Job 1: Into the Black (IC)

"I like your thinking Priya", Kolya responds to the welcome ideas, "But I have another idea. The police probably already filed a report for our rendezvous at the clinic. I could try to hack into their system and spice up the report to include a body, there we could then add our picture. That would give it a bit more of an official spin and therefore raise less questions.

How about we divide tasks to get started. I will check out whether it's possible to get into the police system. Who will organise the blood? And someone would have to prep Yuri. As in wake him up and fill him in. Priya, it's probably smart if you help with the latter aspect, he will have an easier time trusting us, when you show that you do."

After the responsibilities are cleared up, Kolya pulls out his compad and starts searching for information about the police system and possible known exploits or backdoors.

"Hmm, how would we share the report with the corp... Maybe they have a public version of the reports. Or we could add a news report on one of the known portals..."
with those thoughts on his mind he expands his research to public police reports and possible hackable news sites.

Quickly scouting the abandoned factor, it looks like there is no shortage of vermin for you to catch.

Looking for police reports, Kolya finds the website of Gibbet Crime Protection to be shockingly sparse, little more than a banner with contact information. There appear to be no police reports made public online. He would need access to their servers in order to doctor the official report.

"No luck, the website is as sparse as the cops were unsuccessful today. Unless we stop by the central police station so I can access their servers we're out of luck. Damn backwater wanna-be cops", Kolya mumbles a few more, likely profane sentences about the police and their web presence.

"We could try to fake a news report, or we go back to the video idea of Ian and Priya. What do you think?"

As Ian wrapped his arm around her, she gave his hair an affectionate ruffle.
"I could definitely try and disguise him a bit. If I can get him walking again, it should be easier."
She eyed Priya with a meditative interest.
"We'd have to spread the scree about on you too. Anyone in the know, will be looking for you too. You could be my assistant grime jockey."

Still looking at the other woman, she was caught by surprise as Kolya snatched the black box from her and shut it.
"Shadowed God below Mr M, you are easily frightened. You do realise that at some point we actually have to open this and use it?"

Cocking her head to the side, she shook her head in mock disappointment, before reaching over and taking the box back.
"Fine I'll leave it for now, but trust me its much safer testing it out here than back in our ship."

Taking a couple of moments, she rooted about in her backpack, before placing it deep inside and covering it up. Her investigations might have been brought to an end for now, but she wasn't going to let something like that go out of her possession. Now that one distraction had been taken from her, she bent her legs beneath her and stood up to join Ian at the gurney.

It was odd. As much as she favoured the mechanical arts over the natural, and indeed often rubbished her medical background, she still had an instinct that was kicking in at times like this. Occasionally her eyes would switch to Kolya, watching him for weakness, checking if the wound had reopened. And Yuri. In no way, was he her patient, but she wanted to fix him too. Absently she checked over him again, as she listened to the various plans.

"Not to take another pick to the seam but I've a thought. Could we get our hands on Priya's car? I mean it would be definitely risky, but is anyone going to believe we would head back to the hospital? If we could get it we could record us blowing it up. You know along with some vermin and maybe Yuri and Priya's clothes. We make a big enough bang, is anyone really going to take the time to try and piece everything together? Plus, it would make a convenient death for the black box too."

Her face looked bright and excited at the thought, her hands resting lightly on Yuri's chest.
"Otherwise yeah we could go with BB's idea. Need to come up with a reason why we don't have the body though."

Zhen perks up toward Priya at the mention of turning a profit. "What sort of product sells best on Yorbund? It may be a while before we make it there, but we can be on the lookout for good deals. And do you have anything we need to collect from your place for you?"

Hearing mention of a staged killing, Zhen looks confused. "Roz, Kolya, didn't the bounty require Yuri AND the stolen tech? Are we planning to give it over, or are we planning to use it on Yorbund? I guess an explosion might do the trick, but I'd be a little cautious about trying to screw Bloodhound out of 30k with no physical evidence."

"Either way, I think we all need to sleep on it. It doesn't look like Yuri is waking up tonight, so we can talk to him in the morning. I'll take the first shift watching him."

Zhen settles in, sitting against the wall near his tent with his pistol near to hand.

