Futuristic Burning Sails [OPEN]

[ANIMAL MOTHER]

"You mean Frosty? Or whatever he chose to call himself afterwards."

"Yes, HIM." he hisses out. "We believed him to be our leader, brave Chemosh, lost in space... Sadly Moloch was mistaken." That pensive look returns, and it makes him look even more upset than it did before. "... Every day he continues to be on that throne, the ruin and heresy he instills in our people is greater than whatever technological terror Sol could ever conceive."

Another puff of smoke exhales from his mouth. "You served with him, didn't you? Tell me, what was he like? Was he really as cowardly and fickle as was spoken of him?"

 

[Infab]

"You served with him, didn't you? Tell me, what was he like? Was he really as cowardly and fickle as was spoken of him?"

Valk took a drag off her cigarette, then slowly exhaled the smoke before replying. "...Not from what I recall. Nice guy, really. Certainly nicer than when he got his memories back. Don't remember him being fickle, really. Though I may just have a bad memory. I took an RPG to the head around that time. Got a steel plate over where the hole was punched in my skull." She reached up and tapped on the side of her head with the plate.

 

[ANIMAL MOTHER]

"I took an RPG to the head around that time. Got a steel plate over where the hole was punched in my skull."

Typhon looks curiously at her, and a bit incredulously too. It's not every day he hears about or sees someone takes a rocket to the fucking head and live. "Intriguing it was only the side of your head and not the entirety of it like many other cases I have seen. And while we're on the subject..."

He walks up a little closer to Valk. "... May I see it?"

 

[Infab]

Valk shrugs, before leaning forwards a bit and sweeping her pink hair out of the way so that one could see through to her scalp on the rear right portion of her head. "Wasn't a direct hit. Armed a rocket, slung the armed launcher onto my back, and some fuck got a good shot off on the warhead. It detonated a few inches from the back of my head, but surprisingly didn't blow me to hell. Did get put in a coma for a while, though. A Malmarian named Abraxas patched me up. Serious type, but damn magical with medical equipment. Dunno what happened to him."

Upon inspection, one could see the discoloration of the skin between the graft and the rest of the flesh on her head. Colorful streaks pulsed just beneath the skin, the cybernetic wiring flashing as electrical signals passed through it. "Found out I could wirelessly access things after I woke up, thanks to the cybernetic bits. Took a little help from another guy that was in the crew with us, but I managed to fully master working with it. Even used it in combat to control the drones I built. Now, it just helps with keeping my arm functioning." she explained.

She held up her left arm, which was colored a dull black with traces of red here and there. It was sleek in design, resembling a standard human arm instead of something completely mechanical. "Lost my arm fighting a Divinity Creed guy in a duel. He sliced my arm off with his sword, so I used the plasma saber I have to cauterize it...before cutting him in half. The long way." She rolled her fingers, flexing them before rolling her wrist. A pair of arm flexes later, she let it rest at her side again. "I've rebuilt it like six times over the past forty years. Each time a little better, and with a few new tricks."

She flexed her thumb a certain way, and suddenly her arm popped open to reveal a large gun barrel jutting from her palm. Vents appeared on her shoulder, and a glowing green cartridge poped out of her bicep. "Integrated Plasma Cannon...Mark 3." she said, grinning before moving her thumb again. The arm returned to normal a moment later.

 

[ANIMAL MOTHER]

Faintly, very faintly does Typhon's expression brighten upon seeing the graft on Valk's head. The discoloration where the skin meets the graft is barely noticeable, and the graft itself looked smooth and clean; very professional. He's done skin grafts and repairs himself, and has even corrected a few on some unfortunate patients that couldn't afford some of the higher end doctors, but its rare to see something well done like this on a pirate. "Impressive. This Abraxas did a good job." he states.

Then Valk speaks about the cybernetics she's installed in her head too, and even shows off the weapon modifications she's done to her arm. Very meekly, Typhon looks at his own as she continues describing hers. It's sagging off his shoulder, looking limp, and feels like it has gone numb again. He makes it twitch a little, just to see if he can still feel it there. "Ah... if only I had been an engineer myself instead of a surgeon," he holds his hand up to his face, and tries squeezing it into a fist. His fingers twitch and shake until they finally snap together with a loud crack. "Then maybe I could do more with this one than excisions and osteotomies."

 

[SniperComZero]

Olivia crossed her arms as Nat kept talking to her, scratching a particularly mean itch in the back of her head. "And the whole fuckin' reason that anyone's in this mess? 'Cause people like you couldn't just leave well enough alone. Gotta use force to solve a problem that never was a problem in the first place. 'Till it all just snowballs into a hellhole sector, with people in the millions getting fucking killed. I-- I mean, fuck me, you think I don't know those scumbag councillors're using the war as optics? And people buy it, 'cause the spectre of the Creed and all their fuckbuddies're still hanging high above their heads. And you think people like you are the arbiters of the galaxy? Fuckin', controlling everything, right down to setting up every group that's got a real fuckin' problem?" Olivia's fist balled up, shaking for a moment before her hand raised up, one hand accusatorily pointed right at Nath's face.

"Fuck you."

 

[Viper Actual]

Staring at Olivia blankly from behind the safety of her mask Nat remained motionless as the Kovak woman yelled at her. Then, after a few seconds, she shook her head slowly.
"If you somehow blame me for all of these problems then you are incredibly stupid."

Nathalie took a step towards Kovak. "Like you I was part of these organizations on a grunt-level. For a long time I followed orders to the letter. Does that mean I liked them or agreed with them? Absolutely not."

She raised a finger. "You should ask yourself how someone in counter-intelligence gets wanted by Sol and why the SSOID placed a Code Black kill-order on my head. Let me give you a hint; It's what happens when you don't follow orders and start questioning the higher-ups."

 

[Infab]

"You should ask yourself how someone in counter-intelligence gets wanted by Sol and why the SSOID placed a Code Black kill-order on my head. Let me give you a hint; It's what happens when you don't follow orders and start questioning the higher-ups."

"SSOID likes to slap kill or capture orders on people. You cough wrong, and a kill team shows up. ONI at least shows a little restraint." remarked Aesha, with a chuckle. "Don't get too heated, now. This isn't a contest. Save the anger for those that deserve it, alright?" she added afterwards, looking to Olivia.

 

[SniperComZero]

While Nathalie took a step toward her, Olivia's feet remained firmly planted on the spot. Deadpan, staring at her. "...Uh-huh. I'm definitely blaming you, personally, for the fact Requiem exists. Fucking idiot. There's a good fucking reason they do, and it's not 'cause the OID willed them into existence and keeps 'em fighting worthy, at the behest of fuckin', His Most Lordest Highest Chancellor Fucks My Ass the Second as some goddamn PR campaign."

"Besides. Unlike those fuckin' snakes, we actually had an ROE, and didn't just start bumping people off 'cause they looked at some other petty criminal forty years ago. Honestly, should've known what you were getting into dropping into that pit."

 

[Viper Actual]

Nathalie shook her head. "People like you are part of the problem."

Then, as Aesha spoke up Nathalie nodded and stepped away. She was done talking. Especially with someone as thickskulled as this Kovak-wonan. No point in arguing with a brick wall.

 

[Infab]

A few systems away...


The search through cryogenics was a rather long and trying one, with Easel and the handful of Reavers she brought with her scouring every tube they came across to locate a sign of life. It seemed that there were far more than the six dozen tubes they ran into at the back of the medical wing of the colony ship. Why wouldn't there be? This was a ship meant to colonize a planet or planetoid. There should be hundreds. And sure enough, there was. Passing through the medical wing was just taking the long approach to get to them. Taking up a large portion of the vessel, the cryotubes sat in racks aligned much like shelves in a warehouse. To access each 'shelf', one had to climb a ladder or use a lift to get up to the row of cryotubes. It likely would have been far easier to do in zero-g, but apparently the gravitational generator was still functioning correctly after all this time. It was probably one of the few pieces of ancient tech that was.

Hours passed, as the Reavers moved through the massive room. Checking each tube on each row. And eventually, they found it. One lone, still functioning cryotube. Easel was quickly called over, and she soon found herself gazing down into the ice at its contents. Marked on the top of the tube was the name Katja Tikkanen. Odd name, and likely from one of the hundreds of nations on Terra. "Alright. Let's get to work thawing her. Prepare a stretcher, and a crash kit in the event she flatlines when we thaw her. She will need to be transported to the medical bay on the Guillotine as fast as possible. There, we will monitor her vitals until I am comfortable with bringing her out of her induced coma." stated Easel, looking to the Reavers standing on the platform with her before moving over towards the computer mounted to the side of the tube. Let's hope she thaws correctly, too.

 

[Frankafurter]

In Earth's Orbit, 2162...

It was weird seeing Earth from this altitude, she'd never been this far up in her entire life. Obviously she had done some low earth orbit jumper shuttles to travel to different places, but she had never outright left the atmosphere of the planet. As the young woman watches Earth drop away from the porthole of the orbiter transport, she sits back in her seat and sighs. She's anxious as can be, she's never been into space, let alone embarked on a journey like the one waiting for her. She never was a spacer and judging by the looks of some of the more veteran crew she was around, she never will be. She pushes that thought to the back of her mind as the pilot for the shuttle informs passengers through the intercom that they're reaching Procyon Orbital Shipyard Nine and to prepare for docking procedures. She doublechecks her safety harness and tries to relax for the time being.

The ship comes around to enter it's pattern for docking, the porthole filling with the gargantuan shipyard and its charge within the massive network of support framework. The massive colony ship had some official designation but the ship was to be christened as the "Ardent Pilgrim." The woman waits for the docking procedure to finish and the pilot to inform the passengers they are free to disembark. She unbuckles the seat harness and gets up, going towards the exit of the shuttle that lead into the docking collar. As she emerged into the sort of "lobby," she noticed there was a luggage handler that was pulling from the shuttle's cargo bay. She walked over and stood by it to wait for her bag, looking around the area that looked like an extremely condensed form of an airport gate terminal, the ship's actual crew moving around like ants in their final checkups. Her ship was slated to be the last passenger transport before the launch, which hadn't helped her initial anxiety.

