[IC] A Merc's Paradise

[boomlover]

JAMES/FURBACK



"Ugh how late is it?"james thought to himslef he looked to his clock and."HOLY SHIT THERE BE HERE ANY MINUTE NOW". He fell out of hos bed and quickly put on his cloting.He stumbled out of his bedroom walking to the cockpit. When he heard a familiar voice sarcastically say."Well arent we up early"

James grunts"And why did you not wake me up Evi you know that these mercenaries came early." Evi grins."Meh i didn't feel like it". james doesnt continue the conversation because he would have lost against his ai anyway. He enters the cockpit and looks at his security camera's."crap there already here".He hurried to the cargo hatch and opend it he then walked out of the door looking at the group of people saying." so you are the one,s that showed up? huh i expected better." He looks at the group and sees s lady with a metal bird on here shoulder.A weird cyborg samurai. And a cyberguy with an andriod behind him."Well come on in then." and like that he disapers into his ship with the rest behind them.

[SwarthyBard126]

"Artyem, what are you doing? A voice spoke in his head. Not looking up from his book, the cyborg sub-vocally answered, "Reading the journal of that drug dealer we busted a few days back." A few seconds later a robot carrying a large crate walked up, and placed the box next to the cyborg. Idly watching his partner, Artyem could not help but be envious at how well the AI Jack in the ANBS platform could act. The two of them had originally planned to hide their secret from the group they were joining until they knew they could be trusted, with Jack acting as a simple combat drone. The ship was simple enough to find, it was in a crowded and bustling port that made him paranoid. He really didn't want his peace ruined by Conglomerate agents.

Suddenly, Artyem could feel the uncomfortable tingling sensation at his cybernetics that signaled that it was time to take the anti-rejection drugs. Feeling around through his pockets, he found the small container of pills, and tapping one into his palm swallowed it. Scanning around once more he saw the ships landing bay door begin coming down. Gathering his things, Artyem beckoned to Jack and began walking towards the ship.

[datadogie]

Belle begins to walk quickly after James, whistling to herself as Penny flaps her wings, as if showing her mighty strength. Belle gives a giggle, petting Penny on the head as she walks. She loved Penny like a sister. Penny flaps her wings, and flies over to James, landing on his shoulder. Belle laughs. "Penny, jeez, already after the men. You just met!" She laughs, and Penny makes chirping noises before flapping onto James' other shoulder. Belle quickly jogs up and walks on the side of James which Penny was on. "Sorry about her. I'm Belle, and she," Belle nods to Penny, "Is Penny."

[boomlover]

James shakes Belle,S hand thinking to himself .
"Hmm Well she sure is Nice for a merc best keep an eye out".
" its Nice to meet you Belle" he says with a fake smile.
He then looks at the weird bird and pets it. " huh where did you Find this thing?" He says as he takes it on his finger and gives it back to Belle.

[Marcus XVI]

The Guardian's systems were failing, the main booster had refused to work for the last two hours and now it seemed like the rest were finally shutting down as well. The landing had been rough, but well executed - obviously the pilot of the battered flight suit knew that they were doing.

After a haphazard docking maneuver the Guardian's cockpit opened and a woman leaped out. The woman wore a bit battered military uniform and an overtly large trench coat which had the stylized spear emblem of the now destroyed Xian Federation on it's left sleeve. Those who had paid attention to the news a few years back could still easily recognize the Halcyon General, Ramia Zeon.

Like the Flight Suit the woman too had seen better days, parts of her face had suffered burns which hadn't gotten time to heal and the obviously bionic left eye flickered from one color to the next. The black streaks under her eyes indicated that she hadn't slept well for a long time and the noticeable way she kept avoiding on putting too much weight on her left leg made it seem like she was not at 100%.

Ramia managed a little smile as she finally reached James and Belle. "I'm late. Engine problems." She nudged her head towards the Guardian Mark IV that seemed to have it's fair share of problems stacking up over the engine ones.

