Current Deployment: Jupiter's Moon, Callisto
Current Time: 1416 Post Meridian, Earth Standard Time, 2207.
Current Crew: Five Active Personnel.
Current Assignment: Pending.

“I mean, it looks like a mining ship.”

Abigail rubbed the back of her neck, peering up at The Wight with a clear expression of disappointment. It was a clunky thing, flat and stout, with two odd-looking engines stuck onto each side as if it had been salvaged from another spacecraft. It had the plainest decoration possible; just a serial number etched on the side and the Empire’s regulated colours to identify it as part of the Grays’ official vehicles. It was almost akin to going adventuring in a council rubbish truck.

Victor squinted at the ship, nodding to himself before realising Abigail's confusion.
“That’s because it is.” he explained, passing her over a rolled up schematics sheet that contained the layout of the ship itself. “We’ll be incognito, that doesn’t mean we’ll be completely useless.”

“What the fu-...n?” Abigail only took a cursory glance at the schematics and had to hold them close to her nose, squinting at them. “Oh my god,” she murmured with emphasis. “How did they manage to fit all this into such a tiny ship?” Abigail raised and lowered the schematics as if she was trying to compare the two.

“We know what we’re doing. We got a briefing coming up first thing, so don’t go exploring just yet, will you?” he’d say before starting to make his way towards the ship, up it’s extended ramp. Abigail, who had already started making a beeline for the engines, let loose an audible groan of frustration and scurried back to follow Victor into the ship via its cargo bay.

“Hey, Captain?”

“Harlow.” he retorted, indicating his attentiveness.

“You talked to my mum, right? Did you also get the feeling she didn’t want me going?” sighed Abigail, peering down at her holopad with uncertainty.

“Oh. Yeah, no. She definitely doesn’t want you here.” he paused, slowly making his way to what would be the briefing room, luggage still in hand. “But then again, most mothers wouldn’t want their children working for the government.”

“Mmh...But I want to be here,” Abigail responded tetchily. Using the schematics, the pair of them navigated the ship’s interior towards the briefing room just behind the cockpit. “She’s scared of ‘losing me’ or something - thing is, I’m probably not going to leave the ship. And with these shields? I’d go out and taunt the pirates from the top of the engine rig!” She tapped what had to be the shield generator on the schematics. “Worst thing that’s gonna happen is I might get too excited over these plans and bleed to death before we get into orbit.”

Once they entered the briefing room, Abigail let loose a low whistle. It really was kitted out for a long-term, incognito mission. More importantly, there was a distinct lack of people in the room. “Ok, we’re early. Please may I take a look around? I’ll be back in like...3 minutes! 4, tops!”

“Harlow, I didn’t order you, I just suggested. I’m expecting you to be present for it, -timely-.” he ignored her, seating himself. Abigail hopped from foot to foot, dumped her luggage on the floor and went sprinting out of the door.

Yikes, the young woman thought to herself, a right hand placed judgementally on her partially bare waist, left hand slinging her luggage over her shoulder. She had hoped the Grays would have been able to afford a better ship. This one looked like an old mining ship- a mining ship even more obsolete than her ship back in the Belt. Reika wondered how well in handled. 'The Wight'. What the hell kind of stupid ship name was that? Reika had never heard that word in her entire life. The door slid open as she approached, and the interior looked much like the outside. There was still hope, she thought. It could handle like a dream. Maybe. She followed the markings to the briefing room, and the door opened upwards to reveal an older looking gentlemen that looked he had seen some shit. Mid forties? She made eye contact and then quickly glanced around the room.

Unbeknownst to Reika, she entered but a minute or two after Abigail Harlow left to explore. Reika leaned against a wall, setting down the luggage carrier with a thump. It was full of spare clothes and other necessitites of life. Currently, however, Reika was wearing a black cropped tank top, and a pair of black form fitting leggings that travelled into a pair of practical black boots. The theme, you can tell, is black. It matches her hair which is currently tied into a bun.

"Hey," she greeted Victor, nodding her chin up. "Name's Reika, uh, Reika Saigyo. I'm a pilot. I guess I'll be flying this piece of garbage? The Whehft?" She said, knocking on the steel wall, unaware that the ship was quite capable, nor or how to say the word 'Wight'.

Finn smiled as he saw the wight, it reminded him of the old mining ships that he used to see in The Belt which were affectionately nicknamed 'clunkers' on his home station. Something seemed off about it though, despite its rugged appearance it was too clean and there weren't enough side panels missing, there weren't even any large dents in the hull. Adjusting his bag on his back and making his way inside he noted that the equipment all looked too good to be used in a clunker, it almost seemed as if half the ship wanted to fall apart whilst the other half wanted to fly across the galaxy and back again. Sighing, Finn stopped and rested against the wall of the corridor remembering the times he'd traveled on a rickety old mining ship as an escort and how it had always managed to make him fear for his life as it took off.

