Futuristic Burning Sails [OPEN]

[joshuadim]

"Well, he was a man from the planet of Krypton who came to Earth... er, Terra as it's called nowadays. And he was..." he began to describe before swiftly pointing off in the distance, "Faster than a speeding bullet!" he said with an intensity marked with a wide grin on his face before slapping a fist into the palm of his other hand. "More powerful than a locomotive! And able to leap tall buildings in a single bound!" He tried to recreate the announcer's voice as best as he could from his memory before returning his attention back to Vixaya, "He had great power to do astonishing things: he could fly, he could see through walls, he could stop a rushing car with his hands!"

"He had all this power and was nothing like the humans he walked among and yet chose to live as one. He used his incredible speed and extraordinary strength to help people in need and with a kind heart to fight for truth and justice. To a kid like me, that animated man inspired me. I and every young kid wanted to be just like him! Though obviously I couldn't fly or stop bullets, I still tried to be like him. To help others and to be kind. Even when I went off to war I still held those ideals in my heart as best as I could." he then said, placing a hand over his chest. "Superman, as a whole, is about showing the best of people through a single man."

 

[K0mori]

Vixaya nodded along as Vance explained the origins of his hero. "Where planet Krypton?" she asked, blankly. Once Vance had clarified that Krypton was a fictional planet, the kanad switched over to using her translator, too intrigued to bother struggling in English. "[So was he a shapeshifter, too? Or did his 'alien' race just look exactly like humans? Because that's just not realistic...]" she commented, glancing at the upyri corpses littering the room before turning back to Vance. "[But, you say he had all that power, but he got to choose how to use it. Wouldn't the government want to control him?]"

 

[ANIMAL MOTHER]

As is usual whenever Typhon isn't preoccupied mending wounds or creating them, he's off digging in his coat for a smoke to help pass the time but also to calm himself a little seeing as he was very nearly killed.

Eve can wipe the security feeds, I'm guessing, to cover our tracks."

He looks over at Caiden briefly before quickly looking around at the room they're in. There might be cameras... but that is all. There's no civilians, no witnesses to see them besides the cameras. You know, it is pretty strange how such a fuss was raised to not kill any civilians, yet they've encountered nothing but military personnel here so far. Typhon wonders if the thought has also crossed Valkyrie... as well as the implications. Though shoving that thought aside for now, he finds a cigarette and tries to relax a little. "Is it done?" he asks Valkyrie.

 

[joshuadim]

Vixaya pointed out the inherent unrealistic nature of Superman looking exactly like a human would which got him to chuckle. She wasn't wrong on that front, for an alien to look pretty much like another species off the spot was outside any logic. "Well, not everything has to make sense on that front. In the realm of superheroes, practically nothing makes sense... especially in the later comics and cartoons. But the point isn't that things make sense but rather how the characters are shown. What they believe in and what they do is what matters the most." Then came her question regarding the government and its potential desire to control Superman. She wasn't entirely wrong on that front either.

"Well... yeah. What government wouldn't want to utilize him as a tool for their own ends if such a person existed?" he spoke with a hint of irony laced in his voice as he was all too familiar with being used, "But in the country he grew up in he had the freedom to be who he wanted to be, as was afforded to every citizen under the law. Though he did keep his own identity a secret with his human persona of Clark Kent, journalist at the Daily Planet, to keep his loved ones safe from harm from the many villains that he fought."

He then gave a confident nod towards the Kanad: "Regardless. The Superman I grew up with didn't deal with politics or governments or anything of the sort. It simply told the stories of a man doing good with all his power."

 

[Infab]

"What kinda' tech're you bringing back to the ship, anyway? Guns don't need translating, not since I last checked, and you're the kinda' girl that seems, uh... analog."

Lauren shrugged. "I dunno. I might poke around in some of those containers and crates back in the cargo bay." she replied, before glancing to the battlesuit. "I stick to more traditional stuff. Cars, technicals, APCs, Tanks...that kinda stuff. Was learning to do mechs at one point, but gave that up when I saw how fuckin' needlessly complicated it can get. And the fact that you can put down a mech with a damn tank round if you're good enough."

She shrugged again. "Who knows? They may be keeping something nice tucked away here."