[datadogie]

Belle shakes James' hand, and then looks at Penny with a small giggle. The robot-bird continued to make cooing noises, but hopped from James' finger onto Belle's waiting finger. With a giggle, she rubs her head against the head of Penny, the bird returning the rubs with even more coos. "I didn't find Penny," Belle replies to James. "I made her." Suddenly, a girl who looked like she had been from hell and back appeared, and Belle's eyebrows raised. "Are you alright?" Belle asks, cocking her eyebrow.

[boomlover]

JAMES/FURBACK


Before Ramia could answer James who wanted to leave quickly said." Glad you could make it if you store that suit please i can finaly start telling our objective". After that he went into his ship the other two walking behind him and into the cargo bay slash lounge where Artyem was waiting for
them he gestures the others to take a seat and then sits on an box himself and starts talking.

"Well im gonna try to keep it short since i want off this rock as fast as possible so let me just say this. you all know why your here to run from something for revenge or to get rich. And if you are here for that last reason you and me are gonna become great palls." he laughs." Since i have a few friends in high places i have been able to get a few jobs for us. one of wich we will be traveling to right now." He stands up and pushes a few buttons and in the middle of the room a small hologram starts flickering on. It shows the sector where they are right now." As you can see we are in the titos system and we need to get to risa. Our mission will be to find the missing ship the Defiance." The hologram starts to flicker again this time turning into a giant battleship." This big sucker went missing a few months ago in the ariley system. They have already tried to search for it but failed. So they have contaced me for help. The only reason they want it found again is because its a prototype. Oh almost forgot". He reaches into his pocket and reveals a handfull of little microphones. He hands everyone one. " Try not to lose them please they did cost me 60 credits". after that he takes a seat on one of the crates and says. "Any questions?"

[Marcus XVI]

Ramia gave Belle a little glance paired with a little nod before following after James. She listened calmly, but was already making her mind about their 'leader'. When his explanation of their task at hand was complete she shrugged her shoulder. "If a whole damn fleet with long range scanners hasn't been able to find a ship of that size what makes you so sure we'll be able to do it?" Though her tone was polite it had a bit of an icy edge to it. "I'd also like to know how much each of us gets paid for this particular job." Ramia glanced up at the tall man - heck, he was at least 8 feet tall and looked like a bit of a ruffian to boot. The dark haired woman took the little microphone and examined it "I hope these things have a proper range... They seem like standard stuff, but with 60 credits you ain't..." She cut herself off mid sentence and turned on her heels.

[SwarthyBard126]

"Yeah," Artyem grinned from his split helmet as he popped up behind Remia, "what's he in for, and do we need him dead or alive?" He began palming his rifle's grip as grew more uncomfortable with the crowd around him.

Jack followed at the little drone called "Penny" flutter around the currently designated Unknown:Bella looked at him strangely. How did one react to this situation?

Artyem blinked as his neural link with his partner flashed him images and thoughts as he watched the robot seize up under the young woman's stare. Chuckling in his head, he turned once more to his now-superior and asked, "Also, do we have everyone?"

[boomlover]

James sighed and Said. "Listen lady the only reason that company hasnt been able to Find it themselves is because there main fleets are in combat and the few cargo ships they had at their disposal are very old. So thats why they couldnt Find it in the first place also the pay is Nice about 25 k and if the ship is destroyed beyond repair we have the right to scavenge it. Mabey you can fix your crappy space suit.
And those comms are A grade stuff and". Before he could continue Ramia Walked of
"Hey ! " James Said annoyed walking after her "I wasnt done talking yet dammit!"

[SwarthyBard126]

Artyem could see where this was going and walked between the captain and the retreating woman, "Sir," he said, as he saluted in front of him, "the longer we wait, the harder it will be to find the ship." He then messaged Jack to place the crate in the cargo hold. "I already have a mic in my helmet sir, just give the wave." Then flashing a grin at Belle,, he closed his face plate, and followed his robot companion.