As people come and collect their baggage, her bag seems to be the last one out and she grabs it after giving a glance at the nametag; 'Tikkanen, K.' She slings the large dufflebag over her shoulder and walks to one of the registry terminals to handle her admission to the ship, it prints out a large pamphlet of information as well as personalized details for which cryo hall and which pod within said hall would be hers. As she walked and read the pamphlet, she noticed that she'd get odd looks from other passengers as they moved to their assigned areas. She shakes her head, she's gotten used to the odd looks at this point, the reason she got in on this grand undertaking was because she had signed on for the only job assignment no one else seemed to want.

It wasn't that the job itself was a problem, it was the pre-requisites that turned most people away, namely the surgical procedure with a rather lengthy list of side effects and 'known issues.' She had meandering and curious tattooing all over her body that glowed very subtly depending on how light hit her at certain angles. They weren't tattoos and the small metal circle at the base of her skull wasn't just some random bit glued on, it was a full suite of transmitters, receivers, and interface systems that all tied up neatly at the spine on her neck. Why did she choose the job with some of the highest risks medically? Because she was desperate to get off of Earth and find somewhere new to be. She was always an adventurous one and would often get lost in various places back home as a kid. This was her one big opportunity to be somewhere no other human has been to yet. Yeah, she was effectively a glorified forklift operator, but for some odd reason her training included military tasks and there was a part of her contract that was left vague intentionally other than it being mandatory for potential security situations in the colony.

It was weird to think that the colony would need a powerloader operator to be military rated, but when she asked around even the people who weren't on the security job billets, like cooks and farmers, had undergone some minimum training to be ready. Was Earth's governments worried about us running into hostile aliens out there? She figured there would obviously be some dangerous flora and fauna on the planet that was slated to be the landing site, but she didn't think there would be actual alien empires like humans out there waiting for them. So far all signs have pointed to humanity being alone for the most part, but there was always conspiracies about the nations hiding the fact that aliens have contacted them before. She figured given the distance that the ship was supposed to jump and more or less be cut off from the Sol system entirely until a method of communication was established, the Earth governments were just trying to prepare for the worst situation.

As she finally reached the cryo hall she was slated to be in, a medical officer came and checked her credentials. He was older than her but not by much, probably somewhat fresh from getting his doctorate, he was easy on the eyes though, that much she did notice. The doctor leads her down to the specific cryopod with her name printed on the bottom plinth it sits on along with a serial number, "Now, Miss Tikkanen, I know you must be nervous about the whole cryo ordeal, especially given your extensive augmentation for your job, but I assure you we have thoroughly tested the effects of cryogenic freezing on people such as yourself, there will be no problem with the process and your direct interface system. Now if you have any particular questions, please ask them before we begin." The doctor was professional in tone, but definitely had a calmness and ease of temper about him, it helped, because her own anxiety was going through the roof. She looks at the pod then the doctor, "How long are we going to be frozen for and will you be free for dinner when we get thawed out?" The doctor chuckles, holding up his hand to show a wedding band on the ring finger, damn, there goes her chances of having a nice dinner with the doc, was worth a shot though.

"The cryogenic stasis term length is a minimum of two years to a maximum of twenty years depending on the process of travel and how the new drive on this ship works out. The shi-" He's cut off by her, "Whoa, whoa, depending on how the new drive works out? You mean they put a jumper on this thing without knowing what it would do?" The doctor frowns and shakes his head, "No, no, the drive's prototype was fully tested before it was put into production, there isn't any need to worry about how the drive works, the reason we have a large margin of error is just for liability purposes." Katja relaxes a little bit and nods, "Right, just gotta cover their asses if we get turned inside out by the drive somehow so the families of the victims don't sue for everything they got." The doctor frowns but nods in a sort of knowing manner, "Yes, now, unless you have any questions specifically about the cryostasis process, shall we begin getting you into your pod?" Katja stares at the pod one more time, unable to shake an ominous feeling that it may end up being her coffin if something goes wrong. She steels herself and nods, "Right, let's get this over with." She stows her luggage in the large personal cargo compartment integrated into the base of the plinth that the cryopod sits on and stows her clothes in there after she strips down before climbing into the pod itself and laying in the near perfect recession shaped for her body. It was comfortable to say the least, but also cold, giving her a bit of a shiver as the doctor begins attaching various monitoring and telemetry readers to her body, he doesn't seem to pay any mind to her augmentations as he works, "Now, these devices are just the stuff needed to ensure the pod is adjusted and maintained correctly based on your biometric data." He finishes and then pulls out a syringe, causing Katja to hold up a hand, "Wait, what's in that?"

The doctor looks at the syringe and then the vial of fluid he also withdrew, "This is a sedative to put you asleep, the next steps I have to take would be rather uncomfortable and somewhat painful if you were awake as it involves tubes and well... those are needed for critical life support functions in the pod." Katja relaxes, "Yeah, I get that, I'd rather not be awake for it, my nerves are already fraying as it is." The doctor nods and locates a vein on the inside of Katja's forearm, "Now, like if you were going for surgery, just close your eyes and count backwards from ten, before you know it, we'll be on the ground." Katja feels the syringe prick her skin and the slight pressure of the injection, she rests her head back, closers her eyes, counting from ten in her head.

Ten... Nine... Eight... Seven... Six... Five... Four...

Three...

Two...

 

[K0mori]

Roge sighed, “[Looking at it that way, it’s probably for the best you’re sticking with the Blackwells. I have my opinions about them, but at least they act like a family and know how to treat their men and women. Roge Igualli’s my name. The girl next to me says she’s Amy Koronova.]” He turned to Amy.

[Hi.] Amy waved a hand to greet the Kanad [I'm not part of the crew, but I know the captain from back in the day. If she likes you, you're going to be in good hands while in her crew.]

Vixaya looked at Roge and Amy tiredly, and for a moment, it wasn't clear to the latter whether or not the kanad had understood her. Then, she hesitantly replied to both of them. "[...Please don't take this the wrong way, but just because you happen to share blood with someone doesn't mean anything special.]" Her eyes dropped to the floor, and she paused a moment, looking ashamed or frustrated, or perhaps both. "[...Sorry. I just don't know how a 'family' is supposed to feel. I have a real one but they've never wanted me, and while I realize that other people have had it different from me, I'd rather not talk about it in those particular words.

...My comrades back home liked to call each other brothers and sisters, and I didn't like it then, either... It made things more difficult when...]"

She twitched, and the sadness in her face disappeared. Once again, she appeared detached from the moment. "[I don't want to talk about all that. My name is Vixaya Vor'Spirran. Thank you for telling me about the Blackwells. I trust they won't waste my abilities.]"

 

[Breadman]

Amy had a moment of doubt that her method had actually fixed her issue, but as soon as Vixaya started to speak it looked like it was working fine, giving her a bit of relief. Hearing the Kanad talk about her own experience, however short it might have been about it, Amy couldn't help but feel some sympathy for her. She had Alex sure, but for most of her life he was a somewhere else. Her father was a monster that she didn't want anything to do with. The Sisters were a temporary solution that stopped as soon as the masks fell off once Priscila died. Finding someone who cares after all of that seemed impossible, but she and Zlata found each other eventually, but it took years for them to meet and it was even by chance.

Still, Amy couldn't help but feel bad for Vixaya, tho she chose not to voice it given that the Kanad wanted to move on. Hopefully she would find something among the Reavers.

[Valk doesn't like to waste anything if she's with the same work rate as I remember. People, talents or tools. She's going to find a good use for your skills.]

 

[Emperor Sagan]

Shelby looked between Aesha, Olivia, and Nathalie as the trio spoke, the latter two eventually falling into an argument. There was a lot of military talk going on that he did not understand at all, but he gathered that both of them were pretty tough and experienced. The lady with the stealth cloak - Nat - seemed like the scary type you'd find in the action spy flicks back home, calm and detached, ready to kill anyone and everything. In a way, he felt like he was in a movie already, eyes wide looking over the on-the-run military vets. Except, he realized after a moment, he was pretty damn close and in harms way if they started to beat each other up or something.

He considered what he could say to them, some sort of connection, but there was precious little they had in common. Rather, it seemed like they were complete opposites. Ex-military operatives caught up in Sol politics and then Shelby, idol extraordinaire, sweetheart of Castilia, and the best damn starpop singer, dancer, and model this side of the galactic quadrant. At least Aesha knew what it was like to be cool and famous, but he couldn't very well blow his cover.

"S-sometimes you just have to follow the rules," Shelby ventured. "But! If those rules are bad, then its important to also, like, not follow them when you know they are bad. Sol, and the military, and all the big corporations, ah... very hard to, um, break those rules and also walk away not totally dead." He cleared his throat, twiddling his fingers. "Some governments want me dead, too. Well, I think. Kidnapped, at least, definitely. So as long as we all work together, then f-f...fuck them, right?" He struggled to get out the word fuck, partly expecting a slap for vulgar language, but he had to remember he was supposed to be a pirate now so there weren't speech regulations.

 

[Viper Actual]

Nathalie looked at Shelby in silence. Underneath her mask her eyebrows slowly raised. While she couldn't agree more with him- or was it a she?- she also couldn't help but wonder who this person. Does his parents know that he's here?

Rolling her eyes, Nathalie shrugged slightly. "I agree. If you see something wrong you need to step forward and question it. Especially if people are getting hurt."
She continued after a brief pause followed by s sigh; "Unfortunately not everyone agree with, understand or respect that. In these days especially people will go a long way to bury their secrets- no matter what."

Nathalie glanced briefly at Olivia before nodding towards Shelby. "Don't take this the wrong way but you yourself don't exactly look like the kind of person who'd be wanted by supercorporations."
Glancing at Aesha she continued; "Are you sure this gig is for you? Pirate life is very different from a rich-kid's life on... Paraíso? Liberté?"

