Crossfire

Revenant: A Sci-Fi Adventure (Always Accepting!)

END OF CHAPTER 1

(OOC: So first thing's first, real talk, I cut some corners on the editing side of things here, dialogue colors and stuff, just to finally get it up. If general consensus is its hard to read, I'll come back later and fix it up, but for now, lets go!)

Edit: I dropped the ball here in terms of tagging everyone, sorry!

Mission Summary: Alliance-appointed commanding officer of Squad 3, Sergeant Gunnarson died early in the assault, from there, the objective was all but forgotten as Benny and Sadaet platooned the leadership role to get everyone out alive except Harriet who tragically didn’t survive. The explosives did their job, creating enough chaos within the military depot to cover the team’s escape, the target may very well have been eliminated, but who could say for sure with no way to confirm the kill. On SAL’s side of things, things went better. Their objective was completed, but they still took losses, particularly Pax. Both teams are currently en route back to the ship. Meanwhile………….

Take The Shot

Take The Shot
A (final?) collab between myself and Xandrya

Grayson stuck around after the meeting long enough to get his copy of the recon report. He found Amy hanging around near the Armory door.

“Hey love, can ya believe this shit? Fuckin’ arseholes bargin’ in like they own the place.”

Amy scoffed, turning around to face Grayson. "Well you could easily tell he's one of those people judging by his appearance. Gotta give props to Stryker though, he kept his cool."

She took a quick look inside the armory, figuring he'd get started soon.

"You're about to start doing the lord's work, aren't you?"

“Aye, but there’s nothin’ holy about my work, except for how damn good it is. How about your job, got a place to set up? If not, come on in, ya can use the workstation terminal if ya want”

"I have the set up in the room. Actually grabbed the drive and took it back there but I don't think it'll be missed. Thanks anyway."

“Alright, see yas later”

Grayson spent most of the next week either working in the armory or with Amy, they split their time together between working on her sharpshooting, and sleeping. By the night of the job, she was more than up to snuff. They’d gone over their plan a dozen times, fine-tuning the details until it was just right, now it was time to finally put it to action.

“How’s the upgrades love?” he asked as they armored up.

“They seem good, although we’ll really find out when we put them to the test,” Amy went on as she geared up with some of her equipment. She was a bit nervous given it was her first time taking on the role, but she would simply have to rely on the training she’d received.

“Aye, that we will. Listen, I know yer a little jittery, but ya don’t need ta be. You’re gonna be great out there. Now, that said, maybe hold on to me tight when we gotta use this” he tapped one of the Spider’s Web modules on his belt “Ta grapple up to our nest. I tested the hook-up as best as I could, but anything could happen in the field. Don’t wanna take too many chances.”

He stepped over and hugged her reassuringly. It was only slightly awkward with both of them in armor.
“Love ya Ames. Game face on. I’ll carry the rifles, grab me helmet?”

“You sound reassuring enough to be believed, so I’ll take your word for it.”

Amy pulled away, giving Grayson’s hand a little squeeze before reaching for the helmet. “Just keep up the pep talk and I think we’ll be fine. Even if we don’t come out unscathed, I don’t think it’ll be a total disaster.”

“No worries dear, we got this.”

Grayson picked up the pair of rifles and gestured for Amy to lead the way down to the cargo bay. They stood off to the side, Grayson silently running some final checks and pre-op diagnostics on his implant, before Stryker, Voss and the other two jarheads arrived.

Voss took front and center after everyone arrived, hands behind his back as he proclaimed.
"Everybody keep in contact. Remember that this is a coordinated effort. The failure of one, means failure for all. Best of luck to all of you."

Grayson and Amy boarded their assigned shuttle, with SAL’s unit, and quietly went over their plan one more time. Before too long, they had reached their drop off point. Grayson uttered a quick ‘good luck’ to SAL and the squad as he hopped out.

He set up a secure comm link with Amy’s gear in case they were separated and reached back to his Mag-sling to retrieve his folded rifle and watched it unfurl itself into a standard sniper configuration. He made sure the readout on his implant was synced up to the rifle’s scope and now that he was set, nodded at his partner.

“Ready ta rock darlin’?”

She nodded in reply and took point, heading across the rooftop as silently as possible. She knelt next to the keypad on the locked access door and retrieved a small device from her belt. Just as they planned, she easily hacked the security on the door and they headed on, following their agreed-upon route to a ‘T’. At one point, Grayson got a little overzealous, got a few steps too far ahead and was nearly spotted by a civilian, but Amy was there to stop him, her arms barely reaching all the way around him in his bulky armor as she clasped them around him and tried to drag him back into the shadows.

“Jeez Ames” he whispered, cracking a smile as soon as he realized that no damage had been done “I know ya can’t keep your hands off me, but we’ve got a job to do.”
She could only reply by rolling her eyes and shooting him a look that just screamed ’Are you for real?’
“Be serious” she whispered sternly.

He chuckled quietly and winked at her.
“Just a joke lass. Let’s keep movin’”

They proceeded on in near-silence without incident. Finally, after one more expertly-executed door hack from Amy, they emerged onto the half-completed rooftop of a building under construction. Well, a rooftop. Twenty-story towers reached for the sky on either side of them. This rooftop was merely halfway up, a connecting point between the towers. Grayson quickly scanned the western tower with his implant to ensure structural integrity and locked on to an open space in the scaffolding.

“Alright, I see a good spot to set tha’ nest” he said as he beckoned Amy over. With a few clicks on his wrist-mounted computer, three of the grappling nodes on his Spider’s Web activated. Two shot upward and locked into place on the scaffolding seventeen stories up. The other just sat there limply, Grayson slid his rifle around to his back and pulled the cabling out by hand to gently looped it around Amy’s waist before latching it onto the small metal hook on her left hip.

“Cable’s strong, there’s no way it’s gonna break” he said confidently “Ya trust me love?”
She nodded, but Grayson could see some apprehension on her face. So as an added measure of safety, he locked his arms together around her back before activating the Web. They reeled upward quickly, but not too quickly. After a minute or two, they arrived and clambered over the mass of scaffolding and rebar to finally reach their destination, Amy untangled herself from the grapple cable and unslung her rifle.

“West of here right?”
“Aye, should be easy enough to spot ‘em.” Grayson replied as he retrieved his own rifle and the two of them walked over to the west-facing side of the floor and set up.

The golden hues of the translucent bubble shield were like a beacon in the dark for Grayson’s trained eyes, especially with a large swath of the city coated in darkness because of the power outage. The intel was solid, it was extremely low-grade. Even a standard-issue pistol round could penetrate that. He guessed that whoever had organized Mabar M’raek’s fundraiser didn’t expect there’d be anyone on the planet stupid enough to try to take her out like this.

“Soon as ya spot her Ames, we can get this done and go home” he sighted up and focused in on the rooftop.

Suddenly, searing pain shot through his head, he yelped and panicked as his vision went dark briefly and the pain ricocheted around his head.

“What?! What’s wrong?” Amy said, alarmed. She immediately knelt beside him.

“My….. my fuckin’ eye’s gone dead. Bastards musta had targeted EMP refractors installed. Normally they just short out targeting computers and electronic scopes. This one killed my whole damn implant. I’m alright, it’ll reboot in a bit, but my head’s throbbing somethin’ mad…. I can’t take the shot. You have to do it Ames.”
He looked her dead in the face and tried to quell any doubts she had.
“You can do this, you got the skill, I believe in you.”

"Me. Alone?"

Amy got up, pacing back and forth for a moment as she came to terms with what she had to do. If she was off just the slightest, then they were practically dead. The thought ate away at her, but Grayson was right, she had a job to do. "Well, it's not like I have a choice, let's just do this then."

She took his place behind the rifle, adjusting herself until she felt relaxed enough to gently place her finger on the trigger guard. Amy looked through the scope, finding her target and aligning her to the crosshair. Amy slowly breathed in and out as her finger found its place on the trigger, and a few moments later, the shot pierced through the air.

