Futuristic Blacksun (Notorious x C.DEX)

[Notorious]

Vitor was still pretty beat up solely due to the fact that his body chemistry was not technically like the average human anymore and therefore took longer to heal using the medical tanks in the medic bay. There was just too much ground to cover when trying to heal and it was going to be a long process especially after the beating Knox gave him. He burned after that fight, wishing he could have done more but it was obvious the Exodus technology Knox was using gave him such a ridiculous upperhand. Although he was beat up thankfully he was alive, as were the rest of them. Vitor took a seat first, followed by Lucy who luckily didn't suffer an injury and only benefited from the most intense mission of her life. Dayle took a seat followed by Xulu who looked much different than he did on the ship.


"We didn't catch your name on the ship." Vitor mumbled to Xulu who took a seat next to him. 


"The names Axel, Axel Winger. Glad y'all made it out in one piece." Axel stood much shorter than Vitor but taller than the women in the room. He had a respectable build for an agent and obviously had seen combat while working for the RCN, what looked like claw marks scratched upwards the side of his cheek painting his goatee'd face with a gruesome scar that made him distinguishable. His dark hair was on the shorter side but unkempt, partly due to the outer-rim style long brimmed hat he wore on his head. His thick accent rivaled both Dayle's and especially Lucy's signifying that he was from the rim worlds much like them. 


"Oh great, with all that Exodus armor on didn't know you were a space cowboy. Don't you know that's kinda already been played out by... Well all of the boys in the rim worlds?" Lucy asked, her trademark sass in full effect.


"Well darlin', ain't none of them rancher boys are quite like me. They wish they could be but it's just too hard from 'em." He said with a cocky smirk on his face, appreciating the fact that Lucy was capable of joking on the station. "Let's get down to business. Chancellor Div, we're all ears ma'am." 

 

[C.DEX]

Dayle's grim faced lightened a bit. She glanced upwards from her hand to Lucy and Axel. "Don't mind Lucy, Winger. She has a bit of a ... different way of showing affection. It's a pleasure to meet you, dear, and you saved our asses out there. Sorry that now's the first time we're thankin' ya."


Chancellor Div smiled, tight-lipped. Dayle caught her expression, and straightened her back.


"Formalities aside," she said, attempting to silence the group. "We have a few matters to discuss. The first and foremost; your status as a group. I understand that you've been training Lucretia, Captain Dayle, and you've been successful in that. And Vitor, you've served your mission objective well, seeing to the safety of Captain Dayle. I don't need to commend you on your bravery, Mister Winger. Advancing into enemy territory without a safety net is ... an incredible sacrifice."


Dayle nodded, glancing to Lucy, then Vitor.


"Captain Dayle," the Chancellor said, adamantly. "It's come to my attention that during the recent mission regarding the ISS Dredge, you distinctly disobeyed orders. Instead of abandoning ship, you brought a dangerous ship full of hostiles directly to the RCN-1."


"It came to my attention that you'd rather sacrifice the lives of everyone on Oeutune-4 than the soldiers on ship, Div." Dayle spat. "Failed mission or not, we don't abandon our people."

 

[Notorious]

Things were already heating up as the tension between Dayle and Chancellor Div was starting to grow. Axel remained completely silent as this wasn't his battle to fight and Lucy kept her lips sealed as tightly as possible, anyone who messed with Dayle also messed with her but in this situation she knew for a fact she would just make it worse. That was until Vitor stepped in.


"I joined the RCN to protect the people, knowing the sacrifices that would have to be made in doing so." He spoke quietly, reinforcing what Dayle was saying. "Every soldier has his or her duty and they know what the price of freedom is. They knew what they were getting into. We knew what we were getting into." Everyone quietly listened to Vitor. He was keeping it short and sweet but also incredibly blunt in typical Vitor fashion. "Dayle brought the ISS Dredge to RCN-1 to destroy it. Otherwise, those soldiers on board would have died along with the planet that we all failed to protect." He crossed his arms, looking sternly at the chancellor.



"Without Dayle disobeying direct orders there would have been more friendly lives lost. She made the right call." 

 

[C.DEX]

"And it was very noble of you to do so, knowing what you were getting into, and all that. I'm sure it was very scary, and making quick decisions like that isn't always easy. And say that I agreed that you made the right call, Captain Dayle. Say I did." the Chancellor snapped back, "Does that change public favor of you? Does it change you as the face of the failure on Oeutune-4? Will saying that we're not considering official reprimand give someone to blame, for all those who lost family on Oeutune?"


