[IC] Expanding Universe-Season 1

[Polybius]

Episode 1
"Payday"

---

The old corvette class ship, Sweet Anne, was hauled up, disassembled and put back together with pieces to spare. She was an old ship, a human ship, and she is your ride. The job sounds easy enough-track down the freighter "Gargatha", get on-board and abduct some rich guy's daughter. Travelling to the Hyklian homeworld is a little sketchy, but the 20,000 Hyksos Tongs for payment make it a whole hell of a lot more enticing. Besides, what could go wrong?

---

Captain Erek

Between the repairs, the port docking fees and bribing the planet authorities to keep his ship off the books, Captain Erek of Carpas was beginning to wonder where he would find his next meal. From a balcony near the port blast doors he looked over the brown and grey bulk of a ship he would soon be commanding. She had streaks of verdigris down her sides, blaster impact craters the workmen had given up trying to buff out. A couple of the port mechanics sat on top of her smoking and tossing empty beer bottles into her topside correction-thruster ports.

"Get the hell off my ship you maggots!" Erek shouted at the drunk workmen standing on top of the "Sweet Anne". The crewmen only laughed and one dropped his coveralls and started relieving himself over the side. Erek frowned and gave them the appropriate gesture. The Sweet Anne had been through hell, that was for sure. She was no longer sweet. But she would get the job done. Erek popped a data pad out of a pouch on his utility belt. He checked the local nets-all hush-hush and encrypted of course-for any replies to his inquiry:

RE:Payday; « « no replies » »
Erek again. Ship departing 10:00, Port Hangar 6, south bay. Simple grab-bag-and-deliver job. Payment upon receipt. Details given for serious inquiries. Probable belligerents. Bring a gun or two.

Erek didn't like using the local-nets to look for a crew, but he needed to get a hold of a ships compliment before his boss lost track of the "Gargatha". With a post on the nets Erek was sure to secure a crew before the freighter headed into Empire space. If that happened then the princess was as a good as dead and Erek's head would be on a plate in the hall of Hyksos. Of course Erek didn't mention in his inquiry that the "Gargatha" was now under Ygar control, or that it was headed for Empire space. These mercs were a shaky bunch anyways, no sense in getting them all riled up before they even got out there. Still, Erek was starting to feel a little shaky. Then he realized he was only hungry. Really hungry.

[Lauder]

Azir L'thotos

Outlaw. Pirate. Scum.

All were words used to describe the corrupt, immoralist man that was Azir L'thotos. He was an average looking character for a C'lok and he certainly did not take that to heart as he tried to blend in with the civilian crowd once more, no longer wishing to go down that line of piracy and betrayal. He had gotten a job on the ship that as known as the Sweet Anne, a ship that he could only look so new and fresh that it would shine a beam that would blind all others. It made him excited and anxious at the same for this glorious new life to open up to him in a realm of possibilities.

Then he actually saw the ship, it was heavily run down and it looked like it had been through all the circles of torment and back for whatever reason. It made Azir feel a bit disappointed by the looks of the ship but what could he honestly have expected from something like this, on this planet in particular. The C'lok did spot the man who was relieving himself on the ship, angering Azir in the process as he always held a deep respect for ship as they did a lot of work. "Hey! Stop doing that to the ship, treat it with respect or I will shoot you!," Azir yelled out as he neared the ship, his facial tentacles flaring out in anger.

[Jpp188]

Дуака

Дуака slipped his hood up as soon as he left the passenger ship. Wouldn't want anyone to panic he thought. It's hard, when you are a shadow freak, to live in society normally, but he wasn't normal. Especially now that he had taken this job. Who knows how long it would be, how many thing he would see and do. He noticed it in the corner of his eye. A man in a dark coat was looking at him and speaking to his watch. Дуака turned around toward the shuttle. Another man in the same style of coat was standing in the crowd, watching him. Дуака flipped back around and walked faster. He took out his data pad and typed in the address on the post, it would lead him to a shipyard housing the ship they were taking. The Sweet Anne. It reminded him of Анна back home. He hoped that this ship would be as sweet as his Anna.