Meanwhile, Valk looked over towards Typhon as he spoke up. "For the most part, yes. We just need to check for survivors, scramble the camera recordings, and leave." she responded. She looked to the corpses afterwards. "No civilians, but plenty of ONI troops and three Infiltrators. Smells of a setup. But if it was a true setup, we'd be dead or prison by now. So what was it? An intel gathering op? If they really wanted that ship transported out of here, they would have sent it off with a lot more security than this."

 

[ANIMAL MOTHER]

"No civilians, but plenty of ONI troops and three Infiltrators. Smells of a setup. But if it was a true setup, we'd be dead or prison by now. So what was it? An intel gathering op? If they really wanted that ship transported out of here, they would have sent it off with a lot more security than this."

"A blacksite, captain. This is no smuggling station. ONI most likely was dissecting his ship and hoping to use it's technology for themselves." Typhon takes another huff of smoke. "Maybe even Nil himself if they could catch him."

 

[Emperor Sagan]

Shelby listened quietly to Vance and Vixaya talk nearby. The drug stupor was making it hard to focus, but he suspected he would be crashing sometime soon. The injections were meant to last for a full show, and while he didn't have a watch, he figured it was close to that time. Or not. Perception of time was a very fickle thing - maybe they had only been here for a few minutes. He couldn't tell for sure.

He had no idea what a superman was, either. Hearing them talk about cartoons intrigued him, but this superman seemed like some lame, flavorless retro stuff. "Couldn't he take over the world?" Shelby managed to ask aloud from beside Vance and Vixaya. He was having a hard time keeping steady on his feet, so he leaned on a nearby crate. Everyone so often he would touch his sunglasses to make sure they were still on his face.

 

[Breadman]

After it was all said and done, Amy allowed herself to relax a bit. Getting shot again wasn't fun. She needed to figure out how to stay further back to actually put her talents to use. It didn't look like it was a serious hit like last time, so she'd see it on the way back. For now she needed to think things through as to what the hell she saw. It should shock her right? It was the most normal reaction to have, but even Nil's true form wore off its novelty to her in a quick manner. Was she that jaded?

Other members of the crew started to congregate and talk among themselves about the things they saw and did. Valk and Typhon talked about a possible setup, but unless Nonara wanted Nil and Caiden locked up after going to the trouble of destroying the traces of their existence, that was probably not true. The other conversation she heard was another strange topic. Old cartoons. The bounty hunter did a double take towards Vance as he described the old superhero he grew up with. Some campy shit that was. Probably one of her boys would love it though. The idealistic hero that looks out for the weak. Sounds like Iskin. She caught herself having a faint smile over the thought of him picking up a cause like that. Little bruiser was growing up so maybe in a short time.

She leaned on the nearby crates to listen to the conversation, not having anything to talk about herself other than to recommend Ayr produced shows.

 

[joshuadim]

Shelby's sudden entrance into the conversation on cartoons caught Vance by surprise as did their question but he was all the more eager to continue talking about his childhood hero as he turned around to face Shelby. "Well yeah, of course he could. In fact, I know a few stories that told such a story long after the golden years but... they really just missed the point about Superman overall. He's not out to conquer people, or to destroy others. That's just not who he is. For all his power and strength, in the end he's just like any other normal person. And that is what made him so great to me."

 

[Viper Actual]

As Damien and Kalashi both finished off their respective targets Nathalie sighed and relaxed slightly. She nodded towards Damien as she steadied herself against one of the command consoles. "I'm alright, just some minor bruising and a sore jaw."

She turned her head towards Kalashi and nodded. "Damn good timing, bounty hunter."
Nathalie chuckled before continuing; "Never thought I'd be relieved to see a kanad drop out the ceiling. I suppose there's a first for everything."

When Damien mentioned checking the bodies Nathalie nodded once again before heading over to her initial kill. She patted him down and tried to determine if there were any data stored in his helmet or on his person.

 

[K0mori]

While Shelby waded into the conversation, Vixaya went quiet a moment to mull over Vance's responses, describing how Superman had the privilege to choose his own destiny, thanks to the accepted norms in his "country" which gave all people such freedom.

She had nothing from her own life to compare this to. Kosokom didn't have countries; it had planets, and with few exceptions they operated under a single code of laws. Still, that was beginning to change in recent years, thanks in no small part to what had happened on her homeworld. In a way, Spirra was its own country, defiant of the High Council on Kannadys. On the other hand, the rebellion hadn't been about revolutionizing anything, or establishing a new way of life, but instead it was about restoring the rights and honoring the promises Kannadys had made to its satellite states many years before.