Grayson realized his error all-too-late- the shielding around the rooftop distorted the view. Amy’s aim was off by a few inches as a result of that and the bullet struck the wrong person entirely.

“We gotta go” he said, putting his arm out to force the rifle down as Amy tried to take a second shot “Babe, there’s no time, we gotta go NOW!”

HIs head throbbed and the room was spinning as his ‘normal’ eye tried to focus. The implant was rebooting, but his vision was still pitch-black. He was panicking slightly as he snapped the rifle back to it’s Mag-Sling and grasped at notches on the Spider’s Web.

“Here, tie yerself on, I’ll try and sight up on the way out.”

They hurried into position and Grayson grabbed Amy tightly as he tried to sight up a suitable grapple point without his usual aid. His vision in the cyber-eye blinked back but the implant itself was still out of action.

“Fuck it” he said to himself as he inhaled and fired out a line. The flashing lights of security drones and incoming transports were drawing closer. Best guess? They had a few minutes to get completely clear of the sector.
“Hol’ on tight Ames” he said, trying to stay strong for the both of them despite how panicked he was.

The duo were flung into the air on the immediate propulsion….. And moments later, they were struck by a phaser blast and the line was severed by a security drone that had snuck up on them. Grayson threw his arms out wildly, trying to quickly initiate another grapple, literally anywhere. Finally, a line struck and held, slowing their descent just enough to save their lives.
Grayson and Amy fell in a heap, limbs splayed all over each other. Their suits were disabled by the phaser, so their movement was severely limited.

“Ya ok Ames?” he asked, breathing heavily.

“Yeah…. Still here” she replied, equally breathless.

The lights were closing in. They had no way out.

“We gotta crush our comms… right away”

He tapped into a secure line and quickly transmitted a one-way message to the Captain.
“Stryker….. We got burned. Not gunna make it out of this one mate. It’s been an honor.”

Amy had laid her earpiece close to his hand. He took his own out, not even sure if he had ended the transmission. A dozen guards had surrounded them, all of them guns at the ready.

They sat up and Amy slowly raised her hands in surrender. He raised one of his own, leaving his fist clenched and pressing down against the two comm devices.

“HANDS IN THE AIR!”

“Amy… baby, close your eyes, just do it” he said, not moving his hand. The guard who had spoken took a step forward.

“I said hands up!”

As fast as he could, Grayson brought his fist up and smashed it down, he barely saw the flash of light as everything faded away………..

From Action to Action: Growing A Pair
A mini-collab between me and Garde

Stryker’s brow was coated in sweat as he exhaled heavily. Halfway through their drink, he and Tibulass had shared a look and just…… pounced on one another like teenagers overcome with lust. One thing led to another and here they were, in his bed, sheet draped across their bodies and Tib’s head nestled against his chest. He chuckled a little bit as he finally caught his breath.
“Well…. That was…. Wow. That was something.”

“........ y-yeah, it was.” Tibulass stuttered as she snuggled a little closer. Truth is, she was feeling a little weird after that, and was still processing it herself.
“Listen, we…. We’ll figure out what to do in the morning. The others’ll be back soon if they haven’t already arrived, but don’t worry about them and what they’ll think. I want you to spend the night… if you’re comfortable with that.”

“...maybe we should keep it a secret. Let ‘em find out find out for themselves.” Tib suggested as she shivered a bit “I gotta steal one of your shirts for the night though, because fuck that dress.”

“Yeah, maybe…. And sure thing, go ahead” he pondered for a second.
“Actually, I’ve gotta get up for a minute” he nudged her head and started to sidle towards the edge of the bed.
Tib nodded as she moved… and promptly rolled off the bed, landing on the floor with a thud before scurrying over to the dresser and grabbing a shirt to pull on. Her face was red as she stated.
“..I was too tired to stand up out of bed, in case you were wondering.”

“Yeah sure, that’s what happened” he said with a grin as he walked into the bathroom.
“Uh... yeah, it is” she called after him. When he re-emerged a minute later, he caught her eye and smiled. She simply pointed towards the desk

“Is that supposed to be blinking?”

“Hm?” his gaze shifted over to where she was pointing. It was his comms earpiece, a small red light flashing repeatedly on the side of it. He sat and fumbled around with it as he accessed the incoming message.

“What is it?” Tib asked as she clambered back in bed “Alliance on our ass again?”

Stryker’s face had gone white as a ghost, his breathing shallow and ragged as the transmission looped again in his head. He stopped the playback and silently started typing something into his terminal.

“Stryker?” she asked, concerned “What is it?”

With one final keystroke the transmission played aloud for her to hear for herself as Grayson’s voice crackled to life
”Stryker…. We got burned. Not gunna make it outta this one mate…... It’s been an honor.”
A second voice, more distant but clear and booming.
“HANDS IN THE AIR!”
“Amy.. baby close yer eyes, just do it”
“I said, hands up!”
A laser blast reverberated around the room before the transmission cut to static.

Tib, eyes wide with shock, immediately jumped out of bed, grabbed Stryker’s pants and pulled them on as she headed for the door “Stryker! We gotta go get them, are you coming or not!?”

He sounded utterly defeated as he spun in his chair to look at her.
“Tib…. we can’t. The others are on their way back. Assuming things went well, the surface is probably on complete lockdown. Even if they are still alive, they won’t be for long.”

“Yeah, no. That was a tazer. The fuckin’ love birds are okay. And you know as well as I do that they’d do the same if it was us, so get dressed.”

“....” Stryker was speechless, all he could do was stare with his mouth open slightly. This woman was amazing.

“Hey, hey, hey, don’t get sidetracked by me stealing your pants, let’s get moving Cap.”

“What?” he snapped back to reality “Oh right, yeah, let’s go.”
He found some clothes and got dressed as Tib ushered him along.
“Onwards, mister-in-the-know!” she said as she stepped out into the hall “Posthaste!”

Literally five minutes later, just long enough for Stryker and Tib to find Voss and explain the situation to him

“No, absolutely not” Voss said defiantly “We had our orders, executed them, and now we leave before reinforcements arrive or investigations start. They knew the risks, not our problem they couldn’t deliver on their end of the bargain. In war sometimes you lose the pawns.”

“Fuck you Voss” Stryker said, his voice dripping with venom “none of us signed up for this, we’re not willing soldiers in your little war, and we’re not fucking pawns to be used either. They’re people, they’re my crew, and my friends.”

“That’s what you think, is it…. Captain?” Voss said snidely “you and your little band of misfits are nothing….. Nothing more than tools to be used. With one simple message beamed back to Earth, this project ends and all of you get a swift bullet to the head before I get the pleasure of dumping your corpses at the far reaches of the Expanse, so fall in line, or I will make yo-”

CRACK

Stryker’s fist collided with Voss’ face, bones splintered and blood flew freely as the jarhead collapsed backwards. Sergeant Treliving, standing nearby, instantly reached for his sidearm, but Tib was already in his face, grabbing his arm.

“Can’t let’cha do that, sorry!”

Before the soldier cold protest, the room lit up with a strobe-flash of Tib’s psionics and the sergeant fell to the floor, ears bloody and limbs twitching.

Stryker, feeling a crazy adrenaline rush, chuckled uncomfortably.

“Hope Sadaet’s countermeasures are ready, because I think we just went rogue”

Tib wiped some blood from her nose “Oh… that’s new…. And it’s about fucking time!”
She kept rubbing her nose as she looked over to the Captain.
“So, what’s the plan for saving our damsels in distress?”

“Right” Stryker’s brain jumped into action and he stroked his beard quickly as the plan came together “First, let’s restrain captain dickhead and his buddy here. Get word down to the others to take out the other guy if he’s still alive. Once the shuttles are docked, we’ll load them on their craft and set their autopilot to send them far away from this system. Hopefully buy us a few days to rescue Grayson and Amy and sever the Alliance’s remote controls on the ship. We’ll worry about everything else after.”

