Andre Valias

Born to Fight: Bounty Hunters

Yeah, same.

Born to Fight: Bounty Hunters

Outer Orgon System, 9:11 pm,
Black Market Goods Station

Gunfire from both sides punctuated the atmosphere as Ellie and Joshua crawled amongst cover. In light of the danger they were in of getting struck by the crossfire, Ellie decided against making any further jabs at McPhie. Instead, she focused on tracing their way back to the bay the landed in. For a moment she wished she had given McPhie his cigar back, because maybe the ashes would've been a sort of bread crumb trail for them to follow. Perhaps that was wishful thinking and most likely improbable, but anything seemed easier than navigating this mess of a situation.

Ellie then bumped into a equipment stall, or what was left of it. She then recalled their possible lack of space suits, and suddenly getting shot wasn't the worst thing that could happen to them. Quenching her anxiety, Ellie just sifted through the cases until she found what was the best of the stock. McPhie nudged her wondering what she was doing and she shoved the men's suit case at him. They continued crawling, the firefight still raging when, to her relief, they found their way back to their bay. She thanked whoever decided to sell the unregulated fusion-powered sex toys at their black market stall-- Very peculiar and unforgettable merchandise, to be sure.

The both of them skipped through during a second lull in the conflict, the door slamming shut behind them. McPhie then scowled and pulled his revolver.

BANG.

"Awright, playtime's over. Git away from the ship or get fried up, understand?" The mechanics who McPhie had tipped earlier to mind the ship were coddling it a little more than they should've been. Upon the gunshot and his assertion, they scattered and darted into the vents to get away from the bay but also avoid the raid in the main room. Ellie and McPhie both boarded their ship promptly and closed the boardwalk up behind them. Joshua took a handle of the controls while Ellie took her suit case to the side to get changed. The interface then beeped a god-awful noise.

"What in tarnation...?" And to McPhie's dismay, the urchin mechanics had most probably grifted him. "Oh, no... No, no, no..." He started going into the ship's computer system and thought about how best to tell the ship to compensate. After a few minutes of frustrated dead-end command lines and brain-wracking, the alert disappeared, and the ship whirred to life. "Aw hell yeah! We're good to go!" McPhie cheered triumphantly/
"Not dressed like that, you're not. Put the damn suit on, McPhie," Ellie chimed in as she entered the cockpit, all suited up in a red-white atmospheric combat suit. McPhie wolf whistled in appreciation, mostly at how well it hugged her curves.

"You did grab me a men's, right? Ah, but even then, it's not really my style..." Ellie didn't respond-- not at first as she pointed out the window.
"And you're gonna tell me that is your style?" McPhie turned to look at what she was seeing, and he had probably much the same expression she probably had under the glass of her visor.
"Uh, are you able to... Just take a hold of this here while I... Okay, back in a jiffy!" Ellie dashed forward as Joshua dashed out with the suit case, already feeling maybe a small percentage better being the pilot instead of McPhie. She took to the controls like second nature, upping the thrust and riding the flash of the ships thrusters outta the bay and into the frying pan of the oncoming G.I.A blockade.

Born to Fight: Bounty Hunters

Edge of Delaron System, 1545 shiptime,
Aboard the 'Strax'

A solid fifteen minutes of listening to music not necessarily to his taste, Xioxas almost sigh with relief when the Strax came out of hyperspace and through the gate on the edge of the Delaron System.
"Cool, can we put my music back on now, or are you still keen on listening to this techno-punk garbage?" Xioxas asked, to no avail when he heard the response: the next song playing. "Man, come on..."
He then noticed something on the radar as he engaged sub-light speed. A small blip. Within sight too. "Hold up... That's the corvette that was in front of us in line." His passenger made a little suggestion, to which Xi rolled his eyes. "Fuck off, unlike you, I understand a semblance of diplomacy." With that, he sent a request for communication to the corvette.

After a moment, the request was received and accepted as a commlink was established.
"Uhm... Hello?" Xioxas' brow furrowed at how-- firstly-- naive and young the pilot sounded.
"This is Xioxas Azalon aboard the Strax-- The custom military-grade destroyer behind you," Xioxas began by introducing himself. "I just wanted to open up communications to see if you're headed to the same place I am, and before we both get any ideas, that we have a truce until then." There was a pause on the line.