And, as everyone knew, Kosokom wasn't quite a bastion of freedom and personal expression, even at its absolute best, and so she wondered what would happen if a Superman-like figure were to appear suddenly on Kannadys. Knowing her people's leadership, Vixaya would expect them to do all in their power to turn the alien into a flag-bearing Batakya conqueror, or a black-jacketed enforcer for the GKVR. But if Vance was to be believed, then Superman would have stood up to such attempts. His desire to help others would have prevented his indoctrination. In fact, if he had the strength to conquer the world, he also had the strength to liberate it- to go beyond what the rebellion had done, and win freedom for the people of Spirra and beyond...

But Vance had to be wrong about one thing. If Superman could resist the world's attempts to control and change him, then he wasn't quite like a normal person. Normal people can only take so much before the weight on their shoulders begins to change them. Normal people can only maintain their character so long before dire circumstances bend them into new shapes. Enough trauma can change outlooks, remove all hope, and leave someone a soulless husk. That's not who he is, Vance said, speaking in the current-tense. Superman was not a person, but rather more of an ideal, perhaps an unobtainable one. Speaking of which...

"[You said you wanted to be like him, right?]" Vixe asked. "[But... then you went to war. Superman didn't fight in wars, did he? And now you're here. With us. What went wrong?]"

 

[joshuadim]

Vance was quiet for a moment after Vixaya posed her question, not really sure how to answer with regards to that at first. He then nodded, "Sometimes, a war has to be fought to fight against injustice and evil. Where sometimes to preserve peace you must be willing to fight for it. The very things that Superman fought against were being perpetrated by perhaps the most evil regime to have existed at that time: the Nazis." he then explained with regards to Superman and war, "An empire built on an ideology of racial purity and violence who built death camps to exterminate those they saw as 'impure.' My father fought in that war to stop that evil, and it's why Superman was written to fight against them too since they went against every principle he stood for."

"As for me..." he then began, pausing momentarily to gather his thoughts. "I similarly believed that the enemy I was fighting, the Communists, were the same as the stories of gulags and work camps made me believe it was right to fight against injustice. So I did fight in war, yes. Got a Medal of Honor for it... so on and so forth. And then I was given the opportunity to serve my country even more than I had already had. In my blind idealism, I accepted... and ultimately I began to realize that not only wasn't it so clear cut but that my own country, the one I had grown up in all my life, had been built on a series of lies. But even then I tried to uphold my convictions and ideals as best as I could, but with more clarity."

He then gave a confident smile to contrast his regrets, "And now I'm here because I'm after Anora and the Blood Corps. By myself, I wouldn't be able to do anything. But with the same group of people wronged by the same person... maybe then I can bring justice to the dead."

 

[SniperComZero]

"Lauren--" Really, Olivia's here just trying to justify her own choices, here. "--you can put anything down with a tank round. That's what they're fuckin' designed to do. You can put tanks down with a tank round, or like, a whole fuckin' ship... I uh-- not a big one, but still. Tank beats everything. 'sides. Advantage of mechs is profile." She, for effect, smacked her hand against the busted up plating of the battlesuit they'd just knocked out. "If you're trying to fight tanks on open ground with a mech, you're using 'em wrong. Bring one, say, into an alley, or a ship, and then you're starting to get somewhere. Which is, somewhere they probably don't have an answer to them... Unless they have fuckin' plasma cannons inside a fucking ship."

 

[Emperor Sagan]

This Superman character would never get past the censor board, Shelby realized after a moment. A so-called normal person helping others - and with no catch? Yeah, right. Shelby was aware of the Nazis and Communists from old Terran history, on top of the numerous offshoots he had learned about at the academy. Plus the neo-socialist movements on Castilia, who generally were lumped into the "opposition" to the corporate families with all the others who stood against them, from street gangs, to terrorists, to even other corporate groups off world. Any ideology that strayed from supporting the ruling families and being a productive and consuming citizen, wasn't going to be tolerated for long. Everyone was an equal producer, everyone was an equal consumer - all that other wacky political nonsense was Sol business. Dead people didn't buy products. Usually.

"But he's really rich, right? Like... like... how much does he charge people?" Shelby asked. "What did he call his corporation? Or does he run a smaller business? The journalist thing has got to be, like, a body double. No one would ever a job with all that power, especially not for free."