Дуака reached an alleyway and turned the corner. Time to lose his tail. Дуака shadowed and watched the entrance to the dark side street. And on cue two men peaked around the corner, gave a quick swear and started sprinting down the alley, right past Дуака. As soon as they were past him a ways, he unshadowed and took out his data pad, right up this way was the shipyard. Дуака twisted his way through the alleys to avoid the cameras on the streets and eventually found the back entrance to the shipyard. The words South Bay Hangar were on the door. This would be the place. Дуака walked through the door and head someone talking. He shadowed as he slowly snuck up to watch. A man was urinating on a huge hunk of scrap metal parts."Hey! Stop doing that to the ship, treat it with respect or I will shoot you!," someone yelled. Ship? Oh, the scrap metal was the ship. So much for "Sweet". Oh well, it's a man offering him a job, hard to come by these days. He unshadowed and strolled up to the group of men standing next to the ship. The man reliving himself almost jumped off the planet when he saw Дуака.

"Do you have a problem, sir?"

[Polybius]

South Bay Hangar

---

"Hey! Stop doing that to the ship, treat it with respect or I will shoot you!," Azir yelled out as he neared the ship, his facial tentacles flaring out in anger.

The port crewmen turned to face the other men yelling at them. The man zipped up his pants and called back, "Your not gonna shoot anyone sweetheart this here is-OH MY GOD!" He tumbled backwards at the sight of the C'lok, and the swirling shadows of the man behind him.

"Do you have a problem, sir?" said the Тень.

The drunk mechanic fell off the side of the ship. His safety harness snagged on his partner and he too followed with a yelp, falling to the ground below. The harness snapped back and the two men were stuck dangling a few feet from the hangar floor, confused and covered in urine. One of them began snoring loudly. Erek thought he heard a whimper from the other.

Captain Erek

Erek watched the exchange with slight amusement. The squid-man looked familiar to Captain Erek but he couldn't quite place the face er..tentacles. A C'lok in this sector? he thought approaching the man. "You looking for a job?" he asked. Then the man from shadow stepped forward. Erek hesitated.

Captain Erek had heard of the Тень but never seen one in person. "And you? I...hope your here for a job as well?" Erek stared at the two mercenaries. The cold dead eyes of the C'lok unnerved him. The shadows swirling around the Тень seemed to grow darker, more intense the longer Captain Erek was in his presence. "Come on fella's what'll it be? You looking for a job?"

[Lauder]

Azir L'thotos

Azir began laughing at the men who seemed to be afraid of him, then he heard a man speak from behind him. "Do you have a problem, sir?," the voice asked which earned a slight huff from Azir. "Why yes I- WAH!," the C'lok yelped as he turned to see the Тень, jumping back a bit. Azir had thought they were a mere myth that had been created to scare people but apparently not. However, Azir quickly got his cool back to him and gave out a laugh, laughing that he had managed to be scared by something other than the thought of being caught by the law.

That was before the human came up and offered a job to the pirate and the strange mutation that apparently intimidated the human. "Why yes I am looking for a job," Azir answered, a smile coming from behind facial tentacle. "I am Azir L'thotos. I am just your average man and nothing else," the pirate said, introduced himself in a bit of a happy tone. He was glad see that someone had been offering a job.

[OtomostheCrazy]

@Polybius

Isabelle "Izzy the Shattergun" Ozborne

RE:Payday; « « no replies » »
Erek again. Ship departing 10:00, Port Hangar 6, south bay. Simple grab-bag-and-deliver job. Payment upon receipt. Details given for serious inquiries. Probable belligerents. Bring a gun or two.

"Huh...sounds like an easy job."

Isabelle Ozborne, AKA 'Izzy the Shattergun.' Normally, she would be in bed at this hour, sleeping off a bad hangover. However, she had to make an exception this time. She had been spending the last few weeks tracking down a certain gun dealer that sold her a pissful sniper rifle. The guy was an elusive bastard, but Izzy was too determined for him to escape her grasp forever. Before he was probably counting his profits. Now he's tied up with three missing fingers, one missing thumb, one hole in his left hand, and a chunk of his right hand shot off.

She was about to test out whatever **** guns the man was planning to rip people off with on him, until she got that message from 'Erek.' Apparently he was offering an easy job for anyone willing. After what she had to deal with because of this gun dealer, she actually felt like this job would be a good way to work the stress off. Whether it'd be relaxing or exciting, she didn't care. She just needed to get some better guns.

