If it had only been a minute, it had been too long. Standing in the line of a crowded bazaar squeezed down an alley between a row of night clubs, bars, and hotels to purchase a crate of replacement fusion capacitors while listening to some kook babble on incoherently over the dull roar of the passing masses made time slow down, inciting a bout of exaggerated sighs and foot tapping from the small, short haired blonde; Melissa. A dull must choked the air in the claustrophobic patchwork of tents and dimly lit stands as browsing crowds of various lifeforms maneuvered amongst each other, pushing and squeezing through what little personal space the young engineer had as she inched forward in the line toward the merchant. If not for the bargains at this specific market, she would have just gotten the parts through a manufacturer easy peasy. Unfortunately, nobody on board their humble little frigate was too keen on having enough credits to afford such conveniences. Maybe five minutes had passed now, but it could have easily been hours to the impatient girl.

"Did you get the things yet?" A young mans voice suddenly cut in through the faint hiss of a static riddled circular comm device pinned to the fuzzy collar of Melissa's brown lambskin jacket. It was the familiar voice of a crew mate; James, hailing her from aboard Miss Pac-Man parked at a near by docking bay. "Any day now..." she responded in a less than enthusiastic tone. "Every time I come here, I die a little inside...but I found just enough capacitors to last us for a while." A crate with this many should last longer than the ship, she thought to herself. "Capasa-what? No no no no. The pouch things! With the wrelsuar meat inside. I asked you to pick me u-" The voice was cut off abruptly as Melissa turned off the device. "Food...of course...you're an idiot Jay...how do I keep forgetting this..."

Meanwhile, through the neon lit doors of a sparsely populated bar, sitting on a stool in front of a chrome counter with a half full mug of a dark brown liquor clutched in his hand and a cigarette pinched at the corner of his mouth, K-Dog swam in a light daze of inebriation. Three and a half mugs in and he was maintaining a good buzz. Buying a few swigs of booze was just about all he could afford with the shortage of jobs lately. The thought of it sent him into the mug again. A vicious cycle of drinking away his credits and then needing a drink to cope with his lack of credits. But those thoughts were beyond him now. Instead, the only thing on K-Dog's mind was the gelatinous chest of the curvaceous multi-armed bartender who slithered back and forth behind the counter, delivering and preparing drinks simultaneously. "Hey K-dog! You there pal? Can you do me a solid and pick me up s-" Faintly chiming in through the chatter of bar goers, James' voice was quickly silenced as K-Dog disabled the comm device embedded in his right arm absently.

"-some of those wrelsaur....hello? K-dog?" A sigh of frustration escaped James' mournful expression as he sunk down into his chair near the helm. "They...they hung up on me....they all hung up one me...can't a guy just get a simple snack food in exchange for babysitting the ship?" A low grumble managed its way out of his gut, drawing the young light complected man to slump over the glowing control console before him. "I don't know if I can go on any longer! I'm....going....to.....disappear!" A hooded figure; Rozix, made a very brief appearance at the bridge entrance. After seeing James curled over his terminal, the figure backed out slowly, disappearing behind the automated doors.

Suddenly, the subtle, repetitive chime of a near by console caught the navigator's attention, peeling him up from his sulky slump. Stepping over to the console, James took a seat and hit a few keys on the control pad. Appearing on the monitor above was the digital image of a large UGCP assault carrier which had just exited a phase jump in earths gravity well. "What are these guys doing here? Ships of that caliber usually stick to deep space..." James scratched his head wearily as the carrier lumbered passed the moon shaped base station toward Earth. Seeing them this close to a planet likely meant there was trouble here. Judging by the class of the ship, it was big trouble.





"Phase jump complete. Systems stable. Comm links reestablished. Approaching Earth's orbit. All hands stand by." The feminine voice of the ships AI echoed through the corridors and decks of the Empirion as the roaring sounds of transiting through phase space faded away. "Thank you Mel. Bring us into the exosphere and maintain orbit." declared Commander Zanith sitting at a station on the upper helm of the bridge. He swiped through a few luminescent data projections before turning to pass a momentary gaze at his home planet. A subtle hue emanated through the port-side windows from the cloudy blue surface of Earth as the ship made its approach, navigating passed Luna-2 toward the darker side of the planet. "Commander. We've picked up readings of the artifact." Several screens of information and topography emerged in the large form of a brilliant holographic projection at the center of the bridge. Among them was the image of an alien looking case patterned with strange triangular markings. It was the reason they had come here. Zanith's voice suddenly rang out over the comms. "We're ready for you on the bridge captain."

A pair of ensigns transitioned through the long corridors on the lower decks of the Empirion, making their way toward the ships hangars. "Man I hate being on duty for those long jumps..." said one, rubbing the back of his neck as he recovered from the long journey of a phase jump. It may have been the most efficient way to traverse the galaxy, but it was still a seven or eight hour trip between even the closest star systems. "Yeah, I'd rather take the chance of puking up my guts after a cryo-nap over staring at a data screen for half the day...but what are ya gonna do?" A set of doors mechanically split apart in front of them as they moved into the expansive, brightly lit hangar bay. Troops of soldiers and engineers bustled about, moving between or tending to docked fighters and shuttles.

"I wish they would add a strip club on board to pass the time." Chuckles were exchanged before the voice of a female officer caught the two off guard. "I wouldn't mind that. I think you two would make great strippers!" The ensigns quickly straightened up and saluted the dark haired woman. "S-sorry Lieutenant Commander Serena. W-we were just..." She raised a gloved hand and let a half smile manage its way across her face. "You were just going to go get my shuttle ready, right?" They hesitated for a moment before accepting their new task. "Uh...yes mam." Serena clapped her hands together before patting the men on the back. "How thoughtful! Now I don't have to. I appreciate it boys. Don't forget to load up a couple speeders."

Standing up from his console, Zanith cast an inquisitive gaze up at the projected information that illuminated the bridge. "Give us the run down Mel." An artificial intelligence in the form of a raven haired, fair skinned woman positioned at the front of the lower helm turned and nodded at the commander. "Affirmative Commander. Global scans of earth have detected radiation signals associated with the targeted artifact. Readings indicate the object to be located forty point seven one two eight degrees north by seventy four point zero zero five nine degrees west, within the city limits of New Newyork. Object is on the move, suggesting it is in the possession of an individual. Current speeds indicate targeted individual is on foot. Destination unknown. Continuing to track object." Zanith watched the projection, his attention pointed toward a small blip on one of the topographical maps. "So there you are..."




"So there you are!!" The ragged voice of a pimply, green complected, tentacle armed brute broke through the dull silence of a dark alleyway in the lower districts of the towering city, accompanied closely by the rapid patter of heavy footsteps. "No I'm not!" replied a slender man in a alabaster coat as he turned a corner, nearly loosing his footing as he slid into a heap of garbage, knocking over a pair of metal trash bins and bags of rubbish before getting a hold of his balance and rushing through the shadows of the winding cement jungle. An beam of red light streaked across the air in the mans tracks, exploding into the trash heap. Sparks and scraps of flaming garbage shot into the air, briefly filling the alley with a crimson hue. The man cussed under his breath, nearly losing his balance again after the booming sound and rain of cinders blew against his back.

