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Pandora's Box; No blue people allowed.
Topic Started: Jan 29 2011, 02:10 PM (3,718 Views)
~Alissa~
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The siblings entered the warehouse as it appeared the other groups were beginning to arrive. Alex paused looking to the ruined door frame before stepping out of the way looking towards his sister as her chair hopped over the threshold before moving into the room. Hannah looked about, dark glasses hid obviously artificial eyes. For the moment the pair moved out of the way and observed the group. They appeared a bit harder than their normal competition would, doubly so considering this was only a meeting. Although given the job that may well be what was called for.

In honesty Alex found the contrast rather interesting, he looked around at people who were clearly ready for a fight, it looked as though one Capitan had brought his whole crew, likely in an attempted at intimidation. Another looked as though he'd been in a fight recently, something about his body language bothered Alex, not dangerous...but...defeated. The third group was a little odd, the tall woman was clearly in charge, although her two crew members looked to be more comic relief than any real threat, though clearly strong.

“I guess this is the place” came Hanna's quiet voice to her brother. She knew what most others thought at the sight of her, clearly blind, and restricted to a wheel chair. More than once she had been told she didn't belong by such people. But you didn't need to be able to walk in one G to fly a ship, and normal eye sight could be a liability in space. Her brother she knew looked the part at any rate, the swagger of former military alone helped a good deal. They held off to the side to watch and listen. The meeting they knew would start soon.
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~RipTheJacker~
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[ *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * ]
The bay door at the end of the warehouse opened with the cry of old metal; as if it had gotten used to being in one position for too long and was just woken from a long slumber. Pockets of dust fell and the orange flickering lights from the street poured into the now cramped warehouse.

Four men in heavy black jackets stepped in followed by a thin man with a trick brown mustache; Luciola. The morning was about to start. Luciola stepped up onto an old crate that had been shoved front and center at the head of the room. He cleared his throat.

The lights dimmed and a holographic star map materialized above the room showing the galaxy of Corinth, and it’s three major planets; Carmen, Victoria, and the long abandoned Valhalla. Valhalla sat in a pocket of hazardous gases tucked away behind an astroid feild. Victoria and Carmen floated comfortable near the sun, away from the frozen wasteland that Valhalla had become since the war. What inhabitance was left was barbaric, feral people left to themselves for 70 years, no one really knew what became of the countless people left alone on this now barren planet.

“Valhalla,” Luciola began. “Everyone is aware of the massacre that took place there when Valhalla refused to treaty with Victoria.” Josephine cringed; this part of their galaxy’s history was particularly difficult for those who had lived through it.

“Valhalla conspired against us! They provided the cure to Shilling’s Disease to Carmen instead of Victoria. Victoria, in its ultimate power crushed both Carmen and Valhalla, annihilating all major cities in Valhalla in search of this cure.”

This recant of history put Josephine on edge. She twisted her hands around her broom and backed into a dark corner.

“Unfortunately this cure was never recovered.” Luciola sighed. “But that is a story for a different time.” A few people in the room shifted nervously, unsure of where this history lesson was going.

“Valhalla, as we know, was technologically advanced in sciences and technology. There is a capsule I seek that is in a deteriorating orbit around Valhalla. I want this capsule retrieved, untampered and unopened. He stared sternly out at his audience.

“I understand how dangerous this mission is. I’m sure you all understand my secrecy on this as Valhalla is restricted space. I will cover your fuel and supply costs, as well as a six thousand credit stipend for basic upgrades or maintenance needed before taking on a month long expedition.

“The only rules to this are that you cannot tamper with the capsule in any way, it is to be retrieved and given to me with no damages or opening whatsoever, you will not like the consequences... If you are snatched by Outland Patrol, you will not be bailed out by me. If you wish to continue you must do it with your own funds.

“The winner will receive ten million credits. Any questions?”
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~The Boss~
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Native Son

"Yeah, I got a question," Nick Scanlan said, raising his hand. "You gon' give us somethin' a little more specific on where to look? Or we just s'posed to search the whole damn planet? I mean, shit, there's stuff back on Earth we ain't even found yet. The Holy Grail, Atlantis, that little Jobu statue from Major League... So, c'mon, you wanna take some of the guesswork outta it?"

Meanwhile, Derrick was busy sizing up the other bounty hunters who had arrived. The man whose face was covered in bandages had caught his eye. Clearly there was something pretty grotesque underneath all that gauze, and yet he had a feeling that however bad it it was, it could never live up to what his imagination was conjuring up.

