn't turn it down.
"Very well, we will bring this 'gentleman' to justice. I think we are ready to go to the mansion then, aren't we? Checking if intel was correct should be our top priority. So, unless anyone else here has something to ask?"
He said, looking at Jor and Eliana.
“I have nothing to add, going to the mansion should be our priority to gather as much information as possible to see where our hunt will lead us next in finding this Mr Nimblus” Eliana spoke as she did a final sorting of herself and her equipment.
“Fair enough” The soldier spoke to the group. “You have this landing spot for the next 24 hours. If you’d like a little longer, then just find me, or whoever is on guard at the time…it’s not a problem, we are just monitoring who is moving in and out.”
She motioned towards the entry and exit point of the Space Port, that faced out onto a main road way, which was illuminated by orange street lights, and a few metres along it northward, the lighting of the settlement known as Avala.
“The “Chateau” of Nimblus is North West of town. If you make your way to the town square, you’ll find the main road that leads out that way, and the tavern if you’re looking for accommodation, or a drink, but as I say, don’t be put off by the Imaginese using it as a temporary hold…there shouldn’t be many of us there at this time anyway…patrols and that you know? Well…best of luck to you.”
She moved and ushered her 2 comrades to fall back, to allow the group to move on their way.
----------------------
Avala itself was a bit of a nothing town. A typical mining centre, it’s local architecture dominated by easily built, mass low rise residential lodging for the native population who gained employment from the mine itself, who’s pit wheel towers loomed over the valley. As the sun faded behind the hills, the streets themselves were cast in the bright orange of the streetlight that the group had seen from the Space Port.
Passing by houses upon houses, there was little activity on the streets themselves. Only a passing Imaginese military car going out of town passed the group as they moved to the centre itself. In fact, more than moving vehicles, burnt out trucks, lorries with barely discernible branding of the “Nimblus Mining Company” lay scattered across the streets; the remanence of some conflict in recent days.
The town centre itself saw a little more life. More signs of the Imaginese military presence were visible, with military trucks, vehicles, and equipment piled up, and parked, with large group of soldiers, kitted out in the standard infantry wear, sat around a bonfire just set alight in the central square.
The neon lights of the tavern itself illuminated the parts of the square not cast in the light of the fire, it’s bright green and red signs emblazoned with words in native Irenan, the translation of which read “Miners Welfare”.
The rest of the square was made up of shops, currently shut, and a building identifiable as an office; the “Nimblus Mining Company” logo once again identifiable across the door way. It’s windows smashed, the sign again of discontent and anger, and graffiti sprayed across the front in both Irenan and Universal Common. The latter of which was more infrequent, but one word could be read multiple times; “Murderer”.
“Well… This town must have seen better days, that's for sure. I’ve always found towns built around a single industry a bit risky to live in, and sometimes just plain sad. Anyways guys, I think we should head to the chateau now.”
Teddy took the quickest route towards it, going along the road with his comrades, frequently thinking to himself if other mercs, if they were present, could be an opportunity. Or perhaps a liability? You can never be too sure.
They will have to find out if there even still are any when they get there.
Khasar's hoverbike glid slowly through the night, and he took care not to direct its hi-beams at the seated Imaginese troops, curving gently round to the front of the bar where he dismounted, stamped his feet then headed inside.
The town looked like a warzone, and he supposed in a way it had been, but it seemed obvious that people weren't too fond of Nimblus either. Reflecting a moment, he realised that might not be so surprising. After all, the Imaginese were supporting a local revolution, not invading outright, so there had to have been some sentiment there they were already exploiting.
Inside, he made his way to the bar and, in accented Common, ordered a vodka. He figured if there were Imaginese troops about, there would be vodka about, even if the Irenians weren't big consumers. He took a look around the room, looking specifically for the back door and to see who else was enjoying a drink on this chilly evening
The Road to the Chateau
The roadway out of town towards the Nimblus Residents fell away from the illumination of the streetlights, leaving the advancing party in the dark. Soon, the concrete blocks of Avala made way for thick trees, pines of some sort, that gave the air a soothing freshness, and a stillness that seemed at odds with the destroyed vehicles that littered the road, a now common sight on their journey.
About 300 metres out of town, the road was once again illuminated in unnatural light; a road block of some kind, set up barricading the path ahead. 2 vehicles, easily identifiable as Imaginese Military, sat at crossed angles, their head lights shining down the road way, capturing the party as they moved.
“STOP!” A voice from behind the lights shouts out in common. “State your purpose!”
Tavern – Miners Welfare
The inside of the Miners Welfare, whilst not a glamourous establishment, faired better than the battle torn streets of Avala, and whilst not crammed with patrons, it certainly was not ‘dead’. Imaginese military, who having occupied the upper floors of the building as a temporary base, made use of the downstairs as ‘respite’. Half a dozen soldiers sat at a table in the corner, dressed down and out of their armour, playing a friendly game of some kind, and chatting. Across the opposite side, 3 gentlemen and a woman, Irenan natives, sat around a circular table, watched Khasar as he entered, following his path across to the bar.
The bar itself seemed rather well stocked, and the bar hand behind, another Irenan native, older looking, with bright blue eyes and pale white skin (with black facial markings), stood seemingly organising stock. Catching Khasar’s eyes, as he walked towards him, he shouted something in Irenan, through a doorway to the left behind the bar, which led to a kitchen in the back. As Khasar approached, he returned the stock to its place behind him, and gave a slight smile to the newcomer, taking his order of Vodka.
“So…” he began in common “You aren’t with the military are you, friend?”
Inside the tavern, Khasar shook his head without saying a word, instead just handing over a prepaid credit chip which he pocketed again once scanned. Squinting around the room as he entered, he had spotted a half-dozen soldiers which was ideal; they probably had a vehicle parked nearby. He could rig it to catch fire or put an explosive near it to trap it in a crater, causing havoc and drawing troops towards the tavern whilst they went about their business, but that could wait.
He took a sip and then winced and sucked in air through his teeth; Imaginese vodka was strong stuff.
Gracie had walked along with the rest of the crew towards the mansion. It was definitely a strange sight to see such a vehicle walk on all fours like a feline predator. Especially since it acted so lively. As the blockade halted their advance Gracie lowered herself closer to the ground to not seem as imposing, well as non imposing as she could be in her ornithopter form.
She awaited a response from her mercenary comrades, feeling that a friendly face would be more welcoming to hear rather then a weird machine.
‘This planet could have been a relaxing place to stay, quiet and separated from the rest of the world, if it wasn’t for the revolution.’ Teddy thought to himself while strolling along with others, for some reason suppressing his urge to make small talk with his colleagues.
His train of thought came to a halt when he noticed the roadblock ahead. However, he wasn’t worried, and calmly proceeded towards them until someone from behind the lights shouted at them to stop.
Seeing as nobody else was answering, he took up the mantle of the spokesperson for their party, at least for now.
“Good evening sir. We are bounty hunters, new arrivals.” He said, giving the guard a warm smile, showing his hands to indicate his weapons are holstered.
“We came here to help with chasing after Nimblus, and your comrades at the spaceport told us that the mansion is open for us, and that we just need to clear it with you before we proceed.”
The floral humanoid marched at a steady pace, keeping pace with the others, their face invisible under the visor of their helmet.
He had never actually seen an environment like this. He had seen trees, of course, they covered almost every biome on Izut that wasn't lifeless arctic or the actual ocean in some form or another, but never so...sparsely. In terrain like this on Izut, there would be dense jungles nobody could hope to explore in full.
Granted, half the trees there would be trying to kill you and the other half would be concealing animals also trying to kill you. Like musket geckos and whipraptors and the giant six legged amphibians nobody could quite come up with a name for aside from 'Big lumbering thing what kicks your ass and ends your expedition'.
Part of him was glad he had left those behind.
"Indeed," he started after Teddy. "We came looking for clues to Mr Nimblus' whereabouts, so we might put a bullet between his eyes."
Jors monotonous tone was working to his advantage in this one instance; he sounded exactly the same lying as he did when he spoke the truth.
Tavern – Miners Welfare
“Huh…not wanting much of a conversation, is it?” the barkeep sighs, as they watch Khasar take in their surroundings, and drink down the vodka.
As Khasar finishes, the man once again unscrews the bottle, and proceeds to fill up the glass one more time.
“This one is on me friend. Our town maybe a little…er…on the rustic side now, but someone has to show a little bit of Irenan hospitality…don’t worry, you don’t have to say a word.”
He finishes pouring, and screws the lid back onto the bottle, before returning it to its place on the shelf above.
“Lot of new people coming and going these days. Especially after they put that reward on old man Nimblus…that piece of shit scumbag. If you’re one of those bounty hunter types, I hope you find him.” He leans in to Khasar. “Just make sure he suffers, give him a taste of what he gave us...you got it?”
The Road Block
The guard, standing blocking the road gives the towering ‘Thopter the once over. The odd sight, and this odd collection of individuals who accompanied it were certainly not something they had seen before, but they were getting used to a whole collection of individuals coming to Irena.
“Bounty Hunters hey? I had heard that it was a decent prize for that old crank, but I had no idea it would bring so many of you.” He looks behind him, up the road way that leads directly to the manor itself.
“Well, we’ve been told to give you access…so you’re welcome to go. You’re not the first though, there’s been a whole bunch of folk looking up there. Hey Viktor, are there still some others up there now?” he shouts over to another guard who is sat within one of the vehicles, warming their hands on the heater.
“Yeah…group of 4 or so went up about 40 minutes ago.” The voice shouts back, deep and rough.
“There you go…so you’ll have company up there. Try and keep it civil, please.”
With that he ushers for the vehicles to unblock the road, allowing the party to continue.
As the party walked on and as Gracie’s ornithopter walked past the guards she stopped to ask something quickly. Her metal body turned to the closest one and her mechanical voice left the speakers of the craft.
