@Genon I mean, of course you can.
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At the present moment, Scarlet of Shinra's Weapon Division was lounging in her office, taking a self-imposed breaktime as she let the day go by when...ugh, a call from the technicians in her area interrupted her. These people... They were good at what they do, but they didn't know when to leave her alone...which was any time she wasn't heading them up for a status report. She let the phone ring for a few times, her index finger moving along with the melody for a moment, until finally hitting the button to answer.
"I'm busy right now. What do you want?"
"My apologies, ma'am! I just wanted to tell you the good news."
"Oh? Well, I suppose I'll forgive you that...for now. Tell me."
"We figured out the problem in the original programming used on the X-Series. Apparently, the adaptive strategic and terrain learning protocols was causing the effect. You teach 'em too much and they start to take action on their own in anticipation of a need, rather than waiting for orders, effectively working completely autonomously."
"So, what you're saying, then, my dear egghead, is that more than adapting, they were thinking, and by having thoughts of their own, they could choose to ignore certain orders, even up to the Executive level."
"That's about the size of it. If we limit the process in the mainline Custom Sweepers and have them memory-dump automatically, none of this will ever happen again. We can even service the prototypes themselves-"
"Not interested. Let them run free. It's more fun that way. Either someone'll destroy them or they won't. You just focus on the ones coming off of the assembly line, clear?"
"Yes, ma'am."
She hung up on him and resumed her relaxation. Who said being in charge was difficult? Not this lady. The only machine she really cared about was the one under their feet, potentially damaging their assets, and she had taken the precaution of sending that SOLDIER out to go kill it for her. Even if he failed, the fault would be on Heidegger...
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
But onto another Shinra representative...Maddie! For the past few minutes, the Turk had been taking in the ravings of a potentially madman and was now attempting to basically coerce him into a different line of action by acting unimpressed by their plan and proposing an alternative of sorts. She had seen him - during this pitch - getting annoyed by her cajoling, narrowing his eyes at her in some sort of scrutiny, and then taking on an...ultimately more thoughtful expression as he considered her words. He broke the silence with "Interesting." before taking a swig of his drink, thinking things over and...definitely reconsidering this spot for secret meetings. This bar was a load of piss. Finally...
"So, you propose making use of your more technical expertise in there, rather than the cobbling together of explosives for the job. I'll run you a counter-proposal, a compromise if you will. The explosives would remain useful against the Reactor's automated security. If nothing else, they're a useful asset and not to be wasted, almost certainly guaranteeing that we make it to the core. Continue to help us with that and I'll entertain your idea. Maybe 'any amateur' can put together an explosive, but quality won't blow up in anyone's faces and still get the job done. We'll make sure they can stick to the hides of Sweepers and such. Those toys, we can do without."
He got up now, essentially calling the meeting over, and put down his Gil for the 'drinks'. He was going to have quite alot to share with the others...
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
And speaking of one of the others, the man currently looking to hire Aiko was keeping his poker face. He'd heard that this one would take on jobs like this as long as they weren't a direct threat to her own livelyhood, and the general layout of it was certainly easy enough for one of her skills. He could've taken up anybody who looked fast enough on the offer, but this one was special, so he wanted to make sure she remained hooked. The best way to do that, though, was NOT to make it look like he wanted to hook her, but to take it easy and handle this professionally. As long as it got the job done... Ah, and here were the terms. Yes, this was workable. People like her had their pride. Once accepted, she wouldn't just cut-and-run...or skate off. The contractor nodded.
"Silence and discretion. Very well. I'll accept your terms on half-pay now, half-pay later. Of course, as I said, this will be an on-call job for when we're ready, so naturally I'll need your contact information to do so, not to mention upload the path you'll be taking."
That way, even if she was the sort who could just abandon them, they'd have her by phone, and it was altogether possible that one in their group could track her, or find someone who could. The point is that now they could talk details...once she supplied her phone number.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Meanwhile, as it turns out at Fort Condor, the 'rout' was essentially a case of a good number of mercenaries getting killed...not all. Some of them had withdrawn from the battlefield and back into the armored reactor-fortress to regroup or re-assess their situation. Akira arrived in time to hear a fair few arguments about what to do. Among them all, he picked up that the remaining Sweepers were focusing primarily on the battleground defenses, which is why anybody retreating was not engaged. That said, if they went out there again, they were gonna be attacked unless there really WAS going to be a Grand Horn Commander incoming to try and take possession of the base and reactor. Jessie weighed in, saying she still had a few bombs, but they weren't going to be enough to handle the Sweepers alone, now, which is why she'd need some support to finish the job. Several of the mercs didn't wanna go out there again.
And it was about this time that someone came down from the lookout point to say that they spotted the Commander...
Anyone who decided to take a look would see that, yes, one was indeed on starting his way from the end of the battlefield, on approach to the fort now. The Grand Horns they sent here were NOT the monster of the same name, but a custom-built Shinra Armored Shock Trooper made to fit the monster's overall design. He trudged forwards, preparing to either demand surrender or battle them into submission. For a moment, it seemed like perhaps the status quo would indeed be maintained. Aaand then, everything went to hell. They watched, all silent, as this armored fighter approached...and then they saw the Sweepers. Jessie was heard to mutter "Oh shit..." right before they opened fire on the man, guns and missles, until the armored suit exploded and he was dead. They jumped down to inspect the site, and then turned as one towards the armored doors of the facility.
"And more shit! Everyone, GET READY!"
The X-Series began their attack run on the main doors! It wouldn't be long before they were through!
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Naisha didn't have to wait long for confirmation of what she thought she was dealing with. Damn right it was some kind of rogue robot. Whether this could be considered luck or misfortune, what she had here was some kind of self-operating autonomous mech unit. It looked like a Sweeper, but it had gone through several changes, and quite possibly it was the one that was doing the job! Extra armor welded to parts of its body, tank treads build out from its foot-wheels, stress reinforcement in the legs, and - most importantly - weapon refittings. There was a Cutter's saw on its right arm where the gun should be, as well as heavy Steel Pincer installed below that. The left arm seemed to have a total of THREE Sweeper auto-cannons now working in tandem. Neisha would be looking this over and...sorry, was that a helicopter coming?
Well, yes, and more to the point it was a Shinra chopper, which had now gotten the scavenging robot's attention. It opened fire as the air vehicle came into view, forcing it to fly out of reach again...more over her own location. Wait a minute... If it decided to give chase...oh hell. Fortunately, it looked like said chopper wasn't going to come in for a landing, but instead there was this SOLDIER in uniform coming down on rope. Sounded maybe like he went "Shitshitshitshit!" on the way down, oddly enough. He looked around, saw her immediately, and raised his hand.
"Uhh, hi. Listen, you might not wanna be here right now. I think I just made it mad..."
Oh, god dammit, Joe...
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Things got a bit strange and hectic in Junon. Let's see here... Biggs and Wedge made a bigger offer that was actually all their money, so Tace's counter-proposal wouldn't have gotten very far if he HAD gone through with it, and the reason he didn't was because of this Shinra lackey and his dog going on the offensive. Lex was reporting in to get some reinforcements into position when Kanade acted to create a thundering distraction that DID make Biggs and Wedge jump. Wasteland would've probably not liked them to move, but he was more than likely thrown off-balance himself, followed by Kanade attempting to dart-throw Lex's radio to death. Following that, Tace decided that ummm...he was gonna leave. He cast Haste on them all, basically said, good luck, made a bit of a smokescreen with his car and...was gone. Naturally, he got a "Hey!" from someone as he did. There were speed limits in Junon, dammit, a the motorcycle patrol got ready to pursue... Biggs and Wedge were now totally confused.
"Did he just leave us?"
"Yeah, 'fraid so. At least we're speedy."
"But I hate running!"
"Well, maybe we don't have to."
He pointed to the cycle guards, tapping Kanade on the shoulder to say "Come on!" while the smoke was still up. The guards who were about to follow Tace were suddenly under submachine gun fire as Biggs and Wedge took their bikes. Kanade could ride with Biggs, since...well...Wedge was kinda' big. Unfortunately, regardless of whether or not Lex got his message through, there WAS a helicopter coming in overhead...
"I'm busy right now. What do you want?"
"My apologies, ma'am! I just wanted to tell you the good news."
"Oh? Well, I suppose I'll forgive you that...for now. Tell me."
"We figured out the problem in the original programming used on the X-Series. Apparently, the adaptive strategic and terrain learning protocols was causing the effect. You teach 'em too much and they start to take action on their own in anticipation of a need, rather than waiting for orders, effectively working completely autonomously."
"So, what you're saying, then, my dear egghead, is that more than adapting, they were thinking, and by having thoughts of their own, they could choose to ignore certain orders, even up to the Executive level."