Just another tuesday evening, thought Shaw to himself, leaping over piles of discarded appliances like hurdles at an olympic event while narrowly avoiding more incoming plasma blasts from the alien thug in pursuit. He would have turned and dispatched this oaf if it weren't for the infant sized, alien looking case he cradled beneath his arm. Fortunately for him, his pursuer was as good a shot as he was a male model. "Isn't there some asian high school girl somewhere you should be molesting?!" The thug growled in response to the little quip, kicking garbage cans and debris out of his way as he charged down the alley behind Shaw. "I'm going to pop your skull open like a nut human!" Sparks flared across the air, flashing through the alley as the alien furiously let off blast after blast. Shaw dove beneath the rusted corpse of an old broken down construction droid and rolled across the ground between a stack of crates and a large metal garbage compactor unit, hugging the case tightly as he slid into cover behind the compactor. "But I'm alergic to nuts! Well...not really...but I don't particularly like them..."

"Is now really a good time to be a smart ass Shaw?" A voice suddenly called out from within Shaw's coat. He briskly brushed some ashes and dust off his shoulders and picked a few bit of debris out of his hair before managing a response. "Is now really a good time to be a nag?" An agitated roar bellowed out from the shadows as the incoming alien trashed his way toward Shaw, patience dwindling as he couldn't help be frustrated by how slippery the human was being. "You know what, you sound busy. I think I'll let you finish your date-" "Dammit Isabel I'm a little on edge here! There's a very angry reptiod here with fucking snakes for arms and I don't think he appreciates that I took his box! Where is my back up?!" A bit of desperation bled through in his normally haughty tone of voice. "Chill your fusion coils." reassured Isabel from aboard the powered down Hellion hidden in the cover of an industrial district. "Grace left with CB17 and Artyom in the new shuttle to your location ten minutes ago."

A sigh of relief briefly escaped Shaw. However it was quickly interrupted as he realized what Isabel had just said. "Wait, you sent them in that slow piece of crap? Oh god in heaven...please let my death be a quick one...cause they'll get here just in time to bury me! You should have sent a fighter!" he barked, peeking past the edge of the large compactor only to see the pursuing alien quickly gaining ground, closing toward him. "You know as well as anyone a craft with weapons bigger than a water pistol will get pinpointed by the civil defense net and tracked down in minutes. You better just do what you do best and improvise something." Shaw pinched the bridge of his nose in contempt, before setting down the crate and removing a sleek firearm from the retracting holster fixed to the side of his waist. "What's the point of making any kind of plans if we end up improvising every time anyway!?" In hindsight, nobody accounted for the alien being home when most self respecting thugs were out handling their illegal business. "Because that's the captains job...captain. Anyway I'm gonna go now. Have fun and try to keep the case safe." Though he couldn't see it, Isabel gave the captain a wink before disconnecting. "Right don't worry. You can extract it from by charred corpse..."





Information was like web, woven by individuals and monitoring software. Tapping into that web was easy when you knew which strings to pull. Accomplishing this was something Edstein was accustomed to, even while in the comfort of his own quarters. Browsing through several projected screens filled with scrolling data, the tracker for the Thunder Raid settled on of his fingers on an image of a wanted billboard, framed in a tab stacked on many. However the the one he aimed his finger finger toward stood out, being the mulish, scruff covered visage of a raven haired man with yellow eyes. Labeled in bold letters beneath the picture was the name 'SHAW' along with the bounty reward of fifteen million credits. Quite a hefty piece of change considering ten million credits was enough to damn there buy a new top of the line starfighter.

After several minutes of coordinating some data and making a few triangulations, a pop up emerged in front of Edstein, projecting footage from a low grade security camera mounted above the fire exits on the rear of a closed pawn shop. In the feed, Edstein could see the exchange of laser fire in an alley somewhere in the sub-level urban districts of lower New Newyork. It had been a few hours, but the target had finally been located. A consequence of running through random alleys while causing a commotion. Edstein grabbed a rectangular device patterned with screens and a few buttons. "We got one." Echoed the trackers voice over several of the communications devices possessed my much of the ships crew. With a slide of his hand and a bit of techie magic, the video feed was sent to one of the helm mounted monitors on board the bridge.

Maintaining altitude in the stratosphere, the Thunder Raid looked down over the distant city. Even from this high, it was massive, with towering sky scrapers and clusters of buildings spanning for miles across the terrain far below. Through the portholes and windows, the crew could see hundreds of thousands upon millions of specs of light glimmering from the night shrouded city. The edge of Luna-2 peaked over the horizon, shining a bright pale hue through the sky. Gazing through the aperture along side the ships hangar at the stars, Kidd dangled precariously from a tangle of tethers and ropes hanging from the catwalk, absently shoveling potato chips into her mouth as loud, erratic, base drowned noise that she felt was music rattled out of a pair of large headphones tightly hugging her head. Crumbs rained down onto whoever happened to pass beneath, but she was too immersed in her music and the sight of the cosmos, not to mention out of reach.

It had been a while since Omor had been to Luna-2. It was quite nice returning to the hustle and bustle, and she wasn't the star of the show, the herald of her people. While she enjoyed helping her patrons, they didn't actually need her. All they need was some form of self respect, which they didn't have. So they instead, respected her. Which was fine for now, she guessed.

However, not being on The Broken Dream didn't stop her from being in the eyes of just about everyone. She sighed as they all stared at her B.E.A.S.T, her large 7 foot monster pet that followed her around.

Well, to her he wasn't a monster.

He was a gallant Prince Knight, which was his name sake. She loved him in very sense of the word. He kept her safe and vise versa. It was one of the only relationships she would stand for, seeing most so called 'lovers' undeserving of the title. All of her experience with lovers were simple, they wanted her for her power.

She looked behind her, at her Prince, and gave his front plate a small pet. The crowd had actually parted for them, so they wouldn't crush those in the way. She kept walking. She was here to discuss trade with a few merchants, asking them for food, supplies, and possible junk ships to help her cause.

... And a few personal items.

Staff sergeant Ba'is stood after he heard the communications link sound their entry into earths gravity well, he entered the hangar bay where the twentytwo men and women within his squad stood at ease, three ranks with their helmets off.
"Stand fast!" Someone shouted, all of them straightened their backs, pulled their hands to their sides and stomped their feet into the ground, after a brief inspection, staff sergeant Ba'is made his way to the front rank.
"Stand easy!" The same man finally said, Ba'is pulled a holoscreen up from his arm and examined it.
"Alright, here's what we've got... an unidentified alien life form is in New New York running around doing fuck all and we're here to catch it. We won't have to track it down ourselves, don't worry about that, I know we had trouble back on that god forsaken moon, the big guys up here will be telling us where to go instead.", a sigh of relief could be heard throughout the squad, "This doesn't mean we aren't going face to face against it, I hope that doesn't hurt your feelings, private Willis."
"No staff sergeant!" shouted a young voice in the back corner of the third rank.
"Good. Stand fast!", the squad stood at attention, "The squad will equip their gear and double down to the drop ship, MOVE!"