Her hands, if one could call them that, went from neatly knitted in her lap to flat on the table.


"You made a quick decision, and it turned out well. But that still doesn't leave me with a choice. I have spoken to the other Chancellors on your behalf. They all say the same thing; what's in the public interest. Resign her." the Chancellor said.


Dayle's demeanor fell. The face of failure on Oeutune-4? The Corscezzi's words stung like knives. "It wasn't my fault," she said, with a deep grimace. "I did what you asked me to. And you abandoned us, for dead."

 

[Notorious]

"That's. Not. Fair." Vitor said bluntly, not having any of this. "The face of failure on Oeutune-4? Take responsibility for the RCN's actions. We were left for dead. What were we to do? Die for you and let them get away and completely fail the mission? We did our part and then some, if your strike teams were ready we could have taken out the ship before it fired." Vitor was getting angry, situations like this were common place with the RCN but they were unavoidable. They were the only organized rebellion against the zealots and with how frequently disagreements and bad decisions were made everyone still needed eachother. "The public doesn't know what happened up there. Tell them the truth. Tell them the truth that everything was poorly executed but Captain Dayle and I got our job done."


"I like your loyalty Vitor... But that just ain't how things work 'round here." Axel said, speaking up finally. "The RCN is a coalition, we all are responsible for this defeat but the public doesn't need to know the full truth. They need peace of mind, they want punishment for our failure to protect them. Their truth is that a Harvester destroyed a civilization then warped directly to our home." When it was put that way it made a little more sense to both sides, after a brief pause Axel continued. "Resigning Captain Dayle is the obvious decision simply cause she put all these people on this very station in jeopardy. What if that cannon fired here too? Oeutune-4 was a big loss but losing RCN-1 would cost us the war and even more lives. You lead them to our front door and almost let them in." Axel frowned, "You should have jumped them to a section in space we could surround and shut the engine off. You had control. That way we'd have major loses from the colony being glassed and all but then the people wouldn't be frantic about almost getting destroyed too. We'd be mourning but not counting a close call too."

 

[C.DEX]

"You put it better than I could have, Axel." the Chancellor stated. "Yes, we knew we could control the threat. That much is true. How did the citizens of RCN-1 feel, though, when they saw the same ship that potentially destroyed countless other civilizations, which a lot of them had close ties to? What about the Or'sa, whose only home planet were wiped out, by such a vehicle? And when they learned that it was Captain Dayle's doing?"


"Have you ever been shocked to an inch of your life, Div? What about while under fire? Have you ever tried to think of precise coordinates, while jacking-in to a ship fifty times the size of your usual? I was in the middle-of-fuckin-" Dayle started, then stopped. She breathed. "The cannon couldn't fire again, anyways. I know that, because I got personal with it. The only reason that it fired in the first place was because of the techno-mage. The Dredge didn't have that kind of energy, not until C-23-fucking-whatever jacked in. And it couldn't have fired again. But you didn't know that." She slammed a fist on the table. "Please, tell me how I could have done this and I could have done that, but let me see you do it yourself. I'm the best got-damned pilot on this entire fuckity-stupid space base, and you want to resign me?!"


Her eyes fell on Axel, seething. Then, they fell back on the counselor.


"It matters not." Div said. "Your resignation has already been decided."

 

[Notorious]

"What do you want them to do?" Axel asked, crossing his arms. He didn't care too much for how Dayle was being treated as he had heard of her and her contributions to the cause. He cared more for progress than caring about what the public thought but he was a realist, something needed to be done and soon. "Admit that everything didn't go as planned? I was on the Exodus for 4 months before I blended in well enough. I waited and waited, pretending to be someone I'm not in order to get a jump on whatever they were planning. I got onboard the Dredge as that was one of their biggest harvester ships and was our most recent biggest threat. I did this, I made sure to do that to save whoever Knox wanted to decimate next and what happened?" Axel spat, "Y'all fucked up!"


