Mercenary Dawn: Steel Phoenixes

[Kaihaku]

Null listens stoically to the discussion around the simulation 'hacking' but offers no further comment. She does cross her arms and pivot idly in her chair to listen as Akir shares his analysis of the team. She keeps most of her thoughts about his words to herself, for now, but does tilt her head as she adds in the usual monotone, "I know to stay out of trouble, I shouldn't need much protection. Just operational freedom." She pauses for a moment, then adds, "The simulation was a poor demonstration of my 'support' but... I think you'll quickly come to value my contributions on the battlefield."

 

[DaxxyErin]

Morrigan grabs a protein bar and a bottle of water and sits on the outskirts of the group. She carefully opens the wrapper with her cybernetic hand, and slowly starts to eat the bar, listening Akir's assessment. When he mentions her name, she looks at him, and does not remove eye contact for the rest of his rundown. She finishes her snack before she stops staring, then gets up and steals one of Tanu's candy bars.

Quietly, as if she doesn't even realize Tanu is there, she speaks to herself, "I don't have a death wish... I... think?"

 

[QuickSmasherEXE]

Roger glances up at Abdul for a moment before responding. "Someone bribed one of the techs in charge of maintaining the simulation equipment to crudely hack in additional targets based upon the information he was given and had been able to piece together. His superior has mentioned that he will be punished, so that will be taken care of."

"Ah, I see." Abdul prepared some comment about the more specific implications about that when other people started talking.

lonk

...what.

Adbul looked at Akir with near bewilderment as he went on with his spiel, but didn't show any active disgust until the gambler pulled out a cigar. He still did the polite thing and let him and everyone else finish, by which point he'd given up on saying what he was originally going to.

"Yes, well. I do not think it is reasonable that the technician should be punished if the one who hired him will not be. Moving on from that, was there not another member who was in the simulation? I do not see him here among us."

 

[Juju]

Tanu was quick to notice the thief steal from her dragon-hoard of candy bars. It didn't matter that said thief was an infamous killer with countless confirmed kills. All that mattered was the tasty morsel she had just stolen. How dare she!

"Hey! That's my Coolkat Mint Surprise! Give it back!" Tanu hissed, grabbing onto the bar and trying to pry it away in a tug of war, "MY PRECIOUS BAR!"
DaxxyErin

 

[DaxxyErin]

"Hmm?" Morrigan looks down at Tanu tugging at the candy bar she had stolen. Morrigan barely reacted, staring Tanu down, her hand holding the candy bar barely moving. "Coolkat.... Mint Surprise?" She looks down at the candy bar, realizing now that the pile of candy bars was actually laying in front of Tanu, and was not just the communal pile of snacks. "Is it any good?"

 

[Juju]

"Do arclight spanners spin? Hell yeah they're good! Only like the second best bar on this side of the planet. Right behind Chunky Moon. And totally better than that Galaxy-bar crap now that they've switched ingredients! Nobody tastes the difference but I do! It's all in the aftertaste!" Tanu continued her feeble attempt at tugging the bar, "Now give it back! It's making me hungry just talking about it!"

 

[DaxxyErin]

Morrigan releases her grip on the candy bar. "You are very strange."

She makes her way over to the table with the remaining candy bars and manages to find a Mint Surprise that Tanu somehow missed.

 

[Juju]

The sudden loss of tension sent Tanu stumbling backwards off her chair. She fell to the ground with an 'oof' but held up her slightly broken bar up like a knight's sword, "Yes! Victory! Hello sweet goodness~!"

She then stuffs it into her face, grinning more than the simulated actors in the ads. Dusting herself off, she leaps back to her feet and is horrified to find her candy tower laying in disarray on the table. Quickly, she begins to restack them based on color and personal preference.

 

[AldurSFC]

"My but the murder children are adorable out of their walkers." Akir comments dryly. "Also, nothing beats a Lucky charm bar, but you might find 'em hard to get this side of things."

 

[Kaihaku]

Null tilts her head at the concern for the technician who had taken a bribe. Either society had changed a lot since leaving earth or her new colleagues didn't have much experience with institutions. Institutions always came down harder on the little people who broke policy rather than the 'important' people who persuaded them to break policy.

"So. Evans. Where is he? And mercenary group." She turns back to face the Doctor, asking in the same old robotic monotone, "Doc. Is your organization providing us with an Analyst? Do you have hierarchy set up? Are we deciding on missions or is one of yours assigning them to us?"

 

[YsFanatic]

Roger is quiet as he listens to the others speak. Once there was a break in the pilots talking he starts to address each of the important topics. "First, the tech went against several rules and regulations when he decided to take the bribe, not to mention actually doing the hack job. For a facility like this, following procedures and maintaining the integrity of computer systems is incredibly important, so no the higher ups will not let that slide." The doctor glanced at Irene before sighing. "In normal circumstances I'm sure you would be punished as well for instigating it, but I had asked them to let you be this time considering the nature of your agreement and the risks that come with mercenary work."