"O-okay," the pilot replied. "A-are you headed to the Terran research station too?" Xioxas didn't bring it up first just in case this kid, as he could tell so far, didn't turn around and make a mistake he'd regret. Again; naive as he thought.
"Yeah, but I'm not too cutthroat about it. Besides, it'd be nice to have a travel buddy, you know?" As his passenger made a snide comment, Xioxas switched communication lines. "You're the exception you fuckin' tin can!" he hissed.
"-- I think so too, I just... I wasn't expecting to run into anyone so... Nice?" the pilot was replying as Xioxas switched back his communication lines.

"Hey, if I don't have to kill anyone beside who I'm really after, you're doing me the real favour here. Keep your comm line open and stick by me, yeah?" Xioxas requested. "We'll at least get there in one piece. After that, friendly competition between us, sound fair?"
"Yeah! Sounds good!" Xioxas sighed off comm as the corvette slowed down until it was in line with the Strax.
"Kid's too young for this kind of thing. He shouldn't be here." Listening to his passenger, Xi's brow furrowed, only slightly this time with worry rather than annoyance. "You know, it's actually really sad that you think that's a solution. I hope I can change that."

Edge of Delaron System, 0930 synced time
Nearby Asteroid Cluster

Blip. Blip. Blip.

"Hey Roxa; you seeing this?" one voice asked.
"Mm... Breakfast."
Blip. Blip.
"Hell yeah, it's about time..." a different voice praised.
"Alright you three, that shit-heap ain't gonna salvage itself. To it then!" a voice with more authority ordered.
BLIP. BLIP. BLIP.

As the asteroid revolved, the four pilots geared their fighters into ignition and the hangar doors slid open. With the target propelling through space in view, they launched from their ship attached to the asteroid like stinging wasps from a hive. They hurtled toward the seemingly-helpless ship, propelled just by inertia alone.
"Looks like someone got lazy. Let's remind them to stay awake in the cockpit, yeah?"
"You got it, Bawss. Tino, Lex; you know what to do!" Roxa relayed. The fighters assembled formation as they flew at the oncoming ship. They then pulled up in opposite directions, arranged like a crosshair around the ship. Suddenly, pairs of reinforced cables with grappling hooks shot out from each fighter, lodging into the ship. With just one fighter, the cables might have snapped. But with four, the group dampened the ship's momentum as soon as the cables tensed with a flicking motion.

Born to Fight: Bounty Hunters

Sorry guys, just dealing with university and life stuff, I'll be making up my IC post tomorrow and reviewing your app @Landaus Five-One. Once again, sorry for the delay!

Born to Fight: Bounty Hunters

@The Jest @Smike

Happy Andy seal of approval!
Just go through it and amend any typos and errors you can before posting to the Characters tab.
For you Jest, I spotted you still had Edward's head rolling in the backstory so just adjust that to fit with the firing squad (bit of overkill if they can manage that).
For you Smike, I just spotted a loose BBcode in your Roleplay Sample.

After that, you're good to start rolling and introduce your characters!

Born to Fight: Bounty Hunters

Of course! I've PMed you both with the link. :)

Born to Fight: Bounty Hunters

Hey @Landaus Five-One @Smike! Glad to have your interest!
As for roles, it depends as since this is a PvP-encouraged roleplay (you're all competing against each other to score a payday). But, we have a fair share of Human and Terran/Other characters, mixed bag of Genetically-Enhanced / Psi-Potent, and I have a secret Bio-Weapon character I'm going to reveal when we reach the facility where our target is.

Long story short, safe to say you can pick whatever you like. And if you need help, just drop me an @ or a message; I can give you a hot link to our Discord server where Xiga, IronHeart, The Jest and myself already hang out if you like. :)

Born to Fight: Bounty Hunters

@Xiga don't forget to edit this typo in your post when you can (and anything else you spot):

---
Not too much later she arrived at the Outer Oregon system,

@Xiga

Just so it matches up with @IronHeart's post:

Outer Orgon System

@IronHeart

Conversely, if you spot mistakes in any posts, be sure to point them out. :)
Otherwise, fun fact:

Codex Entry #429

Bounty hunters, like mercenaries, are actually "licensed" to break the law, so long as their illegal activities lead to the fulfillment of official bounties and contracts put out by the government. When they fulfill their obligations, the maximum fines applied to their crimes are subtracted from their final payout. Ideally, mercenaries and bounty hunters complete their jobs without breaking the law where they can so they get as much money back as possible, but when push comes to shove...

Born to Fight: Bounty Hunters

Paradicial, 7:30 pm,
Upper Atmosphere, 'Olympus' Spaceport

Ellie looked out down on the planet's surface, the home world's metropolitan cityscapes, although massive on foot and the scale somewhat made tangible by the view from an office building, altogether appeared like patches of metallic crop fields in a vast wilderness from the bird's eye view of the space elevator. It was magnificent to see, and Ellie appreciated any excuse to see it again.
"A real beauty, ain't she?" Ellie looked at Joshua and nodded.
"I ain't never seen anything like it. These orbital elevators truly are amazing," she replied.