"But Captain Dayle did ever-"


"I don't wanna hear it!" Axel shouted at Lucy, needing to finish his point. "I'm not saying you did a bad job Dayle, in fact if it were up to me and I was one of these councilors I'd pin a medal to your metal arm there and call you my favorite. Give ya a pat on the head and say 'good job' but you slipped up. You don't show the enemy where we hang our hats sweetheart, you just don't. RCN-1 has been hauling ass from our previous location cause if any zealot got out of that ship alive and managed to secure those coordinates then we are fucked." He shook his head, "This just ain't about you bringing a boy home darlin'. It's about you sneaking him up to your room too but you kept your window open and everyone caught ya."


"Enough!" Vitor said, having heard enough from Axel. His voice bounced off the walls making him sound even bigger than he already was. "It is my fault Oeutune-4 was destroyed. Not Dayle's. She only did what she needed to do because it was her only option. You two act as if you could have done better."


"Well given the chance I wouldn't have-"


"You don't know!" Vitor said, interrupting Axel as quickly as he interrupted him. "We were completely surrounded on all sides. I was barely able to cover her and I've been in more combat situations than everyone in this room. It was her only choice. C-2341 was my mistake. He was in the way of the engine room and I knocked him unconscious instead of killing him... He... Reminded me of myself, when I was in his position." Everyone knew that Vitor was previously indoctrinated sure, but showing sympathy for someone who was currently indoctrinated may have been a bigger crime than what Dayle did. "I wish to face Captain Dayle's punishment instead. If it wasn't for me sparring the boy he wouldn't have fired on the planet and she would never would have had to jump to allied space in order to defuse the situation. Captain Dayle behaved logically and handled pressure better than anyone here. This was my failure and mine alone." Axel had no response, with this added information Vitor was looking more criminal than Dayle. Maybe they had the wrong person?

 

[C.DEX]

Dayle stood, ready to fight. The words hung on her lips. Then, Vitor admitted what had happened. Her fist unballed for a moment. She glanced his way, expression softening. What he said was true, yes. But she, too, had the opportunity to kill the young techno-mage. They both shared the responsibility. Whether it was due to his appearance, sympathy, whatever it was due to... It was certainly bad.


"This is true?" Chancellor Div asked. "You chose to take sympathy on a known Exodlite?"


Her face hardened.


"That is treason, Vitor. The punishment for assisting the Exodlites in any way is death. I would like to help you ... I truly would. But it dawns upon me that the only people with the potential to be trusted among our company is Axel, and perhaps Lucretia. I ... chose to have this meeting here, because I believed that in some way, I may be able to somehow rectify the situation at hand. Formerly, I would have suggested reducing you to a pilot, Dayle. Perhaps Captaining another. To appease the public eye. But you've forced my hand."


For a long while, Div bowed her head in contemplation. Her hand squeezed, then unsqueezed. She, herself, knew that Dayle and even Vitor wouldn't make the same mistake if they knew that it would destroy the planet. She was wise enough for that. She stood from her seat. With a flick of her hand, a hologram appeared on the metal table in front of them. A picture came up. It was of them, speaking, currently. With another swipe, Chancellor Div scrolled backward in time. Then, she deleted it all.


"Axel Winger. Stand." she commanded.

 

[Notorious]

Axel's heart sank in his chest when he heard Vitor's confession and Chancellor Div's reaction made it sink even further. He may have been as loyal as you could be to the RCN and would do anything to keep the people on this station and out in the field safe but he knew both Vitor and Dayle were good people. In a way he was playing devil's advocate, he never minded as he didn't care if anyone liked him or not. Then all went silent as Div stood up from her seat. Vitor bowed his head and knew that while he could have kept what happened a secret all he wanted to do was shoulder the burden, even if it meant dying because of it.


Then, Div deleted the recording.


"Uhh.... Alright." Axel replied to Chancellor Div's strange request. What exactly was she planning? After a brief moment of silence Axel's brow furrowed, deeply confused by what she was doing. "Why am I standing, Chancellor?"

 

[C.DEX]

"Axel Winger. I am aware that you stand with the RCN. I am a Chancellor of the board, and as is, my will is that of the RCN. That said, I expect you to do as I say." Div started. "Officially, I am stripping Captain Dayle of her rank, as a part of an official probation reprimand. Officially, you are now the Captain of the Gaius, and Dayle will forfeit her ship accordingly, in light of my incredibly merciful ruling. Unofficially..." she sighed. "Axel Winger, you are now the handlers of both Vitor Frede and Dayle Benskett. Lucretia," she turned to the girl, beckoning her to stand as well. "You will continue your training under Axel Winger. And only him. I can't have your credentials be listed under the name of a notorious former Captain. And I can't have your particular group straying far from one another; that's just asking for trouble."
 