 

[joshuadim]

"But he's really rich, right? Like... like... how much does he charge people? What did he call his corporation? Or does he run a smaller business? The journalist thing has got to be, like, a body double. No one would ever a job with all that power, especially not for free."

Vance chuckled and shook his head: "Naw, he lives like any other normal person when he's not off being Superman. Off a reporter's salary who has adoptive parents who own a farm in Kansas. He's not a businessman or anything of the sort." he replied, "He just... helps people in need. That's really it, that's just who he is, I don't know how else to describe it really. Not everything has to be a transaction, y'know? People can do the right thing without wanting a reward for it... that's what being a hero means."

 

[DG-117]

After ripping apart the Agent's neck and with the rest of the agents dead or dying, Kalashi took the moment to recover. Bending her knees and leaning over, letting out a loud series of coughs while taking out a vital of Tox. She gave Damian a quick nod when he asked her and the walking pair of asschecks what their status was.

"Quit will you?" Kalashi said dismissively in a raspy voice towards the still living agent missing most of their neck, their blood spurting all across the room.

She let out a dull chuckle as she jabbed the shot into her sightly cracked respirator. "I know how you feel buddy..." She mutters, her eyes glaring back to see his now dead body. "I really do..."

 

[Infab]

Damien, Nathalie, and Kalashi check the bodies of the ONI Agents. Chance Rolls = 7, 7, 5. Chance Success. Damien recovers a Tranquilizer (Common). Nathalie recovers a Gas Grenade. Kalashi recovers a Suppressor (Common).
Nathalie recovers a special object: Long Range Transmitter. This Transmitter features a small camera attached to it. The transmitter and camera are both still functioning, and still sending information somewhere else.

​

As the trio looked over the corpses of the ONI infiltrators, examining the items as they collected them, Nathalie checked out the helmet of the ONI agent whom she had stabbed in the face. The helmet's visor was shatter, obviously, as she had shoved her wrist blade through it. But still, there may be something of note attached to it or inside it. And there certainly was. A small long range transmitter, with a built in camera, was fitted to the side. And it seemed to be still transmitting.

--- --- ---
​

A few systems away...

The UFS Vetranio sat silent, the ONI owned Sagitta-class vessel cloaked and unmoving on the far side the frozen world of Zethea. The crew aboard the ship weren't so quiet, however. An ONI operation Kalien Station had just been abruptly ruined by a known pirate and terrorist group. The ONI staff aboard the Vetranio were already trying to figure out what to do next, while the scientists they had brought to staff the science lab aboard the ship were already combing through data that had been transmitted to them by the light cruiser, the infiltrators, troopers, and the battlesuit aboard the station. That and going over the data from the experiments that had been conducted on the alien vessel.

A little different than what they had expected to be doing around this time, which was experimenting on a freshly captured organism from another galaxy. Still, it was an exciting opportunity for them. For the ONI staff, however, it was a total headache. They had lost a portion of a task force to the Reavers, as well as three operatives, a battlesuit, and a light cruiser. Not to mention they had lost the alien vessel as well as lost their chance to capture the pilot. Reports would need to be filed. Losses logged and registered. And a new course of action would need to be drawn up.

The agent that overseen most of the operation up to that point stood quiet on the bridge, staring down at the holoscreen before her. On it, a near live feed from the transmitter that had been fitted to one of the Infiltrators' helmet. It surprisingly was still broadcasting, and the agent now had a clear view of the one that had slain that particular Infiltrator. Nathalie Walker, former SSOID and currently wanted terrorist. The agent also caught glimpses of the other two in the room with Nathalie. Both of them she recognized as well. Damien Blackwell, son of notorious pirate Valencia 'Valkyrie' Blackwell, and Kalashi Vor'Pangn, former GKVR and bounty hunter. Also known as the Iron Jackal.

Neither of these three she particularly cared about, even if they were currently enemies of the state. She was after the aliens known as Nil and Non. Their cohort Caiden Valentine was a target as well, along with anyone part of the White Roses crime syndicate. Those were the targets she had been given by her superiors, deemed high value. Everyone else that decided to involve themselves in this, be they friendly or hostile to ONI, she considered less important or just annoyances.

A voice next to the agent broke her trance on the screen. "[Ma'am, what are our orders?]" asked another agent, a young man with buzzed hair. He was clad in the same dark, dull grey colored form fitting jumpsuit she was wearing, along with a matching black trench coat. A standard for most ONI agents not on deployment as Infiltrators or Terminators. She glanced to him, her bright green cybernetic eyes locking onto his brown ones. "[We bug out.]" she simply replied.