"That's about the size of it. If we limit the process in the mainline Custom Sweepers and have them memory-dump automatically, none of this will ever happen again. We can even service the prototypes themselves-"
"Not interested. Let them run free. It's more fun that way. Either someone'll destroy them or they won't. You just focus on the ones coming off of the assembly line, clear?"
"Yes, ma'am."
She hung up on him and resumed her relaxation. Who said being in charge was difficult? Not this lady. The only machine she really cared about was the one under their feet, potentially damaging their assets, and she had taken the precaution of sending that SOLDIER out to go kill it for her. Even if he failed, the fault would be on Heidegger...
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
But onto another Shinra representative...Maddie! For the past few minutes, the Turk had been taking in the ravings of a potentially madman and was now attempting to basically coerce him into a different line of action by acting unimpressed by their plan and proposing an alternative of sorts. She had seen him - during this pitch - getting annoyed by her cajoling, narrowing his eyes at her in some sort of scrutiny, and then taking on an...ultimately more thoughtful expression as he considered her words. He broke the silence with "Interesting." before taking a swig of his drink, thinking things over and...definitely reconsidering this spot for secret meetings. This bar was a load of piss. Finally...
"So, you propose making use of your more technical expertise in there, rather than the cobbling together of explosives for the job. I'll run you a counter-proposal, a compromise if you will. The explosives would remain useful against the Reactor's automated security. If nothing else, they're a useful asset and not to be wasted, almost certainly guaranteeing that we make it to the core. Continue to help us with that and I'll entertain your idea. Maybe 'any amateur' can put together an explosive, but quality won't blow up in anyone's faces and still get the job done. We'll make sure they can stick to the hides of Sweepers and such. Those toys, we can do without."
He got up now, essentially calling the meeting over, and put down his Gil for the 'drinks'. He was going to have quite alot to share with the others...
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
And speaking of one of the others, the man currently looking to hire Aiko was keeping his poker face. He'd heard that this one would take on jobs like this as long as they weren't a direct threat to her own livelyhood, and the general layout of it was certainly easy enough for one of her skills. He could've taken up anybody who looked fast enough on the offer, but this one was special, so he wanted to make sure she remained hooked. The best way to do that, though, was NOT to make it look like he wanted to hook her, but to take it easy and handle this professionally. As long as it got the job done... Ah, and here were the terms. Yes, this was workable. People like her had their pride. Once accepted, she wouldn't just cut-and-run...or skate off. The contractor nodded.
"Silence and discretion. Very well. I'll accept your terms on half-pay now, half-pay later. Of course, as I said, this will be an on-call job for when we're ready, so naturally I'll need your contact information to do so, not to mention upload the path you'll be taking."
That way, even if she was the sort who could just abandon them, they'd have her by phone, and it was altogether possible that one in their group could track her, or find someone who could. The point is that now they could talk details...once she supplied her phone number.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Meanwhile, as it turns out at Fort Condor, the 'rout' was essentially a case of a good number of mercenaries getting killed...not all. Some of them had withdrawn from the battlefield and back into the armored reactor-fortress to regroup or re-assess their situation. Akira arrived in time to hear a fair few arguments about what to do. Among them all, he picked up that the remaining Sweepers were focusing primarily on the battleground defenses, which is why anybody retreating was not engaged. That said, if they went out there again, they were gonna be attacked unless there really WAS going to be a Grand Horn Commander incoming to try and take possession of the base and reactor. Jessie weighed in, saying she still had a few bombs, but they weren't going to be enough to handle the Sweepers alone, now, which is why she'd need some support to finish the job. Several of the mercs didn't wanna go out there again.
And it was about this time that someone came down from the lookout point to say that they spotted the Commander...
Anyone who decided to take a look would see that, yes, one was indeed on starting his way from the end of the battlefield, on approach to the fort now. The Grand Horns they sent here were NOT the monster of the same name, but a custom-built Shinra Armored Shock Trooper made to fit the monster's overall design. He trudged forwards, preparing to either demand surrender or battle them into submission. For a moment, it seemed like perhaps the status quo would indeed be maintained. Aaand then, everything went to hell. They watched, all silent, as this armored fighter approached...and then they saw the Sweepers. Jessie was heard to mutter "Oh shit..." right before they opened fire on the man, guns and missles, until the armored suit exploded and he was dead. They jumped down to inspect the site, and then turned as one towards the armored doors of the facility.
"And more shit! Everyone, GET READY!"
The X-Series began their attack run on the main doors! It wouldn't be long before they were through!
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Naisha didn't have to wait long for confirmation of what she thought she was dealing with. Damn right it was some kind of rogue robot. Whether this could be considered luck or misfortune, what she had here was some kind of self-operating autonomous mech unit. It looked like a Sweeper, but it had gone through several changes, and quite possibly it was the one that was doing the job! Extra armor welded to parts of its body, tank treads build out from its foot-wheels, stress reinforcement in the legs, and - most importantly - weapon refittings. There was a Cutter's saw on its right arm where the gun should be, as well as heavy Steel Pincer installed below that. The left arm seemed to have a total of THREE Sweeper auto-cannons now working in tandem. Neisha would be looking this over and...sorry, was that a helicopter coming?
Well, yes, and more to the point it was a Shinra chopper, which had now gotten the scavenging robot's attention. It opened fire as the air vehicle came into view, forcing it to fly out of reach again...more over her own location. Wait a minute... If it decided to give chase...oh hell. Fortunately, it looked like said chopper wasn't going to come in for a landing, but instead there was this SOLDIER in uniform coming down on rope. Sounded maybe like he went "Shitshitshitshit!" on the way down, oddly enough. He looked around, saw her immediately, and raised his hand.
"Uhh, hi. Listen, you might not wanna be here right now. I think I just made it mad..."
Oh, god dammit, Joe...
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Things got a bit strange and hectic in Junon. Let's see here... Biggs and Wedge made a bigger offer that was actually all their money, so Tace's counter-proposal wouldn't have gotten very far if he HAD gone through with it, and the reason he didn't was because of this Shinra lackey and his dog going on the offensive. Lex was reporting in to get some reinforcements into position when Kanade acted to create a thundering distraction that DID make Biggs and Wedge jump. Wasteland would've probably not liked them to move, but he was more than likely thrown off-balance himself, followed by Kanade attempting to dart-throw Lex's radio to death. Following that, Tace decided that ummm...he was gonna leave. He cast Haste on them all, basically said, good luck, made a bit of a smokescreen with his car and...was gone. Naturally, he got a "Hey!" from someone as he did. There were speed limits in Junon, dammit, a the motorcycle patrol got ready to pursue... Biggs and Wedge were now totally confused.
"Did he just leave us?"
"Yeah, 'fraid so. At least we're speedy."
"But I hate running!"
"Well, maybe we don't have to."
He pointed to the cycle guards, tapping Kanade on the shoulder to say "Come on!" while the smoke was still up. The guards who were about to follow Tace were suddenly under submachine gun fire as Biggs and Wedge took their bikes. Kanade could ride with Biggs, since...well...Wedge was kinda' big. Unfortunately, regardless of whether or not Lex got his message through, there WAS a helicopter coming in overhead...
We named the dog Indiana...
((Collab between myself and Sep, Part one...))
The black ship flew along its escort, and the pilots could see more clearly that it did not conform to any design they knew about. It was either purpose-built or customized in some way. As it came towards the Resolute, the tractor beam took hold and guided it into the awaiting bay, where no-doubt an escort of Imperials with guns stood at the ready. The small vessel pulled back its gun-wings and landing gears unfolded, and there it stood, like a creature awaiting that fatal mistake that would allow it to kill. The shaded cockpit opened next, and the pilot stood. Whoever was assigned to take the occupant for questioning would see a figure clearly built for battle, a very savage-looking Zabrak in dark clothing with a hooded coat. Tarak jumped down onto the deck plates, which seemed to resound a little as he did. He sneered at his escort, and said…
"Let it begin, then."
The Hangar was bustling with activity, though a single officer wearing the black of the Imperial Security Bureau with a squad of five troopers approached the strange ship, though more eyes were watching the vessel warily from a distance. The troopers held their weapons in a ready position, though they weren’t quite aiming directly at the towering alien. The ISB officer was the first one to speak. “Identification now. You have entered restricted Imperium Space without proper clearance codes.”
He locked his gaze upon the black-clad officer, marking him as the current focus of his frustrations, and began the merest push of the mental emanations which his Master so-delighted in crippling people with: Fear. They would feel anxious around him, as is, but to better suit his temperament, he wanted that feeling to gradually worsen. It would center upon the ISB Officer, but all within proximity should feel such a twinge, slowly but inexorably gripping their spines, turning their courage and fortitude into jelly. In the meantime, giving little indication that he was more than just an irritated and battle-seeking alien, he did reach into a pocket with deliberate slowness to produce an identity card, one which would be about as useful as vibro-blades situated upon the wings of his craft.
"I do not know how to get the ‘proper clearance codes’."
