Futuristic Starpath X: A Ballad of Madness

[Infab]

​

CHAPTER I​

TILT​

“Let’s take it from the top, shall we?”

“Understood, ma’am.”

Holoscreens and consoles across the cabin began to light up, a sweeping flash of color filling the room as the cyborg laying on the table swung her legs off and sat up. As her pink hair swung down to hang in front of her face, she shifted it all aside with a hand as her glowing blue eyes darted between the screens. Most of them were about her. Various diagnostics regarding the numerous cybernetics her body had been outfitted with, each giving read-outs regarding their current functioning states. All were green, for the moment.

“Good morning, Ms. Elspeth Sÿferlin. It is--” spoke disembodied digital voice, before the cyborg interrupted abruptly.

“Jester.” she corrected.

“Ma’am?”

“Call me Jester.”

“Understood, ma’am. Correcting…”

There were only a few seconds of silence, before the disembodied voice began again. “Good morning, Ms. Jester. It is Sunday, June 3rd, 2418. Current position: Ptolemy Starport, Hangar Bay 17. In orbit of the planetoid Fulgrim IV. You currently have sixteen unread messages in your inbox. Shall I play them?”

“Not at the moment.” responded the cyborg, “Give me my complete diagnostic rundown.”

“Understood. Preparing report.”

There were another few seconds of silence. Then, the digital voice began to read off the data that had been gathered on the screens before. She did this every morning, making sure that her cybernetics were working in perfect harmony with what organic bits were left inside.

Once the voice went quiet, Jester spoke again. “Status of organic matter?”

Jester already knew the answer, but asking had become routine. “Organic matter functioning at insufficient levels. Cerebral damage extensive. Please seek medical assistance as soon as possible, in order to minimize further damage.”

“Of course.” responded the cyborg, a smile appearing on her face. She had already sought medical assistance quite a long time ago. Now she was doing things her way.

She slid off the dark gray table, her bare metal feet clacking against the textured steel floor. The data on the holoscreens vanished, replaced with a dull empty blue. The consoles remained lit, and even brightened a bit as Jester approached one. A lone holoscreen floated above it, its projector flickering slightly.

“Scan the unread messages in my inbox. Delete any junk messages you come across.” she said aloud, brushing her hair out of her face again before most of it into a ponytail at the back of her head. Her eyes darted about the empty screen, as she waited for the messages to begin playing. Slower than the last one. Might need to clean out some code at some point.

Soon, a window opened up on the holoscreen. “There are four messages remaining after the scan. The first is from Kanad trader Nurskada Vor’Trasn, regarding a high-end cybernetic left arm you ordered. The second is from a Trindrel collector, Siam Prina. She’s requesting an update on those gemstones that you promised to obtain for her. The third is from an El’uth mercenary, named Petteri Ko’tka. He wants his rifle back that you stole. The final message is from Mr. Clais Grave. He has a job offer for you, if you’re interested.”

Jester listened as the voice listed off each of the messages, before finally giving a reply. “Respond to Nurskada, and let him know that I’ll swing by soon to pick up my order. Respond to Siam, and tell her that I am still working on procuring the gemstones. This takes time, and I doubt she wants me to bring back any of poor quality.”

She then smirked, before continuing. “Respond to Petteri Ko’tka. Response is ‘I’m putting it to better use than you did, sweetie.’ As for Mr. Grave, play his message on the screen before me.” she said, folding her arms as she watched the window on the holoscreen.

The window quickly changed, switching to a wide view of a man sitting in a comfortable leather chair. He was finely dressed, wearing what appeared to be an Upyri-styled formal suit complete with a thin, strip-like tie that was tucked beneath the shirt. In hand, a ball glass filled with an almost clear amber liquid. Likely scotch. There was another figure in the frame as well, standing behind him with their arms crossed. Hands held together just at their waist. A bodyguard.

“Thank you for accepting my message. Allow me first to introduce myself. I am Clais Grave, chief operations officer of Celtech Enterprises. I’m sure you’ve heard of us, or at least seen some of our products out in the field.” began the seated man, eyes gazing into the camera.

Jester had seen plenty of their work. Bio-augmentations were becoming just as popular as cybernetics when it came to replacing and improving bodily functions. Celtech was one of the top manufacturers of such augmentations in the Federation, and was pretty well known outside the Upyri territories as well. Some of their products were starting to trickle into the human market, as well as others across the southern quadrant.

She continued to watch, as Clais took a drink from his glass and continued. “If you’re wondering as to why I’ve chosen to contact someone like you, you were suggested to me by a few… disenfranchised friends of mine. I have a particularly nasty thorn in my side, and I feel you’re one of two perfect tools to remove it.” he stated.

Disenfranchised. She rolled her eyes, a smirk appearing on her face. Upyri separatists. Enemies of the state, when it came to the Upyri Federation, as they were formerly members of the Imperial government that preceded it. But then again, so was she. She just changed sides when the time came. However, the things she did later sort of forced her to flee the Federation, or risk being arrested and executed. She was fairly sure her rap sheet was quite long by now, with things like terrorism and mass murder at the very top. She thought for a moment, briefly wondering who the other choice was for the job, before continuing to listen.

“The job: the elimination of a target, and the deletion of data said target has on their person. You may eliminate the target any way you see fit. Your reward for completion of the job is twenty-five million credits.”

Jester’s eyebrow arched, cocking up quickly as she heard the cash total. Quite a lot to kill one person. They must have dirt on him or the company. Perhaps a disgruntled former employee? Could range from one of the workers who dug a bit too deep or heard some things, or an executive let go on bad terms. It could also be a reporter, or even a member of a rival company. Hell, even a politician. Either way, it didn’t matter to her. It was good money, and with hopefully no strings attached.

“If you’re interested, respond to this message. My secretary will send you the details, and what I’ll need as proof that the job has been done. Thank you for your consideration.”

Simple enough. She grinned. “Reply to Mr. Grave, and let him know I accept.”

joshuadim

 

[joshuadim]

Hades
Two Months Ago​

The world of contract killers is, by all measure, interconnected by a relatively small pool of individuals who all share the same affinity for putting motherfuckers - who either deserve it or don't - into the grave. Hades was the both the gathering spot of the dead and also the club filled with people responsible for said death; an exclusive club found on the asteroid city of Merglos; the city itself was a hodgepodge collection of repurposed mining colonies, tacked on with generations of additional constructed habitats both outside and within the stellar body itself. It attracted smugglers, pirates, bandits, travelers, vagabonds, and practically everyone that could be considered unsavory in most galactic societies. For anyone who didn't travel these crowds, it appeared on the surface to be a chaotic, lawless place ruled by anarchy. Yet to the trained eye, there was a self-regulated pecking order established.

For this was a place to talk business, not to carry it out. Violence on behalf of a contract, party, or faction was punishable by death; and this was made known with the daily public executions for those who broke the Ether Accords. The existence of said accords, enforced by all parties involved with Merglos, was enough to keep everyone in line with a mutual understanding. As a hooded figure traveled through the bustling crowds within one of the colony's subsectors, he traced his path towards Hades in the manner he was already so accustomed to. During his career, he had filtered in and out of that place more time than he could count - but now he was coming not for R&R, but for advice.

The place was closed for the "evening", but he managed to get inside regardless with his access card and slunk into its interior. Thankfully, the place was empty save for the owner - Terry - who was wiping down the countertop. The man quickly noticed the entrance of the figure, and was confused.

"Relax, its me." Kane spoke, keeping his face hidden by the hood he wore.

"Jeez, thought I was gonna have to blast you away." Terry spoke, "What's up with the hood?"

"Ok, listen... the job fucked me. Bad."

Terry cocked an eyebrow before walking over to a table nearby and taking a seat. "...how bad?"

"I'm talking about Nightmare from Elm Street bad. Freddy fucking Krueger making his way back in town." Kane then said, taking a few steps forward.

"Oh c'mon, maybe you're just overreacting. Nothing a few trips to the doc- OOOOOOOOH FUCK." Terry then said, before Kane dropped the cloth to reveal the horror underneath. Terry took in the awful sight for a few moments, remarking on just how bad the affliction was affecting Kane, before commenting on it to the best of his ability. "You look like a cucumber got hate fucked by sandpaper."

"It's like a baby with harlequinism grew up and didn't die like god intended."

"You will die alone."

"Funny thing, I don't think I can die. Not like that, anyway." Kane then said, "Spoiler alert, we'll find out how far that goes later on into this story."

"Uh... who are you talking to?" Terry then asked, visibly confused by the comment.

"Don't concern yourself with that." Kane then said, taking the seat opposite from his good friend. "Now, the question is. How do I unfuck this?"

"A bullet to the head." Terry replied flatly, "Sorry, too soon?"

"The only bullet to the head is to that FUCKER Dante. Motherfucker swooped in on my contract! Assholes these days have no manners." Kane complained, his fist slamming into the table. "I had the mark dead to rights and then he just swoops in like its his."

"And you survived?" Terry asked incredulously, "That's a miracle in of itself."

"Yeah, and I'm gonna make that motherfucker wish he never crawled out of whatever Torgg asshole he came from." Kane then said, before turning to you. "But first, a brief intermission about me."

---

Kane's Wonderful Little Backstory™​

Pay attention, this is important for this cinematic universe's chapter. I'm one of the best contract killers in those quadrant, as seen by my killcount of 512 as well as my 5-star Yelp reviews. I got into this at a young age, but not because of a sad backstory or something you'd see out of a comic book. Nah, I just do this because it's honestly the easiest way to make money. So long as there's two people left in the galaxy - someone is gonna want someone dead. That's where I come in. And, well, the hundreds of other assassins available on the market but that's beyond what I meant. The point is, if you got a hate-boner for some sorry prick out there and if you've got the creds then I'm there to make their head explode like a watermelon.

Recently i was on a job to put a bullet into some corpo hedge fund manager who embezzled money from his investors. Normally I don't care about some rich guy ripping off other rich guys, but the rich guys who got screwed over offered me more money than the rich guy thief could pay me so naturally I went with the bigger payday. Thing is, the contract was open, which means that *anyone* could get in on it. And that's how I crossed paths with Dante Black - the Wraith - as he swooped in on my turf. He wasn't there to make friends, like me, and fucking exploded a plasma canister right on top of me so that he could get his shot on the mark.

I probably *should* have died, but then again how are we supposed to get this riveting continuation if I'm just some melted paste? I somehow survived, if only barely, and crawled my way to some shady ass doctors. Forking over all my money, I got an experimental nanite treatment that both fixed me and fucked me at the same time. Turning my charming good looks into something that would give old ladies heart attacks within a five parsec radius. I killed them and got my money back since the customer is always right, but now I have to figure out where and how I can get myself fixed. And also acquire the credits to do so. Which brings us to the immediate now!

I'm sitting in the Hades, biding my time and searching for leads in the months following, when lo and behold!

---

“Thank you for accepting my message. Allow me first to introduce myself. I am Clais Grave, chief operations officer of Celtech Enterprises. I’m sure you’ve heard of us, or at least seen some of our products out in the field.”

"Oh look, it's Agent Smith." Kane remarked to Terry, looking at the recorded message from under his mask. "Coming to tell me about how we live in a simulation or some shit." This brought out a snicker from Terry.