She then looked to another agent on the bridge. "[I am declaring agents Mirna, Vorster, and Riblin KIA. Initiate suit countermeasures, Protocol 3B.]" she stated. The agent nodded quickly, before quickly moving to a nearby terminal. She then directed her attention to the rest of the crew on the bridge. "[The Vetranio will be returning to Federation space. Break cloak, and set a course for Hemera. Maximum warp.]"

--- --- ---
​

As Nathalie looked over the transmitter, she began to notice that the dead Infiltrator's suit was oddly starting to emit heat. A steadily increasing amount of it. Suddenly, the suit's color shifted from black to a bright green, much like some kinds of plasma. Had she activated some sort of countermeasure in the suit? The suits, and bodies, of all three Infiltrators soon began to dissolve into a sort of slime-like goop. Eventually liquefying entirely and leaving behind dull green colored puddles.

"...They dissolved the bodies and suits to prevent us from taking them. Likely using some sort of tech in the suits themselves." muttered Damien, waving his hand in front of his nose. The stench was horrible. "Let's get over to the data center. And hope they haven't erased everything."

 

[Viper Actual]

Aside from scavenging a upyri gas grenade of a generic make and model Nathalie also managed to recover something from the agent's helmet. Namely a long range transmitter with a camera fitted to it. Cursing, she covered the lens with the palm of her left hand before looking up at Damien and Kalashi. "Active camera," was all she managed to say before the bodies of the deceased agents quite literally melted.

Unfazed by the event unfolding in front of her Nat took two steps away from the corpse closest to her. While much more elegant in a way, ONI's method of denying intelligence retrieval was about as subtle as the SSOID's with the latter using built-in thermal charges to burn deceased agents and operatives into heaps of smoldering ash. Nathalie had unfortunately witnessed said process first hand during daring wetwork operations deep behind enemy lines or with severe political and diplomatic risks attached to them.

"Let's get over to the data center. And hope they haven't erased everything."

Nodding, Nathalie dropped the transmitter and stomped on it before speaking; "Lead the way. Not much else for us to recover from this room."

 

[K0mori]

"My father fought in that war to stop that evil, and it's why Superman was written to fight against them too since they went against every principle he stood for."

Vance's explanations were finally beginning to help Vixaya understand. Superman did fight in wars, but only because sometimes, his own struggle against evil just happened to coincide with one. He wasn't a soldier, taking orders. In fact, Superman had another privilege that Vixaya, and even Vance, for that matter, didn't have. He had the ability to stop fighting at any moment of his choosing. And he must have made that choice frequently, to avoid becoming overbearing with his incredible powers and destroying the "normal" life he sought to return to.

Like Vance explained, Superman's story was above politics and governments and was as simple as right versus wrong. If only real life could be so simple. But the powers at play on Spirra and Terra made things complicated, and made it impossible for most people to remain innocent. It was the reason Vixaya had given up making decisions for herself so long ago, shifting responsibility for her actions onto her superiors. Even if it were her own choice to fight, she could have been manipulated, like Vance, into believing that her own side was always good, and her enemy stood only for evil.

She sighed as Vance tried to find a moral justification for joining the Reavers and seeking revenge - or justice, as he put it - against Anora. Perhaps he was being fooled again, given how willing Valkyrie and others, including herself, were to kill civilians on this mission. Again, Vixaya felt as if her personal struggle in this situation wasn't a choice, it was just an obligation in order to survive.

But, she also couldn't lie to herself. The idea of Superman was still captivating to her. What if she could choose? What if she had that power?

"Not everything has to be a transaction, y'know? People can do the right thing without wanting a reward for it... that's what being a hero means.

Vixaya twitched, then smiled, if you could call it one. It came off a bit rancid. "[Nobody paid me on Spirra,]" she observed, before the expression left her.

"[I want to watch the Superman cartoon,]" she added a moment later. "[We could watch together, and eat sweets and drink sodas.]"

 

[joshuadim]

"[I want to watch the Superman cartoon,]" she added a moment later. "[We could watch together, and eat sweets and drink sodas.]"

Vance smiled and gave a thumbs up as a response: "Sounds like a plan."

 

[Infab]

"A blacksite, captain. This is no smuggling station. ONI most likely was dissecting his ship and hoping to use it's technology for themselves." Typhon takes another huff of smoke. "Maybe even Nil himself if they could catch him."