"Castilia?"

 

[Doomevil]

Roge gave a stiff nod, “[I’d like to chat some more, but I gotta go do some privacy right now. I’ll be back in a few.]” The Kercan felt his stomach and needed to head to the men’s bathroom. He walked away in a hurry and went over to the public restroom next to the Spicy Chicken.

 

[Emperor Sagan]

Shelby gulped, growing flustered as he grabbed his press pass and waved it in the air. "Yes, Castilia, and yes, they hate truth-speaking journalists! Well, usually. On corporate reporting at least. Which is what I did! They all suck so I said so, and now they are after me." His pass was real and legitimate, only fraudulent in the sense there was no real reporter named Shelby White, though this was a detail that didn't matter. "And I'm not rich nor am I a kid, I am just sophisticated, unlike some... some very fine people who may or may not bathe regularly due to a lack of water rations in some places, such as long-distance cargo haulers." That little trip was before she learned a press pass also, with enough special charm and persuasion, could earn a first or second class passenger seat with some transport services.

 

[Infab]

Aesha sighed. "I have, at the moment, a rather complicated relationship with reporters." she said, commenting on Shelby's statements. "One in particular published a story full of lies about me...which lead to me being banned from the IRC and most other racing circuits back east. And eventually lead to me being way out here with the Reavers." She then chuckled. "At least some of the flings were nice."

Eventually, she looked to the other Reavers nearby. They had managed to lure in some recruits from the crowd, which was good. "Alright, everyone." she said, looking to those around her, "Follow me. We're heading back to our ship. I'll introduce you to some of the other crewmembers, and show you the Mordred. Its not our MAIN ship, but its the one I fly and that we use to get around often." She looked around, getting a headcount, before motioning for them all to follow. "Keep up, now. I walk as fast as I fly."

 

[Emperor Sagan]

Shelby followed along near Aesha, bundled up with his backpack and duffel bag. Having so little to travel with felt like he was on an extended camping trip, though he had never been camping before and wilderness on Castilia was either the middle of the ocean or a beach that wasn't crowded with hotels and bars. "Oh, h-haha, I'm not like those kind of reporters, I'm more like... like a journalist about places. You know, like, restaurants, cocktail lounges, nightclubs, venues. Services. I know a lot about food and music, y'know."

 

[DG-117]

"Kalashi..."

"Kalashi...Can you hear me?"

"Kalashi...Are you still with us?"

Those words... They rang throughout her mind like an echo through an iron cage. All senses were robbed and every part of her body felt numb, stiff as if it was a lifeless piece of steel.

They were nothing but darkness all around, no sight nor sound to relieve her of this void... this emptiness.

Except for those few words... The ones that seemly brought her here...

*Kalashi...That's my...my name...* She thought to herself, she tried harder and found not just that but other memories...

It all started to come back, and with all of her might, she pushed further; slowly forcing her eyes open...Finally, after what seemed to be an endless plane of oblivion, she could just barely see enough to bring herself back from the edge of the abyss.

Extremely blurred and hazy, all that could be seen was a thick haze that had seemly encompassed all around her. She tried to reach out with her hand at first but could feel nothing but a dull pain throughout her spine as she pushed more and more.

Then, what could only be described as a blob of a silhouette appeared before her... All completely indistinguishable behind the fog... They all stood there, seemly getting closer to her yet all still so far away...

She tried again and again... Pushing harder and harder each time to reach out... to grab... to touch them.

But she felt nothing more than that persistent feeling of pain, each time feeling worse as she tried harder and harder, spreading throughout her upper spine and head. Finally, she tried to look at her hand...

She found out she'd been reduced to nothing more than a series of bones and synthetic organs, all of which were ghastly interlaced with what little actual flesh remained of her. It's all tied to a skeletal metal frame that messily held everything together in a haphazard fashion.

Suddenly, her mind raced into a frenzied panic, desperately trying to comprehend what she was in. What she even was... That blast, that blinding flash upon the battlefield of Sirgas... That was the end... She was no more at this point... She was dead...

Her body and mind went into total, instantaneous shock. Flashes flooded her mind, flashes of her childhood, of her parents, of her first crush, of academy graduation, of basic training, of the trenches of Sirgas... of her death...

Then as sight left her yet again, so too did that dull feeling of pain... The emptiness soon returned and it all faded away once more...

Yet, even as the oblivion once again sought to reclaim her to the endless abyss. That same voice rang out yet again... Bringing her back to the land of the living.

"Kalashi..."

In a sudden flash, her sight and senses returned to her. She glanced at her body, made of Composite armor and high-impact plastics while her biological, Kanad body was reduced to nothing more than a skull with an accompanying brain and spinal cord that was encased within this walking husk of metal and wire.

What quickly captured her attention the most was the still sizzling hole within her breastplate, covered in a hastily applied mix of drying liquid-steel and medical-gel.

Nonetheless, after a second of looking over herself, Kalashi's synthetic eyes quickly focused on the figure that stood prominently above her... it was her fellow bounty hunter and part-time partner, Vicc.

Vicc, like Kalashi, was a Kanad. A rather diminutive yet dexterous species with highly developed mental capabilities thanks to extensive genetic refinement.

While Vicc armor bore several scratches, burns, and dents. It was merely superficial damage. His green, weary eyes under his red angular, ballistic mask revealed his panic over Kalashi's condition.

Yet, as Kalashi regained conciseness over her surroundings. She would hastily push him aside, throwing back-first onto the solid steel grating as she swiftly realized that she was within an active combat zone as Plasma bolts rained overhead. Energy blasts began to roar all around them, echoing throughout the lumbering cruiser's halls.

She bounced back into action. Shoving her metallic body up close against the scorched bulkhead with her trusty handgun at the ready. Glancing over it for a second, it was a heavily cut-down, cast-off model of an OBN rifle rebuilt to function as a revolver-loaded hand cannon.

Vicc quickly threw himself at the other side of the bulkhead as tracers and plasma bolts flare past them with a few glancing at his armor's pauldrons.

"Ahh...Thank god, You're not dead after all!" Vicc remarked. While Kanad Culture was mostly atheistic and non-spiritual. Vicc's low-blood upbringing had raised him to follow one of the very few still-surviving religions within the more remote parts of Kanad society.

Nevertheless, Vicc grunted a muffled curse under his breath as he readied his Sub-machinegun, popping out the empty magazine with a fresh mag of Hand-Loaded Hyper-Velocity slugs. After cocking the bolt on his highly customized M2A1, he let loose with a blindly fired volley of Nano-Sharpen Tungsten down the hall towards their welcoming party. "Was getting pretty worried about ya, friend!"

Kalashi remained quiet for a moment, taking a second to breathe and regain her composure. Another near-death experience was not part of her plan today in this operation. Then again, nothing goes exactly to plan in this kind of gig.

After taking a few deep breaths, Kalashi quickly reached down into her satchel; taking a long glass capsule filled with a dark, murky blue gas.

"God damn it," Vicc furiously commented as he cleared his Sub-Machinegun's breach from an abrupt misfire with a good slap on the charging bolt. "You're fucking crazy as hell to be doing a shot in a time like this friend..."

Kalashi simply rose her metallic index finger to him to hush as she carefully popped open the side respirator and jabbed it into her mask's port. She deeply inhaled what she nicknamed her "cognitive stabilizer", a potent narcotic generally known as 'Tox'. She takes a moment to enjoy the dose in its entirety, closing her eyes and tightening her posture as bullets and plasma bolts cracked and flew past the duo.

"You fucking done yet!?" Vicc violently barked as he peeked out and lined up a quick salvo on some poor rushing Olympian Front sod, ripping their chest in half from just one solid burst into their center-mass. All that's left is a big bloody mess over the blackened plating of the half-destroyed corridor.

"Come on!" Vicc shouted, just narrowing dodging a volley of retaliating fire from the poor bastard's buddies; madly screaming in horror and rage at their fallen comrade's grisly fate.

"Kalashi!?" Vicc screeched, covering his head as plasma bolts begun to turn his cover in molten slag, he slid down the wall towards the floor as sparks and blasts splashed overhead just a hair above his helmet.

Kalashi's eyes flash with her handgun locked tightly in her hand with a harder-than-steel grip, and she swiftly dashed out from behind the bulkhead. The wheels built into heels siding across the metal floor, sending sparks high into the air as Kalashi's visor lined up her targets perfectly faster than their reflexes could even react.

Kalashi quickly unleashes six blasts from her plasma-driven magnum into the heads of the attacking squad. Each blast hitting true and blasting apart their helmets with skull fragments and brain matter splashing out from the back of their heads.

Their bodies made a loud thud as they all fell lifelessly to the floor.

"Goddamn..." Vicc muttered, breathing heavily as he sat under the melting wall, bits of slag dripping onto his dented and even partly-charred armor.

"You're fucking insane, friend," he said, completely exhausted from the combat just a second ago. "You know that, right?"

"Fucking crazy? Yes." Kalashi coldly remarks as she pop-out her revolver's chamber looking over the spent cartridges "Insane?.. Insane is using HV Bullets in your tiny SMG."

Kalashi simply throws the spent shells over her shoulder and starts to load each round by hand while walking past the splattered corpses, giving them only a swift glance for anything good.

Vicc lets out a long sigh and starts to slowly pick himself off the ground. He quickly rushed up to trail behind Kalashi, while constantly looking over his shoulder and corners. He also tried not to look at his many fallen enemies, particularly out of a modicum of respect that lingers within him still.

They soon come across a sealed maintenance shaft access at the end of the hall, turning her glare over to Vicc.

"Emergency access, can you open it?" Kalashi said quickly to Vicc.

"We'll be fish in a barrel if they find us in there, friend. We gotta keep moving through the side halls." He complains while gesturing towards the side door.

Suddenly, that very door opened up to reveal another combat team ready to fight them. Kalashi swiftly responded with a hyper-active thermite grenade; engulfing the doorway in bright white flames for a just few moments.