ThePlagueDoctor wrote:

Ian sighs, strolling over to Yuri, seeing if he was awake.

"Hey big guy, I know I've got a gun and I know that I crashed your surgery but I don't mean any harm, We're trying to find you a way out of this, actually."

Yuri groans a bit, rousing partially from his sedation."Ahh fuck... Where am I?"

She pats him lightly on the shoulder, "Oh, your awake. Take it easy dearie. Your safe, for the moment at least. Had the dickens shot out of you. Priya is here too, safe and sound."

She hoped her elder lady voice would help to convince Yuri not to panic.

Henrietta's nonthreatening demeanor seems to help put Yuri at ease."Oh. That's fine then... You don't look like much of a bounty hunter anyway," he says groggily, still feeling the effects of the surgical drugs.

Priya joins you by the gurney, begins filling Yuri in on the evening's events.

Ian turned away from the gurney and wandered back to his pillar. He grunted as he sat against it.

"Yep, just as uncomfortable as I remember."

He dug in his pocket, looking for something to fiddle with when he came across a metal puck that he didn't recognize. He pulled what his hand had felt out and a grin spread across his face.

"Thank you past Ian, I owe you one."

He popped the puck onto the ground and it extended into a hammock with two poles to support it.

"Sweet."

Ian laid on the hammock and lazily rocked back and forth, taking another swig from the bottle in his jacket.

"If anyone gets cold during the night c'mon over, I got a double size hammock."

He snickered and put the bottle away, resting his hands behind his head and rocking slowly from side to side.

You all do your best to get comfortable for the night in the deathly silent factory. Fortunately, your contact was right about this being a good place to lay low, and your rest is undisturbed.

Dim light from the overcast sky streams in through the grimy windows in the morning. As you wake up and prepare for the day, you're greeted with a message from Changying on your compads. "Dig up any solid data I can sell?"Attached to the message is a copy of the blueprints to Thalamus Biomedical Industries, as she promised yesterday.

Those of you checking the local news feeds find the following stories featured.

Hyperloop Open for Passengers January 2, 3200. Genoa.On the first day of the 33rd century, the Mercury Hyperloop Line has officially opened for passengers. A spokesperson for Johar-Spiros Incorporated reports the first day of public operations has been a massive success and the corporation plans to develop extensions of the transport system to connect the reaches of Genoa like never before.

Gorgon Launches Attack on JSI January 2, 3200. Genoa. In a statement on New Years Day, Kira Gurov of the Gorgon Group denounced Johar-Spiros Incorporated for their role in a recent massacre of striking workers. The incident allegedly occurred in a R&D facility in Monteria, and was carried out by strikebreakers employed by Bloodhound Incorporated, a subsidiary of Johar-Spiros. Delivering her speech to a crowd of factory workers, Gurov spoke out against both the killings and Johar-Spiros’s contracts with the planetary navy. "We allow these loose cannon oligarchs to have free reign with our planet’s security", said Gurov. "I will personally ensure there will be repercussions for their actions, because the Gorgon Group is a corporation for the people!” This morning, it appears Gorgon Group corporate troops have launched an attack on the headquarters of Bloodhound Inc, raising concerns of the start of a new corporate war.”

Shootout at Votta January 2, 3200. Genoa. A shootout linked to offworld bounty hunters turned deadly last night, spilling out into the streets in a high speed chase. Witnesses report the fighting began when the bounty hunters attempted to apprehend their target in a hospital near the Votta Market Complex. Security officers arrived shortly after, sparking a gunfight and car chase that left three dead and several injured.

Ramming Attack Foiled, Casualties Mount on Ground December 30, 3199. Ibeen. Civil war on Ibeen rages on as the turn of the century approaches. The Sacramentist fleet in orbit fended off an attempt by Royalists to carry out a suicidal ramming attack on the fleet's flagship, asserting its control of orbital space. Despite superiority in space, the crusade’s ground forces struggle to gain ground, suffering heavy losses against the Padishah’s mobile infantry.

