The soundless, darkness of space was spotted with distant stars and planets. A rather large, completely white planet looked like it had no clouds in the atmosphere, although there were small patches of red. Just then, a large metallic space ship appeared near the orbit of this planet. It was scratched, beaten up, yet still in tact and running smoothly.

Inside there was a room playing some mixtures of big band from the 1950's. The walls and floors were made of the same metal, but the room had maps of planets he's been to. Pictures taken from others, posters of bands, or women as well. It was the largest room on the ship, belonging to the Captain of the Marauders. Jason Hunt sat down at his desk, his legs on the table, whistling along to the tune. This was ancient music for them, but Jason really liked the sound. There wasn't anything like it anymore.

Jason was a very handsome young man, his brown hair messy, but had a certain perfection to it. His dark green eyes looked intensely at a small piece of machine he was messing with. He wore a dark leather space jacket, a dark t-shirt with cargo pants made of a rather strong material intended for space travel, and boots. He had a bit of a five o'clock shadow.

As Jason Hunt sat there staring at the small device, he heard a small ping on the center of the table. Looking up, he saw that he was receiving a call from the Head of the Committee. Although there was an official Committee member on board, Jason still had control of his ship, and the members on board. He pressed a button, and went back to putting his legs up on the counter. "Evening, Chairman." Jason said, his eyes going to the machine. A holograph of an old, balding man with cold eyes and a pointed nose stared at Jason. "Captain. You received the coordinates i see." He said. Jason rolled his eyes.

"We don't know much about this planet. All we do know is that there is a very thick, cold layer of ice on the surface, and very hot layer of lava underneath... We need you to collect the usual data. Inhabitants, climate, terrain, etc, etc, etc. You will be able to carry out your mission in your own way, as usual." He said with a smile. A gift he gave him for being alive for much longer than the rest of the expedition teams. Most planets aren't the safest, or the friendliest to visitors. Jason was doing something right if their team had very little casualties.

"I'll go get the crew ready. I'll have Darius send you the info when we're done and out of there." Jason said, ending the communications. Jason then rolled up his sleeve to reveal a metal wrist band. "Captain Hunt asking all members to meet in the briefing room. All members to the briefing room." He said, his voice echoing through each room and hallway in the ship. Jason made his way out of his room and down the hall.

Although the Marauders were a band of criminals, Jason felt proud to be leading them. Half don't even deserve their punishment. Most have been around since the beginning, and over their time as a Marauder they have saved each other's necks, which gained a bit of trust... and people knew Jason Hunt for having the longest surviving expedition team out there. He entered through a sliding door which held the briefing room. A circular room with a device that displayed the destined planet they wanted to go to. Jason turned on the device, setting the coordinates to lock in on the ice covered planet, now waiting for his Crew to arrive.

Sitting at her desk in her quarters, Nafi checked her holo terminal for the eleventh time that day. In particular, she was again re-reading her post in the classifieds section.: "Hello, this is Nafimu Pontya. I'm looking for my older sister Kwisa Pontya, Citizen's I.D. 864-353-I..." The post went on to describe when they were separated, what she looked like, and other important information, in the hope that either Kwisa herself, or someone who knew or had seen her, would read it. There were three replies so far. But nothing useful. Give it time, Nafi thought to herself. This is going to take a while.

With arms stretched over her head, the young girl yawned, and got up, moving to her mattress. She grabbed a small cleaning kit off the bedside table, and sat on the bed, cross legged and looking up at the ceiling. Then, stretching out one of her legs, she lifted her knee, and removed a small panel on it's side, revealing wires and prosthetic muscles, which had a slight layer of a greasy, grey substance. The gel lubricant for her joints was leaking out of it's pocket, needing replacement. "There's the problem," Nafi said quietly to herself. "this should only take a minute." Now that she'd identified the issue, Nafi opened the kit, taking out a small bottle and a rag, before dabbing the cloth into the bottle and scrubbing away the excess fluid.

Suddenly, the intercom in her room crackled into life, and the captain's voice came over the speakers: "Captain Hunt asking all members to meet in the briefing room. All members to the briefing room." Nafi sighed, not wanting to get up, but she knew the captain would be pissed if their new recruit didn't show up. She packed up the kit, setting it on the table, and put on her pants, before leaving the room and making her way to the briefing room. This mission would be her first with the Marauders, as she was the newest and youngest member of the team. Hopefully, she didn't screw this up.

After some walking and polite nods to passing fellow crew members, Nafi entered the room, and nodded to the Captain. "Evening sir. Hope you weren't waiting too long. Though it seems like I'm the first to get here..." Nafi scooted by Jason, and sat at one of the desks, leaning on one elbow. "So, what's the word?"

