Futuristic Burning Sails [OPEN]

[Breadman]

While the others talked, Amy ordered herself a beef stew after spotting the one Olivia brought in. 'Haven't had that in a while. Is it even real here? Eh fuck it.' While waiting for the food to arrive, she thought about what Typhon just said, but Olivia raised an important point

"Clients like to have their orders followed to the letter. The richer they are the more specific they get. Besides avoiding any civilians, I'm very happy she didn't want us to wear some ridiculous outfit while doing so. I have had some stupid requests for that." She paused before turning to Typhon "I may be a novice to this crew, but I've been keeping your colleagues busy over the years, doc." She paused as her meal arrived "Going to keep an entire industry going for the foreseeable future with the way we're going and the people we're after." She didn't know why Typhon was suddenly friendly, but it was best to play along for now.

 

[ANIMAL MOTHER]

"Going to keep an entire industry going for the foreseeable future with the way we're going and the people we're after."

"God-willing," Typhon starts after wiping his mouth with a napkin. "It will remain profitable long enough for me to buy a new body." he says, tugging at the wrinkles on his face.

 

[joshuadim]

With his food acquired Vance sat down and went to town on his first serving of dumplings, munching on the doughy containers of meat with enjoyment as he only chewed a little bit without even appreciating the flavor of the food all that much. He finished the first bowl of dumplings in record time before moving on to the second, and halfway through he overheard Olivia's comments which got him to pause for a moment: "Well, now we can go back to hunting Anora and her goons. That's all that matters." he commented, "That's what matters." He continued to finish the serving until he set the plate aside and sighed before looking at Amy.

"In any case, do you happen to know any sellers here or anywhere else that deal in... antique goods? Like, old media and stuff like that." he asked the bounty hunter, hoping that his inquiry would be fruitful.

 

[Breadman]

"Well...depends on the old media." Amy tried to think of anything that fit Vance's question "Popular galactic media is easy to come by since those are found in every store. But really old antiques? Like the ones from say...pre-unified Sol? Going to be harder." There weren't going to be many people on her list that still talked to her and would offer the services Vance wanted, but she could at least help him out "Gray market is your best bet. Lots of people sell keys, copies and the like. Sometimes you end up with scams, sometimes with a treasure trove, so its pure gambling."

 

[Infab]

Halfway through their meals, the group all received messages on their holobands or holotablets. Valk, whom had finished up whatever it was she was doing and was returning to the Mordred. Looked as though it was time to shove off. And soon enough, Lauren and Aesha passed by Vance and the others. They had already finished their meals, from another noodle shop nearby, so they were simply taking all they had bought in their carts back to the ship.

"Let's go, ladies and gents. We got an ONI agent to fuck up." said Lauren, following it with a chuckle as she walked off. Aesha glanced to the things the others had bought, and pointed out Amy's items. "Oh! I've played that before! If you need someone to help paint or just to play with, I'm up for it!" she said, as her finger pointed straight to the figurines Amy had in her cart.

Elsewhere, Eve nodded in response to Nathalie's words. "If you insist. The rest of the data seemed rather insignificant and unrelated to our cause. It is all on the thumb-drive as well. They will be marked accordingly." responded the drone. Afterwards, she spun about. "Let us return to the Mordred quickly, and prepare ourselves for what awaits."

Once back at the Mordred, the group found themselves squeezing past the new car and bike that Vixaya and Lauren had respectively purchased. Both sitting parked in the cargo bay of the Mordred, along with several carts of items. They had all gone shopping, it seemed, except for Damien and Nathalie. He raised an eyebrow for a moment, before glancing to Nathalie behind him. "Kinda feel left out now." he said, almost smirking.

Not long afterwards, the Mordred was lifting off again, departing quickly from the station and zipping off into hyperspace. Only to land in its waiting hangar bay aboard the Guillotine minutes later.

 

[Viper Actual]

"Understood," replied Nathalie, nodding towards Eve.

Once the trio had returned to the Mordred and reunited with the rest of the crew Nat observed some of the items purchased by the others. While not one known to be envious, Nathalie did ponder on what she could potentially purchase with her recently added funds.

Perhaps I could allow to indulge myself in some complementary gear? Or perhaps it's time to purchase another set of clothes?