And then there was the man who had brought in the girl in the wheelchair. Derrick was sure that he'd seen him before, but he couldn't quite figure out where. He had the look of ex-military, so perhaps they'd served together. Maybe there was a potential ally there.

Maybe there was someone who could help him out of this mess.

............

"Man, I wish we had a camera in there," Ronnie mused. He and Jimmy had been listening in on the meeting as they sat in the Longsword's cockpit. Sounded like fairly standard bounty hunter type stuff so far, but Ronnie wanted to get a good look at the others who'd joined the party, especially now that they were apparently competition rather than collaborators.

"Have a little patience," Jimmy said, dragging on a cigarette. "We'll get a look at everybody soon enough. Haven't heard any big names yet, so I doubt there's many heavy hitters down there."

He got up out if the co-pilot's chair and went into the back if the ship, where Grace was laboring over the stove. Given the fact that she was wearing rubber gloves and safety goggles, she probably wasn't fixing them dinner.

"How's it coming?" Jimmy asked.

"I wouldn't smoke in here if I were you," Grace replied. "I'd prefer that we not get blown up here."

Jimmy said nothing, just stubbed out his cigarette. He came over and put his hands on Grace's shoulders, his nose wrinkling a bit from the noxious fumes. "Looks like it's an open competition for the prize," he said to her. "You ready for this?"

"Always." She turned towards him, her face getting very close to his before she turned away again. "Although... if we're to be working against eaich other, we could always just hang back and let the others finish the job and then steal the goods. Or the cash."

That was a typical thought from her. Grace may have made her bones as an assassin, but she was a thief by nature. As good as she was at violence and mayhem, she'd alway much rather take the money and run.

"Well you might just get that chance, if we play this right."
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~RipTheJacker~
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[ *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * ]
“Ah, yes.” Luciola rocked back on his heels. “As I’ve mentioned the capsule is in a deteriorating orbit. As I have no satellites in The Outland Territories I don’t have the specific location of the capsule, but I do have a general location. I know that in the next two weeks it should make entry and is likely to land in the mountains east of The Great Sea.”

“You will all be given trackers, when you receive your stipends, which are programmed to pick up its signal.”
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~Alissa~
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Hannah nodded quietly to her brother, if the object was going to reenter the atmosphere before they arrived that might actually make it easier to find, though it would complicate the extraction after they found it.

Alex looked towards the man a moment “there is a legal claim to this I assume” he added quietly, they were going to be pushing their luck as it was on this job, plenty of different groups along the way that could try to detain them, not to mention the competition, which Alex eyed quietly. One seemed to be studying him a bit, the one whom he'd decided looked slightly defeated. The odd thing was that it was not like the man was sizing him up, not really at any rate

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Back on the Persephone things were fairly normal, the sound of tools, whistling, and the occasional swear could be heard coming from under one of the ships back up reactors in the engine room. In the armory Sam sat quietly cleaning weapons again, just to make sure they were ready, and to be sure that everything was in good working order. The sound of foot steps on the deck plating got the old merc's attention, he looked up to see some one walking past the door, he looked down to what he was doing finishing up a bit.

Cat sat down at the gunners station on the bridge setting her coffee down quietly flipping the console on and looking over the display, a read out for the various systems that fed into the guns, power, ammunition. A read out of what she was working with.

“Capitan warn you about how this bridge works?” came the gruff voice of Sam from entrance of the bridge, descending the few steps onto the bridge.

Cat nodded quietly “Said the bridge was low gravity...”

Sam nodded and moved in sitting at the navigators station “he tell you why?”

Cat shook her head quietly, she was a little intimidated by the big mercenary “not really...”

Sam nodded quietly turning to look out the front of the ship for a moment “you've been on a lot of ships in not a lot of time. Hope your not bringing trouble with you”

Cat blinked “No...no I just-”

“Reason doesn't matter, just don't, Those kids are like family to me. Anything happens to them...” he left the rest unsaid and stood up starting towards the door pausing to look at the coffee cup “when we are underway use one of the covered cups....best that way.” and with that Cat was alone on the bridge.
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~RipTheJacker~
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[ *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * ]
Luciola chuckled. “There is.” He lied. Truth was there is no legal claim to anything in the Outlands. Josephine seemed to feel it was hers however; which was good enough for him. This made it easier for him to lie. It might as well be hers anyway, since she was the only person who seemed to hold value to it.