"They probably were after Nil all along. And Caiden. Probably expected Nil and Caiden to show up by themselves or with some other group to get slaughtered. We barely survived against the troopers in the cargo bay and against that battlesuit. Imagine how a lesser group would have fared? Or if Nil and Caiden had come here on their own?" responded Valkyrie. "...Either way, this isn't a blacksite. Blacksites are more heavily defended, and we'd have likely seen scientists running around. ONI just decided to take it from its original owners, and use it for their needs. Probably gave them a shitload of credits in return for its use. After we leave, they'll likely get it back."

She took one last look to Typhon. "This was just bait for Nil." she stated, before turning to the others.

Nearby, Lauren listened to Olivia promptly defend her choice of vehicle after Lauren's comments before about tanks. A grin stretched across Lauren's face. "You don't have to defend your ride, Liv. I wasn't knocking mechs. They have their times to shine, and are cool as shit to watch in action." she said. "...But as you said. A tank beats everything."

Around fifteen minutes passed before a group of Reavers came with a lift to get the battlesuit. Caiden and Nil were already at work making it look like the White Roses themselves had done this instead of the Reavers. And shortly after the battlesuit was on its way back to the cargo bay, Damien, Nathalie, and Kalashi returned with news. They had found some data that wasn't scrubbed in the data center of the station. Shipping logs and manifests. Who came to the station, what they were transporting, where they came from, and where it was going. Most of it was heavily encrypted, though, so Eve would have to look over it and work her magic.

Poking around in the cargo bay turned up nothing of importance for Lauren, or any of the others who went looking. And it wasn't long before the mechs were being transported back to the Guillotine via the Mordred. And eventually, the station was left alone, with the crew returning on the final trip the Mordred made from the station back to the capital ship.

Once back on the Guillotine, Easel was quick to respond to the Mordred's landing bay. Moving quickly to those injured to give a quick once over. Afterwards, she looked to the rest of the group. "All injured, please report to the medical bay for treatment. Your wounds and injuries need to be tended to and mended quickly before infection sets in." she stated, before motioning for several of them to follow her.

As they walked off, Zadra soon approached from off to the side of the bay were the damaged mechs were sitting. "What the hell happened?" she asked, looking immediately to Valk. Valk motioned to the mechs. "ONI was waiting for us. And only ONI. Anti-vehicular team, armed with two railguns. They also had a battlesuit protecting Nil's ship."

Zadra looked surprised. "You mean...there weren't any civilians aboard?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. Valk shook her head. "None. There WERE three ONI Infiltrators, though. Damien, Nat, and Kalashi killed them. They were scrubbing everything clean up on the command deck. Still, Damien and Nat managed to get some data out of the data center. Heavily encrypted, but Eve's gonna fix that."

Eventually, Valk glanced back to the others as they followed Easel. "Job's done, though. No dead civilians." she stated, looking back to Zadra as she said the last few words. "We're heading back to Shadespear to meet up with Nonara. Get our payment, get the information on Dazik, and go kill that son-of-a-bitch."

Zadra sighed. "Val... you need to slow down and think. You used to care about if civilians were around. You used to care about making sure your people made it out alive. Hell, you used to care about if you got hurt." she said, pointing at the still bleeding gash on the captain's arm. "It's like this rush to kill Anora and her buddies has blinded you completely. Slow it down. Consider what's happening around you. You're not gonna kill Anora if everyone around you is dead... or if you die in the process. And becoming a complete monster isn't going to help things either."

Valk stared at Zadra for a few moments, eyes unwavering, before eventually glancing down at her bloodied arm. "...I'll be fine, Zadra. Worry about fixing the mechs." she responded afterwards, before walking off after the others. Zadra watched her depart, slowly shaking her head. She's in for a rude awakening. She isn't fine. She hasn't been fine since VOC-1.

​

The trip back to Gostoth and Shadespear Terminal took several hours, as the group had their wounds tended to and dressed. With a dose of nanites for each, they'd eventually be healed up by the time they got back to the station for the meeting with Nonara. And sure enough, as the Mordred arrived in the station's vicinity, they were.

"Welcome back, Mordred. How are ya?" crackled through comms on the bridge of the Mordred. Aesha wasn't the one that replied, however. "Just dandy, Tower 3. Got a bay open?" replied Valkyrie, sitting in her captain's chair. A serious expression on her face.