He handed the man his card, and when it was scanned through a datapad...it would read his name (Tarak), his planet of origin (Iridonia), his ownership of the Cleaving Tusk (the ship behind him), and nothing else. Nothing particularly useful. What he does for a living, where he’s been lately, etc. - these things were not present. No, it was a card obtained for him by Master Diabolus, who simply asked for an ident card to be made, explained what simple details were to be registered, and then ordered him to forget. Enough to fulfill the tedious task of being recognized as a person, but of no official use for anything beyond that, as it was completely unnecessary.
Despite the fear spreading throughout the hangar the officer remained composed. The stormtroopers fidgeted their blasters nervously, several engineers and pilots filed out of the hangar. No longer feeling needed. The Officer took the identification and slotted it into a nearby astromech, holographically displaying the details listed. “You get the ‘proper clearance’ by going through the correct channels ahead of time. Coruscant is deemed a high risk zone, the Rebels would love to cause chaos and destruction down on its surface.” He clicked his fingers and a datapad was brought out to him.
“Reason for visit?”
To the average person, this answer regarding access could have effectively meant anything from ‘You have to go through a tedious process of applying to some administrator over it.’ to ‘It’s not my problem and I don’t care.’ to ‘We don’t want your kind around here.’. Tarak was sure that if he actually had the patience to deal with this bantha fodder that he could easily subvert the will of some useless busybody to okay his travels...but he didn’t care either. Equally, he was not interested in this conversation, but rather in pushing this vexing no-name pain in his backside to the point of soiling himself. Thus, he said nothing until they wanted his explanation for coming here. The pad was set to record his statement, so as the fear sensation began to increase, he gave them this little gem.
"I await the bloody conflict that is to come to your precious world. The Rebels will come to sew chaos, but they will find me waiting, and they will despair as I snap them in half. That is how I earn my keep."
Everything about him indicated he was looking for a fight and geared to profit by it, essentially going with his strengths. There was more to it, of course, but this waste of space needed not glean anything further than the surface of things, at the moment. Even then, if he decided his curiosity out-weighed his sense, he was going to regret it...for about a fraction of a second, and then never again.
“So, bounty hunter? Or simply a maniac.” The Imperial Scoffed lightly, while the fear still spread through him and into the other troopers more visibly, the Agent visibly stood firm. He nodded to the troopers. “Detain him. He’s fine stock, we’ll find work for him somewhere.” HE looked dead into the eyes of the beast, unshaking and unwavering. “Don’t resist. I’d hate to need to clean this floor of your corpse.”
Obviously, the agent was made of sterner stuff than his subordinates. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to keep such a cool face in a situation such as this. Then again, it was equally likely that Tarak’s own mastery of the fear was not as strong as his master. You could say that this was good practice, but not at all like the man who could paralyze with a glance… Nevertheless, the Zabrak chose that moment to put on a nice and terrible grin on his face and returned the man’s stare with a glint of bloodlust in his eyes.
"Oh, I assure you… If I planned to resist, you would not have to worry for the floors."
The ruse had served, for now, but if these Imperial fools did not start marching to his tune, soon enough it would be time to see how well he could auger this ship into the capital or something. Or maybe just take it for his own, fill it with worthless pirates, and command them to burn the galaxy in his name. Whatever the case, for now he would allow them to escort him around. The very second one of them had the courage to touch his weapons, there would be a blazing ignition and a number of heads would fall to the floor. A Sith can only take so much.
Two Stormtroopers moved forward, one of them pulling out stun cuffs, grabbing the beast's left wrist and locking it in. While he was working on moving towards clipping in the right wrist the other trooper was moving to search the Zabraks body and remove any weapons from his possession.
The next thing the Officer knew, the Storm Trooper searching for weapons flew past him as the Zabrak raised his uncuffed hand. Couldn’t tell from that angle whether he’d struck him or not, but it seemed like the trooper was arcing nicely towards the nearest wall. Usually a feat for large beasts, not most humanoids. Of course, the tubular device IN said hand was unmistakable, same going for the one that shot from belt to right hand as the cuffing trooper watched, shortly before it ignited into his chest. The Officer would see both weapons ignite, watch as the blazing orange light was burning through one of his men, and probably realize that something along the same lines as Lord Vader was going on here. His ‘captive’ now smiled at him.
"It seems my lie got carried away. Now then...shall you escort me to the captain of this vessel, or...will you be deprived the luxury of worrying about clean-up as I promised?"
An ultimatum: Obey or die. Even if the Officer knew diddly about Sith and Jedi, it was clear that the situation was not good.
Above Coruscant...
The black ship flew along its escort, and the pilots could see more clearly that it did not conform to any design they knew about. It was either purpose-built or customized in some way. As it came towards the Resolute, the tractor beam took hold and guided it into the awaiting bay, where no-doubt an escort of Imperials with guns stood at the ready. The small vessel pulled back its gun-wings and landing gears unfolded, and there it stood, like a creature awaiting that fatal mistake that would allow it to kill. The shaded cockpit opened next, and the pilot stood. Whoever was assigned to take the occupant for questioning would see a figure clearly built for battle, a very savage-looking Zabrak in dark clothing with a hooded coat. Tarak jumped down onto the deck plates, which seemed to resound a little as he did. He sneered at his escort, and said…
"Let it begin, then."
The Hangar was bustling with activity, though a single officer wearing the black of the Imperial Security Bureau with a squad of five troopers approached the strange ship, though more eyes were watching the vessel warily from a distance. The troopers held their weapons in a ready position, though they weren’t quite aiming directly at the towering alien. The ISB officer was the first one to speak. “Identification now. You have entered restricted Imperium Space without proper clearance codes.”
He locked his gaze upon the black-clad officer, marking him as the current focus of his frustrations, and began the merest push of the mental emanations which his Master so-delighted in crippling people with: Fear. They would feel anxious around him, as is, but to better suit his temperament, he wanted that feeling to gradually worsen. It would center upon the ISB Officer, but all within proximity should feel such a twinge, slowly but inexorably gripping their spines, turning their courage and fortitude into jelly. In the meantime, giving little indication that he was more than just an irritated and battle-seeking alien, he did reach into a pocket with deliberate slowness to produce an identity card, one which would be about as useful as vibro-blades situated upon the wings of his craft.
"I do not know how to get the ‘proper clearance codes’."
He handed the man his card, and when it was scanned through a datapad...it would read his name (Tarak), his planet of origin (Iridonia), his ownership of the Cleaving Tusk (the ship behind him), and nothing else. Nothing particularly useful. What he does for a living, where he’s been lately, etc. - these things were not present. No, it was a card obtained for him by Master Diabolus, who simply asked for an ident card to be made, explained what simple details were to be registered, and then ordered him to forget. Enough to fulfill the tedious task of being recognized as a person, but of no official use for anything beyond that, as it was completely unnecessary.
Despite the fear spreading throughout the hangar the officer remained composed. The stormtroopers fidgeted their blasters nervously, several engineers and pilots filed out of the hangar. No longer feeling needed. The Officer took the identification and slotted it into a nearby astromech, holographically displaying the details listed. “You get the ‘proper clearance’ by going through the correct channels ahead of time. Coruscant is deemed a high risk zone, the Rebels would love to cause chaos and destruction down on its surface.” He clicked his fingers and a datapad was brought out to him.
“Reason for visit?”
To the average person, this answer regarding access could have effectively meant anything from ‘You have to go through a tedious process of applying to some administrator over it.’ to ‘It’s not my problem and I don’t care.’ to ‘We don’t want your kind around here.’. Tarak was sure that if he actually had the patience to deal with this bantha fodder that he could easily subvert the will of some useless busybody to okay his travels...but he didn’t care either. Equally, he was not interested in this conversation, but rather in pushing this vexing no-name pain in his backside to the point of soiling himself. Thus, he said nothing until they wanted his explanation for coming here. The pad was set to record his statement, so as the fear sensation began to increase, he gave them this little gem.
"I await the bloody conflict that is to come to your precious world. The Rebels will come to sew chaos, but they will find me waiting, and they will despair as I snap them in half. That is how I earn my keep."
Everything about him indicated he was looking for a fight and geared to profit by it, essentially going with his strengths. There was more to it, of course, but this waste of space needed not glean anything further than the surface of things, at the moment. Even then, if he decided his curiosity out-weighed his sense, he was going to regret it...for about a fraction of a second, and then never again.
“So, bounty hunter? Or simply a maniac.” The Imperial Scoffed lightly, while the fear still spread through him and into the other troopers more visibly, the Agent visibly stood firm. He nodded to the troopers. “Detain him. He’s fine stock, we’ll find work for him somewhere.” HE looked dead into the eyes of the beast, unshaking and unwavering. “Don’t resist. I’d hate to need to clean this floor of your corpse.”
