Operation: Event Horizon (Sci-Fi, IC, OPEN)

[Cybernetic Socialist Republics]

Raela Alestrandra - October 27th, 2230 - Everest, Apex, Apex System

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The disheveled man was now shaking in horror and struggling under Raela's grasp. "Hey let me go I didn't do nothing!" He shouted at them before Errol revealed what they wanted. "A skull? That sounds like those damn cats. They call themselves the R'agur or... the R'uagar that's what it is. Apparently it means pack animal when you translate it to real language. They hangout around here and rob people like me, but I don't know where they actually are! All I know, is everyone says going around Jarta street after dark is asking for trouble with them. Will you let me go now?"

Raela used her arctisite to gradually leech kinetic energy of the man to slow him down, an effective way of restraining him without holding him tighter and risk hurting him. What have poor life decisions and or/conditions that may have contributed him being in this alley, Raela wasn't going to add to it by unnecessarily harming him. Upon getting this useful lead, Raela pulle turned the man around to face her and pulled him off the container.

"See, that wasn't so hard?" Raela began, staring into the mans eyes.

"Oh and one more thing," Raela continued, before pushing the man back against the container.

"Don't you dare tell anyone what happened here, ok? If you do, you might find yourself spending the rest of your life paralyzed from the neck down, got it?" Raela snarled. The threat wasn't sincere, not only was the Black Star going to be leaving the planet soon, Raela wouldn't ever stoop to crippling a poor civilian for revenge. She just wanted to scare the man into not being a problem.

Raela then pulled the man back off the container.

"Now get out of here before I decide to just cripple you now, I need to talk to my partner." Raela shoved the unkept man to the side, but not hard enough for him to fall.

Raela turned around to face her Noxial crewmate, Raela didn't like ever having to look up at anyone if she could avoid it, so she she hopped up and sat on the lid of the garbage container behind her.

"Hey, Errol, sorry to just appear unannounced. Also, please, don't spit in my food, I'm not actually planning on crippling him, even if I found out that he snitched. The guy is suffering more than enough being here. Just wanted to scare him off." Raela said, ever so slightly sheepishly.

"So, I suppose we'll be on Jarta street after dark?"

Raela Alestrandra - October 28th, 2230 - Norelan, Alora, Apex System

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Raela was a bit curious as to what the precious cargo that they were to be securing was, but not quite enough that she'd bother asking questions. She was more interested in following the Sigal princess around. As she was starting to develop a habit of doing with fellow crew members she remained cloaked as she tailed the princess.

As Raela, being rather adept at counter-espionage in addition to her own capacity for stealth, she more than once caught a glimpse of Monica. At first Raela thought it was a coincidence, but it wasn't long after that before she realized she was also trailing the princess. Soon after Monica snuck up on Erina and wrapped an arm around her, Raela, still invisible, stood by and waited for an opportune time to reveal herself.

"You've probably been around a lot more than I have.

"I'd say that's a very safe bet, as I imagine that sort of activity is officially frowned upon by royalty and you don't seem to be the surreptitious type, Erina. As opposed to kitty here, who, metaphorically and probably very literally, oozes evidence of that." Raela said sardonically, as she dropped her invisibility and walked in front of the pair.

"Also, if I had to take a guess as to what Erina's bleeding heart is concerned about, it'd probably be the diseased people coughing their lungs out and walking around with sores. I think helping with that would count as unmaking trouble with the locals, if anything." Raela continued, her posture completely relaxed.

"Though to be fair to you, Kitten, I can see how doing away with diseases would seem to be trouble making to you, at this point retroviruses might compromise the majority of your genetic structure." Raela said, smiling at Monica, with her hands behind her back and slightly leaning forward toward Monica.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

October 28th - Alora, Apex System
Monica Lantrix

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"Rae Rae, you're about as intimidating as one of those tiny potted cacti boring bureaucrats keep in their offices to give them color. And you talk about sexually transmitted diseases so much anyone would guess you're just pissed at whoever gave you one. Or a dozen. Either way." Monica deadpanned at Raela without missing a beat after she had decided to show herself, not that her presence was quite as well concealed as she might have thought. She was hidden from her eyes and even ears, sure, but everyone tended to underestimate the rest of the senses, especially smell.

The former assassin had caught on to Raela's characteristic scent the second she began following Erina, but opted to simply ignore it, hoping that the other woman was simply headed in the same general direction or some other coincidence like that. Unfortunately, the scent didn't go away in the end.

Having made her reply to Raela, Monica made a point of ignoring the taller woman and instead looked back at the Sigalian princess. The comment about the fact that this place was more exciting than the place she grew up on was quite surprising - she supposed not everyone had the misfortune of being born in a place as... action-packed as her own birthplace, but she had always assumed the lifestyle of a royal was more interesting than that. Perhaps they were the same type of boring rich people Tiasha had described to her the previous day? Something to ask about some other time.

"I'm paying more attention than you know, princess, I know these people are sick. Doesn't look pretty, either. It smells a bit like..." She paused for a moment to sniff the air around her and try to pinpoint the specific scent that emanated from the diseased. "...rot." She said at last. Then she simply shrugged. "I can't say I've seen something exactly like this, no. I've been around, but for the most part it's either been civilized places where people can get medical attention, or lawless holes where those guys back there would just get thrown to the dogs." She explained.

"Sick people aren't terribly exciting, anyway. If you want to help them I reckon your best bet is getting the doc out here, I don't think any of us would be any help in dealing with... this." She said, vaguely gesturing towards the two humans that were now some distance behind them.

[The GAmeTopians]

October 28th - Alora, Apex System
Monarch

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The air shimmered next to the trio of girls, like a localized heatwave in an especially strange location. For a brief moment yet unnoticed by them, the seemingly empty space was quickly replaced by the matte black armor of the team's newest combat operative. Monarch was fully suited up, helmet on, utilizing an internal air supply whenever possible - she didn't trust whatever sickness afflicted these people to not be airborne.

"Our vessel is not equipped to provide humanitarian aid in this situation. Fire support would most likely be more conducive to the success of our mission." Monarch's relative monotone interjected after Monica finished speaking, having changed her pace to keep stride with the woman.

Her massive rifle case was nowhere to be seen, for once, but nevertheless the operative was heavily armed. A sniper rifle was clearly mounted diagonally across her back, and the vibroblades at her waist carried a wicked edge. Only the impenetrable mirrored surface of her helmet's front could make her image more intimidating still. She glanced up at her compatriots - strange folk, they were. Strange indeed.

[Tomia]

Erina, October 28th
Erina was surprised when Raela suddenly appeared behind them. One thing that seemed to at least be in her favor was that when Raela and Monica were together they seemed more interested in antagonizing each other than her. Rather than get involved with their jabs back and forth she decided to just continue her conversation with Monica, which was more friendly than she would have expected. Still she frowned at Monica's seeming disregard for the welfare of the citizens. "It really doesn't bother you that people are dying around you?" Her tone was less accusatory than it was sadly curious. "I'm not sure its something I'll ever get used to." She said as they continued walking down the street towards the nearby general store. Just then another member of the crew joined them, and it was one who had just joined them the night before and wasn't very familiar to Erina. Her name was Monarch, and well... Regar hadn't told them much about her and Erina had yet to talk to Monarch and so she knew very little about the new member. She found it strange that she was carrying her weapons through town.