“This is restricted space, however,” he sniffed. “If you’re intimidated by breaking the law I suggest you leave now.” He was now speaking to the entire room. He looked at the girl in the wheel chair one last time. Something about her made his spirits both rise and fall. He found himself already picking favorites in the group and the race hadn’t started yet.

He felt bad for her, but she somehow made him feel inspired. He allowed himself a smile.

Never before had he wanted someone to win so badly.
Edited by RipTheJacker, Oct 20 2011, 12:59 PM.
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~SaintlyTurkey~
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BONEITIS!
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“What’s in t-the capsule? Kroy asked, raising his hand sheepishly before the boss punched him in the shoulder.

Pulling on Kroy’s ear, The Hardcase murmured something. “Not being paid to care” was all Surprise caught of it, which did sort of make sense. If they were being paid Ten million credits then their employers probably expected everything done ‘No questions asked’.

“I uhm… r-retract m-my question” Kroy said, thankfully before it could be answered.

Although it did make Surprise wonder… What was in that capsule that they were willing to pay ten million credits for it? Were other organisations gunning for it? Other organisations that’d pay more than ten million credits?


---
After teaching Kroy a lesson on how to act around employers, the Hardcase went back to examining the other hunters. Of course, it went without saying that he’d have to kill or scare them all off before they got to this capsule. He needed that money.

The crew with the invalid would probably be the easiest to off, if only because a crew of mercs having a cripple along with them did speak of naivety. Well that, or that the cripple was far more dangerous than she let on. Which he highly doubted.

The woman in green and purple was probably a push over, some dumb rich girl buying stupidly coloured armour, with two of daddy’s men to look after her.

And finally, the men in black. The two of them showing up in standard clothing, and unarmed by the looks of things. The Hardcase already knew they were the most dangerous. He’d have to kill them first.

“Uh yeah… question! Could us groups maybe work together? And split the money?”
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~RipTheJacker~
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“How you split the payment is up to the crew receiving it. You could waste it all or donate it; I truly have no care for what you do with the money after I get the capsule.” He paused before continuing.

“As for the contents, I am not paying you to question it; I’m paying you to collect it.” He shot Kroy a scornful look. Probably only adding onto his curiosity, but in reality Luciola wasn’t even sure what it was they were looking for.

Luciola pointed at the holographic Valhalla floating above the room. “For now we believe it’s in orbit, it may enter atmosphere today, it may enter atmosphere next year. I cannot be sure. I care not how it’s collected, or what happens between here and Valhalla. I don’t care who found it first, the person to put it in my hands is the winner, whether or not they found it initially.

“As I said, there are few rules to this game.”

The woman in the green and purple suit raised her hand.

“When do we ship out?”

“You have one week to take your stipends and prepare your ships. You have until the end of that week to leave.” Luciola stated matter of factly.

The big man next to her held back a snorting laugh. This would be easy. Half of the crews here were probably only here for the free upgrades, he doubted more than four or five crews would make it past the asteroid belt, led alone into the gas fields around the planet.

“Your food and fuel supplies will be ordered through myself, and will not be delivered until the departure time you schedule with myself and the space ports.” He continued.
The tall woman smiled to herself. “I wonder if he realizes that won’t stop anyone from running off with his money. You’d have to be out of your mind to actually want to go to Valhalla…” She whispered to the shorter of the burly men. He nodded his head.

Luciola continued in the background, spouting out rules and conditions.

“The preparations will be done at a list of shops I have provided. You will be taking off from space ports that I have listed.”

“Istus.” The woman whispered to the taller of the two men, nodding in the direction of the girl in the wheel chair. His eyebrows drooped into a sympathetic look and he let out a despairing groan. “Sthraphp…” he grunted incoherently.

“My thoughts exactly,” the tall woman whispered back. “Well, Seraph's not here.” She grunted. “Which, by the way, means we’ll have to work without nanobots for this trip, so don’t you two get yourselves in too many fights. He’s not here to heal you overnight.” She looked back at Luciola, trying to push the girl out of her head. Istus continued to stare at her.

The shorter of the two men scoffed. “Istus has a crush!” He teased at his younger brother. “Looks like you’re taking back burner now, Kaori…”

Istus knocked his fist into his brother’s arm, just hard enough to push him a few inches.