Thing about crooks like the gun dealer is that they usually save their best stuff for big buyers. Another thing about guys like him is that they carry that stuff with them when they're on the run. Surprisingly they keep it with them in special cases, and it was fairly easy to find. Different locks, depending on the person, but this dealer was an idiot, so it was easy to open it up. Inside were two pretty impressive guns. A customized fully automatic submachine gun, and a high-powered semi-automatic sniper rifle complete with a special scope.

Chuckling at her spoils, she also grabbed the rounds from the case for obvious reasons. She had a job to do and a ship to catch, so she started on her way to Port Hanger 6...Well, after she shot the dealer several more times with his ****ty guns.

...It took a while to navigate her way, but she found the place. The ship, unsurprisingly, looked like a rust bucket. Lo and behold, it also had a bunch of idiots doing things that she honestly would have shot them for. Unfortunately some other people showed up to handle the situation. Things got worked out...in a way. They went over to another person, who Izzy assumed to be Erek. She walked over to him, and spoke up.

"Hey, I'm here for the job."

[Jpp188]

Дуака

"Come on fella's what'll it be? You looking for a job?"

"Why yes I am looking for a job, I am Azir L'thotos. I am just your average man and nothing else," Дуака looked into the human's eyes. There was fear, no doubt, but something else stuck out in his emotions. Determination, for what ever reason, Erek, he assumed, was determined to get a crew together and complete this job. This coupled with the need of a job made Дуака come to a rather quick decision

"Im in, under one condition. When this is over, I get another offer on the next one, The name's Дуака. Дуака stated with a smile and a quick laugh. He forgot that even in his condition, a small social cue like a laugh can calm an entire group down. As for the C'lok, Azir, he seemed to look over Дуака quite carefully. Kind of like he was a walking myth. A woman who had been watching the group since he arrived, walked carefully over to them and said,
"Hey, I'm here for the job."

This is quite a party, Дуака thought to himself. A noise outside caught his attention, Дуака heard the sound of sprinting footsteps coming from outside the shipyard. He looked around and saw a security camera looking at him and the group from atop a security checkpoint tower. Damn!, Дуака put his finger to his mouth and gestured for the group to be quiet, he shadowed and moved to a darker area in the yard. He pulled out his silenced pistol that was stuffed inside his cloak. He barely got the gun out in time for the two men in dark coats to walk into the room.

[Awesomoman64]

Glitch

Glitch was sitting in a less traversed part of the station scrolling through the list of jobs on the local net. He had come here from a shuttle that would return to a station he wasn’t exactly able to get back to, so for now he’d need a job here. Unfortunately, this wasn’t his ideal place. Assassinations, armed escorts, all things that didn’t require his particular set of skills. Finally, something came across he could do. A grab and bag, not something you could easily do without someone to take out the automated security systems. He gave a whistle when he saw the offer. 20,000 Hyksos Tongs! That was quite a payout. Though not many details were given, it was the best offer he had seen so far. He decided it wouldn’t hurt to check it out and headed for the hangar.

Once he arrived and laid eyes on the Sweet Anne his jaw dropped and his arms flopped to the side. ”You gotta be kidding me.” This hunk of junk was the ship? What did they sell the real ship to pay for the crew and this was the best substitute they had? This was either a complete hoax or the contractor was insane.

Still, if this was a serious offer it was the best job currently out there. With a deep sigh he pulled out his data pad and started looking up any and all information on a this model of corvette ships; at least he’d have an idea of what to expect as far as the on board computers. He got so caught up in it that not only did he miss the commotion with the mechanics, he ended up walking head first into a red hair women ”Oh crap! Sorry about that. Should watch where I’m going.”

As he apologized he realized she and the group she was talking to were standing in front of the Sweet Anne ”I take it this is the ‘Payday’ job? You guys got room for a tech?” he asked spinning his data pad in his hand as if it showed he had skill with it.

[Polybius]

South Bay Hangar

---

The mercenaries eyed one another in turn, the C'lok, the humans and the man shrouded in shadow. Erek appraised each one. The lady with the shock of wild red hair was armed to the teeth. A techy looking human fiddled with a data pad at his side. The man in shadow gestured for silence. That's when Erek saw the Port Authority Soldiers march onto the hangar walkway. They stood side by side on the narrow walkway. They carried heavy guns that resembled comically-sized shotguns. Beneath their dark robes Erek could see Dispersal Armor that would thwart any minor weapons fire. The Blast helmets over their heads obscured their species.