“Excuse me, but is the airspace restricted or not? I would love to stretch my wings”
She put on her best innocent voice she could which was helped by a little distortion from the speaker system.
Teddy nodded and continued, along with others, his way towards the mansion. But soon he realized that Gracie wasn’t yet ready to go, so he decided to stop and wait on her to see what she was up to.
Besides, he had never actually seen anyone fly. Her capabilities would be good to know and could be of use later on, so he paid close attention to what was about to happen.
“I see, well it will be good to rake the brain of others for information when it comes to finding our foe, that is if they are willing to help and comply who knows in this business” Eliana shrugged as she carried on walking towards the mansion
She stopped and turned on her heels when she noticed she was now a good 10 feet in front of the others and wondered why they had stopped.
Only for Jor to walk right past, hand resting on his rifle, though he paused to look briefly over his shoulder.
"If there are others, we should be quick. Every second we spend here is another second they have ahead of us." he stated flatly.
Tavern – Miners Welfare
Khasar raised the glass in thanks to the innkeeper and then sipped at it. He sniffed, staring into the glass, then squinted up at the bartender, his eyes barely visible.
"What did this Nimblus do to you?"
“OH my friend…how long do you have?” The bar keep snorted at Khasar’s question. “I do not even know where to begin. The man treated this town…this entire region, as his own little fiefdom. You know the mine up the road? That was ‘his’, and we, his serfs, working it for minimal pay. I mean, look around you friend, do we look rich here?”
An Imaginese soldier came to the bar, asking for a refill of his glass, which the Bar Keep provided, whilst continuing to Khasar.
“He owned everything here…and if you didn’t like how things were…say you had a grievance…well Nimblus and his cronies would find you. Any talk of challenging working conditions, BANG…you were found with a hole in your head the next day…shit, buddy of mine had the audacity to ask for time away from work after his first born…they beat him so bad that he couldn’t SEE the child for 3 months.”
He paused for a moment, placing both hands on the bar, and looking directly at Khasar.
“I have no idea how they did it..but you could be chatting all secret like to a buddy, someone you trusted with your life…and they’d still know what you were talking about…still come and find you.”
The Road Block
“Restricted Airspace? For…that…thing?” the Soldier at the roadblock asked Gracie. “Hmm, I mean I got no problem with it, as long as you don’t cause any issues. We’ve got whirly birds out on patrol, so just make sure if you are flagged, you respond…got it?”
“Affirmative, will do”
The ornithopter shifted around to get the wings clear from any bystanders. As it shuffled around on its landing arms which it had used to crawl along with the team the rear ramp into the troop bay lowered down to the ground in silence, it’s opening accented by a soft thump as hit the dirt.
“All aboard then, better then walking right?”
Gracie said over the team’s intercom as the mercenaries all boarded her. Once everyone was seated the ramp closed back up. Taking a few steps back the ornithopter began to wind up its wings. Soft flapping at first but quickly becoming a loud and droning buzzing sound. Gracie jumped into the air by giving the ground a firm push with her landing arms, providing a little boost to get the craft airborne. The feeling of wind against her metal skin was a welcome reprieve from walking, this entire mercenary thing was much better then sitting at base with only the occasional practice flight. She pitched the craft gently forward and began to fly the final distance towards the mansion. The arms were folded back into the hull and became numb to her as they were cut of from control for now.
Tavern – Miners Welfare
"Sounds like a piece of work," replied Khasar in his slow, monosyllabic accent, looking pensively into his glass before taking another sip. "The price on his head is for him alive, but I'm wondering if this man should even make it to trial. Think the community would show its appreciation to a man if Nimblus had a painful...accident?"
“Eh! You wont see many complain!” Replied the bar keep. “But, I think that the revolutionaries want to make an example out of him and all the other criminals and traitors. They’ve already started their tribunals of the burzhuazia…sorry, the umm, how you say…lordship? Rich people? I don’t know the correct translation.”
He picked up a cloth and began wiping down his bar once again.
“The price must be good though; we’ve had plenty of hunters looking for him in recent days. His mansion has been swarming with them. He’s long gone in my opinion…”
Flying in the Sky
The Thopter glided over the tree line quickly, ascending hill towards the soft summit, and the huge household now coming into view. Despite being some distance away, the house was clearly not abandoned, as flood lights lit up the exterior, bringing light and life to the sight.
A crackle came in the ear of the party members, as the communication devices, given by Nimblus back on the ship, came to life. The familiar voice of the old man broke through:
“Friends…this is Jareth. What is your status? I do hope you are finding success.”
Teddy enjoyed the ride. Although struck by a violent revolution, this planet still had beauty to it- even wastelands have something poetic to them, telling a story of a life that once may have been before it was extinguished.
It was quite amazing that one of the team members brought a freaking thopter with them. He had never seen one before, but just from watching it fly he couldn’t help but admire the pilot, her skills, and what this machine could do. HJe should perhaps look into it more later.
Upon hearing the familiar voice, Teddy tapped his ear and responded to Jareth:
“Jareth, Teddy here” He remembered that the man was a bit disappointed that they weren’t using callsigns, but he couldn’t do much about that now..
“We are in the Thopter and en route to the mansion. We talked to the local authorities and got the green light for everything. We are proceeding with the plan.”
The thopter flew over the trees towards the mansion. Already from this distance Gracie began to scour the local area for a landing site. Her vision augmented by the craft’s sensors she felt her eyes sting as she focused and zoomed in.
“By the goddess this mansion sure has a lot of activity. This is probably going to get messy whenever we try anything suspicious.”
Gracie announced over the troop bay intercom. However once Jareth started saying stuff over their communication line she shut herself up.
Eliana sat there quietly listening to the thopters sounds of the craft as they flew. She took a brief moment to look out at the lands they were flying over and saw what Gracie was on about before Jareth suddenly started talking.
She saw that Teddy was responding to him so left it to him to say they were fine, she was more concerned with how the rest of the op would go after seeing the activity around the mansion and knowing there were more bounty hunters inside.
Jor didn't seem particularly bothered with the passing scenery, more concerned with checking over his own gear and fitting a suppressor to his rifle. He looked up, slightly, as Jareth and Teddy spoke, before raising a hand to his helmet.
"Unless something goes wrong, we should be arriving there shortly. Where exactly is this item you want retrieved?"
Tavern – Miners Welfare
Khasar digested this. If the bounty for Nimblus really was so high, then perhaps it was worth turning him in after all. He would still have to go through with the original contract in order to get back to Nimblus, but that was just a bonus. If he played it right, he could collect two bounties in one day.
He finished his drink, ordered a bottle of vodka and then crossed over to the table where the Imaginese soldiers were drinking, pulling up an empty seat.
"Hello comrades, your uh...good health," he said, planting the bottle on the table. "I hear there is a bounty on an old man who used to live here. If I could find him, could you collect him?"
The Imaginese soldiers, absorbed in their conversation and small scale card game jumped as Khasar pulled up a seat at the table. There was a brief moment of silence as they took all of him in, looking him up and down, getting a read.
The soldiers were young in the face. Six in total, a mixture of men and women, their uniforms were dressed down, and with no signs of body armour or weaponry within reach, they showed the clear signs of a group currently on break from assignment. The soldier closest to Khasar, a tall, tanned man with a shaven head was the first to break the silence, with a toothy grin.
“Well now stranger. To your health as well!” Taking the bottle in hand, and pouring out drinks to the entire table, Khasar included. “Aye, that is right. The locals have set a big old bounty on the man...plenty out there looking for the guy, so yes, if you found him…and that is an if, we could arrange collection, and a man like yourself would be well rewarded. Why? Do you have the man?” he said with a chuckle, leaning in as if to learn Khasar’s secret.
Flying in the Sky
The Thopter came closer and closer to the fine mansion structure. The building, a sprawling 3 storey building built in futuristic, modernist style, with spreading outhouses around a flood lit garden space, soon covered the entire ground beneath the Thopter, and apparent signs of other land vehicles, trucks and cars, lay parked around the driveway space in front of the home, albeit that sign of individuals, namely the other bounty hunter team somewhere within the ground difficult to ascertain. A small landing pad, suitable for the Thopter, presented itself on the western side of the site.
Once more, the voice of Jareth filled the communications of the Thopter team. His smooth voice conveyed a confident tone.
“I am glad to hear things are moving along! You are making fine progress.” There was a brief almost awkward pause as Jareth considered Jor’s question. “I appreciate that not knowing the details of the target is difficult. I am simply wary of giving too much away. Our information suggests that the rebels aren’t even aware of its existence…but, alright…you have done well so far, I can provide a modicum of trust.”
There was another pause, and an audible inhalation of breath over the communications as Jareth prepared to divulge his sensitive information.
“You are looking for a computer. It is in the basement of the house, behind a hidden panel. I need the data that it contains. It is off the grid so to speak, and the only way of retrieving this vital information is by physically removing it. Does that satisfy you for the moment, Jor?”
Gracie turned the ornithopter towards the landing pad. In a graceful dive she landed herself upon the pad in a single smooth motion. The landing arms caught the fall and softened her impact to the point where those in the troop bay would merely be given a slight push from the landing. The wings of the ornithopter folded back and the engines became eerily still with just the humming of the nuclear power source present, it’s noise dampened by layers of isolation from the passengers. The exit ramp lowered down and Gracie’s voice was heard over the troop bay intercom.
“We have arrived, you may exit at your leisure.”
Eliana stretched as she stood and she did one final check off all her equipment and clothes before exiting out of the Thopter. They now at least knew what they were looking for, so it was easier in one way now they just had to do it without raising suspicions from the other hunters and the military she thought to herself as she walked off the landing pad.
"Yes, it does. If I need more, I shall let you know. For now, I will do what you're paying me to." came the plant's flat-voiced reply to Jareth, before he lowered his finger.
"And make sure nobody else does so first." he grunted, hopping off the ornithopter with a nod to Gracie.