"As for Evans, we detected a few blips in his medical stats during the last sim, so he's been pulled aside for additional testing and won't be accompanying you, at least at this time. That said, we have another pilot, one who went through the surgeries and recovered before you, who was sent ahead for the purposes of securing apartments for all of you and setting up a meeting at the Agency to officially form the mercenary unit. Which leads to Null's questions about staffing." There is a brief pause as he pulls up the information he had been given. "The support staff are all Agency employees, but the Analyst, Chief Mechanic, and Quartermaster positions are going to be filled with people of our choosing, though I don't believe they will know of your situation. I'm actually going with you to act as your medical officer in addition to relaying any requests from this group to you. In that capacity I'll be masquerading as a PA as smaller units typically don't have full fledged doctors."

"In regards to organization of your unit, that will be up to all of you. For the experiment to provide the best results, we are pretty much doing a hands off approach unless, like I mentioned before, there are any special requests or other communications they want me to relay to you. Otherwise it'll be whatever missions you choose to take."

With that Dr. Moss looks up from his PDA at each pilot in turn. "Got any other questions or concerns?"

 

[TheUnknownMarine]

Irene rolls her eyes as the doctor talks and keeps talking, waiting for him to finish before saying her peace. "You realize how dumb it is to appeal to my sense of rules, right? The hack was a good thing, we got some extra testing for the pilots and your precious network security got additional testing. Rather than getting your panties in a bunch over 'rules' being 'broken', you should thank the poor kid and go over how he did it to shore up those vulnerabilities. Saints, it's standard practice to test networks with harmless hacks, even I know that. Th- Wait a moment," Irene's eyes narrow. "What'd you mean 'this time'?"

 

[Kaihaku]

"I could look up some of my old contacts in a history book. If you even have actual books anymore?" Null comments in the same monotone, offering a disturbingly flat mechanical laugh. She decides to leave Irene and the Doctor to debate the finer points of organizational disciplinary policy and instead glances at the others, her face still hidden beneath the reflective black visor, as she adds, "Do any of you have any contacts we could leverage for a good analyst, mechanic, or quartermaster? We need someone competent but not too curious... People who won't ask too many questions. If needed, I could try modifying a few records to make them...open to a new employment opportunity."

Null's gaze settles on Morrigan and Tanu, in particular...or is it on the pile of candy bars? Then she adds, "Did I understand right that you two have actual mercenary experience? You might need tp help the other science experiments here catch up on the trade. Sounds like we got some soldiers, terrorists, a ghost, and...this one was a civilian." Null points at her own head when she comments on the ghost and civilian.

Spoiler: Mentions

Juju DaxxyErin

 

[DaxxyErin]

Morrigan was halfway through a candy bar when Null mentioned mecenaries to her. She shook her head and swallowed the piece she was eating.
"I can try to contact someone but most people are too afraid of me to work with me anymore.... as for teaching anyone how to be a mercenary? Don't die, get paid."

 

[Omega Entity]

"I'm pretty bland compared to everyone else here outside of my past occupation, I assure you," Sara says in response to Akir with an amused smile, finishing off her granola bar and taking a drink from her bottle of water. "So I suppose I'd fall more in line with the latter than the former."

She tips her head faintly, looking to Null. "Even if we were in charge of filling those positions, I'm afraid I don't know anyone who would fit the bill. Granted, a lot of the people I worked with were very much the 'no questions asked' type, but none that would have those kinds of skills."

 

[QuickSmasherEXE]

For one reason or another, Abdul seemed somewhat displeased. He pocketed his snack and turned his attention to the good doctor. "Dr. Moss," he began in a hushed tone, hopefully quiet enough as to not interrupt anyone else's conversation. "What does the one woman mean when she says 'was a civilian'? I am afraid I have missed a great deal."

 

[Kaihaku]

"You forgot 'and look cool doing it'." Null replies to Morrigan's helpful advice.

 

[DaxxyErin]

Morrigan just stares at Null for a solid 5 seconds before returning to her candy bar.

 

[YsFanatic]

Dr. Moss sets down the PDA and closes his eyes with a sigh. After a moment they open and he looks over at Irene. "It took almost every favor I had to keep the higher ups from having some kind of punishment levied against you. If you do something else before we arrive at the Agency I don't think I'll be able to help you."

Then he turns his attention to Null. "You misunderstand me, the relevant people will be chosen for you so you don't have to worry about that."

 

[TheUnknownMarine]

"Yeah, how dare I disrupt such a sacred and time honored ritual as a simulator test," Irene says, rolling her eyes. "Man, what a rotten way to start this. Usually you get a few missions in before you find out your employers are a bunch of douchebags." Irene growls and shakes her head. "I need one of those candy bars, there's got to be something sweet about today! Ach, you lot did a number on them, it's mostly granola... Where... There!"

Irene triumphantly pulls a chocolate bar from the snack pile and chomps into it, not bothering to unwrap it. Instead, she spits out the wrapper into a nearby trash-bin. She begins chewing with narrowed eyes and down-curved lips.
"Buncha corporate goons..." she mumbles. "In the old unit, you didn't have to put up with shit like this..."