Dayle opened her mouth to protest. She searched for words, but only a croak came out of her throat.


"Or," Div said, her words still resolute, "This entire conversation still exists on the books. I order an official arrest on Vitor Frede for assisting the enemy - an action that will most likely result in his execution - I remove Dayle Benskett from the RCN in its entirety, and Lucretia is free to train under the RCN as she wishes."


In that moment, it seemed like the entire room's attention shifted to Axel.

 

[Notorious]

Axel felt everyone's eyes burning into him but he didn't shift to look back at them. He could feel the tension in the air and the whole situation meant big changes for him too. Axel was always out on a mission alone or doing a joint operation with other RCN operatives but he never led anyone for an extended period of time. Finally he turned to look at them and read each of their faces like a book, Vitor was bowing his head out of respect but was showing nearly no emotion, clearly accepting whatever fate he would suffer. Dayle was fighting her emotions, the idea of the Gaius being stripped from her after all this time was normally non-negotiable but technically she had already lost it. Lucy seemed openly angry and from Axel's excellent way of reading people, she disliked him more than Dayle did. All three of their fates rested in his decision so he turned around and looked at the Chancellor.


"Lose the mouthy one and you got yourself a deal." He said with a smirk. When he seen that the Chancellor wasn't budging or even smiling at his comment he took a deep breath and just said, "I accept, Chancellor Div. I'll make sure these sorry sacks of shit don't fuck up this hard again. If they do, it's on me." Axel didn't look back at them but he said with a smile, "You're welcome." 

 

[C.DEX]

Dayle felt like reaching out. She felt like grabbing Axel by the hair, and slamming his head into the table. She felt like beating him to the ground, curbstomping him, and then beating him down again with her stump of an arm. Her expression of pure rage was barely hidden on her face, which was beet red. Still, not wanting to push her luck, she gave a curt nod, her hand at her side. The worst thing - the absolute worst thing - was that the Gaius was hers. She owned it. She interfaced with it. She bought it from the RCN. It was hers, damnit.


But she didn't want to push her luck.


Not now.


"Great." Chancellor Div said. "I thank you for your service, Captain Winger. Now, for our last matter..." Div sat back down. "It really isn't a matter. I thought I would simply inform you that the prisoner you took is to be questioned to our fullest extent -" she said. That probably meant torture. "- And then executed."

 

[Notorious]

Vitor didn't like the sound of the last part. He knew the horrors of Exodus indoctrination and the fact that she just threw around executions so non-nonchalantly angered him.


"He needn't be executed, he's just a boy an-"


"Are you really going to push your luck, Frede? Stand down." Axel ordered, silencing Vitor who seemingly wanted to get executed. "You want your head on a block, boy? We can do this shit medieval style if you want. Put your head on a block and chop that shit off. You're a good soldier Vitor but you aren't thinking with your head. You're thinking with your heart. We need both of those things to defeat the Exodlites, not save them." Axel turned to Chancellor Div, "He's misguided, Chancellor. I'll rope him in and set him straight. As for the prisoner... You need an interrogator? Maybe not even that but I think those two there would be a help with getting him to talk. Maybe get them to make up for their fuck up. Whaddaya think? Maybe after we check out my new ship." 

 

[C.DEX]

Div went quiet. Dayle remained silent as well, staring daggers into Axel. My ship, she reminded herself. 


"That kind of imagery isn't necessary, Mister Winger." Div said, snapping. Somehow, she still seemed calm. "We ... do need to launch a campaign, to capture Captain Knox. Your undercover mission has provided endlessly valuable intel on that. Do you think that C-2341 would be useful in doing so? I certainly wouldn't mind assigning you to the cause; you already know quite a bit about their inner workings."


"It's not worth the danger, Div." Dayle said. "You saw what he can do."


"We've already studied his augments, Dayle." Div replied. "You can control him either by chip, or restraint. Past that, he cannot do anything without the use of his hands."


Their eyes shifted back to Axel. Painfully, it was up to him. He was the Captain, after all.

 

[Notorious]

Axel turned back around and examined his team and gauged their reactions then gave them a toothy grin. He was already beginning to enjoy this.