"Let's go, and let's make it quick. If someone has a problem with us here, we best hope our benefactor does not mind his old estate being given some bullet holes." he stated, starting off for the manor at a brisk stride.
A computer? All of this for what was on it… It must surely be more than sentimental possessions then. Who knows what could be on it.
It would be for the best if he could get a copy of those files for himself, just in case that something went wrong.
As much as he was a trusting person, he would need to stay cautious of those around him- even his team. He liked them all well enough, but they were after all strangers.
“Very well, thanks Jareth. Let’s hope that the basement itself is not too heavily guarded, and we should be able to leave without any murder which would make our lives much easier in the aftermath.”
He let Eliana be the first one off the Thopter before he stepped out himself.
“That was a smooth ride Gracie. Be at the ready should anything feel wrong. Oh and Jor? Please let's use that as a last resort only.”
Looking around, he noticed that save for the eye sore that was a bunch of military equipment, guards and hunters, this place looked quite nice. He wondered for a moment what had Nimblus done to cause a revolution here. To an average Malaakian, Nimblus would be seen as a weak man, unable to hold his position and thus not be deserving of it- But why would those that rose up against him join Imaginarium? Perhaps they feared outside interventions? Who knows, but Teddy found it all to be very peculiar indeed.
Tavern – Miners Welfare
Khasar glanced around surreptitiously, then pulled out a pipe and began packing it.
"Yes," he said "and no. In a little while there might be some commotion at Jareth's old manor. If you and your comrades let my friends go about their business, then once we are done I can lead you straight to him. All I ask is that you wait for my signal."
It was a calculated risk, but Khasar was optimistic. Not only would this stop Imaginese forces from interfering, and meant he didn't have to mess around with diversions in the main town, but it meant he could theoretically collect both on his share of Jareth's payout and collect the Imaginese bounty on the man. Plus, he hated rich people as a matter of principle, or rather hated their hubris and found it funny when their lives fell apart.
The Imaginese Soldiers, who had been full of smiles and jest grew serious at Khasar’s comments. A few look at each other in a curious glance, whilst the man with the shaven head leaned forward, lowering his voice so only Khasar and the crowd at the table could hear.
“Wait wait wait…you are being serious here?” He glanced to the crowd, who looking back at him and Khasar, simply shrugged in confusion as to how to progress. The man continued. “If what you are saying is true…and you can lead us straight to this…Nimblus fella…I’m going to need some information. Who are your people? What do they need us to…”ignore” as it were so that they may go about their business? What “signal” are you proposing…what EXACTLY are you cooking up here?”
Thopter – Landing Pad
The Thopter, having safely settled on the landing pad, now sat within the comfortable embraced of the reflective lights which illuminated the house. Parked on the west side, a large, tiled path way led directly to the side of the mansion.
To the right (south) lay a dark expanse of woodland, which came short to a front lawn which flanked a long driveway from what the group could imagine to be the house’s main gateway, a stair way leading down from the landing pad to the ground, and presumably the front entrance to the mansion.
To the left (north), a larger back garden, statues, and fountains visible under decorative light, albeit the water features seemed turned “off” for the time being. Whilst no visible signs of life could be seen from the windows now visible from the Landing pad, the house did now show signs of internal lighting being on. Someone was definitely “home”.
Jareth once more returned to the group’s ears.
“I cannot tell you what those beasts have done to the house since we left…so I can only give you information based on my own experience. I have a 2 floor basements, and the sub-basement being where I need you. As I see it, you have 2 ways of getting down. The stair wells and elevators are central in the house. These are the most direct ways of getting down. Alternatively…I have a secret stair well in the “Breakfast room” to the northern side of the house…I leave the details to you on which descent you would prefer…let me know if you need any more information.”
Gracie began to use her craft’s sensors to look around while the rest of the team disembarked. She was looking out for anything that could disrupt their escape. AA guns, guards with MANPAD’s, heavy machine guns. Hell even a regular machine gun could cause damage at such a close range to her wings or sensors.
“Don’t worry, I will keep my guard up. Although if anyone tries to come at us I won’t hesitate to bring the heat.”
The thopter turned around on its 4 landing arms to get a better all round scan of the surroundings.
Jor nodded to the added information, approaching cautiously with rifle in hand.
"I suggest either the secret stairwell, or a combined approach to pincer anyone who may have found the sub-basement before us. As for entering the manor..."
He paused, his head swinging slowly as he observed the building.
"Why not the front door? Avoid looking too suspicious."
Teddy was pondering his options. One one hand, the secret passage could save them some trouble, but if they were found out it could raise suspicion. He leaned towards agreement with Jor- having someone take the secret passage while most of them went to the front door. From there they could see what to do further.
He looked past the pretty scenery that was somewhat disturbed by the imaginese occupation of the estate. Perhaps one day he could rest in a home like that- an unlikely end to his adventures, he knew.
“I am with Jor on this one. We should be able to stay in touch over the devices we use to communicate with Jareth, the only question is who wants to go through the secret passage? If nobody else wants to, I am willing to do it. Gracie, any secondary objectives like stuff that could shoot us down? Disabling them should be a priority. Not that it will be needed if we all decide to do this quietly. Remember, we are just bounty hunters looking for clues, no need to cause trouble.”
Eliana listened to Jareth as he spoke about the new information and she now thought as she approached with more caution.
“A Pincer movement sounds the most effiecient, though we just have to make sure that no one sees the person taking secret passage”
“The front door seems the most logical way to enter and I am willing to go down the passage in the breakfast room” Eliana offered the group.
"I am not a subtle person." Jor grunted, never breaking in stride. "I will go the main way. I would suggest only one, or two of us take the hidden entrance."
ievpop (Consulate of Astril) — 12/04/2022 14:46
Gracie was still scanning the area as she answered Teddy’s question. The ornithopter began to move on its arms slightly to get the better sensors around. The soft thumping of padded metal hands against the landing pad reverberated slightly as the metal animal looked for prey.
“I don’t see anything yet, I doubt they have much. Seems pretty overkill to instal dedicated AA to guard the mansion of someone you hate. Why would they care?”
Gracie was half joking and half serious.
“AA is probably there to stop things coming in to destroy the place and hide it’s secrets or that is what I would assume” Eliana replied to Gracie “And to stop anything leaving if there was an incident or a hidden little escape craft they didn’t know about”
“But for now let get inside then we can split up, myself going through the secret door and the rest taking the normal way to the basement” She spoke to the group.
Tavern – Miners Welfare
"Keep it down, gulig miin," hissed Khasar in annoyance as the Imaginese soldier spoke aloud, drawing attention from around the bar.
"Maybe there's some scuffling between bounty hunters at Nimblus' estate, but nothing you need to concern yourself about if you keep your men out of there. Once that's all done, I'll be able to find out Nimblus' location, and then I can go to him, send you the signal and you swoop in and get him."
He paused for a moment to sip at the vodka, sucking in air through his teeth.
"You might be wondering, 'why not just arrest this man now?' and that's a good question. I'm only here to distract you anyway, so if you bag me then the plan goes off without me, the others'll realise I've been lifted and will disappear for a while, and since I don't know where Nimblus is right now you'll never get him. A bit of patience though, and I can lead you right to him. It's your call."
The young faced soldier took in Khasar’s face, attempting to get a read on the individual, and the seriousness of his proposal. There was a delicate pause, as he hummed over the words, his colleagues staring down the interaction, also wearing a stony expression. Finally, he broke the silence.
“Alright.” He nodded as he spoke. “The house is you and your friends. We’ll “arrange” for the surveillance on the house to go quiet for a bit. We’ll be waiting though.” His jovial tones from a moment ago were replaced by something altogether more serious. “Do not make us regret this decision…please.”
The Manor -Main Entrance
Traversing the steps down to the front side of the manor was easy enough, the landing pad giving way to the large, ornate terrace, driveway and front lawn with ceremonial grandeur. The stair well winded down from the heighted position of the pad where the Ornithopter had landed, leading directly down to a tiled terrace and pathway. Half-baked in the light of the manor’s own lights, and that of the moon, the path gave some level of exposure, though the threat itself seemed minimal. Looking inside the manor itself through the many grand windows that peppered its’ ground floor, the party passed several impressive rooms.
.
First, a library containing thousands upon thousands of books, which normally would sit upon a grand collection of shelves, but now found their home thrown across the floor, the room itself victim to whatever search had been contained within the house. Its neighbour, a gallery, the art from which had now been removed, and only the sun-bleached walls betraying the fact that once large paintings had been held here.
Finally, the main entrance to the manor. A giant double door, left ajar, led into a receiving room, and a small, elongated set of steps that led through another set of double doors, and to the main hall beyond. From the entrance way, the main hall seemed still, though a faint noise could be heard coming from beyond deeper in the house.
The Manor – The Secret Entrance
Heading around the back end of the manor, the landing pad led directly down to the finely cut lawn of the estate. A more hidden route, the manor itself kept its height advantage on the grass, with a 3-foot wall between the ground floor and the lawn. This allowed any individuals travelling this way to press up against the wall and be covered from view from all except the closest of individuals occupying the terrace above them. A view of the manors exterior however was difficult to come by without lifting ones self-up and onto the wall, but the sounds of knocking, of movement within the house grew louder, and louder still.
Tavern – Miner’s Welfare
Khasar nodded and slapped the table with his hands. "Good, good! By the end of today I will be a wealthy man and you will have brought a bad man to justice"
He stepped away from the table for a moment, ducking out into the parking lot behind the bar. He placed a call to the others on short range comms.
"Hey, I heard things are going to be quiet at the mansion."
He returned to the room and sat back down, taking another sip of his vodka.
"So tell me," he asked "what will happen to Irena II once the Imaginese have set it all to rights?"
The soldiers muttered as they watched Khasar returned to them , quietly discussing with furious intent. Their own brief conversation ceased as he once more took his seat at the table and listened to his conversational continuation.
“We’re just peacekeepers here, friend.” The male soldier who had led the conversation so far, said.