"On it! I'll have to score us a getaway, so you want it quick and painful, or slow and painless?"
Stryker was alarmed at her wording "wait, what?!"
"The-the getaway. Quick one, or safe one?"
"Oh. Safe, we can't afford to lose any more of us. We're on our own now."
"Alrighty, no crashing and banging into other ships on our way out then."
Tib rushed her way towards the cockpit, reaching for her communicator to get a message down to the shuttle to warn the others about their plan.

Stryker stood over the two unconscious and restrained soldiers in the war room, and for the first time in a long time, a smile crossed his face as he felt genuinely happy, and optimistic for what the future would bring.

Revenant: A Sci-Fi Adventure (Always Accepting!)

@RavensMuse Free game, whatever strikes your fancy

Revenant: A Sci-Fi Adventure (Always Accepting!)

@RavensMuse Always!

Revenant: A Sci-Fi Adventure (Always Accepting!)

@iTem @superservo27 @ArkmageddonCat @Vampire Stepdad

SAL completed his scan.

"No better option exists. The plan rolls ahead as scheduled. Pax, Koren, go acquire a pair of vehicles to stage the accident. Kotze, perhaps, you could assist with that. Harrison, with me, we must secure our initial attack position. By my calculations, we have eight minutes to get everything in position. Ten minutes from now the convoy will enter the street. At some unknown point in the timeline, the power to this block will be cut, giving us the perfect opportunity to begin our attack with the element of surprise. Everyone clear?"

They proceeded to set up and everything was in place with time to spare before the convoy arrived. Pax and Koren both clambered out of the crashed vehicles and started their 'argument' right in the middle of the street. Kotze, SAL, and Harrison had taken up position on a nearby overpass, a low rooftop, and the balcony of an abandoned apartment, respectively. All three positions gave a great overview of the scene below. Their target wasn't getting away.

Right on schedule, the convoy pulled onto the mostly empty street. It slowed and eventually stopped about 200 meters back from the 'crash site' SAL readied his weapon as a guard climbed out of the lead transport and began shouting at the duo in their path. Roughly it translated to:

"What is ging on here? Move at once! We are on official business!"

As if on cue, a large whirring and whine noise echoed out as the power shut down, plunging the city sector into darkness.

"Begin" SAL transitted over the comms channel as he opened fire.

@Rultaos @TheEvanCat @Strange Rodent @BKburke

Gunnarsson accessed the feeds from Sadaet's drone and directed his squad accordingly as he fired up the ion torch and waited for the signal to begin.

"Once Captain Voss' unit cuts the power to the sector, we infiltrate here. Bomb squad heads off on its rounds, the rest of you follow me up to the overwatch tower 350 meters to our 3 o'clock. Start scanning the ground to see if the target is in the open. Only open fire on my command. Everyone clear?"

After a quick acknowledgment from the squad, Gunny reached out to the Captain over their private commlink for an update. They had just attacked the power station, and confirmed the kill of target #4, so his unit would have the green light to proceed momentarily. Quite literally ten seconds later, the lights cut out and a still silence fell over the city. He blazed the ion torch to life and quickly cut through the depot's perimeter. Minutes later, his team was in position and the bomb squad had begun planting.

Revenant: A Sci-Fi Adventure (Always Accepting!)

Stryker barely had a moment to breathe that whole week. Every day quickly turned to a blur of overseeing the combat training, discussing strategy with Voss, getting increasingly pissed off with Voss and his cronies, and helping in the mission prep. The only thing that stood out, strangely, were the moments he crossed paths with Tibulass. Time seemed to slow down every time he saw her. He'd start sweating, or find himself unable to form a proper sentence. There was one possible reason behind all of it, but.. no way, that was impossible..... right?

On the night of the job, Stryker arrived at the cargo bay slightly ahead of time, dressed in a formal black suit (that just barely fit him properly) with a red shirt and a tie that was monogrammed with the Black Sky Company insignia. He'd applied false tattoos and coiffed his hair just so to increase the resemblance to the merc he was to impersonate. Eventually Voss arrived to discuss some last minute strategy and slowly, but surely, the team arrived. Tibulass looked great, but uncomfortable as she looked around, avoiding his gaze. He shook his head quickly 'mind on the job Stryker'

Voss took front and center after everyone arrived, hands behind his back as he proclaimed.
"Everybody keep in contact. Remember that this is a coordinated effort. The failure of one, means failure for all. Best of luck to all of you."

He marched off towards the elevator and a few seconds later, the cargo ramp began to lower. Everyone boarded their respective shuttles and one by one, the vehicles took off and sped off towards their destinations on the surface.

In their shuttle, Stryker awkwardly shuffled in his seat, trying not to look over at Tib too much. He observed the pilot drone the Alliance had provided and gazed out the window. Suddenly he snapped to attention.

"I nearly forgot. Matija, here" he reached inside his jacket and handed over a small case "a dose of the poison we're to use on the target. There's probably a syringe in there if you think you can get away with that undetected. Otherwise, keep the vial handy in case an opportunity to slip it in his drink arises. I've got a dose of it too, but they'll probably be checking us for weapons inside, so it's a good thing I've got this" from the same pocket inside his jacket, he retrieved a flask with a false bottom, the vial stored safely inside.

Finally, they arrived at the drop-off zone for kitchen staff, the door slid open and Stryker nodded at Tia.
"Keep in contact with us, we've gotta coordinate this job carefully if we want a chance at getting out of here in one piece."

--------------
@Xandrya@iTem@superservo27@ArkmageddonCat@Vampire Stepdad

Grayson and Amy had been told to board the same shuttle as SAL and the rest of Team Three, their objective was en route and the team only had three shuttles, so it made sense to have Team Three drop them off. The duo kept to themselves as the robot piloted and slowly spoke aloud to his team.

"Our plan is simple. We'll be intercepting the convoy at intersection 112-501. A 'simple' traffic accident will cause an unexpected hold up to the route. Before they can recalculate and divert, Harrison, Kotze and myself will begin to attack from the rear. Pax and Koren, you two will be acting in the roles of the individuals involved in the accident, having a quite heated argument on an otherwise empty street. When we start attacking, take cover and join in. That is, of course, what the Alliance prepared. I believe that if we arrive with enough time to spare, I can calculate a more effective plan of attack."

They dropped off Grayson and Amy and sped off once more to their ultimate destination. The shuttle was tucked away in a side lley and SAL began to scan for better options....

--------
@Rultaos@TheEvanCat@BKburke@Strange Rodent@t2wave

As Team Two's shuttle took off, piloted autonomously by an Alliance subroutine drone, Sergeant Gunnarson tossed a hologram display unit on the floor and an overhead image of the military depot popped into view.
"Listen up, here's the plan. We're dropping in just under a klick away, we'll make our way over on foot. Once we arrive at the depot, we infiltrate from this position here, and break into two groups. You three.." he pointed at Benny, Sadaet, and Henry "Are gonna take this route around Alpha Sector, plant some of the heavy duty charges. The rest of you will follow me, we'll make our way around this way and drop 2 charges by the gate, just in case the target tries to escape. Regroup at this position here. We scan for the target, if he's not in the open, we trigger the main charges, set off the alarm to draw him out. Once the kill is confirmed, we begin exfil procedure. Maximum carnage rule applies here, so by all means, go hog wild you beautiful, degenerate fuckers"

Conversation was light from there as the shuttle silently glided to the surface. Once they landed, the doors slid open and Gunnarson was the first to hop out.
"Alright convicts, go time"

Revenant: A Sci-Fi Adventure (Always Accepting!)

Roughly an hour later, Stryker's voice echoed through the ship, calling everyone back to the War Room. When all hands were present, Stryker began:

"Welcome back, so there's a bit of prep work that's going into this plan, and we thought it best to let you all know about it early, get on top of things, you know?"