"I think he could be of some use. While we know how the Exodus hierarchy works and many of their facilities including locations of several of them we don't know everything." He went serious for a moment, "While under I found a scientist named Arc was C-2341's handler, he forced the little bastard to go and do his bidding and took all the credit for it. The kid's brain is probably fried with all that zealot bullshit but that's exactly what we're after." Axel placed a gloved hand to his beard, kneading the hair between his fingers deep in thought. "If we can control him by chip we can just extract all his information without a struggle. Though if that doesn't work I'm sure we can get big guy over there to be persuasive. Use some of that Crusader magic of yours. That is if you're gonna interrogate him and not hug him."


"I will do what our team requires of me, Axel." Vitor said, he too was having a hard time with the leadership change like the two next to him but he restrained himself. It wasn't the first time he was forced to work under a shitty leader.


"That's Captain Axel." He replied with a wink, laying down the foundation that was to be their new team and the way everyone acted now. "Are we clear?"


"Yes... Sir..." Axel waved his hand for Vitor to continue talking. "Captain Axel." 


"Great!" Axel said tipping his hat to Vitor then turning back to the chancellor. "See, ma'am? I got them under control. If you need us to extract information out of the kid we volunteer." 

 

[C.DEX]

"Great." Div said. "We'll have him transferred to the brig of the Gaius. From there, he'll be yours."


The Chancellor turned to Dayle and Vitor. Dayle fidgeted in obvious irritation. In one fell swoop, her ship was taken, she was demoted, plastered as the face of failure to the entire RCN, and she had to be subservient to the biggest asshole that the Universe had ever seen. Still, she remained silent. Axel would get her words, eventually. But not infront of one of the most influential leaders the RCN had ever been bestowed.


"This is the last chance I'm giving you. Especially you, Vitor. I expect you to outperform my expectations." the Chancellor said. "And remember, what was lost," she pointed to the holoscreen, which was currently blank. "Can always be remembered."


Div sat down again.


"You are dismissed."

 

[Notorious]

End Scene 1: A Lost Hope
​

 
​

"Oh MAN! She is beautiful. And she's mine? Wow..."


Axel stood in front of the Gaius a few hours after their meeting with Chancellor Div. The crew barely had time to adjust to the change that was their new captain and to all three of them it felt like they just woke up only to realize they were in a nightmare the entire time. His first impression had been okay but now that he was in a place of power he had assumed it with stride and he was targeting Dayle in particular when it came to his jabs. Lucy was barely restraining herself as she didn't want to get court martialed too while Vitor was just lucky enough to still be be breathing.


"Damn girl... Did someone rough your under carriage up? That's no good..." Axel said, crouching down and looking at the bottom of the leech. He turned and eyed Dayle, "Ol' girl is a little dirty huh? I like dirty but when they're this filthy DAMN!" He smirked, "I thought you flew better than this Pilot Dayle."


"JUST SHUT UP AXEL! YOU ARE SO IRRITATING I CAN'T EVEN HANDLE IT!" Lucy finally roared, her face growing red with anger as she listened to this insane cowboy lecture them. He had been talking to them this entire time and making so many comments and suggestive remarks it was almost sickening. "We didn't ask for this! Dayle and Vitor made a mistake and now this is Div's idea of punishment... You!" Axel smiled at her while she continued. "I was the one to fly last and in order to save all you I had to grind it into the Dredge. Without me doing that you'd be dead right now Axel."


"Wait wait wait..." Axel said quietly, walking towards Lucy slowly. "Did you just call me... Axel? Without Captain? That's a no no, Luce. And if you remember what Div said, 'You will continue your training under Axel Winger. And only him.' So I guess you're stuck too. Funny how that works out." He backed away and Lucy looked at Dayle with tears of anger in her eyes, she had never hated someone so much so quickly before. "You're cute when your face matches your hair." He added, causing her to get even more red. "Alright... I admit, I'm going a little hard on y'all. I do that for a reason: Results. I've lost plenty to know that if your team isn't hardened and ready for anything then you get planets glassed and Crusader's heads chopped. I'm not doing this to piss you off, that's too basic. Too easy for people who let a planet get destroyed." He leaned forward and looked at them all at once, "By getting pissed, I win. Toughen up. Eat your losses and we'll kick some ass." 


Axel let that sink in and started to walk up the ramp. Prisoner C-2341 was locked in the brig of the ship already and was guarded by two RCN guards, waiting for the others to arrive and to take care of everything. As soon as Axel got to the top of the ramp and barely inside he smiled widely and turned to Dayle.