Obviously, the agent was made of sterner stuff than his subordinates. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to keep such a cool face in a situation such as this. Then again, it was equally likely that Tarak’s own mastery of the fear was not as strong as his master. You could say that this was good practice, but not at all like the man who could paralyze with a glance… Nevertheless, the Zabrak chose that moment to put on a nice and terrible grin on his face and returned the man’s stare with a glint of bloodlust in his eyes.
"Oh, I assure you… If I planned to resist, you would not have to worry for the floors."
The ruse had served, for now, but if these Imperial fools did not start marching to his tune, soon enough it would be time to see how well he could auger this ship into the capital or something. Or maybe just take it for his own, fill it with worthless pirates, and command them to burn the galaxy in his name. Whatever the case, for now he would allow them to escort him around. The very second one of them had the courage to touch his weapons, there would be a blazing ignition and a number of heads would fall to the floor. A Sith can only take so much.
Two Stormtroopers moved forward, one of them pulling out stun cuffs, grabbing the beast's left wrist and locking it in. While he was working on moving towards clipping in the right wrist the other trooper was moving to search the Zabraks body and remove any weapons from his possession.
The next thing the Officer knew, the Storm Trooper searching for weapons flew past him as the Zabrak raised his uncuffed hand. Couldn’t tell from that angle whether he’d struck him or not, but it seemed like the trooper was arcing nicely towards the nearest wall. Usually a feat for large beasts, not most humanoids. Of course, the tubular device IN said hand was unmistakable, same going for the one that shot from belt to right hand as the cuffing trooper watched, shortly before it ignited into his chest. The Officer would see both weapons ignite, watch as the blazing orange light was burning through one of his men, and probably realize that something along the same lines as Lord Vader was going on here. His ‘captive’ now smiled at him.
"It seems my lie got carried away. Now then...shall you escort me to the captain of this vessel, or...will you be deprived the luxury of worrying about clean-up as I promised?"
An ultimatum: Obey or die. Even if the Officer knew diddly about Sith and Jedi, it was clear that the situation was not good.
What is best in life? To crush your enemies, see them driven before you in pain while hearing the lamentation of the Shinras?
We shall see.
The issue of the Shinra Electric Power Company - big and overpowering as they are - is a tricky one, indeed. They have, to be fair, advanced technology and the way of life for humankind a great deal. There can be no question of that. But...for whose benefit was that advancement? Was it for all, or for some? Does not the thought of your livelyhood, to say nothing of your life, hanging by the say-so of some corporate exectives not give you pause for concern? In the beginning, when things were still getting underway and the dreams were still huge, it could be said that nobody gave this any thought. Certainly at the time, Mac never worried about it. The infrastructure to help people had to be put in place. Even if that wasn't the intent of the owners OF that infrastructure, it was there and it could do some good. That was the wisdom of his mentor. the wise words of a man who went to war only because he had to, not because he wanted to.
Joe barely noticed the passing-by of the turks as he focued on his cellphone, specfically on the app that gave him tracking data on the X-1 Prototype. If they had its tracking coordinates, why did they even need him to handle it? Truthffully, he'd go and deal with it anyway because it was a danger to others, being out of control like that. But this was just odd... It was so close, right under their noses! Why not just send a team to clean it up and be done with it? Unless...eh heh heh heh...
Unless, of course, they already tried and failed, and simply haven't told me.
That made sense, and that made him a little wary. Sweepers were dangerous as is, and obviously a stronger and smarter one was going to be worse, but they already knew what it was capable of, so why couldn't they nip it in the bud? This concerned Joe as he reached an elevator, hitting the down button before making a call on his cell to hail in a chopper for pick-up at the Lobby level. According to his information, the X-1 Prototype was still in Midgar...
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Of courrse, Naisha was free to giggle to her heart's content as long as her drones were on active duty, driving off the odd monster. A Hedgehog Pie bounces into view? Immediately strike, not even waiting for his shenanigans. This sort of thing would happen every now and again in the background, but while Naisha was scavenging for new parts - and some parts of interest DID show up - there were certainly two things of importance that would crop up. First, there were signs of someone having scavenged some of the larger machines in the area by cutting them open and extracting the parts, the action having been performed by a large saw instead of using tools to remove the casing, say. There were even signs of a heavy machine having traveled through here recently. Some kind of tractor? These were tread marks. This in of itself was odd, but then, out of the blue, she heard it...
SSSZZZZZZZ...SZZZZZZZZZZZZZVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV!!
The sound was unmistakable, a large buzzsaw in use not far from here. Sounded like it was on the other side of the junkyard...or a little bit closer. It was hard to tell for sure, but most-concerningly...it was too loud to be handheld tools. More like big heavy industrial blades or...oh shit. There was a rumor from the Wall Market that Chocobo Sam let Cutty and Sweepy out in places like these for their training before a big match. And as Naisha now began to hear powerful machine gunfire as a Lesser Drake was blown out of the sky, it seemed as though there might be some truth to those rumors.
Except...
Well, if that were the case, what was with the scavenging for parts going on around here? Those two were black market Shinra robots programmed to fight in the colliseum, maintained by their owner. They wouldn't be going for parts like this. So, what was this? Some new device? Or the lashed-together jury-rig of an old one? What to do with this, then?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Meanwhile, AT the Wall Market, we can assure you that Cutty and Sweepy were in their storage and maintenance area underneath the chocobo pens. That wasn't them out in the junkyard, but let us not dwell on this fact, just yet. Instead...to the meeting of the Turk and the member of Avalanche! The man was brazen, alright. Avalanche was not known for its subtle behavior, men walking around in combat fatigues waging open combat and pitched battles with Shinra Security... But then again, he had made sure with a glance that nobody was paying attention, and at the Wall Market...nobody would. This was a place of everyone doing their own thing, the Sector of Sin. Nobody would interrupt them or cause them any harm here.
Besides, there was another reason he was here, talking like this...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The warnings of a man most-recently hired by Avalanche, back at their current hideout...
"Listen to me, all of you. You're all brave and bold, but stupid! You fight like you're in a war, but Shinra doesn't work that way on its home turf, or even in another man's home. They slither and sneak their way in, playing with your thoughts until they've got you. You think you're gonna beat them, but I tell you that with a plan like this, you're gonna find yourself sold out by a spy, someone they've turned against you...or someone they've always had. It happened to me, it could happen to you all..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A good reason. Naomi had always been something of a flake, and a bit of a fringe operative. She wanted to maintain her position at Shinra in order to pass along information and still benefit from her job until the time Shinra was torn down, she said. Yeah, she said that, but it was kind of iffy, thinking about it. That was why they were a bit more confident in this newer recruit who'd learned pyrotechnics at Gold Saucer and had studied to become her own demolitions. There were some grumblings about using Naomi right now, so...they'd sent him to poke her sensibilities and see how she responded to the plan. So far, so good, but now came the big one.
"That's been a question floating around the group for a while, but inevitably the answer had to be that we need to knock out Shinra power, period. Not inconvenience them with a repair job, but ruin it, destroy it. Their power must be broken so they have nothing to lord over others with."
Break the Shinra power infrastructure and they have nothing to support their army or machinery with. They will be brought to their knees in agony, screaming for mercy...but they will find none. They only find an Avalanche waiting for them. First, however, they needed the materials put together for them to make the explosives, and that meant either making sure that Naomi was all on-board...or having to wait for the other one to return...
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
And what of those materials, then? Well, they had gotten it all into Midgar. It wasn't easy, but thanks to a quiet smuggling operation headed by their budding bomb expert, the right materials were sequestered away and transported here by stolen helicopter, then taken to a stolen Shinra truck to make it all look legitimate...until they staged a disappearance of said truck until they were ready to move it to the place they were constructing the explosives before use. Not their base in Midgar, but somewhere accessable enough to them. The only problem was that they were finding these checkpoints here and there, places searching for stolen goods and black market materials. That was gonna be a problem unless they could get around them. And well...there WAS A way. During the highpoint of Midgar traffic, a truck could be stuck in an area for a while and - in order to get some materials to a place faster while not wasting fuel - hire a runner to bring the goods, bit by bit, to the place in question. In THIS instance, they'd be hiring a really fast runner to take materials through the back alleys to another truck, one that was already past the checkpoint that could then reach its destination without incident.
The issue was with convincing the girl (Aiko) that it was safe, and fortunately for all of them...
"We wouldn't transport it ourselves if that were the case. Packages are secured parcels, no real harm if they're dropped or even pierced or shot, but naturally we'd prefer it if they were undamaged. Speed is key, and of course...not getting caught. You'll be going back and forth a few times, at least. Payment on completion. I'll need a solid confirmation that you'll take this job before giving details, you understand."
Because, after all, she would be helping Avalanche transport the not-explosive-yet materials that they're keeping in separate packaging and away from the detonators - which they already have, anyway - in order to bring the project to destroy the reactors to fruition.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
But in any case...down to Junon, then, where things were getting just a little bit...interesting. It all started with a call to Tseng's phone, or rather a message delivered via Shinra Dispatch to inform him of the situation. He apologized to the person he was talking to for taking the call, but it was a necessity, and he sent Krait a reply that an interception team would be standing by and ready, so he may proceed. Once he hung up, he gave a polite bow to the room's other occupant.