"First the job details. We have intel that says the Feds may be planning something big. It's no coincidence that these five high-value targets will be on the same planet on the same night. We believe they'll be making contact with one another on the night in question to plot out a major attack against the Alliance. And our efforts need to be coordinated, someone kicks off a little early, it'll raise the alarm of the others. So, without further ado..." Voss said as the holotable sprung to life "Target number one, Mabar M'raek. She's a political candidate who has the Federation's backing. Her election would essentially give the Feddies a strong foothold in Republic space, including some key military zones that would shift the balance of power should a war break out. She'll be attending a heavily guarded fundraiser on the night in question. Impossible to infiltrate without tripping some alarms, but it's on a rooftop, and if my boy's recon report is right, they skimped on the bubble shielding tech."

A hologram of a skyscraper and the buildings around it rose up as Stryker started to speak again.

"Grayson, this is your area of expertise, so this target is yours. Take Amy as your spotter. The two of you will be dropped about 3 kilos away by one of the transport shuttles, make your way up to whichever vantage point works best for you, and when you have a clear shot, take her out and exfil.

"Simple enough" Grayson nodded, containing his disdain for the Alliance soldiers "Any chance we can grab a copy of that recon report?"

Voss nodded and continued.
"Target two, Quinlan Kifear" Once again, the holotable shifted "He's military. A high-ranking commander of the Shrekeer. There's a military supply depot on Teravainen, he's scheduled to make an appearance there and inspect the place. Sergeant Gunnarson will be leading an assault squad to attack the depot. Standard formations and all of that. Collateral damage will be a bonus. Stryker, the team?"

Stryker cleared his throat as he read down a list on his datapad.
"Benny, Tobi, Sadaet, Henry, Harriet and Varrus."

"Yes, them. Moving on to target three, Caha Zaier. She's the head of a technological conglomerate that is one of the Federation's largest sponsors. And she's scheduled to make a public appearance. We've managed to acquire a copy of her car's route, so another team will be sent in to intercept and destroy. She will be guarded, but nothing you can't handle."

"SAL, you're taking point. Your team is Harrison, Koren, Kotze, and Pax. I'll get you all the intel we have so you can form a strategy, whatever works best for you."

"Target four, Batec Ciaten. He's another corporate sponsor, with military ties. In addition to being an integral cog in the military supply chain for the Feds, he owns the power company that powers all of Teravainen. Treliving and myself, along with a few members of the crew will be taking the Revenant on an attack run over the generator hub for Sectors 13-17. We'll knock out the power giving teams 1-3 more time to exfiltrate and provide additional cover as needed, as well as taking our the target, since he'll be present at the location.

"Ryan, Mazie, Qoorb, you three will hang back here and man the guns."

"Which leaves us with the final target, and this is the big fish: Zala Ha'rek. He's a core member of the Federation's leadership group. One of the original founders if the rumors are true. He's hosting a ceremonial gala, some form of political or military fundraiser, probably in support of M'raek. The plan is simple, infiltrate undercover and poison the target, slip out in the confusion of our attack run starting."

Stryker got visibly disgruntled as Voss turned it over to him.
"Matija, you're gonna be taking on the identity of one of the wait staff. It'll provide you with the opportunity to blend in with the crowds, and get close to Ha'rek if I can't."

"Nearly forgot that part, yes" Voss chuckles to himself as the holotable summoned up images of two humans. He looks over at Tibulass with a grin.
"Stryker and this radiant young woman are infiltrating the gala as a couple of mercs who've pledged for the Federation. Marcus and Jen Stormare of the Black Sky Company. Can't you see the resemblance?"

"Yeah yeah, we're all very amused by your cover story. This is the job, we'll handle it. Stryker said as he stepped up to the plate.
"We've got a couple of days before the targets arrive, but there's a lot of work to be done. Grayson, I need you to tune up all the guns. Amy, the Federation may still be working on old broadcasting stations and using codes from your time, can you get on signal analysis, see if you can turn up any extra intel? Benny, we're gonna need explosives, and lots of them. Sadaet, we're going to need a few mobile hack kits, that something you can rig together? Varrus and Harriet, prep some med kits. Everyone else, we're gonna be doing daily combat training. That'll be all for now."

ONE WEEK LATER

It was time to go. The team was as ready as they'd ever be as they boarded their respective shuttles. Voss stood in front of them all, hands behind his back as he spoke.
"Everybody keep in contact. Remember that this is a coordinated effort. The failure of one, means failure for all. Best of luck to all of you."

He marched off towards the elevator and a few seconds later, the cargo ramp began to lower. One by one, the shuttles took off and sped off towards their destinations on the surface.

Targets

Zala Ha'rek

Mabar M'raek

Quinlan Kifear

Caha Zaier

Batec Ciaten

Revenant: A Sci-Fi Adventure (Always Accepting!)

"Not exactly, no" Stryker said as he took up his usual spot at the table, next to the holo controls.

Once everyone had finally arrived (save for Tib, who was, as usual, listening in via comms) Stryker stood up and called the meeting to order.

"Before we start, there's a lot of new faces in here. You guys who've been here a while need to meet 'em, and in some cases, they need to know what's really going on here. So without further ado, Sadaet Kotayki, Kotze Wylks, Ryan Rosq, Qoorb, Mazie, Pax, and Henry."

He pointed at each of them as he said their name, then quickly introduced everyone on the crew to the new folks.

"Ok, so we all know each other now, that's good. So, I referenced some of you guys, Kotze, Pax and Qoorb in particular, needing to be filled in, because we're not exactly your average crew. Welcome to Project Revenant."

He launched into a quick speech that summarized the purpose of Project Revenant, his voice dripping with utter disdain for the entire thing, so they all knew where he stood on being a tool of the Alliance.

"....so that's the situation here. A little much, I know. You folks are lucky, we're all stuck here, but if you want, you can walk out that door right now, head to your rooms, and wait it out until we hit port somewhere then get far away from us. Now, with all that said, time to get down to business."

He finally turns his attention back to the holotable and activates it. The lights in the War Room dim as the images from the briefing file begin to materialize, beginning with a planet.

"Teravainen. If you've never heard of it before, then you're lucky. It's one of the central hubs of trade and industry in all of Federation territory. We're going deep behind enemy lines on this one, and to that end, we've gotta put up with a team of Alliance Deep-Cover dicks. They'll be making contact once we reach the system. Whoever's in charge over there honestly has more details than me, but I can cover the basics."

The image shifted to five faces, all of which were distinct alien races.

"Zala Ha'rek. Mabar M'raek. Quinlan Kifear. Caha Zaier. And Batec Ciaten. They're all either high-ranking members of the Federation leadership, part of the military chain of command, or major sponsors. All five of them will be present on Teravainen in about one week. None of them are allowed to leave the planet alive. They've got a cover story cooked up, something about a 'humanity first' terrorist group that'll take the blame for the killings, but that's not our concern. Yeah, to be honest, that's all they've really given me. I'm assuming the team that's coming have the rest of the details."

As if on cue, his datapad chirped to life as an encoded message flashed on screen 'APPROACHING REVENANT, DOCKING CLEARANCE C-308'

"Huh, they're already here. Wait here, I'll get them."

He returned about four minutes later with three men following behind. They were dressed in civilian clothes, but at a glance, it's fairly obvious from their posture and the general attitude on their faces that they were here for official business.
"I am Captain Voss, you'll address me as such. These are my associates, Treliving and Gunnarson" The leader said. He even looked like a stereotypical military jarhead. These guys were deep cover operatives? Stryker, standing behind them, shook his head in disbelief.

"Mr. Stryker tells me that you have the basic objective and knowledge on the targets, excellent. He and I are going to convene now and discuss strategy before continuing this briefing. Return here in one hour, but be prepared to return at a moments notice, should we finish early."

Revenant: A Sci-Fi Adventure (Always Accepting!)

@Gardevoiran@Xandrya@iTem@BKburke@Rultaos@T2wave@ArkmageddonCat@Silver Carrot@Strange Rodent@Vampire Stepdad@superservo27@sntabe@TheEvanCat

"Hm, yeah, good idea, especially if any of our newer crew mates have any questions"

Stryker spun his chair to find the datapad and turn on the loudspeakers.