[Marcus XVI]

Ramia's bionic eye flickered from blue to gold as she shrugged her shoulders. She refused to turn around and face the man again, because it might have been seen as a sign of weakness and submission. "First of all the 'crappy space suit' is a Guardian Flight Suit. Probably more state of the art than anything you have here. Oh and second of all, this conversation is over. I'll be checking up on my 'space suit' if you wish to discuss further." The dark haired woman smirked ever so slightly as she walked out of the room.

[boomlover]

"Did he just salute at me"? James thought to himself." God im making a fool out of myself." He mumbels something about that bitch never shuting up. And then Walks to the cockpit saying " ill pilot us out of here in the meantime go get yourselfs a room and explore the ship. Oh and if anyone needs me just call." He then Walked of to the cockpit whispering. " Evi keep a close eye on them. They seem nice enough but never trust someone bye the look of his skin or something like that" he arrived in his cockpit sat down and started to call docking control" this is the Furback asking clearance to launch." He waited until they responded until he finaly got some clearance the docking bay opend up showing a launching tube. The engines started roaring and in a few
Seconds they where already in space heading for the warp portal.

James picked a country playlist and Laid back and relaxed

[SwarthyBard126]

It was strange, Jack was only born about a year ago. Despite that, he felt years older than he was, with memories of a life long past filled his waking moments. He had long since made his peace with the fact that he was a robot, enjoying the feeling of walking, of moving through the world. I was strange as he had no touch receptors, offering little in the way if detail, leaving him with naught but his eyes and hearing implements. As he was helping his friend Artyem set up their room, he could feel the passive sight of an AI watching the two of them work. Shrugging his shoulders, he pulled out his Longbow rifle and began cleaning it. Subconsciously, he sent a message to Artyem over the shared neural link. He watched as Artyem began taking apart his own rifle and saw how he unconsciously seemed to take apart, clean, and reassemble the transforming rifle. "Hey Jack," Artyem spoke out loud, "I'm taking a nap, keep watch."

[datadogie]

Belle listened closely to James and his briefing on the operation, and then smiles. Plenty pay. Belle takes a look around those in the room, and then sets his eyes on someone before he grins at her and shuts his faceplate. She blushes. Well, what was that about? She shrugs, before standing up. She turns her head to Penny, whispering to her to follow the guy who had grinned at her. Penny chirps, before taking off and slowly flapping after Artyem. Belle had a shared, wireless link with Penny, and she would soon look at what Penny sees. For now, she made her way to the cockpit. She wanted to see it, but she didn't know that James was there. When she peeked it, she cocked her head and leaned in the doorframe, silently watching him. Penny arrived outside of Artyem's room, and she looked through a tiny gap through the door. In one of her eyes, Belle watched Penny's vision, her other eye her own vision.

[Marcus XVI]

After just a while Ramia came to the conclusion that there was nothing she could do about the booster system of the Guardian. She felt annoyed and ever so slightly saddened by the sorry state the Flight Suit had gotten in to - after all she had been in plenty of dogfights and survived that long with it. She had come to think the massive war machine as a friend - a silent, unquestioning and very destructive friend, but a friend nevertheless. "I really hope we bump in to a mechanic..." The dark haired woman muttered to herself as she climbed to the Guardian's cockpit and slumped down in the pilot seat. "Computer, access secondary systems of the flight module and run a diagnostic." The screens in the cockpit blinked back to life and began running a full diagnostic on the Flight suit. In Ramia's opinion the damage report could not have looked worse. She mumbled something negative while continuing on other systems checks without even bothering to close the cockpit.

[boomlover]

James was sitting in his seat listening to a long dead singer. he was enjoying himself but was disturbd bye Evi who apeard right in front of him out of Belle,s view. " You know for such a good leader you sure have a bad temper. I have been watching the others as you asked. Ramia is trying to fix her spacesuit wich is realy in need of fixing. Artyem is going to sleep while his pet keeps watch. Speaking of wich he is showing some weird energy readings on my scanners. the almost seem identicall like mine." James frowns "Oh realy ? Hmmm well i can respect that he is trying to hide it since Ai arent Realy like in this part of space. Im just gonna wait until one of the two tells me ." he coughs.