Captain Erek

"Well...now this is a party," said Captain Erek, nodding to each of the mercenaries standing with him. He noticed Дуака stepping into some shadows behind a steam pipe. He pulled the shortsword from the sheathe on his belt."To what do we owe the pleasure of this visit scumbags?" The vibro-blade whirred with the energy of twenty suns, powered by sun-slugs from Psokos IV. He whirled the weapon around skillfully in one hand as he drew a small pistol with his other. The Port Authority Guards carried heavy bolters, a sort of shot-gun that spewed electric death, they hesitated when they saw the crowd of mercenaries they faced. One of them spoke through a muffled, static filled speaker that Erek thought might be a translator device built into his helmet.

"This is an unlawful assembly in the governance of South Bay. By order of the Governor Gerard Domina, lay down your weapons," said one of them. The other one was already calling for backup. The shotguns they wielded began humming, the tiny dynamos within gathering energy that would, in a moment scatter death across the walkway....Erek braced himself for combat...

[Voltus_Ventus]

Slipstream,Dex

Beneath him steel catwalk clanked and jostled under his boots, and pipes above his head hissed and whooshed with mystery fluids and gases. As Dex walked, he dragged his hand on the rail, admiring the dank, terrible looking ship below, it may have looked like a piece of garbage but they flew better then the birds he use to pilot. Dex originally had plans to not pick up any new contracts while he was at the station but upon arriving and making his way to a data terminal, he found that his employers withdrew their contracts, stating that they didn't need his services anymore. Dex could not stand being jobless, it drove him to tears with boredom.

Soon however, he located a new job and made haste towards it.

Up ahead, Dex noticed what seemed to be a group of people standing off. The station constabulary and what looked to be an odd mix of humans and aliens. Then he heard the Guards speak.

'Oh no, you ain't takin' this from me flat feet.' He thought to himself, swinging his shotgun out from under his shotgun and wracking the lever, loading a plasma she'll into the chamber.

"Now what's going on here?"

[OtomostheCrazy]

@Polybius

Isabelle "Izzy the Shattergun" Ozborne

Izzy eyed the guards to assess the situation. Apparently, this was an unlawful meeting. She would understand that them meeting would be suspicious, but to bring out this many people and just accuse them of doing stuff? Governor Gerard Domina must be paranoid. If he kept stuff like that up, Izzy might just put that guy on her hit list. Still, this was just one thing...of course that doesn't mean that she won't kill these guys of his. No one tries to stop her from a job. No one.

Hm...there's enough people here to spread their attention out, and most of them have heavy-bolters, pretty unreliable from this distance, but still pretty deadly when used in large groups...And they have armor, so that makes things difficult...If push comes to shove, I'll switch to it, but for now I think I can make do with the sniper. They're far enough for that...I think.

Izzy prepared herself for the fight. In her line of sight, there was some cover to use. It'd be helpful in the fight to come. She leaned towards Erek to whipser,

"Hey, we should probably shoot first."

[Lauder]

Azir L'thotos

The C'lok looked over at the guards, hearing his team draw their weapons at the sight of the guards coming in to disband this apparent "unlawful" meeting. Azir drew a bolt-pistol from his coat, loaded with small spikes that can rupture themselves into shrapnel when it hits an object. "I am not doing anything for you lot," Azir stated to the guards before firing off three rounds at them, hoping that they would run for cover of some kind. He looked around bfore running to get behind a small metal crate, being sure not to press up against it out of fear of he electric shock the guns produced. The pirate would not deal with law enforcement in a very willing manner either, knowing fully well that they were possibly corrupt themselves, but he never truly knew. What he did know was that he just got the crew in a lot of trouble if they weren't fighters.

[Awesomoman64]

Glitch

”Great. I just ditched the cops!” Glitch thought as Дуака pointed out the approaching men before vanishing into the shadows. What exactly were they doing wrong? It wasn't a crime to hang out in a hanger. And even if it was a simple “move along would have sufficed, they didn't need to send an guards.