“Attention everyone, I was just informed we’re a few hours out from or destination. I want everyone to gather in the War Room in 15 minutes, I’ll share the intel we have on the job. See you there, Stryker out."

As he stood up and prepared to leave he called down the steps.
"Hey, uh Tib? You want the comm link set up so you can listen in?"

A muted 'yes' floated up in response, so Stryker leaned in over her console and flicked the appropriate switches.
"Ok, all set, see you later."

Stryker headed directly to the War Room to plug in his datapad and started to upload all of the briefing files to the holotable as he waited for his audience to arrive.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Amy's Training

A collab between Xandrya and myself

“Oh, so you're gonna be pretty busy then eh? I was actually...I was hoping you could help me with some marksmanship training," Amy stopped for a moment, holding out a hand to stop Grayson as well. "I'm an okay shot but I'm not great, but I want to do better."

“Yeh?” he asked “I mean, we’ve plenty of time ‘til we get wherever we’re goin’, so yeah, we can do that. C’mon up to the armory, we’ll get some gear an’ ammo.”

He led the way upstairs and marched right on in to the armory. Every surface along his desk space and workbench was covered in weapons, all in various states of disassembly.
“What did ya wanna start with lass? 7.72, or somethin’ a little heavier?”

"Uh, yeah, that'll work," she smiled, looking around the various disassembled parts. Sure, some weapons were familiar to her going off of their parts alone, but otherwise she had no knowledge of what he had laying around. "It should be fine for some long-range practice."

Amy picked up one of the parts, carefully examining it simply out of curiosity.

“Right, ok, think you could handle slappin’ that Kilotek on the desk back together? Already had ‘er cleaned up and polished, jus’ didn’t get a chance to put it back together ‘fore I came to bed las’ night.” He grabbed one of the chairs and rolled it across to the far corner of the workshop portion of the room “I’ll load up a few mags worth a’ rounds. Or ya know, we could switch over if yer not comfortable with the assembly job. I’m sure you’re familiar wit’ loadin’ rounds at least right?”

Amy let out a short sigh of disbelief. She knew Grayson meant no harm, but nonetheless the question caught her off guard.

"Yes, I do know how to load rounds, I wasn't born yesterday." The statement came off half-jokingly, just like she'd intended. "The Kilotek however is beyond me. Hand me those rounds now, will ya?"

“Alrigh’ lass, only teasin’. Here, you hop up on this chair, the mags an’ a few cases o’ rounds are already set out. Only gonna need a min or two to get tha Kilo back in one piece!”

Grayson slid out of his seat and walked over to sit at the desk. True to his word, he quickly and efficiently reassembled the bolt-action rifle and tested it dry a few times by sliding back the bolt and clicking the trigger.

“All ready here Ames, how about you?”

“Just about done,” Amy rotated around on the swivel chair to face him, her hands busy with the last magazine and the remaining rounds that needed to be inserted. She worked on it a little bit quicker before finally setting down the magazine next to the other one, both full to capacity.

“Alright, let’s do this. My trigger finger is itching.”

“Right-o love, let’s go”

He collected the magazines and slung the rifle over his shoulder before heading out, leading the way downstairs to the makeshift firing range in the gym. Once they arrived, he set the rifle on the table and laid out the magazines. Finally he reached under the table and pulled two pairs of noise-suppressing earmuffs out from a box. He laid one set in front of Amy and slid the other down around his neck.

“So, obviously you know yer basics lass, but marksmanship is more so a skill of the eyes than the reflexes, and if I were ta’ guess, the years of bein’ blind affected that in ya. So that’s what we’ll focus on. Start here though, ya ever used a Kilotek before?”

“Can’t say I have,” Amy replied, grabbing the earmuffs and subconsciously tapping it with a finger before she realized what she was doing. She then placed them around her neck like Grayson and picked up the rifle. “Walk me through the steps, please? I’d rather do it on my own as I’m a hands-on learner.”

“Well, real quick, tha’s one of my own there. Kilotek Model 188, bolt action, fluted barrel, 10 rounds per mag, 12x scope with thermal toggle, and that foregrip there, he’s the real treasure. It’s adjustable to any point along the underbarrel to fit the user’s preference. An’ also, if ya’d prefer ta post up in a more covert position, there’s a little switch there that splits the foregrip into a bipod. Comes in pretty handy. So, let’s get to it lass. Load ‘er up, get used to the feel of it, I’ll set up a target,”

Grayson crossed the room, grabbing a paper target from the stack and pinned it to the wall. He fished out a pen from his belt and hastily colored in a dot, off-center and smaller than the actual bullseye.

“May as well dive right into the deep end eh? Try an’ hit that target I put on there, and we’ll use that as a baseline for how much practice ya need.”

"I appreciate your faith in me," Amy smirked in a hushed tone, reaching for the magazine to load up the rifle. After she laid in the prone position, she made some quick adjustments to her liking, especially since she was much smaller than Grayson so she had to readjust the foregrip. She did a bit of a test run, aiming down the sights with her finger on the trigger but with the safety on, so she wasn't taking any shots even if she wanted to. Amy felt comfortable after a few moments, looking up at Grayson.

"Alright, stand back and watch the magic happen."

Amy took a breath in before she took aim at the small dot on the target. She switched off the safety and placed her finger on the trigger. She made sure to not use the very tip of her finger, so she lined it up just over the first crease. And finally, when she felt at ease, she pulled the trigger just enough to get the shot out. Not with a jerk movement, nor too soft as to jam the weapon, but somewhere in between.

“Nice one Ames” Grayson said as he lowered his earmuffs again and engaged his ocular implant to start analyzing the shot. He headed over and removed the target from the wall.

“Technique was excellent. Top marks there. Ya hit the target too, but the point o’ impact was off by a little bit. So, like I figured, it’s all in the eyes for ya, we train those up a little, and you’ll be unstoppable. Ready for another round?”

He placed a new target on the wall and placed 3 more dots on it with his pen.

“Same deal, sight ‘em up and shoot ‘em dead!”

He snapped his earmuffs back on and walked across to stand behind Amy’s position.

“Not bad if I do say so myself.”

Amy waited for a moment until Grayson walked back to safety, out of the line of fire. She got into the ready position and switched off the safety once more.

Amy lined up the sights a little quicker this time, having the confidence she didn't have before. Not that she considered herself a great shot, but she found herself handling the weapon with ease. Targeting the dot on the right, she waited for a moment before slowly pulling the trigger again.

Without bothering to take a look, Amy repeated the process for the remaining targets. She did not want to lose her concentration by looking up and then having to readjust.

“Well done lass” Grayson said after his initial analysis “89% accuracy on th’ first, 84 on the second, an 90% on the third. That’s all up from a 78% score on that first shot ya took, so that’s already a great improvement. Once we get ya to consistent high 90’s on stationary targets, we can try some moving targets.”

Grayson considered the stack of paper targets for a second and an idea came to his head

“How ‘bout one more?” he asked as he grabbed a target and drew on two dots, so close together they were nearly overlapping, he quickly shaded in one of them then showed it to Amy.

“This is somethin’ I had to do to way back when I was barely more’n a kid. The circle, as always, is your target. The colored dot is a hostage…. And it’s someone you know. Could be anyone, a friend, family member, hell, it could be an old schoolteacher even. An’ you gotta visualize that before pulling th’ trigger. Someone ya know, and love, or at least respect, held at gunpoint by an’ evil piece of shit. Now kill ‘em an’ save their life.”

Grayson set up the target and stood back. For this test, he was firing up his implant right away to study everything that happened, not just the bullet trajectory and accuracy, but Amy herself. How she reacted physically to the task, any areas of tension, or stiffness in her actions and that sort of stuff.

"That took a dark turn real quick," Amy said to herself as Grayson was making his way back to her, her eyes briefly on the target downrange before she turned to him. "No pressure, right?"