 

[YsFanatic]

Dr. Moss is silent for a moment while Irene vents her frustrations before continuing. “Well, regardless you are leaving here in just a few days. Just like when you arrived here you will be sedated for the trip out.” There is a brief pause as an apologetic look crosses over his face. “I’m sorry if that bothers any of you, but that’s something that can’t be compromised on or changed.” Standing up, slides his PDA into a pocket before addressing the group one more time. “I think that’s it for this meeting. I’ll see each of you for your final check ups before we leave.” With that the doctor leaves the conference room, leaving the pilots to continue chatting for a few minutes if they wish.

Regardless if they do or not, they are before long escorted back to their respective rooms to await the day they would ship out. The next two days are calm, boring, ones filled with the same mundane tests and activities as before, but then on the third they are told to pack up and get ready to leave. Once they are all brought to the infirmary, they are each in turn sedated by medical staff, the sterile white ceiling the last thing they see of the facility.

End of Prologue
Consciousness would return slowly, accompanied by lethargy and confusion for a few minutes as their vision gradually came back into focus. The pilots would find themselves waking up on cots in what appeared to be some kind of office, people in a variety of civilian outfits busy checking their vitals, removing IVs, and otherwise making sure they were OK and waking up correctly. They were even given snacks and bottles of water to help quell the ravenous hunger that they would soon be feeling, if they weren’t already. While there was no sign of Dr. Moss, but the people taking care of them seemed competent. Once it was confirmed that there were no ill effects from the sedative the group was given directions on where to go to reach the apartment complex on where they would be staying as well as informing them that their personal belongings would have already been delivered there. In addition each pilot would be handed an access key to their respective apartments. They would then be allowed the leave, in the process discovering that the ‘office’ they woke up in was really just part of a mostly empty warehouse, a few cargo vehicles and an assortment of shelves and pallets of random household items being the only occupants. Given that none of the items looked to be relevant to the situation of the pilots, it would be logical to think that it might all be just a cover to keep the warehouse from appearing suspicious.

Regardless of what each pilot thought of the situation, upon leaving the building they would find themselves in the middle of the warehouse and industrial district of Mercenary City, the home of the Agency. It was up to them if they did the sizable walk to the apartment building next to the hangar facility they would be using or if they utilized public transportation, but either way once they arrived they would easily be able to find and get into their new homes, a message on the included computer terminal indicating that they had a meeting scheduled with the Agency for tomorrow. This meant they had the rest of the day to spend as they please.

Act 1: New Beginnings - Start!

 

[DaxxyErin]

Without saying much of anything, Morrigan headed to her apartment.

Her apartment was... extremely barebones. She didn't own much, so her personal belongings mostly amounted to a couple of outfits and a large antique sword. She had also requested that a small gym be installed her apartment, whenever convienient.

Except that wasn't here yet, so she had no idea what to do with her free time. She'd never been much of a social person before, and that wasn't about to change.

 

[AldurSFC]

Akir sighed as they were all put to sleep to be transported but elected not to raise a fuss, he just wanted to get back to being a person rather than a lab experiment to enjoy life somewhat. He would be sharing an apartment with Irene, and like usual he wouldn't mind how it was decorated or what insane anime or ancient show stuff got put everywhere. Except one place. Once arriving, nodding along to Irene, checking out the facilities he moved to unlock a door and stepped inside.


The room was lined with lots of items. Along one wall in a glass cabinet with a multiple of different cigar boxes, each with a different labelled brand and next to it was a small assortment of Whiskey and other Liquors and he grinned, the next wall was a shelf of books and a cabinet full of board and card games, the board games used modern tech for convenience but the card games were all vintage physical copies, Akir was a fan of most games of luck. Last was a series of hooks, since with a slightly different hat, though they all look like they belonged to an ancient wild western era. He settles down in one of the large armchairs after selecting a cigar and lights it up, inhaling happily as no signature smoke detector and sprinkler system would foil him this time.

 

[QuickSmasherEXE]

Abdul seemed in quite a rush to leave the warehouse- at least until he got his phone back. He checked the time and sighed, then asked the staff if there was any water available. Bottled only. Abdul didn't like to do ablution with bottled water but it would have to do, and so he took about a liter of the stuff and excused himself to prepare for and perform his daily noontime prayer. His phone had a salat tracker app and he was not about to break his streak over poor placement and timing.

Once that was done he left the warehouse, taking a leisurely pace and deciding to walk to his apartment. The exercise would do him good even if the air was a bit subpar for his tastes. When he reached his apartment he immediately set about reciting a series of blessings over it such that he was finally able to check his computer some time around two o'clock. He made note of the meeting, changed the settings on his browser, downloaded a few plugins and scripts, and finally searched to see if there was a men's pool nearby.

 

[Omega Entity]

Sara opts to walk the distance to the apartment buildings, enjoying the fresh air after being cooped as much as they had then. She takes note of what she sees on the way there, particularly places of entertainment, as she nears the structure she'd be calling home for the foreseeable future.

Entering her quarters on the ground floor, the woman surveys the handiwork of those who had decorated it to her specifications. The colors throughout the apartment were painted bright colors, but not overwhelmingly so. The spare room would act as her entertainment room, leaving the main living area open. The floor itself was covered in a mat not unlike a wrestling mat, while various apparatuses are placed or hung in the space.