Well, maybe they did… The moment the security personnel even got close everyone pulled out various weapons; each looking more deadly than the last. While they all seemed like skilled combatants, Glitch was far from. He wasn’t unarmed of course. He kept a handgun concealed in his jacket in case someone tried to muscle him, but against armored security, it was practically a peashooter.

“Man, you guys do not mess around do ya?” He remarked as he drew his gun. As pitiful as it was compared, he wasn't going to be the only one without a weapon. He didn’t however put his finger on the trigger. Instead he used his data pad to see what sort of network this station had set up and whether or not it had much protection. Speaking of protection, he currently had none. So he carefully positioned himself behind Erek and Isabelle as they seemed the most armored of the bunch.

Eyes on the screen, he wasn't paying attention when Azir fired his weapon. Glitch nearly hit the ground before realizing they weren't being shot at yet. He didn't want to stick around for that. Booking it he vaulted over a stack of shipping crates and took cover. This was good get ugly.

[Polybius]

South Bay Hangar

---

As weapons roared to life on the narrow walkway, the mercenaries either ducked for cover or opened fire at the pair of mightily armed Port Authority Soldiers. They began advancing, white lightning bursting out from their heavy-bolters. The soldiers hardly seemed to be affected by the small arms fire of the mercenaries. Between the arc lightning warping of the soldiers shotguns warping the metal cat-walk and the weight of seven people fighting, the whole platform shifted and broke. Steam-vents buckled, crates went flying and the two P.A. soldiers fell backwards to the floor.

Captain Erek

"Hell of a way to start a mission" thought Captain Erek as the cat-walk buckled under all the weight and heat of the weapons fire. His ears were ringing as he fell, and he was forced to drop his pistol in order to grab onto the railing. His saber automatically powered down and a strong magnetic field forced the hilt back onto his utility belt.

His legs were dangling, and he saw the hangar floor 50 feet below. The Port Authority guards were already regaining their feet. They looked dazed, but not out of the fight yet. They were looking around for their weapons."Hang on!" Erek shouted to the others. "Get to the ship, NOW!". Erek said a small prayer to Vasa, patron saint of Hyklian Warriors and jumped to the floor below, his vibro-blade once more in his hand, ready to deal death. That's when the port alarm began sounding.

[Jpp188]

Дуака

The guards were eating Дуака's pistol fire. His pistol was a small model of the Makarov 9mm, but instead had a plasma casting mod. It changed the 9mm bullets to a small plasma pellet to say, very effective against armor. Not this armor though, Дуака's shots just seemed to bounce off the guards chest plates. "I can't get through the armor." Дуака yelled over to the rest of the mercenaries. Дуака was not accustomed to direct combat and it intimidated him slightly, but he kept aiming for logical weak points of the guards. Head, eyes, shoulders, neck... nothing was hitting the mark.

A stray arc shot hit the ground and there was a loud shifting noise. That's when the the platform slipped. "Hang on!" the captain screamed to the mercenaries. Дуака's feet slipped from under him, he took the hand hook from his belt and jabbed it straight through the platform and halted his decent. He looked around and saw other hanging as well. He scanned the platform for anything to get a grasp of with his left hand but saw nothing. Дуака grabbed his hook with both hands and threw himself up taking the hook with him, he got about halfway back up on his first jump and slashed into the platform again. "Get to the ship, NOW!" shouted Erek. Дуака searched the hangar until he found the ship still hanging from it's support arms probably one hundred meters from his current spot. Дуака saw one guard laying dead at the bottom of the hangar bay and the other was hanging on for his life, but he was speaking into his mic. The bay alarm started to blare.

[Lauder]

Azir L'thotos

---

Azir wobbled back and forth before the cat-walk began collapsing right under everyone. He gripped a bar on the raining before the cat-walk had fully given out, leading on guard to fall to his death and the other to also cling to the cat-walk. Azir held on with one arm and fired a few shots at the guard who was calling for help before following Erik down. He let go of the cat-walk and rolled onto the ground, turning back and firing his final few rounds at the guard. Azir reloaded his gun with lightning reflexes before yelling out, "This is not going to be in our favor!"