Mechanical clicks and a robotic hiss rose from the dagger filled jaws of the hulking metallic monstrosity that followed closely behind its master Omorfiá, massive chrome talons clopping against the steel paneling that made up the sidewalk below, shaking the ground slightly with each heavy step. Crowds of humans and aliens alike looked on, but they made sure to do so from a distance, as getting any closer than a few feet to the silver haired woman earned them a chilling eyeless glare from the beast that wordlessly promised death. The luminescent neon patterns that were scattered about the creature's body glowed a faint blood orange in the shadows as they passed between streetlamps. A thin mist leaked from its serrated maw which occasionally lolled open.

To reach back and pat her pet's chest plate was to feel the creatures solid and cold, depleted promethium skin. In spite of its frightening visage and jagged edges, Omorfiá found her affections to be jubilantly accepted with a brief symphony of contented mechanical bleeps and chirps. For anyone else, it was hard to discern the difference between affection and ferocity with such menacing features. However to someone who had known and lived with the war machine, there was no question. Beast, or Prince rather, was just as loyal as its master was loving.

Text scrolled across the bottom of Omorfiá's eyesight, just small enough to keep from obstructing her vision but legible enough to understand when she paid attention to it. The text was a projection on the inside of her pupils, created by the nanites that filled her body and bloodstream. It was just one of the many perks that comes with owning a symbiotic guard dog, along with slightly enhanced strength and reflexes. The text monitored their surroundings, converting what Prince perceived into data...and it became clear the monster wasn't too happy. Each time someone grew a tad too close, bellowing mechanical snarls reverberated from the large creature as it nearly pounced to tore them to pulpy shreds.

With another pat on the chest, she smiled, enjoying her pets company, despite the harsh and scared looks she received. She glanced at the text scrolling a long and sighed, understanding. She shouldn't have even taken him in public in the first place. Sometimes she could imagine herself without the hulking machine at her side at all times.

Prince, if you would like, or rather, if it would be more tactically pleasing for my safety, you could follow from afar, either from the sky or from the rooftops. I know you don't really like people, and feel them to be a threat to me, but I'll be fine. I just had you follow this close cause, well you know me, I would get lonely without you. She continued to brush his cold plates a bit with her hand, minding the edges.

She looked around, and the people had started to exit the area. The shop keepers stood there, still scared, but unwilling to leave their posts. She patted his back and looked around. She had gotten an idea.

The next contact is about an hour away, but with Stallion we could be there in no time if we take some short cuts I know of. She always loved a good ride with her Beast. Helped calm the nerves and yet at the same time, rushed them.

She looked quickly at her messaging device, and the contact was waiting, however couldn't stay long. Something about the fuzz. She hated them, not liking the way they handle situations and the living.

We'd better hurry.

_________________________________________________________
Grace, New Newyork

She nervously tapped her heel against the ground, a rapid pace as her right leg hopped in place and a elbow was placed on the left thigh, body hunched over with a hand clasped about the locket around her neck, thumb rubbing against it. It was a cold ride over even with her jumpsuit on, adrenaline surging through her body long enough for her to begin to sweat with the slightest air causing a chill, the suspense of going on a mission like this always had the same reaction.

Suspense, it was a killer of emotions and thought, Grace staring blankly at the shuttle’s metal floor without a single opinion on the situation, not even on those surrounding her. The mission ahead didn’t even have any food for thought, just an excuse for her body to go haywire and drain itself of any possible feeling of being alive. The hum of the engine only grew ever closer to her ears once a loud ‘clang’ shook her out of the trance, something possibly bumping against the shuttle on the outside, or a figment of her imagination. Once awakened and aware, her eyes would make a quick glance around the shuttle before dropping the gaze to the floor again. There were two others to help as well with this important task they were assigned on- CB17 and Artyom.

To say there wasn't any familiarity would be an exaggeration, but they weren't individuals she knew well of either. Getting closer to wherever they had been designated to land at would only bring a worrisome insecure feeling, hoping that those two were more then enough to deal with whatever was causing trouble for Shaw, because it certainly wouldn't be brought down by her timid protests or expertise on machines, not alone anyway.

Mark stood in front of the mirror in his quarters. Or rather one of his avatars stood in front of the mirror constantly adjusting its outfit while his original body lay unconscious on the bed, his higher brain functions currently controlling the android avatar. Halla walked by in her civilian attire which was made of the hides of some of the creatures she had killed. "Something wrong, Mark?" she asked.

"Maybe." he replied with a now female voice. "I just upgraded this body's sense of touch, and now this clothing is too uncomfortable. Maybe I made it too sensitive?"

"Or maybe it's because you are wearing leather without underwear." she responded. "Just because this body can't chafe doesn't mean your clothes can't be uncomfortable."

"You're right. I guess I've never worn leather before." said Mark. "Can I borrow some underwear then?"

"I'm .3 meters taller than this avatar." she said. "They wouldn't fit, and mine have a tail hole."

Mark nodded. "Shopping trip then?"

Halla agreed, so they stopped by the science lab, where Qo was busy with the chemical synthesizer he had just bought. "We're heading into the station." Mark said, sticking his head in the door. "Anything you need?"

"Yes." Qo responded. "Synthetic neurotransmitters, preferably with a good bit of acetylcholine. I can't manufacture them of a high enough quality with this equipment."

Mark looked puzzled. "What do you need neurotransmitters for?"

"For making Psyonic activators." Qo responded matter-of-fact.

"Uh, you do know that all psyonic activators are either restricted or illegal in this system, right?"

"Yes." Qo said flatly.

Mark shook his head. "Ok, then, but if I have to deal with the black market, you're making me some Empathy." Qo agreed, and Mark and Halla left for a cheaper sector of the bazaar, where people tended to ask fewer questions. They used the docking hatch to leave the ship, though, as the teleporter wasn't really needed.

Luna-2, as it appeared within view Kiri smiled. Another hunt for a bounty will be delivered and just in time because her supplies were running low. Hunting for someone for 2 months depletes quite some of the supplies, because this bastard was harder to catch than she had imagined.
"Ship 152666 asking for premission to land." as she spoke those words trough the com, she glanced at her screens for a moment. Everything was still looking good, but the ship took quite a beating when she had to lift off from that godforsaken planet.
"Ship 152666, you've got premission to land. Dockingbay 66 is all yours."