Babylon Dispatches Task Force to Genoa December 30, 3199. Khocheni. The Babylon Trade Guild has announced and exploratory task force to establish a permanent holding on Genoa. As trade increases along the Khocheni-Genoa corridor, the Babylon Guild has emphasized the need for robust trade infrastructure within the Blackshear-5 cluster in order to compete with the Cornucopia Corporation's robust merchant flotilla. The move was met with excitement by investors on Khocheni, but is expected to be met with resistance by Genoan megacorps.

Roz leaned over the top of Yuri to look down on his face from above and winked down at him.
"No worries Yuri, we'll be taking good care of you. Just rest up and we'll have you dancing out of here."
Her dirty face was cheery as it tilted over him.

As Zhen spoke, she shrugged her shoulders.
"Our contact at Bloodhound promised us the smoothest and well rounded for the device to be destroyed or damaged beyond repair. Say we did go with a bang, we could ask for the extra 5k for destroying the device but accept him refusing it as we wouldn't have proof. As for physical evidence, if there was something on Yuri, like maybe some of this tech built into him that would link straight back to him, we could present that."

Without any particular sleeping apparatus inside her massive backpack, she leaned herself against one of the pillars and draped the brown leather jacket over her shoulders and closed her eyes. She was used to sleeping in uncomfortable positions, often taking a kip inside the engine room, propped between two rigid pieces of humming machinery. She felt a comfort pressing her cheek to the cold metal.

As the first rays of light shined against the dirty windows, Roz was already up and about. Feeling a bit grimy, she took her canteen and splashed some water on her face and hair, before scrubbing it vigorously with her jacket. It was unlikely to do much, but at least it would wake her. Next she rubbed at her furry feeling teeth with one finger, while pulling her hair back from her forehead and snapping the googles  back in place, to hold the hair. Back on Ibeen they called this a 'miners' wash. It was amazing how quickly you got used to sleeping in your clothes.

Checking first on her patient, she then started to go through the local news on her data pad. More mention of Kira again, the chairman of the Gorgon group was certainly getting about. And creating enemies for himself. Enemies who they were planning to try and defraud. Biting down absently on her thumb she thought hard. It might be worth asking Yuri about this in a bit. She made sure to skim read the section about her home planet. Reading about the unending conflict no longer brought the same sharp pains that it once did, but it did depress her. The news about Babylon was interesting, but only in that it highlighted how many eyes were being drawn in this way.
As she was considering, the message from Changying came through. She decided to hold off from replying immediately. They had information for sure, and some of it potentially useful. Priya's apartment, where there had been a shootout. That Yuri had been the target in the Votta, and that the car was still outside. It would be unwise to spread these before they had Yuri somewhere safer first.

Leaning over Yuri again, she gave the mercenary a light tap on the shoulder, and if he awoke, smiled down at him.
"Morning again! Feeling any better since last night? Ready to plunge those arms deep into the soil and pull free her fire? If you don't mind, I'm just going to give you a quick checkup here."

Without really giving him a chance to object and started to lightly tap and press down on different parts of his chest, with her two forefingers. While she was doing this, she continued to talk to him.
"I heard Priya fill you in on the story so far, so at least I don't need to repeat any of that. Cracked and seemed, but she's a rare one. If I'd landed round at one of my girlfriends with some stolen tech and all the mediators on the planet after me, there's few who wouldn't just give me the boot."

Her grin even broader, she winked again.
"Guess that's why they are all ex's eh? Anyway's though I wanted to ask you. Kira Gurov has just denounced Bloodhound inc and launched an attack against the HQ this morning. Being that you would know more about Bloodhound than any of us, would you have any idea why he'd be doing that? Also, that proper silva black box you picked up. How exactly were you planning on using it? Do you have experience using something like that? Do you know what that RnD facility was going to use it for? Also, any idea what's been going on recently with Thalamus Biomedical Industries? Bit of a wild pick in the dark there, but as I said with you being in the business so to say, I thought there'd be a chance."