Regardless, a potential shopping-spree would have to wait until after the encroaching mission. For now she was focused on getting mentally ready for what was about to come.

That is, until Damien spoke up as the two of them passed by Vixaya's brand new car and Lauren's bike. Smirking, she looked at Damien with a sly expression on her face.
"Don't. I'll make it up to you after this mission; We could go browsing for a few hours and finish off with a dinner."

"That or some virtual wargames. Always good for letting off steam," she added.

 

[Breadman]

"These aren't for me." Amy pointed towards the boxes. "Will kick your ass if we get on Duroma thought." She added with a smirk. "Though its really tempting to break one of those open." An understatement, but she really need to get that under control.
---
On Duroma

The aging mutant sat down on a stone not too far off the ranch, still within sight and opened up his pack. A frown formed on his face as he pulled out another cigar and lit its end. He glanced around to make sure he was a good distance away from anyone, just as Henrietta told him to. 'No smoking near the kids.' Stern and hardheaded that one, but after a few close calls, he made it a point not to argue with a colleague's spouse while they're not around. Not to mention he was too old for this shit.

His peace and quiet was interrupted of course. It always is. Seth exhaled with a heavy sigh and answered the call.

"Hey boss, enjoying your 'sabbatical'?" That was the greeting he got from the Suflixian. A race that has been baffling the galactic community since their debut on the stage a few short decades ago. Their bodies could be best described as a sentient goup that can somehow communicate through telepathy. Which would make communication through holograms difficult if it were not for the fact that they also move around in floating mechanical bodies. Their exact origin is a debate whether or not they evolved naturally or if its some experiment gone wrong, but to Seth, that was irrelevant as his 'assistant' had become very useful over the years.

"I was until you called, Bori." He looked at the hologram with annoyance "Running out of cigars is bad enough, but now my main source of bad news decides to give me a warning. I can tell you have something really important you want to tell me and ruin it further, so spit it out."

"Right..." Bori hesitate for a moment before continuing "Its about Koronova. Couldn't delay the bounty and further and its going to be opened up for more hunters."

"Knew that was going to happen sooner than later." Seth shrugged "Its why me and Alex are here."

"Its worse than we predicted actually." Bori's voice sank as Seth's glare got more intense through the hologram "Payday for their heads is massive...even as dead meat. Outside hunters are eligible to collect"

"You're shitting me."

"Do I look like I can?"

"Its a human metaphor for...Forget it, who's picked it up so far?"

"Its open season, so I can't exactly give you an exact number, but I have a few you might worry about. I'm sending the list over to you to look over." The old mutant looked at his holoband as the list of names started to fill up, the really dangerous ones color coded for his convenience with the classic red, but he didn't need a reminder that they were. He instantly recognized those names.

"Psycho, maniac, religious zealot and good old pissed off former comrade." He exhaled a cloud of smoke and looked back to Bori "I'll make sure to pass along the news."

"That's it?" Bori was perplexed. Usually Seth would have some sort of plan forming, but this was new to him.

"For now. I'll catch you later, Bori." Before Bori could answer, Seth cut the feed. This was a hard situation to be in with any move he does from here could draw attention to him and by extension the others. Even with all the backing, he wasn't about to risk anything just yet. He needed a plan.

"Is she going to be ok?" The voice startled him and pulled the old man out of his thoughts. He turned around to see the young Kanad standing there and looking at him with worry. "Mom, I mean."

"Yeah...she's going to be fine..." He blinked with his eye rapidly trying to figure out how exactly the boy snuck up on him "I take it you heard the whole thing?"

"Short conversation and you're not exactly quiet when you're having them." The boy shrugged. "I wanted to try and see if I could sneak up on you, but then you got your call."

"Not the best decision to sneak up on an armed man with a genetically enhanced quickdraw." Seth might be chiding him, but he had to admit he was impressed.

"One very old man, who is very distracted at times." Yanimada lifted up his hand to reveal the pack of cigars in his grip. "Swiped them off you when you had you coat on the rack as a practice run." He looked so proud of himself.

"Didn't your moms teach you not to steal from your elders?"

"Well one did, but the other works as a bounty hunter, so I had to pick who to listen to."