The shorter, darker toned female coughed, and picked up the thread.
“Yes.” her tones tuneful, with the drawl of the western republics of the Imaginese home state. “We’re just here to help with the transition as the Irenan’s go about…cultivating their society.”
She took a sip of her drink, before settling into the conversation further.
“Truth be told, we’re providing everything for the new government to establish itself. Wouldn’t be surprised if we are here for the long term…what about yourself, friend? Where are you from?”
She placed her drink back upon the table, as a group of four older looking Irenan gentlemen, their faces lined with years of ‘hard work’, who had recently arrived at the tavern, began strumming tuning up what appeared to be home made instruments.
.
The Manor
The eery silence of the household engulfed the approaching party. The noise that had rumbled at the back of the house seemed to instantly stop as the front door creaked, as the group stepped over the threshold. From the exterior of the back garden of the house, Eliana, approaching from the boundary wall met with the radiant light of the interior, but with an unnatural stillness.
The interior was opulently decorated. Swirling marble floors lay throughout the house, polished and refined oak furnishings ran the length of the walls, and up the banisters that flanked the curving grand staircase, that the party entering through the main door could now see. The only signs of disturbances were documentation and some furniture, knocked on its side throughout the property, ransacked.
Then, as quick as a flash, dancing from spaces hidden behind doorways, sofas, and a like, came the rains of fire. Individuals, dressed in an array of body armour, emerged, all guns blazing from their hiding places. In the entrance way, a bounty hunter held a position on the stairwell, whilst a further 2, stationed beyond the main hall, fired from the doorway.
For Eliana, the glass smashed as they peered in from the outside, as an emerging bounty hunter shot from behind a sofa.
The bullets fired rapidly towards the party…
Jor approached steadily, rifle hand firmly gripping his battle rifle as his eyes scanned their surroundings from behind the large orange visor. Artistry in architecture was largely unheard of back on Izut; the Lumnaed weren't a particularly artistic people. Not to say they couldn't appreciate it, but that they weren't too creative when it came to coming up with things that didn't serve an explicit practical purpose. So, the floral being couldn't help but take a few mental notes for if he ever designed a building in the future.
One that wasn't for a simple spartan purpose, anyway.
His free hand reached up to his helmet comm as they stepped through into the hall.
"Understo--" he had begun to reply to Khasar, before a cacophony of gunfire echoed down the halls. His armour's warnings rang out as he felt two impacts punch through, one cutting a gap between plates while the kinetic gels softened one enough he now had a piece of metal somewhere in there. Recoiling, the plant dove for cover, returning fire with his rifle as bolts of colour shot back at their attackers.
"So much for what Khasar's friends said." he grunted. Turning, he grabbed the cushily padded seating he had taken cover behind, armour plates unlocking and shifting as extra arms sprouted from them, plunging in as he wrangled the furnishing, beginning to push it to give their attackers less room to flank and maneuver.
"Push them back!" he called to the others, resting his rifle on top and snapping off return fire.
Teddy was no coward- he was soft hearted by some standards perhaps, and valued life.
Even his own life, and he wasn’t about to throw it away needlessly.
As the hail of bullets zipped all around him, it became clear that their plan had failed, or that Khasar himself betrayed them for one reason or another. A bullet lodged itself into his body armor, knocking the breath out of him as an explosion of pain hit him like a truck in that spot.
This was no place to die, not for a cause this insignificant.
He pulled on his earpiece as he ducked for cower, not bothering to return fire and instead just running away, dodging and going around obstacles. He had sprained an ankle several times, and it was a minor miracle he wasn’t shot dead by a sniper or some other hidden threat.
“Gracie, this is Teddy! The plan was a failure, we need immediate evacuation.”
Eliana noticed the shooter to late as she looked through the window and she took hits to the chest and went down onto her back from the sheer force of them. Something had gone wrong she thought as these people were here waiting for them.
She took a moment to regain herself and let her systems do a quick diagnostic, no breaches, all hits absorbed by chest armour, integrity holding at 60% for chest area.
After this was done she pulled out her revolver and took a deep breath before standing quickly, scanning the area and firing off return shots at her assailant. She then heard Teddy through her earpiece and now understood they were also being shot. “Wont an extraction be more difficult thanks to the Air Defences that were mentioned” She spoke as she ducked down to reload.
The tavern
Khasar smiled broadly, his rounded cheekbones creasing.
"Oh, I'm just a Dong Wusian, one of the glorious Jade Empire's embarrassing little cousins. I didn't feel like sticking around to listen to them lecture us on their culture, which is actually ours that they stole."
He took a sip of his vodka and sucked in a breath through his teeth. "So I took off."
He listened as Jor responded, only to be cut off by gunfire. He pulled a surprised face, clicking off the comm, then threw a quizzical eyebrow at the Imaginese as if to ask whether they had anything to do with the static-distorted sounds of gunfire that had blared from the communicator's speakers.
“A Dong Wusian?” the woman rhetorically asked. “We’re from the original neck of the woods then…so to speak.”
She watched Khasar intently, as he pressed his earpiece to himself, the gun fire from the manor house radiating in a tinny fashion for all on the table to hear.
“That sounds…interesting. I take it that is “your friends” at the house?”
“Yes, I am guessing they have met the other bounty hunters who have been given access.” The man interjected.
The Manor
The flashes of fire could be seen, illuminating the surroundings of the manor itself, visible even for Gracie on the landing pad. The crackle of fire was loud throughout the communicator system, its sudden eruption panic inducing.
The fire continued, from cover, from the embedded Bounty Hunters, who took issue with the party coming and taking “their spot”. And whilst the group returned fire, it soon became apparent that more of the mercenary group were supplanted throughout the manor. Another 2 mercenaries appeared on the stair well, one loading up what appeared to be a plasma rifle, the other, taking aim with some form of carbine. Another, dressed from head to toe in what appeared to be some form of plated armour, appeared towards the back where Eliana had found herself.
They seemed disordered, but many in number. There seemed to be no form of coordination in their attacks yet, aside from the surprise in which they had rushed the party, something that perhaps a more organised opposition could take advantage of.
"Ah, you're from western Imaginarium then?" he asked. "Taashaal!"
They listened to the sounds of gunfire for a few seconds more and then he tossed his earpiece onto the table.
"Sounds like it. Well, if they end up not getting the item I'll just call our mutual friend and tell him we got it anyway."
THE MANOR
Gracie was shook to attention by the sudden flashes and sounds of gunfire. The entire craft she inhabited swung around its weight and the weapons hidden in her fuselage revealed themselves. The chin mounted autocannon switched belts to AP, not because they were facing anything armoured but rather to avoid any potential of hitting her allies with explosives.
“Affirmative Teddy, on my way now.”
While certainly not designed for direct fire support her thopter had enough locomotion to sprint like a leopard to where the rest of her team was. The interior was cast in shadow as the craft sunk its hands into the soil to slow down and swung the chin cannon around to aim through the windows. Upon confirmation of targets Gracie shot a few short burst towards the hostile bounty hunters. The heavy thuds of shells being fired was certainly a step up from small arms, she hoped to encourage the bounty hunters to find cover instead of shooting her team.
“Get in! I will cover you all!”
The back ramp slammed open for them. She could have just flown away, however Gracie did not feel like that was the right thing to do. Despite her mercenary sensibilities she found it distasteful to just abandon them here. There was a core of selfishness to it though, it would be much better for her reputation in the long term.
Jor was well aware of how outnumbered they were, and that his improvised cover wouldn't last for long.
Still, he wasn't about to back out as much as Teddy had immediately wanted to flee for the hills just because a few bullets were thrown around.
Besides, Eliana was still entering and he didn't much like just abandoning someone without a word.
And these bounty hunters didn't have fire support on the grade of an aircraft. Still, as it was they held the interior like a wall and as it stood the group was just waiting to be shot.
They needed to mix things up a little.
First, Jor heaved the sofa up slightly, tossing a smoke grenade under it, hissing as it spewed its smokescreen.
Then, the floral being ran forth, as fast as he could, beelining for the stairwell, gun flashing as he loosed bursts for where he had seen the man with a plasma rifle.
Eliana saw the newcomer and remained ducked down at the moment as she thought, from hear she could hear clearly the firefight that was going on out the front and then the heavy chin cannon fighting and Gracie telling them to get in over the comms. “AA defences will be activated and blow us out of the sky, why do I feel like no one remembered they existed” She spoke as she began rifling through her webbing and pulled out two grenades, the first one being a flash grenade which she primed and threw into the room. She let it detonate before she threw in a just a normal frag grenade hoping the flash worked and they wouldn’t see this one coming.
“Quite frankly, I don’t think we have a choice anymo-”
THUD
He felt sharp pain spread across his body, starting from below the right shoulder. He collapsed to the ground, shielding his face from the fall with his arms as he landed painfully just in front of the lowered ramp.
He was the first to make it, but now with exit so laughably close, he had been struck down. He tried standing up and succeeded, albeit barely. His legs were shaking as he slowly made it inside the thopter, shots still being fired in their general direction.
He tried to find a cover behind one of the seats as he checked on his wound with his left hand.
Fuck.
That's a lot of blood…
His vision started going a bit blurry as he struggled to alert others to his condition.
“Fuck… I'm hit! Need- Aagh- Medical attention-”
The silver lining was that he wasn’t left behind, and that Gracie hadn’t left them all to die. Unlike some other teams, this one had a smidge of self respect and a righteous streak. Orr at least a bit of honor if not that.
Tavern – Miner’s Welfare
“That’s right. Well, Musa and I are from the Ingoan Republic, but Boykov here, well he’s a big old city boy from Steysigorod, aren’t you?” the woman said, directing a gesture towards the third soldier who had so far remained silent.
Suddenly, a crackle of life came to life on the woman’s radio. Various voices spoke in panic, causing the woman to pick up her device, pull it closer to her ear and listen. They spoke Imaginese rather than common, and after a few moments, the woman replied with several barking words, which incurred a small back and forth with the individual on the other end of the radio. Finally, she got in the last word, and turned to Khasar.