With a smile on her face, she moved the ship towards dockingbay 66 and swiftly moved it into landing position. As her ship flies inside the dockingbay, she activates the auto-pilot to land the ship and walks towards her holdingcells.
"You bloody bastard! Let me out of here right now!"
"Ofcourse you'll get out today, because it's time to deliver you."
With that said, she opens up the cage and within split seconds her tail is against the man his neck. Kiri smiles as she sees him gulping.
As she places the handcuffs around his wrists, she makes him move towards the door to exit the ship.

As she walks trough the dockingbay, her tails sweeps from left to right and her black jacket slowly moves along side her body. Her black pants genlty flows across her legs as her tail moves along side it. As her holsters are hidden underneath her jacket, she smiles at the guards she passes them she gives them a small nod.
"Time to get my money and get rid of you."
The elivator moves away from the dockingbay and stops at the entrance to the shopping district. Although it seemed a normal district on the surface, when you know your way around it, it shows quite some dark sides to it.
As she walks trough the streets, she notices how everyone glances at her and the man infront of her with his cuffs on. A grin appears for a second on her face as she moves forward, but without seeing it coming, the man turns around and punches her in her face.
Before recovering from the blow, the man runs off and leaves Kiri behind.

"Bastard..." she speaks beneath her breath, as she takes out one of her colts and spins the cilinder around. As it clicks back she fires off the gun. As the gun goes off, each and every spectator around her covers their ears.
Kiri slowly walks forward as she sees her bounty lying on the floor. A grin appears on her face as she sees him strugling to move his body.
"Always handy, having customized ammo." As her tail wraps around his neck to pull him up, she looks around for a moment and then continues her walk to collect her bounty.

Without hesitation, the massive metal monstrosity reared up onto its hind legs as geysers of steam shot from its sides, filling the air with a thin veil of mist. Warmth emanated from the creatures cold form, warming its frigid plated armor as engines and servos whirred and buzzed from within its body. The smaller set of arms on the lower half of the beast's large chest folded inward and the rest of its massive robotic body began to change. Slamming its heavy front talons on the steel floor, the beast let out a mechanical growl and its large arms reconfigured, followed closely by its hind legs, which bent backwards and increased in mass around the joints and pistons. What was the edged spine running down Prince's back split away from between its angular shoulder plates, segmenting out to become a long whipping tail tipped in a menacing blade.

Streaks of blinking neon rapidly illuminated the colossal metal sentinel. Energy gathered within its cores. It let out another series of chirps and clicks. Then, in a flurry of motion, the metal plates and mechanical muscles began to shift and reform around its new lowered posture and anatomy. Its head lowered, taking on a broader shape, and sprouting sets of three eyes on each side glowing bright red orange. Horns shot forward from its cranium, and a saddle like patch of padding and controls appeared across its back. A set of metal handle like reins emerged from two slots on each side of a dashboard that formed on the rear of the creatures haunch. After a few moments, the shifting of the beast's solid metallic armor plating slowly stopped, setting into place in specific places throughout its monstrous form.

Kneeling down onto its front arms, which were now forelegs, Prince brought its saddle mounted back down to level with Omorfiá. She could hear the low, rumbling engines and motors that growled within the creature as it keeled down beside her, gently vibrating the air around it with deep reverberations. The holographic display that sprawled across the dashboard on the monsters back dimly lit the air, lighting up the small particles that wafted past on the breeze from Luna-2's venting system. The creature waited for its master patiently, still passing the occasional fierce glare and onlookers.

Omor stepped up onto her newly transformed Pet and pulled out her riding goggles. She slipped them on, remembering the first time they had done this, on the Broken Dream. Needless to say, she nearly wrecked the place. Repairs took a few weeks to complete. She shuttered at the memory, however it wasn't a unpleasant one.

She tapped at the controls, and got the reins under control. Cracking her knuckles she started the engine of the Beast. Alright Prince, Thrusters at 48%, I want it to be fast but smooth. She said with a smirk as she tapped the final setting on the interface. It roared and hummed as she and it started galloping down the streets, making wind falls, pushing a few people out of the way. She made a hard left into an alleyway and then over a wall. She took the backroads, weaving through a path of confusing backroads.

Soon they would find themselves in front of the tavern known as "Marshal's". A seedy looking bar found in the lower tiers of Luar 2. All the usual suspects of a seedy bar would be seen. A broken window, the signs light flickered, and a few drunks would be found crashed outside. The reason she picked this place was because she knew the owner. Marshal used to live on the Broken Dream and it was always his dream to run a bar. Even a seedy one.

Inside, She would find her contact. She was hoping to hire them as protection for her citizens. They were a hearty group but they were like her children. She couldn't always be around to save them. She stepped down off of Prince and patted his head.

Good Job, Prince. Now Momma's gotta go do some business inside. You change back to Preditor mode and stand guard outside the door. No one enters, got it? If you're good I'll bring you some nice juicy power cells, the kind you like.

She waved goodbye and entered the door and looked for her contact. Where could they be, or more importantly, who?

Mark and Halla walked through the streets in a hurry. They had lost track of time shopping and were running late for their appointment. They hadn't even had time to drop off their new clothes at the ship. Halla saw "Marshal's" just up the alley and ran inside, followed closely by Mark.

Mark looked around. It didn't look like their client was here yet, so he slipped into an empty booth. Halla threw the backpack containing their clothes down on the bench beside him. "Do you want a drink, at least to keep up appearances?" she asked.

"Yeah, whatever makes me look the toughest." he answered. His avatar couldn't be harmed by it unless someone lit it on fire, and he was pretty sure he could ignore the taste long enough to swallow it.

Halla nodded and, a few minutes later returned with a glass of some black, viscous fluid that looked more like oil then liquor, a gallon of beer, and a roasted goat leg on a platter, slathered in some sort of barbecue sauce. He didn't even have to ask to know that it was flash cooked, blackened on the outside and still raw on the inside.

As she sat down the woman who contacted them walked in the door, turning around for a few seconds to talk to some giant robot or cyborg before looking around for him. Instead of greeting her, he played it cool and swallowed whatever it was Halla had brought him. It took him a few seconds of concentration before his gag reflex was completely suppressed and he could open his eyes again.

Omor saw the "Avatar" that Mark had possessed. The Technopathy that he controlled scared her a little, with the Nantes in her body and her B.E.A.S.T. What if he turned and killed her with her own body or even worse...

She brushed those thoughts away quickly. She walked up to the booth where he and his companion sat. She could tell it was him, the Avatar looked very out of place in this setting.

Hello, I'm Omorfiá. You must be Mark, its a pleasure. Lets skip the pleasantries and get to business. She sat on the other side of the booth, across from Mark. She pulled out a portfolio entailing the documents for his hiring.

Inside is the details. Its a simple gig. Watch over the Broken Dream and you'll get paid a portion of the income they bring in. Don't let anything happen to it. Simple. Upon investigation of the folder, it had pictures of The Broken Dream and pictues of the treasure she found. You'll be given some of my treasure as an upfront payment. Also, arrangements have been made for living quaters in the ship if you so desire.

Earth.