Joshua smirked as he puffed his 2nd cigar since they left, which made Ellie's eyes narrow. "You sure you're allowed to be smoking that thing in here?" Joshua chuckled and gestured to the empty elevator seats, numbering enough to hold a capacity of about thirty sitting people at a time comfortably.
"Y'see anybody else in here complainin'?" Ellie rolled her eyes and looked back out the window, the elevator now reaching the final ascent as the spaceport above drew closer. She was more excited now than before, the very real prospect of joining a bounty hunter on his very own ship to hunt a bounty. Ellie giggled with excitement.

20 minutes later...

"What the bleedin' hell, McPhie!?" Ellie shouted over the gunfire. Joshua just smirked again puffing his 3rd cigar, and-- if she weren't so preoccupied with trying not to get shot-- Ellie swore she would have swiped that cigar away from him.
"Thought you wanted some adventure, lil' lady?"
"I expected a ship, not a shootout!" Joshua laughed and then listened to the gunfire reaching its peak.
"We have a ship, now run as soon as I say so and, whatever you do, don't look back." As he said this, Ellie looked down at his hand. He didn't have his gun now, but a grenade and Ellie's eyes widened. "Now!" Ellie got up after the grenade was tossed during the silent interlude of the gunfire's symphony, which was suddenly punctuated by a bang and a flash of light skirting past her arms. Ellie kept her eyes on the boarding ramp and nothing else, and soon everything went blank. Except for maybe one little thought.

This man is a bloody menace.

Outer Diamandis System, 1520 shiptime,
Aboard the 'Strax'

Xioxas tapped the edge of the panel in time with the music as he moved the ship close to the short queue of ships going through the gateway. Hardly peak hour, but it's only security verifying ship credentials and records and personnel id. Which reminded him...
"Hey, you said you have some sort of stealth shit. Might be a good time to turn it on so we get through this without any issues," he spoke on the headset. The music quieted down as a reply came through, one which made Xi's brow furrow. "Whaddya mean 'why'? he retorted. "I can't believe you sometimes-- Look, if they find you without identification, it'll take too long to try and explain or deal with it, so it'll be faster if you just-- you know-- didn't show up?" The music kept playing at standard volume for a few seconds before quieting again for a reply. Xi sighed with relief. "Thank you."

The next ship, a small-looking corvette, got the green light and passed on through the gate, shooting into hyperspace, and Xioxas edged the ship forward to get verified. Suddenly, the music changed to something Xioxas wasn't at all expecting and he was vexed when his stowaway added something about 'wanting to listen to something too'. What the fuck is this shit, and why is he hijacking the audio? Xioxas could only think, as a communication link was established between him and the security force on the gateway.

"Your ship registration looks in order, and we got your inventory. Can we verify your identification please?" the officer asked over voice. Xioxas clicked the channel over on his headset.
"Of course, opening live visual for you now." Xioxas looked up at the camera as it indicated live recording.
"Looks fine to me, mr Azalon. We're going to scan your ship now and check everything against your ship manifest; just to double-check, you indicated nobody else aboard your ship?"
"That's correct, officer," Xi replied as he nodded to the camera. He then waited a few seconds, then a minute for security to check everything off his list. A very nerve-wracking minute as since this was the first time he was going through the gateway and putting his faith in his stowaway's stealth capabilities.

"You're good to go. Have a safe trip," the officer finally commented.
"Thanks officer." Xioxas thrust the ship forward and through the gateway, feeling the familiar but weird sensation of being propelled into hyperspace. He put the headset down as he sat back and stretched out against his pilot seat, relieved that it all worked out fine. He then paused when he heard the same song he wanted to stop listening to was playing throughout the ship. "What the fuck-- you fixed the ship's speakers without telling me!?" Xioxas shouted over the wild techno.

Outer Orgon System, 8:50 pm,
Black Market Goods Station

Joshua and Ellie stepped off the boarding ramp of their newly acquired ship and aboard the station. Ellie had recovered from her disappointment-fuelled shock of becoming a wanted criminal in the Saint Silver system back when they passed through the official gateway, but only because she had to be at attention to feign being Joshua's newly wedded bride, off to the Orgon system for their honeymoon. She looked at Joshua as he clicked the ramp shut and flicked CredCoin to the dirty faced engineer nearby. Some honeymoon... She thought as the engineer shouted at her buddies to join her in fixing up and minding the ship. After all, their escape from the space station wasn't totally flawless. "But I lost them, didn't I?" Ellie faintly recalled Joshua crowing at her after making her nauseous from his flyboy ship-flying.