"Care to give me a tour of my ship, Dayle?"

 

[C.DEX]

"Listen here, you little shit. Title or not, the Gaius is mine. She's mine, and she'll always be mine. This right here? This is a formality. Say I chose to leave, I'd take her with me. There wouldn't be a damn thing you could do about it, hero. Now, before I jack-in and leave your sorry ass at a rest stop, I suggest you clean up your attitude." Dayle hissed, her finger poking the chest of Captain Axel.


"And wipe your god damned feet."


The former Captain stepped inside of the Gaius. If she had known that landing on the Dredge would be her last time in ownership of her girl, she would have cleaned up a bit. Given that Axel followed her, the pilot finally decided to concede, and show him the ship.


The basics had to be the engine room and the gravity generator. The Gaius' engine was big, but not extremely so. Infact, the gravity generator took up significantly more space; it was technology that simply couldn't be sized down. Of course, the tour guide didn't particularly care for her guest, and after reaching it, Dayle quickly ushered the crew out and back into the hall.


"That was the Engine room. You don't touch a single thing in there, y'hear? It's too dangerous for a sprout like you. Too many things you could burn yourself on."

 

[Notorious]

"Sprout huh? That's cute, I'll take it darlin'. You look a little past your ripe days if we're name calling now." Axel replied back, never once breaking that cocky smirk on his face even when Dayle was shouting at him before boarding the ship. He knew this is how she would react, he wanted her to get angry with him. "But you don't give the orders sweetheart, not anymore. You receive them. Your orders got hundreds of thousands killed while your big meat shield over there twiddled his thumbs. Mine have been proven to work with only enemy casualties. So..." Axel did the unthinkable and walked right back into the engine room. He strolled straight up to a heating fixture, one that was very complicated to fix and hundreds of degrees. It was like a little kid going up to a hot oven top questioning if they should touch it or not. Axel smiled at Dayle, and just like what the kid would do, Axel grabbed on against her demands.


Nothing.


Nothing at all happened. Axel stood there, holding the scalding hot metal and watched in amusement as the others watched him do the unthinkable. Vitor walked up to the pipe to see if this was a trick and held his hand over the pipe and his own hand started to burn just barely hovering over it. Axel must have an augmentation or something to be able to hold the piping with no effects to him whatsoever.


"What sort of sorcery is this?" Vitor asked, half in amazement half concerned for Axel's health. "Captain... What exactly are you trying to prove here? The ladies are more inclined to listen if you would just be reasonable."


"That. I'm. the. fucking. boss." He crunched the pipe in his hand and engine fluid started to spit out onto the floor. Not in a huge burst or anything but enough to where Dayle and Lucy both would have to work for a number of hours repairing the fixture before the Gaius could even attempt to fly again. "This is my ship, Dayle. And I do what I want, to my ship. And that means making you clean up my mess. This will give you and Lucy something to do while big guy and I go talk to the freak in the brig. I wouldn't trust you around him anyways since I know the only thing Vitor here would do is hug 'em." Axel crossed his arms, "Well then, should we continue the tour? I'd just love to see the cockpit where you'll get the honor of flying my ship." 

 

[C.DEX]

Dayle looked on in amazement. Was that stupidity? Cockiness? Either or, he pushed past the tipping point. Dayle's face went completely flat. Even as the Gaius poured her fluids onto the floor, she watched. She waited. And she went silent. She let the Gaius drain her fluids, knowing well that it wouldn't stop for quite some time. Then, when Axel requested she show him the cockpit, she scoffed.


"I see your game. You want to show force. I get it, sweetheart. It's cute. Go ahead and look at the cockpit yourself. Break whatever you want, with your macho little hands. Luce and I will be back here. Don't worry about us."


Inside her head, she was formulating a plan. Something. Anything. Regardless, she couldn't imagine the Gaius would be flying anytime soon.


"One more thing before you go, Captain. How's that you're not burnt? I'd like to know. We better get to know eachother, because after all, we'll be spending quite a bit of time together."

 

[Notorious]

Axel smirked, he seen that he was slowly getting to Dayle. He could see her formulating something, anything to get back at him. He was being a huge tool for a reason, one that would hopefully bring them all together and help everyone grow as individuals and a team but they didn't see that quite yet. Axel barely seen it himself but he knew in the end they'd grow to like him instead of this initial burst of pure hatred.