As the sky starts turning red from the first rays of sun shyly pushing over the horizon Kolya wakes up. The uncomfortable night sleep left him in a foul mood, his joints stiff and his shoulder aching. "I'm getting too old for this shit", he grumpily mumbles to noone specifically and takes a look around. Everybody seemed to be still sleeping. He turns around and trots outside "Better check the surroundings", he again mumbles to the non-existent listener.
Outside he takes a small stroll around the facility and a few hundred meters up the road and back. The neighbourhood is peaceful, wildlife still scurrying back to their lairs, or just peeking out, no human in sight. The sound of the city is faintly audible, giving credit to Abby's claim that this would be an isolated area.

As he reaches the facility again the stiffness had vanisehed from his joints and the pain in the should had receded to a bearable level. His mood lightened a bit. Inside the crew had risen and was starting to prepare today's work,
"We invented floating cars, can jump through non-existing parts of space and pulverize each other with the press of a button. But a coffee machine that fits the pocket and produces drinkable liquids seems to be beyond our reach. Ironic, eh?
I checked the area around, everything seems to be calm, nobody should be bothering us, as long as we stay here.

Where do we start and more importantly, what do we eat? I get hangry..."

Gomez wakes up with stiffer joints than usual. He takes a few minutes to stretch before he checks his compad and sees the same news items as everyone else. He shoots Changying a private response that just reads later.

"Well, we don't have a car and it'll be a hike back to Votta to get Priya's," he says to Kolya, "so we're going to have to sort travel arrangements. I'm sure there's somewhere to eat around here, even if it's just a convenience store. Why don't I start working on that while we get this death faked? That's not really in my wheelhouse after all." With that Gomez starts searching the net for local breakfast places.

Ian stretched as he woke up.. A little too much. He fell out of his hammock with a loud thud and he groaned groggily, he would've had a perfect start to his day if he hadn't just busted his ass.

"Ughh.."

He stretched on the floor of the factory and rolled out from under his hammock then pressed a button on the base of one of the poles and the hammock rapidly collapsed back into its puck shape.

"I didn't seem to get an unexpected cuddle buddy last night so I'm assuming none of you wanted to take me up on my offer."

Ian smirked until he noticed a wet spot that ran all the way down his jacket.

"My booze! No!"

Ian laid, staring at the ceiling of the complex for a moment before standing up and fanning the broken glass out of his jacket.

"At least I didn't get cut up..."

Ian took his compad out of his jacket.. yep, completely soaked yet it still functioned so he dried it off and stored it in the opposite side of his jacket.

"Kolya's right, I'm starving, I don't think I even ate yesterday."

Almost exactly on queue his stomach rumbled as if it was proving his point.

The neighborhood is quiet and sparsely populated. You're in an old industrial district, though nearly half the factories here have been abandoned in favor of locations located closer to the starport. The nearest eateries appears to be a diner about half a mile away on the edge of a residential district, and a convenience store located just a little further.

Roz wrote:

Leaning over Yuri again, she gave the mercenary a light tap on the shoulder, and if he awoke, smiled down at him.
"Morning again! Feeling any better since last night? Ready to plunge those arms deep into the soil and pull free her fire? If you don't mind, I'm just going to give you a quick checkup here."

Yuri grunts "I've been worse."

Roz wrote:

Without really giving him a chance to object and started to lightly tap and press down on different parts of his chest, with her two forefingers. While she was doing this, she continued to talk to him.
"I heard Priya fill you in on the story so far, so at least I don't need to repeat any of that. Cracked and seemed, but she's a rare one. If I'd landed round at one of my girlfriends with some stolen tech and all the mediators on the planet after me, there's few who wouldn't just give me the boot."

Her grin even broader, she winked again.
"Guess that's why they are all ex's eh?

"Yeah, well, there's still time for her to change her mind. Although maybe she should have done that before we got picked up by the only bounty hunters in the Black running a charity." he remarks sardonically as he sits up in bed.

Roz wrote:

Anyway's though I wanted to ask you. Kira Gurov has just denounced Bloodhound inc and launched an attack against the HQ this morning. Being that you would know more about Bloodhound than any of us, would you have any idea why he'd be doing that? Also, that proper silva black box you picked up. How exactly were you planning on using it? Do you have experience using something like that? Do you know what that RnD facility was going to use it for? Also, any idea what's been going on recently with Thalamus Biomedical Industries? Bit of a wild pick in the dark there, but as I said with you being in the business so to say, I thought there'd be a chance."