Mylik stared without blinking into the cameras. He was sitting on his bed in a room that would be fairly large, if it weren't for the massive monitoring systems sprawling across the floor, walls, and even one monitor of the ship's main entrance right above his head. His room looked like one big mess of wires and screens, and stepping into it felt like going inside a computer. Here he could watch and keep track of most parts of the ship (with the exception of a few, like the individual bedrooms and quarters) and was able to activate alarms and other necessary defenses. The security equipment had originally been in a separate room, but Mylik had specifically asked to have all the security systems moved into his, for the sake of being able to watch and make sure everything was safe 24/7. Ah, paranoia, how he loved it.

He had been on the ship for only about a month, but he had hardly spoken to anyone on board. When he was first assigned to The Marauders he had been given the role of Chief of Security. So to test out the security of the ship he had cloaked and snuck on board while the ship was docked at the base awaiting him. Eventually he was found by way of a faulty cloaking device and a very startled crew member. He was then escorted to the Captain of the vessel, when Mylik first met Cap. Jason Hunt he was sure to tell him in extreme detail all the security flaws of the ship and how easy it was for anyone with a cloaking device to sneak on. He hoped that hadn't earned him a bad reputation, but it needed to be said.

There was a crackle and a voice came over the intercom calling all members to the briefing room. Mylik hadn't gone out of his room except for a few times in the past month, as he would only come out for food and then speed back to his room before anyone could speak to him. But he assumed it was something important and necessary. Of course, that didn't make him want to go much more. So for the sake of avoiding social contact on the way he cloaked himself and headed out to the briefing room, avoiding anyone and everyone on the way.

The doors of the briefing room slip open just as Mylik uncloaked, so as not to startle anyone to much. With a glance across the room he saw Jason and a girl he hadn't met waiting at the table. Mylik went and leaned into the corner, glancing back and forth between the Captain and the girl.

Ace sat at the helm with his arms crossed, watching with care every action that the navigational AI took to establish an orbit around the planet as the ship neared it. It's not that he was distrustful of computers, he merely wanted to see just what kind of adjustments he would have to do to that ship's navigational AI. Of course, there was also the opportunity to make a good impression by being careful. "High orbit established." The AI's voice, a female, sultry voice, came from the ship's console. "Thank you, Dora." He said as he reached for the controls to make a tiny attitude adjustment, setting the ship up for the transfer to a lower orbit.

Suddenly, the intercom came to life and he looked up before nodding. "Okay, Dora, lock the controls, please." He said as he stood up from the pilot's chair. "Helm controls locked." Dora replied in the same sultry tone as before. Ace chuckled, wondering who had been the one to give the ship's computer such a voice, the kind that gave teenagers wet dreams. "Good evening, Captain. The ship is on a high orbit, waiting for the order to transfer to low orbit for insertion." Ace said as he walked into the briefing room, before noticing he wasn't the only person that had arrived earlier. He looked at the girl as he moved to sit down, trying to remember her name, but failing. "Good evening, miss... sorry, I forgot your name." He said as he sat down, looking at her again. He was a new member of the crew as well, though, so there were many people he didn't know just yet, though he was sure he had exchanged a few courtesy words with her before.

Empty Space was silent, everyone knew that. With no air there is nothing for 'sound' as we call it to vibrate through. Unluckily for the crew the same couldn't be said of the Marauders ship, what with Rane snoring so loud they could probably hear him in down the engineering deck. He was snoozing in the common room, sprawled out on an old battered communal sofa that he had taken a shine too, his arms wrapped around the scabbarded Sword of the Skyfather like it was his favourite teddy.

"Captain Hunt asking all members to meet in the briefing room. All members to the briefing room." The message crackled through both the ships wall mounted intercoms and a small communicator attached to Rane's belt. Even with the stereo sound it woulda surprised a casual observer that the Canmorian's deep slumber could be disturbed, but sure enough he's eyes flickered open and he rolled off the couch with the nimbleness of a cat. Not that Rane would have known what a cat was.

The Lanky Canmorian spent a few mintues straightening himself out and affixing the Sword of the Skyfather in its place, hanging on a baldric between his shoulder blades, before sauntering outta the communal area and down the hallways towards the briefing room, swapping pleasantries and jokes with just about everyone he passed. Rane had been aboard the ship for over two years now, and the more experienced crew had come to accept him, even coming to love his off the wall humour and slightly off centre personality. The newer kids though, they always gave him a wide berth and a suspicious eye. Most folk have heard the stories of Red Rain, the Insane Canmorian, and not one of those stories were for the faint of heart. At this point he was probably only second in infamy to Hunt himself, but with a much gorier legend.

He made a quick stop at the kitchen to grab himself a quick bite, a quaint human invention called a 'sandwich'. Brilliant inventors these pinks he thought to himself, pinks being the term Canmorian's gave humans. He sauntered into the briefing room, darting slitted eyes taking in the assembled crowd before his mouth cracked into a grin, specs of bread and ham wedged between sharp teeth.
"Morning Cap, Newbies." he offered to the assembled crowd, the distinctive sandpaper-rasp that all Canmorians had giving his heartfelt greetings an almost sinister edge. Entering the room he took a seat next to Hunt before glancing at the planetary display, whereupon his smile faded somewhat.