"You and I got a lot in common, Dayle." Such a simple line was like a punch to the gut to not only Dayle but to Lucy who looked at him with disgust. Axel rolled back his sleeve and took off his glove and revealed that his right arm was completely augmented, much like Dayle's but with a fully functional hand. It looked armored and much more advanced than your average RCN tech, top of the line from the brass for important personnel. "While you got the pilot treatment I went for something a little bit more useful. Instead of a giant metal phallus swinging around where my arm use to be I got an upgrade. Fully functional, no pain. Hits like a space cruiser. Well, maybe not as hard as big guy over there but hard enough."


"So you're augmented?" Lucy asked, hesitantly as each time she spoke to him he had something ridiculous to say. "A lot of people have augments, it's just the way everything works. It's not really all that impressive... How'd you lose it though?"


"Lost it serving the RCN. Got on the wrong side of some Saurs during an escort mission and well, big ol' bastard ripped it clean off. Made sure he didn't get back up after fucking me up like that. I managed to get the people I was escorting out and got this bad boy installed. Looks a little newer than your model Dayle. If you do some good work here I could get you upgraded, that is if you can mind your attitude towards your captain." He said smiling, leaning back and resting his left arm against another hot fixture.



"What the hell?!" Lucy asked, seeing his other arm now resting on something else that burned red hot. Vitor out of reflex pushed Axel off of the hot object but he simply started to laugh. Lucy was so confused, "ARE YOU CRAZY?!"


"Yeah... Sure am darlin'." He said with his go-to smirk on his face. "Got this other arm for the hell of it. After I lost the one I figured why stop there and got a matching one." They were all completely silent, trying to figure out if this was someone who was capable of leading simply due to the fact that this cowboy had to be insane. "Before big guy and me go see the freak, I want to say this. You gotta be willing to do anything for the RCN. I lost my arm and then some to protect the good people that want to be out from under zealot rule. I've seen planets blown up, I've seen people torn to shreds by horrors some of you don't even know exist. Doing underground work for the RCN introduces you to some of the ugliest things in the universe you wouldn't know what hitcha." He let out a long sigh, his smirk disappearing from his face. "This team is important. Y'all may have fucked up royally, but with me on board it's only going to get harder from here. Learn from your mistakes, learn to swallow your pride and do what's best for these people. We're all they got." 


His smirk swiftly returned after his small speech.


"Now clean this shit up." He headed out of the room while Vitor followed closely behind, looking back at Dayle and giving her a look of sympathy about the ship. He nodded at both of them as he left to go check on the prisoner with their new captain. 

 

[C.DEX]

Dayle looked upon Axel. As he did his speech, her brow lifted. She, too, had gone far with the RCN. While his confidence may have been of use to perhaps Lucretia, this wasn't her first rodeo. Still, she was being talked to as if she were a child, inexperienced with running a mission, a ship, and a crew. But she took the hit. She took the hit of having her augment insulted; his point was valid enough, but her arm was her 'ole faithful. She worked well, and it served her well. 


"I have the money to upgrade, sweetheart. I bought this ship, after all. But if it's not broken, don't change it. I'm sure your arm is real nice, and it serves you well, but mine's an interfacing jack. The only wireless interfacing technology I've seen before is Exodon tech, and well, I'm not looking to go that far." Dayle said. Her temperament began to settle. "I'm sure that you've done a lot for the RCN, and that's great. But there's not a single person on the RCN-1 that hasn't made a sacrifice. I'll look forward to workin' with ya, Captain Winger, if you can swallow your pride up enough to realize that." 


Her hand raised as he went back to his shit-eating smirk.


"C'mon, Lucy-Luce. We've got some work to do." Dayle said. 


The brig itself wasn't large, but it was separated into two rooms; one where the prisoner was housed, and the observation chamber. The two rooms were separated by a door and a glass pane, the latter of which was two-way. 