Then Joshua started to light up his 5th cigar. Ellie reached forward and snatched it from him before the flame even licked the wrapping.
"Hey, that's my last one! What's the big idea?" he complained. Ellie held it in her hand at ransom as she stared at him.
"You haven't even told me why the hell we're here. This isn't a research facility, but a glorified shithole of a station," she hissed, naming her price. Joshua sighed as he brought the palm of his gloved hand to his forehead.
"Look, I just gotta do a bit of light shopping here, and after that, we can just use one of their gateways here to leave. We can't really use the official ones now, after all. Sound fair?" He then held out the same hand to Ellie.

For a moment, she thought about returning it. Then she reflected on how it was a valuable commodity, now that she knew it was the last one he had.
"You can get it back when we leave." Joshua frowned as he watched her slip it in her pocket and fold her arms.
"Fine. This way." Ellie then followed Joshua into the rest of the station proper. None of what she saw changed at all what she said about the station. It was exactly as she put it: a glorified shithole of a station. What she was starting to recognise was why. Plenty of disreputable faces hawking their goods at little market stalls, which would have been okay and even adorable if the market stalls weren't loaded to the brim with weapons, chems, unregulated fusion-powered sex toys, and all other sorts of illegal merchandise. Plus the fact Terrans and Humans intermingled like there wasn't even an inter-galactic war to begin with. It was a kind of both dystopian and utopian paradise of sorts. "You want anything at all?" Ellie looked up to see Joshua speaking to her.
"I think I'm good for the moment. I'll let you know," she murmured back.

About a few minutes of darting from stall to stall passed, with Joshua picking up a few bits and bobs of the killing kind; more flashbangs, a bandolier of cheeky grenades of all sorts with emojis painted on them-- Ellie could only guess the emojis indicated what they did, and different types of bullets Joshua could load his custom revolver with. While he was bartering with the arms dealer over how little he could pay for the aforementioned bullets, Ellie came across an odd stall but the real item of her focus was a little fluffy creature in a cage.
"Oh, this looks kinda cute..." she cooed as she closed in on the beady eyed little... Owl? Reptile? It had both a tail and fluffy feathers, and a beak, and made little hissing noises as its eyes focused on Ellie. "But what in the world is illegal about-- ah, yep, illegally poached." She looked at the other exotic but probably endangered xeno lifeforms being sold in various confinements.

"Can I interest you in any-- ah?" Ellie looked up at the stall owner; a poacher and a stout little woman about two feet shorter than Ellie was, and had her right eye covered by an eye patch-- although that probably just concealed a mechanical eye since the cybernetics grafted into her cheek's skin where not as concealed. "Now you look a lil' familiar, innit?" she wondered in a daft accent. Ellie immediately disassociated with the rough-looking lady as Joshua came in at the right time.
"I get that a lot, must be how young I am." she replied as she grimaced nervously. "What's that, honey? Oh, let's go then!"
"What? I din't..." Joshua spluttered as Ellie grabbed him at the arm as though she were still feigning their marriage.
"Shut up and walk," she murmured through her fake smile, ignoring the lady calling out after her.

Suddenly the lights blared red as an intruder alert sounded off. Before they could wonder if it was them or one of the hundred criminals aboard starting the ruckus, there was an explosion that shook that part of the station which would have put Ellie on the ground if not for Joshua as a support. She then noticed, thankfully, the poacher wasn't focused on her anymore. Bad news was...
"It's the bleedin' fuzz!" she shouted out pulling out a shotgun, and immediately or even before the words left her lips, everyone aboard the station frenzied into action. Tables were overturned with goods spilling on the floor, either to act as barricades or simply out of sheer panic. Criminals left and right were either arming up, or just picking up as much product as possible to at least make fleeing for their lives a profitably dangerous venture. Ellie then looked at Joshua seriously.
"What!?" he exclaimed. "I didn't know 'this' was gonna happen!"

Born to Fight: Bounty Hunters

Paradicial, 7:00 pm,
Arsodus, The Wild One Bar

"Beat it kid, I work alone."
"Wow, you really don't know how us bounty hunters work? Get lost."
"Oh for-- No, I'm not hunting the general, I got easier paydays than that, now fuck off!"