[OtomostheCrazy]

Isabelle "Izzy the Shattergun" Ozborne

When Izzy found a moment, she used it to roll her eyes at the situation. Not because the people she was going to work with had hit first. No, she thought that was a good idea. What she was annoyed at was the goddamn alarm. Alarms NEVER meant anything good, and they normally meant that more enemies were on the way. In this case, the answer to the alarm's purpose was obvious. Not only that, the catwalk was becoming less and less stable with the open fire and extra weight. This meant that she had to shoot and run.

As much as she wanted to use her special gun, she had a tendency to only use it in situations when it was most useful. The enemies being scattered and sloppily recovering did not fit that role. Izzy jumped down to the floor below, and slid herself to cover. Her sub machine gun would probably be useless in this situation, but her sniper was still plenty useful. She didn't want to take any chances with the Blast helmets, so she decided to go for body shots. She didn't even know if the species in those suits had vital spots hidden in those things.

In any case, she fired four shots. Two of them pierced through and took down one enemy, while the others did the same, only the target that was hit had only fallen to a knee, and held a hand over his wounds. Izzy cursed to herself as she took cover from the shots headed her way.

Erek had yelled for everyone to get to the ship, and she had to agree. She liked to fight, but they had s*** to do, and fighting a ton of guards wasn't part of it...Well, it wasn't what they needed right now, anyway.

"Would you guys get your asses to the damn rust bucket!" she exclaimed as she sprinted to the ship, using cover along the way.

[Polybius]

South Bay Hangar

---

The melee was fierce and quick, but ultimately ended in favor of the mercenaries. Two dead Port Soldiers lay at Azir and Erek's feet, and the emergency alarm was still blaring. Izzy and Glitch were entering the ship while Captain Erek and Azir were on the ground level nearly 200 feet away from a stairway that led to the bottom hatch of the Sweet Anne.

Captain Erek

"Nice shooting! Time to go friend!" said Erek, clapping Azir on the back. Erek plucked one of the dead guards heavy-bolters off of the ground. "No charges left! Let's get to the ship Azir!". Erek pointed to the metal stairs about 200 feet away that led to the hull airlock of the Sweet Anne. Erek began running towards the stairs.

[Awesomoman64]

Glitch

Things started going from bad to worse. As the catwalk started to break Glitch quickly activated his magna boots. Lights around the soles turned on as he was sealed to the floor. While everything else dropped, Glitch stayed standing right in place. (All be it a little more horizontal than normal.)

With the guards dead or incapacitated, nearly all the mercs called to get to the ship. ”Don't need to tell me twice! But first…” Seeing as the guards had set off the alarm without hitting a switch or using their coms, they had to have used a wireless activation. Just had to locate the right signal aaaaand boom. The alarm stopped as he overrided the activation. Though it wouldn't stop reinforcements from coming, they wouldn't have to deal with the noise. ”That's better. NOW LETS GET OUT OF HERE!” without any hesitation he ran full speed onto the ship.

[Polybius]

South Bay Hangar-Sweet Anne

---

The alarms continued to blare as the team boarded the ship. C'lok, Glitch, Duaka, Izzy, & Captain Erek bolted through airlocks and clamped them shut tight. The interior of the ship was in as bad a shape as the outside. Shreds of electrical wiring sprouted from command panels. The iron grated walkways were rusting, and in some places collapsed. Erek waved the crew up to the bridge through a narrow stairway, shaking his head at the out-of-commission turbo-lift that would have otherwise led the men there.

Captain Erek

The bridge was not nearly as bad off as the rest of the ship, but it still had a bulky retro feel to the hardware. Command consoles dotted the bridge, each with an accompanying small leather seats built for practicality rather than comfort. Everything was dark grey or black. Small yellow recessed lights in the low ceiling cast everything in harsh light. The harsh light, with the blocky, angular design of the hardware gave the bridge a labyrinthine feel. This was no sleek starship.

It was old, that was for sure. But these things did not concern Captain Erek as he slammed the Captains' console to life, jerking three throttle controls forward as far as they would go, and hammering most of the buttons on the console. "Anyone know weapons systems that are about 60 years old get on that forward console. They're not gonna open the hangar bay doors so let's make a door!!", yelled Captain Erek pointing forward. He flicked one more switch and the viewscreen came to life. He flicked a few more and low, rumbling began in the bowels of the ship."Engines coming online any second! How are those weapons? Someone monitor the engines!"