"Hurry! Get it open before they try and rush us from the crew quarters!" Kalashi said while pointing her gun down the ways they came in. Vicc simply got to work with his implants, able to quickly override the simple security and open up the shaft after connecting his ship's maintenance port.

The duo quickly donned their camo-cloaks before jumping down the shaft just as flames began to fade, with Vicc leaving a worm in their system along with an explosive of his own behind for them.

They soon found themselves way down within the lower halls of the cruiser as alarms blare with troops marching on the decks above them.

Kalashi decided to abruptly stop as she and Vicc found themselves within the bowels of the engineering deck.

"God damn it! We're fucked if they catch us in here! Where the hell are those corpo fucks anyway?! They said they'd be coming once we gave them these fuckers coordinates!" Vicc hushed hurriedly under his breath, his gun held close to his chest.

Kalashi gives him no attention. Instead, she meticulously looks over the various pipes and vents surrounding them, trying to figure out where each of them goes as Vicc frantically scanned the area.

Vicc tried to get Kalashi's attention as he hears the marching around them getting louder. She simply gave him a raised hand gesture in response.

Out of nowhere, a massive thumb shook the ship which threw Vicc flat on his ass. Fortunately, Kalashi remained still as her feet were locked in place.

"What the fuck was that!?" Vicc yelled loudly, looking all over the room with Gun drawn as the vessel's hull yawned and creaked.

"That's them, dickhead" Kalashi bluntly replied. She turned around to look at Vicc, her eyes meeting with his for a split-second before weakly lending Vicc a hand.

"Oww, Fuck." Vicc cried out in pain "Guess we don't gotta worry about being on the top of these assholes shitlist at the moment!"

"Come on!" Kalashi relayed to him, gesturing at him with her open hand. "We can still catch our target if we're fast enough and make sure they're already secure for transport so we can get that bonus!"

Vicc was taken aback for a moment before he nodded and took Kalashi's hand. The cyborg was easily able to get the pint-sized, tin-canned bounty hunter back on his feet despite his armor and relatively large build for a Kanad.

"Thanks... I guess." Vicc said to Kalashi in a claimer tone. "I guess this is for saving your life earlier?"

Kalashi simply nodded, breaking eye contact, "Yeah..."

"Well, you can pay me back later after we get out of this shit, friend." He answered Kalashi while scanning the vent crawl space along their right-side.

Kalashi saw the same vent, and without further delay, the duo made their way up and made preparations to quietly engage their target. They don't need to get caught in any more firefights for the time being.

As the two slowly trek through the crawlspace and slip under security forces, the sounds of metal warping and breaking could be heard throughout the entire cruiser. Even harsher were the noises of blasts that shook and twisted the cruiser further.

"Goddamn, they are really tearing this thing apart..." Vicc commented to Kalashi.

Curiously, Vicc looked out of a nearby vent overlooking one of the main halls of the cruiser. He saw the crewmen and marines fighting hopelessly against the invading SATYR-class robots. These heavy machines assembled with heavy armor and weapons, and their chassis towering two and a half meter tall, it made them impervious to the crewmen's weapons. While some of the marines were able to down and even destroy a number of them with accurate and sustained fire, it would prove fruitless to halting their advance.

"HOLD POSITIONS DAMNIT!" The Cruiser's Captain yelled, fighting to keep her lines strong against the oncoming steel tide. A massive khergian with a loud, thunderous voice to boot. Yet her posture and face betrayed her old age, a sign of Olympian's struggle for manpower in these waning years for their cause.

"YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE FIGHTING FOR! DON"T LET THEM TAKE IT!" She kept chanting, Her barks becoming more and more desperate as sores of her fellow defenders fell to these soulless machines. Her calls to battle echoing throughout the main halls of the Cruiser as battles raged throughout the vessel, all now starting to focus all around the shielded hanger of the vessel.

"DON'T LET THEM TAKE IT!" Her commanding barks turned into frantic cries as the rest of her command staff's shots glanced off the machines' hardened titanium shells. Firey Hyper-Thermal Flashes and Phased-Plasma Bolts sundered their armor, blasting apart their body into scorched chunks of flesh and clouds of hot ash.

It was a brutal sight that loomed over Vicc thoughts as he and Kalashi continued their way towards the destination, yet it was an effective microcosm of the entire YsCom situation regarding those attempting to stop their expansion into the fringes of the southwestern quadrant.

"Come on Friend, we got a job to do..." Kalashi told Vicc, quietly accepting that there was nothing that could be done now and that they needed to move on as they made their way towards their target.

"DON'T LET THEM-" Was the last thing Kalashi and Vic heard that was yell out in the halls as the duo made their way into their inner pathway into their target's location. A cry cut off by the piercing, droning sound of Chain-Laser fire.

"What a waste..." Vicc muttered as he pulls himself through the shaft, he had taken lives plenty of times. Yet, at the age of 31, the physiological strain of the constant bloodshed was starting to crack through his snide demeanor.

"What a shame..." He spoke again to himself, it was one thing to fight for your nation, for your people...There was something of an honor or at least a reasoning to it then when you fought them personally on the battlefield.

Yet, these Elysians, this "Odysseus Combine" or whatever all-consuming monster of a corporate conglomerate this is, had reduced it to such a soulless matter. For them, there's no grand objective or series of surgical attacks to bring the end to their conflict with the Olympian Front; this collection of rebels who sought independence for their besieged sector from the greater Elysain Commonwealth.

No, their mission was simple as it was bloody. To keep murdering them until they would surrender to Commonwealth and its corporate puppet masters. Replacing the remaining dissents with waves of colonial settlers and with it, the inhabiting culture and people of the Olympian Sector.

These thoughts and more were something that Kalashi was well-aware of, she knew that he was once again deep in his head about them. It was something that he constantly struggled to tolerate while working for Odysseus. He's been through this train of thought time and time again, something that Kalashi had told him before to simply push out and focus on the job.

Kalashi did not dare to remind him that the B.C.B would essentially revoke his status since the Olympian Front was officially classified as a rogue state by the Galatic Trade and Legislative Union; a hollow shadow of the Commonwealth's and others' attempt at rebuilding the UGC. Though without any of the political or military backbone, they were left less an overarching peacekeeping organization and more as a market guild with light political power.

Though, at times like this, it did yet again cross his mind to join the little guy... But the Interstellar Liberation Army was low pay and high risk with the Olympian Front paying even less. The Frontier Militia was... inconsistent, to say the least for freelancers. All of their benefits were also much less than stellar with the GTLU member states being less than kind to those working with these supposedly "Terrorist Powers".

Kalashi was partially able to see Vicc's thoughts, their implants allowing them to see each other vitals and impulses to an extent. Kalashi years-long history with Vicc allowed her to get a good of what he was thinking after such a sight.

Nevertheless, a job is a job, and this one was paying a massive sum of credits for bringing in this target. The bounty to get him alive and ready for capture were substantial; nearly double the credits as usual, and something that could mostly take away the sour taste for working with Odysseus... mostly.

As they kept making their way towards the end of the crawl space, Vicc muttered a few more curses and was getting stressed out from all of this.

"Hey Vicc," Kalashi said quietly after letting out a long sign. "A job is a job, let's just get this bastard bagged and tagged then we can get the fuck out with a big paycheck in our pockets..."

Vicc simply shrugged and shook his head, remaining silent for the last few moments until they exited the crawl space to find the access port to their target's location. They both stood there for a moment in silence before their eyes meet each other.

"Did your hack work?" Kalashi asked bluntly in a low, quiet voice to Vicc.

"Yeah... I was able to keep the hanger doors and pods sealed. Jump-Dive is crippled too... He had no chance of getting away from us...Couldn't see what's in here though... So be ready for anything friend." Vicc answered in a similar tone.

"Alright," Kalashi replied while she readied her weapon and activated her cloak while Vicc followed suit. The lights on the access port that laid under them turned green.

"On my mark, we go together. Understood?" Kalashi told Vicc.

"Yeah... Right, understood..." Vicc answered with a distant stare.

"We go in 3... 2... 1.... "

The two jumped into a sea of darkness, both dropping down from port onto the hard metal floor. Once they reoriented themselves, they turned their sights to the center of the room.

"Oh my god..." Vicc Muttered under his breath.

"I-I thought this...that these bastards... that they were smugglers..." He said in a dumbstruck fashion.

"They are..." Kalashi answered softly as she steps closer to Vicc. "Smuggling these refugees out of Elysian space..."

Both were staring at the center of the cargo bay that was nearly flooding the entirety of the hangar bay from the center to back.

Men, Women, children, old and young, sick and ill... All huddled together in a crowded group, all terrified of what laid for them outside...

Before either Kalashi or Vicc could even react, the massive doors that led to this hangar were swiftly pried open. Two colossal assault robots stood at the bent doors; their towering shadows silhouetted against the frightened crowd.

"NO!" Vicc shouted as rushed forward the crowd, Kalashi threw herself out desperately to stop him.

Yet, it was too late as two assault robots opened fired onto everything alive that was within the hanger, murdering without thought nor reason.

Kalashi would only see the only flash of it all. Her vision clouded in a white haze while felt her body fall hard upon the solid steel floor of the hanger.

...

"Vicc?"

Kalashi was fortunately able to regain consciousness, though with a blurry sight she saw dozens lay dead along the floor with those damned machines marching about the place, identifying the bodies individually.

Those who still had a pulse were given a quick and clean shot to the back of the head.

Regardless of their size or age...

Kalashi then turned her attention to her close surroundings, she saw that her body was further mangled with blood all over her ending in a small splat on the floor.

But... Vicc was nowhere to be found...

Her vision was also fading with her sensory severely impaired, unable to detect any presence of Vicc anywhere. She was even unable to tell if the blood on her crippled body was his or hers.

As she attempted to pull herself off the steel floor, two of those terrible machines apprehended her.

Grabbing both of her arms. Her body was too far damaged to pull herself out of their iron grip.