Humans homeworld, according to history. She hadn’t grown up here, but the seedier parts of the planet and their dark alleyways always felt homier to her than the junk piles of Xenerth. She had certainly spent a great deal of time in the seedier parts of the planet, at least once she had finally gotten out of the ass end of the galaxy. They had some really great clubs she’d love to visit again while she was here, but alas, no rest for the wicked and all that. She was here on business, as much as she’d much rather be here for pleasure.

The woman stretched as she walked, mechanical blue eyes giving her constant readouts on the surroundings. Nothing too out of the ordinary, but she always left the passive scanning functions active. Next to her, walked something that seemed to get a good number of looks from a number of people. She wasn’t surprised – the AI’s artificial body was hardly anywhere near complete. While it looked human, it looked like that human had gotten a number of bad cybernetic upgrades.

“Alright Meg…what all do we know about this Or’Taleen?” Alexis asked. It was rare for the AI to leave the ship for whatever reason – she much rather preferred to assist from afar. Alexis could only really guess at why she suddenly wanted to tag along. Well, technically she was still on the ship as well and anyone who wanted to speak with her there could still do so there - she was just extending her functions slightly to allow for this.

“Her name is Tara Taa'l from what Kidd and I gathered.” The AI’s single red eye turned towards Alexis as she replied with a mechanical voice. “She has been looking for a crew outside of other Or’Taleen species and has been causing a bit of a stir here. It seems most people aren’t too fond of a parasitic species walking around.” The AI’s head turned to their other companion – an ex-UGCP soldier who simply went by ‘Nova’. “Though, most are not aware Humans are unusual hosts for Or’Taleen.” A series of images suddenly popped up in Alexis’ vision as they walked. Files regarding the Or’Taleen and everything Omega and Kidd had managed to dig up. So far, Alexis didn’t see too many problems with hiring one, even if Nova seemed a little hesitant. They were good fighters, and that was all she really cared about.

Nova listened to the description that Omega gave of the Or'Taleen bounty hunter. Like some of the other crew members, Nova hadn't been to Earth for a long time now but unlike some of the others, he did not miss the planet as much. It was where he joined the military and at the time, he'd never look back. However, when it came down to it, Nova deserted the UCGP for a reason. Nova looked back at Omega, his lifeless helmet glaring back. When Nova replied, his voice was distorted and robot-like. No one on the ship really knew the reason why he decides to do this, but he definitely preferred to keep it this way.

"Or'Taleen Bounty Hunter..." He began. Even if his robotic tone was devoid of all emotion, you could tell that what he was about to say wouldn't be positive. "You think it's a good idea to let one on the ship, Alexis?" He asked. It was alarming to Nova that Alexis didn't ask any questions yet. If there was one thing that Nova did not want to be on a ship with, it was a symbiotic alien that latches onto a host for the sole purpose of completely ridding the host's identity, which was ironic coming from a guy who didn't want anyone to know his true identity.

“What?” Alexis turned her head towards Nova as they walked down the crowded street. Truthfully, she should probably think about the possible repercussions about letting some sort of symbiotic parasite aboard the Raid, but Alexis wasn’t exactly known to think that far ahead all that much. She did befriend an AI that joked about the ‘Machine Overlords’ at times after all. “It’ll be fine, Nova. What’s she going to do? Turn the whole crew into Or’Taleen?” The Captain replied with a grunt, tone indicating she found the very notion to be absurd. “She tries it, she’s gonna get reeeal quick understanding of how ‘1000 bullets a minute’ to the gut feels.”

“What Alexis is trying to say, Nova, is that she is aware of the risks but doesn’t think they’re relevant.” The AI replied. “I think it is an acceptable risk, though I do understand your concern. I plan to monitor her for a while to make sure nothing happens.”

Nova's hands couldn't help but twitch for his gun already. He wasn't going to take any chances in this meeting with the Or'Taleen. It amused Nova when he heard Alexis's response. Why yes, if they weren't careful, the whole crew could become part of the hive mind for all he knew. "Make sure you do, Omega." He warned. He knew the AI did a good job, even if she wasn't all there yet. UCGP kills for competent AI's. Sometimes quite literally.

"Where is this ' Taara Taa'l ' anyway?"

A small smile formed on the face of the AI’s artificial body.

“You sound like you don’t believe I can! I watch everything on the ship. Even you. In your sleep. And when you take off your armor, ‘Nova’.” If it was possible for an AI to be coy then that smile definitely meant she was. Whether she was telling the truth or not, was an entirely different matter.

“If she accepted Omega’s little message, then she should be waiting on us in a little café. Omega’s idea, since you’re not too keen on meeting her in general.” Of course, having a meeting like this out in the open was mostly for Nova’s sake. She’d have preferred a much less open area herself, but Omega had insisted.

Nova looked at the AI, his faceless mask seeming to be glaring at her. He decided not to try and call her bluff. Rest assured he would be accessing camera logs later to check that he had not made a mistake at some point. Nonetheless, still a task for later. Right now, Nova's priority was not becoming an Or'Taleen. "Regardless, it's a tactically superior choice to make meetings in the open. Reduces the odds of someone trying to pull something immensely." The soldier replied.

“It’d also be a tactical advantage if we were somewhere less crowded so we could get rid of her easily and not drag any bystandards in if she was a problem.” Alexis grunted in response. She supposed that did work both ways though, and at least like this it was more difficult for either parties to try something. Still, she didn’t think anything was going to happen. Call it a gut feeling or whatever you wanted. “Just don’t piss her off, and things will be fine. If not, then I blow her head clean off her shoulders.” She was of course, referring to the ‘Hornet’ she kept in her jacket at all times. No way in hell she was ever going anywhere completely unarmed.

“Hmm, we’re almost there I believe. I would keep it down…you know, unless you purposefully want to anger a symbiote. Then by all means! I’ll make sure to keep detailed notes of what happens~” The AI seemed almost a bit too amused at the thought.

When the three entered the cafe it wasn't hard to pick her out from the crowd. She sat on a stool off to one side ignoring the unpleasent glares she was getting from many of the patrons. The armor plates that were usually spread were packed closely together on her back so as not to get in other way and cause a disturbance. It looked like she had some kind of card cased backpack on. She could have distributed it across herself as body armor, but that isn't very casual and really only called for in battle.

Her expression seemed unamused by her present circumstances. It was just this stigma against her kind that she avoided places like this. But those were the terms and surely it was chosen to detur her from infecting the crew or something. Human's really knew nothing about the Or'Taleen. Noticing the trio approaching she remained in her seat but extended a hand in greeting, familiar with the custom of shakin hands. "Captain Alexis I persume. Thank you for agreeing to meet with me. As you can imagine it isn't that easy to find someone who is willing to give me a chance around here. I appreciate you setting aside some of your time to talk." Already Tara was appearing more chatty that most reports of her kind. Conversation with other species was usually kept to a minimum, just enough to get the job done and part ways.