"Uh, is all that really necessary?" Gesturing to the rifles as well as the blades. "I really don't think we're going to be in danger in a town like this." Erina still wasn't used to being around people whose lives were so centered on killing.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

October 28th - Alora, Apex System
Monica Lantrix

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As yet another crew member with some sort of invisibility power decided to uncloak next to her and Erina, Monica ran a hand through her hair and sighed. Maybe tailing the princess to bother her hadn't been such a great idea after all - the old man was probably relaxing on his own at the moment instead of dealing with something like this. "I thought I was the only stalker in this crew, but no, turns out everyone's a fucking creep." She said as she turned to look at Monarch. "Listen sniper girl, I have no idea what you think we're doing here, but we're not on duty. Go bother Regar about fire support and all that crap."

Hearing Erina question the woman's equipment, the former assassin stopped a moment to look more carefully, noting the sniper rifle and the two knives she carried. "Well, it's not like we're going to get into a firefight when everyone here is sick or scared, but I can't fault her for the knives. A girl that's got a blade is a girl that's ready for anything. I left my babies at the ship, but I did bring this." She told Erina before reaching into a hidden sheath within her jacket, pulling out one of her throwing knives and lightly tossing it up and down as if there was no risk in doing so. "Here, grab my spare. I think that's the one that doesn't explode." She added afterwards, pulling out another one and deftly spinning it in her hand before offering her the handle.

"Anyway, to answer your question, if it bothered me that people died around me I just wouldn't be here." She spoke with a shrug. She was referring to the mission, of course, but the same could be said for her life as a whole. "Sure it sucks, but that's what people do."

[Cybernetic Socialist Republics]

Raela Alestrandra - October 28th, 2230 - Norelan, Alora, Apex System

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Raela was annoyed with Monica's focus on how intimidating she was or wasn't, she wasn't trying to intimidate Monica, if she were trying to, she'd carrying herself far differently. Additionally, despite Raela's insultsm she had enough respect for Monica that she doubted that she'd be all that successful even if she were to try.

"Monica, don't confuse your frustration with me not being intimidated by you with thinking that I'm trying to intimidate you."

Raela did find some satisfaction with Monica telling Monarch to buzz off, to the point Raela gave Monarch a small smug smile as she did. Maybe Monarch would think twice before rushing to side with Monica's insults.

"I'm only following Erina because I didn't want her to get into trouble, word of foreigners travels quickly on a small planet like this. Last thing we want to have to do is rescue a princess, I think she'd be rather easy to kidnap." Raela smiled at Erina.

Raela watched Monica play with the knife, she had the slightest thought of giving it a small telekinetic shove so the blade came down into Monica's hand, but she firmly decided against it, wouldn't be to hard at all narrow it down that it was her and even if Monica didn't immediately react, Raela wasn't particularly interested in watching her back for Monica's revenge.

"Erina, I think robotic humor woman number 2, like a good mercenary, is only carrying what she needs to protect herself, just so happens that it's quite a bit more than what I need or Monica, need." Raela had turned for a moment to look at Monarch before turning back to Erina.

"I'd also say that despite her callousness, see Monica's sympathy for civilians is generally reserved for her collogues in, to use a human euphemism, the oldest profession, she's essentially correct that if you want to help these people, you're best off asking our medical staff to come out here." Raela continued.

"Anyhow, even though things seems peaceful on the surface, we shouldn't underestimate how quickly things could turn, after all, we're here for a mission, chances are, people are going to die and when that happens, we want to be the ones doing the killing." Raela gave Erina a slightly sinister smirk.

[Bentus]

James Noble

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Frowning as the Commander left to find some transport, James remained standing by the ship. He had little doubt that their landing would’ve caused a bit of a stir, considering that these pirates had all but stopped civilian shipping from reaching the small settlement. Shoving his hands in his pockets, he sighed as he scanned the small dirt roads that emanated out from the landing pad. A few paved streets led into the town proper, where a series of small locally built dwellings or prefab structures formed the built up portion of the settlement.

He’d seen plenty of places like this in his time, relatively small groups of people on the fringes of civilized space as they worked to carve out their own lives in the wilderness. Especially in the Abyss, there were plenty of unsettled and unmapped worlds where a hardy settler could build a home for themselves, or where the entrepreneur could really build a fortune if they played their cards right. Although, the same worlds could often find themselves isolated and vulnerable for the very same reasons, with criminal gangs and pirates roaming freely without the long arm of the law to keep them in check. And it was easy to see that this town had recently fallen on some pretty tough times.

The few locals that walked past the landing pad cast weary glances towards the mercenaries, taking one glance at the armaments on their vessel and persons before choosing to take a wide berth from where they stood. James had kept his rifle inside, instead choosing to only keep his sidearm in its holster by his side. There’d be talk of their arrival no matter what they did, but if they’d all come out with their full armoury there’d be zero chance of keeping their presence hidden from their targets. Unfortunately, it seemed like he shoudn’t have even made the effort as he saw some of the crew not only parade themselves through the town with a squad’s worth of firepower on their backs, but also put some of their more advanced abilities out on display.

Sighing, James shook his head as he shifted his attention away from the trio of young women bickering in the distance, instead resting his gaze on some of the civilians. It looked like a small family, probably out on a shopping run, but one of them was coughing violently on the sidewalk, looking very much worse-for-wear. Their companion seemed to help them recover before they continued on their way, but nothing about the scene sat right with him.

“Vincent, did your contact mention anything about an illness in the town?” James asked. While he'd addressed the Second-in-Command, he left the question open for comments from everyone, curious as he was to get a sense for how this new crew thought. Personally, he’d been glad to find out that their first mission was a clear-cut anti-piracy operation, although he couldn’t shake the feeling that the good deed was just a happy coincidence. They were really here to play the role of thieves, and yet they didn’t even know what it was that they were meant to be stealing. There were far more questions than answers so far, and none of it made him feel totally at ease with their situation. “Seems like the kind of thing that they should’ve brought up.”

[Tomia]

Erina, October 28th
Erina's eyes went a little wide at Monica's answer. It wasn't that she hadn't come to expect crude and callous comments from the mercenary that surprised her, but rather the realization that this wasn't her being spiteful or sarcastic, it was just genuinely the way she viewed the world. That's... really sad. The Sigal thought to herself. For the first time she gave thought to what Monica's life might have actually been like, to be so accustomed to death its presence is natural.

"I'm sorry" Erina said, the words slipping out before she could really think about them. Her tone was soft and free of judgement. "I don't know what you've gone through to make you feel that way, but I'm sorry. I'm sure it was difficult."

It took her a second to realize Raela was talking to her as she turned back to the other mercenary. "Uh ya." She replied a little distracted. "I know we're here for work and all. But these people don't seem like fighters at all. Anyway, it might be best to head back now. There doesn't seem like much left to see."

Later that Day
Regar had procured a large land rover for the team, similar to the size of their shuttle, and the attack squad was formed and headed off toward the pirates' camp. As their rover approached Regar ordered Amanda to pull up behind a large rock formation, hopefully obscuring the enemies' ability to see them. From there he walked a bit on foot and used his scouting bot to get a better lay of the situation.