"Let go of me you bastard machines, I'm B.C.B! I'm B.C.B you fucking clankers!" Kalashi screamed towards them to no avail.

"KALASHI VOR'PANGN, ID 921135762!" Kalashi continued to loudly protest "I'M FUCKING WORKING FOR YOU, CONTRACT 1072-B9! DON'T YOU FUCKING THINGS LISTEN!?"

The machines stood in place for several seconds, letting her take in all of their cold, mechanical logic as more were extemporaneously executed in her view...

"Bring... Bring me to whoever is in... In charge here..." Kalashi weakly asked, exhausted from both the blast damage inflicted to her mechanical frame and the sight of so much wanton death.

Soon, the machines began to stiffly move, simply dragging Kalashi in their grip towards the massive door while those two murderous titans stood coldly; their arm cannons still smoking from earlier.

Her sight was nothing more than a blur. She couldn't make any detail out of anything, and she felt her synthetic organs getting weaker and her faculties fading. She could barely breathe as one of her artificial lungs had been compromised from the blast.

She could make out that the two silhouetted titans had begun to march forward; leaving a group of six standing in their place at the entryway of the hangar door.

Each of the figures kept their distance from her; shuffling in a cold, organized fashion to the side of the door. Kalashi was too tired to even bring her gaze towards them, simply keeping her head barely hanging to see what laid ahead for her.

What was in the middle of the hallway just beyond the hangar doorway was a towering and lean figure with two more of those lumbering titans standing beside it. Yet this figure stood just a head above even them.

Once Kalashi had mustered enough strength to focus her sight, her eyes widen and her artificial heart nearly stopped as to who she had just come across.

There stood the one and only.

Aenora Tanaka-Euryphaessa, Grand Mistress of the Odysseus itself.

Kalashi was dumbstruck at the sight of one most powerful individuals within all of the Elysium who stood just a few feet away from her.

Wearing a maroon-red cloak that clovered her lean, towering figure, and even standing a foot taller over two massive MINOTAUR-Class Machines. They stood guard beside her with the blood of their victims staining their sliver frame.

Her cloak was what one would expect: regal and extremely refined with diamond-lanced golden trim, and under the long, flowing cloth was a jet-black undersuit beneath it. The only part of her skin not covered under the artisan weaved cloth was her sharply built face with an unnaturally bright white skin. Her eyes and the rest of her face past her nose were covered by a short, deep-red Veil.

Euryphaessa stood in place with her hands behind her back as her robots dragged Kalashi over to her, releasing her from their grip after a moment of standing across her.

Kalashi stumbled as they let her go before catching herself from falling; mustering enough strength to stand with her chest leaning inwards towards the massive and commanding figure. She weakly lifted her glaze towards Euryphaessa; seeing no emotions in her pale white face.

Euryphaessa simply stood still, arms crossed behind her back as she waited for her agent to deliver her words.

Anxiously, Kalashi tries to think and to give somewhat of a report to the one who was behind all of this terrible, terrible bloodshed; indifferent to the dozens of mangled bodies lying all around them.

"Euryphaessa-" Kalashi grumbled before being forcibly pushed down to her knees as a gigantic hand violently grabbed the maimed cyborg by the shoulder.

Kalash groaned in pain as her weakened body was forced to kneel to Euryphaessa.

"Madam Aenora Tanaka-Euryphaessa." A deep, loud voice spoke.

Kalash turned to see a huge, bulky figure standing behind her. His grip crushing the very steel under his fingers.

An enormous man wearing a thick, heavy black coat with a cold, stern face with no sign of hair on his featureless face.

"Another petty degenerate?" A new voice said, a sense of curious amusement rising in her tone.

"Negative," Another voice sharply remarked "Seems to be one of the scoundrels that were hired to find Mr. Torgrim and the rest of these undeserving miscreants."

The two voices were soon given faces as they walked past the seemingly static hulk holding Kalashi down. The former was a young woman in light combat armor casually walking down the scorched and bloody corridor, blood slashed along her upper armor with some dripping from her deep cyan lips that complemented her similarly colored, straight hair. Her fanciable yet aloof face holding a sense of vexatious spite towards those the latter figure walking beside her at the other side of the hall.

The latter was a lean, toned figure wearing full battle armor. Unlike the other individual, she carried herself much more professionally and was loaded with combat gear with a full-covering visor covering all but a bright magenta pony-tail sticking from the back of her helmet.

"Speaking of which..." Yet another voice bombastically commented from across the hall. Followed by the appearance of three other figures of varying heights. The tallest was a sharply dressed man that marched with a powerful presence, slashes of blood staining across his broad chest. His refined, muscular face carried a look of sophisticated arrogance, and he was dragging what seemed to be an old, massive, yet bloodied Khergian behind him as he wiped the blood off of his elegant suit.

"Found him hiding among deep within the underbelly of this disgusting rat's nest. Among all the other pitiful roaches hiding down in that shit pile." The figure brashly seethed, they were androgynous in their appearance with a deep carmine bang cut covering the side of their slim face. Wearing a simple yet elegant jet-black suit.

"The rest were easily disposed of..." The last man, flicking the blood off of his claws before adjusting his glasses. They were a slender almost snake-like body with a maniacal look on his long, sharp face. His long black cloak dragging along the ground. "Would have like to have taken some back for...further examinations."

"The guards didn't even provide a worthy challenge. Insignificant vermin." The central figure brashly boasted before throwing the Khergian down before Miss Euryphaessa as the Kalashi was then dragged back to let Euryphaessa look down upon the defeated man.

"Well done Mr. Torgrim..." Euryphaessa finally spoke as Torgrim, the beaten Khergian slowly picked himself off the hard floor, clenching his chest in pain.

"Evading my judgment for the better part of seven years..." Euryphaessa said as she walked around him, looking over his bloody frame. "Very impressive indeed."

Torgrim grunted and cursed in his native tongue towards her; spitting out his bloodied tooth at her feet as he raised his grizzled face to face her. His buzzed head was covered in battle scars and looked just as beaten as the rest of him did. Despite the circumstances, he didn't fear her nor his fate at her hands.

"Yet, your failing was that like many of your kind." She turned her sight to the dead cruiser captain; her torso ripped apart by Pulse-Laser fire.

"Your inability to evolve past the most basic of primitive instincts..." She said before using her foot to push the thrashed about body towards him, allowing him to get a clear sight of the Captain's lifeless body.

Torgrim looked at the body in total despair, his furious face turning to one of sorrow before he moved himself up to the corpse. Holding the dead captain close, gripping her hand with his as he grieved.

Euryphaessa would let out a sight smile at the sight before turning her attention towards Kalashi once more.

The Hand on Kalashi shoulder would let go of her, drawing her to speak once more.

"A...Madam Aenora Tanaka-Euryphaessa, I've...I've held up my part of my contact...Now, Now may I..." Kalashi cautiously explained, articulating each word very carefully.

Euryphaessa rose her hand, causing Kalashi to stop dead in her words.

"Now Miss Vor'Pangn. I would suggest you should instead take the time to appreciate the moment." She with a smile. "I truly was fortunate to see that the chance I took on you two was very well placed, very well placed indeed. For while others had failed, you have succeeded with flying colors. A sign that my wonderful luck has truly shined down onto you and your partner."

"For if you and Mister Karada hadn't tracked down this vessel and confirmed Mr. Torgrim and company were aboard, I would have never gotten to...enjoy such an occasion. In-person no less." Euryphaessa explained with a sense of delight in her voice.

"Besides..."

Torgrim let out a blood-curdling roar as he rose.

"You would have missed out on the show..."

The two gigantic MINOTAUR guards quickly began to stomp over towards him, rising their weapons up with their barrels meeting Torgrim at eye level.

Meanwhile, the individuals swiftly dodged a volley of gunfire flashing out of nowhere which was followed by a grenade rolling down softly. Kalashi mustered what strength she had left to throw herself back, arms covering her head as the grenade detonated. A wide EMP pulse was sent out as the grenade detonated. A cloud of dense chaff smoke quickly filled the corridor as plasma and laser blasts coming from all around them pierced it.

Kalashi could only drag herself towards to lean up against the wall as she watched all this unfold.

A dozen figures marched through the cloud towards Torgrim's position, quickly disregarding their spent camo cloaks to reveal their heavy battle armor, bearing the insignia of the Olympian Commandos. They quickly blasted apart the disorganized Odysseus STAYR combat robots with precise and accurate shots from their high-powered rifles before rushing in with Vibroswords and Transoinc daggers at the ready.

As the commandos attacked, the towering hulks of steel leverage their weapons against Torgrim. Yet the blood raging Khergian, an expert of a dozen battles, was able to overwhelm one of the MINOTAUR war machines as it began to fire its chain-laser cannons. He used its arm cannon to fire into the accompanying MINOTAUR, causing it to stumble hard back against the corridor wall with a loud crash and break through a section of plating.

The rest of the SATYR robots were quickly taken aback by their ferocity. They mindless threw themselves between the striking attackers and their masters. While these robots could easily crush any of the Commando's skulls with their iron grip, the Commandos knew their enemies like the back of their hand and were able to exploit the chaos with their lightning reflexes.

After stunning the first MINOTAUR, Torgrim used his strength to try and tear off its right arm cannon with a massive twist and pull. The MINOTAUR attempted to use its left chain-laser to fire, however, Torgrim was able to kick the cannon as it charged up, causing it to shoot wide and blast apart the ceiling.

The Commandos got the drop on the SATYRs, using fast and hard strikes with Vibroblades; launching devastating strikes at their joints and gaps between their armor, sending many to the ground hard.

Torgrim pulled again on the MINOTAUR's arm, this time letting out a roar as he ripped apart the cabling and shattering pistons. Causing the towering MINOTAUR robot to stagger as it kept firing its weapons in panic. Torgrim used this to his advantage by aiming the dislocated chain-laser at the MINOTAUR at the other side of the room. Bombarding the weaker, interlocking plating with heavy pulse-laser fire, and blasting the warbot into two.