"Again, my apologize, Vice President."
Yes, they were in Rufus' Junon officer, with the man himself looking out to sea via the large window. He had, of course, overheard everything. The room was quiet enough, and he smiled at what he'd picked up.
"Was that a report on your quarry?"
"Yes, but I'm afraid our man cannot confirm it's the target. At this time, he's playing a hunch."
The blonde man turned with a smile on his face.
"And you're letting him play it? Interesting..."
"You know the man, his instincts and his skills-"
"And I agree. So...let's go."
Rufus was now opening his desk drawer and pulling out his guns.
"You're certain about this?"
"I'm bored as hell, and I'm going to do something about it."
He headed for the door, giving a quick whistle as Tseng followed behind. The monster hound who'd been silently resting in one corner of the room soon followed. They were going on a little hunt...
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
The orders had been that the girl would be on the next boat in, and that they were to make sure she safely made it to Midgar to help them in their cause. To that end, the three operatives who had been in charge of the smuggling operation on this end would be there to intercept Kanade and help her along. One problem, though. Well, two problems. First of all, Jessie was gone. After having seen a load of Sweepers loaded into a transport to be taken to battle zone at Fort Condor, she headed out to get ahead of them to help out in matters any way she could. The people there had opened their doors to Avalanche, so they couldn't very well shut them out now. That was the first problem. The second problem was that the two other operatives - a fairly-tough man and a large pudgy man - had spotted the opposition following her. They saw him and the hound from THEIR angle while carefully following her.
"Hey, do you see what I see?"
"Yeah, I see it. Shinra Ranger, trying to keep out of sight."
"What do we do? If we open up here-"
"We're not gonna do that. We're gonna distract the doggo so she can slip away."
"Aw man! My rear is still sore from the last time!"
"Hey, all our butts are on the line here, Wedge."
"I know, I know... Let's just get it ov- Wait, look!"
"I see it. Let's go!"
Lex received his go-ahead to pursue, which was a good thing because his target was trying to get a ride. She'd gone to a driver to proposition him with some coin...and that was when he and Wasteland would see two men - one fat and one athletic - quickly hurrying up to the car, as well. That wasn't a quick extraction team! She was either about to be kidnapped or she was their target after all and she had help!
Over at the car, Tace had made his expensive counter-proposal to the Wutai girl when he'd see two men suddenly flank her. At first, it looked like there might be trouble, but this was Mr. Delviro's lucky day, as the skinnier man spoke up.
"We'll make it five thousand if you take all three of us."
"C'mon, Biggs! That's snack money you're getting into!"
"I'll make it up to you, but for now we need to go. Well?"
Any minute now, some amount of shit was gonna hit the fan. Would this man help them out or wouldn't he?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Akira had been right to run from a frontal assault with those Sweepers for two reasons. Number one, he and Jessie alone weren't enough to combat them without taking severe harm or at least one of them dying. And number two, the Catapult DID hit...one of them. Specifically, the rock pounded X-10 down flat, sparks lit as burn juice sloshed out of its front grill, and there was an explosion that knocked X-2 aside. There was no further pursuit, as the Sweeper actually needed a second to get oriented and such. Jessie didn't need any warnings to duck, as she was quick and limber herself, knowing the lines of defense herself. When they came to the conflict line, she whipped out her gun and started firing at anyone in a Shinra uniform from the sidelines, often aiming low to kneecap someone at a critical moment so the merc who was engaging 'em could survive to beat the hell out the enemy.
But while that was going on...there was some activity at the bottom of the hill.
X-9 suddenly became active and rolled out of the transport, much to the surprise of the technicians.
"Hey, what're you doing? We haven't deployed you yet. Get back in the- HEY, GET BACK HERE!"
The Sweeper ignored the commands, as the active battle strategy overrode the command structure allowing low-level figures to order it around when it while it was set to the task of winning this fight. Out of the immediate sight of most Fort Condor personnel and defenders, the plan had begun. X-2 overcharge-leapt up onto a hill of rubble and began firing upon Catapults and Stoners. X-4 waited for X-9 at the mid-point it had reached while it had been detonating mines with its missles. The three Prototypes would soon join up and conduct a coordinated and rather cutthroat assault on those that remained, staying in hard-to-reach places that they reached only with their enhanced mechanisms.
We shall see.
The issue of the Shinra Electric Power Company - big and overpowering as they are - is a tricky one, indeed. They have, to be fair, advanced technology and the way of life for humankind a great deal. There can be no question of that. But...for whose benefit was that advancement? Was it for all, or for some? Does not the thought of your livelyhood, to say nothing of your life, hanging by the say-so of some corporate exectives not give you pause for concern? In the beginning, when things were still getting underway and the dreams were still huge, it could be said that nobody gave this any thought. Certainly at the time, Mac never worried about it. The infrastructure to help people had to be put in place. Even if that wasn't the intent of the owners OF that infrastructure, it was there and it could do some good. That was the wisdom of his mentor. the wise words of a man who went to war only because he had to, not because he wanted to.
Joe barely noticed the passing-by of the turks as he focued on his cellphone, specfically on the app that gave him tracking data on the X-1 Prototype. If they had its tracking coordinates, why did they even need him to handle it? Truthffully, he'd go and deal with it anyway because it was a danger to others, being out of control like that. But this was just odd... It was so close, right under their noses! Why not just send a team to clean it up and be done with it? Unless...eh heh heh heh...
Unless, of course, they already tried and failed, and simply haven't told me.
That made sense, and that made him a little wary. Sweepers were dangerous as is, and obviously a stronger and smarter one was going to be worse, but they already knew what it was capable of, so why couldn't they nip it in the bud? This concerned Joe as he reached an elevator, hitting the down button before making a call on his cell to hail in a chopper for pick-up at the Lobby level. According to his information, the X-1 Prototype was still in Midgar...
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Of courrse, Naisha was free to giggle to her heart's content as long as her drones were on active duty, driving off the odd monster. A Hedgehog Pie bounces into view? Immediately strike, not even waiting for his shenanigans. This sort of thing would happen every now and again in the background, but while Naisha was scavenging for new parts - and some parts of interest DID show up - there were certainly two things of importance that would crop up. First, there were signs of someone having scavenged some of the larger machines in the area by cutting them open and extracting the parts, the action having been performed by a large saw instead of using tools to remove the casing, say. There were even signs of a heavy machine having traveled through here recently. Some kind of tractor? These were tread marks. This in of itself was odd, but then, out of the blue, she heard it...
SSSZZZZZZZ...SZZZZZZZZZZZZZVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV!!
The sound was unmistakable, a large buzzsaw in use not far from here. Sounded like it was on the other side of the junkyard...or a little bit closer. It was hard to tell for sure, but most-concerningly...it was too loud to be handheld tools. More like big heavy industrial blades or...oh shit. There was a rumor from the Wall Market that Chocobo Sam let Cutty and Sweepy out in places like these for their training before a big match. And as Naisha now began to hear powerful machine gunfire as a Lesser Drake was blown out of the sky, it seemed as though there might be some truth to those rumors.
Except...
Well, if that were the case, what was with the scavenging for parts going on around here? Those two were black market Shinra robots programmed to fight in the colliseum, maintained by their owner. They wouldn't be going for parts like this. So, what was this? Some new device? Or the lashed-together jury-rig of an old one? What to do with this, then?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Meanwhile, AT the Wall Market, we can assure you that Cutty and Sweepy were in their storage and maintenance area underneath the chocobo pens. That wasn't them out in the junkyard, but let us not dwell on this fact, just yet. Instead...to the meeting of the Turk and the member of Avalanche! The man was brazen, alright. Avalanche was not known for its subtle behavior, men walking around in combat fatigues waging open combat and pitched battles with Shinra Security... But then again, he had made sure with a glance that nobody was paying attention, and at the Wall Market...nobody would. This was a place of everyone doing their own thing, the Sector of Sin. Nobody would interrupt them or cause them any harm here.
Besides, there was another reason he was here, talking like this...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The warnings of a man most-recently hired by Avalanche, back at their current hideout...
"Listen to me, all of you. You're all brave and bold, but stupid! You fight like you're in a war, but Shinra doesn't work that way on its home turf, or even in another man's home. They slither and sneak their way in, playing with your thoughts until they've got you. You think you're gonna beat them, but I tell you that with a plan like this, you're gonna find yourself sold out by a spy, someone they've turned against you...or someone they've always had. It happened to me, it could happen to you all..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A good reason. Naomi had always been something of a flake, and a bit of a fringe operative. She wanted to maintain her position at Shinra in order to pass along information and still benefit from her job until the time Shinra was torn down, she said. Yeah, she said that, but it was kind of iffy, thinking about it. That was why they were a bit more confident in this newer recruit who'd learned pyrotechnics at Gold Saucer and had studied to become her own demolitions. There were some grumblings about using Naomi right now, so...they'd sent him to poke her sensibilities and see how she responded to the plan. So far, so good, but now came the big one.