The base itself was largely hidden by a thick forest canopy and was fortified in preparation for attack. Thick wooden palisades restricted view into the camp itself, and likely would be able to resist unsustained small arms. His bot also pickeda up prefab barricades that guarded the two main entrances. Armed guards patrolled along the walls, while it looked like a turret sat with a comfortable view of the entrances in case of any head-on attacks. Higher up in the trees, rudimentary platforms had been set up to overlook the wider area, and the captain had a feeling that there were snipers at those vantage points. Although they hadn’t seen the team, it was clear that the pirates were at a state of heightened readiness, something that had likely been inevitable after their landing had lit up their sensors.

Inside the camp, canvas tents made up most of the livable structures, although a single pre-fabricated structure sat by side of a clearing that the pirates were using as a landing platform for their corvette. That building was their target, obviously having been set up as some kind of a keep for the gang’s loot. Keeping it anywhere else would’ve made it too tempting for someone to steal, while any pirate leader would also be weary of one of their subordinates getting a bit greedy with the loot and so prefer to keep it close at hand.

With this information in hand, Regar returned to the ship to speak to the crew. "Alright, this place is heavily guarded. We're going to have to make some arrangements before we do a proper assault. Monica, there's a turret along the walls on the left side. We'll need that taken out before we attack. Take someone with you if you want, just get it done. Raela, there are snipers waiting in the trees. Find them and get rid of them. Ben, I want you make a distraction, whatever kind of bomb will draw there attention, blow it up outside the walls. I want to see if we can draw them out. Finally, Nix get a good vantage and keep an eye on the building in the center. When their guards break formation you let me know. That's all I have for specifics. If you have stealth, try to get inside and sabotage while they are distracted but do not get caught. Everyone else stay with me and be ready to charge the main gate when I tell. Alright, let's get this done."

[Cybernetic Socialist Republics]

Raela Alestrandra - October 28th, 2230 - Target Base, Alora, Apex System

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Raela smirked slightly after receiving her orders and stepping out out of the land rover. As she did her smartfibre clothing stretched around her body, forming durable dark purple battle armor, with her hat folding down over her face to form a helmet with a visor.

Taking out snipers was a favorite task of hers. Either they were types that stayed away from close quarters combat because they were inept at ti, in which case, Raela could enjoy trying out techniques on them with little concern for her safety, or they were skilled covert operatives that give Raela enough resistance to be useful practice. As she usually made a practice of doing, she used her arctisite to turn invisible before heading off toward her first target. Best to not allow anyone who might be watching an understanding of where she was heading before she reached her destination.
This time, her target was up in a nearby tree she'd need to reach without simply climbing out which ever path this sniper must have taken. Normally, if she was in a firefight, there would be a whole lot of kinetic energy for her to drain and enhance her own movement, however as the first shot of this battle had been yet to be fired, she'd need to rely on her own body. Luckily, there were a pair of trees near the platform she was targeting, that she'd be able to hop between until she could fling herself across the platform.

She stopped for a few moments at the base of one of those trees, waiting for the fog that set in on her senses when she moved too quickly and too long while cloaked to clear. Soon after, she began bounding from tree trunk to tree trunk, before finally flinging herself over the sniper on the platform, a short Sigal woman who was laying down prone, with her rifle trained at the entrance of the building.

As Raela flew toward the sniper, while still invisible, she used her Arctisite to reorient her body to grab the barrel of the sniper rifle as she flew over, ripping it out of the sniper's hands. Raela then used to Arctisite to stop herself in mid flight and land on her feet, as she waited for the sniper to scramble to her feet and face her, while Raela still held the rifle in hand.

"This?" Raela said, pointing to the rifle.

"Boring." Raela then threw the rifle away and it plunged to the ground.

The sniper, reached for her pistol, and as she did, Raela flipped over her, landed and kicked her in the back, sending her face first the back wall of the makeshift platform. The pistol bubbled out of her hands when she impacted the wall and Raela telekinetically sent it skittering across and off the platform before the sniper could regain her bearings, turn to pick it up.

"That's boring too." Raela said, slowing walking up toward the Sigal sniper, still against the wall.

When Raela got in range, the Sigal reached for her knife and turned around to stab Raela in the abdomen. Raela quickly flashed her left hand downward to grab her wrist, then Raela grabbed her by the neck with her right hand, lifted her off the ground, turned and choked slammed her to the platform. The diminutive Sigal's back arching from the force of the slam.

Raela considered tossing the sniper around for a bit longer, before her enhanced senses detected another sniper on another platform, a bit further away than she could comfortably jump, training their sights on her, at the same time, Raela also took whole series of platforms with snipers on them, though only one at the moment was aiming at her.

Thinking quickly, Raela jumped in the air, and used her arctisite to quickly reorient her body while cloaking herself, making it appeared as if she fliped into thin air, the sniper's bullet flying past where her torso was a moment ago. Upon landing, still invisible, Raela stomped on the Sigal sniper's head, putting her out cold. Raela then began running to jump toward the platform of the second sniper, but before she reached the edge, she telekinetically nudged the unconscious sniper on the current platform off the side. When Raela finally reached the edge and jumped, she used kinetic energy from the Sigal's plummet to add to her own leap, giving her not only enough energy to make the jump, but allow her to punch the next sniper off the platform, at which point she decloaked herself so she'd maintain full awareness of her surroundings.

As this sniper flew off the platform, Raela used their kinetic energy to help her make another leap. Now visible, other snipers had begun aiming at her. To avoid being it, Raela began using her arctisite to reorient her body in mid air, spinning around unpredictable, to dodge incoming sniper fire, while also leeching the kinetic energy of each shot that flew past, only adding to her strength and speed. The next sniper she reached was an Acux that took a spinning kick to his face and after that Neirel that took a knee to her gut. Eventually one of the mercenaries on a platform, a Noxial, had the correct idea to bring a shoulder mounted anti-air launcher to bare against her, but Raela quickly grabbed a pinch of programmable matter from her holster and telekinetically flung it at the mercenary as his missile left his launcher. The pinch of programmable matter, only a little larger than a pebble, released a small but directed concussive blast that detonated the missile, taking out missile launcher wielding mercenary, with the force of the explosion, combined with Raela's own telekinetic guiding, sending pebble on an intercept trajectory with Raela's right hand just as she reached another mercenary, this one a helmeted Eloni woman. This being the last of the snipers, she decided to have a little more, deliberate.

She landed on top of the Eloni, Raela pinning her arms down with her knees in addition to draining kinetic energy from her struggling. Raela then gripped the Eloni's helmet and made far stronger by the kinetic energy she'd been able to leech off the engagement, combined with precise telekinetic pulses, punctured it enough, to stick her fingers into it's structural weakpoints. Then, using brute force with a little telekinetic aid, she pried the helmet open, giving her direct access to the Eloni's face.

"How's it going, lobster woman? I know I'm having a cracking good time." Raela said, making sure that the mercenary could see her own face, devious smile and all, through her visor, while also slowly pulling her fist back, making a point to glance at it to make the Eloni could see it coming as well. Satisfied that the Eloni was sufficiently aware of her fate, Raela brought her fist down hard into the mercenary's face and Raela felt it break around her fist. It only took one punch to put the Eloni out, she was very likely dead. Raela then stood up, heading toward to edge of the platform in the general direction of the team land rover. She then reported in to Regar that she had cleared out the snipers, though chances were he had already figured as much.