“If you’re wondering as to why I’ve chosen to contact someone like you, you were suggested to me by a few… disenfranchised friends of mine. I have a particularly nasty thorn in my side, and I feel you’re one of two perfect tools to remove it. The job: the elimination of a target, and the deletion of data said target has on their person. You may eliminate the target any way you see fit. Your reward for completion of the job is twenty-five million credits. If you’re interested, respond to this message. My secretary will send you the details, and what I’ll need as proof that the job has been done. Thank you for your consideration.”

"25 mil- WHAT THE SHIT!?" Kane then shouted, practically bouncing to his feet. "Exactly what I need!"

"Well hold on now, there's gotta be strings attached-"

Kane ignored Terry and quickly signaled in his head a response to be sent back to accept the job. "My road to personal self-recovery starts now!"

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[Infab]

Ah, Nyx. You beautiful gem of a world. Your sister Hemera is pretty, too, but you’re my favorite of the pair. Less politicians and all. Oh, how I wished we had won the war and captured you. I could have had a vacation home somewhere on that blue and green surface of yours. But instead, your rulers decided to rebel. Such a tragic loss.

The large blue-green world floated into view, as the White Rabbit slowly spun about. Jets fired, forcing the vessel to right itself so that it met the predetermined entry angle. The ship’s owner sat in the pilot’s seat, simply laying back and relaxing as she examined her new arm.

The custom-made limb had set her back a few hundred thousand credits, but it was worth it. All the neat little tricks it could do, all the gadgets she requested be built into it. Full range of motion, including spinning in her arm socket, and mere nanoseconds in reaction time. She could catch a Boome mosquito hatchling in mid-flight with how fast this thing moved.

Nurskada was a master at his craft, and she often wondered why he hadn’t been snatched up by the Kosoks or by Terrika Systems. Seemed like someone both of then would like to have onboard, either in an official or unofficial capacity. She shrugged at the thought. Could make him an associate of mine. Slip him money under the table for first dibs on anything new he comes up with.

Eventually she lowered her arm and looked towards her legs. “You’re next, amigos.” she said, a hint of laughter in her voice as she wiggled her feet. Once they were replaced and updated, that would be all four of her limbs brought up to speed. Then, the special features would get some proper attention. She grinned. If only she could replace the more important bits so easily.

A chirp sounded off on console before her, drawing her attention away from her legs. It seemed that a Federation frigate nearby had taken notice of her vessel’s transponder, and a trio of fighters were in route to intercept. Cute! They’re being nosy! That simply wouldn’t do!

She reached over, and tapped three fingers across a small touch pad built into the arm of her seat. “And three, two, one…” she whispered to herself, before her transponder shifted to signal that she was a Federation transport craft.

The fighters didn’t seem to react for a few moments, continuing their long trek towards her from the nearby frigate, but soon broke off. Heading back in the direction of the frigate. Navy pilots were, apparently, idiots. Didn’t look like they were recruiting the brightest bunch anymore. She chuckled, watching the three fighters break away via radar, before looking back towards Nyx itself. It was time to head down to the surface, as the White Rabbit finally gave her the green light to descend via a string of lights on the console.

“Take us in.” she said aloud.

A chirp sounded, and the ship began to move forwards. Beginning the descent into the atmosphere. There was, of course, turbulence. There always was when it came to entering and exiting atmosphere. Then, minutes later, the weather appeared. Rain, amid thick gray clouds. It'd be raining on the ground. I hate rainy days.

Then, she burst from the clouds. Below, one of the several mega-cities that dotted the planet’s vast landscape. Towering structures passed by, some even reaching high into the clouds. You needed oxygen to step outside these large structures at such high altitudes, even for short periods of time. Sometimes an environment suit was needed, considering the number of lightning related incidents and accidents.

Moving about the towers, the sky itself, and the city below, thousands of ships and vehicles. At least, those that could fly. Hovering vehicles, and more grounded types of vehicles using tires and treads, were still fairly common throughout the galaxy. And there was no shortage of highways that crossed the continents and oceans that dotted the numerous populated worlds. The White Rabbit weaved through a few strings of ship traffic, continuing its descent to the surface below.

It was early in the night on this side of Nyx, the mega-city gleaming in the night with numerous lights as the nearby star began to disappear over the horizon. Most ships and transport craft didn’t have to worry too much about flying or driving during the night or even during bad weather, thanks to the numerous safety systems built into them, but there were still accidents from time to time. She passed by one, on a wide landing pad atop one of the several skyscrapers. Apparently a car tried to swoop in and take a parking spot, and didn’t register the small one-seater transport parked there. It had crushed the transport beneath it, and almost killed its operator who managed to bail out before they were squished.

Jester chuckled at the sight. Cops, out in the rain, standing between two bickering businessmen atop a windy skyscraper. She shook her head, as she turned her attention back towards the White Rabbit’s console. She didn’t feel sorry for them. Any of them. Hell, some blood would have made things funnier.

Eventually, the ship’s designated landing point came into view. Another large landing pad, filled with various vehicles and ships, which sat atop a massive towering structure. An apartment building. One of the more high-end ones, named after some wealthy business mogul named Richard Myron. Supposedly from Terra, made a killing in housing when humanity started reaching towards the stars.

Honestly, she could care less. Humans didn’t really impress her all that much. Save for a few, over the years. The last one having chopped a few of her limbs off, before shipping her off to be put in a high-security prison on Titan. A surprisingly fun place to escape from, though.

Jester’s vessel found an empty spot to land, sandwiched between a high-end sporty-looking ship and what appeared to be another of those more economical single-seat transports. As she glanced towards the richer looking one, a sly grin crawled across her face. I wonder if it has any fire suppression systems built in? A thought she’d have to save for later. She had a job to do.

The White Rabbit landed with a thump, the metal landing struts clacking against the concrete landing pad. And soon enough, the ship’s central lift popped open. Unlike most vessels, the White Rabbit had an elevator that raised and lowered from underneath the center of its core. Helpful for times when you simply couldn’t walk up a ramp or through an airlock. It did have a small compartment with a sealing hatch on the top of the vessel, however, for connecting to airlocks.

Within a minute, Jester was riding down on the lift. A blue tinted raincoat on, hood over her head. Blue eyes glowing beneath the hood as she looked about under the ship. A crushed pack of cigarettes lay nearby on the ground, soaked from the rain. Whoever was smoking those seemed to have left in a hurry. Probably snatched away by a bounty hunter, or some mercs. Maybe even ONI? They had a thing for sudden abductions, but they got away with it because they were part of the Federation’s military and government. Complaining about it often got you snatched, too.

She stepped off the lift, which soon lifted back up into the bowels of the ship, and walked a few steps beneath it. The White Rabbit was the only safety she had from the rain for the next fifty meters, so she chose to savor the moment. However brief it was. And then, she continued on. Out into the downpour.

Her metal feet clacked against the concrete, almost as loudly as the droplets of water crashed against it. Lightning cracked loudly across the sky twice during her walk, thunder rolling and forcing her to glance about. There were far too many metal things around for her to get struck, including several steel poles, but that didn’t stop her from worrying about being struck. A cyborg recovering from a lightning strike wasn’t fun.

Soon enough, she reached it. A pair of doors, implanted in the wall of a concrete box at one end of the rooftop. The doors belonged to a pair of elevators, which took people up and down from the top level to the rooftop parking platform. From the top floor, there were likely other elevators taking patrons down to the hundreds of floors below. She needed to be on one, and floor three hundred was the place she needed to get to. As she stood beneath the overhang just above the elevators, finally out of the rain, she waved a hand over the call button.

Three minutes passed, and the doors to one of the elevators opened. Out stepped two men, both dressed in fine tailored suits of different shades. One brown, the other black, but both pretty plain. No sign of pinstripes, or designs of any sort. Boring. Jester eyed them as they stepped out, lifting umbrellas above their heads as they walked.

How could people walk around looking so plain was always a real head-scratcher for her. You could easily spice it up with some fancy designer shirt, or stripes on the suit itself. You could even go for a fancier color, other than that boring black or brown. Red was in vogue this year, she heard, and she could certainly add a few dark shades of red to their looks. All it would take is a blade and a little time.

She stepped inside the elevator, after watching the men walk away. They seemed to be chatting about the state of affairs between the Federation and Kosokom. Increased trade. Good for the Feds, good for the Kosoks. Everyone wins. She rolled her eyes, before reaching over and waving her fingers over the down button. The doors shut, and the elevator started moving. Down, down, down…

Ding!

Top floor. People with far too much money, and no place to spend it all. If they even wanted to, that is. These people paid for these apartments because they didn’t want to have to buy the plots of land on Nyx or Hemera and be forced to pay insane amounts of taxes. As Jester stepped out of the elevator, walking down the hallway as water dripped from her coat and legs, she caught looks from one or two patrons of the apartments' top floor. A smile was what she gave in return. Slightly unhinged, but it worked well enough. They'd mind their own business, hopefully.

A little wandering allowed her to find the other elevators, which went down to the other floors. She slipped into one without a word, waving a finger over the 300 button. Another ride, taking her further down into the heart of the complex. This elevator seemed to travel far faster than the other, likely due to the fact it had to cross hundreds of floors in the span of minutes. Her ride was short enough, as it was from floor five hundred and not some god-awful distance like some of the mega-towers. She simply waited patiently, back resting against the black glass wall of elevator’s rear.

joshuadim

 

[joshuadim]

Getting to Nyx wasn't a problem for someone like Kane, as he had used illicit means to get around more times than he could count. Helps with the job by staying off the grid and means of surveillance before putting a bullet in someone. And in this instance, it was the head researcher of Celtech who probably pissed off the wrong people in upper management. The issue was actually getting into the building incognito. As Kane observed from ground level the building, he considered his options. The roof was guarded already as it was, which meant that he would get punted off the building by whatever security measures were in place. And the front entrance had way too many eyewitnesses streaming in and out, not to mention the actual street people going about their business. If the fun was to start, then people would get scared and the fun police would swoop in to end it all.

But every security system had its flaw; in this case, as Kane observed, it was the maintenance staff and their entrance. "I haven't sniffed chloramines in a while, I'd like to get hooked on that again." Kane whispered to himself as he made his way over. One of the workers opened the door that led to a larger storage facility for the building itself, and Kane swooped in quick enough to catch it before it shut and let himself in. Walking in with supreme confidence, he projected the image that he *was* supposed to be there as he strode past confused gazes. Fortunately for him, nobody raised any objections or concerns and kept to themselves. "Howdy. Keep up the good work fellas, the bosses are happy. Another day another dollar, eh?" he said with a finger salute to two nearby workers who stared at Kane's presence with bewildered looks.

Less people to have to clean-up afterwards.

A service elevator was available to Kane as he entered and designated 'Floor 300' as his destination, the car pulling him upwards with the mechanical dutifulness as was required of it. It thought of Kane no different than any other janitor or cleaner that worked here as he was taken to his destination. Soon enough, being lifted to the upper floors of the complex, the doors dinged open: "Time to bake the fuckin' bagels!"