Alexis reached forward, taking the handshake with a friendly though firm grip. As the Or’Taleen introduced herself, Alexis definitely found herself staring a little.

“Ah…oh dear…” Omega sighed. Knowing Alexis, she knew exactly what the human was thinking. A small message appeared at the corner of Alexis’ vision as Omega sent her a small message.

“Think about why we’re hiring her as an asset, please.”
“I am definitely thinking about her assets and my assets working together.”
“Alexis, no flirting with the parasitic alien or so help me the airlocks will suddenly fail.”
“Jeez, okay okay, mom.”

“Heh,” Letting go of Tara’s hand as the brief mental exchanged finished, Alexis took a seat next to the Or’Taleen. “Wasn’t given much of a choice.” Omega’s further pleads fell on blind eyes, causing the AI to simply take a seat on the other side of Alexis and monitor the conversation in case she was needed. “I had a little fairy pestering me for a month over hiring more crew. Who still won’t shut up.” Alexis suddenly winced, blinking her left eye a few times as Omega smiled innocently at Tara.

“Pleasure to meet you, Tara.” Omega replied. “I am Omega. The AI of the ship as well as the one who arranged this meeting since Alexis is far too incompetent to hold a proper conversation with someone.”

"I see. It's good to meet you both." Alexsis staring wasn't anything out of the ordinary for Tara so she didn't really notice. The alien wasn't quite sure how to respond to the exchange of the captain and AI. She felt as if she were missing something and her gaze wandered for a morment.

Her more experienced host felt the need to point out the likely reason to her. The woman is a cyborg. Judging from the glow in her eyes she likely has cranial implants and can communicate with the AI directly without needing to speak. There was a pause as their gaze moved to Nova. who had yet to speak. The expressionless helmet and armor didn't hide him from her extra sense. His emotion was like reading a book. "Yeah he doesn't trust you. I know you don't intend to, but don't give him a reason to shoot us."

The last part went without saying. They had the same body and thus the same senses. Either way Tara simply watched Nova and waited for for him to say or do something. That seeming a little rude of her she shortly offered her hand to him to shake as well. "You came in with the other two so I assume you're with them. What shall I call you?"

The soldier didn't partake in the immediate exchange. After all, Alexis was the captain so there was no need. However, when Tara turned to greet Nova, who stood at the side of the table with his arms folded, he reluctantly shook her hand. "Nova." He replied quite simply. Nova slunk his arm back and stood as he previously did, watching the alien. "Why do you want to join us?" He inquired. Nova didn't want to be on the ground any longer than he needed to be. The sooner they were away from UCGP, the better.

The question was somewhat difficult to answer. At least not without explaining a deal about herself and her host. "I suppose I would need to let you know more about myself. I'm not sure how familiar you are with how Or'Taleen reproduce other than us infecting a host body. Who and when that occurs has changed quite a bit from our early days of space travel. But a stigma is hard to change when there are so few of us and we aren't very communicative." She shrugged slightly.

"Not every host is unwilling. Mine for instance chose to become an Or'Taleen. Though one could say that was under duress, that alternatives were not very good. She was a pirate by the name of Tara Hadart. Once she was turned into the authorities she didn't have much chance of ever being free again." She could hear her host grumbling in the back of her mind. "All that to say the results of a willing host are not always predictable. For me it meant that most of my host's consciousness stayed intact and we share one body. She's taught me a great deal and mentored me these last thirteen years. Being so close to a human mind puts me in an odd position where I don't always feel in place with my own kind. if that makes sense. So here we are."

Nova looked off for a moment. "Hmph, maybe not being close to more Or'Taleen isn't such a bad thought." He commented.

Omega’s single eye widened considerably at Nova’s comment. Before she could do anything though, Alexis decided to do something herself in her usual not so friendly fashion. The human exhaled, shaking her head slightly before reaching into her jacket and pulling out her pistol followed by slamming the butt of it right into Nova’s helmeted head. It wouldn’t likely hurt the soldier much considering his armor, but it’d remind him not to open his big mouth again. She’d have said something else but Omega was telling her to keep her cool and reminding her to go over the details they discussed.

“You can ignore the tin can.” She said, resting the pistol on the table in front of them. Needless to say, it earned more than a few gasps and shocked stares from the patrons. Ugh, it wouldn’t have mattered if they were somewhere less ‘reputable’. “I honestly could care less about why you wanna come along as long as you ain’t gonna stab us in the back. I only care about two things. One,” She held up a single finger, leaning over slightly onto the table. “Whether or not you can fight. Omega says Or’Taleen are good at it, and since I’m throwing together a little crew, I need people who won’t get killed on their first job.” She held up a second finger. “Two, whether or not you can help run a ship. If you can do that, then I don't care about what your background is or whatever else.” She held out her hand this time, hoping to have reached at least some sort of agreement.

The soldier readjusted his helmet and glared at Alexis for a second. "What?" He said, even though Nova knew full well why he got the knock on his cranium.

The first question seemed somewhat silly considering what she was. "I can do both. Or'Taleen are bred to fight and I've learned to captain from my host. Our arrangement may not have been ideal but we make a great team." She took the hand. Seemed that Alexis didn't need a terrible amount of convincing.

“Great, welcome aboard and all that.” She gave the Or’Taleen a friendly, firm shake before standing up. “Alright, c’mon then.” Alexis replaced the gun back inside of her jacket. “Don’t want to stick around here longer than we’ve gotta. Places like this uptight café make me twitchy.”

“Sorry, Nova,” Omega said with a small smile as Alexis got up and made her way towards the exit. “We can discuss anything else once we’re aboard the Raid, Tara.”

With Alexis declaring their departure Tara didn't waste time talking. Seemed they were in a rush for whatever reason. Following behind Tara and the group headed to the Raid.

---

Getting back to the Thunder Raid didn’t take too long. Just a quick walk over to the spaceport and hopping onto a shuttle back to the Cruiser. For the most part, Alexis was glad to finally be done with that whole thing. She still wasn’t fond of the whole becoming some sort of captain thing, but Omega had been pretty insistent. She had managed to hire a few others over the last few years, but apparently Omega said they could use more. She kept quiet for the most part on the way back, as she had never really been one for small talk. Omega tried to at least make small talk with Tara on the way back to try and make the Or’Taleen feel a bit more welcome.

The trip, thankfully was over fairly quickly.

“Hum…” As the group stepped off the shuttle and back onto the hangar of the Raid, Omega squinted as she read through a few files Edstein had recently sent to the bridge. “Ah, it seems Edstein has found us a target.”

“Ah, great…” Alexis grunted, pulling off her jacket and slinging it over her shoulders. “Guess I gotta go talk to him.” Urgh, She had her fill of socialization already for today. The trip to the more reputable parts of any planet always grated on her nerves. “Once I talk with Edstein I’ll talk to you more, Tara. Feel free to do whatever…just uh, don’t touch the Mech.” Alexis started walking towards the bridge and her quarters. What she was talking about should have been fairly obvious – the ten foot tall suit of armor currently suspended above the hangar floor via several cranes and other machinery. It seemed it was in the middle of being reworked or at least maintained.