"That's been a question floating around the group for a while, but inevitably the answer had to be that we need to knock out Shinra power, period. Not inconvenience them with a repair job, but ruin it, destroy it. Their power must be broken so they have nothing to lord over others with."
Break the Shinra power infrastructure and they have nothing to support their army or machinery with. They will be brought to their knees in agony, screaming for mercy...but they will find none. They only find an Avalanche waiting for them. First, however, they needed the materials put together for them to make the explosives, and that meant either making sure that Naomi was all on-board...or having to wait for the other one to return...
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
And what of those materials, then? Well, they had gotten it all into Midgar. It wasn't easy, but thanks to a quiet smuggling operation headed by their budding bomb expert, the right materials were sequestered away and transported here by stolen helicopter, then taken to a stolen Shinra truck to make it all look legitimate...until they staged a disappearance of said truck until they were ready to move it to the place they were constructing the explosives before use. Not their base in Midgar, but somewhere accessable enough to them. The only problem was that they were finding these checkpoints here and there, places searching for stolen goods and black market materials. That was gonna be a problem unless they could get around them. And well...there WAS A way. During the highpoint of Midgar traffic, a truck could be stuck in an area for a while and - in order to get some materials to a place faster while not wasting fuel - hire a runner to bring the goods, bit by bit, to the place in question. In THIS instance, they'd be hiring a really fast runner to take materials through the back alleys to another truck, one that was already past the checkpoint that could then reach its destination without incident.
The issue was with convincing the girl (Aiko) that it was safe, and fortunately for all of them...
"We wouldn't transport it ourselves if that were the case. Packages are secured parcels, no real harm if they're dropped or even pierced or shot, but naturally we'd prefer it if they were undamaged. Speed is key, and of course...not getting caught. You'll be going back and forth a few times, at least. Payment on completion. I'll need a solid confirmation that you'll take this job before giving details, you understand."
Because, after all, she would be helping Avalanche transport the not-explosive-yet materials that they're keeping in separate packaging and away from the detonators - which they already have, anyway - in order to bring the project to destroy the reactors to fruition.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
But in any case...down to Junon, then, where things were getting just a little bit...interesting. It all started with a call to Tseng's phone, or rather a message delivered via Shinra Dispatch to inform him of the situation. He apologized to the person he was talking to for taking the call, but it was a necessity, and he sent Krait a reply that an interception team would be standing by and ready, so he may proceed. Once he hung up, he gave a polite bow to the room's other occupant.
"Again, my apologize, Vice President."
Yes, they were in Rufus' Junon officer, with the man himself looking out to sea via the large window. He had, of course, overheard everything. The room was quiet enough, and he smiled at what he'd picked up.
"Was that a report on your quarry?"
"Yes, but I'm afraid our man cannot confirm it's the target. At this time, he's playing a hunch."
The blonde man turned with a smile on his face.
"And you're letting him play it? Interesting..."
"You know the man, his instincts and his skills-"
"And I agree. So...let's go."
Rufus was now opening his desk drawer and pulling out his guns.
"You're certain about this?"
"I'm bored as hell, and I'm going to do something about it."
He headed for the door, giving a quick whistle as Tseng followed behind. The monster hound who'd been silently resting in one corner of the room soon followed. They were going on a little hunt...
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
The orders had been that the girl would be on the next boat in, and that they were to make sure she safely made it to Midgar to help them in their cause. To that end, the three operatives who had been in charge of the smuggling operation on this end would be there to intercept Kanade and help her along. One problem, though. Well, two problems. First of all, Jessie was gone. After having seen a load of Sweepers loaded into a transport to be taken to battle zone at Fort Condor, she headed out to get ahead of them to help out in matters any way she could. The people there had opened their doors to Avalanche, so they couldn't very well shut them out now. That was the first problem. The second problem was that the two other operatives - a fairly-tough man and a large pudgy man - had spotted the opposition following her. They saw him and the hound from THEIR angle while carefully following her.
"Hey, do you see what I see?"
"Yeah, I see it. Shinra Ranger, trying to keep out of sight."
"What do we do? If we open up here-"
"We're not gonna do that. We're gonna distract the doggo so she can slip away."
"Aw man! My rear is still sore from the last time!"
"Hey, all our butts are on the line here, Wedge."
"I know, I know... Let's just get it ov- Wait, look!"
"I see it. Let's go!"
Lex received his go-ahead to pursue, which was a good thing because his target was trying to get a ride. She'd gone to a driver to proposition him with some coin...and that was when he and Wasteland would see two men - one fat and one athletic - quickly hurrying up to the car, as well. That wasn't a quick extraction team! She was either about to be kidnapped or she was their target after all and she had help!
Over at the car, Tace had made his expensive counter-proposal to the Wutai girl when he'd see two men suddenly flank her. At first, it looked like there might be trouble, but this was Mr. Delviro's lucky day, as the skinnier man spoke up.
"We'll make it five thousand if you take all three of us."
"C'mon, Biggs! That's snack money you're getting into!"
"I'll make it up to you, but for now we need to go. Well?"
Any minute now, some amount of shit was gonna hit the fan. Would this man help them out or wouldn't he?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Akira had been right to run from a frontal assault with those Sweepers for two reasons. Number one, he and Jessie alone weren't enough to combat them without taking severe harm or at least one of them dying. And number two, the Catapult DID hit...one of them. Specifically, the rock pounded X-10 down flat, sparks lit as burn juice sloshed out of its front grill, and there was an explosion that knocked X-2 aside. There was no further pursuit, as the Sweeper actually needed a second to get oriented and such. Jessie didn't need any warnings to duck, as she was quick and limber herself, knowing the lines of defense herself. When they came to the conflict line, she whipped out her gun and started firing at anyone in a Shinra uniform from the sidelines, often aiming low to kneecap someone at a critical moment so the merc who was engaging 'em could survive to beat the hell out the enemy.
But while that was going on...there was some activity at the bottom of the hill.
X-9 suddenly became active and rolled out of the transport, much to the surprise of the technicians.
"Hey, what're you doing? We haven't deployed you yet. Get back in the- HEY, GET BACK HERE!"
The Sweeper ignored the commands, as the active battle strategy overrode the command structure allowing low-level figures to order it around when it while it was set to the task of winning this fight. Out of the immediate sight of most Fort Condor personnel and defenders, the plan had begun. X-2 overcharge-leapt up onto a hill of rubble and began firing upon Catapults and Stoners. X-4 waited for X-9 at the mid-point it had reached while it had been detonating mines with its missles. The three Prototypes would soon join up and conduct a coordinated and rather cutthroat assault on those that remained, staying in hard-to-reach places that they reached only with their enhanced mechanisms.
If you're in this city, you're doing one of two things: You're working for Shinra or you're working in spite of Shinra. Sometimes, it's even both. The Shinra Power Company came to be some years ago, revolutionizing power usage with the bedazzling Mako Reactors and all the applications to be found with that power, and it carefully steamrolled or absorbed so much in the world that it became a kind of corporate government power over regions and much of the East and West Continents, holding sway over those who live as far north as Icicle and as far south as Mideel. The last great holdout had, of course, been the country of Wutai, the mysterious nation of untold wonders and secrets. As a people, as a culture, they didn't really see much value in the ways of Shinra. No desire for the mechanisms or power reactors. No wish for the distractions of their normal lives that their presence would bring.
So, Shinra forced their way. Enter the Wutai War.
With that came the influx of the SOLDIERS who would be considered war heroes, at least until such time as they burnt out from what you might call 'Mako Exhaustion'. Some SOLDIERS suffered from the breaking down of their bodies as the surge of energy coursing through them from the day of their Mako exposure either ran its course or overburdened the body's natural system. Some say that Sephiroth, the miraculous and undefeatable warrior, may have felt this happen at a critical moment during a monster attack, causing him to be killed and eaten.
Now, as stated, the surviving SOLDIERS of the war were considered heroes, although some were not so sure. Sephiroth was the SOLDIER with the highest kill ratio on that assignment. Joe's mentor was a man with one of the lowest, finding himself not wanting 'to bathe such a beautiful country in blood'. His views were unpopular, but his skill landed him as a First Class SOLDIER, better known for his durable force and sudden strikes. That was the man that Joe had traded swords with, a good man. Naturally, the likes of Heidegger - who would rather see to it that no fists of opposition could be raised ever again - didn't like him. That, and because the burly military man was a pain in the ass, was the main reason Joe hated him.
"Is there some reason I'm always hit with surprises when it's my turn for these sim evaluations?"
"A SOLDIER is expected to deal with the unexpected at all times. You should know that."