[Bentus]

Tiasha Nuvonn
Everest, Apex - October 27

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Tiasha chuckled at the assassin’s final comment, offering her guest an amused smile and a wink. “Spoken like someone who hasn't tried really good food or booze.” Taking a sip from her glass, the broker’s amusement continued as Monica made a friendly jab about the relative excitement involved in their own lines of work.

“No, I guess it isn’t.” She admitted. “Although, there are at least some perks in my own line of work.” A delicate hand gestured towards the window gazing out to the club floor beneath them, as if to accentuate Tiasha’s point. “Assuming that you’re good at it, that is. But yes, I suppose that being able to ‘boss’ others around is certainly a highlight.”

Noticing the momentary flash of concern on Monica's features as she feared that she’d misplaced her weapons, Tiasha paused for a moment. She offered the assassin a curious expression, surprised for a moment to see how strongly she seemed to be attached to the pair of blades. It was hardly unusual for a mercenary to attach some sentimental value towards their favored armament, although this struck the broker as being something even more. The girl’s whole life seemed to revolve around her life as a killer, as if she didn’t know what else she could do to fill her time or give herself meaning. Tiasha couldn’t help but wonder if that was by choice, or if nobody had ever bothered to convince her otherwise.

“Anything particularly special about your blades?” She asked, genuine curiosity evident in her tone as she studied the mercenary.“They seem to matter quite a bit to you. I never would have pegged you as something of an arms collector, myself.”

James Noble
Everest, Apex - October 28

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Peering out past the treeline from where the team was hiding, James scanned the pirate camp ahead of them. Regar pretty quickly started giving out orders to the small squad, assigning a few key roles to their specialists as they figured out the best way to crack this nut. It was hardly the most entrenched fortification that the soldier had seen in his time, but even the flimsiest bandit with a pea-shooter could spoil your day if you let your guard down. And these pirates appeared to be armed with a healthier dose of weaponry than that.

Getting into the camp looked like it was going to be the first obstacle in their path, especially with the turret that was monitoring the entrance. A quick scan at the prefab wall that surrounded the pirate’s base was enough to realise that they’d need to set up explosives to make a workable breach, and they’d be easy pickings for the perching snipers during the attempt. Trying to overwhelm the defences with a frontal assault, while distractions tried to sew some disarray among the defenders, struck James like a reasonable plan. Shifting his gaze towards the gun emplacement itself, he noted that it was an older model, likely some military surplus that a self-serving armourer had pawned off to a black market dealer after the last war. He recalled that the model had a fairly slow turn rate, which could give a fast-moving foe a fighting chance. But the heavy front-facing armor that protected its operator meant that they’d either need heavy weapons, or to get within an intimate distance if they wanted to disable it. With the element of surprise on their side though, it was something that they could pull off.

It was with that last thought that the sound of a gunshot ringing out across the canopy caused James to tense up from where he crouched. Turning his gaze towards the source, he was met by the sight of a body falling from one of the sniper nests, doubtlessly alerting not only every pirate within the camp, but probably everyone within the immediate area, of the start of the attack. His electronic visor immediately highlighted the suited figure that had caused the raucous as she toyed with her final foe, clearly enjoying her time in the treetops.

James sighed at the sight, flicking the safety off for his rifle as their advantage of surprise got squandered. He turned towards the cat-eared woman that had been tasked with taking down the main gun.

“I’ll cover you.” He said simply, lifting his rifle to his shoulder as he prepared to poke himself out of cover. He figured that she’d also realise that there was little point in waiting for the pirates to ready themselves even more than they already had, and that they needed to take that turret down before it lit up their hidey-hole and ruined all of their days.

Nothing can ever be easy, can it?

[Zarkenis Ultima]

October 28th - Alora, Apex System
Vincent Valstrad

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Near the boarding ramp, Vincent looked for a place to sit on, and boy was he lucky. He found what was by all measures the perfect rock - it was at the perfect height to be sat upon comfortably, its top surface was smooth and even, with rounded edges that would not dig into his legs, and was in just the right spot to avoid the sun's glare altogether. Truly it was the perfect rock, and the man idly wondered if perhaps it had been the preferred seat of one dedicated pioneer before his arrival to this distant reach of one of the twelve systems of the Abyss. But it would have been a disservice to simply admire and not make use of the rock, and so he promptly sat on it and pulled out a relatively small yet thick book bound in a blue synthetic material that greatly resembled the leather of old. Books were a rarity in this day and age, but he enjoyed the simple act of collecting them all the more for it.

As he revisited the contents of the book, which was a personal favorite of his - an historical novel set in the early 22nd century that followed the life and struggles of the first settlers of the Arcturus system - he noticed one of the newer members of the crew approaching him, James Noble, an old soldier who possessed the gift - or perhaps curse - of longevity, and had served humanity since before the creation of the United Earth Government. Vincent found what little he knew of the man's story fascinating, but given his recent addition to the group and their lack of rapport with one another, he had thought it best not to pry. There would be plenty of time to ask questions during this assignment after all, he was certain it wouldn't be a short one. Hearing the man ask a question about the information they got from their contact, the former detective shook his head.

"No, but I'm not surprised about it. Far out colonies such as this are rarely the most sanitary of places and often home to all sorts of nasty microbes we haven't evolved to resist, and with a lack of population comes a lack of trained medical professionals. The fact that pirates have been raiding their supply lines makes me think that perhaps there is a lack of medical supplies as well - perhaps we'll find some on the pirates' hideout." Vincent spoke calmly, drawing on his understanding of the situation and his past experience with both distant settlements and the fragility of human biology - he had lost more than one friend to a strange disease during the long hellish marches in Solano.

"But no, she did not mention the illness at all." He added afterwards, as if to bring himself back out of his thoughts.

---

Monica Lantrix

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---

As the Sigalian princess apologized for seemingly no reason after hearing her take, Monica's previously nonchalant expression slowly changed into a scowl. She knew exactly what had prompted her to say that and the words that followed only served to confirm her suspicions, which annoyed her further. "Look, princess, I know your servants must love it when you look down at them with watery eyes and tell them that you feel their pain too or whatever, but nobody here asked for your fucking pity, so keep it to yourself." She growled at Erina, far more aggressive than she had been days ago.

Running a hand through her hair, the cat-eared mercenary let out a frustrated sigh as she tried to calm down. She didn't like losing her temper in front of losers like these, but if there was one thing that got on her nerves real quickly - other than hybrid slurs of course - it was people who thought she wanted or needed their compassion. She had gotten by just fine without the world showing her any, she didn't want it now.

Fortunately it seemed that the general sentiment was to just leave, so after taking a moment to cool down the former assassin continued. "Leaving sounds good, it's become too crowded over here anyways. I'm out of here." She said before stalking off to find a solitary spot to wait for Regar to return.

---

---

---

"Just take out the turret on the wall? I could do that blindfolded." Monica boasted with an easy smile on her face after listening to Regar's instructions. It was hardly the first time that she had attacked an outpost like this, and despite acting on her own most of the other times she had come out on top just fine. If the captain wanted to split the workload, though, all the better for her, as long as everyone did their job.

"I'm sure you can, Monica." Vincent chimed in afterwards. "But... you shouldn't." He stated.

"Yes, dad." The assassin replied sarcastically, rolling her eyes at the unnecessary advice. "Anything else?"