“Seems your friends’ actions have become noticed. I’ve told our people to calm down, and to allow your people to ‘do what they need to do’. Apparently your friends have a copter of some kind as well? Might be worth you telling them that we’re vouching on the AA guns being silent here in this region, but they might wanna stay low…if you get me.”
Khasar nodded and then thumbed his comlink. He started to talk and then stopped, twice, as gunfire and screams interrupted him. Rolling his eyes as if to say "What can you do?" he leaned back in his chair and thumbed it on again.
"Uh Gracie, just to know the AA guns here in town just came online so maybe try stay below the treeline for now eh?" he said, then let go of the button and shrugged to his drinking companions. It was easier than explaining to Gracie what was actually happening.
The Manor
The Ornithopters fire erupted upon the house, causing glass the smash, plaster to fall, and the marble floor to become charred up as it provided covering fire. A stray bullet pierced through the lungs of one of the hunters firing upon Eliana, and caused the other hunters to dive for cover behind anything they could. Whilst most found themselves protected, one of the hunters dove behind a sofa, only to find themselves right in the path of Eliana’s grenade. The concussion of noise burst through their body, their scream falling silent.
The firing, along with Jor’s own smoke grenade, and Eliana’s flash bang grenade created the perfect cover for the wounded Teddy, providing him with the time and space needed to climb into the back of the low hovering thopter. The smoke created its own issues, as it filled the hallways, causing a total lack of vision for everyone, the hunters included.|
Shouts of “Shit, I can’t see!”, “Where are they?” and “Stay alert here” bellowed from upstairs and down, as the hunters attempted to peer through the smoke, but to no avail. With no visibility, and the Thopter providing cover, their options were limited. Some fired stray shots into the smoke in the hope of hitting something, whilst the hunter with the plasma rifle, let loose several shots from his weapon, deep into the abyss of white, it’s shots bright and flashing, lighting a path in the smoke.
Jor maintained his pace; even with the smoke at such ranges standing still was suicide.
Still, this tattered seating was slowing him down, and speed was what he needed right now, especially as a bullet crashed into his pauldron and a second narrowly glanced off his helmet, cracking his visor.
Forcefully casting it aside in the direction of some of the other bounty hunters, Jor sprinted for the stairs.
Flashes of light, the sizzling of heat.
Plasma fire.
Jor let off aggressive bursts in the direction of the hunter with the plasma rifle, two extra arms drawing combat knives as he rushed for CQC range. He needed him dead, quick.
Gracie stopped moving to allow Teddy to enter her troop bay. She stopped firing her cannon as the smoke obscured her vision, therefore she switched to communicating to him in order to try and prevent his untimely demise. The arms upon which the craft walked stiffened to provide a comfortable platform for him. Gracie’s voice came over the intercom, there was a certain rush in her tone as she just received a massive dose of adrenaline. Due to the way the weapon was connected to her there was a certain exertion to using it, although as long as she was in the craft nothing would come of it physically.
“Teddy! There is a first aid kit in the floor of the compartment. Take the small syringe filled with the purple liquid stuff and inject it. That should stabilise you for now. Don’t worry if it feels weird those are just the parasites doing their job.”
With a conscious thought Gracie opened up a floor panel in the ornithopter to reveal a small orang coloured first aid box. Inside would be a collection of syringes and other medical supplies. Not enough to completely restore teddy but it will do fine in stabilising him. Although the purple syringe looked unappealing as the fluid it contained seemed to throb and pulsate as of it was alive.
Elianas eyes brightened and the circles around her iris spun with the blue light as her vision changed from normal to a thermal as she dashed in and pulled out her knife the hardlight blade glowing to life as she ran over to the men who were dazed blinded and many other bad conditions. With one leap she jumped over the sofa and slammed the blade down onto one and aimed her revolver at another before firing off some shots
“How many of these assailants are left that we know off” She asked the group over their comms.
Teddy scrambled to find the compartment as his bleeding got worse. He tried applying pressure to it which, while immensely painful, helped a bit.
Searching his pouches he found the one designated to hold first aid supplies, and searched it for several very agonizing moments before finding the painkillers and tossing them in his mouth. The pills would start to work very soon indeed, but they felt a bit hard to swallow unsurprisingly.
With that out of the way, he resumed his search for the compartment which turned out successful. He pulled out the appropriate syringe and considered it for a moment.
“Parasites…? Ah fuck it-”
He administered a dose in his arm. Hopefully this stuff was safe to use, but that would be a problem to think about later. Right now, he started feeling the combat painkillers kick in. If need be, he could keep pushing himself for a while now with only a minimal sense of pain.
Tavern – Miner’s Welfare
The woman soldier sat forward, cracking a smile at Khasar as he spoke to his comrades over comms. She reached for the bottle in the centre of the table, and poured out a drink for each of party. As she poured the tinted red liquid into Khasar’s cup, she spoke with an easing tone.
“So, if you’re not here to be Bounty Hunters originally, what were you here for?”
Khasar shrugged. "Oh, you know these rich types. He left some trinkets at his house he just couldn't live without. A dolly or a golden dildo or something, I don't know." he replied diffidently, taking a sip of the new red drink and sucking air through his teeth in appreciation.
The Manor
The armoured mercenary hid behind the scraps he found behind the sofa, cowering as his colleague exploded in a violent splash of colour from Eliana’s grenade. He twisted and turned, just in time to watch Eliana vault the sofa, bringing their blades down upon his shoulder, finding the crease between metal and flesh. He screamed out in pain as Eliana fired a shot casually at another colleague who hid by the door frame, who was promptly hit in the wrist, and pulled away out of sight, cursing and shouting as they went. The pain in his shoulder was horrifying, and all motion in his left arm was limited. He thrust up with a fist with his right, aiming at any piece of Eliana he could muster.
Meanwhile, gun fire continued to erupt from the smoke-filled corridors of the main hallway. Aimless, it provided little in the way of cover, as the mercenaries tried to rally and regroup amidst the confusion of the assault. The plasma rifle merc continued his firing, not knowing of the approaching Jor, who emerged from the smoke, the plant being looking like a vicious monster in the man’s eyes. Jor was upon him quickly, the plasma rifle being too heavy to heave in their direction.
Safely within the Thopter, and having applied the first aid, Teddy and Gracie were presented with an opportunity to survey the battle grounds from a slightly withdrawn position. Smoke still obscured the vision, but it was clear that 2 battle grounds had emerged in the house; the back room where Eliana was situated, and the hall way and stair well, where Jor now charged. The back room and the halld led on to each other, but the group was now presented with the opportunity to push the Mercs back into one location, providing there were no more hiding within the house, now racing towards the.
As teddy injected the purple goop he could feel small beings crawl through his body and towards his wound. A strange feeling would fall over the injured area as the parasites began to construct a cocoon over the open wound by hardening themselves over it. Reflective purple chitin began to form itself onto him, layer by layer until it stopped. It was not pleasant but it did stop any bleeding and kept the wound from getting worse.
"Affirmative Khasar. Will fly low." Her response to him was quick and said in a single breath.
Gracie began to lose sight of the targets as they were chased deeper into the manor by the rest of her comrades. She felt unsure of what to do, but her ornithopter did not. Pushed by a predatory instinct her wings unfurled and the craft began to move up a bit. "Hold tight" Gracie said to teddy as the back ramp closed up and the ornithopter began to fly up. She shifted herself up and to the left so that the nose of the thopter was pointed through the windows of the stairwell. The chin mounted autocannon fired a few precise shots towards the hostile mercs, the rapid flapping of the wings created a loud buzzing noise
Eliana looked down as the fist connect with her chest just under her ribs, her armour absorbed most the blow but she still recoiled a bit from the blow. She shook her head as she brought a fist down on his chest with force, “That area is now only at 59% integrity, Whilst it is ill advised to punch an Azerty I must commend you for trying” She said calmly as she then pulled the knife out of the mans shoulder and then aimed it down at his other shoulder whilst also bringing the revolver point blank to his chest and firing.
Teddy had endured worse pain before, but the whole ordeal on his wound was downright disgusting to think about. Not unbearable and it wasn't that bog of a deal, but the crawling sensation was certainly not pleasant.
He noticed that Gracie was warning him about something and managed to grab a hold of a seat just before G forces did their nasty work on him.
He couldn’t do much, as the painkillers messed with his fine motor skills, but he could appreciate the autocannon ripping through the hostiles and hopefully providing some cover for their allies.
“Gracie, I think we need to cut our losses and retreat; we don’t know when the reinforcements will show up and we are struggling to hold our own as is. We need to evacuate them and GTFO.”
And from the smoke, came Jor like a bat out of hell. The man sprinted headlong at the bounty hunter, heedless of the gunfire around him.
He had his focus, after all. Even if the man couldn't bring his energy weapon to bear in time, Jor didn't feel like taking chances, his gun arm stretching as it swung out at force to bat the weapon aside, Jor lunging forth.
A slightly curved combat blade was gripped in two extra arms, swinging for either side of the man's neck. Jor aimed to end this, fast.
Tavern – Miners Welfare
The woman smiled as the rest of the party gave a small chuckle at Khasar’s vulgarity.
“Must be important to him if he hired an entire band of Mercenaries to come after it. You’ve no idea what it is at all?” the question felt poised, as she scouted out for more information.
Khasar shrugged, truthfully. "I'm not sure. He said he'd give us more information when we got into the manor, but since I'm not stupid enough to volunteer for that job I never found out. I could ask, but uh..."
He clicked on the radio and a burst of gunfire and yelling came through before he snapped it back off.