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[Infab]

Once the elevator came to a stop, the door opened and Jester found herself staring up at what appeared to be a Boome marine. She cocked a brow, sidestepping the marine as he entered the elevator with another man. This guy was dressed in a polo shirt, khaki shorts that cut off just below the knees, and was wearing a pair of sporty shades. Short brown hair sat neatly combed atop his head, and clutched firmly in his hand was a black briefcase. Jester only noticed that the briefcase was handcuffed to the man’s arm as the door closed on the pair.

She stood silent in the hallway, wondering just why the guy needed both the suitcase handcuffed to him as well as a Boome marine lording over him like that, but soon shook her head. Different thoughts for different times.

Around her were gray walls, lit by bulbs mounted in circular cavities in the ceiling. The floor was a deep shade of red, which oddly reminded Jester of the kind of carpet you’d see at a few retro movie theaters. Here and there, hanging on the walls, were paintings from bygone eras. Famous artists from human history, as well as the histories of other xeno races. It surprised her a bit, as usually art from the various races didn’t mingle together in places like this. The doors to the different apartments were made of thick steel, with advanced locks on the outside to prevent break-ins.

Apartment 307. Belonging to one Adam Fúlling, head researcher at Celtech Enterprises Research & Development Lab #4. She paused in front of the door, eyeing the lock and grinning. It was a complex one. Requiring a key card be inserted into the top, followed by a six digit pin code, followed by a DNA scan using your finger. You needed all three in order for the door to unlock for ten seconds, then it auto-locked and you had to start over. Neat little device.

It was one that she already had experience with.

However, before Jester could get to work, another individual's presence made her stop. She looked about, taking note of a man wearing an odd helmet on approach. She tilted her head. It wasn't Adam, clearly, and it certainly didn't seem to be someone that lived in the building. Perhaps someone's guard? She simply smiled at him, until she noticed him stop at the same door she had.

Wait a second. Was this the other hire for the job?

"Let me guess... You're here for the same reason I am?" soon said Jester, as her eyes traversed his appearance. The outfit looked familiar, but she couldn't quite place it. "I believe we may share the same employer."

joshuadim

 

[joshuadim]

"Goddamn, they probably charge up the ass for these places." Kane remarked to himself, "Gotta sell two kidneys to afford this shit." He counted down the unit numbers as he walked by, his eyes trailing by the doors until he happened upon another figure. She was standing right outside 307, his own target, and quickly made the connection as to her being the other of two "tools" for this matter. He stopped as she addressed him, taking a moment to look her over; she was an upyri, but also a cyborg that was heavily augmented. Whether or not that meant trouble was to be seen in the future. But for now, he was more than happy to see a 'friendly' face.

"Thing 2, meet Thing 1." Kane said, waving a hand to present himself. "Or is it the other way around? I don't really care about the number, just a preference thing." He then pointed to the door: "So the fuckstick we're after is in there? Let's get to it."

Infab

 

[Infab]

"Ahhh, but I doubt he's here." responded Jester, "These corpo researchers always seem too busy to actually stay at home for a while. However, popping in and giving his apartment a once over may reveal just where he might be!~"

She held up her new arm, exposing the inside of her wrist. She then reached over and tapped twice on it. A slot opened from her wrist, and out popped a small black key card. A thin green cable was attached to the rear end, running deep into her arm. She pulled the card out, and slipped it into the waiting key card slot in the lock. A few more taps on her arm, and a churning noise sounded from the lock. Suddenly, the screen on the lock’s face went black. She grinned wildly. It had overloaded.

The door clicked and opened a moment later, and her card popped back out of the lock. Back into her wrist it shot, and she simply eased the door open with a shove of her hand. Hacking locks was actually really fun, but this was a job. It was faster to just fry the thing and let the building’s techs figure it what happened later on. Give them some work.

The inside of the apartment was black. No lights anywhere. Which didn’t really matter to Jester. She could see in the dark with no issues. But for what she was about to do, it’d be better to have some lights on. After theatrically waving her new compatriot in, she followed and shut the door behind them. Then, she reached over next to it and tapped on a light switch.

The lights came on quickly, illuminating what appeared to be the apartment’s vast den area. Brutalist. An unpopular style for the Upyri, whom seemed to relish in the styles of early 20th Century Earth. Art Deco and the like. The den was wide open, with no wall separating it from the kitchen across the room. Everything seemed to be smooth. Solid. Almost featureless. A simple wooden coffee table sat in front of a red colored half-circle couch. A red chair of similar make sat across from it at an angle. Both facing a holoscreen display which was currently off.

The walls were a cream color, the floor a dark shade of oak. A few rugs lay here and there, also cream in color. Simplistic in design. A single potted plant sat in the corner, a fern of unknown origin. She shifted her attention to the kitchen, as she walked through the den behind the couch. Stainless steel appliances, a sink featuring a touchless activation switch. Simply running your hand under it would turn it on to a pre-determined setting. The refrigerator’s door face was clear, allowing one to see everything stored inside it. It seemed to be fully stocked.

She looked about a bit more, before returning to her new ally. They needed his schedule. His plans for the week. Was he the type to keep it on paper, or did he store his schedule digitally? They’d need to do some proper searching. She moved through the apartment, motioning for her comrade to follow while looking about a bit more.

"So, Thing 1..." she said, glancing back over her shoulder. "If you were a top researcher for a multi-trillion credit biomedical corporation...where would you keep your schedule?"

As she finished, she stopped in the hallway which lead into the back of the apartment. She glanced to the walls. Paintings. Ordinary ones you'd buy at a store to stick on your walls to spruce them up. "...My, he sure is the boring sort." she muttered, before smirking at the thought as her eyes rested on a simple painting of a bright red apple hanging from a tree. "I'd have expected some molecular structure models or more abstract art. This is TOO plain."

joshuadim

 

[joshuadim]

"Top researcher? Seems more like the kind of guy to be a serial killer who lures homeless people into dark alleys for quickies." Kane commented, looking around at the decor of the apartment with a bemused look under his mask. "Never trust a man who's got no style. Because he definitely puts that creativity into the worst possible fields." He then peered into the fridge and laughed: "He's on a diet with some fancy ingredients, like dehydrated tanum powder. Definitely serial killer behavior." He then looked over to Jester: "Which definitely means he keeps track of his shit. Good thinking Thing 2."

He sauntered his way over to the office door and, on entry, took a quick glance around. Just as sparse as the rest of the apartment, save for a desk with a workstation and a bookshelf nearby. The latter was equally as minimalist as the rest of the apartment had been, only being made to the base structure without any frills or additions to its construction; and the books themselves were a mishmash of random gibberish that might as well have been all bullshit for Kane's mind. Keeping his attention on track, he put his eyes on the prize back onto the man's computer. He clapped his hands together and rubbed them with glee as he was intent on breaking and entering into this man's digital space. That was until he got to the keyboard and realized he wasn't a hacker and his head drooped down in disappointment. "I don't suppose you know how to break into someone's work computer?"

 

[Infab]

"I don't suppose you know how to break into someone's work computer?"

Child's play for her. "On it." she said, entering the office.

She moved towards the computer, but stopped mid-step. Ah, Jester! How silly of you! Check for traps first. She smiled, before switching her optics to thermal. A quick sweep of the room singled out a camera in the corner of the room to her right. Just at the ceiling, pointed towards the desk. Her smile shifted to a grin, and she soon found herself wirelessly tapping into the camera’s feed. Then, disabling it. Done.

Her optics shifted back to normal, and she quietly strolled into the room and sat in the desk chair. It certainly wasn’t comfortable. Not enough padding. She frowned, but soon shrugged it off. She wouldn’t be here long. She spun around, pulling herself up to the desk and letting her hands rest atop it as she gazed at the computer.

“On.” she whispered.

The holoscreen lit up. Cute background. A photo of what appeared to be a Beagle, from Terra. The dog’s collar read the name Spike. She smiled, just before a log in notification popped up in front of the dog’s face. They needed to log in. His username was already listed: DrAF. The password box, however, was blank. She thought for a moment, before considering the dog on screen. No no, that'd be too easy.

The password would either be a random string of numbers and letters, or would be something important to him. Simplistic passwords wouldn't do. She then thought back to the short profile that Grave had sent to her. Adam had once been married, to a human woman named Charlotte. She smirked, then punched in the name before tapping enter.

Correct. A chime signified that the credentials were accepted, and soon the rest of the desktop came into view. Now to find his schedule, or at least find out where he was going to be over the next few days. And what faster way than to scan the computer’s database entirely? She tapped her wrist again, this time only once, and a small cable jutted out. She drew it out, pulling it over and connecting it to a small slot in the side of the computer's base. Usually, this slot was reserves for storage devices and holotablet connections.

This would be how she brute forced her way to the data she needed. A moment later, her arm lit up, followed by the rest of her body. A little processing power to toss in, making things faster. And sure enough, she would find what she needed. A complete schedule of Adam's plans for the next week. Hell, she had the plans for the whole month. Excellent.

The cable disconnected, flying back across the desk and into her arm. The lights that were scattered across her body returned to their normal appearance, but she felt an odd twinge in her arm. She eyed it briefly, flexing her wrist, but it seemed to go away. Perhaps it was simply the force in which the cable returned?

“Off.” she whispered, forcing the computer to power down. The screen vanished, and soon she stood. Again, twinge. This time, in her left leg. What the hell? Were her cybernetics malfunctioning? She tapped the right side of her neck, just below her jaw. A screen appeared in her optics, one only she could see. And soon the cause of the twinges was known.

A virus had been injected into her system. What type, she didn’t know yet. But it was there, and likely from Adam’s computer. A booby trap, perhaps? Just waiting for someone to come along and hook themselves up to his computer?

She chuckled to herself. Cute! He has tricks! A simple cleansing back on the White Rabbit would solve that issue. But she’d have to get there first. "Well, I have the schedule. The problem is his computer also had a virus on it. Likely to prevent brute force hacks like the one I just did." she said, looking to Kane. "So, let's hurry back to my ship on the roof before I drop like a sack of bricks, hmm?"

As she walked out of the office, traveling through the bedroom and out into the hallway with Kane in tow, she noticed something almost immediately.

The front door was open. She had closed it behind her when they came in.

A toothy grin appeared on her face, as her eyes darted about. Play time. But where-oh-where was their playmate? She glanced back behind her, past Kane in the direction of Adam’s bedroom, and soon found herself narrowly avoiding some sort of bag. Black in color, with an auto-adjusting neck. It seemed to have a stunner built into it as well, as she noticed the charge firing a moment after the bag sailed past her.

“Sneaking up on a poor girl like me? Shameful!” she said, the last word of the statement laced with laughter. She twirled about in the narrow hallway, the heel of her foot colliding with her attempted captor's head. A complete frontal flip soon followed, the individual laying on their back in the hallway afterwards.

She gazed down at them for a few moments, folding her hands behind her back and grinning wildly. “Now, would you like to try again? From the front this time.”

The attacker quickly scrambled to their feet, spinning about to face Jester a moment later. From here, she now had a full view of her attacker. It seemed to be a mercenary in a tactical stealth suit. Freelance, as it bore no markings. Also male, judging from the noise they made when they were hit, though they had a rather androgynous figure. She continued to grin, her mind quickly filling to the brim on ways she could end this. All of the different methods transpiring in quite a bloody fashion.