"Ice planet eh Hunt? Council must be annoyed at us for something. Maybe you shouldn't have made such a mess of all those dealers last time." referring to their last mission when they had dismantled a large ring of Illegal distributors. Rane had a bit of an aversion to ice planets as his cold blooded physiology struggled in the cold, making him sluggish and slow. He'd rather not go down, but if either Hunt and his Marauder's needed him there then that's were Rane would be.

A loud hissing noise filled the halls, followed by slow rhythmic thuds. A heavy metallic groaning echoed outwards, as a deep scent, reminiscent of methane swept outwards. A computerized beeping sounded out, as tiny mechanisms whirred persistently. The orchestra of noises coordinated nicely, almost as if it was designed like a symphony, to take the otherwise sharp edge off of the brutal sounds.

Ubatokk looked around the constrained metal halls, swinging his bio-wrench alongside him. As he strode past the varied lights that filled the corridors, they refracted off of his shiny bronze suit, he glares blurred and dulled in the metal. Steam surrounded the metallic figure as he walked, hunched over.

"Captain Hunt asking all members to meet in the briefing room. All members to the briefing room."

Ubatokk sighed, directing his slow motion towards the briefing room. In his mechanic helmet, he pulled up a map of the ship, highlighting his route to the room. Slowly, he made his way into the small room, leaning on his wrench for support as he walked. A slight hiss sounded as the door swung open, and Ubatokk entered. He took a quick look around the room, a laser light sweeping for a moment over each person in the room.

Without saying anything, Ubatokk sat down at one of the chairs, his heavy body thudding down upon the chair. He took another brief look around the room, before his single eye settled on Captain Hunt, waiting for some form of order to be given. Taking a moment to sort out his machinery, he turned off all systems currently unnecessary. As this went on, the noises emanating from Ubatokk slowly died down.

"Captain Hunt asking all members to meet in the briefing room. All members to the briefing room."

The voice of the captain of the vessel boomed through the ship's interior and into the personal quarters of one old mercenary turned criminal turned Marauder. The mercenary was sitting on his bed, his back against the cold metal wall. In his hands he clenched an electronic device, on it was text of some kind, a very old text actually, Sun Tzu's The Art of War. An old merc reading an old book, if anyone walked in on him reading it then they'd probably crack a joke. As he finished a sentence he placed the device down on his bed, he would rather not keep everyone else waiting for him.

Darius' feet touched the floor, then the rest of him went forward as he lurched into a standing position. He glanced around his small room, it was simple, reminded him of a prison cell, kind of fitting for someone deemed a criminal such as himself. He looked around for his weapons, then found them, his sniper rifle and SMG sat leaned up against the wall by his bed. He wouldn't need to take those with him, he was pretty certain that there wouldn't be any firefights breaking out in the meeting room, it'd just be a simple meet and great. They'd all look happy to meet each other, exchange pleasantries then wander off back to their separate areas on the ship. Darius shook his head as he brushed off his clothing, he wore a simple grey t shirt and black combats, along with his boots. He then reached down to retrieve his trusty combat knife.

Never go anywhere unarmed. One of his fellow mercenaries told him that, way back when he first began, he still followed the idea, it had happened before, a simple meeting turning into an attempted murder. Though he did not think this would be anything more than a meeting, better safe than sorry. He tucked the knife onto his belt, then exited his quarters, locking the room behind him.

Darius began towards the briefing room, he already had the layout of the ship memorized, every room, name and ID on it. Always best to go into these things prepared. He hadn't spoken a word to any of the crew except the captain since the few days he had been placed on the ship. He mostly stayed cooped up in his room or went to a training room and worked out, it did help the time pass. He had asked to be given command of armory, they told him yes but he had yet to be introduced to his new area. His boots clanked on the metallic floor as the new Marauder turned the corner, within striking distance of the briefing room.

The door came open automatically as he entered the room, there were already people here. Great, he thought, he thought he would be one of the first ones here, then he wouldn't have to awkwardly pick a seat next to one of these strangers. He stood still for a moment, glancing over the people already here, it was a mixture of humans and aliens, exactly like he figured it would be. He had no problems with aliens, he just always felt more comfortable when there were some of his own kind with him. He found the captain at the head of table, locked eyes with the man, then nodded to him in greeting. The seats next to the captain were already taken, brilliant.

He found an empty chair next to a crewman in some big mechanical exosuit, and sat down. He focused on the display of the planet they were supposed to head to first, for their first mission together. Fucking great, I hate the cold, just my luck. Darius thought to himself, shaking his head. He really hoped the next planet they went to was a tropical paradise with only attractive women for the inhabitants, but he severely doubted that. If such a planet existed, then he would've never left it.

Images of Skyler's species on her home planet flashed through her mind. They were being slaughtered by the humans that invaded their planet. The weak Manaketes would flee; others would stay behind to buy time. Her family and friends were dying, and Skyler was just hiding in a small cave like a coward. The end had come for the Manaketes. An armored human snuck his way into her cave, wielding a glowing sword. He charged at her, while Skyler cowered in fear, screaming for her life.