As SATYRs attempted to fight back against the Commandos, the battle-hardened veterans were able to dodge and weave their way past the robot's heavy punches and point-blank snapshots.. Knowing their combat programming too well from previous experiences.

After disabling the other MINOTAUR momentarily, Torgrim let out one last roar as he pulled with all his strength. He ripped the arm-cannon clean off with a good chunk of the machine's shoulder. He kicked the other arm again as it tried to swat at him. After his fierce kick, he quickly got up on top of its chest, wrapped his arms around its head, and after a moment of hard tugging, ripped it straight off before repeatedly stomping down its neck-hole; crushing its internals under his mightly boot.

After dispatching the machines, the furthermost Commandos soon found themselves face to face with the tall, sharply dressed man, seemly appearing like a ghost out of the mist. His face baring a wide smirk as he held his left arm on his side with his right arm gesturing for them to come forth.

Before they could even react. He had moved in an instant, his long-saber was already dawn towards to his side. Covered completely in blood, he muttered a short chuckle after he was done.

As the Commandos tried to move, they found only themselves remaining still in place for a second. Blood dripping from their midsections, as the other commandos arrived. They saw the upward most commandos stand with their rifles drawn at the man.

But before they could even think of what was going on, the Commandos up front fell apart into bloody pieces.

Yet, they soon turned their attention towards their right as another had gotten behind, flashes of laser and plasma flew widely through the air as the woman within full body armor slaughtered her way through the Commandos left flank. She was crushing and breaking their bones and skulls with her a series of rapid, coordinated strikes from her fists and legs; always hitting them in weakest point while they couldn't even land a hit on her.

The Right flank faced something even worse. The dense grey smoke turned into a dark, red mist as screams and cries rang out before being drowned out by maniacal laughter.

The rest of the commandos that tried to fall back soon found themselves up gunned down one by one; meticulously blasted into bloody chunks by the cyan-haired woman quick on the draw with a rifle.

After shattering the spinal section of the disabled MINOTAUR, putting it down for good, Torgrim slowly marched through the fading fog to find Madam Euryphaessa standing frim among gore. She had her arms crossed behind her back with a slight smirk on her pale, snowy white face.

Torgrim looked at her with a pure, burning hatred while she simply saw him as another insect to be squashed. His bulging biceps ripping through his fatigues as blood pumped intensely throughout his veins.

By a mere second, Torgrim dodged a sudden punch from behind. A massive hulk of man dashed straight forward past him, catching a quick glare at him as he coldly stared back, no sign of emotion on his face. Nothing besides a pair of thick, round, black-tinned glasses was there.

As Torgrim's feet landed onto the cold steel of the corridor, he let out another thunderous roar towards him. The man blankly stood unfazed, only the glass on his glasses cracked.

Torgrim yelled at the top of his lungs as he furiously charged him in an all-out attack. Tears rained from his eyes as he leaped into the air, pouring everything he had into this punch straight into this lumbering, pale, bald brute.

The man coldly caught his fist in hand, his feet sending a wave of dust up into the air as Torgrim's punch landed.

Torgrim quickly raised his other arm into the air, only for the man to grab it. Holding both in his gasp, Torgrim pushed against him, leaning in with all of his mass into his push against this giant to no avail. Even as his muscles strained and pulled, Torgrim pushing himself through all of the pain as he tried with all of his strength to move him.

A slow clap could be heard as Madam Euryphaessa slowly walked up towards Torgrim.

"Bravo Mr. Torgrim," She snidely remarked. "Quite the display..."

Torgrim's eyes bounced between this brute and Euryphaessa as he stood locked in place. The others now standing aside her, covered in the blood of their victims.

"What a wonderful attempt! I must say it's quite exciting to see such an endeavor unfold all around me. It brings me back to my younger years, oh I haven't had an attempt on my life that landed this close for so, so long now...I must applaud you again for all the effort here. Bravo."

Madam Euryphaessa gave Mr. Torgrim a bow, the others following suit after her.

"Now, my son, oh fair Atlas, would you please give Mr. Torgrim a worthly send-off?" Euryphaessa asked of the enormous brute. His tight grip on Torgrim's skin had dug deep into the skin with blood dripping all over the floor between them.

Atlas would soon start to crush Torgrim's hand and arm, causing Torgrim to whale out in agony as his flesh and bone were slowly crushed under Atlas's iron grip.

As Kalashi watched this slow and horrific execution unfold before them. Kalashi soon felt a similar presence nearby, slowly stepping right behind Euryphaessa unnoticed.

Vicc, tearing off his cloak and brandishing his sub-machinegun readied his weapon to unload into Euryphaessa. Catching everyone by surprise with his sudden appearance, the Madam could only gasp as she turned to gaze into his eyes as he prepared to open fire on her.

Sights lined-up, freshly loaded, and fringer pressing down on the trigger.

*Click*

It would appear that lady luck had decided otherwise.

For Vicc's Sub-machinegun had jammed.

Vicc hastily slapped the bolt in order to clear it, but he was already too late. The figure with a deep carmine bang cut swiftly drew their handguns from within their suit and aimed them at Vicc. They gave him one last grin as they unloaded everything from their chambers into him, violently cutting him down. Kalashi could only watch in horror as her long-time partner was killed by these monsters.

"NOOO!" Kalashi screamed, she desperately tried to draw her magnum, only to have her hand be suddenly shattered into pieces. Blow apart by a well-placed shot from the Cyan-hair Woman.

The weakened Cyborg tried hopelessly to move before Euryphaessa had walked up to her, flanked by the others.

Two of them placed their boots against Kalashi's shoulders, pinning her in place as the wounded Vicc was dragged beside her by the cyan-haired woman.

"Damnit Vicc.." Kalashi weakly muttered as she saw Vicc moaning in pain, his armor shattered by a dozen holes.

Kalashi soon turned her attention to the one who stood by her, Madam Euryphaessa. Her expression turned sour as she stood before her. Looking over the two with her arms crossed for a moment, she soon lowered herself down to Kalashi's eye level.

"You have to forgive my children, they can get lost in the show sometimes..." Euryphaessa coldly stated before motioning over to the bleeding-out Vicc.

"Like my sweetest youngest, the dazzling Enyo Lubis-Euryphaessa..." She said, pointing to the Cyan-Hair woman that now stood over the bloodied Vicc. Her eyes fixated on his wounds, dropping her rifle onto the ground as she leaned over him.

"Her blood... Her beautiful blood..." Euryphaessa coldly noted to Kalashi as Enyo's obsessive stare turn to the bleeding Kanad's neck. "A rare condition, it must be to suffer through... Even my absolute perfect blending of the genes couldn't stop it..."

"No..." Kalashi muttered while Euryphaessa continued watching Enyo rip off Vicc's mask to get a good sight of his neck while he helplessly gasped out for air. "Yet, my wonderful Enyo. She persists..."

Enyo grabbed his neck, holding him in place while Kalashi could only watch in terror what she was about to do.

"Nah persist..."

Enyo opened her mouth, revealing her set of sharp fangs.

"She thrives..."

Vicc let out a piercing shriek as Enyo latches onto his neck. Kalashi was forced to watch one of her only friends die a horrible, slow death in its entirely.

Yet, after dealing with Vicc and Torgrim. Euryphaessa looked over the damaged cyborg with a sense of curiousness. Looking over her managed breastplate, Kalashi weakly following her Euryphaessa's hand as she begins to stick her finger slowly into Kalashi's internals.

"How deep is the hole..." Euryphaessa murmured as she reached inside.

Kalashi, feeling the debilitating pain of someone touching the very insides of you. Playing with it like a cat with a mouse. It brought about a pain Kalashi had not felt for decades but one that she knew of every time she closed her eyes.

"Deeper than the one you're going into bitch..." Kalashi angrily said, seething in agony.

"You got a lot to learn about matters..." Euryphaessa said as she cut cable leading to Kalashi heart, causing Kalashi vision and senses to fade to white briefly...

Passing in and out of oblivion.

Once again, trapped between the borders...

The sight of those monsters playing with her lifeless body like a doll while passing in and out...

"Kalashi..."

The sight of Euryphaessa rubbing her blood-stained finger on her visor-glass...marking it with her own blood...

"Kalashi..."

The other one, Enyo, with an almost childlike stare on her bloody face did the same; marking her visor with the blood of Vicc.

"Kalashi..."

Soon the haze comes back... the sights... the senses... the memories... they all fade away...

"Kalashi...Can you hear me?"

Leaving only...

"Kalashi! You still with-"

The sight of a large man who grabbed her by the shoulder the second he appeared before her.

Kalashi instinctively drawn her handgun, pointed at his stomach with her finger on the trigger. All this is done in less than a second.

The man stood dumbstruck, eyes wide open like a deer in the headlights, and unable to do anything as he was frozen in fear.

Once Kalashi realized what was going on, she quickly glanced around the area to see she's in a dropship hanger with a bunch of Frontier Militia troops around her; seemingly stuck in the same state with their hands tight on their rifles.

"Shit.." Kalashi murmured before hastily holstering her handgun.

After putting away her gun, the rest quietly watched her as the Man slowly walked back to his seat.

Kalashi glanced at them frantically before nervously bowing her head and wrapping her arms over her legs.

The rest of them simply nodded and kept to themselves for a few minutes.

"Attention assholes... We are now docking at hanger #11...umm..Statch that...Make that Hanger #099... Oh and pleasure working with ya... Freelancer... " The Intercom in the troop spoke. Militiamen quickly undid their belts and staps, some still hugging their rifles and gear as the ship creaked and shook during its landing.

"Now... Get the hell out..."

The Troop-bay door unlocked, the door slamming down onto the hanger floor to act as a drop ramp. The men hastily shuffled out, though Kalashi waited a moment for them all to clear up before heading out herself.

She looked out to see a massive hanger filled with dozens of old, outdated, and worn Gunships and Dropships of varying models and designs from all over the quadrants now painted under Frontier Colors.