"And what is Belle doing?" Evi giggles a little and a blue smile starts showing. " Oh she is just eaves dropping on our little conversation where having. Good luck with that." after that she disapears into one of the panels. James laughs and says. "You know Belle if this team is ever gonna work we are going to have to not spy on eachother." He says as he opens the door. " And i know you might be thinking right now that im watching everybody but i did have a reason. I hired a buch of Mercanerys who could turn on me in the blink of an eye." He smiles a little and continues " You also might have noticed that i have an Ai well there is a funny story behind and relax you will hear it probably from here. But right now i want to know why you where eavesdropping on our conversation." He looks at her. His eyes showing no emotion.

[datadogie]

Belle listens, wondering who James was talking to, and who was talking to him. Mostly, she disliked the fact that James had a watchdog keeping an eye on what everyone was doing. Though when he began to talk to her, her passive lips turned to a small frown. Listening to what he had to say about spying, she sighs. "Captain," She says, referring to him as captain as he was her superior, and the captain of the ship. "I came from Scotland. Nowadays, there in Scotland, there is a lot of crime. Guns, knives, robbery, a lot of stuff. To live, you had to stay on your toes, and take whatever place you could in the gangs that swarmed." She sighs. "Did you ever hear of the Yasanctuar Battle? The government decided to call for help, and the Americans came. They tried everything, from assualt squads and tanks to smart-bomb strikes and orbital artillery. But the gangs had turnrd into one gang, just to fight this foe that was trying to take them down. They had too many roots, too many connections. Anything the Americans sent was destroyed by the newly formed Scottish military. They thought that the final resort of orbital bombing from ships in space could destroy them, but even they were destroyed by captured ships. In the end, a truce had to be made that the gangs could stay as they were as long as they attacked no other countries. Though this truce didn't stay within Scotland itself. Many people lived normally, many people lived poor, many gangs thrived. Though they wouldn't just be dominant in the middle of a street, they could still mug in alleys. The police still thrived around. Even the gangs knew how good it was to have a proper police force, though the gangs were normally left alone if they were in their own territory." Belle looks him in the eyes. "That's why I eavesdropped, sir. I've always had to. Saved my life more than once, sir. You know what's happening before it happens. I'll be damned if I have to stop it now, sir."

[boomlover]

James shows a sad smile and says. " you remind me of my former self. 10 years ago when the gates where still offline. I was the leader of a giant corporation in the lormond system. i wasnt the only one though a rival called steins industries had also survived the collapse. and since we didnt look eye to eye before the collapse whe sure didnt like eachother then."
he looks away thinking about the horrors what happend next." the kicked my but and the only thing that i had left was this ship. I hid and used gurealia tactics on them attacking there trade routes destryoing outpost. they eventualy got sick of me and send there main fleet after me i thought i was done for but then like god decided to give me a hand the gates went online again. i fled as soon as i could traveling the starrs watching the chaos unfold before my very eyes. and i realized i dident wanna be a part of it so instead of joining the chaos i thrived of it."
he sits there thinking about the nightmares of his past then he sighs and says. " look Belle i wont punish you if it is in your nature to spy then so be it just try to not do it all the time. and dtop calling me sir i dont deserve to be called like that." he turn around and starts flying to the portal a small tear running down his face.

[datadogie]

Belle tilts her head. Now, she was curious. In more ways than one. "I'll call you sir because you deserve to be called sir. Sir." She gives him a little smile. "Now that you know I used to spy on people, and eavesdrop, what would you say if..." She made up a random event, "If I was spying on you for someone else. What would you say?" She asks, moving closer to stand beside him, rather than behind. "Lock me up, perhaps? I feel that I should be locked up. I wouldn't like it, but, there has to be rules, right?" She asks.