Amy couldn't help but picture some of the people she knew, those she cared about the most, being in that situation. Of course this was only a training, with no consequences at all except being told she was a bad shot, but she felt a little bit nervous again. What would occur if the scenario was actually taking place and she missed, but not without injuring or killing her loved one? It would be nothing short of devastating for her.

But Amy had to shake away those thoughts. The loss of her parents managed to affect her with something as simple as training, and it needed to stop. Readying herself again with the same routine, Amy took a bit longer to fire the next shot, hoping to all hell for a positive outcome.

“God damn” was all Grayson could say “Tha’ was damn near perfect Ames.”

He pulled the target down and brought it over to show her.

“That’s a 96% right there, but look here, the ‘hostage’ circle isn’t broken at all. Still a kill shot, an’ the hostage survived so may as well call it a bullseye right?.”

He leaned down and kissed the top of her head.
“Proud of ya love. This one took me a couple tries to get an’ ya took to it right away. Yer a damn natural at this” he paused and tapped his temple “I’ve got a little bit of data to sort through, but if ya wanna keep goin’ we can move on to-”

The loudspeakers screeched to life.

“Attention everyone, I was just informed we’re a few hours out from or destination. I want everyone to gather in the War Room in 15 minutes, I’ll share the intel we have on the job. See you there, Stryker out.”

“Ah, damn” Grayson said as the announcement ended “Guess that’s all we get for today then?”

“And I was doing so good…”

Amy pushed herself off of the ground, picking up the rifle as she stood up and handing it to Grayson. She also removed the earmuffs, putting them back in their place.

“You know, I think I’m going to like this next job.”

“Yeah? Good feelin’ about it? Well let’s go see what it’s all about.” Grayson put his own earmuffs back, gathered up the extra magazines and led the way out.

“Should be jus’ enough time to pack this stuff away before we’re expected.”

Revenant: A Sci-Fi Adventure (Always Accepting!)

@Xandrya

Grayson and Amy's breakfast had been a pretty dull affair.... outside of meeting a new recruit to the team and getting informed by the others that Tibulass and Matija had hooked up, a fact that had left them both a bit shocked, to the extent they were still discussing it now as they walked out into the common area.
".... An' I mean, it's not anyone could've seen it comin' eh? But good for them. Hey, I gotta get up to the workshop inna bit, finish calibratin' that new software in our armors, plus I'm neck-deep in service jobs on the entire rifle stock, best get to it 'fore the captain calls his meetin'. So wha's on your agenda fer today Ames?"

Sparks?

A collab between myself and @Gardevoiran

Tibulass stepped into the docking bay of the Revenant, holding two large bags full of clothes as she carefully looked from side to side. She didn't wanna get caught by a specific person carrying all this nonsense. They'd never let her hear the end of it.

She walked carefully through the Revenant's bay and halls before she made it back to the somewhat-familiar smell of the cockpit. It still had that slight alcoholic night aroma to it, but it also smelled like... well, her room. Sighing with relief, Tibulass tossed the clothing bags towards the stairs before climbing into the pilots seat and doing a quick check of the controls.

Stryker had finished reviewing the briefing and scheduled a meeting with the crew to happen shortly after takeoff. The dock master had pinged the ship moments before with a 'gentle reminder' that their time was up, they had to take off within the hour, or pay for another day. Hoping Tib had finally returned, Stryker walked down the hall from his room towards the cockpit, whether she was back or not, he had to start the pre-takeoff checks.

"Oh good, you're back" he said as the door slid open to reveal Tibulass already in her seat, she barely acknowledged him walking in. He sat in the co-pilot's chair and started up the console. As he waited, his eyes were drawn down the stairs, where he could see a large shopping bag lying on its side, a few articles of clothing spilling out.

"Did a little shopping then?" he asked tentatively, just looking for a way to break the silence.

"Yeah. Just a littOH SHIT-" Tibulass rushed out of her seat to the stairs as she grabbed her clothing bags and chucked them at her bed, the articles staying in their bags as they flew towards their destination. Immediately after, Tib grabbed the five or six pairs of underwear that had fallen out of the bags and chucked them hard towards the bed as well. Interestingly, none of the clothes were neutral colors. They were all shades of red and orange. Peculiar.

Blushing hard, the viking returned to her seat and sat back down, preparing the ship for the takeoff procedure. She didn't dare turn to face Stryker, so she didn't. She stared forward and simply spoke to him. "T-thank you for not leaving me behind..." she choked out, twiddling her hair in her free hand. "So... what's this next mission we have to do? I am kind of leading us there, after all."

Stryker chuckled to himself at her reaction and the flustered look on her face as she climbed back up the stairs. The underwear he'd seen left very little to the imagination, it was a strange sight that conflicted hard with his mental reasoning that she was still just the same old Tibulus, just in a woman's body.
'Stop it. Behave.' he told himself.

"We'd never leave you behind" he said simply, eyes pointed down at his console as he ran through the pre-flight checklist "Someone's gotta fly this bucket and you're the best we've got by a long shot. Now, speaking of that, just wanted to check before we even started the engine.... you're good right? Ready to step back behind the wheel full-time? If so, we're headed out into Federation space, hold on I'll get the coordinates."

"Well... I'm not ready for full time, never again, but you taking the wheel every several hours or so we should be fine." Tibulass looked back at Stryker, a little scared to look him dead in the eye. He just saw her underwear, for shits sake. "And for the record, I'll be fine getting us out of here and into deep space." Tibulass initiated the prerequisites to the takeoff before asking the same question from earlier.

"Right, well, just let me know when you need a break." Stryker looked across as she smiled a thanks. She had a cute smile.
'What's wrong with me today?

"Again, what's the next mission? Is it the cocks-out-rock-out kind or the delicate kind? I'm up for either." Tibulass adjusted her outfit with one hand while slowly bringing the ship off the ground with the other. Despite the loss of appendages from the Funganoid-to-Human transition, she was doing just fine with piloting this big ass cargo ship. "Just tell me what sector we're goin' to and I can get us there."

"Not sure precisely what the plan is this time out. We're headed into Federation space. Teravainen, in the Solad Q'artex System." Stryker punched in the coordinates and sent the navigation display across to Tib's console "We've got to rendezvous with some sort of Alliance spy unit who have further orders, though the briefing file here has dossiers on a bunch of people. Safe to assume that whoever they are, we're gonna have to make them disappear.... permanently."

As the conversation died down, the immediate silence was deafening. Stryker could still see her little smile in his head, when suddenly an image of Tib wearing a pair of the very revealing underwear jumped to the forefront of his mind.

'It's Tib. Stop it.' he willed the image away but it kept finding a way back. He had to talk about something... anything.... and then he spat out the first thing that came to his head:

"So, you and Matija seemed like you were having a lot of fun, how was the rest of the night?"

Tib paused and slowly turned to face Stryker. "Fine...? We both fell asleep after we got off..." Tib's face was turning even redder than it already was. She tilted her head at the bounty hunter. "Why are you wanting to get to know me all of a sudden?" She didn't mind the sudden interest, he wasn't that awful of a guy to her. Maybe... no that's stupid. Him, coming onto her? What a rich joke that was! Hah!

Stryker's face went beet-red as she turned the question back on him.

"No reason, just curious to how you're doing these days." he said, locking his eyes down on the data flying across his console screen. That and conversation were the best ways to proceed "You went through quite a big change after all."

"... I mean... there's shit that I can tell you, but you've pretty much learned all you can about Tibulus and Tibulass." The viking was speaking aloud, dead serious in her tone. She pulled a small pad of paper out of her hoodie pocket before she wrote another thing on it, leaving the pad open as she brought the ship out of Helios Station. Interestingly, she still was still piloting with only one hand when she should probably be using two. Weird.

"Yeah, I'd like that."