However, she glanced past her attacker briefly to notice someone else was standing in the open doorway. Or rather, something. Her eyes widened as she found herself gazing upon a Nitraki brute, the massive muscular reptilian leaning over deeply in order to fit sideways through the front door. His attention shifted between her and Kane, only noticeable by the movements of his head as his solid red eyes failed to reveal it.

He must be the muscle that's meant to carry us out of here after we've been captured.

The Nitrak were fierce, strong fighters. Their natural strength, size, and sheer will to win made them tough opponents to combat in melee. And in weapon-based combat, they often carried heavy weaponry that normally would take two or three humans to carry. This one seemed to be carrying a club of some sort, made from twisted rebar with a solid steel shell capping off the ball knot of rebar at the top. The shell bore several spikes and shards of sheet metal, meant to shred and cause as much harm as possible if the sheer blunt force of the impact from the steel ball and rebar didn’t do enough damage. A red cloth had been wrapped tight around the handle of the rebar, to protect the wielder of the club.

The Nitrak made a sort of bellowing noise, guttural and rough much like a Terran alligator. Its jaw clenched, sharp frontal teeth interlocked. And then it began its march towards them, rebar club firmly gripped in hand. This was going to be a rough one. She had never fought a Nitrak in such close quarters.

And her viral clock was ticking, so this would have to be quick.

"Thing 1, be a dear and take the big guy, would you? Quietly, preferably? We don't need the police on us, after all." she soon said, redirecting her attention back to the smaller attacker.

joshuadim

 

[joshuadim]

Wordlessly, Kane made his advance towards the Nitrak to meet him in pace. He wasn't particularly afraid of the weapon in his hand, as the beast would find out soon enough why that was. With a brutal thrust, the Nitrak pierced through Kane's stomach - the rebar jutting out of his back with a sickening crunch - and let out a pleased hiss for having dealt with its quarry so quickly. Or so it seemed, until Kane let out a laugh and pulled himself closer by allow the rebar to push further through his body. "Do you even know how to use this thing?" he asked with a mocking tone as he shot a hand straight for the alien's crotch.

And he grabbed hard, squeezing with intense force that made the Nitrak howl in pain as it let go of its weapon and tried to get Kane's grip away from its nether regions. "Allez-oup!" the killer said with malice before clamping down full force and pulling with a sharp yank. With an audible, fleshy crunch, an impromptu castration was thus performed; the Nitrak was now consumed entirely with the pain as it yelled out and stumbled backwards, collapsing onto his back as it clutched at its nether regions in desperation to stem the bleeding. But Kane wasn't done as he pulled out the rebar from his stomach and approached the beast with the metal in hand.

"Now we can get down to the real business."

Infab

 

[Infab]

The mercenary Jester was engaging, wearing some sort of smooth featureless mask that covered their face, soon moved in to attack. A blade was drawn, appearing from almost out of nowhere, and lightning fast jabs and slashes were made in order to try and throw Jester off. But she was paying close attention. One wrong jab proved fatal. Her left hand latched onto his wrist mid-jab, gave his whole arm a twist, and she soon drove her other palm squarely into the point of his elbow. His arm folded in a way it shouldn’t, a loud crunch erupting from the joint and a pain filled yelp sounding off from beneath the merc's mask.

Next, her shin collided with the side of his leg, forcing him to go slightly limp on the left side. Then, another joint shatter: her foot delivered a brutal stomp to the side of his already bent and wounded knee. It folded sideways, as the merc almost crashed to the floor in agony. But Jester didn’t let him fall. She had one final trick up her sleeve. Or rather, inside her arm. As she grabbed him by the throat, she pulled him into a choke-hold. Her left arm wrapped tightly around his neck. She then placed her other palm flat against his head.

A hiss briefly sounded, like air being vented from a canister. before a long blade launched from a slot in her palm and pierced the side of his head. Shoving all the way through and bursting from the other side of his skull. Blood spattered across the wall and floor next to him, as he went limp. Dead.

She released him from her vice-like grip, watching as he crumpled to the floor in a heap. Blood oozed from the wounds on either side of his head, pooling beneath him within seconds. Well, it looks as though the janitors will have something interesting to have to clean up. Her thoughts, however, didn’t prevent her from glancing upward towards Kane and his foe. He went for the groin? Messy.

joshuadim

 

[joshuadim]

A thump sounded in the air as metal cracked against the Nitrak's skull with enough force to cause its head to bounce against the floor. Then came another, and another; blood splattered across the floor and sprayed onto Kane's jacket as he wailed away at the brute. Then, preparing for the coup de grace, he brought the rebar up above his head: "And this is how you split a pumpkin folks!" he said with a laugh, before slamming down one last time with all his might. The resulting impact split the Nitrak's head in two and spread its insides all across the floor in a horrific butterflying pattern of grey matter and blood. Pulling up from it, Kane couldn't help but admire his own work.

"That's a Pollock, I take it?" he asked to no one in particular before dropping the rebar with an audible clang. "Alright, lets boogie out of here before anyone investigates. I'd rather we didn't deal with the paparazzi."

Infab

 

[Infab]

"That's a Pollock, I take it?" he asked to no one in particular before dropping the rebar with an audible clang. "Alright, lets boogie out of here before anyone investigates. I'd rather we didn't deal with the paparazzi."

Two bodies, a lot of blood, and a virus running rampant through her cybernetics. A pleasant day! She chuckled. Time to skedaddle, before the cops show up! She turned about, lightly jogging towards the apartment’s entrance along with Kane. She wondered how the Feddies would stage this little crime scene. Breaking and entering turned homicide! Merc on Merc warfare! The news loved making up juicy headlines, and she was so eager to read them.

By the time the pair had reached the White Rabbit, Jester had lost the use of her left arm and eye. The cybernetics had been completely disabled in those particular sectors of her system. She soon had a limp, the left leg slowly giving out beneath her as she walked on and on. Her right arm was continuously malfunctioning, seeming to want to deploy her blade again, but in the worst possible direction: towards her head of her hand ever came near it. It was as if her own cybernetics were trying to kill her.

The virus she had obtained from hacking Adam’s computer was certainly doing a number on her.

They quickly moved through the ship, Jester throwing her failing body onto the table so that she could connect to the White Rabbit's systems. Several ports opened across the table, with needle like connectors jutting up to poke into waiting slots on Jester’s body. She had to manually connect her left side, arm and leg being placed where they needed to be, but soon she was fully plugged in.

“Alice, I'm plugged in. I need an emergency viral purge. Complete sweep, head to toe. Kill it, and repair the damage.” she managed to get out. The table soon lit up, as the connectors drove themselves deep into her waiting ports. "Thing 1, Alice will guide you to one of the extra rooms. You can use it till I'm through with this."

“Understood, ma'am. Beginning purge process. Phase 1 initialized.” stated the disembodied voice of the ship’s AI. A minute passed, before Alice spoke again. “Isolation of virus complete. Eighty-one percent of bodily systems compromised. Phase 2 will soon initialize. You will need to be rendered unconscious temporarily during this phase. Do you wish to proceed?”

Eighty-one percent? The virus had moved quickly. She’d need to look into better cyber-warfare suites for her cybernetics, to prevent this from happening again.

“Proceed.” she muttered in response, before flashing Kane a peace sign and a grin. And suddenly, it was if someone had turned out the lights. Her body shut down, rendering her limp on the table as the ship began the purge of her cybernetics. The ship itself would keep her alive, while it cleaned out the viral infection. But for now… she’d be in a state of deep sleep.

--- --- --- ---​

Jester’s dreams tended to always be a convoluted mess. Making little to no sense. It had been that way ever since the war, all those years ago. But for some reason, this one seemed… pleasant. She found herself on a beach, standing with her toes in the white sand. Actual flesh and bone toes instead of cybernetic ones. She looked down as she wiggled them around, and noticed that her whole body was as it used to be. Toned, of course, being the body of an Upyri. Someone genetically altered and ‘improved’. Still, there was skin, muscle, bone. The whole deal… all she had given up long ago.

She was wearing a bikini. Green in color, much like the sparse grass and other simple vegetation further up the beach. Long blonde hair hung down around her shoulders, instead of her synthetic pink hair that she had currently. Above, a bright blue sky painted with white fluffy clouds here and there. The golden star above was bright, the light bathing her in warmth. She could see a boat in the distance, barely making out that it was one of those large cruise liners that tourists loved to flock to.

She couldn’t really recall having been to a place like this. Her life had been in constant motion, never staying in one spot for longer than she needed to. She never had the chance to actually relax. There were things to do, places to see, people to kill. Peace felt alien to her. And this dream certainly was alien.

Then, suddenly, several voices could be heard around her. Disembodied at first, but their true sources soon gaining form. And the sources surprised her.

They belonged to her family. Her father, mother, and two older brothers. This was getting… far too weird for her. She hadn’t seen them face-to-face since she was a teenager. She hadn’t heard their voices since she graduated from the Naval Academy. She hadn’t… dreamed of them since their executions.

They were happy. Happier than they had ever been. There were no academy meetings, no recruiters hounding them for their high scoring daughter or sibling, no war going on, no firing squad lining them up. It was just them, enjoying themselves in this singular moment on this foreign beach. And she was here with them.

…What was this? And why did some part of her long for this?

Dreams were occasionally peeks into the subconscious, the brain manifesting one’s wants, desires, fears… sometimes just memories into visions. Wondrous places to venture to when reality slipped away for a time. Some part of her, deep down, missed this. Why was that?

But then, the strange dream ended abruptly. Blackness returned, and soon she heard Alice's voice once more. “Phase 3 complete. Cybernetic systems have been fully restored. Virus has been purged. Time taken: four hours, twenty-five minutes, thirty-seven seconds.”

“Thank you, Alice.” responded the cyborg, as she felt the connectors disconnect from her body. She opened her eyes, and found she could see again. She flexed her fingers and toes, then moved her limbs. Back to normal. Excellent.

She shifted about, sitting up on the table. “Alice, get us out of here. Set a course for Trixina. Surface private sector, number two-seven-two. White Peaks Resort & Hotel, rooftop landing pad. And keep it quiet.” she ordered aloud.

The departure from the surface of Nyx took really no time at all, with the White Rabbit taking off from the roof of the apartment complex and darting into the sky. Weaving between buildings and streams of traffic, the ship soon breached the atmosphere and emerged into the darkness that was space. The ship’s warp drive spooled up as it entered orbit, the ship spinning about using its retrorockets in order to reach the proper angle it needed. Eastward, but slightly to the north. If you could even tell that sort of direction in space.

Radar pinged more Federation ships approaching. Fighters, like before. Likely locking onto their transponder just as they had done when the White Rabbit first arrived in Nyx’s orbit. But they wouldn’t get to investigate. The warp drive primed, and soon the ship vanished. Entering warp and launching itself across the galaxy.

Straight towards the neutral resort world of Trixina.

As the ship traveled through warp, Jester stood from the table. She needed to get acquainted with her new associate, if they were going to be working together for the foreseeable future. She glanced up towards the ceiling. "Alice, which room did you guide my guest too?"

"Guest Room C, ma'am."

"Is he still there?"

"No, ma'am. He's in the armory."

"I figured as much." responded Jester, almost muttering the statement. He seemed the type to wander.