Sky quickly sat up, gasping for breath, eyes wide. She looked around the room, eyes soaked with tears. She wasn't on her home planet anymore. She was in the bedroom that belonged to a ship with many battle scars, nevertheless intact. She calmed down, easing back on to her pillow. It was just a dream... She thought. She stared up at the ceiling. Her bedroom was still a bit unfamiliar to her. She met her new fellow crew members not long ago. She clutched the dragon stone that served as a pendant on her necklace. It was all she had left of home.

Suddenly, the intercom broke through her thoughts, making her jump. "Captain Hunt asking all members to meet in the briefing room. All members to the briefing room." Her new captain's voice echoed through the ship. Skyler climbed out of bed, thoughts of her home planet still lingering. What if they're not alive? What if I failed them? When she first arrived, she made note of the layout of the ship. Manaketes had very good memories, which she used to her advantage. She walked through the hallways, dressed in a blue jumpsuit that was well-suited for space.

The automatic doors opened as she approached, and she went into the room, barely making eye contact. I don't belong here, She thought. When she had met her new crew, she barely said anything at all. She didn't warm up to new people quite as easy as before her home planet was destroyed. "Hello, Captain Jason Hunt." She said, sitting down in a random chair. She preferred not to sit next to anyone, but that wasn't possible. Let's get this over with...

Her personal quarters had long since been abandoned in favor of the desk at the infirmary as Rae looked over multiple scattered files. Each one holding medical information of new recruits to the ship as well as any that had left its company to pursue a different exploration team which would need to be sent off eventually to the new location. Why any would want to leave was quite beyond her seeing as how the Marauders had the highest survival rating and the lowest amount of causalities. Her eyes stopped scanning over the documents as she looked up at the ceiling with a long sigh before running her fingers through her hair in boredom. Rae was the ships doctor and on days like these it could be a bit slow with not much to do but that was probably a positive thing. The less she saw of people was actually better seeing as it meant the others were healthy. She wasn't the most social creature anyway and only usually talked to people she had spent a lot of time around. It wasn't that she wasn't friendly, she just didn't know how to deal with emotions of others and was afraid to upset or offend them.

Rae stepped away from the desk, pulling off her lab coat to reveal a black tank top with a pair of baggy cargo the were pulled over combat boots. It was about the time she was contemplating on heading back to her room that the intercom rang out with a message from the captain.
" Captain Hunt asking all members to meet in the briefing room. All members to the briefing room."
She turned in the opposite direction of her room, heading quickly to the briefing room but knowing it would take some time to reach the other end of the ship so she highly doubted she would arrive first. After awhile, Rae was greeted with the sight of the briefing room door as it hissed open automatically to reveal the occupants inside that were surrounding a large table. The hologram already displaying the next planet they had been sent to discover and explore. Well doesn't that remind me of home...why did it have to be an ice planet? she thought, holding back a sigh as she leaned against a free wall.

Her eyes gazed around at all of the new faces to the ship, already putting names and information with the people before her eyes. There were only a few that she already knew, seeing as how she had been with the Marauders a few years now but most were a new sight. It proved she needed to get out of the lab and her room a bit more often other then just missions.

One eye stared into the mirror at the eye-patch, the face of the man who wore it, the over 30 year of a hard life around the galaxy, the past 14 in the service of the Galactic Committie. All those years, all the glory and death joy and hate, blood and more blood, all represented in the black eye-patch the man in the mirror wore. Something he cursed his empty eye-socket other times he enjoyed the veteran-look it gave him. For Thomas was a veteran indeed.

"14 years now, 1 year to go." He said quietly to himself as he sat lonely in his living-quarters, a medium-sized room with a two-person bed, a closet closed and locked, a computer used for various purposes, and a wall covered with pictures; pictures of his home, family, a 20-year old himself with no eye-patch, his life. The computer emitted a kind of music from Earth, dating back to Thomas' ancestors home from thousands of years ago, what was called Celtic music. It calmed him, and in the times his empty eye-socket hurt like that day many years ago, and just the normal anger of his lost years he needed all the comfort he could get.

Then the intercom sparked to life, and Captain Hunt's voice ordered all members to the briefing room. This meant only one thing; a new mission. Thomas got out of the bed and pulled on his uniform the blue uniform for the galactic forces that he preferred to wear unlike most others on the ship. The information he could quickly read from his computer told him that the planet they orbited were covered in ice except patches of red in the white terrain. Not too unusual, but unusual indeed.

Thomas marched through the corridors of the ship and ended up in the briefing room where he heard Rane joke about the mess their last mission had caused. "You caused that mess Rane, and you're lucky he convinced them NOT to transfer you to Pluto." Thomas fired back directly at Rane, looking at him with his one eye with a stare that could made most people shiver. He had little respect for Rane other than his combat skills, and his joke-cracking towards Captain Hurt was a no-go in his eyes. Thomas turned towards Jason and saluted, before taking a seat opposite of him. "Lava, Captain. The red patches might be pools of lava, so life underneath the ice is a possibility."