Setting off again he slowly made his way to the briefing area taking in his new surroundings as he meandered through the various rooms. Walking through the sliding doors of the briefing area Finn saw that two of his new crew mates had already arrived. Carefully setting down his belongings he eyed the pair curiously, the older gentleman looked around his age (though Finn didn't look their age) looking at the young lady made him shiver, he didn't know how young people could wear such thin clothes and still be warm. Reaching out a hand whilst pulling his coat tighter with the other he greeted them both, "Hello there I'm Finn Olsen, and who might you be?" He said whilst giving them a warm smile.

Victor was already busying himself with organising several files located on one of the digital desks around the briefing room as Reika walked in and introduced herself. Without looking much in her direction, and instead focusing on scrolling through a particular folder, he responded: “Wight. Like the color,” and finished up his work before turning the chair to finally face her. He hadn’t previously worked with a non military pilot; in fact, his rank never needed him to talk to his crew in general, which is exactly why he had asked for the woman and other members personal files. She seemed capable enough, and he knew better than to judge someone before any blatant mistakes. Nevertheless, Victor knew it would take a while to adjust his cold, curt attitude to better suit the new conditions he was working in.

“Victor Strade. I was just looking over what files they’ve left.” he scowled, not particularly at her, but more so out of habit. “We’re just waiting for our navigator and doctor it seems, the engineer is already gushing over the equipment they’ve got for us. Place is a lot bigger than you’d think. Judging by what they’ve given me about your past that shouldn’t be an issue for you though.”

Just as the duo were engaged in conversation, in walked a weathered old man that Victor could only assume was Finn Olsen before having his suspicions confirmed by the mans introduction. Finn was a bit more of a peculiar sight, if he remembered correctly the man wasn't any older then himself but easily looked twice it. “Victor Strade. We were just getting over our introductions.” he explained.

“I gave my copy of the layout to the engineer, she should be with us before we get briefed. It’s rather roomy however, so we don’t have to worry about privacy. I hope you both enjoyed your trip here more than I did, I’m not used to public airport customs.” Victor continued, by now he was stood in front of the circular table that was positioned in the middle of the briefing room.

---

---

Her full name was Yvonne Nikkal Goodchild and she was a pilot, in fact she had been reconstructed to be one of the best operators of such craft in the solar system and even though she had only a couple years of experience she was dedicated to making that more than a simple boast. Presently she was linked in with the systems of the Carrion as it orbited Calisto’s dark side.

The third largest moon in the Solar system after Ganymede then Titan who was Saturn’s largest moon and almost the same size as Mercury and less than half its mass it was in an orbit unaffected by the gas giant’s magnetosphere as well as outside its radiation belt. It was as well one of the most cratered bodies in the Sol system which made its darkside glitter when it faced the sun and unlike the other moons charged-particle irradiation barely had any effect on its surface. All this had made it one of the first places colonized back in the age of exploration outside of Mars orbit because it’s chemical composition made for a good source of fuel without the dangers inherent elsewhere; for Nikki’s faction’s use it was perfect.

Before she’d been called on to fly the other members of the Alvirstein Nikki had done some solo piloting in the belt moving roids or ore into orbits for extraction of the valuable resources and now she was moving Mercs; not that she minded. She in fact enjoyed having company aboard, it gave her people to watch, people to learn from; it had been lonely out in the belt alone.

When she heard Ry say he was having a meeting on the bridge she turned up the lights so that those that came could see better then relaxed and waited for their appearance.

As she waited for the others she decided to run a full passive scan of local space to verify the Carrion wasn’t being tracked or approached even though she had done so several times already; “If you have time there is no reason not to check your Six” echoed in her mind.

Swish, crack, boom, crack. The snapping of air as it was split gave a loud cry before the deafening sound of Aelithia's left leg hitting a bag that lit up with each strike. A screen projected the amount of force and speed behind each. She would pause between each kick. She was ensuring they had an equal or more rating on the screen. Her sweat was flying from her leg and face. She was breathing with fast and heavy sucks at the moment she propelled her leg to deliver a kick. The bag would bend as if it would stay that way however as it came back down it returned to normal. A marvelous design of alien technology and a human primal inclinations.