Taking the young woman's attitude in stride, Vincent promptly replied. "Get into position and wait for Schrodinger's bomb to detonate, that will give you a good distraction so that you can get past the palisade and neutralize the turret. Report in when you're done and wait for further instructions."

"And what if Schrodinger's bomb doesn't explode?" Monica said with a grin on her face. The former detective didn't react, however, merely staring at her with a neutral expression for a few moments before letting out a disappointed sigh, which quickly soured the mercenary's mood and changed her grin into a scowl. "Wow, first intellectual joke I ever make and that is how you react? Fuck you too old man." She spoke and turned around.

Before she could head off, however, another member of the crew addressed her, an older man than Vincent, one of the newer recruits just like the woman that had been eavesdropping on her and the princess earlier that day. She raised an eyebrow at his offer. "Don't need it, grandpa. But hey, do what you want, I'm not your superior officer." She shrugged as the black substance produced by her arctisite coated her entire body.

With the briefing done, the cat-eared mercenary began making her way to the left side of the pirate base, on the east. While the thick forest surrounding it on all sides often worked to their advantage, concealing their hideout from prying eyes and making it harder for outsiders to reach, it also provided Monica plenty of cover as she dashed between the trees. The dying light of the setting sun in the west cast long shadows around the base, making it much easier for her to remain hidden as she moved around, the black of her arctisite's coating blending seamlessly with the shadows of the trees.

Getting into position just behind a thick trunk that was the closest of its peers to the palisade surrounding the pirate base - though there was a fair distance between the trees and the palisade itself, likely in order to prevent anyone from reaching it without getting shot - the young woman waited for a few moments, until a thunderous noise tore through the air, far louder than a simple gunshot, completely disrupting the serenity of the forest. With a grin on her face, Monica watched as the turret's armored operator turned in the direction of the main entrance, distracted and shocked by the sudden explosion.

It was a perfect opening, and the Black Rose took her cue, kicking off the ground with all of her strength. She soared across the air like a bullet, flying over the palisade with one mighty bound. Even so, the momentary distraction was not enough to hold the attention of the guards stationed near the turret, who noticed the dark shape flying towards them and began firing off at her. They believed that she would go down easily, being in no position to dodge or find cover, but they were wrong. Four black arms sprang from the black substance that covered her body, and the pirates watched in awe as the six-eyed, six-armed figure unsheathed as many katana and began using them to deflect all the bullets directed towards her even as she moved through the air. The extremely durable alloy of the blades allowed them to remain unharmed in spite of the dozens of impacts they received.

While his comrades unleashed their weapons on the black figure to no avail, the turret operator quickly attempted to rotate the stationary weapon to fire at the intruder, but he was much too slow - all that was accomplished by this attempt was allowing Monica to smoothly slip a thin blade bearing an explosive charge into the stationary weapon's oversized barrel before drop-kicking him and sending him sprawling to the ground, armor and all. Before he had even hit the ground, the Black Rose sheathed two of her katana and instead grabbed a pair of knives, throwing them at the other two guards with uncanny precision. Though they wore light armor, it did nothing to keep their necks from catching the knives, which quickly ended their lives.

With that taken care of, the fearsome assassin turned her attention to the armored man on the ground. The last thing he saw before his death was a slender, oily black figure with six arms and six glowing white eyes, tendrils coming out of her back and pinning his arms down as she sheathed the rest of her katana sans one, raising it above him before swiftly plunging it into his chest. The exceptionally sharp edge pierced through the antiquated heavy armor suit with ease. It was a swift death. Merciful, almost, though she had only concerned herself with efficiency, not compassion.

A moment later, her throwing knife's explosive charge went off, severing the cannon from the rest of the turret and rendering it inoperable. Raising a hand to her face, Monica spoke. "Turret down, Cap. Awaiting further instructions."

[Ceystile]

Ben got a somewhat maniacal grin on her face at Regar's orders. "You got it, Captain." Thomas looked over his shoulder at their resident explosives expert, his heart somewhat sinking in his throat. Gods preserve us...the madness will come out of this child, why did you have to give her this job of all the others, Captain?" "I'll go with her." Fean volunteered.

"Kind of you." Ben said in her thick German accent. "But this is my area of expertise after all, I'm perfectly capable of doing this on my own."
"That I don't doubt, I'm just tagging along to count up the collateral damage bodies that'll inevitably pile up."
"RUDE! Anyway, I'm gone." Ben went back to her room quickly and grabbed a small case of bombs before heading out toward the camp, making sure to disguise her entrance among the trees so they wouldn't see her too soon.

"I'll catch you if you fall, climbing trees doesn't seem to be your specialty." Neither is it yours, fish-boy he chided himself with a laugh, Ben merely rolled her eyes at him before finally getting up in a tree nearest the base wall after a great deal of struggle...her torn coat and scraped hands and legs proved it. Hiding herself among the canopy, she touched a match to a small smoke bomb before throwing it near a group of guards and smiling proudly as she heard it explode.

[Tomia]

October 28th, Erina
If it hadn't already been clear to Erina that she had made a mistake, Monica's reaction certainly confirmed it. Her angry startled Erina a bit, but it only served to make her feel more guilty. I don't know how to explain to her what I meant... She knew Monica didn't want pity, but how could you deny that there was something sad about that world view. All Erina knew was she never wanted to get used to death, in fact the thought of it terrified her. Given how angry Monica was she decided to not say anything else, letting Monica storm off on her own.

I know I'm naïve and sheltered, but I think I'm starting to understand her a little better. Not that that's going to stop her from hating my guts. But still, maybe she isn't as heartless as she seems

October 28th, Alora, Apex System
As the explosion went off things began to go into motion as others such as Raela and Monica had completed their tasks. The table was now set for their frontal assault. "Alright folks, we're moving in. Vincent I want you to grab a few others and give us cover fire while we charge. Then follow us in when we're inside" He then spoke into his communicator, "Monica, once we've charged, get inside. I want you to confirm the package is inside that building. James I want you to cover her. Pick off anyone who tries to get near that buidling." With that he turned back to his crew.

"CHARGE!!"

He shouted as he rushed forward towards the fort. The enemy soldiers were disorganized and still trying to deal with the explosion that had rocked their dwellings. However a number of soldiers gathered at the gate and began firing at Regar and his crew. They were mostly Confederation guns as far as Regar could tell, and he responded by firing his energy rifle in rapid succession. He watched as two pirates flew back, likely dead on impact. Firing was taking place all around him and the pirates started to retake their positions on the walls, desperately trying to hold off the attack.

Won't be long until we're inside now. Regar thought to himself as he tossed a grenade into the camp, blasting apart and Acux who couldn't get out of the way in time.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

October 27th - Apex, Apex System
Vincent Valstrad

---

---

---

After the meeting with Tiasha, Vincent walked out of the private room alongside Regar, with plenty to think about. He could only guess at the businesswoman's hidden motives for requesting them to retrieve those crates, but at least he could appreciate her honesty in admitting that she wasn't giving them the whole story. He supposed he could attempt to look into it later, depending on how much time he had before they set off on their next mission... but not tonight. Between their rough first assignment as a crew, the work he had done on the mercenary outfit that had attacked them during said assignment and now this meeting, he decided it would be good to take the rest of the night off to relax. Regar echoed the sentiment not long after they left the room, dismissing him and suggesting he used his newfound free time to take it easy for a bit.