They were a strange combination of people, these Marauders, Thomas just as strange as his fellow crew-members. His gaze passed from his captain to Rane, to the young women who had somehow ended up with them, to the mercenary, the armoury-officer and pilot with that old-school tank hat, the person trapped inside a protective suit, before his eye landed at last at their doctor, Rae, human-looking but with her white/grey skin and colourful hair and other parts. With all that sticking out of her, he sometimes how she managed to get dressed. They were indeed a stragne group, but they were Marauders, the best of the worst!

"I've recieved no contact with the planet, so I'm unsure if any modern civilization exists there. Simple recon-mission then?"

Jason watched his crew members walk in one by one, Nafi was the first to walk in. He gave a nod. "Nah, not for long." He said with a grin. She was one of the new recruits, but Jason read her file, and to be honest, was quite glad he didn't piss her off when they were both criminals. Then walked in Mylik, their security guard, and the man with very little words. Although he wasn't a social butterfly, he did his job very well, and upgraded the ship beautifully with security systems. Next one was the best pilot he has ever encountered, even in the Committee. Ace sat down, telling him the status of the Ship. They were in orbit, but not close enough for any inhabitants to attack (if there were any) without them giving them a warning. Rane marched in next, giving a look on the screen, then making his comment. He gave a smirk at his comment, "The only time they are happy with us is when they get their data, and possibly if one of us doesn't make out of it." He said with a dry sense of humor. People on the Marauders knew Jason hated the Galactic Committee. Most thought it was because he was caught in his crimes, but in reality it was them brutally murdering his father that made him turn to this life.

The man in the large metal suit walked in shortly after. "Morning, Wrenchie. The ship running smoothly, as usual?" He said with a small grin. Darius, the oldest of the men walked in. A seasoned veteran. Jason respected the man. As he said that Skyler came in. The woman who could turn in to a dragon. Jason was curious to see what that form looked like, but by no means wanted his ship destroyed. "Morning, Sky." He said politely back to her. Just because Jason was a criminal didn't mean he was a jackass. He asked all the members of his team if there was anything they went by, and made sure they were comfortable. For a team of prisoners, they did get some nice benefits from the Committee. It was like Death Row. They didn't expect us to live long.

The crew's doctor came in to the room, her eyes giving off clear intelligence, and then a bit of sadness when she saw the planet. Rae was one of the original members of the team... Jason wouldn't admit it to everyone, but although she wasn't human, he found her quite attractive.

The last person to join in was One Eye. As he said before, he hated the Galactic Committee, but he had respect for the man with a missing eye. He was respectful, had a sense of duty, and saved Hunt's life a time or two. When talking, he got straight to the point, telling Jason what he needed to know. As did the rest of his crew. They were definitely the under dogs, and an unusual group, but he wouldn't want to trust anyone else with this mission.

Jason nodded at One Eye's comment. "Kinda.... The Chief told me very little about the planet. Just by looking at it you could figure out as much as I do." The lights dimmed, and the planet grew in size so people can get a better look. "Its completely covered in ice. The highest temperature is well below negative 50. And from these recent pictures taken by the ship..." As he said it the planet changed shape to show recent pictures of the surface. It had large twisting pieces of ice coming out of the solid ice as there was. It was a deep dark blue at some parts, and then blinding white. Another picture showed what looked like an explosion, lava was erupting everywhere. "As One Eye said before, the crust of the planet is made of solid, thick ice... but at some parts the lava has pushed its way up. Random eruptions occur often... Our mission is to simply record all we can about the planet's climate, its rotation cycle, if there are any life forms living on the planet... Nothing like stopping a civil war like last planet." Jason said with a smile. As he talked his voice was confident, looking at everyone as he walked back and forth. He was a natural leader, although no one knew it way back when, not even himself.

"Although I'm not expecting hostiles, I'm only going to bring anyone willing to endure ass freezing temperatures... Rae, since you're accustomed to this kind of climate, youre on the ground team. Plus if any of us expose our skin for longer than 30 seconds we get instant second degree frost bite... At least, Darius and I will, anyway." He said with a small smirk.

"I'd also like for One Eye to join me,Skyler, and Darius. One Eye will control the equipment while we are down there, Darius you're in charge of the rescue equipment such as rope and flares and other neat toys we have in your armory, and Skyler and I will be backup for the doctor, and the intel gatherer. Ace will be flying us down at these coordinates with a shuttle escort ship." The pictures turned back to the planet, and a red "X" was near the top of the planet. "Once there, we will travel a bit on some speeders, gather the intel at this location, and Ace will be there in a heated ship waiting to pick us up."

"Malik will be in charge of the ship while I'm gone. Make sure no pirates get too close... Rane i know you're not in to the cold, so you can take a breather, and here to help out with anything these two need. Nafi, I don't know how your robotics will function on the surface, so I want you to stay here to watch over things, and to relax as well... Wrenchie, you'll stay with the ship, and I'll need you to prepare the shuttle ship for the cold weather." Jason said.