She strolled through the ship, her feet clacking against the metal floor once again as she traveled towards her personal armory. When she arrived, the double doors slid open with a hiss. Revealing her guest digging through a pistol rack.

The armory was extremely well stocked. It had to be, based on the jobs she often found herself taking. Weapons from across the galaxy could be found here, from the low end and archaic to top shelf, advanced ordinance. Even if she was more of the 'up close' type of combatant, she still had need of proper firepower from time to time.

 

[joshuadim]

Having rummaged through the armory thus far, Kane had left behind a slew of guns on the floor as though he were a kid with a toybox; what had been neatly organized before was no longer so, as he looked around for something that did interest him. The hole in his shirt was still prevalent after having been stabbed before, but he didn't seem bothered by it at all. In fact, it seemed as though there never was a stabbing in the first place. But he did look more like a bum as a result of his clothes taking such damage, and the blood certainly didn't help with the situation.

"You know I can hear you, right?" Kane shot his gaze up to the roof with annoyance. But then he noticed Jester was in the room and he turned around. "Not you. Was talking to that asshole up there giving a DVD commentary on my fit." He then pointed to the gun rack: "Was looking for something interesting. I'm dead broke so it's not often I get to hold some expensive equipment in my hands y'know?"

Without care he went back to the gun rack and picked up another gun only to then toss it onto the floor when it didn't immediately captivate him. "Nope not you... this little piggy did NOT return from the market because it got shot up." he muttered, tossing yet another pistol away, before letting out a dramatic gasp. He pulled out what appeared to be a pair of very-heavy calibre gauss revolvers and flourished them around his fingers. "Now we're really getting somewhere here. Bronco Billy would be proud..."

Infab

 

[Infab]

Jester raised an eyebrow, as Kane spoke of a voice in the ceiling. Oh, he hears voices too? She then smirked, before looking at the guns on the floor. Messy. She'd have to clean up after him. Firepower needed organization. Then, she noticed him draw a pair of revolvers from the rack before him. Rather high power gauss revolvers. Fun little toys. "You humans seem to love revolvers quite a lot. Almost as much as lever-actions." she said, smirking as she entered the armory and began to put the weapons on the floor away.

"Keep them. I can always buy more." she then said, glancing up. "They use a 12.7 mm bullet, if you're curious. The gauss gives the shots a little extra oomph."

As she lined the guns back up on their proper racks, she spoke again. "If you need armor, there's a locker there in the back. We're heading to Trixina, which is likely where our target is. Probably has a security detail with him too."

Trixina had a history of being a frequent place for tourists and vacationers to visit, just like other worlds in the Southern half of the galaxy like Paraíso. Terraformed biomes were scattered across the planet, catering to various tastes. Snowy mountains, warm beaches, dense jungles, vast plains, the world had it all.

It was also used by various companies and mercenary groups as a neutral meeting ground, whenever things needed to be settled between them or shop needed to be talked. And at the moment, Celtech had rented out the top five floors of the exclusive White Peaks mountain resort and hotel. Apparently it had been done for an upcoming meeting with a rival company regarding broken contracts. Adam was needed to dispute that the rival company had not done their due diligence in regards to materials gathering and handling.

Mishandled materials costed Celtech money to fix. And apparently the Chairman/CEO of the company finally had enough of the bullshit. Thus, a private meeting was organized before lawsuits were filed.

Of course, Adam wouldn’t get to attend the meeting. He had been sent there ahead of the Chairman/CEO, who would be arriving later in the week, which allowed for the two of them to slip in and kill him before any of the actual meetings were set to go down. They'd also need to destroy all the data on a drive he had on his person. Easy enough. Just smash it to pieces.

 

[joshuadim]

"A wise man once said armor is only for two types of people: people who want to show off and wusses. Usually both were one and the same." Kane then said, pulling the information from thin air with such confidence that one could perhaps be gaslit into actually believing it were they uninformed on the matter. "Sun Tzu was a wise man and warrior who strode into battle naked upon a great stallion. The History Channel at 4am told me all this." He then proceeded to flip open one of the revolver's cylinder and spun it around like a wheel with great enthusiasm. He took a look at every bullet inside, as massive as they were, and tilted his head; he couldn't help but admire just how much killing power these were going to give off and promptly flipped it back into place with a click.

"Trixina, huh?" he then commented, "Not my crowd, filled with too many people who think caviar is an acceptable substitute for salt. Fuckin' weirdos... who willingly eats fish eggs on top of their damn toast?" Given that it was a delicacy, the idea of a delicious novelty went over his simple head. "Who the FUCK are you calling simple!?" Kane then shouted, pointing up to the roof again. "Just because you're Attenbouroughing me doesn't mean you get to shit all over me liking real food!"

Kane tilted his head back to Jester, motioning with his thumb to something: "Get a load of this guy."

Infab

 

[Infab]

Jester grinned. He's gonna be a fun one. "They're not all part of the upper class, though its more fun to screw with those." she responded. "Judging from the schedule, Adam's going to be at the White Peaks Mountain Resort and Hotel. Celtech rented out the top five floors for a meeting with a rival company over broken contracts. Adam's gonna be there first instead of the company chairman, getting things prepared for the chairman's arrival."

She then turned about, moving for the door. "Should take a few hours to get there, so get comfortable. Alice will let you know when we arrive." she stated, before waving a hand over her shoulder. "Maybe we'll get lucky and plant a bullet in this guy quickly."

The trip through warp took a few hours, just as she said, and Jester spent most of it checking and rechecking her cybernetics. Alice had done a beautiful job fixing them up, and even tuned her blade reaction times in her arms. Less time to deploy, and the blades would heat up far faster. Though, the steam blasted off from their deployment would be an issue. Could unintentionally scorch some flesh.

But then again, when had she ever cared?

Alice herself had manifested on a display nearby, dancing to music that played from the same console. Alice had developed a love of music, and would often play it for herself while Jester was away. Jester would return to find the Alice’s fancily dressed avatar dancing way on one of the holo-displays, swinging her long cane and hat about as she moved to and fro.

Jester had given Alice the ability to develop her own personality and quirks, unlike Alice’s predecessors ‘Mad Hatter’ and ‘Red Queen’. She felt that both had been handicapped by the traits and personalities that Jester had programmed into them, and it affected their performance up to the very end. Funny enough, though, Alice had adopted some of the quirks in design of her predecessors. Her taste in clothes? The Mad Hatter. She wore fancy tailed suits and a nice top-hat, while carrying around a long cane. Her appearance, however, came from the Red Queen. Pale skin, and fiery orange hair styled into a symmetrical bob. She also had her eyes, which were the same shade as her hair.

Jester paused what she was doing, glancing towards Alice. Watching as the AI’s avatar grooved, matching the beat of the song as it played. A wide smile on its face.

“Alice.” she soon said, interrupting the AI’s movement and forcing it to spin about to face her. The music faded to nothingness, and the smile the AI had been wearing was now gone. Replaced by an expression of curiosity.

“Yes, ma’am? Is there something you need?” Alice soon asked, fixing her hat just so on her head before letting her hands rest atop her cane before her.

Jester smirked slightly. “Nothing. I was just messing with you.”

Alice’s expression shifted to a look of confusion, before she reached up and rubbed the back of her neck with one of her gloved hands. “O-Oh, okay.” was the AI’s response, her tone soft. As if she were embarrassed.

Jester’s smirk widened. “Don’t feel bad. I used to do the same to the others.” stated the cyborg, her gaze returning to her right arm. Its various parts were open, and the internal bits and such were exposed. “You seemed to be enjoying yourself quite a lot, so I felt like teasing you.”

She soon set aside the tool she had in her off hand, before allowing the various parts of her arm to return to their proper places. “Its good that you pay such close attention, however. Getting Red Queen’s attention usually involved me yelling, and Mad Hatter would ask me to repeat things so he could laugh at my frustration.”

“I wish to be the best AI you’ve ever developed, ma’am. Better than the others.” responded Alice, giving Jester a slight bow as she took the cane in one hand.

Jester chuckled at the sight. “You’re already leagues ahead of them, kiddo.” she muttered, before rolling her fingers a few times on her right hand. Then, she flexed the wrist before speaking again. “How far are we from Trixina?”

“We should be arriving… now!” responded Alice, motioning towards the front of the ship with her cane. Jester could hear the warp engine begin to spool down, as the ship appeared in orbit around Trixina. Radar wasn’t making any noises, as there were no military vessels out here besides the occasional merc or corpo transport.

As Jester arrived where the cockpit of the White Rabbit sat, she glanced out the window towards the nearby warp gate. Warp gates were basically gates that sat at either end of a hyper-lane, allowing transports, passenger vessels, and private vessels without jump drives/hyper drives/warp drives to engage in safe interstellar travel to pre-selected destinations. And the ones in orbit over Trixina always tended to have massive lines of ships going in and coming out of the gates.

Luckily, if you had your own engines and drives, you could bypass them entirely. Such devices were a bit expensive, though entirely worth it.

“Take us in as planned, Alice. Stealth approach. Let our guest know we're here.” stated Jester aloud, reaching over and flicking the ship’s transponder off. The White Rabbit would be going in under the radar, and the snow would mask their approach in regards to the resort.

The White Rabbit soon entered the atmosphere, darting through it just as the ship had done to Nyx previously. Though where they were going, there was far less traffic and no tall buildings to avoid. Just clouds, ice, and snow as they descended towards the mountainous regions of Trixina’s main continent.

But as they darted through the sky however, sailing over the snow covered mountain peaks, the radar soon lit up. Jester’s eyes snapped towards it, as Alice chimed in. “I’m detecting something on approach. Three targets, moving at high speed towards us. Missiles, ma’am.”

What the fuck?

“Deploy countermeasures. Evasive maneuvers.” responded Jester, strapping herself into her seat. This was going to get bumpy. The ship’s cloak was engaged, allowing the vessel to blend into its environments and lowering its thermal output substantially. How the hell were these missiles tracking them? The White Rabbit descended closer to the mountain peaks, intending to use the mountains themselves for cover if need be.

 

[joshuadim]

And so Kane did make himself comfortable within the quarters assigned to him, as he lay down on the bunk available and allowed himself to count sheep. Soon enough, there were sheep floating above him and began to pester him for grass. Swatting them away to no avail, he couldn't help but find himself annoyed by this mental intrusion as he rolled over to his side and tried to get some shut-eye that way. However, he could hear the chewing of grass still as he closed his eyes; the madman did his best to block out it by imagining them being turned into lamb chops at a slaughterhouse and slowly went to sleep.

Dreams would be a strong word to describe what he experienced in the slumbering realm, as it was a garbled mess of shapes, colours, and noises rather than anything tangible he could make out. There were brief moments of clarity, like when one was in the eye of a hurricane, only to then be hit with the gale force tempests of a broken psyche. At the very least it wasn't terrifying, but it was neither enjoyable nor pleasant in any manner. A purgatory of neural processes that left him devoid of even that form of escapism of his current existence, rent asunder by that asshole doctor that ruined his face and body with his fucking nanites.

Sure, the healing and regeneration was nice and all but he would never be homecoming king again.