Rather than stay within the Crown, however, he was quick to make his way out of the nightclub. He was no stranger to the joys of a good night of drinking, especially when it involved close friends, but there was hardly anyone he would call such in the crew of the Oriasa, at least for the time being, and nightclubs like this were not his preferred scene, in any case. Thus, after stopping by the lockers to retrieve his pistols, the former detective left, making his way from the luxurious club near the Everest starport to the open air market at the heart of the city, just outside the ruthless King of the Hill stadium. He cared little for the bloody sport, or the knock off merchandise that could easily be found around the stadium, for that matter. But it was always around these parts that one could find the best food in any city, and Everest was no exception.

Blending into the moving crowds with little effort, Vincent made his way to a particular stall, where a burly Quaret cook prepared a variety of simple dishes, perfected over the course of a lifetime of work. Sitting down, the man pointed at a container full of small wooden stakes nearby and then held up two fingers. In response to the gesture, the cook simply let out a grunt and continued working as before.

Several minutes later, the veteran of the Twenty Years' War found himself enjoying the second of a pair of meat skewers and conversing with some of the other patrons. Though the market was bustling with activity and the nearby stadium was full of action, for him it was a quiet night out in the city, of the sort that he had not been able to enjoy too often in the past several years, after the events that led to his exile.

Alas, it was not to be. It didn't take long until a message reached him. The text appeared before his eyes, a message coming from the same woman he and Regar had met with earlier that night. He could only raise an eyebrow at this, surprised both by the content of the message and by the manner in which it was delivered. Somehow, what he found least surprising was that someone had apparently caused trouble at the club - with a crew like the Black Star, something like that was inevitable. Judging by Tiasha's wording, he had a good idea of who the culprit was, too.

Stranger than that was the fact that it was him and not Regar who was being contacted, as well as the fact that the message, though brief, was written in a rather... familiar fashion. He expected someone like Tiasha to be the sort of person who kept even their closest allies at arm's length, but if she was like that, then her writing didn't show it, what with the casual tone and use of first names.

Vincent mentally shrugged, knowing he didn't have the information to clarify any of these matters regardless. Standing up, he paid his tab and then started heading back towards the Crown, enjoying his snack all the while.

---

Monica Lantrix

---

---

"Special?" Monica repeated after hearing Tiasha's question about her swords. She was surprised about it, and even more so about the comments that followed. Did her reaction really seem that serious? "Nah, I don't think there is. I mean sure they're good weapons and all, I respect them, but I don't give them names or anything like that - I just thought it'd be pretty stupid to lose them in a nightclub because I was too drunk to keep track." She said with a shrug. "Mind you, if you think a good tool is special, then yeah, they are. Steel-hescilite alloy, VibroEdge stuff, can cut through damn near anything. I actually had to save up a couple of bounties to be able to afford them, that's how I know they cost a small fortune." She explained. The only reason she had brought up her swords was because she'd mentioned that they were her most expensive possessions, after all.

Lifting up the bottle of whiskey to look at it, the cat-eared assassin noticed that it was not long for this world and decided to ease up on the drinking - she was plenty buzzed already, she didn't need to ramp it up further to enjoy herself. Instead she set the bottle back down and looked at the broker across from her. As talkative and social as she might have seemed at a glance, the truth was that her answers revealed as little as possible always, she constantly deflected the attention away from her and at other topics that didn't involve her. She could respect that, of course, she herself wasn't keen on oversharing, especially with some of her teammates. But this conversation would be more fun with a little reciprocity.

"How about you, rich girl? Even if your job isn't that exciting surely you have some fun stories about buying shit with other people's money." She spoke, a small grin appearing on her face as the slightest hint of enthusiasm returned to her, the young woman imagining stories about the broker swindling people out of their money and other similar things - clearly she still didn't have the biggest grasp on what the other woman did, but that hardly mattered. "Come on, give me something to work with here, I've been the only one sharing during this whole conversation. What's the most expensive thing you've bought? This club? Something else?"

Not too long after she had asked the question, and potentially received an answer, Monica caught something familiar even through her dulled senses and turned to look at the wall that had previously opened up to let her in. Sure enough, after a moment, the wall opened up once more and in walked none other than Vincent, flanked by two of the Crown's security guards who had escorted him all the way here after his return.

"Hey old man! Come drink with us!" She spoke with apparent cheer at seeing the detective, waving around her bottle of whiskey invitingly. "I was just badgering Tiasha to get her to share some stories." She added afterwards, clearly oblivious to the fact she was the reason he had been called there at all.

---

October 28th - Alora, Apex System
Vincent Valstrad

---

---

Vincent quietly observed the outlaw encampment in the clearing as his crewmates carried out their duties, with deadly efficacy. Though Black Star was not the most... responsibly put together group, individually each of its members excelled in their area, and it showed, from their explosive expert's swift actions to the manner in which the snipers and the turret were swiftly taken down. It was almost breathtaking to behold how effective their company was when orders were followed, though he was not one to enjoy violence for its sake, and the fact that they were here on someone's errand while trying to figure out why their VIP had turned into a horrifying flesh monster soured the moment more than a little.

It wasn't long until all the objectives were completed, which meant that they would have to move in soon. The former detective glanced at Regar and, sure enough, the Elnoi swiftly began giving out more orders, in particular giving him the task of picking some of the others and covering the group that charged forward. He frowned at these orders, but said nothing and turned to look at the others. Now was not the time to question orders. I'm more effective in close quarters... but I'm not a bad shot by any means. This will do.

"You heard the captain. You're with me." He spoke as he looked at a group of his crewmates standing nearby. "Get behind cover and start firing." He told them. Following his own instructions, he moved behind a tree, pulled out his pistol and began firing at some of the pirates located along the gate and walls of the encampment. He did not put too much care into his aim - even a bullet that hit a nearby object would give his foes pause, and his job was only to lower the pressure on Regar and his team, not to thin the enemy's numbers. Even so, a few bodies seemed to fall as he carried out his duty.

---

Monica Lantrix

---

Monica stood on the wall by the now disabled turret with one hand still holding her bloodstained katana and the other up by the side of her head, manipulating her communicator as she waited for instructions. Not far from her, some of the pirates began to regain their bearings after the sudden attack, and a few of those noticed the former assassin standing there. They reached for their weapons, but she ignored them, simply preparing to block their bullets. As it turned out, even that was unnecessary as each of her would-be attackers fell to the ground before they could act, taken down by the rifle of the old soldier next to her - it became evident that, in the time it took her to dispatch the guards and the turret, James had put in the legwork to catch up with her, just in time to provide her with some cover, not that she would thank him for it.

Before long, Regar spoke to her through the communicator, asking to check whether the crates they were after really were inside the hideout's central building. He also instructed James to cover her, but she ignored that part and simply jumped down from the wall, landing amidst some tents that luckily concealed her from the outlaws converging on the gates of the encampment. She waited until James followed suit, and then yanked him into cover before pointing at the building in the center of the camp. It looked to be only two stories high and hexagonal, with only small holes for firing out of instead of windows of any sort. Monica pointed at two in particular which were towards the back.

"Do something useful and take out those two. I'll sneak in when you're done." She told the older man before darting into the shadow of another tent, moving closer and closer to the central building in preparation for sneaking inside to carry out her given task.