Stryker absentmindedly activated the immersive flight hologram. It was a bit of a luxury item, but Stryker found it helped his concentration when flying, and when everything was all good, it was easy to look out at the stars and get completely absorbed in thought for a while. The lights in the cockpit dimmed and the small reflector device flipped down from a hatch in the ceiling. Slowly, the walls, the ceiling and the bank of monitors and servers in front of them melted away and a hologrammed facsimile of the space immediately outside the cockpit hull filled the room. It was just the two of them, the shadow of the floor, and their chairs and consoles, floating through space.
"Sorry, forgot to ask. Before you start, you ok with this setting for a bit?"

She still hadn't spoken a word, but the captain noticed some sudden movement and he turned to look only to find it was just her slipping out a notepad and discreetly scribbling something down.
"What's that?" he asked, genuinely curious.

"S-sorry. I was thinking about where in my past I should tell you. I got an idea." Tibulass spoke again after a moment of thought. Returning to her headspace, she decided to toss the notepad to Stryker. "It's a series of possible new identities I'm considering taking up, and this is fine. Don't read it too much, I'm about to tell the story."

---

Unitech Station
Sector 11-9-B
Appx. 9:12 AM

A spaceship sits alone in a landing bay, smack in the midst of all the commotion and ships. The exterior of the ship looked rather ordinary, nothing distinguishing it specifically from the rest of the ships around it, save for the dim lights on inside the ship. A lone, rocky, and burly alien walks through the lane in front of the ships, steadily approaching the dimmed one in the crowd. Checking the wrinkly piece of paper attached to the parcel he was carrying, he stepped up to the ship and knocked on it's underside. A small hatch opened up above the rocky alien before closing once again. After a few seconds, a small ramp lowered, allowing the alien inside the ship.

After climbing up into the ship, the alien looked behind him to see walls, littered and littered with string, pictures, notes, and scribblings. The air was hardly that, but it didn't seem to affect the rocky alien as he calmly waited for the hatch to rise once again, giving him a platform to step on as he approached the driver, tinkering around at a cleared off console. Without hesitation, the rock alien blurted out. "Oi. Wilton."

"Did you make sure you weren't followed?"

"Yeah. I triple checked at every blasted turn, caunt."

"Calm with the obscenities, Yi-Draal. What've I done to you recently?" The chair the pilot was sitting in turned to face Yi-Draal before the pilot looked up at him. He was wearing a leather pilots jacket above a black shirt and a pair of old jeans, the entire outfit accompanied by a red hat. He looked like he came out of a cheesy 1960's flick, but it was something he never cared to take into account.

"Plenny, but this time, issa little bit diff'rent." Yi-Draal passed the parcel to the pilot, who caught it in his hands before placing it behind him, turning his chair to the side. Once again, the pilot addressed Yi-Draal. "Oooh, opening someone else's mail? Isn't that a felony?"

"Like you give a shite. Y'work at a fekkin' cockfighting ring."

"You and me both know that it's my deal with the feds. I get hired as a teller for underground rings, I work a bit to shake the suspicion off me, then I rat them out." The pilot looked back at the package once again before asking "Any traps? Bombs? The good ol' 'Anthrax in the Packing Peanuts' technique?"

"Neh, but the contents're bloody int'restin'."

The pilot opened the parcel and pulled out the note attached to the top. He read it silently to himself before looking under it and noticing the other contents. "... that bastard..."

"Issn' he some kinda race researcher or somethin'? What kinda beef y'got wif'im?" Yi-Draal stepped forward and took a seat, the chair making a noticable squeak under the alien's hefty weight. Logical, he was made of rocks after all.

"He did a few things for me, and he's wanting something in return. Knowing the Alliance, they've got dirt on him. Bad dirt, from the looks of things." The pilot read the note over one more time, suddenly being interrupted by Yi-Draal. "He said y'were the best pilot he ever met."

"Well, when you work for the feds before busting your 'bosses' out of the jam so they can keep on livin', you become quite the getaway driver."

"Ah yeah, the side job."

"Well, it saved your ass, didn't it?" The rocky alien grumbled frustratingly under his breath before the pilot put the note to the side, pulling out the rest of the parcel's contents. A small, white box was the first to be removed, then a manilla envelope that had been left unopened. The pilot turned to Yi-Draal. "Why didn't you check this one?" to which Yi-Draal shrugged. Of course. He was normally quite the letdown on security. The pilot sighed before opening the envelope, to which he pulled out the contents and instinctively pulled his head back in surprise.

"... motherfucker." The pilot chuckled under his breath before tucking the envelope away. "When you have a researcher in the know, he pays out sometimes." The pilot stood up from his seat before facing Yi-Draal once again. "Well, my friend, I've just been given an offer I can't refuse."

"That mean I'm leavin' yer' employ?"

"Indeed it does." The pilot stepped forward and bowed towards Yi-Draal. "I'm guessing you've got loose ends to tie up, so I won't leave those waiting."

"Well, now that y'mention it..." Yi-Draal stood from his seat. took both his hands and cracked his knuckles. "There's one thin' I can tie up right now..."

"I wouldn't do this if I were you." The pilot said intimidatingly. "I promise you, as long as you know that my cap is beet red, you will regret what you might do right here."

Without so much as a moment of time passing, Yi-Draal brought down a rocky fist onto the pilot's head, it shattering against an invisible surface that coated the pilot's body. In an instant, what was Yi-Draal's face turned from overconfidence to immediate perplexion. "Wha...?"

The pilot brought up a hand, clocking Yi-Draal in the chin as bits of shattered stone flew onto the floor of the ship, sparks clearly flying off the glove the pilot was wearing and off of Yi-Draal's rocky mug. What immediately followed was the hatch of the ship opening up once more, revealing the two to be high up in the station Yi-Draal's shoulders and head were resting on only air at that point, and falling would surely mean death.

Yi-Draal looked as a boot was placed on his chest. The pilot's boot specifically.

"I've been in this business for decades, and you thought you could pull that shit on me? Enjoy the fall, cunt."

Then, a simple push was all it took.

The pilot closed the hatch behind him as he turned to face the helm once again. The manilla envelope was still where he left it. He stepped forward to his autopilot, punched in a few coordinates, and let the ship take it's own course to the destination. He was already long gone from the station before any police were even alerted. The pilot walked to the bathroom of his ship and looked down at the sink, covered with red and orange paint around the drain, and a lit cigar on the side of the sink.

"You've outdone yourself, Jackson. Hopefully the Alliance is too dumb to track Wilton Christopher's identity. Ah, who am I saying, the ship's full of criminals! You just gotta hope there aren't any of your old bosses there. Need a new moniker too... probably something silly and stupid. Tibulus? Maybe... you have time to dwell on it."

---

Tibulass found herself smoking a bit of a cigar once the story was over, smirking happily before snuffing out the barely-lit cigar and tossing it to the side. "Heh... I loved being a crimelord."

Tib looked over at Stryker as she turned over the controls to his seat. "So... I told you my past. Tell me about yours, oh-so-gloriously... l-leader."

Stryker glanced down through the list of names briefly before tossing the book back across the way. He listened intently to Tib's story, noting the supreme irony in a former master crimelord volunteering for a job like Project Revenant. And as the story continued, Stryker gazed out at the faint stars of the Deadzone. Every time they passed through, Stryker couldn't help but marvel at how this entire quadrant of space was so much darker than everywhere else. There were no real stars here, just the faint pinpricks of far-off systems and worlds, and the dull glow emanating from other Deadzone stations, like beacons in the night. The neon-blue haze of a radiation storm on the horizon drew his attention for a second, as did the derelict corpse of a ship long destroyed and scavenged for scrap. Though the sudden smell of the cigar smoke mixing with the booze-and-sex smell that still lingered shook him from his reverie and he turned to find Tib staring at him.

"My story's a tale for another time." he said as he gripped the controls when she tossed command over to him. "Trust me, it's nowhere near as interesting as yours. Although, I could be convinced to share a shorter story, like one of my old jobs"

”Do it. I won’t mind. I’d actually like to learn more about you... a-as a friend.” Tib found herself blushing once again, a hard red color to her face. She would have to facepalm later... why did she like Stryker right now? She didn’t mind, but it was alarming to her.