It was then that the ship rattled that forced Kane awake some time later, causing him to groan before sit up and stand in a groggy manner. As he left his quarters, the ship shook again and he could feel the vessel tilt sharply - as if to avoid something. His curiosity piqued, he made his way to the cockpit just in time to hear Jester command countermeasures and evasion. "Oh, well shit, this isn't good I'm guessing?"

 

[Infab]

"Oh, well shit, this isn't good I'm guessing?"

"Not at all. Missiles. Get strapped in." responded Jester quickly, glancing back before shifting her head back towards Kane before pointing towards a nearby seat. It seemed to be a navigator's chair, but sat unused as the AI did all the navigation.

As the first missile neared, a burst of chaff from the rear of the ship forced the missile to dip and soon explode as it collided with a rocky outcrop. The second missile zipped through the fireball behind it, unfazed. Another burst of chaff, however, caught it and sent it sailing off course as well. However, it soon righted itself after flying off for a few seconds and resumed its chase. Coming down towards the ship at an angle instead of linearly following behind it.

As the ship darted over another peak, Alice forced the ship into a nosedive down the side of the mountain. Sailing inches above the tall trees that lined its mountainside. This would be enough to take out the third missile, still following close behind the ship, as it collided with a cluster of deep green evergreen trees.

There was just the final missile that still followed above, slowly moving towards the ship. “Hack it, if you can.” ordered Jester, to which Alice gave a simple “Understood.”

A display appeared before Jester, hovering just over the console. Alice was showing her work, cracking the missile’s built in cyber-warfare suite and screwing with the missile’s internals. Eventually, Alice managed to shut off the missile’s engines, forcing it to slow down and slowly drop out of the sky as it lost power. And as it hit the ground, it detonated in a bright fireball behind them.

The White Rabbit pulled up out of its nosedive, leveling out and continuing its course towards their destination. Jester, however, was now uncertain of what they should be doing.

They knew that they were coming. That was the only thing she could come up with. They knew what to use against her ship, to counter the stealth measures, and had lobbed three missiles at them in order to try and stop them.

Those at the hotel were likely going to be armed to the teeth, ready to shoot down the White Rabbit if it came close.

“Alice, change of plans.” stated the cyborg, as she unstrapped herself from her seat. “We’re going in a bit louder, but you won’t be landing... and I won’t be going in through the roof.”

She then looked to Kane, pausing for a moment. The method she intended to use could kill him, unless...

"...Have you ever used a heavy gravity suit? Or perhaps a jet pack, at least?" she asked, smiling wide.

 

[joshuadim]

Kane quickly sat himself down into the navigator seat and struggled for a moment to get the clamp together as the ship rocked. "Fucking shitballs..." he muttered as he still tried to get it in and was nearly launched from his seat from a sharp turn taken. "Fuck! Can you keep it still for a moment!?" he shouted angrily before finally managing to get his belt latched with an audible click. When the ship flailed again, he was now ready to enjoy it like a coaster ride as he raised his hands up in the air and went with the flow. Once the missile was dealt with, Kane put his arms back down and let out a breath of relief.

But, of course, things were not that simple. He looked over to Jester as she asked her question and scoffed, "What merc hasn't used a jetpack? They aren't living then if they haven't." he stated confidently, "Some of the easiest ways to make money involve jetpacks!"

 

[Infab]

"What merc hasn't used a jetpack? They aren't living then if they haven't." he stated confidently, "Some of the easiest ways to make money involve jetpacks!"

"Thought I'd ask. Anyway, I think you'll love this next part." she soon said, flashing him a grin as she walked past his seat into the back of the ship.

--- --- --- --- --- ---
​

Upyri battle-suits were a technological marvel of the new century for the Federation, allowing a force to downscale a combat mech’s firepower and sheer presence to a platform able to enter and walk through buildings. Bringing heavy armaments to bear against hard targets like emplaced guns and large groups of hostiles. One of these patrolled the top floor of the White Peaks Hotel, tasked with keeping an eye out for a pair of hired guns by the name of Jester and Kane. Jester was the cyborg, with pink hair who liked to grin and laugh a lot. Kane, a merc with a mangled face and a few screws loose. They would stand out against all the geared up mercs wandering the upper floors of the building, and neither wouldn’t have shit that could put this armored walking tank down. That they knew of, at least.

Rows of clear sheets of glass allowed those on the various floors to look outside the hotel, taking in the vast, beautiful landscape of the mountains. Tourists and those vacationing here loved the sights, and it gave business men and women a chance to look at something nice between deals. These windows, for the moment, would be allowing the mercenaries to watch for the White Rabbit’s approach. If they could see them coming, they could engage them beforehand. Their employer could fit the bit for the damaged property.

And soon, they would spot it. A white ship darting through the atmosphere, this time uncloaked. As if they wanted to be seen. It was approaching the hotel at high speed, likely with its captain and passenger preparing to depart in their attempt to hunt down and kill their target. The mercenaries prepared themselves, cocking their weapons and taking up firing positions. Couches and other furniture were overturned in the different rooms of the upper floors. And the battle-suit took up its position front and center, its operator spinning up the massive triple belt-fed chain-gun that made up its left arm. The other weapon on the right arm, a massive particle accelerator, began to hiss as it began its charging cycle.

They then noticed something odd. The ship was coming in sideways, and was showing no signs of slowing down. And then, a few hundred meters from the hotel, it suddenly jerked. Completely changing its course and flying off in a different direction.

“Did you guys see that?” asked one merc over comms. Another chimed in. “What the hell are those fuckers doing?”

They’d soon find out, as a pair of small objects continued to rocket towards the side of the building. One was maintaining the same speed that the ship had before, as well as the same angle of approach. The other was moving a bit slower. At the very last second, the operator of the battle-suit would identify the faster object.

It wasn’t a missile. It wasn’t some sort of bomb. It was Jester herself, laughing like a maniac.

Traveling a few hundred miles an hour, the cyborg punched through the glass before colliding feet first with the battle-suit operator’s stomach. The force of the impact completely collapsed the abdominal armor of the suit, caving it in violently on its operator and practically folding him in half. He went with Jester, sailing through the wall behind him and through two more before she finally fell away from him as he punched through a third.

Jester herself groaned, rolling over onto her back as she lay on the floor of what appeared to be a conference room. She sat up partially, her head tilted forwards so that she could see what had happened to the battle-suit. It was crumpled up in the third wall at the end of the conference room, its pilot a bloody smear inside of his seat.

She raised up a hand, flipping the suit off with a wide grin, before reaching down and giving both of her thighs a firm smack with her fist. There was a hiss, then a loud pop. Much like an aluminum can being thumped. They were now unlocked.

Her cybernetics were durable, made of high-grade materials and parts, but they could only take so much before being damaged. That’s why she had locking mechanisms built into them. Lock up the joints and mechanisms inside, and turn them into solid hunks of strong metal. She’d still inspect them later for damage, but for now, her systems were in the green.

Kane would arrive through the same window, landing and skipping a few steps forward in an attempt to stop his forward momentum. He then cast off the jetpack, drawing his weapons as he moved through the large holes in the wall to meet up with Jester. She wiggled her legs a little, rolling her ankles, before jumping up from the floor. She could already hear them. The clack-clack-clacking of boots, and chink-chink-chinking of gear. The mercs were coming from all over the upper floors. Determined to put them down before they could cause any more damage.

She still had more party tricks, though. More than enough. Kane likely had the same.

 

[joshuadim]

Kane himself wasn't particularly enthused about the idea when Jester filled him in with the quick deets, but hey a payday's a payday. I've done worse things for less. Kane justified the high risk of death to himself as he strapped himself and got ready. When the time came, he followed shortly after Jester - gripping onto the straps that connected him with the jetpack for dear life - and yelled as he soared through the air like a drunk pigeon. "IF I COULD SHIT MY PANTS I WOULD!" he shouted as the hotel consumed his vision before crashing the party right after Jester. He decided to make himself look cooler as he rolled with the momentum before drawing his revolvers like a cowboy.

"THIS IS A STICKUP! HAND OVER YOUR WATCHES AND VALUABLES-" he began to say as if in a spaghetti western, before shutting up quickly. He heard what Jester also heard, which was the furious footsteps of all the guards here. They really stirred up the hive as Kane groaned to himself before aiming his pistols at a nearby wall. He could tell that they were nearby, and so made an educated guess as to their positions. The guards continued to thunder over to where they were, before being met with shots that tore through the walls. Kane unleashed the fury of his Gaussian firearms upon the unfortunate fleshbags that were nearby, ripping through their armour that was meant for smaller calibre (and less technologically powerful) weaponry.

Kane let out a cackle as he threw up two speed-loaders for his weapons and twirled around, allowing them to gracefully fall into perfect place before shutting the cylinders closed again. "COME ONE COME ALL! WE GOT PLENTY OF THIS TO GO AROUND!"

 

[Infab]

​

A few more mercs arrived, but instead of moving for the hole in the wall that Kane was focusing on, they opted for the double doors at the end of the conference room. As they neared the doors, the doors soon came flying open. Jester was on the move, bolting through them with what appeared to be a high-caliber, semi-automatic kinetic pistol in hand. The skeletal magazine stretched out of the mag well several inches, a simple marking at the bottom stating that it contained a total of fourteen shots.

Her other hand had a foot long blade jutting out of it. It was visibly hot, steam seeping from the slit in her hand and traces of heat distortion rippling around the blade itself.

A wide, toothy grin stretched across Jester’s face, her wide eyes locking onto the first merc she saw. Her first target. He was dead in seconds, as she darted towards him and brought her left hand upwards towards his chin as if she were delivering an open palmed uppercut. The blade jutting from her palm, however, was shoved clean through the underside of his chin. Straight through his entire head and out the top of his helmet.

She brought him close, using his lifeless body as a shield as she lifted her pistol to aim at the other two mercs. A burst of gunfire sounded off, one of the mercs snapping his weapon up and opening fire. The kinetic rounds would punch into the corpse of their fallen ally, but none hit Jester. There was too much meat and armor that made up her makeshift shield.

Her pistol snapped about, her finger squeezing the trigger and sending a round through the merc's shin. As he dropped, she fired off three more shots into his chest. All three punched through his torso, ripping through and splattering blood across the laminate wood floor. His buddy, just a few feet from her to her right, attempted to intervene. His rifle spun about, the butt of the stock aimed squarely at Jester’s head.

But she dodged it with ease, withdrawing her blade from her meat shield's skull and slipping under the rifle swing. She grabbed the man by wrapping her arm around his neck, slipping his head under her arm, before shoving the barrel of her pistol into his side. Five shots rapidly sounded, the bullets shredding the man's abdomen. Blood spurted from the exit wounds, as the bullets all punched into the wall across from them.

And once she was done firing, she gave her arm a sharp twist. There was an audible crunch, as the man’s neck was snapped completely. She then released him, his body crumpling to the floor at her feet. Her blade disappeared back into her hand, and she straightened up to gaze upon her work.

All the while, the grin had never left her face. “If you idiots know who I am, you'd know I excel in close quarters.” she said, a chuckle escaping as she spoke. “But then again, I understand! Heat of the moment, you weren’t thinking! I totally get that!”

The merc she had shot first seemed to gurgle, and her pistol snapped back around to him. She fired twice more, one bullet hitting him squarely in the chest while the other bullet hit him in his left eye. Popping the top half of his head off and smearing its contents across the floor.