Kalashi simply shook her head as made her way through the station towards her Frontier Paymaster, passing by the several Gorehounds, Adaptors, and Marauders ships that made up the bulk of this rag-tag military force.

Many of the members here were constantly repairing these old things. Vak' Shan have been getting bolder and bolder as of late, and the Naval Haylcon, the Fleet of Elysian commonwealth. The latter of which has been highly aggressive in their colonial expansion, leaving Frontier Militia in a sorry state.

*At least the pay's better than Interstellar Liberation Army...* Kalashi thought to herself as she walked towards the Frontier office in the marketplace.

Now...Where to find them among all this riff-raff?


----

"Yes..." Pearl said while taping the side of their visor, "I understand but don't you think I should be..."

"No Pearl," Taur said bluntly over the comm-channel. "It's solely a Blackwell Family... It's very personal to them..."

"Not to say that we aren't family to them... But by the time he left... You were still just a simple rock worm!" He stated, working over a table of dozens of burnt-out and damaged machines of varying sizes and functions.

"Dad..." Pearl said, crossing their arms as they waited for the merchant to finish looking in the back for Pearl's item. "You forget how close I am to them! If it wasn't for me, Lauren wouldn't figure out how to even walk forward in Mech!"

"Pearl..." Taur signed, "Please... Just give them some time, I'm sure your get to met him soon enough. Now I need to get these old engine parts fixed up now for the Mordred or else I won't hear the end of it!."

Taur let out a loud, muffled breath under his respirator as he turned his attention back to his workload. "Hope they find some good savage on that derelict..."

Pearl frowns, giving up on their protests. "Oh alright... Thanks again anyways Dad, I'll be done soon... Love you."

"...love you too," Taur said before logging off the comms.

Pearl pouts for a few moments before the merchant returned with what exactly they were looking for.

"Oh Thank you so much!" Pearl says as they took it and put it into their satchel.

"Now... Let's find something for Damien..." Pearl says while walking down the busy market square. "Oh! Try to keep up Corg!" Pearl says to the lumbering Torgg, carrying a massive backpack filled with dozens of starship parts.

Corg simply nods and sluggishly follows behind the Pearl.

 

[Infab]

"Ah... if only I had been an engineer myself instead of a surgeon," he holds his hand up to his face, and tries squeezing it into a fist. His fingers twitch and shake until they finally snap together with a loud crack. "Then maybe I could do more with this one than excisions and osteotomies."

Valk looked at Typhon's arm for a few moments, before glancing up to his face as she sat back. "I could take a look at it later, if you want. Maybe I can figure something and get you back to working like new. Still handy with tools and tech." she said with a smirk, before she felt Lauren nudge her. She had spotted him. A short distance from them, coming towards them, was Uric Corbett. He looked...a bit rough since the last time Valk had seen him. His hair was starting to recede, and he now bore several wrinkles across his forehead. His eyes looked tired, as if he hadn't slept in a day or two. He had an odd circular device on his chest over his heart, glowing a bright red. It was unlike any device Valk had seen, forcing her to raise an eyebrow as she saw it.

When he saw them, he smiled, and moved towards them at a calm pace. Valk and Lauren both stood, but were the only ones to approach Uric. Damien, meanwhile, remained near Typhon with his arms folded. Lauren and Damien both looked entirely unhappy, but Valk showed a bit of happiness. He had come back to her. To them. And soon enough, they met. But Lauren was the first to speak up, the words almost bursting from her mouth. "You've got a lot of fucking explaining to do, asshole." she spat, a hint of rage lacing the statement. Uric and Valk were both caught off guard by the statement, the smiles fading from both their faces.

"LAUREN!" barked Valk, which earned a look from Lauren. Uric, however, chimed in before Lauren could say anything in response to her mother. "Val, its alright...I deserve it for what I did." he said, looking to Valk before moving his gaze to Lauren. "...Lauren, I'm...I'm sorry for leaving you. For leaving your mother and brother...for leaving everyone. I'll explain everything in full once we're back on the Guillotine, okay? This isn't the safest place for what I have to say."

Valk gave Uric a confused look. "...What do you mean by sa--" she managed to get out, before something caught her eye. Behind Uric, emerging from around the corner of a store several meters away, was a woman accompanied by a handful of people dressed in armor. The emblem painted onto their chests gave them away instantly, as it was one Valk had seen countless times over the past two decades. But that wasn't what Valk focused on. Valk's gaze was leveled on the woman at their lead. Short black hair, cut into a symmetrical yet rough looking bob. Piercing ice blue eyes. And in her hand, a gauss pistol.

The woman's gaze was locked onto Uric, before they even came around the corner of the building. As if she saw him through the wall. Before Valk could say anything...do anything...the pistol came up. Locked onto target. And then, a shot sounded off.

Valkyrie and Lauren stood there, a look of shock and horror on both their faces. Splotches of blood staining their chests, with specks dotting their necks and faces. Uric's blood. Uric's body dropped, crumpling to the floor. Red oozed out onto the floor, and coated his hands as he tried to stop the bleeding. Damien was already on the move behind them, drawing his SMG from beneath his coat as he rushed towards them.

​

Anora Cortus smiled slightly, before issuing an order to the men behind her. "[Commence Operation Burning Sails.]" she commanded. And suddenly, the soldiers with her snapped their weapons up. Opening fire on everything and everyone they saw moving. Civilians immediately around them that hadn't fled already due to Anora's gunshot were cut down, along with anyone else in the immediate vicinity. Around the colony, a similar situation began. Dozens of soldiers appearing among crowds, drawing their weapons and opening fire on all around them.

Outside, in the vastness of space near the colony, a multitude of vessels warped into view near the Frontier Militia vessels. Several destroyers and a pair of battleships appeared, and opened fire upon the cruisers that the Militia tasked with defending the colony. And within minutes, the cruisers were ripped to pieces by the Blood Corps vessels. They didn't have time to defend themselves. No fighters were launched, and no shots were fired against the opposing vessels. It was that sudden. In the Administration sector of the colony, the Blood Corps members that had dispatched the crew tasked with maintaining the colony got to work. Controls were altered, boosters were activated. They were here to make sure none of what was happening got out to the rest of the galaxy. Silence was key, even if it called for wanton destruction.

Lauren flew into an unbridled rage, drawing her revolver sidearm and opening fire on Anora and her soldiers as she charged them. Valk, meanwhile, was frozen still. Staring down at Uric, whom was now bleeding to death before her. He was dying. Dying just like her father had. Like her mother had. She was snapped out of it when Damien reached her and grabbed her on the shoulder. "MOM!" he barked, shaking her. She looked to him, her eyes glazed over. "Typhon can take care of dad!" he spat out, before looking back to their doctor. "Typhon! Quickly! You have to stop the bleeding! Get him back to the Mordred!" he ordered. And then, Damien chased after Lauren. His SMG up and firing at the soldiers whom were turning their attention to them.

Valk hesitated. She didn't know what to do. She looked between Uric, her lover bleeding out before her, then up to her children whom were charging off into battle after the woman that had shot him. Tears streamed down her face, dripping off her chin. She needed to go. To help her kids. Damien was right, Typhon could take care of Uric. He'd be alright. He'd be okay. She drew her own weapon, before going after her children.

​

"Oh, h-haha, I'm not like those kind of reporters, I'm more like... like a journalist about places. You know, like, restaurants, cocktail lounges, nightclubs, venues. Services. I know a lot about food and music, y'know."

"Ahhh. Well, if you know any recipes, you might can help out our chefs. They could always use new stuff to work with." she said with a chuckle as they neared the elevators that would lead them up to the hangars. But then a voice crackled through the holoband on Aesha's arm. She paused, motioning for the group behind her to stop, then held her arm up. It was Damien's voice, accompanied by gunfire. "AESHA! THE BLOOD CORPS ARE HERE!" Aesha's eyes went wide. Oh fuck.

As she glanced over, peering through the small crowd they were moving through, she noticed two soldiers lift their weapons. And then, shots rang out. People started to drop, as automatic gauss fire cut through them like butter.

 

[joshuadim]

Vance, Dan and Vella had been enjoying their dinner and talking among themselves uninterrupted for some time as the minutes went by quickly. Even though it was impossible for him to get drunk Vance took his third shot of whisky as he simply passed the time with conversation. Yet suddenly everything became quiet within the household as gunshots were heard in the distance. At first, everyone thought it was some firefight happening between some criminals or perhaps the colony police were dealing with a firefight of their own. But that theory was thrown out the window as Vance looked out the window and saw gunfire, explosions, and fires suddenly springing up all around the colony. Screams could be heard as people were being gunned down where they stood as an unknown enemy tore through the station without mercy. Vance wasn't able to formulate any words before an explosion from a rocket exploded nearby and tore through the back half of the housing.

Although Dan and Vella were simply knocked back a bit from the blast, Vance had taken the full force of the blast's shockwave and was flung directly into the support frame of the wall which sent him flinging further back into the living room as well. He groaned in pain as he slowly managed to pick himself up and try to orient himself again. His ears rang from the explosion and his vision was blurred at the edges as he struggled to formulate words. His concern wasn't about himself however as he coughed away some dust and gasped: "Dan...!? Vella!?" he asked in between breaths, to which he could only hear their muffled voices in the distance calling back to him over the sounds of ringing.

Yet he wouldn't have the chance to rest as the front door was being kicked with unknown voices shouting. Two figures entered the housing with their weapons raised but weren't quick enough to see Vance coming in from their side as he kicked one into the hallway wall and focused on disarming the other quickly by grabbing the Blood Corps soldier's arm and snapping it in half before slamming his head into the wall with a sickening crack before returning his attention to dodge fire from the other he had kicked earlier and throwing a loose rock at his head, landing with another loud crack that broke the upyri's skull as his lifeless corpse fell to the ground. "Vance! Who the hell were those guys!? What's going on!?" Dan asked as he helped Vella up to her feet, who had sprained her ankle from the blast.