[Tomia]

October 28th - Alora, Apex System
Erina decided she would stay back with Vincent's group for now, remembering what had happened the last time that she had charged in during a mission. She wasn't the greatest shot, but at least it would be safer than running into the line of fire. As she aimed her weapon she realized she was hesitant to actually fire it. These weren't sludge monsters, they were real people. She did her best to make it look like she was targeting enemies but was really just firing near them rather than at them. She hoped her poor aim would prove a sufficient excuse for that.

Meanwhile Regar lead the charge toward the gates, his grenades working to clear out the already scattered defending forces. He faced a few near misses as his armor took a few hits but he charged forward regardless. The more attention that was on him the less it would on his crew. Soon they pushed through into the inside of the camp, where the last line of defenders was protecting the central building. One of the pirates in a desperate attempt deployed a portable mini gun, and mounted it.

"Cover!" Regar shouted, rolling to the side just in time to avoid the rapid firing minigun.

"Someone bring that thing down! It has us pinned!" Regar called out over their comms.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

October 28th - Alora, Apex System
Monica Lantrix

---

---

Hiding just out of sight of the central building's various firing slits, Monica kept an eye on them, waiting for an opening. Said opening came soon enough, as two shots from an oversized ballistic rifle rang through the air. The heads of two outlaws, who had previously been keeping an eye on the building's surroundings, exploded into a thin red mist as their bodies slumped to the ground, out of sight. It was exactly what she needed. With the two only men keeping an eye on the back of the building taken care of, there was nobody who could see her as she left her cover and moved towards the hexagonal structure, sticking to the shadows and blending in with them thanks to her pitch black visage. It only took her a few seconds to reach the base of the building, and though the smooth walls would've been difficult to scale for anyone else, for her it was a simple matter. With her augmented strength and agility, along with the aid of her tendrils, she quickly reached one of the firing slits and squeezed through with a little effort.

That's the easy part done. She thought as she deftly landed on the inside of the building without making a sound, taking care not to step on the blood that had pooled by the corpse that was slumped against the wall, just below the hole. Then, she grabbed two of her knives, knowing better than to rely on her swords in such close quarters, and moved away from the body. She couldn't exactly take care of it - there weren't any good spots nearby to hide a body, and even so the blood stains would remain - but as long as no one saw her, there wouldn't be an issue. They were under attack, some poor losers getting shot in the face wouldn't be out of place. Now, an unsightly space pirate turning up dead from lacerations or puncture wounds? That was trickier.

Fortunately for her, with most of the criminals attempting to stop the attack on the gates of the hideout, there was hardly anyone available to make sure the back of the building was well guarded. Thus, she saw no resistance as she navigated through the building, quickly making her way to a central hub of sorts - she found herself on a raised walkway above what appeared to be a mess hall, though all the tables had been overturned, with a handful of outlaws crouching behind them and preparing to greet their guests in case their peers outside failed. Their efforts were wasted, but it wasn't up to her to prove it to them. Instead, she carefully avoided wandering into their field of vision as she dropped down from the raised walkway and made her way to a nearby door. She could only assume that what was upstairs would be either a weapon stash of some sort or the head honcho's quarters, which didn't matter to her. If her hunch was right, then they would keep their loot downstairs in a storage room.

Sure enough, the room she entered was stacked with various crates, from seemingly disparate origins. Various logos and brand names could be seen on them, but one in particular stood out, because she had seen it before. During their two day journey from Apex to Alora, Regar had given them some sparse details about the mission, which included a picture of their target. It was a sealed metal crate, plain in most respects, without any features to distinguish it from similar containers. But it was right in front of her now, and there weren't any others nearby that looked even remotely similar.

However, while there were no other similar crates inside the room, there were two guards keeping an eye on their crew's treasure hoard. One of them had her back turned to her, while the other found himself dumbfounded at the shadowy spectre that had just entered the room. Before he could open his mouth to speak, the assassin cast one of her knives at his neck, and he fell to the ground. His partner, who was enjoying a drink, heard the noise his body made as it hit the floor and began to turn around, but before she could finish the motion, Monica positioned herself behind the woman and slit her neck with the knife she held in her other hand. Both guards down, nearly without a sound. It wasn't her cleanest job, but given the circumstances, it was acceptable.

Pressing her ear against the door for a moment, she made sure that none of the pirates outside were nearby or approaching, before contacting Regar.

"I've got the crates in here with me, Cap." She said over the comms. "There's a handful of idiots preparing a warm welcome for you, too, so careful when you make your way to the building." She cautioned afterwards. With that done, she retrieved her knives and sat down on a nearby crate. She wasn't ordered to take out the rest of the building's defenses and she was sure that someone had some sort of plan to take care of that, so for the time being, she simply picked up the dead pirate's drink and took a swig from it. For now, at least, her only job was to guard the crate.

[Cybernetic Socialist Republics]

---

Raela Alestrandra - October 28th, 2230 - Target Base, Alora, Apex System

---

Raela chafed a bit at the fact that Regar sent Monica and not her to check the package. She felt anything covert Monica could do, she could do better. Sure, Raela thought, she had created quite a bit of a fuss taking out the snipers, but it that was intentional. It wasn't as if they wouldn't be immediately alerted that something was up when she took out the first one, so she figured it was better that they were focused on taking her out instead of scanning until they found her less nimble comrades to fire at.

Worse yet, she wasn't even given any particular instructions as to what to do after taking out the snipers, the best she could tell, Regar just wanted her to charge with the rest of the group, like a common front line soldier. Rather than join the group, she decided she'd bring up the rear, watching the rest of the team charge the gates. As she did, she noticed that Erina seem to be an excellent shot at hitting everywhere around the enemy. Clearly the girl was squeamish about taking lives. Raela considered giving her a bit of 'help' by redirecting her bullets, but decided against it, better to let her take a life on her own when she was ready, she'd likely freeze if she hit someone and suppressive fire was better than nothing. Eventually Regar was able to lead the group close up to the gates and started to move inside the camp. That was the point when Raela decloaked leapt down behind the group, following quickly behind them.

As soon as the pirates engaged the last group of pirates, Raela cloaked herself again with her arctisite and found her own bit over cover. One of the pirates deployed minigun and begun firing it, soon after leaping behind cover, Regard called for someone to bring the minigun down. As the minigun's bullets blazed through the air, Raela began siphoning kinetic energy from them, then used energy to help her quickly telekinetically squeeze minigun's barrels shut, causing it to explode in it's gunner's face. Raela then slide next to Regar, behind his cover and decloaked.

"You're welcome." She said the crouching armoured woman, with a mix of self-satisfaction and slight annoyance.

[Tomia]

October 28th - Alora, Apex System
"Got it, good job Lantrix. Standby, we'll get to you." He said over comms to Monica as he remained behind cover from the mini gun. They would obviously need to take that out before the remaining enemy soldiers could be dealt with. Luckily that's where Raela came in. She managed to use her stealth to take out the gun and the gunner along with it, allowing Regar to pop out and begin firing on the remaining enemies. Meanwhile Erina and the others who were covering were now at the entry of the camp. Regar turned to see Reala next him. "Good work, but keep moving. The sooner we get this over with the better. Help me clean up the rest of them." The captain said to Reala as he pushed forward and fired his rifle at the few remaining troops outside the main building. Soon the guns fell silent and the battle was over.