She placed her hair in a ponytail. Using a band she had on her wrist. She began to hear the sound from the intercom. She was just winding down on her training for now when it happened. She took slow breathes and walked to a mirror. This was her room. It was spacious indeed but it also led right to the weapons storage room. She had a clear view of the weapons from her other wall monitor. She listened to Paladin talk while she wiped her face with a container of water and a towel. She was wearing a small pair of blue shorts, a white undershirt and her pink towel hung from over her shoulders.

She walked with a casual switch while drinking her water with a steady pour, her lips puckered to take it in. She briefly took the water top out of her mouth. "I hope this is worth it." She muttered out loud as she walked down the halls bare foot. Finally approaching the bridge she crossed her arms in anticipation. "So what's the deal?" She asked frankly to no one in particular. Her assumption was that Nikki could easily make out where she was and what she said to be a part of the conversation. Even if she didn't want her to be.

“Uh huh... Got it… Love you too, mom. Bye.” Jin turned to his crew. “Alright. We guessed it would happen. Get on the ship, let’s go!” He ran up the docking bay and scampered up the ladder. He jumped into his pilot seat and started up the engines. Jin flipped a switch and spoke into the microphone. “All hands, get to jump stations. We’re leaving as soon as we can.” The ship’s stardrive spooled to life. The antigrav lift-off plates started lifting the Dragon Goddess into the air. “Take-off in 3… 2… 1…” The ship jumped and accelerated toward space. The red Martian soil soon became a distant blur as the ship’s StarDrive launched it to the speed of light. He punched in the ship’s next destination: Uranus. “Heh, Uranus.”

---

Sevro had been staring at the tiara for the last few minutes wondering if he should wear it. On one hand, it would be fun wearing a fortune on his head. But on the other, hand people might recognize it for what it is. The tiara is, more like was, an ancient Gray heirloom usually gifted to young women of the family at their coming of age ceremony. Sevro finally decided against it and tossed it in the bag with the rest of his treasures. Turning to leave the vault, he showed his eye to the retinal scanner and stepped out of the vault into a hallway of the bank. As he made his way out of the bank a teller nodded their head to him, “Good day, Mr. Stronburg.”

”Have a nice day, Timothy.” As he walked out onto the street, Sevro began to head back to his ship. Sevro had always liked the banks on Uranus best because they did the least in background checks. As Sevro turned the corner, he froze in his tracks. ”But… that is my ship…” He was currently watching his ship fly away without him in it. Well, it hadn’t always been his ship, it had once been a navy frigate that had been patrolling the asteroid field. He could see multiple police cruisers surrounding his ship as they escorted it away. “Bloody thieves stole my ship”

---

oh god

Luna bolted upright, eyes wide, a wave of unease washing over her. It was nearly time to-

A metallic ping echoed by her leg, she felt her face flush. The sound left her ear ringing for minutes...? No, not right, too long.

It was nearly time to... her head was fuzzy, too loud to think, thoughts were hard to hold onto.

"Ow..." Mechanical precision asserted itself over her erratic heartbeat, sending a sharp jab of pain through her chest. The electronic pacemaker kicked her out of her reverie, and elicited a much more emphatic, "Ow!"

Luna blinked, frowning as the last bits of her confusion were whisked away and her head cleared. She glanced around, slowly piecing things back together. Room, rented. Right, Uranus, mining city. Had to find a place to stay.

Her eyes were drawn downward, a discarded pair of pliers were lying on the floor by her feet, a piece of jagged metal the size of her palm in their grasp. A tangled mess of wires hung from her thigh, a sight which was no less disconcerting than it sounded, that limb numb even from the artificial facsimile of sensations it offered because of the disconnected wiring. That, or as a result from the-now empty-syringe she realized she had been holding. Numbness was not something she'd been expecting from using it, but it wasn't entirely impossible.

Luna looked back down to her partially disassembled leg and events started to link together in sequence. She'd be shot in the leg, by what it was hard to say, she never did find the shell. Not on purpose, they were aiming for... someone else. A grenade had gone off, a piece of shrapnel lodged itself in her other leg and her arm. The real part of her arm; Luna felt the cold squeeze of a synthetic medwrap around it. She had been escorting supplies to an engineer, Hawthorn, the gunmen were after her; Luna had been caught in-between. Words quickly devolved into a firefight, she distinctly remembered Hawthorn not making through that in uh, one piece. Funny how certain detail stick.

How she ended up on some nearly backwater industrial platform was beginning to make sense. She'd stuck around Hawthorn's place after everyone else had cleared out, and the engineer had gotten a call from someone who wanted to make use of her talents. Given that the person in question wasn't going to be in any state to answer in this life, Luna had taken the liberty of covering for the permanently indisposed. A trader had gotten her to Uranus, where the contact had stated she'd meet someone to bring her up to speed on the finer details of the job. That was... a few days ago, maybe? Time was still strongly disregarding her attempts to pin it down.