“Would you two behave like adults?” Kaori hissed quietly at them. “Validus, you’re the older one, set a good example, for crying out loud…” She took a step forward, hugging herself tightly, obviously unfcomfortable with being between the two giants while they were fighting.

“He started it…” Validus grumbled.

Istus just pouted.
Edited by RipTheJacker, Oct 21 2011, 08:36 AM.
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~RipTheJacker~
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Luciola rocked back on his heels and sighed.

“If there are no more questions than I will leave you to your work. You will all be transmitted further instructions regarding the last known whereabouts of the goods.” He paused for a moment. “There are no rules. All we want are the undamaged goods in a timely fashion.”

There was a silence over the crowd, Luciola stepped down from his perch and headed for the exit.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Kaori grabbed Istus by the shoulder. “They can’t possibly expect this thing to go undamaged, if there aren’t any rules…” She gripped it tightly and stood on her tipped toes in order to get as close to his head as possible, she was still a full foot d ana half shorter.

“I’m not sure it’s even worth it. Someone’s going to break it, and then whoever delivers it is screwed.” She shot at him. “We need to get to it first, we’re going to get it first, and we can’t let it go.” She was now whispering harshly at him. Istus’s eyes shifted to the side, trying to hide his awkward feelings.

“Dah.” He mumbled in response. Validus placed a hand on both their shoulders. “We’ll talk about this somewhere else.” He hissed at Kaori.
~*~*~*~*~*~
The girl stared down the barrel. A feeling set in, not fear, not anxiety, this was far worse.

Just a feeling she was too young to encounter, too young to understand.

She clenched her teeth, closing her eyes as tightly as she could. She imagined the feeling of death, would she remember it after it was over? How bad would it feel? Would it just be a simple feeling of pressure in her head before the lights went out, or would it be far worse? What kind of pain does a young healthy child have to compare death to? Was it as bad as a scrape on her knees from tripping on the side walk, or worse; like burning your tongue on hot cocoa?

She waited for the boom of the gun, the feeling of pressure, the feeling of every scrape, bruise, sting, or rash she’d felt, but nothing happened.

No, something happened.

She opened her wet eyes and saw the face of her killer. Soft but stricken with horror.

“I can’t do it,” he lowered his gun and turned his back to her. “I just can’t”

His shoulders began the shake, the men in the room stared at him as though they had never met him before. The girl didn’t know how to react. Was he laughing? This wasn’t funny… She clenched her teeth harder, it’s not funny! Why was he laughing?

She sprung to her feet and leapt with all the force she could muster, fingers bent and teeth bared, she grabbed a hold of his leg and bit down, the taste of copper began to seep into her mouth, turning into a stream of hot blood. She looked up with hate, staring him in the eyes. He wasn't laughing, he was crying...

Boom!

At first there was just noise, loud noise. Someone was screaming, but who? Was it her, the man, perhaps someone else? The feeling of death began to creep up on her, it was worse than any sun burn, worse than any bite, worse than when you fall down. It stung like a cold bitter wind, but burned like a hungry fire. She had no time to decide between the two, for the world darkened far too quickly before she hit the floor.
Edited by RipTheJacker, Jul 30 2012, 10:43 PM.
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~Alissa~
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The siblings glanced at each other before turning the exit the warehouse together, outside Alex signaled to Hannah to stop.

“Go back to the ship, tell mike to get what he needs for that primary drive core upgrade by sunset, also make a list of anything you think might be useful for this recovery and get Sam on pulling everything together.”

Hannah looked up at her brother quietly a moment “what are you going to do?”

Alex looked back towards the warehouse before checking his pistol quietly “ I am going to hang back a bit, try to see if I can grab some information on the competition…this isn’t exactly our normal crowd”

Hannah looked to her brother a moment before nodding quietly before tapping her temple where the interface for her artificial eyes could just be seen “ I’ve got some pictures, I’ll reach out to our friends and see if there is any one we need to concerned about” and with that Hannah departed back towards their ship to start getting things ready, already making a list of things they would need.

Alex nodded and moved to find a good place to keep out of site to stand and watch every one depart; he had gotten a fair look at them while they had been in the warehouse however he was hoping for information like names, or employers he might need to worry about.

It had happened in the past; competition had been working for some criminal element and got quite desperate in the end. The lessons learned included an understanding of how dangerous a desperate man could get.
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