“Don’t interrupt, please! Its rude!” she said, her tone shifting to one of annoyance.

“Ma'am, who are you talking to?” said a voice. It was Alice, speaking through Jester’s comms.

Jester looked about, and chuckled again. “The mercs that just tried to kill me. Anyway, be a dear and sweep the floor just beneath me. Give ‘em a taste of the thirties.”

“Understood, ma'am. I'll fire up the band.” was Alice’s response. After a few moments, Jester heard the sound of heavy chain-gun fire just below. Glass shattered, people cried out in terror and pain, and there was even some other gunfire mixed in. Mercs were scrambling about, trying to figure out just what to do about this gunship moving sideways outside. Bringing hell down upon them. Jester could even hear it over the radios of the dead mercs around them.

“Music to my ears. Alright, Alice. You can pull back. I don’t want you getting shot down.” soon said the cyborg, carefully stepping over the dead merc at her feet.

“Understood, ma'am. By the way, your target seems to be moving. He’s two floors beneath you, and seems to have an armored detail with him.”

Jester chuckled. “As if that will save him.” She ejected the near empty magazine from her pistol, before drawing out another from a compartment in her left thigh. After popping it into the empty mag well, she then looked about. Stairs. Where are they…ah! There they are.

A sign was affixed to the wall nearby, pointing to the right in the direction of the staircase to the lower floors. She grinned again, and soon began to jog. Her metal feet clacking as she moved. As she jogged along, she spoke into her comms again. "Hey, our soon-to-be-dead friend is two floors down. I'm heading for the stairs." she said, making sure Kane knew where she was going. It wasn't long before Kane linked up, following closely behind her.

Once in the stairwell, they both gave one single glance over the railing. Down below, mercs were moving up the staircase from the lower portions of the building. Elevators moved as well, as they could hear the large metal boxes moving through the structure with their enhanced hearing. Doors opening and closing, the loud dings of arrivals.

It looked as though Adam was throwing all he had at his disposal at them. Good. That would make this more fun.

Before they could begin their descent down the staircase to the next floor, however, a bullet whizzed by their heads. Kinetic round, rifle caliber. Jester glanced back to see a group of mercs taking up positions at the end of the hall. Five of them, some already firing off shots to cover the others.

Jester laughed aloud, twirling about and firing off a pair of shots from her freshly reloaded pistol. Both hit, dropping one of the mercs whom had exposed a bit too much of his torso from around the distant corner. She then fell backwards, against the railing of the staircase. And a moment later, flipped completely over it. "SEE YOU DOWNSTAIRS, AMIGO! TRY NOT TO DIE!" she called out to Kane, halfway through the flip.

She fell only a short distance, grabbing the railing of the staircase just below on the next floor with her arm. With little effort, she pulled herself up and over it before pushing through the door into the hallway. Already she could see the damage Alice had done with the 30mm kinetic chainguns. The walls had been completely shredded, allowing one to see quite clearly throughout the entire floor. Everywhere you looked, there were remnants of bodies and huge smears of blood. Getting hit with such a massive bullet tended to do that to a person.

 

[joshuadim]

Kane couldn't get a response in time before more goons made their way towards him, cutting him off from Jester and forcing him into the cover of a heavy plasteel table as gunfire riddled the area. He fired another salvo of his revolvers in response, peeking out when he felt comfortable enough to do so and peppered some of the goons with more shots. But when he went to reload, he realized a fatal flaw in all this: in the rush to get out of the ship, he had forgotten to take adequate ammo for his weapons. "Fucking SHIT!" he yelled out in frustration, only to be met with a bullet hole exploding right next to his head. "Alright, guess we're doing the good ol' improv..."

He raised his hands above the desk: "WAIT!!!" he shouted, the voice of a cornered man breaking through the cacophony of gunfire. The guards nearby quickly stopped shooting, but kept their weapons trained where Kane was hiding. "Alright listen I've got a BIG problem. I only have TWELVE more bullets, so you all are gonna have to share!" he then shouted, which then brought out another salvo of gunfire as the guards resumed their assault. Kane felt a bullet rip through his forearm, as he snaked his hands back towards him and groaned in frustration. A hole the size of a dime allowed him to see through his flesh as it began to reconstitute itself.

​

"Agh, fuck! This is why immortality sucks!" Kane shouted in pain before pulling out his revolvers again. He then turns to you with expectation: "Make sure you're keeping count!"

Leaping over his cover with great agility, Kane fired and blew the brains out of the closest guard [1] before rolling on the ground to avoid spray from his partner. He got in close before punching him in the groin, leaving him to collapse while clutching at his nethers in pain. This left him as a suitable human shield that became riddled with fire from his comrades as Kane grappled the man and pushed forward. Shoving the corpse of the unfortunate soul into two of his nearby allies, Kane twirled into the nearby hallway into a low crouching position and fired again [2] - this time barrelling through another man's chest before stopping in his comrade's head right behind.

By now the two men he had shoved into were now regaining their footing and one lifted his rifle up to shoot Kane, not realizing that the man was now underneath him. Kane shoved his revolved vertically into the man's groin and pulled the trigger [3], sending the round through the length of the guard's body before popping at the top like a balloon. His comrade fired his magazine, managing to shoot Kane in the chest. This sent Kane tumbling back from the thud of the impact, but he quickly responded with a well placed headshot [4]. The remaining guards streamed down the hallway to attack Kane as he scrambled back onto his feet into a nearby door frame for temporary cover.

Splinters and shrapnel flew in the air from the gunfire, leaving Kane to slide on his knees on the ground towards his next target. "Où est Adam?!" Kane shouted as he shoved the barrel of his gun right into the guard's chest and fired [5] at the same moment of impact. Blood splattered onto the wall behind the guard as he was launched from the gaussian impact, leaving his two remaining companions alone for the time being. "I'm taking the time to practice my French or else the Duolingo bird will get me!" Kane continued to rant as a madman, dodging another salvo from the guards in his vicinity. Uncharacteristically, he fired [6] and missed as one of the guards ducked into cover.

"Shit!" Kane grunted, before firing another shot [7] that was meant to kill the man. However, he missed again much to his annoyance. "Shit fuck!"

Kane then barged through one of the doors into a nearby room to escape another salvo of gunfire. This afforded him the opportunity for a flank as he skulked over to another doorway and appeared right next to the guard that had been harrying him. The man turned in surprise, fumbling over his words; "No need for the smooth-talking, I'm already taken." Kane stated confidently as he blew the man's head off with a shot. "God, I'm so GOOD at this!" he then announced in celebration and walked into the hallway with arrogance. But it had slipped his mind that there was still one more guard in the vicinity who took the opportunity to shoot at Kane.

Kane clutched at his butt with pain and let out a howl. "What the FUCK man!? You shot me in the ASS! That's like the ONE rule in war!" he shouted, limping as he turned to face the bewildered man. His expression disappeared as a bullet went through his eye and he collapsed. Kane walked over and fired another bullet into the corpse out of spite. "FUCKING MOTHERFUCKER!" Kane yelled, before realizing that he just spent another bullet.

"Wait, shit... how many do I have left?" Kane muttered, before turning to you again. "YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO KEEP COUNT!"

But more footsteps approached, and Kane turned at the far end of the hallway to see a group of four guards getting into firing positions with one priming a grenade. "Fucking shit, if I die here its YOUR fault." Kane then spoke, and brought one of his revolvers up. The iron sight came to level with his eye, and he searched for the shot. The money shot to claim it all, and just as the guard got ready to throw the grenade the trigger was pulled. The gaussian round flew through the air in a split second, impacting the explosive and in turn detonating the entire part of the hallway - killing all the guards.

Silently, Kane lowered his arm: "Huh. I didn't think I'd hit that. Must've rolled a nat 20." he commented before flipping the cylinders of his revolvers open. One was empty, the other had a single round left in it. "Well, you're my lucky round. You're going straight up Adam's rectum when I find him." Kane then said, petting the round before flipping the cylinder back into place.

 

[Infab]

She moved quickly through the debris and rubble, hopping over wrecked tables and couches. Close behind, now coming through the stairwell door, were mercenaries. Armed to the teeth and ready to open up on her. And they did, a few shots zipping by Jester as she darted about.

What she was looking for was an elevator. The stairwell was a no-go, considering the several dozen men and women with weapons climbing up it to get to her. Soon, she’d find one. The door had been obliterated, massive holes torn into the steel. She simply pulled one door open, and peered down into the shaft. An elevator was coming up, about five floors down and rising. Excellent.

She reached out and grabbed the elevators massive cable in the center of the shaft. Then, she stepped off. Sliding down the cable at a rather quick pace. Sparks shot from her metal hand, as the friction increased with her speed. The sparks would stop as she came to an abrupt stop herself, her metal body making a loud, heavy thud as she landed atop the elevator.

There seemed to be passengers inside. Mercs, as a few shots ripped through the roof of the elevator. She giggled, stepping to the side as the shots ripped through the metal and went up the shaft. She wouldn’t be able to get into the elevator without being shot to hell, so she decided to have a little fun. She holstered her pistol, slipping it into a metal slot in the small of her back, before deploying her blade from her palm once more.

And then, after grabbing the cable a little further up with her free hand, she sliced through the cable with a quick swing.

The elevator dropped quickly, the shaft suddenly filling with the muffled screams of the elevator’s occupants and the sound of grinding metal as the elevator fell towards the ground. Someone was going to have quite the mess to clean up. She laughed aloud again, before glancing over towards the wall. The floor she wanted to be on was just a few feet away, the large metal door quietly waiting. All it’d take would be to swing herself over and to land on a small ledge where the door was.

She swung her legs, rocking herself back and forth, before eventually releasing the cable and flying across the shaft. She would land safely, the ends of her metal feet perched on the slim ledge. Her blade sheathed itself inside her palm again, and she pulled the door open with both hands just far enough so that she could peek inside.

A shotgun blast almost caught her square in the face. She jerked her head back quickly, the buckshot zipping by and hitting the opposite wall inside the shaft.

“Stupid bitch!” spat the mercenary on the other side, who audibly racked the pump on his weapon. But he wouldn’t get the chance to fire a second shot. Close to the floor, Jester’s face appeared. As well as her gun. A magnum round hit the man in his crotch, forcing him to squeal in pain, before another shot hit him in the throat.

“Stupid bitch!” retorted Jester, poking her tongue out at the writhing man.

He bled out quite quickly, as Jester stood and pulled the door open just a bit more so she could slide through. Gun first, of course. He seemed to have been the only merc in the hall near the elevators, which was good. She glance down at the shotgun, raising an eyebrow as she inspected it. Pump-action, and seemed to load using individual shells in a tube. A human design, as most Upyri shotguns were revolving patterns or used magazines.

She slipped her foot under it before flicking it up into her off hand as she holstered her pistol. A belt of shells was wrapped around the man's torso, so she took the chance to grab that as well. Six gauge. Impressive.

She loaded a shell in to replace the one the merc had spent shooting at her, then looked about. Alright. Adam had to be on this floor somewhere. Likely looking to go even lower. She could try and cut him off.

She jogged to the end of the hallway, but as soon as she rounded the corner, she’d come under fire. A few of the armored group protecting Adam had stopped just outside the floor's conference room, and had set up a proper firing position. Complete with a light machine-gun, planted on the side of an overturned table.