Either way, consulting the worn holopad thrown on the bed next to her confirmed the whole finer details thing was going to happen in a few hours.

It only took a few minutes for her to pull herself back together, quite literally as her foot spasmed as she reconnected wires and sealed the prosthetic, and haphazardly shoving her tools back into her back. Her pistols holstered at her hips and rifle slung across her back accounting for the rest of things in this universe she could call her own, Luna exited the less-than-civilized housing complex and made for the nearby spaceport, absently thumbing her communicator. She opted to walk rather than take transportation, using the time to try and get it into her head that these people hired a one Felicity Hawthorn, and she didn't want to disappoint them in that regard.

---

---

When the Paladin's call went through, the Erkani science-officer was already seated close to the holo-map console, as they found its dim glow and shifting colors relaxing, good for work. In their left hand, they held open a text on particle physics – an introductory treatise that would have been cheaper in a digital format, but for translation work they preferred hardcopy, as staring too long into the LCD glow of a reader was painful. Their left hand trailed a pressurized-cartridge pen over the pages of a thick notebook, tracing the swirling characters of Erkani calligraphy as they prepared their translated manuscript. The translator-turned-mercenary had brought along plenty of such work for this voyage; all of their personal effects that were not weapons, ammunition and safety equipment consisted of hardcover books on the various sciences, spare ink cartridges, and blank notebooks. While their skill in botany had been enough for Alvirstein to hire them for the position of science-officer, the Erkani did not believe expertise in a single discipline would be sufficient, and so resolved to devote their spare time to studying and translating texts from other key disciplines, starting with the foundations and working their way towards more esoteric knowledge.

As the Paladin's call went out over the intercom, the translator sealed the pen, closed the notebook, and slid both between the pages of the larger book to mark their place, sliding the whole assemblage into a drawer below the console. Free-time was over; another crewmember turned up the lights on the bridge for the comfort of the others, leading the Erkani to reflexively close their translucent second set of eyelids, dimming the light back to their own comfort level as they waited for information on the mission.

clunk, clunk, clunk, clunk...

If anything were to be said about the old Havikka, it was that she was definitely not a pushover.

Sporting an overfull backpack almost as big as herself, as well as a shoulder-slung rifle that was actually bigger than her, and carrying two cases, one in each hand, Mdazi made short work of the task as she clunk-ed her way up the Wight's boarding ramp. The ship was fairly small and bland, but from the brief handed down to her she knew its true purpose and potential. All that remained to be said were the commands issued forth from the one they called Strade.

After a few moments of trundling through the airlock, Mdazi made her way into the ship, still burdened with all her gear. She remembered having to do similar carrying in the time of the Harbinger's enslavement, which had strengthened her and removed her desire to complain after years of servitude. But this as a different assignment - a nobler cause, one that the Queen Emily Gray had demanded of the Empire. To search out for treasure was not the most fulfilling of tasks - to Mdazi, at least - but one that she felt could occupy her time all the same. Her work in the interim, patching wounds and mending bone, would satisfy her.

Soon, the Havikka came upon the briefing room, where a few fellows occupied the space. She stopped her clunk-ing, and took in the surroundings.

"Hello," she said simply, and waited to be addressed.

---

* * * * *

---

The evening lights of Saturn City danced across the artificial horizon as the nightlife sprung up and flitted about the streets in a rancorous spill of bodies and spilled drink. Surely SCS would be around and haul a few off to the holding cells tonight, as they did every night. For all the sin spread about the city, the Addison Corporation still had to keep the peace.

She went over her files again. The PubSec grunt - the pilot - was due aboard the Darcy by now. As she kicked her feet up on the console of the aforementioned ship, Carly settled into the command chair, her boots now obscuring the artificial setting sun projected from the City's dome. If that Killchain fucker didn't get here soon...

It didn't matter. The others were off-world. Once Kobayashi dragged the other two to Saturn, the real work would begin. She glanced at the Will again, noticing its obvious clue. Maybe it wouldn't be so hard to find this treasure. Maybe she wouldn't get paid as much if it was... Eh. She could just claim gross incompetence on the part of the others and claim more of their pay for herself. AdCorp as good like that.

...

What kind of a name was Killchain anyway?

---

* * * * *

---

"Astorix, you fucking twit, how many times have I told you that I'm to make the announcements here?"