C-2341 sat inside of the brig, his wrists clasped together with Mag-Cuffs, which would ensure that any power he tried to redirect past his wrists would loop back to him, suffering him a shock. He was tired; his eyes looked hollow, and his shoulders slumped forward in their place. His introduction into enemy territory had been exhausting. And surprising. After pouring his power into the ship, the last thing he had expected to do was survive. But he was there. Worse for the wear, bruised, poked and prodded at, studied, then transported, but he was there. So, when Vitor and Axel entered the room, he couldn't do much, apart from protest. His eyes fell on Vitor, first and foremost. He remembered the oversized man grabbing him, and slamming him head-first into a wall. It wasn't the first time he had been treated roughly in the company of the Exodlites, but it certainly was the most unwarranted. C-2341 grimaced, fixated on the former Crusader. Then, his eyes shifted to Axel. Something about him rang familiar.

 

[Notorious]

Before the two of them walked in, Axel stopped Vitor in the observation room.


"Listen, I ain't trying to be the big bad guy to you. Let me make that clear. I talk a mean game but it's to break us down and rebuild us as something unstoppable." Vitor raised an eyebrow in response but allowed Axel to finish talking. "Everyone on this ship has a level of disobedience and lacks focus. Dayle's pride gets in the way while Lucy is ignorant and thinks she knows everything. I'm not much better myself but if there is one thing I know in this life it's people. You however are nothing but focus and need to relearn how to reengage yourself into a permanent team. Maybe even lighten up a little old man. I've looked at your record Vitor and it's impressive, but when it comes to working in a team you've always opted out or left as soon as you could. Why is that?"


"The majority of people I've ever known have hurt me, Axel. I have been betrayed time and time again by the people. I was forced into slavery, indoctrinated heavily, and made to do terrible, terrible things. I remember everything." He said grimly, he was surprised Axel was approaching him like this but appreciated the transparency so he replied in turn. "My own religion was a sham. I was simply an experiment to them, much like this boy in there and made to do the Exodlites bidding. It's nothing personal, but I don't trust anyone. Not even the RCN."


"I understand..." Axel replied, his tone a stark contrast to how he had been speaking to Dayle and Lucy. He was actually kind and respectful when warranted, knowing that this was the perfect way to reach out to Vitor personally. "Listen, when we go in there I'm going to be the bad cop. You do your good cop crusader routine and we'll see where it leads us from there." They exited the viewing room and went out in front of the prisoner. Both of them stood still for a moment, examining the prisoner. That is, until Axel broke the silence.


"Howdy there freak." Axel said, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms. "You like the accommodations? Usually we torture those who glass planets a lot more but seeing as how you're so frail a pair of cuffs and roughing you up a little seems to have done the trick." He smirked, the same one that continued to harass his new team to no end. "Tell me... Why exactly did you kill all those people? Were you ordered to, or did you do it of your own will?" 

 

[C.DEX]

C-2341 kept his gaze on Axel, eyes tired. Axel's rough words didn't seem to phase him. Then, his eyes shifted back to Vitor. For a long while, it seemed to be as if the techno-mage was caught in contemplation. His own will? That was a concept foreign to him, foreign to the Exodlites as a whole. So, he repeated the mantra that had been forced in his head since day one. Only, he spoke to Vitor, eyes refusing to glance at Axel.


"I ... don't understand your question. Our will is that of Emperor Damaris. Colony-51 is inconsequential as a whole." he said, eyes still boring into the large Crusader. The question only elicited a yawn.


"Are you aware that your Chancellor is a mollusk?" C-2341 asked, honesty in his eyes.

 

[Notorious]

Axel couldn't help but laugh while Vitor stone faced C-2341. While Axel was laughing Vitor stared at the boy and seen nothing but the Empire's brainwashing in place. He knew exactly how it worked, how it felt to be part of something bigger than himself. To be absolutely sure of what you were doing was right... The idea that it all was a lie would never cross the average Exodlite's mind but for some reason he felt he could break through to the boy. The way he repeated the mantra was curious to Vitor, as if he was contemplating his words more carefully than the average Exodlite. Axel then spoke once more.


"Pretty hot huh?" He started to pace around C-2341 like a hungry predator circling its prey. "Our Chancellor is a good person. She may look a bit mollusky and a bit squishy, maybe a little hard on the eyes with the weird hands, but deep inside that parasitic brain of her's is someone who wants to be free from Exodlite terror. We all do." Axel went over to the wall after circling once more and placed his hand on it, activating a holographic screen. On it, was Oeutune-4. He played security cam footage from one of the leech's attached to the Dredge, giving C-2341 a look at his handy work. "Why did you fire a laser at this colony here? Was it the will of Emperor Damaris, or was it of your own free will? Did you, C-2341, want to destroy this planet?"