Slipping back around the corner in the direction she had just came from, she took a moment to think. She had spotted two of them. One operating the machine-gun, and one next to him with an assault rifle. She glanced down to the shotgun in her hands. The range wasn’t what she had to worry about. It was the fact that they were wearing armor. It looked decent enough. Military grade, likely Federation surplus. Buckshot wasn’t good against that kind of stuff.

She grinned. But buckshot can sure as hell knock you for a loop if its well placed. She needed a head shot. The pellets colliding with those armored helmets of theirs would stun them. Hopefully long enough to get close enough to finish them off. She took a breath, then spun about. Shotgun shouldered and aiming down the hallway. A moment later, she pulled the trigger.

The buckshot darted down the hallway, colliding with the machine-gunner's helmet. It knocked him flat on his rear, forcing the other mercenary to look back in shock. That’s all she needed. As he looked back towards Jester, he found she had practically darted down the hallway towards them before vaulting up to spring off the wall. Over their cover, and effectively over their position. She took aim in midair, before firing another shot. Far closer than before, and aimed squarely at the shocked assault rifle user’s face.

His head was erased, vaporizing in a flash of gore. As she landed, she pumped the shotgun and stepped over to the recovering gunner. Shoving him back to the floor with her foot, she then moved around and raised her cybernetic leg. A moment later, her foot came crashing down, crushing the man's helmet and smashing his head inside like a watermelon.

That was two of the armored mercs down. Where were the rest?

Soon, she heard the sounds of more boots clacking. A glance back, and she found herself looking at Kane. He must have found the emergency stairwell and made his way down. Good. She reached down and grabbed the machine gun from the dead merc, then tossed it to Kane.

"A new fun toy for you! Remember to brace for recoil." she said, flashing him a wicked grin. "That's two of his escort detail dead. He's probably heading down. We need to cut him off if we can."




Three hours prior…


“Elspeth Sÿferlin, also known by the alias Jester. Known psychopath. Criminal, terrorist, wanted by several galactic factions for various crimes. Most common among them being mass murder.

Prior history: Graduate of Moros Naval Academy on Ker, prior to the outbreak of the Human-Upyri War. Graduated with top honors, with an exceptionally high rating in Linguistics, Marksmanship, and Advanced Battlefield Tactics. Drafted into the Imperial Intelligence Services, and performed various anti-human and anti-xeno operations throughout the Human-Upyri War. Was planted into the Upyri Honor Guard just before the invasion of Earth, and remained with the group until the aftermath of the second battle of Achenar. During the battle, she sustained severe injuries which sidelined her for several months.

She would return to duty a year into the Division War, and perform various counter espionage operations against the Free Upyri Alliance. During the final years of the war, she was responsible for carrying out the executions of several traitorous elements within the Imperial forces. She signed off on the execution of her own family as well, citing them to be a liability for both herself as well as the Empire. In the final year, to save her own skin, she secretly sold out the Empire by providing the locations of several IIS black sites to the Free Upyri Alliance.

She would then flee the Empire, as the Alliance began to topple the last holdouts of the Empire before invading Ker itself. Following the war, she would serve as a member of Office of Naval Intelligence inside the newly made Upyri Federation. She would perform her duties for several decades, before ultimately abandoning ONI and stealing several files from ONI's databases.

She became a criminal and terrorist for hire afterwards, which is the career she has maintained up until the 2380s. A chance encounter with one Valencia ‘Valkyrie' Blackwell would change her career path, as the two would link up and create Blackwell’s Reavers. She would remain with them for a time, until she attempted to assassinate Valencia and take the Reavers for herself. She would fail, and Valencia would ship her off to Sol. Sol would imprison her on Titan, which didn’t hold her for very long.

After a daring escape, she would return to her criminal career. Nothing notable has happened since then, I'm afraid. Now, as for the human...

Kane Walker. Also known psychopath. Mercenary, gun-for-hire, contract killer.

Prior history: He was part of Sol's Marines for five years, before being discharged for insubordination. Afterwards, he became a mercenary operating out of Hades, based on the asteroid colony of Merglos. He's been running as a merc for the past ten years. He's had a few run-ins with both ODI as well as ONI, and often is released early due to financial bailouts. He was the prime suspect in a case regarding the destruction of one of the labs belonging to your rival, Bio-Link. There wasn't enough evidence to pin him to the wall, so the case was dropped.

We also have on record that he had a direct encounter with a Transsentience Cult cell after suffering a near fatal injury. He was injected with an experimental nanite vaccine, which were, in turn, supposed to control him. It appears, instead, to have driven him quite mad and given him extraordinary regenerative properties. ONI has been keeping tabs on him since the incident, and studying the nanites' effects on him.”

The holoscreen shifted, revealing a man dressed in a black trench coat. His head was covered by a smooth, featureless helmet, colored black with a blue ring around the area that would be the face. His voice had a synthetic scrambler overlaid, to remove anything notable about his speech patterns. “I also have Jester's psych profile, interviews conducted with her by her superiors, and various reports on her from both the old IIS records as well as the ONI databases. I even have her family's records, her criminal contacts, places she frequents… The same goes for Kane, as well.”

Adam Fúlling shifted in his chair, folding one leg over the other, before adjusting the square glasses he wore. A bead of sweat rolled down his forehead, which he brushed away as he ran his hand through his loosely tied hair. So, Grave had finally sent assassins to kill him? Ballsy.

“Send it all, and send copies to Mr. Tieringer. He’ll want it all as well.” he soon responded, his eyes glancing away from the screen.

The man in the trench coat nodded. “Understood. Do you need anything else?” He motioned a hand to his chest. “ONI is more than happy to provide, if it results in Jester’s elimination. She’s been a collective thorn in our sides for decades.”

Adam shook his head. “Perhaps later, Kasser. Thank you for the information. I’ll speak with you again soon.”

There was a final nod from the ONI agent, before the screen switched off. Adam soon found himself staring at the pale gray wall across from him, eyes locked in place. After a few moments, a sigh escaped his lips, and he reached down to the table before him. A double tap of his index finger on the steel tabletop brought the screen back up. A symbol resembling a microphone appearing on the holoscreen.

“Call Mr. Michael Tieringer. Caller: Dr. Adam Fúlling.” he spoke, before pulling his hand back to his chair. The screen shifted, changing to a series of three dots. Alternating in their blinking.

Then, after a minute of waiting for the call to go through, the screen changed again. An image of a large wall of glass appeared, with the skyline of Nyx on the other side. It was filled with the various mega-towers of Nyx’s capital city, Nyxia, which were lit up in the night by hundreds of bright lights. A few streams of vehicles were also visible: traffic passing through the atmosphere of the Upyri’s crown jewel of trade.

The office itself was that of Michael Tieringer, CEO and Chairman of Celtech Enterprises, and was situated near the very top of one of those behemoth-like mega-towers.

Soon, a voice was heard. Quite old, but rough. Deep in tone, and commanding. “Ah, Adam. I was waiting for your call.” it said, before its source came into view. A pale man appeared, dressed in a fine, tailored suit. The areas around his eyes were nearly blood red in color, making them look sunk in and almost withered. His lips were thin, matching the circles under his eyes in color, and one could easily make out the bones that made up his face through his skin. His piercing, ice blue eyes were locked onto the screen, and a smile slowly creeped across his weary face.

“Sorry to appear before you like this. I’m in need of another rejuvenation session, which I’m scheduled for in twenty minutes.” said Michael, as he pulled his leather executive chair from the desk and sat down. “Anyway, I just received a packet of files from our friend Kasser over at ONI. I assume this is about the assassins Mr. Grave hired?”

“Yes, sir. A human by the name of Kane Walker, and an upyri woman named Elspeth Sÿferlin, also known by th--” was all Adam managed to get out before Michael chuckled. Interrupting him.

“The alias of Jester.” said the businessman, as he patted part of the chest of his suit. He then reached into his coat, and drew out a square pouch. Cigarettes. “I don’t run in the same circles as Mr. Grave, but I’ve heard of her several times over the years.”

As he slipped a cigarette into his mouth, he then felt about in his pocket again. “I’m surprised she’s still active. Last I heard, she had been locked away in a Sol prison.” Eventually, a lighter was produced, which he quickly flicked open and lit the end of his cigarette with.

“She managed to escape. Seems as though she’s gone back to her favorite pass time.” responded Adam, “And I’m up on the hit list.”

“I wonder what Mr. Grave is paying? With his hate boner for you, I’m sure its fairly decent.”

“Well, what do we do about this?”

“Well, we did have a variety of options, Adam. But from what I’ve heard of Jester, most of them won’t work.” said Michael, before taking a drag on the cigarette. A puff of smoke escaped hiss nostrils, before he continued. “And we’re a bit too late into this to try and convince the two of them to stop now. After all, the two men we hired to watch your apartment tried to catch them. They murdered both. That CyberSuicide virus we installed on your computer also didn’t seem to work either, because cameras at your apartment complex caught her and her ship leaving.”

Adam frowned, eyes lowering towards the desk top. “So that leaves us with…”

“Killing them the old fashioned way. At least until another option presents itself.” Michael bumped his cigarette off into an ashtray that rose from the desktop, before slipping it back between his lips. “Hire mercenaries. Plenty of them. That should slow them down enough for you to begin Protocol Siebenkäs. Once things are underway, make your way off-world. You know where to go from there.”

“I’ll hire some select individuals, as well, to hunt them down should they make it off Trixina. I’m sure they both have plenty of enemies that want their heads.” Michael tapped on a spot on his desktop, bringing up another screen. And after a few more movements of his fingers, deftly darting about as he typed on the desk, something seemed to catch his eye.

“Well now… seems like someone really wants her dead. And not just regular dead. I mean erased. I might not have to hire anyone at all.” said the man, “But… eh, the more the merrier. I’ll go through the BCB brokers, and see who bites.”

Adam nodded. “I’ll get things in motion here. What about the meeting?”

“Fuck the meeting. We’ll find someone else to handle our materials.”




Now…


“You know, this is getting boring!”

Jester’s shout echoed through the corridor as they walked, strolling over the bodies of dead mercenaries and other hired guns. They had chased Adam and his escorts down another floor, into what they thought would be an excellent trap. It wasn’t. Kane's newly acquired machine gun had mowed down anything that tried to stop them. Bodies and walls were now riddled with bullet holes and blood.

Some mercs had fled, of course. Pulling back further down the hallway and around the corner. That was the direction Adam had ventured in, his remaining armored protectors. They'd have to eat through a few more meat shields in order to get to their target, and his constant running away was starting to grow dull.

“Adam, if you just give yourself up, we'll make it quick. Literally one shot to your head. Boom! Done! It’ll only hurt for maybe half a second, if even that!” she called out, mimicking a pistol being put to her head and pulling the trigger. “If you keep this up, we kill more people! And when we finally do reach you…ah, haha! Slow. Excruciating. Gruesome.”

She pumped the shotgun, the slide racking loudly as a new shell was chambered. “Ever seen someone skin an animal? Think that, but you’ll still be alive! I'll even put a mirror in front of you so you can watch! A special little show for you, all because you wasted my time!”