"The colony is under attack. I don't know by who... but it's everywhere." Vance simply replied as he checked for any additional hostiles nearby by peeking his head out the front door and saw in the distance several more kill squads were moving door to door to kill people in their own homes. The sight of such brutality filled Vance with a fury he hadn't felt in quite some time as he slunk back in and looked to Dan. "We need to get you and anyone else still alive out of here." he stated as he moved to his duffel bag and began moving to collect his Ray-gun, as well as his combat suit. "Best chance we got is to look for the security offices of this district, we might be able to get help from there and gather more civilians."

Dan was a bit shocked to hear such words from a man he had known for a while as he sounded completely different than before. Vance hadn't told anyone about who he was, but it was clear to Dan that he was ex-military of some kind. But that didn't matter to Vance, for this was a time for action and not words. He'd explain later anyway. As he put on the graphene-nanoweave onto his body he positioned himself near the entrance again with his trusty sidearm at the ready and looked out again. Two other hostiles were approaching the Turris' household and Vance quickly ambushed them and flatlined them with precise shots that left burning holes in their bodies. "Quick!" he spoke to Dan and Vella who were taking refuge in the house still, "Its only a few blocks to the security offices, we can make it."

Dozens of bodies lined the streets outside as the trio pushed onwards, which sickened Vella enough to make her dry heave as Dan helped her along by wrapped an arm around one of his shoulders and Vance took point. His primary focus was to get the Turris' to a safe location for the time being before going back and rescuing others. The sounds of violence completely encapsulated the colony in its entirety as they moved forwards before finally reaching the security offices only to find it under siege by the enemy as Vance viewed it from a nearby alleyway. From what sounds he could hear, there was a desperate resistance between those inside and the forces outside who seemed to completely outmatch them through sheer firepower alone let alone manpower. Vance turned back to his friends and quietly motioned for them to stay in cover before rushing out himself towards the enemy.

Although he himself was outgunned and outnumbered he did have the element of surprise on his side as he slammed the first soldier into the side of a car with his knee as he slammed into him before continuing his momentum to the second soldier and flipping over him, grabbing his head, and slamming his entire body down to break the soldier's neck, skull and spine in one fell swoop. As the others quickly turned their attention to this new target Vance took cover behind a burning car as shots pattered its sides. He quickly returned fire, a few of his shoots going awry before one blew a hole into the head of another soldier and set her body crumpling. The firefight engagement in front of the security offices continued before Vance moved to one of the bodies he had felled while firing wildly to suppress the other soldiers in their positions.

He quickly searched the body for anything of use as more shots rang out and tattered the sides of the new car he was sheltering behind and found a whole belt of grenades. He pulled the pin on every single one and threw it towards the cluster of enemies at the entrance of the offices. It was evident with their panicked screams that they scrambled as quickly as they could from the explosives but most would find it too late as they were torn to shreds by the ensuing explosion. A quick mop up of the survivors with his ray-gun and Vance pushed further into the offices themselves. Blood and bodies lined the walls and floor as Vance pushed quickly to the sounds of echoing gunfire deeper into the facility. On a radio of a dead security personnel he could hear the panicked cries for help of the remaining survivors: "Can any stations hear us!? This is Station 12, we're about to be overrun by unknown hostiles! Running low on ammunition and firepower! Need backup!!"

Vance followed the sounds of fighting before finding himself at the end of the hallway and seeing a makeshift barricade, manned by the few remaning personnel, as the desperately tried to fight off the attackers in front of them. Fortunately for them, Vance was completely flanking the enemy as he rushed forward and fired with his ray-gun dealing with them one by one. After the first few shots, the enemies quickly realized they were being flanked and moved their attention to fire on Vance but were pinned down by return fire from the interior barricade's forces which helped Vance continue gunning down the remaining enemies.

A tense quiet broke out in the hallway as a few heads peeked out over the barricade and saw Vance standing by his lonesome in the dark hallway. "Holy shit you really came in the nick of time." a voice called out as its owner stood up and sat his weapon down. She was one of the remaining security forces of this sector, and was visibly shaken by the intensity of the fighting as was the rest of her remaining compatriots. None of them had signed up for this. "We were about to run out of ammo until you came along."

"We need to coordinate rescue efforts of civilians outside, how many of you are still standing?" Vance asked the lady as he started to gather materials and ammo from the bodies for them to use.

"Uhm... only about a dozen... we lost most of our crew during the initial attack... the chief as well. They just came out of nowhere."

Vance quickly walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder, "Listen to me. I know you and the rest of you are completely out of your depths here. I get it. But people out there need help, and we need to move quickly. Alright?"

She could only gulp and quickly nodded in response, "Yeah. Got it."

"Alright, I'll get the first two in and try to bring others back in as well. You all focus on securing this station and getting comms online, we need to find a way to get us all off this station. Copy?"

The security officers murmured in agreement as they collected themselves and moved outside of their barricade to secure weapons, ammunition, and additional supplies for themselves. Vance meanwhile headed outside and whistled to signal to Dan and Vella it was safe to move in. Although Vella's ankle hurt, she hopped along as best as she could with help from Dan as the two crossed the street and headed into the compound, greeted by some of the security officers and led further inside to relative safety. Vance simply returned his attention to the outside and ran as quickly as he could, his feet kicking up dust from impact as he rushed towards the sounds of fighting elsewhere to gather civilians and shepherd them to safety amidst the carnage and ruins of the colony.

 

[ANIMAL MOTHER]

While Valkyrie and her kids were busy berating their father, Typhon decides to turn his back towards them and continue his smoke break. This is a personal affair between them and them alone, and he wouldn't want to give Uric the wrong impression either that he's taken his role as father or whatever. So, he leaves them alone until their matter is settled. Though the sudden and startling sound of a gun being fired causes Typhon's eyes to dart around; frantically trying to lock on to wherever it came from. He turns around to look just in time to see Uric collapse onto the floor, bleeding and with his family screaming and crying over his body. Worse still, not too far from them is what has to be an entire squadron of armored soldiers carrying all sorts of weaponry... and wearing a logo that seemed a bit too familiar with him. His hand meets his forehead with a loud slap.

"Aayah... beraa 'esheq beh Alla!" he sighs.

Damien then gave him an order.

"Typhon! Quickly! You have to stop the bleeding! Get him back to the Mordred!"

Not even hesitating for a moment, Typhon pulls out something from his jacket: a small stimpack. It's not going to do much, but it'll just have to do until they can get him to the med-bay. Looking over Uric bleeding out and injecting the stimpack directly into his neck, he takes a close look at him with the medical scanner built into his face. He grunts and grits his teeth as the information he's being told by it isn't anything good. The device on Uric's chest appears to be an artificial heart, one that now has a bullet nearly lodged inside of it. It's beating slower and slower; they need to get him off the ground now. He puts one of Uric's arms over his shoulder, and carries him upward while trying to cover up the bullet wound with one of his hands. "Walk with me, boy!" he tells him. He also looks around, hoping some of the Reavers are nearby to listen to him give an order of his own. "I need help! Someone cover me!"

 

[Doomevil]

Roge extended his hands towards the automated sink, lathering with soap and rinsing with water gently. He hummed a jingle until a series of gunshots echoed outside the restroom. His head lit up, turning to the bathroom door and wondered if that was what he think he just heard. Roge slowly tilted his head to the left, raising an eye until more of the loud noise appeared. "Kids throwing firebombs again?" He said out loud, opening up the door to reveal shots of plasma tracing across the area. As soon as he saw the burning material, he gently closed the bathroom door and turned away, eyes blinking. After waiting a moment to collect his thoughts at the last minute, he opened the bathroom door again and still saw plasma tracings. Awesome, he rolled his eyes.

He ran out of the public restroom and immediately side glanced at the Spicy Chicken, a couple of opportunists carrying kinetic guns held the frightened workers and customers hostage. Roge made a complete stop and pulled out his rancor pistol, popping one from behind and took his head off in return. The Kercan slowly marched and aimed at the other robber in the chest, blasting a heavy caliber and sent him down to the tiles for good. As he jogged up to the counter, he saw a dozen civilians looking in fear as their bodies shook violently and their eyes staring widely if this large alien was going to kill them all, fortunately that would not prove to be the case. Roge turned to everyone in the restaurant, "Everyone alright?! It's okay, everything is going to be fine!" He shouted, as the sounds of screams and gunfire happened outside the store. One of the managers sighed a load of relief. The manager was human and wearing a red and white uniform, hands shaking. "Oh thank god. Are you security?!" He asked frantically.

Roge shook his head, "Afraid not! Now, I want you and everyone else to head to an emergency shelter, lock yourselves in until actual security comes. I'm also going to need something very important, it'll help me out."

"Oh anything! We have a few barricades and shutters we can use, it's not much, but it's better than nothing. But what do you need that'll help you out the most?"

...

Roge slowly walked away from the Spicy Chicken, as the patrons inside began to close the shutters. He had his SMG in hand and needed to search for Belka Vella before shit turned real crazy. He slowly crunched on a fried chicken sandwich covered in pickles and ketchup, fresh Malmarian bread and toasted. He began to seek cover as a couple of unknown soldiers fired at the civilians on the open field, aiming down through his scope and fired. One of Roge's bullets pierced a soldier's shoulder, bringing him down. But more came moving in to suppress the Kercan. He lowered his body against the pillar, licking the traces of ketchup which easily calmed him despite the plasma shots melting the pillar. The merc turned over his shoulder and scanned four men and women, narrowing his eyes. He pulled out a grenade in his pouch, activating the item and tossed it in the center of their position, causing them to spread out. Immediately, Roge went out of cover and sprayed a hail of bullets towards two soldiers, mowing them down while the grenade erupted, blowing the other two on fire while tasting the texture of chicken. Unfortunately, he was hit during the deadly encounter, as his taste buds got burned from the spiciness.

The small firefight was over, but shootouts were still happening all over the orbital colony. Roge ran over to where the Reavers were last seen, hoping he could find Belka Vella on the way.