"Might need to give it a few'"
The Manor
The Plasma Rifle Operator could only give out the smallest of screams as Jor slashed viciously at him. A splatter of blood decorated the walls as fell limp to the ground. The smoke that had once covered the visibility within the hall entry way was beginning to clear, enough for Jor to see a further 2 mercenaries lined up upon the stair well. He saw them, they saw him, but as their raised their weapons to target him at the foot of the stairs, glass smashed from the outside in, as the Ornithopter’s autocannons burst through the windows, shredding the men before their own shots could be fired.
At the back of the house, the Eliana’s target thrust as the shot rippled through his chest, a final spit of blood emerging from his mouth as his life force drained away. The final man, who had retreated out of the hall way, having been hit in the wrist, watched as Eliana killed his comrade, and let out a gasp and moved backwards into the entry way, stumbling as he tried to get away from his adversary.
The Azerty took the glowing red blade out and wiped the blood off using her uniform in the crease of her elbow before her head practically snapped over to looked at the direction of the man who was retreating. She stood, her front covered in blood thanks to the close proximity of the shot and she began moving with speed towards the man “Running will only mean you will die tired, so I suggest you stop and face you imminent demise” She said as she fired a shot off when she saw him.
Jor had hesitated for the briefest moment when the two other mercenaries came into his view, processing too slow how to react.
Fortunately, Gracie did that part for him.
The floral humanoid picked up the plasma rifle, the extra arms drawing the knives from the dead man's neck and wiping them off before slotting them back into their scabbards.
Violence, in the other room. Nodding to Gracie's ornithopter, Jor ran for the room where Eliana was, charging the plasma rifle and aiming for the last man.
The flapping wings of the thopter slowed down as Gracie began to land herself onto the ground again. She was confident the others could handle the last man standing without issue. Currently she had bigger fish to fry, a wounded Teddy in the back.
“You ok back there pal?” She said to him over to thopter intercom, keeping the communication of the team clear just in case. The thopter landed softly onto the ground.
His comments about retreating was not taken too well by her, but without a face to show him her silence was loud enough to get the point across.
“Ah, I have been through worse… But since it seems you are intent on risking our heads let's do this properly at least. Is there a gunner’s seat or something? I need more time before I can- ahh- I can get down there and join in.”
He looked around the thopter for anywhere he may be useful as he considered his wound- at least the bleeding had stopped.
“Or can I help in another way?”
Eliana’s bullet flew fast and true, chasing the retreating mercenary out of the doorway. It pierced upwards, into the back of the man’s skull, causing him to stumble, trip, and fall in a heap on the ground, directly at the feet of the advancing Jor. A momentary silence crept over the house, the concert of violence now seemingly at an end.
A crackle of an audio channel switching off mute permeated the team’s earpieces, and the familiar voice of the elder oligarch, Jareth, began to muse in arrogant tones.
“Well, bloody hell. That was like the most intense audio drama I have ever heard. It certainly sounds like you gave whoever was in my house hell. I cannot deny that I wish I could have been there to see it. Those brutes got exactly what they deserve, I am sure. I do hope everyone is still in one piece.”
He chuckled to himself, before returning to a more orderly and composed voice.
“The job at hand then. As I said, there are 2 ways down into the basements. The stairs and elevator go directly down. There is also my secret staircase, hidden in the breakfast room in the north of the house. It is behind the bookcase on the right-hand side between there and the Banqueting hall…not that I will be able to hose another one of those for some time… You need to reach the sub-basement, the second underground floor. Do so…quickly.”
The line went mute again, the house a quiet.
Jor nodded to Eliana, lowering the plasma gun as Nimblus spoke. When he finished, the flora rose a hand to his comm unit.
"Understood. Targets clear for the moment, will keep an eye out. Advancing on objective." Jor responded, turning on the spot, keeping a firm hand on the plasma gun as he strode in the direction of the stairwell, leaving Eliana to head for the breakfast room.
“So uncivilised” Eliana said as she reloaded and looked the dead man before looking at the big plant come over and nod at her. She listened to Jareth as a swarm of nanites clouded around her and began to harvest materials that could be used for repairs.
“See you in a sec then” Eliana spoke as she turned and headed to the breakfast room and for the secret staircase.
The Manor
The silence spread over the house, the faint hum of the Ornithopter the only noise audible to Jor and Eliana as they split apart, and through the depths of the Manor.
Aboard the vessel, Gracie kept the controls steady, as they hovered along the wing of the house, the guns of her ship finally cooling after spraying the mercenaries that had attacked the group. She turned as she felt a presence by her shoulder, and looked to see the pale, sweating face of Teddy.
“Teddy…you do not look good at all!” she exclaimed “Sit down, did you take the first aid?”
“I…I…yes…I think it is making me feel…funny.” A dreary Teddy replied, as he fell into a seat by her side, exhausted.
“Oh damn…it can have this effect. You’ll be fine…just rest up.”
But it was too late. As she glanced across at Teddy, he sat slumped, head back, snoring heavily in his chair.
“Oh Teddy….night night.” She said with a smirk. She tapped to open her communications to Jor, Eliana, and Khasar. “Well, Teddy is out. He’s taken a drug in my first aid and, well let’s just say he could have the best sleep he has ever had. 12 hours or so I’d say. I’m going to stay with him. Will take the ‘thopter back to the landing pad, and settle her down. Let me know when you need extraction or…if you meet anymore of those Mercs.”
Eliana moved through the breakfast room; a brightly decorated space, it was dominated by a long bar like table in the middle of the room surrounded with breakfast stools. To the side, appliances, and a hatch for which food would presumably have been delivered.
“Eliana.” The voice of Jareth crackled. “The secret staircase, there is a button beneath the table closest to the window. Push it.”
Sure enough, a button was easy enough to find, and with a swift push, Eliana watched as the food hatch broke in two, revealing a hidden passage in the wall behind, a dimly lit staircase leading downstairs towards the basement.
Jor moving down the house’s main staircase saw the sleek modernist design change floor by floor into a functional display. Gone were the paintings, statues, and expensive light fixtures, replaced by bare exposed concrete, metallic doors, and safety lights that gave an orange hue to their surroundings. They came to the base of the stairs, and found themselves met by a closed, metal door. Opening it, Jor was met with a typical sight of such a household. Row on row of spirits and wines, held in almost library like display, and at the fair side, an unusual sight, as the wall gave way, splitting in two, and opened to make a doorway. As Jor approached, the sound of footsteps could be heard emerging from it until…Eliana stood within the archway. This was the bottom of the secret staircase.
“The two of you should be in my basement now. To the further side, you should see one final door way, with a keypad.” Jareth’s voice spoke once more.
Approaching the door, it sat slightly hidden amongst the wine racks, but sure enough, it was there, with its keypad glowing. Upon closer notice, the wall the door sat upon seemed to be solid, cold metal.
“The keypad code is 10642. This will open to “the server room”. THIS is where you will find the item. Now listen closely as once you are in there, I cannot communicate. This room is protected in this metal shell from outside interference. It is why we couldn’t simply, well…download what we needed. When you move into the room, you will see several screens. No doubt it will have many things on display, but we do not have time for you to peruse. There is a lot of information. We set one of our data disks downloading before we left but…had to leave before it was completed. It will be done by now. All I need you to do is retrieve the data disk, understood?”
As the code was punched in, the door retracted, and shifted into the side, to reveal a darkened room illuminated by 10s of screens, all glowing and buzzing with information. To the left-hand side, a row of towering units, presumably the servers themselves, stood proudly flashing, and there protruding from inside the central unit, a data disk, some 30cm in length, ready to be plucked.
It was hard not to notice the screens, however. The information flashing across them was ever so curious. Profiles, pictures of individuals, Irenans mostly, though not exclusively. With them, hoards of information, medical records, brain scans, likes, dislikes. All there easily to see.
Tavern – Miners Welfare
“Another drink then? Too the health of you and your comrades, maybe?” the woman raised a glass to Khasar. She downed the drink outright and stood abruptly. “Well…if things are to kick off soon as it were, we best get ready. Tell some of our people to be ready to move. What shall our signal be?”
Khasar took a sip and shrugged. "Let's keep it simple. I will activate my comlink and say, 'looks like you got what we came for' to Jareth. Give me your channel and I will put it into my comlink."
THE MANOR
Eliana looked at everything trying to take in as much information as possible “What exactly is our employer hoping to do with all this data” She spoke to Jor as she began scrolling through some of it deciding they had some time to browse before they did their job, “I suppose it is to blackmail or that is how he got to this position, but wanting it now seems a bit moot seeing as he is a fugitive” She said as she mused aloud, her eyes scanning and zipping around as she looked.
Jor shrugged after a moment.
"We can take a brief look." he started, tapping his comm and confirming it to be unresponsive, switching it off to make sure.
"I'm sure we can think of an excuse for the delay." he added, circling to the screens to take a look at what Jareth was after.
"Maybe he wants to blackmail people, you're right. But that might not be it. If the people who allowed this revolution are in here, this would be very useful information for...whats the human phrase? 'Rolling some heads'? Perhaps even collapse this revolution and reclaim his place here." Jor explained.
A beat, the floral humanoid looking to see if any persons of interest were among this database.
Tavern – Miners Welfare
The soldier leaned forward, reaching for something in her back pocket. She produced a slip of paper, on which scrawled in messy handwritten pen lay a series of numbers and letters.
“This is our squad channel. If you patch into this, we will have direct contact with one another.”
She collected her things, ushering her comrades to do the same. Once fully assembled with their military attire, they stepped away from the table.
“Give us fair warning though, please. We want to get this done correctly.”
The group staggered towards the door, ready to venture out into the Irenan night once more.
Khasar took the numbers and programmed them in to his holo, before folding the paper up and tucking it inside one of his many pockets. He leaned back in his seat, watching as the Imaginese filed out of the door, then taking another sip before activating his comms.
"How are we doing?" he whispered to the rest of the team
The Manor
Further inspection of the display screens and their information certainly confirmed Jor and Eliana’s theory, but only in part. As they both stopped to gather further details it soon became apparent that beyond just the surface level personal information of Irenan citizens, the data held on the system was extremely sensitive, and featured individuals from beyond the world.