Omega’s artificial body simply stood there for a few seconds, seeming to wait to see what Tara would do.

Nova remained silent for the whole journey back. When Alexis walked away from the group in the hanger, Nova jutted a thumb over his shoulder to the hoverbike behind him in the far corner of the hangar. "That's mine..." He said. With that, he walked the opposite way to his quarters. Before he left the hangar entirely, he looked over his shoulder. "Oh, and Omega... Don't look in my quarters again..."

The Thunder Raid was a fairly nice looking ship Tara had to admit. The other two left Omega alone with Tara. After a few moments of awkward silence she spoke up. "So where will I be staying? I can drop off my things there and head to wherever I'm needed after that." The plates that had so far been holding to her back began to expand and a few held a bag that had her things in it. Her people weren't big on carrying or ever posessing a lot of things. Bringing it around to in front of her she took the bag in her hand.

Captain Elijah McDonnell perused some files as he reclined in his office chair in the Ready Room. Truth be told, he was just wasting time. 99% of space travel was boring and he really didn't like sitting on the bridge for hours on end, around so many people. Peace and quiet and isolation was this captain's prerogative.

The handsome dark-haired man took a sip of hot mint tea (probably synthetic) before his XO's voice came over the Comm: "We're ready for you on the bridge, Captain."

Captain McDonnell quickly swallowed his hot tea, a little too fast, and set the mug down on the desk that propped up his feet before leaning over and tapping a button his small monitor. "Thank you, Commander."

Placing the holo-pad on the desk, Elijah sighed deeply. Into the abyss we go, he commiserated to himself. However, his eyes continued to stare blankly into space, literally. The porthole to his left was quite a sight. It actually took him close to a minute to muster the emotional energy just to get up. He was not tired, lazy, or apathetic - he simply lacked interest in whatever the Coalition thought was so important here. He didn't know what it was, and he didn't care. For all he knew, it could be the Holy Cheese Sandwich of Argon IV. He wondered what he'd do if he found out that was the case...

As he emerged from the Ready Room and onto the bridge through the automatic double doors, a slight devious smirk played across his face.

"Report," he said needlessly, knowing Zanith would do it anyway.

Still, Elijah liked to seem motivated by the prospect of finding a relic for the Coalition. And it motivated the crew to see the captain in such an official capacity.

Inside one of the many restaurants that dotted Luna-2, a fishlike woman in a large tank was settled at a table alone. Achieng adored coming to the vast and varied markets of the Terran moon. So many shops full of clothing, jewelry, trinkets and food! Oh, the food! She had quite a few empty plates in front of her, and was working on one more. Of all the fascinating places she'd seen, the restaurants of Luna were some of the best. So many delicious foods that she'd never heard of. Like this juicy tidbit in front of her: the menu called it "steak". Achieng liked the rich redness of the meat, and the flavor of the seasonings. Fish didn't taste anything like this!

She'd just come off a recent job, counseling the traumatized survivors of a half-destroyed colony. Some of them had been very young, and she'd wanted to stay longer. However, the ship carrying them was able to find proper placement and homes for each of the survivors, and therapists of their own species. It had been a sad job, but since she'd had to fly out to the ship and meet it partway, they paid well for her emergency services. That had been a smart move - children's spirits could be fragile if they weren't helped quickly.

With her tablet in front of her, Achieng browsed for her next job.

@Infamous Empath
Staff sergeant Ba'is pulled on his helmet and stood with his men in the drop ship, a holoscreen shone on the wall where Ba'is stood, he tapped the screen and pulled up the intercom.
"captain, the men are ready and waiting for your command.", he pulled the communications tab onto his personal holoscreen and entered the cockpit, two pilots sat in wait for his command.

Private Willis is a green recruit a green replacement for the last man who died, only being listed into the squad the week before whilst the squad was hunting down an escaped convict on Luna.
"this is your first time on earth right?" corporal Yamada said over personal communications, Willis struggled with the Comms and opened up the tab.
"heh, yeah, I've got the butterflies!" he said over the group Comms, the squad chuckled, Yamada patted his back and laughed as well, she pointed to the blue part of her personal holoboard, Willis tapped that area on his own board.
"it's your first day, stick with me and I'll teach you everything I know."
"alright."

As Omorfiá slid into place, she could feel a subtle warmth rising from the cushion that perfectly conformed to her body. Settling into place behind the dashboard, she could see several meters and information readouts monitoring things like speed, wind resistance, and fuel level. An interface featuring a small holographic topographical layout of the area around them for a few hundred meters with the option to zoom out projected from the center of the dashboard as Omorfiá grabbed onto the metal handles in front of her. The reins popped out from their holsters on each side of the dashboard, tethered in place by metal cords. Once she was settled in, curved metal plates padded on the inside with a soft material similar to velvet shot out from beneath her feet and slid up the length of her legs, fastening her in place from the knees down. Gentle vibrations rocked through her body as the growling engines wound up within the mechanical steed below her. With a destination selected, Prince took off, peeling out of the crowds and darting down the neon lit street, narrowly avoiding pedestrians and obstructions before diving left into the dark recesses of an alley.

In no time they were half way across the district, coming to a slow stop in front of the rather run down bar. Steam sprayed from the sides of the robotic mount, its motors revving down, as Omorfiá drew on the reins. Text marking that they had reached their destination flashed across the bottom of the dashboard for a few moments, followed by a data readout from scans of the bar and the amount of life signs within, before the restraints around her legs slowly dropped back into Prince's metallic hide and it knelt down to let her dismount. She could hear the quiet buzzing of servos as the surroundings were taken in be her sentinel. It wasn't the safest looking part of town, nor was it very well maintained. Articles of trash and paper crunched lightly beneath the monsters heavy gait as it stepped up with its master to the entryway of the seedy "Marshals" Bar.



Prince gave an oblivious gaze as Omorfiá waved and entered the building. After a few moments, it turned and looked behind it toward the dark alley they had came through to get here. It was quiet for a few moments before the sound of whirring servos and hissing pistons began to fill the alley as a surge of motion overtook the mechanical steed's body. Its tail retracted into its spine and its shoulders spread apart, allowing plates to shift up and down the length of its torso. Steam clouded around the creatures transforming body, leaking from exposed inner workings of gears and circuits as they rapidly cooled and reformed. Shoulders locked back into place and metallic muscles weaved themselves over joints and down the lengths of its ample body. Within moments, the mechanical monstrosity had returned to its primary form.