"Bay 10 is open, Mordred. We'll go through the same proceedure as before. The Mordred will be listed under a different name as requested." stated the voice on the other end. Valkyrie's response was rather blunt. "Good. And if I find out you were the one that sold me out last time, the last thing you'll see before you die will be me ripping your heart out with my metal claw. Understand?"

There was a few moments of silence on the other end, before the voice replied with a "...Understood, ma'am." The comm line was terminated immediately afterwards, and Aesha glanced back to Valk from her pilot's seat. Valk simply cut Aesha a look in response. No more of that shit like last time.

The Mordred soon zipped around and into its waiting hangar bay, deploying and landing without error. And as soon as the ramp dropped down, those that wished to come back to Shadespear emerged from the bowels of the ship. Katja, whom had wanted to depart from the Reavers since the battle against ONI on Kalien Station, had brought her mech with her. Intending to secure transport elsewhere after their meeting with Non. Nil was in high spirits, and oddly Caiden was in a good mood. Likely thanks to the whiskey in his belly and the shot of painkillers running through his system.

 

[K0mori]

All patched up and in better spirits than she could remember in a long time, Vixaya stepped down the landing ramp and re-entered Shadespear. One couldn't tell from looking at her, but she was smiling on the inside, knowing that she had made a good deal of money and possibly a few friends over the course of the mission. The C-355 did its job perfectly and seemed to be in good hands with Zadra, and her personal weapons had all served her well. Now, she could probably afford to purchase some actual luxuries for her cabin which wouldn't come from some junk shop.

She wasn't sure how or when exactly the meeting with Nonara would take place, though, and didn't want to run off immediately in case she was needed.

 

[Infab]

The group promptly continued into the station, heading up the lift to the market district and over to the Quicksilver Bar where they had met Nil and Caiden before. On the way, they noticed that the market wasn't as busy as it had been previously. Likely everyone got what they needed and had left. But of course, it never stayed this way as the large crowds would be back in no time to pack the market all over again.

Through the halls and down staircases they went, before eventually arriving at the Quicksilver. And as they approached, they noticed that it too had far less customers. As they entered through one of the two entrances, looking around at the scarcely populated tables, bar, and arcade off to the side, they noticed a small group of individuals in suits upstairs. "Ah, sister's here already!~" said Nil, quickly rushing for the stairs. Caiden followed, motioning for the group to do the same.

As they climbed the staircase to the next level, they saw that Nonara was now sitting where they had been before when they had their meeting with them. In the flesh, talking to what appeared to be a waiter. As they neared, they heard her tell the waiter "I'm going to pay you a thousand credits to fuck off." before slipping him a credit chit. It didn't take the waiter long at all to do a 180 and walk away quickly. She then returned her gaze to what was in front of her, and noticed the group approaching. "Ah, there you are. Excellent work on the station." stated Nonara, leaning forward and picking up a small glass full of a clear liquid and ice which had been sitting on the table between the seats.

The bodyguards, dressed in off-white suits but wearing bits of armor beneath their jackets and holding several high end sub-machine guns, moved out of the way and allowed the group to make their way over to sit opposite of Nonara. Nil joined Nonara, sitting next to her, but Caiden remained standing next to Nil. "I heard from Nil that the only ones you encountered on the station were ONI troops. No civilians or criminal elements. Interesting. That would lead me to believe that they never intended to ship the vessel out but instead use it as bait to capture Nil... and potentially use him to get to me." she stated, taking a sip from her glass afterwards before continuing. "... So a thank you is in order. I'm bumping your payout to seventy-five million credits."

She reached into her short jacket, into an inner pocket, and drew out a small holotablet. After switching it on, she tapped on the screen a few times. "Eve has already given me your account details, so your money should be arriving momentarily. Now, for the other part of our deal." she said, eventually putting the holotablet away and looking to a guard nearby. The Upyri nodded, stepping over and handing a small black thumb-stick to Valkyrie. "Dazik Noske has been up to something in the Renegade Quadrant, bouncing between outposts before disappearing entirely into the black. We believe it may be to an ONI blacksite. The drive contains his last known location, as of an hour ago. A Federation forward operations base, FOB Ricchar, in the Vleisan system. From there, you should be able to find data on where he went afterwards. Likely encrypted data, since he's an ONI agent, but data nonetheless."