A face of a human looking female appeared on the middle screen directly in Jor’s field of view. The face was recognisable, a blue sheen to the skin, which Jor recognised as ‘Kaso’, the young servant who had served them drinks as they had arrived on Jareth’s ship. The data listed her name, birth dates, her life story, her family relations, her dietary requirements, medical history, her political history, and more. This was more than a profile; this was an intensive detailing of a person’s life.
As Jor and Eliana looked further, there revealed more information. Huge lists of mercenaries, other members of the ruling elite, off worlders, political dissidents and more. If knowledge was power, this find was an encyclopaedia of political capital. A direct list of weaknesses and pressure points on hundreds of thousands of people. With such information at Jareth’s hand, it was easy to see how any political rival could be sniffed out, how any dissidents in the mines he owned were ‘eliminated’ (and indeed, some files featured a large red cross, signifying that the individual was no longer a problem to Jareth), and how even now, the information could be used to his advantage to escape prosecution, and even bully his way into a new life, or attempt to reclaim his life on Irena.
Within the room, Jor and Eliana were out of reach of the communications of Jareth or Khasar, shielded behind the solid metal density that Jareth had made clear had made downloading the information impossible. They were expected to be quick, but ironically, now they stood in front of the overwhelming data bank, this felt like the one place that was safe from prying ears and spies.
She turned her comm piece off, it was useless anyway now thanks to being in faraday cage, after this she kept staring at all the data that was scrolling along the screens her eyes flicking back and forth as she processed it all, “I wonder if I can make a duplicate of all this data in the amount of time we are given” She mused as she went over to a console and inspected it.
“This data would also be super beneficial to the revolutionaries as well who could use it for the exact same purpose” She said to her plant friend.
To Khasar, there would be no reply. Not even any evidence his whisper had been heard.
Because it hadn't.
"Maybe." Jor grunted to Eliana, floral eyes drifting over screens, profile after profile.
"But whoever it gets into the hands of, it can and will deal a lot of damage. A lot of people will almost certainly die, or worse, and a lot of them will not necessarily deserve it. Ideological conflict always comes with this, if our study of the fauna races of Izut are any indication." he shrugged, his visor settling on the android.
"If we let anyone get their hands on it at all. I have an idea, but it depends how fast you are at computers."
Eliana chuckled “I am very good and fast with computers my fauna based lifeform compatriot” She replied to Jor as she was now at the console.
She gave her knuckles a crack, or at least she did the motion of it, if she were human they would have cracked, “So what do you want me to do then Jor?” She asked.
Jor nodded.
"Empty the database copy on the disc so it is only their names and such. Surface information, so a cursory glance makes it seem as though everything is there when actually nothing of worth is." he explained.
"If you like instead corrupt the rest of it so the file sizes remain unchanged but it remains unusable, but I'll leave that to how quickly you think you can do it. The point is, nobody gets hurt with this information, and with a bit of luck, we get away from Mr Nimblus with our due money. I won't pretend I know any of these people, but I don't want to be associated by proxy if someone comes looking for vengeance, and I doubt you do either."
A pause.
"Unless you want to give a copy to the locals."
She nodded and began setting to work, taking time to get into the system and corrupting the file as Jor said making it look the same size and given a cursory glance looked like it contained the information he wanted, whilst she also made a copy for herself and a second corrupted copy that she could give the locals if they needed leverage.
The lines of code, files, documents, and alike fly across the screen in rapid succession. Eliana worked quickly, creating the copy for herself, along with two corrupted copies, all copied across on to three hand sized data drives, ready to be plucked from the server towers. As she did so, the personal information continued to flood across the multiscreen room, showing worker, oligarch, mercenary and alike. Jareth had collected information on everyone, that much was clear. It begged the question, what information did he have on the group?
The data finished copying, and the screens went a scrambled mess of code and colour as Eliana completed the corruption of the data on the system. With that, she and Jor removed the data devices, carrying with them as they left the metal room. As they emerged once more into the wine cellar, their communication devices once more erupted into life with the sound of Khasar, and Jareth.
“What is taking them so long? Khasar, if they have ran into more trouble, you are my only hope…”
Khasar chuckled. "If they are in trouble we'll have a quick talk about my portion of the reward. Where are you? You should get ready to get us out of here."*
Despite his words, he showed no rush to actually go anywhere, instead relaxing at his table in the Miner's Welfare Tavern. He ordered some kind of pastry and a water to clear his head after drinking with the Imaginese troopers, not wanting the key phase of this mission to be ruined by him accidentally committing a DUI and driving his bike into a streetlamp....
Jor's tone came onto the comm next, almost the instant Khasar was off it. The floral alien himself was at a steady stride, looted plasma gun in his free hand as he made his way back up the stairs.
"Apologies for the delay. The package is secure. Moving to extraction now." he reported, before lowering his hand, shouldering his rifle.
They couldn't be sure if there weren't any stragglers, after all.
“Oh are they speaking again” Eliana said to Jor, as she had turned her comms device off when they got downstairs just to be certain that no one was listening even if the place was acting like a faraday cage.
She then turned it back on “What Jor said we are moving to extraction with the package” She reaffirmed before drawing her pistol and heading off.
Jor and Eliana moved back through the mansion, back past the wine cellar, back to the staircase that climbed up and up through the foundations, and into the bright lights of the house’s ground floor. Amongst the debris and remains of the mercenaries they had battled, the mansion maintained an air of quiet that made it unsettling.
Once out into the night, the pair moved back towards the landing pad, the ornithopter, and Teddy and Gracie. The house’s lights illuminated the path, as they moved quickly, the crunch of pebble and stone underfoot the only noise that could be heard, aside from the wild cries of the night-time wildlife that occupied the woodlands nearby.
As they approached the thopter, that creaked into life upon their stepping on the pad, the door swung open, automatically, allowing them to board. Teddy remained unconscious, soundly sleeping after this dose of Gracie provided medical aid.
“Are we sorted? Ready to go?” she shouted back at Jor and Eliana. Jor confirmed, holding the data disk up in the air for viewing, rather than speaking a reply.
Jareth’s voice crept once more into their ears.
“We must be quick. There is a clearing about 6 miles or so from your positions. I am sending the coordinates now. The authorities are scanning our space, so I will come down myself to the site with my team and collect the disk from you. If we move with speed, I can be gone and done before these rebels even know I was here.”
The clearing was isolated and away from the town. The ornithopther was able to reach it with relative ease, but for Khasar, trailing through the wilds on his bike, it was far harder, even with him sobering up from the drinks. It was about 50m in diameter, surrounded by thick woodland that sheltered the sight from the eyes on the ground. Arriving at a similar time, the party regrouped, awaiting Jareth’s company.
Eliana sorted her stuff and stretched as she stepped out into the clearing from the thopter, “So how long do you reckon we are supposed to wait, that is even if our benefactor turns up and doesn’t sell us out” She asked the group in general.
Grabbing a few last bites and brushing the crumbs from his coat, Khasar stood and ducked out of the bar. Taking it slow, he took the opportunity to call his Imaginese compatriots and inform them of the location. Now he just had to wait and send a signal once Jareth himself had arrived.
He parked his bike just under the cover of the trees and then hurried over to the others, ducking into the shadow of the ornithopter which crouched like a huge beast of prey in the middle of the clearing.
"You had a fun time eh?" he asked, his breath frosting in the night air.
"If you consider getting shot fun, yes, I suppose so. I netted a new gun out of it if nothing else." Jor shrugged, the purple-armoured figure leant against a tree at the clearings edge, virtually with one foot in the shrubbery, arms crossed.
"Some interesting things me and Eliana found down there, a shame you were...wherever you went to."
“It was only a minor hiccup that we managed to get through and we got the information our Employer wanted, very interesting information so I hope we get paid handsomely” She spoke with a nod as she pulled out the first of the corrupted data sticks
“And where did you get off to?” She asked him. bouncing off Jors sentence
"Keeping an eye on the garrison," he replied curtly. "We discussed this remember?"
"Ah yes." Jor nodded softly, his gold visor turning elsewhere.
"I admit, I likely forgot. Not very much communication and all. Enjoy your trip? Ours involved bullets." he huffed, his tone as flat as ever.
"The locals bought me a drink, I had a lovely evening." replied Khasar airily, turning to squint into the darkness as though Jareth were hiding somewhere in the bushes
The conversation was interrupted by a distant rumble, that grew louder and louder, approaching the party in the wood clearing. Small lights denoted a vessel descending from the sky, slim lined and stylish, it clearly shared its design heritage with the Prosperity, Jareth’s ship that the gang had met upon.
It touched down, wind blowing through the trees as it released its landing gear, and parked neatly in the opening, in front of the assemble mercenaries. Within seconds, a side door and ramp began to unfold, and as the door opened, bright white light engulfed the party as they waited. A man stood in the doorway, the light casting a him in silhouette, though judging by the flowing fine gown, it was clear that Jareth himself stood before them.
With the ramp completed, he emerged, and touched down onto the ground beneath, the light now catching him fully. He gave the group a large, almost arrogant smile.
“Excellent, excellent!” he began, a wicked congratulatory tone complimented the nod of appreciation he gave. “This is most wonderful. You have the item then. Quickly now, hand it over. We haven’t much time.”
Khasar raised a hand as if to halt Jareth. "Hold on. The money. Let's see the prepared transfers before we hand over this macguffin of yours."
“Ah, the money. Of course.” Jareth said, almost through gritted teeth. Composing themselves, they produced a data pad from their side, and turned the screen towards the group.
“Thorough, yes, I should appreciate such professionalism.” He regained a sense of humour and confidence. “Here you go. Your nominated accounts are all here look. Transactions all prepared to be released. Once you all hold up your side. Now lets conclude this, shall we?”
Jor said nothing, arms remaining crossed, allowing his helmet to confirm what the screen said from a distance.