Upon hearing about the attack on Bloodhound Yuri lets out a quick, humorless laugh. "Already? They're moving fast. Look, I don't know how deep this goes, its above my pay grade. I've just got theories, stuff I picked up working security. Gorgon's had Johar-Spiros in its sights since Kira took over, and now I think she smells blood in the water. I doubt she knows what went down, but she's smart enough to recognize a coverup. Slater had everyone in that lab killed to hide that AI research. If Kira finds that out, Johar-Spiros is fucked. Not that it technically illegal to build an AI here, but they could kiss every trade agreement they have with the Cradle and CornaCorp goodbye. All those Neo-Catholic wackjobs, you know? Plus Genoa doesn't want to be the next Ibeen, so all of Johar-Spiros's government defense contracts would be fucked too."
Yuri stands up out of bed and stretches, testing the function of his limbs as his enhanced joint articulators hum subtly. He continues, "The Skeleton Key's got a lot of insight. It was just sitting out in the open when I found it, they really should have been locked up somewhere. It started talking to me. Knew about Yorbund, knew about my family, hell if I know how. It just said I fit the patterns. But it offered to help, said it'd rather be used to save lives rather than as a weapon of electronic warfare. I thought I had a pretty good plan to get enough money to buy a ship. That's until I got shot in the neck at least."

"Thalamus? Never heard of them."

Zhen breathed deeply as he ran, enjoying the morning air. He had seen sunrise on several planets, every one accompanied by a unique scent. For some reason he always loved the smell of the morning, even amid a dully gleaming industrial sprawl. Again he was reminded of how far he was from his home, his family. They knew the importance of what he did, but it still hurt to think of them. He tried not to count the weeks, the months, that he had been away, but they loomed in the back of his mind.

Fortunately, the present trouble was more than enough to distract him. He mulled over the various players, their probable motivations, the money and lives that hung in the balance. This would not be an easy tangle from which to escape with a whole hide. The more he considered, the more he was convinced that crossing Bloodhound twice over would be a mistake. But if the others wanted to try it, he'd go along and help them out of the mess they made. He'd done far stupider things to keep a squad together. The main thing was that they earn enough money, and quickly, to fund the trip to Yorbund. Judging by the public rutters he'd found, they had better have a second tier drive on their ship or they'd be hitching across the expanse.

Jogging in sync with his breathing, Zhen turned a corner and saw the front of the warehouse they'd slept in. It looked like Kolya was out front, walking back into the building. In no hurry to end his morning meditation, Zhen kept his peace as he ended his cooldown with some stretches just outside. Lingering worries about their next steps washed away as he counted his way through the calming exercises. He stood, calm once more, and strode in to see everyone gathered around watching Roz wake up Yuri.

He chugged eagerly from his water bottle as he took in the tail end of Yuri's answers. Cool sweat slicked his running shorts and bare chest, so he saved some of the water to serve as a meager shower. "That does sound strange that the AI would be left lying around while they murdered a bunch of scientists to cover up its existence. Luckily, everyone makes mistakes."

"That intel about Johar-Spiros AI research is good, Yuri. That bodes well for your fate." Zhen grinned, letting the ambiguous half-joke hang in the air for a moment. "Even if we can't fake completing the bounty, we may be able to persuade Slater that it's worth a bit of money to keep Gorgon from hearing about the AI research they're conducting."

Henrietta wakes up slowly. Her bones already creaked and groaned when she moved, sleeping in a place like this only made it worse.
"Ooooo. The body doesn't work like it used too. If I had bionics, they'd all be due for an overhaul. Dont know what you'd call this condition for the original."

She slowly gets to her feet, the surroundings did not impede her sleep one bit, only the lack of anything with some softness.

Quote :

"Yeah, well, there's still time for her to change her mind. Although maybe she should have done that before we got picked up by the only bounty hunters in the Black running a charity." he remarks sardonically as he sits up in bed.

Roz grinned back and raised her eyebrows.
"Charity... cult... A lot of people have names for what I do. Everyone here was someone I hunted down at one point. In the end they all agree to stay."
Her face held for a moment or two before she shook her head with a giggle.