Regar took a moment to relax and look around before heading into the building where Monica was waiting.

"All this for some crates." He mumbled, before turning the crew who were following behind. Alright, we're moving. Let's get these crates going." Meanwhile Erina had step in behind him and took an interest in the computers and documents scattered around the room. While others were moving about and Regar was trying to organize people to move the boxes, Erina was reading over these documents with interest.

"Hey... What exactly are in these crates?"

[Zarkenis Ultima]

October 28th - Alora, Apex System
Vincent Valstrad

---

Luckily for the members of Black Star, the battle at the hidden pirate base of operations did not drag on for too long - thanks to the efforts of Regar, Raela and the rest, the outlaws outside of the central building were all quickly left incapacitated or dead, no longer able to pose a threat. The crew advanced towards the central building and it too was quickly taken over after a brief shootout. With that done, and the confirmation that the shipment they were after was indeed being kept within the walls of the prefabricated enclosure, it seemed that the hardest parts of their task were over.

Inwardly, Vincent breathed out in relief, glad that the firefight was over - while he had grown plenty accustomed to finding himself amidst gunfire, what with his tenure in the Confederation's military, his crime fighting career in Minerva and his escapades in the Abyss, he still much preferred it when there was no one shooting at him. Outwardly, however, he showed no signs of relaxing. The fighting might have been over, assuming there were no surprises to be had in the near future, but that didn't mean their work here was done. While Regar and Erina walked into the backroom where Monica was waiting for them alongside the package, the former detective appraised his surroundings. There seemed to be one or two stories further above, not counting the catwalk over their heads, and while it was unlikely that these bandits would've allowed any of their peers to remain upstairs, there was always the possibility of some officers or lowly pawns holing up in their quarters or attempting to escape in the confusion.

This last thought made him wonder about the whereabouts of the leader of this gang of pirates, but a quick glance at the bodies scattered across the floor of the mess hall quickly answered all of his questions. Amidst the bodies of many an outlaw was a particular Acux, his eyes glassy and dead, his face locked in a grimace forever. He recognized the shape of his face, the markings on his fur and the color of his coat - he had seen them on a holographic display last night. This was none other than Sinno Miel, upstart leader of a band of modern highwaymen, now laid to rest by a bullet's kiss.

It meant that, for these people, there was nothing left to fight for.

Gripping one of his pistols with both hands, Vincent began walking up the stairs, staying close to the wall. "If there is anyone still inside of this building, come out with your hands in the air and you won't be harmed. I'd rather avoid killing you if possible, we're not paid extra if we bring you in dead instead of alive." He spoke in a clear, commanding tone, alluding to the bounty posted by the colony's government - Tiasha's instructions had been to avoid letting anyone know about their true objective, so even if it wasn't a very believable lie, it cast attention away from the crates.

Hearing footsteps, the man tightened his grip and prepared to fire back if whoever was behind that door turned to be hostile. His breathing slowed and his eyes narrowed as the footsteps grew closer, to the point where he held his breath in anticipation in the moments before the door opened. However, when it did, there were no armed pirates prepared to go out in a blaze of glory, but rather three frightened outlaws holding their hands in the air: an Acux who looked a few years younger than Sinno himself, a Quaret who glared at him even as he held all four hands in the air, and a disheveled woman in her thirties who seemed less than thrilled to be captured. After staring at them for a moment to ascertain they were truly no longer a threat, he finally relaxed.

"Smart choice." He spoke as he backed away, gesturing at them to come down the stairs and stand against the wall by the building's entrance. "I can't imagine it'll be pleasant to stay in a colony prison cell for a few years, but it sure is better than biting the dust early."

Glancing around the building for a moment, he quickly spotted the tall brunette he was looking for - a woman of her height was remarkably hard to miss, especially with that hat she always wore. "Alestrandra, mind pulling the same trick you used on our prisoner from the last job?" He spoke, referring to the xenophobic young man she had single-handedly captured and restrained. "I'd prefer to avoid unpleasant surprises on our way back to Norelan."

---

Monica Lantrix

---

While her fellow mercenaries outside fought fiercely to gain entrance to the building at the heart of the hideout in order to complete their task, Monica simply relaxed. She knew that the roar of gunfire outside meant that every last pirate would be too focused on defending himself to care about what was in the storage room. Just in case, while her right hand held a flask of alcohol she took from a dead guard, her right tightly gripped one of her knives, ready to throw it at the door at a moment's notice. She doubted it would be necessary, but she hadn't survived for so long, first on Ananke and then in the Abyss, by being careless. Even as she drank to pass the time, her sharp senses kept her prepared for any unforeseen development.

Still, just as she suspected, any further act of violence was unnecessary. As she stared at her reflection in the pool of blood that seeped out of one of the two corpses on the floor of the storage room, she could hear the fighting and shouting beyond the door dying down, replaced by the chatter of familiar voices. She could hear Vincent shouting at the remaining outlaws, offering them mercy. She was yet to figure out why he always did that. For a soldier type, he was far too kind with his enemies, though she supposed she owed her life to that. And, considering he was nearing five decades lived in total - something that was but a distant dream for anyone in that dreaded prison colony - he must have been doing something right.

By the time the door opened and Regar walked in with Erina in tow, the former assassin had sheathed her knife and finished her drink, tossing the flask at the far wall, where it bounced off without breaking and rolled across the ground, back to its now deceased owner. Catching Regar's gaze, she nonchalantly pointed at the silvery container that they had come here to retrieve, but made no effort to help with it. No order was given to do so, after all.

Glancing over at Erina, she was remarkably surprised at the Sigalian princess. Either she had grown a spine and no longer recoiled at seeing blood, or she was willingly ignoring everything on the floor, but for some reason she didn't seem surprised or frightened by the two corpses lying there in crimson pools. Instead, the engineer simply looked at a computer terminal and various scattered documents, seemingly taking an interest in them and going as far as to ask what was in the crates. Raising an eyebrow, Monica walked over to take a look, though as always, the tiny letters kept their meaning from her.

"Don't know, but the job was to get it back to the rich doll from the Crown, not to play detective." She said, only to completely undermine everything she had just say as she continued to speak. "Why, did you find anything interesting?" She asked, curiosity getting the better of her.

[Cybernetic Socialist Republics]

Raela Alestrandra - October 28th, 2230 - Target Base, Alora, Apex System

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Raela nodded at Vincent before she headed towards the three surrendering individuals.

"I suppose while we don't get paid more to kill you, taking you alive is more costly and time consuming, so you three should be grateful for our generosity." Raela said

She started with the Acux, walking beyond him and pulling his arms down. As she did, she whispered in his ear:

"Don't worry, whiskers, if I wanted this to hurt it would." Raela said rather demeaningly, before binding the Acux's arms behind him by wrapping a wire of her programmable mater around his wrists.

Next she stepped over behind the Quaret. First she restrained the bottom pair of arms, then she restrained to top pair. After which, she bound to two pairs together.

"Double the arms, triple the binding, got to be careful, you know." Raela said.

Lastly, she headed over to the human.

"Now you look like you're in need of a clean up, not that'd it'd do much for your looks, we can't all look good, no matter what you do." Raela said mockingly,
before grabbing the human woman's hands behind her back and wrapping yet another one of her programmable matter wires around another pair of wrists.

"There, that wasn't so difficult."