"The Valkyrie, though? That's on my side."
"I'm not at liberty to discuss why or why not a Shinra robot on-location might decide to attack. Perhaps it malfunctioned. I don't care. It's not as though it's my division. I run the might and manpower of Shinra Inc., and I command the obedience and respect of my men."
Well, he was half right. The men were afraid of him and obeyed him and all the executive staff out of fear of being canned or worse. Heidegger may look like an aging general on his way out, but the fact is that he could still punch a man flat out or toss such a man one-handed, and he didn't take any SOLDIER enhancements. Even a SOLDIER like Joe would be on-guard around such a man.
"You're a Third-Class because, while you have the strength, your mind is undisciplined and you lack the common decency to even salute your superiors."
Joe knew that most of the senior staff didn't like him, and the feeling was mutual because of it. Mac, Captain Gonovich, had vouched for his innate skill and something clicked in their minds that this was a good idea, that ANY veteran of the Wutai War from SOLDIER should pass on their abilities to the next generation before it was lost. However, Scarlet couldn't care less about it, Heidegger objected to seeing 'some upstart kid' getting fast-tracked without time in the guard company first, and Hojo... Well, the Professor had objections to him being alive, so maybe Heidegger was trying to get him killed on that man's behalf.
"You're an insubordinate mess and I don't like you, but we've invested you, so you'd better be worth your weight in gil, understand?"
It was about this time that someone decided to "Ahem." their way into this hallway browbeating. It was a lady's voice, but...as you can guess, this was no lady. Scarlet was - no question - an attractive woman, but...you wouldn't want to have anything to do with her. She treated men as objects...literally, sometimes...and cared more about how her own projects came along than any humane concerns. The blonde was head of the Advanced Weapons Division, something of a business rival to the Public Safety Division...which is why she and Heidegger got together like oil and water. Where he was rage and strength, she was biting and cutthroat. They deserved each other.
"If you're quite done talking down to your man, I need to borrow him."
"Not happening. This one's going into the brig for his insolence."
"Again? So predictable of you. And yet, if you do place him in the brig, I can't send him on this assignment for me, which the President would like handled sooner than later."
"Really now...?"
Uh oh... I don't like the sound of this.
"He's all yours! Do your worst! GYA HAH HAH HAH HAAAAH!"
Shiiit...
Truthfully, Joe wasn't afraid of the directors of Shinra Inc. like so many other people, but rather that they might decide to really throw the army at him, instead of only 'testing him'. Something was going on. Most days, he did patrols, smacked down some bandits, traced a thief or two, and generally kept the peace. It was when the higher-ups got involved that life took a serious wobble...
"Is this about the mission in Gongaga-"
"No, not even remotely. We haven't found evidence of your claims, so you just keep quiet about that and follow me."
Grumbling, he did so and was led to a break room where Scarlet told everyone to shove off and had him close the door. Soon after, she'd used her remote uplink via phone to activate the room's TV and show off...weapon schematic.
"As you may be aware, the Shinra Weapons Division has developed a new Sweeper Prototype for use in the field, the Custom Sweeper. The current line-up has been dubbed as the X-Series, and they're being used as test subjects to iron out all of the kinks before we go into full production. However, one of these devices has gone rogue, the X-1 Prototype. A fault had developed in the programming and I want you to take it out."
"You don't want to retrieve it for study?"
She put her hand over her mouth and let out a "Kya hah hah hah hah hah..." before saying "Why would I want that? The other nine are running perfectly fine!", aaand that was the end of that. The schematics were deleted from the screen and he was told to get to work. An app for receiving tracking data would be uploaded to his phone.
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Sweepers... They were one of the most successful mech units produced by Shinra, to date. They and their sister mechs, the Cutters, were highly-mobile killing machines, bipedal engines of destruction. The basic Sweeper is a makes one immediately think of a truck on legs. It's heavy, like a vehicle, and its feet have wheels to move it along when footpower isn't enough. They have complex programming that allows them to self-activate when an intruder is in proximity, and they self-DEactivate when the job is done. A machine with a modocum of reasoning power - to determine friend from foe automatically, and to make combat decisions based upon opposition, terrain, personal status, etc. - is a dangerous thing indeed. And this was only the version made chiefly for Midgar. Once it was clear that Sweepers outside of the city often got lost or confused in field tests, they built a further model. Thus, the Custom Sweeper Prototype - or the X-Series of Sweepers - was born.
From the leaked file that Naisha had seen, the CSP was a dramatic improvement upon the basic design. The dimensional reasonings of your basic Sweeper, you'd compare to a Roomba. The X-Series understood the changing dynamics of a contoured land and how to deal with them. More than that, it had greater suspension, greater speed, stronger guns, the missle volleys, the flame projector, and the grapple chains meant to stun and capture...along with a knock-out-gas spray. The Custom Sweepers were going to be able to search and retrieve, longterm, which meant that you could have a machine that never slept and never stopped pursuing you straight from Midgar or Junon...and that was a problem. Whoever was leaking the schematics knew what they were putting on the market here. It was a warning to some, a delectable prize for others. Buying Sweepers and Cutters on the black market was always expensive. Imagine if you could just build them yourself...
But for now, Naisha was headed for the local junkyard, in which patrons are cautioned of the presence of monsters The usual riff-raff creatures tended to live here: Wererats, Gorgers, Lesser Drakes, etc. A woman in a wheelchair might be considered easy prey by them, but then they didn't know about her special drones. This was also good for the human side of things. For while plenty of slum dwellers knew her by face and by chair and were generally accommodating...some of the local toughs would see her as a vulnerable wheelchair bound woman and may try and take advantage of her...
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Maddie - or rather, Naomi - received a number of erm...ahem...invitations to join people drinking or potentially more than that by several men and at least one woman. This was probably frustrating for her, like she was being set up, stood up, and let out to dry. It was still yet after this, after patience had been well-and-truly tested, that her man showed up. He arrived...shortly after another person had moved on, just sat down and took a drag of his cigarette that could only be described as...methodical. He looked like he was either enjoying it too much or...slightly on-purpose. The act was not great, but then again...in this place, it may not have even mattered. Shinra security coverage around here was light, if present at all. She was now facing an adult male who may have seen some combat fairly recently, dressed in a dark clothing with a dark green vest. Unless Maddie had agents here waiting in advanced, which he would have used this time to determine if indeed watchers were around, they were alone in this place. He let out a sharp stream of smoke.
"We're going to need stronger explosives. I've already got men pulling together the materials. We need you to make ready use of them for the next mission."
He gave her a look that suggested something big on the horizon, and his next words confirmed this fact.
"We're going to strike at the very heart of Shinra power, literally. Blow the Midgar reactors, one after the other, and leave nothing behind but their shattered dreams."
This was... Some time ago, Avalanche had taken out the Mt. Corel Mako Reactor. In response to this, during the battle to kill all members of the group on-site, many of the people of Corel died in the crossfire, or under suspicion of having been Avalanche themselves. The Head of Shinra's Weapon Division herself had been there that day, and personally executed quite a number of people. Still, this would certainly make for a credible threat to Shinra, to say nothing of the city itself! The amount of people who might be killed was ghastly. But then, Avalanche had ever been squeamish about killing others. To them, the Wutai War wasn't over...
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Elsewhere in the Wall Market, Scotch and Kotch had received the message from Aiko stating that she will think about it. That seemed promising to the two men, and they reported such to their boss, but he was not entirely pleased. Don Corneo, Aiko did not like, but Don Corneo wanted that racers to be fighting in the upcoming Corneo Cup. She was fierce, she was popular, and she was skilled. Against the others lined up, it was altogether likely to be a spectacular tournament. But if they couldn't get Aiko, then who the hell would take her place? Some dating couple they just find on the streets? Well, perhaps a more desperate rival of hers...but still...
"I want that girl fighting down here. Have some men start taking up all the available jobs in her area for a while. That'll being her to heel."
That...was about Corneo's style. When he pushed, he shoved. That said, though, Aiko had a decent headstart on any thugs of his, SO...she would naturally find a number of various options and tasks, small jobs that included working with tools, delivering this and that, and other things that were generally her speed. One woman actually noted her as an extremely good roller-racer and wondered if she might teach her kids to rollerblade well. Lastly, there was a man who appealed to the probably-not-legal end of the spectrum. He was dressed casually, but he seemed to be all business, with a crewcut and a scar from an old fight, possibly someone's knife. His offer? Well...
"Rapid parcel delivery, payment upon completion. It's well-suited to someone of your talents. Put simply, the backstreets and the alleyways of this city are both problematic and yet ideal for the quick transportation of goods. In order to avoid traffic or problematic stoppage, it would be a good plan to use them...to quickly move some materials from one truck to another in these back alleys, which cannot be easily monitered nor pursued through, especially if you happen to have a setup like your own. This is an on-call sort of thing, but we'll make sure to notify you ahead of time so that you can get into position."