As he continued she listened carefully, eyes occasionally playing over his body as he moved off the gurney.
"Hmm I can see you're a right proper seam for Bloodhound, with what you know about this and the device to boot. No one wants to be next Ibeen."

Her eyes brightened considerably when he mentioned the Skeleton Key.
"Shattered rubies... it knew all about you and your family? I wonder..."
Her eyes were lost in thought for a moment while she chewed her lip, before returning her attention to Yuri again.
"It wanted to save lives? Buried God, but I'm intrigued."

Her eyes flicked over to Kolya, and she held her hand up in mock surrender.
"I'm not touching it now Mr M. Later though, we are going to have to have a sit down."

Her face scrunched up slightly, looking unsure as she glanced over at Zhen, her eyes taking in his sweaty appearance and bare chest.
"I'm not sure Nips. Trying to con them out of money is one thing, especially as if successful it will mean they remove the bounty and we can sneak these two into our ship all the easier. Blackmailing them about something that could cause their whole destruction sounds dangerous. Wouldn't they be likely to get everyone out to shatter us?"

Yawning, she stretched an arm behind her head in a triangle and held it for a moment, before shrugging back at him.
"It might though be something to keep in our back pocket. This other job may involve getting on Kira's good side and this might be useful that way. What's the thoughts anyway gang? We've got a plan to hack the local media, now they finally have a story up. We've got the film someone fake shooting Yuri idea. We've also my rather brilliant suggestion of blowing up Priya's car and faking their deaths. Which should we go for?"

Ian hung his head low as he walked over to the others, his right side from the chest down was soaked and the smell of alcohol filled the air around him.

"I think we should really just ditch the job, we probably wouldn't be the first people on this job alone to just drop out on them."

He glanced over at Gomez and narrowed his eyes.

"Y'didn't get back to Changying yet, didya? I figure we should go full ghost if we're gonna just leave em' on the edge."

He paused for a few moments and realized what his appearance would say about him.

"And I'm not drunk! I fell while I was stretching and the bottle broke on me."

He held his head and looked off to the side.

"Wish I was though. This hangover's gonna be a total monster to deal with."

He sighed and got back to the topic at hand.

"We know if the news has our faces? Planet seems to be crawlin' with security far as I know and we probably crossed a traffic cam or two on our getaway."

"Ian, I have the same concern, but so far I didn't see any activities outside." He shrugs, throws an instinctive glance over his shoulder and glancing the shoulder itself he turns toward Roz "Roz, my favourite medic, would you mind checking the chip in my shoulder? Ah, that reminds me..." , letting the missing end of that sentence hanging in the air, Kolya turns around, and starts rummaging around in his backpack. After, what seemed like much too long, pulls out a box and, with a satisfied smile returns to Roz. "Picked this up in our borrowed van, thought it might come in handy." He hands her a med kit.

"Regarding our plans about the bounty. I say we take a vote, this back and forth is not getting us anywhere. A quick hey or nay from everyone regarding the faked execution, I'll be your game host and of course stay impartial. What do you say?" He throws an expecting looking into the room, waiting for the others to vote.

"Yuri, I'm totally with you on the issue how the skeleton key should be used. I'm sorry we got off on the wrong foot, but I hope we can leave the past behind.