"So to recap:

The ground team is Rae, Sky, One Eye, Darius, and I. Rae is the medic, Darius is in case of rescue, One Eye is to gather intel, and Sky and I are there to help with backup. Ace will take us to the planet with the shuttle, and wait until we get back to launch off again.

Mylik will be in charge of the ship, and keep an eye out for any hostiles. Rane and Nafi will be here to help protect if something goes wrong for anything, and Wrenchie will keep the ship going for us."

"Any questions?" Jason asked, crossing his arms and looking at his crew.

Ace took the downtime before the briefing started to take a quick look around at those that had arrived before him, greeting them, before returning the greetings of those that came in after him. He wasn't the most social of persons when he wasn't talking about flying, ships, engines or anything related to those topics, but he had a quick, dry wit that, sometimes, earned him a few glares. Still, he wasn't planning on just letting a chance to get to know his crewmates, if only a little before the mission. When the girl that could turn into a dragon (her name was Skyler, or so he had heard earlier) walked in, he scooted closer, not knowing the history her species had with humans. He hadn't talked with her before, so he wanted to at least introduce himself. "Hey there, good day." He said with a smile. "The name's Jason Lee but everyone calls me Ace." He added, extending his hand towards her.

After the briefing, Ace nodded as he looked at the planet, noticing the coordinates the captain had chosen. They seemed to have been chosen so that they could have quick access to some of the lava pools. "Sir, we'll have to do some quick mods to the shuttle's aerodynamics. The thermals from these lava pools will make flying traditionally a very bad experience." He said as he pointed at the image projected above the center of the table. He still couldn't get used to those fancy holograms. Before having to join the Marauders, the most advanced piece of equipment he had had to handle had been a pair of remotely controlled drones, which took input directly from his brainwaves using a special helmet. It had been quite tricky to pull, flying three ships at the same time, but he had been impressed by the tech involved. He looked at the ship's mechanic, the alien trapped inside that huge, clunky metal suit and smiled. "Think we can remove the wings and fins before the mission is go?" He asked. It was something that, normally, wouldn't be done. Removing the wings and fins from a shuttle meant that when they were in the atmosphere they would be flying using purely the engines thrust. It was a crazy proposition, but he was confident it could be done.

"I have one, captain." Darius mentioned, speaking right after Ace the pilot had. Darius would try to show some respect to Hunt, he hadn't called anyone captain in a long time, almost twenty years since he had left the military, but he still remembered how everything went in the military, always show respect to those in higher positions, Hunt was no exception. Even if it did feel odd addressing a man fifteen years his junior as captain.

"Any reports of pirates, slavers or gangs in the system and the planet? We could be walking into a trap, you never know, someone could've caused the eruption on the planet as a way to get a ship sent to investigate so that they could then jump on the investigating ship and try to take it for their own reasons." Darius had been around the block before, a mission was never as simple as it was told it was going to be. There was always something else, something that they either forgot to mention or just missed entirely. He didn't think for certain they could be walking into a trap, but it was a valid enough concern that he should address it in front of the crew.

Nafi faced the captain, looking intently at the screen, before having her attention drawn to a voice from the door. Turning to look in his direction, she instantly recognised him as the ship's pilot Ace. She smiled, and nodded. "Nafimu Pontya, Citizen's I.D. 463-882-C if you want to be specific." Leaning forward, Nafi spoke again "But you can call me Nafi." As she shared this, others entered the room, a variety of races from every corner of the galaxy. Of note to her, was the lizard man, who had called her a 'Newbie', and the giant metal suit man, who had the slightest bizarre odor she couldn't quite put her finger on. Then some others who appeared human at least, and the doctor who shone with what appeared to be a thousand different colors. That appears to be everyone- wait, there;s another spiky alien, in the corner, looking really stern and mean. Such an assortment of different species, she would have a lot to read up on tonight.

Once everyone arrived, the briefing was underway, and the planet was revealed to be an ice world, and that Jason recommended her to stay on board for it. Dammit, Nafi thought to herself. Their first mission, and she isn't even allowed to go! Though when it was revealed that the surface temperature averages minus 50 on a good day, Nafi realized that if she went down, she'd be dead in minutes, due to the conductive properties of her body. It didn't faze her too much anyway, what use would an assassin on a survey mission be anyway? Perhaps she could occupy her time getting to know the others staying on board instead, or train in the ship's gym.

At the conclusion of the briefing, Nafi leaned back in her chair, and stretched her arms above her head, clicking with a metallic sound, and smirked before speaking "No questions here captain. You'd be right, without any thermal insulators in my Harness, I'd be only good as a tent strut or some other, immobile, very dead object. So, I'll stay here and let you guys have all the fun." Looking over at the giant metal suit man, whom the captain had called 'Wrenchie', she spoke to him as well. "If you need a hand with some of the more minor repair and maintenance routines with the ship, I'd be happy to help. I know some basic mechanical repair procedures and the such." Standing up, Nafi nodded to the others. "Otherwise, I'll be in the training facility. Good luck to the rest of you going down there, and be careful. A planet, with that hostile of an environment... If you find any life down there, I doubt it'll be friendly."