Incoherent blubbering subtly emanated out from near by as the drunkards watched the monster reshape before their eyes. Suddenly, it turned, glaring straight through them with a menacing eyeless grimace. A low mechanical snarl reverberated from the beast, subtly shaking the alley as it postured toward them. They took the hint, scrambling for their lives, knocking down trash cans as they desperately put distance between them and the horrifying machine. With the rabble outside cleared away, Prince turned, giving off a quiet whine as it gazed pointedly toward the entrance of the dingy bar. It was hesitant for a moment, before the attention returned to its demeanor. After scanning around the alley one last time, the mechanical creature let out a echoing robotic hiss before reaching up and scaling the front of the bar. A silent phasing sound emanated from the beast as its body began to disappear, quickly blending in with the dreary colors of the surroundings. In seconds, the hulking metal beast had vanished into thin air, observing the door and its master silently from the shadows.

@t2Wave

---

"Aw, but you're so cute Nova." Omega replied with a small grin as Nova walked off. Chances were, she wasn't going to comply with that request so easily. Not that Nova would know that...or maybe she would. She did get bored, rather easily - especially at night when nothing was happening and it was just her ant the ship. Turning back to Tara though, the Ai gave her a warm smile.

"Aha, sorry about that. Not the friendliest welcome, is it?" The AI responded to Tara. "Alexis has never really been good with that sort of thing and Nova is...well, Nova. He's good at his job, at least though. If you'll follow me, I'll show you to your quarters, then." Motioning for her to follow, Meg started walking at a leisurely pace towards the area where Nova had been going. Most of the crew quarters were located towards the back of the ship, if only because the front of the ship was where most of the important operations took place.

The walk was mostly silent, though not out of unfriendliness. Now that she was back aboard the Raid she had to make sure most of her attention was making sure nothing was too out of place since she left. Engines were running cool, no one had messed with the flight paths, Kidd hadn't done anything stupid...for the most part everything was running well enough. If Tara had something to talk about though, Meg would have been more than happy to answer. The somewhat narrow hallways perhaps would have made the Or'Taleen somewhat uncomfortable, but there wasn't much Nova could do about it - the ship hadn't really been designed to house anything other than people of human size. Soon enough though, they would arrive where Tara's room would have been.

"Here we are!" Meg said, opening the door to the room and stepping inside to make sure everything was in order. The room itself was decorated with basic furnishings, and much like the rest of the ship. A few key differences though, was that the bed was a bit larger - perhaps a queen sized bed, with the ceiling a bit taller and more space in the middle of the room. "Since I wasn't entirely sure erm, how large of an Or'Taleen you were, I took the liberty of making sure there was a bit more space here than in the rest of the ship, at least. You're free to decorate it however you want later, and I can give you a tour of the rest of the ship and introduce you to everyone else if you want. It would be a good idea to at least introduce you to Kidd, Edstein, and Rulgath I think before we head out on our next bounty. For now if you want to get comfortable, I need to go check on the engines and make sure the guns are calibrated correctly. If you need me again, there's a terminal outside in the hallway you can reach me at."


@Thread Generator SIN

---

After leaving Tara, Alexis went right to her quarters, unzipping her jacket and tossing it over her shoulder as she walked. Well, that went better than she had expected...better than with Nova had at least. But then, She admittedly acted a lot better that time around. Heh, at this rate she'll be a goddamn intergalactic diplomat or something. She chuckled to herself as she made her way into the bridge and up the stairs located their to her quarters. Ironically, her room was probably one of the smaller ones in the place. She wasn't fond of sleeping in large rooms - made her feel uneasy. Back on Xenerth, her room consisted of a rather small shack with a bed and only, and was...cozy, to say the least. She had never really grown out of that little quirk.

Shelves with books on computing, sciences, and other things were stacked all the way to the ceiling and took up an entire wall. Against the far wall sat a portable computer terminal mounted to a wall currently - which also was where her bed was located under it so she could just pull it out and play it without having to move it. Kind of redundant, since she could do most cybernetic and other information gathering over the net with just a few thoughts and movements with her eyes. With a grunt, and pulled off her clothes took a quick shower - might as well go ahead and change if Edstein had found something.

Not ten minutes later she left her quarters dressed in her usual black suit, Hornet strapped to her side as she made her way towards the Bridge, where the video feed Edstein had patched in was playing.

"Alright, Eddy," Alexis grunted into the com units he had previous used. "Meg says you found us a target."

@Lovisa ColdeyesMark reached out to shake her hand, ignoring the drink in front of him and hoping that she didn't pay attention to it either. "Omorfia, nice to meet you." He looked at her arm. "Nice tech," Mark said, and then looked over the photos. "Treasure hunting refugees? That's different." He flipped through the photos, saving an image of them for later use, and passing them to Halla.

She licked the barbecue sauce of of her fingers and grabbed then, looking them over. "I recognize that." she said. "That's a jeweled statue of Casca, a Hibros god-king from about thirteen thousand years ago, before we went to space." She passed tossed the pictures down on the table, causing them to slide over to the other woman. "Definitely worth our fees." She looked over to Mark. "I say we do it."

Mark nodded. "Depending on how big the cut is, it could be good. Sure we can talk."

Alan/Aurora

As the people on the streets below went about their business, just over their heads, seated on top of a roof providing a good vantage point, sat Alan, or if you wanted to get technical Aurora 2.0. The two looked identical in almost every way, in fact, if it weren't for the faint shade of blue in the clone's hair, and the fact their head piece was on the opposite side, you could swear they were twins.

Alan had never been one to enjoy crowded areas and this place was no exception. Still, his crew had to make a pit stop and take care of a few errands so he and Aurora took the opportunity to get some fresh air. As his partner went off to find some good deals, he was just resting here and letting his mind wander as he once more reflected on what his father was up to...and what he would think of his son in this situation.

Of course, his thoughts were interrupted by a familiar voice,"You know. I'm not one to judge when it comes to picking spots to take a nap, but the top of a building in a busy district may attract the wrong kind of attention."

Alan opened an eye and leered over at where his friend, Aurora stood, smiling brightly, "Well, well, this is a surprise. Didn't feel like spending another three hours looking for the right kind of sprinkles to go on cupcakes?" Despite his words, he/she smirked at their friend.

"Very funny," Aurora stuck out her tongue playfully before taking a seat next to them, "So, thinking about your dad again?" The former human tilted his head at this while the siren rolled her eyes, "Oh come on. I don't need psychic powers to know when you're in one of your moods," She sighed, "Look, I get that you wanna make things right with him...but if you focus on that one thing you're gonna lose out on the good things you got right now...like me, for instance," She winked at him, causing the lad to chuckle.

"But seriously, think about it..." She floated away from him and spun in a circle with her arms out as if trying to hold the world in her hands, "You and me...we got the ability to go anywhere, do anything we want, and nothing can stop us. There's so many beautiful places I wanna show you and things I need to teach you too! So please..." She floated back and took his hand, "Let's...just enjoy this moment...ok?"

Alan looked down for a moment....before nodding, "Yeah, you maybe right...let's go do something fun."

Aurora squealed and yanked him off the roof causing the two to fall towards the floor, passing by several rafters...only for a single figure, their fused self, to gently float to the ground and take a look around before turning to enter the bar.

@Lovisa Coldeyes