"You're not even the same species, but you inherited being a smartass." Seth finished off his cigar and dropped the bud on the ground. "Alright, lets get you back inside before your responsible parent thinks I'm teaching you how to smoke or something."

"Would you?"

"No."

 

[Infab]

The Vleisan system wasn't far of a jump from the Guillotine's current position, but the travel through warp would take close to an hour as they had to find a good location to sit while the Mordred and other transports were deployed to battle. One system was selected, the Mezzaid system sitting only 10 lightyears away, and as soon as the Guillotine arrived it was shifted quickly into battle mode in the event that it was needed. They were attacking a Federation forward operations base which likely had several Federation ships on standby somewhere to come and assist should they be attacked. A big problem for those on the ground, but nothing the Guillotine itself couldn't handle.

Valkyrie ordered that several teams be assembled, tasked with hitting different parts of the base and wrecking as much as they could. This was their chance to fuck up Federation operations inside the quadrant, considering what this base was often used for. Comms crippled, vehicle depot destroyed, barracks raided and cleaned out, airfield obliterated, and the armory and command post captured. Potentially there might be incarcerated pirates here waiting for transport back to the Federation for trial, so the brig would also need to be raided. The Mordred's crew would have the luxury of capturing the the more heavily defended command post and armory, while the rest would be done by other teams.

Surprisingly, Typhon volunteered to remain on the Guillotine in the event surgeries were needed after the op. Easel would be joining the group in the field, and she had already prepared herself quite well for the endeavor. Eve also wished to remain on the Guillotine, to maintain her elusive galactic status.

Eventually, Valkyrie gathered up the group inside the Mordred's hangar for a rundown on their job. "Alright. I've already spoken to the other teams, and we've sorted through what they're gonna do. Going to give everyone a quick once over on things, and then let you guys know what we're going to be doing." she started, as she adjusted the gear she was wearing. Making sure it was secure. "We're gonna be going up against Federation Naval Troopers mostly, but there is a relatively small detachment of Federation Marines on base as well. From the data Nonara gave us, looks like a full battalion of the navy boys, and two platoons of the leathernecks on station. They also have a handful of mechs, mostly standard combat variants. Beyond that, they have six tanks, a handful of armored technicals, and some other things like gun emplacements and anti-armor weaponry. We're obviously gonna fuck it all up."

"Our target will be the central command post, and the armory. The command post will be heavily defended, likely protected by some of the technicals, a tank or two, and some mechs. The Naval Troopers will be spread out all over the base, but a large concentration will likely be near the Armory. We'll also likely encounter a good chunk of the Marines too. Hope you're ready to kick some Feddie ass, boys and girls, because we're gonna be doing a lot of that. The other teams will focus on thinning out their forces and destroying other targets of interest on the base. Vehicle depot, airfield, barracks, comms, and so on. If we need backup, I can pull from some of the other teams to back us up. We'll have fighters to eliminate anything that manages to take off from the airfield, and bombers to pulverize heavy armor."

Once she finished, she looked up to the group. "Any questions?"

 

[joshuadim]

Amy's advice with regards to his search made him curious as to what she meant but before he could ask they were all called upon to return back to the ship. Seems as to they were leaving for the next step and Vance didn't complain as he left his unfinished food and walked off quickly. Upon returning to the Mordred, Vance found himself on a holotablet searching for these 'gray market' sites for what he was looking for but without much luck as he didn't know what places he was looking for exactly. Many of these sites offered such old media commodities for download for a price but the general layouts and guidelines for many of these seemed suspect and likely were scams that preyed on amateur collectors and curious visitors.

He would have to ask Amy later about where exactly to go as he turned his attention to the briefing at hand and observed the battle plan. It looked sound on paper, a multi pronged attack that went after multiple objectives simultaneously that would sow chaos among the defenders and force them on the defense on their most valuable targets. When prompted, Vance was the first to voice a question: "What's our timeframe? I assume they'll try to wipe or transfer the data we need so we'll need to act fast and hit hard."

 

[Breadman]

Amy listened to the plan. It was sound and had a high chance to succeed. They just needed to make sure there were no surprises since they didn't have a monster on their team this time.
"What's the details on the enemy forces down there? Any idea on what we're likely to run into?"