He wasn't saying who he was working for or why, and the question wasn't really suppose to be asked either. It was possible, though, that Aiko could guess who and what this man represented...and why he felt that it was alright to approach her about this.
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Meanwhile...yes, there HAD been problems at Fort Condor regarding the Sweepers. A couple of them had faultered and were rendered disabled or destroyed, but it turns out that a group of grunts would just as easily set off Jessie's explosives...and some of the machines learned the fine out of jumping. These Sweepers, the X-Series of Prototypes, had overcharge devices installed, allowing them to exceed normal levels of output for a limited time to perform certain feats, like powering through or jumping over a hazard. This was one of the reasons that casualties were mounted high and that Akira needed to engage the enemy directly instead of just healing people. It was after such an action that the young Wutai boy would hear "Nice work, kid! Now, run for it!" as Jesse swept by in retreat from an approaching Sweeper that had a pair of thrown bombs stuck to its chasse, beeping unto the inevitable-
BOOOOOOMMM!!!
A Sweeper that had been marked as X-5 now lay in rubble. However, not far behind, rolling in a bit more casually, were X-2 and X-10. Using their remote uplinks, they had been able to ascertain the means by which the destruction of the other two and now this one had occurred. And to answer the 64K Gil Question, there were seven sent to this battle in total, with two still in Junon. Way in the back lines, still on-board the transport that brought it here, the X-9 Prototype was battle coordinator for this sortie. No one on the field had any knowledge of what it was thinking. Only those technicians examining its behavior and testing for rogue behavior knew what was going on inside of its CPU.
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In Junon, disembarkment from the Shinra Transport occurred. There WAS some confusion as to where the scarred man had actually gone. Some say he was wearing a mask of his face...on his face, OR...that he had jumped ship and was now swimming with a particularly-friendly dolphin, since he was a master of beasts and all. All we know is that he wasn't on board anymore! That left Kanade and Tace, the latter of whom clattered out of here in his car of questionable make while Kanade was leaving on foot.
From the POV of Tace...well, there were plenty of places to get a bite to eat, and the only suspicious glances his way were at his car, which was often a topic of conversation, but never really a problem for him. What he was gonna do for a job...well, that depended on if there were any outstanding contracts on people, monsters to kill, or anything like that. At least he eventually found a parking spot and could walk back to somewhere to get some proper food in his system.
Kanade wouldn't apparently get anymore trouble than the usual looks that a Wutai person on this continent would get. She had that look that she might be trouble, but there were men with guns all over the place, and a bunch of people were trying to get off, so as long as she wasn't doing anything right now, there was no issue. The only problem was that...Fort Condor had to be a ways from here, a long walk and even a pretty substantial drive. Akira was waiting, and she innately knew where in her mind, if not by any look on a map, but was there any way to get out of this town and over to there quickly...? Well, it just so happens that a pair of men, one of them rather stocky and pudgey, who happened to be following her might be able to help.
That left Alex and Wasteland...who had the scent, but...something had to be wrong here. Wasteland wasn't finding their guy, or gal. Tseng hadn't specified gender, so naturally it could be either/or. This was a problem. His dog's nose couldn't be the problem. The hound had picked out people from a crowd before, even barked to get them startled enough to run from a group before doing the takedown. But this bustle of people... He wasn't reacting, which meant they weren't there. But did that mean their intel was wrong? No, they were certain that someone of Wutai descent would be...wait. Wasteland didn't seem positive on this, but there was this one girl. She was definitely from Wutai. Ah, what to do? Call it in and get further orders? Prepare to home in on her scent now? This one might be squarely on Alex's shoulders, and if he got it wrong, the home office would not be pleased.
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And speaking of which...heading down the hallways of another part of the Shinra Building...
...were two men in black suits: Reno and Rude of the Turks. They were heading for one of the training rooms now, even passed Joe along the way, Reno giving him a "Yo." as they did. The Turks kinda' knew Joe from a previous mission where he'd been sent to investigate the reactor at Gongaga...and they had some intel-gathering on potential Avalanche movements. They all thought that Avalanche had blown the reactor, but Joe had another claim, that there was a monster involved. That one's on the hush-hush list, though. Only Tseng and up were allowed to look at 'File-ME', and it was locked in the system to prevent access. Honestly, Reno wanted to get Maddie to hack her way into it so he could see. Only Tseng had been allowed to interrogate Joe, and only the Execs had been allowed to hear. Tseng had even asked that he keep whatever he was claiming to himself back on the helicopter, as they couldn't allow things to devolve into hysteria. Maybe not, but that just made Reno curious. In any case, that was in the past, and in the present was this thing about a new member joining their ranks.
"I'm not sure I like this. I mean, I know we're short-staffed, but hiring from the guard pit?"
"Did you read the file?"
Reno made a wild gesture.
"Of course I didn't read it!"
"I didn't think so, but you'll like this one."
"And why would that be?"
"Her loyalty is 100%, and her fighting skills are at least comparable to her sister."
"Ah, I see. Yeah, that's probably for the b- Wait, her sister?!"
"This is why you read the file."
The training room was littered with broken Shinra robots, shattered turrets, and shot-up targets. Standing amidst the huge mess was a single blonde woman with a very determined - if angry - expression on her face. She was dressed as a Turk, though she had been part of a guard unit previously, and appeared to be geared for martials arts fighting and gunplay, a cold aura softly radiating off of her as she now finished the last of her targets off and got her scores. Rude informed Reno that she was told about what happened with her sister in the Turks in order to motivate her to work harder for the position. The two men now approached her, Rude smiling now.
"Greetings, Elena."
@BigPapaBelial Hold on. I just got back from election work and I'm not gettin' on Discord 'till tomorrow, so I will ask...
@Letter Bee Would you please invite him in?
@Letter Bee Would you please invite him in?
Elliot didn't believe himself better than everyone else, so he wasn't really the sort to talk to you and forget you ever existed unless you were a real pain. Right now, it was more the damn VCs who were the problem for him, and a Walker worker/technician just what he was looking for. Besides, he was use to talking to people who kept to themselves like he did everyone else. How else could he talk to Grace? Of course, chances are, Ferra was actually giving her real name, whereas Grace might've been - and probably was - a fake name she was using for personal reasons.
Handshake done, Ferra began to explain that she'd be perfectly fine with getting some deployment with him and whoever he's with...provided she could get the go-ahead of the man in charge. Ah, yeah... It leads right back to Sergeant Whittaker. Strictly speakin', he and the Sarge weren't on the same wavelength, sometimes, but he understood that Elliot was a decent soldier doin' the job he'd been training for. That he was a bit cavelier when the moment wasn't so important didn't always jive with 'im, but he'd listen to him about this. Getting attached to a Walker crew and blasting out some of the hidey-holes was a damn-good plan at a time like this. The 'Congs were getting too bold, so they needed to get their asses blown off for a while to set them straight.
"I'll get his attention. Guy's busy, but he won't want me idle when I wanna go out. That means making a team, and that means getting a say in what I need."
After all, he made an excellent case for Grace, who was now returning with bottles in hand, the beer offered to him without a word. He gave an appreciative nod, putting away his codebook to crack open that sucker and take a drink. After that, he indicated his head to the Albino who was quietly drinking her soda.
"This is Grace. She joined up with us a while back. Been here years. Speaks the language perfectly. Doesn't really talk much, though."
She just nodded at this, affirming her usual silence. Elliot would handle things once this little break of his was done. He didn't exactly wanna go bothering the Sarge with beer in hand. He wouldn't like that very much. Not fucking at all, to be honest.
Handshake done, Ferra began to explain that she'd be perfectly fine with getting some deployment with him and whoever he's with...provided she could get the go-ahead of the man in charge. Ah, yeah... It leads right back to Sergeant Whittaker. Strictly speakin', he and the Sarge weren't on the same wavelength, sometimes, but he understood that Elliot was a decent soldier doin' the job he'd been training for. That he was a bit cavelier when the moment wasn't so important didn't always jive with 'im, but he'd listen to him about this. Getting attached to a Walker crew and blasting out some of the hidey-holes was a damn-good plan at a time like this. The 'Congs were getting too bold, so they needed to get their asses blown off for a while to set them straight.
"I'll get his attention. Guy's busy, but he won't want me idle when I wanna go out. That means making a team, and that means getting a say in what I need."
After all, he made an excellent case for Grace, who was now returning with bottles in hand, the beer offered to him without a word. He gave an appreciative nod, putting away his codebook to crack open that sucker and take a drink. After that, he indicated his head to the Albino who was quietly drinking her soda.
"This is Grace. She joined up with us a while back. Been here years. Speaks the language perfectly. Doesn't really talk much, though."
She just nodded at this, affirming her usual silence. Elliot would handle things once this little break of his was done. He didn't exactly wanna go bothering the Sarge with beer in hand. He wouldn't like that very much. Not fucking at all, to be honest.
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