Savis' jaw was clenched in annoyance as he stomped his way onto the bridge. He huffed briefly and scanned the faces of each of the crew members. They were a fine crew, eager and prepared for anything, if a little bit too unruly and unwilling to follow orders. That was his job. He was here to rein them in, and by god would he make sure that they did not, under any circumstances, fuck around. No, not on his watch. The boss wouldn't put up with monkeying around and neither would he.

Nevertheless, he moved up to the main console where Paladin was seated, where the bounty hunter had brought up the scan of the will. Leaning over the console, Savis keyed in a command and put the image of the Will up on the main monitor where the rest of the crew could see.

Making sure the crew's attention was on the will, Savis himself briefly scanned the first bit, before concentrating on the direct words of Emily Gray. He was almost at the end of the paragraph when he noticed a small detail. Finally finished with it, he turned around to the rest of the crew, scanning over them once again before addressing them.

"Well? Don't tell me you don't see that."

Aelithea was suddenly feeling a bit cold. The ship was relatively warm it was just the cold metal and plastic that didn't absorb heat that made her hairs stand on end. A visible result in her white shirt from her bosom. Nonchalantly she took her seat and crossed her long bare legs vertically. The rowdy banter from the two men of the crew made her yawn. Stretching kept her attention occupied. Bringing her arms up her shirt revealed her belly button briefly before it was covered again when her arms came down. She turned to see the Erkani alien in all its sleek slender and curious form. She marveled at its odd other worldly complexion before turning her attention to the screen of the Queen's will.

"I can't wait to see some graves." Sarcasm from the corner seat. She tapped her foot on the floor playfully whilst wearing a smirk on her face. Her shorts being pinched down periodically by the thighs. Sports attire not meant for sitting in plastic slippery seats. She was not that comfortable now and her smirk wore off. She instead merely gazed at the screen they were highlighting. Looking at the word grave with them she found what they were going on about. Then she looked at Ryland who scanned the seats. This prompted her to catch his eye with her own natural green ones.

The light of the monitors reflected off her eyes giving a piercing neon glow to them as she gave him a playful wink while simultaneously lifting her shirt up slowly, a tongue sticking out at him like a snake hissing. Yet it was a tease. Meant to be behind everyone's back, or if anyone else saw she didn't mind. The sweat from her body glistened over the foundation of her hardened abdomen. Nothing was shown beyond her belly button and honed musculature.. and anyone else that may have been flustered by her would be a bonus. But at the moment she targeted the Paladin.
@Verticus

---

Sevro watched for a second as the police backed his frigate out of the dock it had been stationed at. Finally he came out of his shock and started sprinting towards his ship yelling. “Stop! Stop! That's my ship ya taking!” The first officer he came up forced him to stop. “Calm down citizen, what is the problem?”

“Your fucking stealing my ship!!! What the hell do you think is my problem!” At that remark the officer began to pull out his handcuffs. “I'm going to need you to come with m-” Sevro stepped aside as the officer collapsed to the ground unconscious from the blow to his head. Shaking his hand he began to Sprint towards the edge of the docks. Pressing a button behind his ear, his helmet slid into place from under his clothes.

His hud lit up and he could feel his suit start giving him a slight boost. As he reached the edge he jumped and ignited his micro boosters. Hurtling towards his ship he looked for one of the many hatches along the ships hull. As he passed one by he stuck his hand out and grabbed it. If it wasn’t for his suit his arm would have been ripped from it’s socket. Using the suits strength he ripped the door open and stepped through.

As Sevro moved down the hallway towards his room he could hear police talking a floor above him. Luckily the police had yet to make it to this floor and Sevro made it to his room unnoticed. Opening the door he immediately ran to the locker where he kept his explosives. Grabbing a duffel bag that was on top of the locker, he began shoveling the explosives into the bag. After that he ran over to his bedside and grabbed his gun. Now it was time to destroy the evidence that he owned the ship.

Jogging through the hallways Sevro could hear police getting closer to him. As he turned the corner he came face to face with an officer coming from the other direction. Without thinking Sevro drew his pistol and shot the officer in the shoulder. The force of the round ripped the man's shoulder off and sent it flying. Screaming the man dropped to the ground. Sevro silenced him with another shot and grabbed the man's stun baton. Putting his gun away he ran to the elevator and pressed the up button.

Two officers were standing in the elevator talking when it opened up. Sevro rushed into the elevator and slammed the baton int one of the officers knees. The shock caused the man to fall to his uninjured knee. Sevro spun around and nailed the other officer in the neck, causing him to fall limp to the floor. Sevro kicked the remaining officer in the head and turned around to face the door. “Now to the bridge.”