Wrenchie slowly turned to look at Ace, his glaring red eye staring deep into the mans eyes. After a brief moment, the lens changed to a soft green color, and he began to speak, his voice accented with a sharp, lilting tone.

"I can strip down shuttle. No problem. Can you fly ship with no wings?" He asked in response, having a bit of trouble speaking in English, as it was such an unfamiliar language. Turning to address Nafi, he added- "Any help would be thanked." As he spoke, Ubatokk pulled up a diagram of the ship within his machinery, going through the process of removing the wings and fins mentally, so as to have a plan beforehand.

Wrenchie looked back up at the pilot. He didn't know this man well, and tried to recall if they had actually worked together in the past. A brier moment of thinking, and Ubatokk realized that he sat alone in the engine room so often, he barely knew any of the people he had worked with. Still, rather than casting any hasty judgments, Ubatokk decided that he could trust this pilot. It wasn't just anyone who could join the Marauders, after all.

Ubatokk stood up, partially relying on his wrench for support. Bowing his head slightly, he let out a mechanical hiss, before stating- "I will prepare ship. Need time to remove wings." He said, disappointed in the rather primitive sentences that he formed. Slowly, he trudged away, the clatter of noise that accompanied him springing back to life. He stepped out of the room, hesitating in the doorway.

"Ace, is it?" He asked, looking at the pilot, trying to remember if that was what the captain had called the pilot. "Come. The work shall go faster with three. You require knowledge of what you fly, no?" He asked, the mechanical canister serving as a head rotating 180 degrees to look at him. Beneath the suit, Ubatokk laid, a small creature, barley half the size of his suit.

"You caused that mess Rane, and you're lucky he convinced them NOT to transfer you to Pluto." Rane hooked his fingers behind his head and lent back in his chair as far as the ship's artificial gravity would allow him without falling flat on his ass, a lazy grin spreading across his face. He'd spent enough time with One-eye to realise one thing; the man despised him. Rane, for his part, quite enjoyed needling the veteran.

"The comittee wouldn't send me away from Hunt," he replied, appearing not to notice the withering look the soldier had shot him "They'd be too afraid that I'd go back to killing politicians without him to keep me on a leash. Besides, if I was gone who would make sure you see out this last year of your's?"

For the rest of the meeting Rane listened intenetly to the briefing. Equal parts relief and dissapointment filled him too find out he wasn't with the ground team. He was happy not too have to deal with the cold, but he couldn't help but worry that the team would get into trouble without him. Say one thing for the the Marauders, say that they are danger prone. Probably one of reasons the Skyfather had tasked Rane with joining them in the first place, to help keep them outta mischief.

Mylik, Nafie and Wrenchie. They would be left on the ship too. He took special interest them, particularly because those three had barely left they're respective cabins or workspaces since boarding. Mylik, looking like he was trying to hide in the corner, was one of the bizarrest looking creatures Rane had ever seen, chiefly because of his lack of mouth. Rane ended up staring at him intently for several moments, wondering what, and more importantly how, the tall creature ate.

Next he studied Wrenchie, the engineer. Rane, like many Canmorians, wasn't the most technical minded, so he had little oppurtunity to ever interact with the Methanite. Perhaps he would take a trip down to the engineering deck to visit the mechanical suited alien while the away team was off planet. Currently Wrenchie was speaking to Ace about modifications to be performed upon the shuttle, a conversation that quickly lost Rane's attention.

Finally he turned his attention to Nafie, who to Rane was the most interesting one of the three. He had been told she was being brought on board as a close combat specialist, a subject Rane would say he knew a thing or two about himself. Her hi-tech cybernetic body and weapons made a wonderful contrast to his comparitively primitive sword. Still, he had no doubts about which he'd rather, mechanical ears or the Sword of the Skyfather.

"Any reports of pirates, slavers or gangs in the system and the planet. . ." said one of the newbs, a human merc going by the name of Darius. Rane had seen alotta mercs come and go aboard the Marauder's ship, and most of them left in body bags, if there was even enough of them to fill a body bag. That said, Darius looked harder than most, and he carried a knife into the briefing room, which Rane thought was prudent thinking. Can never have too many knives, after all.

"Oh, we're always walking into some sorta trap. We're lucky like that!" Rane helpfully answered, appearing do be genuinely excited about the prospect of being caught in pirate ambush.

Mylik had intended on watching silently the entire meeting, hoping that everyone would sort of ignore him. Most, much to his pleasure, did. But as he glanced around the room he noticed the girl who had been there when he had first arrived suddenly take notice of him. She seemed startled by his presence, but he hoped he didn't frighten her too much, Mylik knew his appearance wasn't the most welcoming, and his mannerisms were even worse, but he didn't like making anyone uncomfortable unless they were bugging him and he needed them to go away. So to assure the girl he wasn't as mean as some people think he attempted to give her a polite nod. The resulting effect was a sort of spastic head jolt in her direction, but he hoped she would get the message.