Ellie sighed hopelessly and twirled a lock of hair around her finger as the neon lights and wild techno rock emanated from the bar's jukebox. She leaned on the table and stared at her tablet, and General Vincent Roa's stern face stared back.
"But I don't even wanna a reward... I just want an adventure..." she said to nobody in particular. She'd come to the rougher part of town because she figured there were some cutthroat mercenaries and guns for hire who were probably going to tackle the fat bounty on the deserting general and his army. Maybe she had been a little too hopeful. Nobody wanted a starry-eyed girl to help them, even if she was good with a gun. Ellie gently touched her sidearm to make sure it was still there. That's when she caught someone's attention.

"So you're looking for someone to bring a general to justice, I hear it?" Ellie looked up and saw what looked like a space cowboy-- like there was any other way to describe it. A man who looked probably only ten years older than she was, dressed head to toe in dark combat armour with a black cape thrown over his shoulders, and a black but dandy brimmed hat on his head. He had short but messy brown hair, which he grew to his sideburns, and brown eyes glinting in the shade of his brimmed hat which he tipped toward the lady as he puffed his cigar. Ellie tilted her head as she judged the handsome rogue for herself.
"Depends, are you someone who doesn't mind a little lady such as myself tagging along for said justice?" she asked in return, gesturing to the man's get-up.

He chuckled as he in turn judged the "lil' lady". She was a blondie, but the kind with a little bit of fight in those pretty brown eyes of hers. Hair was platinum blonde and, more notably, long and past her shoulders-- would probably get in the way in a dangerous situation. And not even to start with her clothes: she was wearing a red university jersey jacket over a black tank top; at least she was wearing black cargo pants and black leather boots, but unfortunately she decided heels were a must. And the sidearm? Decent, but even the mercenary knew relying on just the one sidearm was dangerous. The little lady just screamed danger. Fortunately for both of them, the man appreciated a challenge.

"The name's Joshua McPhie, at your service m'am," he introduced himself, giving a courteous bow with hat pressed to his chest. "And who might you be?"
"Ellie Hart, a pleasure to meet you!" she replied. "So, when do we leave?" Joshua smirked at her eagerness, so he obliged her.

"Soon as you're ready."

Seraph VII, 11:30 am,
District 9, Solaire's Estate

"Now look, gentlemen... The reward to risk is immeasurable. I believe the boy is ready, and it will prove an excellent opportunity to test his psionics." Ace played outside with the butterflies and bees that flew around in the garden as the summer sun beamed down. He giggled as he conjured tiny but harmless bubbles around the insects mid-flight.
"Solaire, I'm aware I voiced my dissatisfaction with how much we were wasting his potential, but I by no means suggested sending him into a death trap. Surely there are easier options than going after this... General Roa?" Ace stopped playing with the insects for a moment and looked over to the estate, the butterflies still trapped in the bubbles and floating around him as he looked through the window curiously at the terran staring back.

"As the boy's caretaker, you better believe nobody else in this room knows how much I'm risking on this venture better than I," the dragon said to his colleagues, still staring at the blue salamander. "And that's why I believe Ace will be more than capable of accomplishing this by himself." One of the bubbles came dangerously close to hitting the boy's tail, but he swished it away in time for it to continue unimpeded, and he continued to laugh and play. Solaire then turned away to look at his colleagues. "Don't worry, by this time in a few days, we'll be richer than the High Council. That is when our doors will really start opening wide for us, gentlemen."

Terra, 2:47 pm,
Terranova, Skydock Plaza

"What? Yeah, I got the core as well, relax!" Xioxas hauled a small military crate topped with shopping that he couldn't fit in his backpack, as a voice spoke through his ear piece. "Look, when I say 'groceries' I do mean 'everything' we need, okay?" Xioxas jabbed back at a mocking remark. "The sooner we have everything we need, the sooner we can get this show on the road," he added, moving a little to the left to avoid an oncoming forklift. His face then screwed up in confusion as the response came through. "Slowpoke!? Why you-- Damnit, I regret teaching you any sort of conventional vocabulary, you asshole," Xioxas began to snap, but then reduced his voice to a hissing whisper as he passed a mother lioness and her cub child. "Honestly, you're the one who insisted all of a sudden that we have to get on this-- I know, I know it's better to get a headstart on a bounty, but this is ridiculous!" Xioxas looked up a flight of stairs before heading up. "The man's guarded by what is basically an entire army, surely nobody else is crazy enough to take that one, human OR terran. You need to learn how to chill." Listening to the response, Xioxas wished he could hang up without using his hands. "Stars, I regret..." he muttered.