His helmet turned to Eliana, nodding his helmet in Jareth's direction.
"No point dawdling."
Eliana nodded and produced from her pocket one of the two corrupted drives that she had downloaded.
"As long as there is no back stabbing, here you go Jareth" she said a bit coldly towards him
Jareth clapped, a childish, gleeful joy spreading across his face, and an audible squeal escaping his mouth.
“Oh joy of joys. Well done, well done!”
He reached out with his right hand, grasping the (unbeknownst to him) corrupt drive, and lightly lifting it out of Eliana’s grasp. He looked it over, the smile ever increasing,
*”Rashan, would you check this please?” he beckoned, and a man emerged from the lit interior of the ship. It was the guard who had met the party when they had initially gathered on Jareth’s ship. He took the device, and returned to the small vessel’s interior for a moment.
There was an awkward pause, which Jareth chose to break.
“This is excellent work. Well done. I will keep your details on retainer, that is for sure. I will no doubt have more work for you in the future.” His mind seemed to trail off, with grand plans for the future. “I am so very glad that the research we conducted on you all was thorough. It proved to be right…yes, soon we will be able to get everything back on track.”
Research? No doubt Jareth had to have gathered some intelligence on the group in order to hire them, but how far did his knowledge go? Remembering the data bank held at the manor, and the secrets it told on thousands and thousands of individuals, it did not take a great leap to imagine.
Rashan reappeared in the doorway.
“It looks to all be here, sir.”
Jareth’s face revelled in delight, another quick clap of joy bursting from him.
“Wonderful! Here, here…” He tapped away on his data pad “The money is released. Wonderful work, all of you”
"Looks like you got what we came for," said Khasar, unable to take his eyes off the transfer notification on his holo. It was a fantastic payday, and it was only about to get better. He just had to stall for a moment or two whilst the Imaginese arrived.
"Hey, so now you have it surely you can tell us, what is it we went to such trouble to acquire?" he asked. Jareth's expression made it clear it was something the man had desperately wanted, and in Khasar's experience only two things prompted such joy. Money or vengeance.
Eliana look at the transaction and nodded “Future business could be negotiated depends on the work that you would want doing” She spoke as she put weapons away no wondering how they were meant to leave this place.
“We gathered information for him on the people of the planet” She said casually as she turned her head to look at Khasar.
Jor had been debating whether or not to tell Khasar what they found, but apparently Eliana made that decision for him.
"And whatever he chooses to do with it, is up to him." the man grunted, pushing off the tree he was leaning on.
"As far as I'm concerned, business is concluded." he made a vague, somewhat robotic waving gesture as he started to move off.
And time to get as far from this sector of space as I can, he thought.
“Indeed.”Jareth concluded. “Our work here is done. A pleasure…”
A noise emerged from the vessel. A bleeping alarm made Jareth’s face drop from gloating to concern, and he turned, tucking his head back into the lit interior.
“Rashan! What is it?” he bellowed through gritted teeth.
“Incoming, sire. The authorities! They just…appeared, as if they were waiting on us!” Rashan said, his own worry now registering.
“WHAT?! HOW?!”Jareth swivelled, back to the darkness of the wood, looking upwards to the skies.
Sure enough, a noise now grew louder, and louder, as half a dozen dropships rumbled over the forest canopy, and into view, descending upon the signal that Khasar had so clandestinely fed to them. Flood lights blinded the party on the ground, as the ships circled.
“YOU BETRAYED ME? WHICH ONE OF YOU?” Jareth was in a spin, anger radiating. “RASHAN! GET ME OUT OF HERE!”
But it was too late, Rashan, a rifle slung over his shoulder, was pushing the oligarch out of the way as he headed down the vessel’s ramp.
“Sorry, I am OUT!”the man said, abandoning his boss as he started off towards the woods. “I ain’t getting thrown in prison…”
“STOP WHERE YOU ARE!” A voice bellowed from a speaker from the dropships hovering above. Khasar recognised it as the female soldier he had shared a drink with, though her tone was far more professional in this guise. Rashan however, did not stop. He looked over his shoulder up at the ship, before setting off at a run.
A burst of fire erupted from the ship, as twin machine guns from the dropships wings descended upon the retreating Rashan, who fell in a bloody slump to the ground.
“NO ONE WILL MOVE. THE AREA IS SURROUNDED.”
Jareth slumped. Fury, despair, loss, all crashing over the man like a wave hitting the shore.
“I…I…will destroy you.” He said, spitting his words to Khasar, Jor and Eliana. “I will boil you alive. You will regret this.”
A dropship lowered into the clearing, suspended above the ground, its guns aimed on the assembled.
“Comrade Khasar. We thank you for your cooperation.”The female soldier spoke. “You will be rewarded fully. Mr Nimblus, you are guilty of crimes against the people of Irena II. You will face the people’s justice.”
Jareth scoffed.
“Khasar,” the soldier addressed again, over the megaphone. “The rest of your party…what is to be done with them?”
Khasar glanced at the others and shrugged, his usual terseness reasserting itself now that he didn't have to play the part.
"None of my business. What do you normally do with people who sell out?"
He turned off his holo, tightened the belt around his overcoat, and then clambered up onto his hoverbike with a grunt. Nodding to the gunship, he goosed his engines and disappeared into the forest...
Jor stiffened as the Imaginese appeared in force, though he was seemingly unperturbed by Rashan being gunned down, saying nothing as Khasar and the soldiers spoke.
As much as he'd like to offer the moustached man a plasma bolt as reward for his efforts, he doubted the gunship pilot would much appreciate the gesture.
Behind the visor of his helmet, he watched Khasar leave, grumbling naught but possibly the most vitriolic thing he'd said the entire day.
'Hairy fucking primate.'
The helmet then rolled on the spot, to the Imaginese soldiers.
"I don't know what 'sell out' means in his parlance, but I doubt its actually what happened. Tell me, did he actually mention to you what we found?"
The dropship continued to hover above the surface, though the side doorway opened, the dimly lit interior splashing a hue of red light onto the ground, and a figure, the female soldier, appeared in the doorway. She was dressed in the drab green battle armour and blackened clothing of the Imaginese Liberation Army, a helmet and mask adorning her face, a laser rifle slung across her shoulders casually as she held onto a handle inside the ship with her left hand, and the microphone for the loud speaker in her right.
She lifted the microphone, and her voice, distorted slightly with the removal of all bass tones from her mask, responded.
“Negative. Khasar has aided us in locating this…fugitive.” She cast a look in the direction of Jareth, who continued to seethe.* “My understanding was the rest of your hired party were searching for something at Nimeth’s manor. If you found something that would aid the revolutionary tribunal in their prosecution of Mr Nimeth, then I can assure you of your safety.”*
Jareth spat with anger. Teeth clenched, he growled at Jor and Eliana.
“Listen. Both of you. I can pay. MORE than I have done. Get me out of here and I will make you the richest mercenaries who ever lived!”
Jor turned to Jareth, pausing for a moment.
"Do you...do you see the gunship?"
He wondered for a moment how human brains worked, before turning back.
"We were sent to his manor, you're right. What we found down there was a database on--at the very least--everyone on this continent. Including him." Jor gestured a thumb at the body of Rashan.
"But more realistically, everyone on this planet and it's orbit. Potentially even all of you. All the information a man could want to trip up this Revolution of yours."
A pause. Whether for effect or out of Jor's concerns for human processing speeds wasn't clear.
"I didn't feel comfortable giving one person that much power, and seemingly, neither did Eliana as she agreed to my plan. It's a good thing Rashan never opened any of the files in that database, because everything under the names is useless."
He gestured to Nimblus' ship.
"He had just checked it, so it's probably still there, if you want to see what I mean."
Eliana blinked a few times and looked at Jareth
“Helping you escape from this situation is not within the parameters of the contract that we agreed on, and as Jor has pointed out there is a gunship that would end us the moment we decide to help you” She said clearly
She then looked at the female soldier “Jor just explained it well enough but yes all the data on that drive was corrupted by myself so he could not have that much power, well no one should have that much power” She said with a shrug. “We were just doing a job we were paid to do, that job has ended when he got the corrupted drive we have no qualms with the Liberation Army”.
The soldier stared at the trio, the drop ship softly landing upon the surface, two more still suspended in the air, covering the skies and surrounding the scene. As it touched down, a rush of boots could be heard clanking across the metallic floor, and a platoon of 10 (the female soldier included) launched themselves out of the vessel, onto the floor, and straight towards Jareth. Seeing them charge, Jareth turned, a last desperate effort to retreat inside his own ship and escape, but his old legs were not as nimble, nor as quick as the armour clad troops bearing down upon him.
2 soldiers lashed out, clubbing him in the back with the buts of their rifle, causing him to groan as he fell to the ground. As he coughed and spluttered, they violently grabbed his arms, forcing them behind his back, one holding the oligarch down, whilst the other wrestled with his hands, attempting to put restraints upon him. Despite his protest, Jareth was no match, and before long, he was being lifted, and dragged unwillingly towards the Imaginese Dropship.
The female soldier made a command in her native tongue, and several other members of the platoon began to search Jareth’s ship. After a few moments, a shout in Imaginese called out from the ship, and a soldier, data disk in hand, the very one Jor and Eliana had handed over, appeared in the doorway. The commanding officer replied, and the soldier holding the data disk stored it away, before returning to his own dropship.
“Indeed. What you say would appear to be true. You may have just assisted in the easiest prosecution of one of Irena II’s most notorious former oligarchs. For this, you have our appreciation.”
A shout could be heard as Jareth screamed expletives, before a rough punch to the gut silenced him, and he disappeared inside the Imaginese VTOL.
“Thank you. I will arrange it so that your passage off the planet is easy. Should we ever require assistance in locating any more fugitives, we shall keep you both in mind.”
She gave them a nod, before turning on her heel, and boarding the ship, which promptly lifted into the air, leaving Jor and Eliana alone in the opening.