I'll be off to see what wildlife I can harvest for our blockbuster attempt. " With that Kolya once again leaves their temporary quarters for a quieter part of the building. Plenty of rats and the like scurry in the shadows, it should be doable to catch one for their purposes.
In one of the adjacent rooms he finds an old rag bag. "This should come in handy," he grabs the bag and with it at hand slowly approaches a nearby group of rats that seem to be feeding on something. They don't seem to care about him, as he gets closer. He leaps towards them, throwing the bag and immediately grabs it again to secure his catch. Empty.
With a nasty curse between the teeth, he dusts of his pants and starts towards the door to the next room, when his eyes catch the rats meal. A pile of bones with flesh, impossible to tell their original form. "Possible that we're not the first group camping here... Or it's just some sad street dog, or something. Disgusting either way, we better get out of here." He shakes off the disgust and makes his way to the next room.
A large group of rats seem to have some kind of community meeting. This time as he pulls up his rag bag, something struggles in it. "Jackpot," as he tightly wraps the struggling catch, he looks up for the first time noticing his surroundings. The room is small, an old desk, half rotten in the corner, shelves on the wall. Dust and spiders claimed back what's rightfully theirs and the lack of foot prints in the dust tells its own story of loneliness and long decay. This office hasn't been used in ages. Driven by his natural curiosity Kolya walks over to the shelves and pulls out an old folder.
Client records, receipts, purchase orders, nothing interesting. His suspicion seems to have been accurate.
Leaving the folder open on the desk, he turns back towards the others, his struggling prey still tightly wrapped in his makeshift animal container.
The show can begin.

Yuri look around at each of you. "So hows this happening? One of you's just going to put the rat next to my head and shoot it?" He grabs an old metal chair to sit in as if restrained. "Done many executions in your day?" he remarks wryly.

Quote :

"Done many executions in your day?" he remarks wryly.

"None, despite what my job suggests and how we got to know each other, I always vet my targets and only take on the once that deserve it. At least from the info I can dig up...
And I have a strict "return alive" policy that only gets broken by accidents and self-defence. So let's hope we get this done in a believable fashion.

You been through any executions before?" Kolya snickers about his own joke, but when noone else joins, he realises how bad it is and stops and pretends to be distracted about something on his compad.

Kobras_Aquairre wrote:

"Done many executions in your day?" he remarks wryly.

Ian checked his Jericho 941 as he walked toward him, his expression was grim and his normal jokey self was nowhere to be seen.

"No, but I've seen plenty back at home, especially ones like this."

Ian racked the slide to his pistol and pointed it at the rat next to Yuri's head, keeping his dry expression and personality to make it seem more like an execution.

"We ready? I want them to see all of this."

ThePlagueDoctor wrote:

"Y'didn't get back to Changying yet, didya? I figure we should go full ghost if we're gonna just leave em' on the edge."

Roz looked over at Ian, while the others were preparing the props for their movie.
"Changying isn't connected to us getting the bounty really. Considering that she did get us the floor plans for our next job, we should throw her some kinda bone. Even if it helps us out. We can think about that later though."

She was leaning back against a pillar, as the three men, started to make their little fantasy. Despite herself, a little of the grim mood of the other three started to infect her. She didn't like to think much about executions. Walking down that path ended at her old house on the outskirts of Al Salasra. And in that brief radio report which mentioned merely that her family was now dead. She didn't like to think much about executions.

Smiling back at Kolya, she took the preferred medkit.
"Cracking Mr M, I'll be sure to put this to good use. Speaking of that shoulder, once you've finished with our four legged friend, take your shirt off and I'll make a little survey."

"Shoot already, Ian! I would do it with mine, but I think your hand cannon will give a better effect. Gomez, hit record and let's do this!" Kolya had been crouching behind Yuri holding the rat in position for what felt like three days. His legs start to cramp and he certainly does not feel like falling over in the wrong moment and catching the bullet instead of the struggling vermin.

And holding the rat over head also does a number on his shoulder. He feels the pain flare up again, after he hadn't felt it in hours. As soon as the rat bites the dust, he'll have Roz take a look at it.

A loud and scarily long rumble is audible. His stomach demands his tribute and reminds him of the breakfast he owes his stomach and his mood. "What's Ian waiting for, goddammit, shoot the fucker and be done with it, for heavens sake!"

Ian looked Yuri in the eyes as he heard gomez's compad beep to signify it was recording.

"I'll be seeing you in another world."

He pulled the trigger and the roar of his pistol rung through the district, the all familiar ring from the sound of the shot echoing returned to his ears. With a sigh his pistol dropped nonchalantly back to his side and he walked out of frame.