She glanced to Nil afterwards. "And finally... Nil spoke highly of working with you all, so I'm offering you both Nil and Caiden's services to use at any point in the future. Just send me a message, and they'll be on their way to wherever you are."

Valkyrie nodded, looking the thumb-drive over before pocketing it. "Good. I might take you up on that later." she said, before looking back to the others. "Half of the payout will go to the Reavers, the other half will be split up equally between the rest of you. Lauren, Damien, your pay will come out of the Reavers half." That would mean each of the group would get around 3,750,000 credits.

 

[SniperComZero]

Olivia had been fully prepared to give Nonara a piece of her mind for dragging them by the nose straight into an ONI base, right until of course, she said she didn't know it was happening, and bumped their pay up a nice fifty percent. Well, Olivia certainly wasn't happy about it, but she was placated by the addition of a fat chunk of change going straight into her account. Still. "Great, so that wasn't the blacksite, but we've still gotta bust into one. Looking forward to it." She's... exasperated. It might be something to do with the fact that her arm's been fucked up multiple times today.

Wiping over her face, and looking around the room. Well, it's hardly much of a debriefing, but at least it's short. "Well, I don't really feel like sticking around for you all to catch up, so... uh, there any good eating places around here?" She doesn't... really know what to do with the rest of her money. Maybe she'll save it?

 

[Viper Actual]

Upon returning to the rest of the group with the data Nathalie allowed herself to relax further. Apparently the others had faced down another wave of hardened ONI soldiers supported by a battlesuit, all of whom had been killed in the ensuing firefight. On top of that their client had managed to accomplish the mission objective by gaining access to and destroying his own seized vessel.

While the sight of him still unnerved Nathalie to the core she was at least happy that the contract had come to a close. Hopefully it'd be quite some time before they saw him or his sister again, if ever.

Once they had all returned to the ship Nat allowed Easel and Typhon to run their check-ups. She did insist that they should tend to the more critically injured such as the survivors from the Reaver assault team that had been more or less halved during their engagement with the enemy forces aboard Kalien station.
Typhon prescribed a small gel to Nathalie meant to boost her immune system while also functioning as a localized painkiller on the area where it was applied- which in Nathalie's case were her jaw and ribs.

*
​

Returning to Shadespear Terminal felt like a grave mistake and Nathalie was on edge the second the docking vector the hangar had been plotted and executed. Hopefully there wouldn't be any more surprises waiting, though Nathalie's larger fear was the prospect of accidentally running into Duchess again. One could perhaps fool that woman once- but not twice.

As Nonara briefed the team on their increased payment as well as the promised intel Nat remained completely silent, preferring to remain in the back where she could overlook their surroundings. She also made a mental note to check her old SSOID sources for possible information regarding this FOB Ricchar and whether or not it had a secondary purpose beyond being a mere military installation.

It feels like the Upyri are always up to something. Then again, so is Sol.

When Nonara had finished and Valkyrie informed everyone of how the payment would be split Nathalie nodded silently before approaching Damien. "I'll go scout for intel. If I'm not back on the ship when it's time to leave and if I don't respond to any hails you should expect the worst."

That said, Nathalie vanished into the crowds of guests at Quicksilver as she left.

*
​

While in more or less the same worn and downtrodden state as the rest of Shadespear, Nathalie had managed to locate a small public HoloNet terminal building that wasn't smeared in blood, feces or other bodily fluids nor occupied by hostile Kaxani or Trilothian squatters fighting over scraps. Despite this many of the terminals inside were in poor condition or outright broken with some seemingly having been torn off the wall or punched into a state of malfunction by disgruntled inidivuals of stronger or enhanced physique.

Luckily for her, Nat managed to find one terminal in relative decent condition and with both of its graffitti-covered partition walls being intact on either side of the terminal. Booting it up, Nathalie made several searches related to FOB Ricchar. As she expected there wasn't much, in fact there were barely anything. Just off-hand mentions but no detailed information.
Sighing, Nathalie was about to continue her search when she felt a presence. It was as if someone was looking directly at her. Slowly, her right hand moved across the holographic keyboard, down towards her thigh and towards the holster where she had her sidearm.

Just as her fingers were about the wrap the grip of said sidearm something was gently pressed against the back of her head. Despite wearing a helmet and hood the general shape and sound of pistol being pressed against her skull was easy to recognize. Freezing, Nathalie remained completely still.

The figure next to her slowly leaned in while keeping their gun completely still.

"Gotcha'," said Duchess, as happy as ever.