I mean... her? With someone like Stryker? As if...

"Yeah, ok then." Stryker said. She was acting a little strange too. Must be something going around the ship, and Stryker made a note to himself to confer with Varrus and Harriet about that later.

"Well" he began "This one goes back about a year or so before the Alliance wrangled us up. I was contracted by some guy, he used an alias, like a lot of my clients did, I never cared as long as I got paid. This guy paid me in advance, the full contract, to make the mistress of this prostitution ring disappear. Not a problem under normal circumstances, but she was under heavy protection, and careful about everything she did too. And of course, complicating things was that the client wanted her alive, so it's not like I could've just posted up outside her club, wait for her to come out and put a hole in her head from afar. So I waited, for weeks, to get my chance. I got inside the club as a client, started paying them a visit every night. Finally the madam... ahem 'took notice' and gave me my opportunity. The club shut down shortly after. Come to think of it, that might've been the last time I.... well nevermind."

"... You're kidding, right?" Tibulass leaned forward onto her knees as Stryker finished his story. "You... haven't had sex since then? It's been about 2 or three years!" Tibulass practically shouted that comment. She couldn't believe it, not for a moment. "Someone as handsome as you not fucking for that long? God damn... even I had to get wet after that dry spell of around 60 years..." Tibulass said as she leaned back once again, pausing a little longer before softly continuing. "... it wasn't even... that fulfilling..."

“What!?? No, no, not that!” Stryker stammered out, he felt his face go even more red “I meant, uh, that was the last time I had to bring the target in alive.”

Well this was embarrassing, why had he told that story out of all the ones he could have gone to? That was stupid. He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he barely registered Tib’s last statement.

“Sorry” he said slowly “what was that last bit again?”

”Matija was absolutely fantastic, but... I dunno...” Tibulass darted her eyes around the vaccuum of space. ”I think I just... just being appreciated felt nice. Maybe that’s why I decided to do the damn surgery, I missed being alive.” Tib shook her head as a brighter light in the deadzone appeared in the holospace area. It was distant, but the pilot was able to zoom in on it fairly well after retaking controls.

”Our destination is that place... uh... excuse me, but what is it?”

"The Solad Q'artex System, yeah that should be it." Stryker said, one hand summoning up a holo-map of Federation territory "Closest system to the Deadzone borders, at least in the southern part of Feddie space. Still a few hours away though, even we flip her to a full-burn."

In the next bout of silence, he stole another glance at Tib. There was something about the way her red hair stood out against the pitch-black backdrop of the Deadzone space. There's no other word for it, it was beautiful.

'Oh hell'

Could there be something more to the suggestive topics of conversation and the strange way she was acting? No, no way, that's impossible. There's no way a woman like that (even given her unique situation) would be interested in a guy like him..... right?

'You're being ridiculous.' he thought as he mentally drove all those thoughts and feelings down. Not enough sleep.'

"Hey, y'alright there?" Tibulass noticed her co-pilot staring at her. She felt flattered and conflicted at that, more than anything else. "You're not coming onto me, are ya?" Tib asked with a joking manner. Imagine that! The mighty bounty hunter falling for such a weird ass reject from the remains of a station explosion! How odd! How unjust! How romantic! Wait...

"... get it in your head, Tib. You're not falling for him... are ya?" She could only think the same question she asked him as she noticed something from just outside the ships view. "Oh shit! Look over there!" Tibulass pointed towards a little speck of green flashes from just a ways away from the ship. It'd be a few minutes to get there, but things didn't look good. "Time to investigate that!"

Hopefully the blush wasn't that noticeable that time...

"Of course not! And I'm fine, just... thought I saw something out there" Stryker managed to splutter out before Tib noticed something going on just off from their flight path. Before Stryker could say anything, his console board lit up with the pulsating green flash of an incoming distress signal.

"Yeah ok, just.. hang back a little, until the radar sensors can calibrate and get a clean scan. Don't wanna dive head first into a situation where we're outgunned...... or a trap."

As he turned off the holo-reflector, he accessed the distress signal tried to hail whoever sent it, but there was no reply.

"Stay alert, I'll address the crew."

"Attention everyone" he started as the loudspeakers whined to life "We're picking up a distress signal, just off our flight course. It's marked urgent, so we're gonna reply. The artificial gravity might be knocked out for a split-second as we turn off-course, so you might wanna hold on to something."

"Roger." Tib fastened her seatbelt as she took the reigns, flying towards the distress signal carefully as she stayed silent for the rest of the flight. When the ship pulled close, Tibulass looked over at Stryker and bluntly said to him. "I-I need you out of here. I gotta pull in carefully, and I need to... sort out my underwear and mind..."

Tib pulled her hood over her face as it became redder than her hair with blush. She couldn't be falling for him! It wasn't right! He was her superior, and he was a douche... but he was a handsome douche... AARGH!

"Right, I'll go suit up and get an anchor, in case we need to pull anything in to the airlock."

It was a strange comment for her to make. Stranger still was the way she covered up her face as he stood up and walked out.

Stryker ran down the hall to the Armory and hurried into his armor. Once he was sealed up tight, he hooked in a miniaturized oxygen tank and grabbed an anchoring system off the walls.

"Medics, get on standby, we may have incoming!" he shouted into the comms as he rushed downstairs.

White Wedding: An Organized Crime RP

Michael Moretti

Name: Michael Moretti

Age: 35

Occupation: "Construction" (Capo in Castiglione family, overseeing most of the assets and operations in West Philly)

Appearance:

Michael

Michael stands a hair above 6'0, and weighs about 175lbs. He has a small collection of scars from his many years in the life, but only two that are readily apparent- a faded, crescent-shaped mark near his right cheekbone and on the bridge of his nose. Michael keeps himself well-groomed at all times, very rare is it for him to have even a single hair out of place on his head or on his face. He has two tattoos: a small snake coiled around itself on the back of his left shoulder and over his heart on his chest, he has a pair of boxing gloves hung on a nail with the name 'Frank Gelina' and two dates just underneath it.

Inventory: Michael is wearing a simple, fashionable, black suit, dress shoes, and his best SIG-226 pistol in a shoulder-holster, just in case. He and Olivia are bringing a gift, but to be perfectly honest, she picked it out and he has no idea what it is.

Background: Michael is a Philly boy, born and raised. He grew up just down the street from the Castigliones and made friends at a young age with Paul Castiglione Jr. The two (and another friend named Frank Gelina) grew to be inseparable and once they came of age, naturally all three of them went in Paulie's 'family business'. Michael proved to be a good soldier and slowly, but surely, found himself rising through the ranks.

In the winter of 2014, Michael was woken in the middle of the night to the news that Frank had been killed. A deal gone wrong, according to Paulie. The death shook Mike hard and for a long time, his resolve was shaken as he sank deeper and deeper into a bottle. He first met Olivia Williams just over two years ago at a bar owned by the Family. He'd seen her around a few times, and finally approached her on the night of August 4th, 2016. They enjoyed each other's company enough to swap numbers, and over the course of a few dates, a relationship blossomed.

Six months ago, Michael was caught red-handed personally overseeing a bit of Family business. Sloppy, yes, but it had to be done. An FBI agent named Thomas Gabriel took him to a dark room and laid out a mountain of case files, overwhelming evidence against Paul and the entire leadership group of the Castiglione Family, Michael included. The man was going down and Gabriel offered Michael a chance to jump off the sinking ship. He, of course, refused.... until Gabriel laid down one final card- a sworn statement that Frank Gelina's death had been more than just a 'deal gone bad.' In fact, Paul had ordered Frank's death, for reasons unknown. Frank was like a brother to Michael, always had been, so this news was the tipping point- Michael was turning rat.

Agenda: On the surface, he's simply here to attend the wedding of a dear friend, but in actuality, he's being sent in by his handler to get the final nail in Paul's coffin. He also plans to propose to his long time girlfriend Olivia, because if today is the day they come for Paul, they wouldn't be able to force her to testify.