A bit later on in the meeting, about halfway through, he saw a reptilian creature who was staring right at him. He recognized the creature as one of the crew members he has seen on the security cameras since Mylik has first joined. Disconcertingly, the reptile appeared to be studying him, which Mylik wasn't particularly used to, as he always walked around invisible and tried to avoid notice. His slight telepathy allowed him to pick up a feeling of curiosity coming from the reptile. "Good," Mylik thought "at least it's only curiosity". Eventually the reptile removed his gaze, and Mylik did the same.

He wasn't at all surprised to be one of the four picked to stay inside and guard the ship. After all, his experience was entirely in the field of security, and he wasn't even used to being "outside" since he had lived in claustrophobic caves and buildings his whole life. Though he knew few would likely speak to him unless it was something important, he looked around to see who else had been assigned to protect the ship while the others explored.

First off he noticed the girl who had been staring at him, she had thankfully taken her gaze away from him and was in conversation with a large alien in a metal suit, which had also been ordered to stay on board. The suited one, who he had heard called "Wrenchie", smelled like an engine and was pretty big. Mylik, being the Kiaslikian that he is, drew his gaze away from the larger one and focused it on a smaller, reptilian creature, who had looked at him earlier. "Hello," he rasped to the reptile through the "vocal cords" on his arms "I am Mylik, you've probably only rarely seen me, but I assure you that I've been here long enough to know you are a veteran aboard this ship compared to the others, and I am pleased to make your acquaintance." He attempted being polite, but was already sure he had made some sort of error.

Darius relaxed in his seat as he waited for a reply from someone, whether it be the captain or someone else with knowledge of the sector. The alien known as Rane replied to Darius in a sort of gleeful tone. He seemed eager to fight any pirates that would foolishly go after the Maruader's ship. Darius himself shared the same sentiment as he spoke back to the lizard alien.

"It's been too long since I've properly beaten down one of those scum. I've been cooped up on this ship or under custody of the lawmen for too long for my liking. I just want to bash one of those pirate's skulls in with the butt of my machine gun, I've encountered those filth too many times in the past, they're all the same. Murderers, rapists and thieves. The more of them we take out, the less of a problem to the rest of the galaxy they are." Darius stated to Rane, adding in a slight smirk at the end, he too was eager to hand out some justice.

Jason listened to Ace talk about the mods needed for the shuttle, and nodded. He knew enough to keep maintenance of a ship, nothing to the level of Wrenchie or Ace, though. Then Darius spoke up, asking about pirates. Rane made a comment, and he nodded. "As an expedition crew, i would say 'there is no need to worry, we just need to get in, and get out.' As the captain of the Marauders, I'm going to say there are a lot of things that happen to us, and many factions against the Committee want us dead. This is a simple mission, only here to collect data, but saying we aren't in danger would be a lie." He said to everyone, even before the ship crew left.

"We'll all carry weapons. I read all of your files, and i know that you won't have any trouble in combat... Mylik, if anything goes wrong, you know how to reach me, and we'll be up pronto. With that said, Ground team will gather all materials needed. The Sub-Zero suits will be in your quarters." He said to them. "Meet in the docking bay in 10 minutes."

Ace smiled and nodded, standing up after Wrenchie and Nafi. "Yeah, let's get going." He said with a nod after the captain had dismissed them. He followed Wrenchie and Nafi towards the hangar room, and though he had wanted to stick around for a while longer and introduce himself to dragon girl, as he had nicknamed her. Not that he would ever call her that, the last thing he wanted was to get eaten by a dragon. It would be quite an interesting thing to have on one's tombstone, though: "Here lies Jason 'Ace' Lee, eaten by a dragon in the prime of his life." He thought with a shake of his head.

He caught up with Wrenchie and Nafi, matching their pace as they headed for the hangar. "It's nice to finally be able to meet both of you." He said, looking at both of them for a moment. "The ship's navigational computer was a complete disaster, so I hardly had any time to leave the cockpit while reprogramming it and making sure it wouldn't do anything stupid..." He said with a sigh. He wasn't lying, of course, but that was only from his point of view. Sure, the maneuvers he had programmed to replace the standard, by-the-book ones were very unorthodox, but with them he was able to both make the ship maneuver faster and not produce as much heat from the engines while doing so, meaning they would be a harder target to lock into, if they were careful.

As they reached the hangar Ace walked towards one of the two shuttles, taking a quick look around before taking a screwdriver and tapping the canards. "This has to go, along with the wings and those vertical stabilizers." He said as he pointed the tool at the different parts of the ship. "Of course, the vector thrusters have to keep working so I can fly the thing, so let's be careful with those, please." He added with a grin, heading to the cockpit to load up the flying program and make a few necessary changes to it.