The loud roar of the gun fades, followed by dead silence. In the silence the click of the stopped recording sounds loud through the silent halls. Suddenly the silence is broken by a lengthy, very colorful and elaborate chain of curses. Kolya has just realized that he didn't think his role in this endeavour quite through. As he rises behind Yuri the group can see the reason for his foul mouth.
Covered in blood and rat pieces he continues cursing as he tries to clean the chunkiest pieces of his jacket and shirt. "Tell me you got this and that it is good. Give me good news, or I'll lose it", he remarks in Gomez' general direction. "What a mess, dammit, and all this on empty stomach before even having had a coffee. If you don't mind, I'll check if this place has an old bathroom with running water." He wipes a piece of what could be rat intestines out of his hair and heads out, with more foul curses on his lips.

Yuri wipes part of the blood splatter off his face. He looks himself over, his shirt torn and splattered with blood, his own and the rat's."Minimum I need a change of clothes. A haircut wouldn't hurt either, maybe a face mask if we can get our hands on one. Once you collect on my bounty from Slater, my posting should drop from the board, but that's no reason to take chances."

Zhen chuckled at Roz's brashness. Nips? Grumpy? I'm collecting nicknames faster than I ever did on the Force. "Fair enough. I'll leave the conning to the rest of you; I honestly don't know the first thing about it. I'm more inclined to dump the pot than stir it."

"Call if you need me, but otherwise I'll be cleaning up and getting ready for this next job." He grabbed a fresh change of clothes from his pack, then went to find an out-of-sight spot to take a sponge bath. A day-old shirt and a bottle of water was much better than having to go weeks at a time without the luxury of water to spare. Small inconveniences like this didn't bother Zhen in the slightest. What did bother him was not knowing his next move. Having joined this crew, the focus and direction he'd had when alone was now diffused with... unpredictable people. He'd never been good at fully comprehending individual motivations, and that made him terrible at trying to come to a consensus with people of diverse backgrounds, personalities, and goals. Every obstacle is but an opportunity to grow. Zhen couldn't resist a wry grin as he pulled on fresh clothes. It seemed he would never escape his old master, no matter how many stars separated them.

The next few minutes passed in a blur for Zhen; he sat in his tent again, tuning out the sounds of his new squad-mates executing their plan. He emptied his mind of everything but the shotgun in his lap, resting his hands on his knees. It filled his awareness, every bolt, nut, and defect plain to him. He subconsciously noted his arms softly whirring to life and separating, probing and caressing the weapon before him. His focus was on the image in his mind. Suddenly it exploded, every part of the shotgun separating itself from the others. Pieces large and small swirled with his thoughts, mixing and rearranging, assembling and bursting apart again. His head ached as he gradually comprehended the weapon's inner mechanisms in a way he could never explain. Finally Zhen snapped back to his external senses, abruptly and startlingly aware. The shotgun was gone, memories quickly fading into his subconscious. His right hand darted to the side, a large-bore barrel jutting from the palm, then whipped back to his knee and showed only smooth flesh.

Zhen grinned broadly, exulting in the power he held inside. I'm *never* going to get used to this!

Mumbled curses on his lips Kolya wanders aimlessly through the abandoned halls. "There must be an old bathroom somewhere", he thinks, just as he spots the universal sign for a mens toilet on one of the doors. Still furious about the goo all over him, he bangs open the door, startling himself more than anyone else. He walks over to the first of two sinks and turns open the faucet... Nothing. The second faucet... A few dark brown drops fall into the dusty sink, then nothing... Kolya leans with both hands onto the sink letting his head drop in despair and letting out a deep sigh. What a day, not exactly what he needed. He turns around and heads out making his way to find another mens room. As he passes the women bathroom he stops. Turns around to see if anyone is watching and steps in, only then realizing how ridiculous the caution is in this abandoned building.
The faucet in the ladies room yields water that Kolya would certainly not drink, but it's cleaner than he is.

After having cleaned himself he dries himself with his wash-cloth-sized micro-fiber travel towel and proceeds rinsing his clothes from the most obvious stains. Afterwards he puts on his damp clothes and heads back to the crowd. The cleaning process and the implicit time-out had calmed his mood a bit.

"Alright guys, shall we then pack up and head out? The day is not getting any younger and we have a lot on the agenda. I propose we call a large cab or maybe two and then head back to the docks, to drop of Yuri and Priya at the ship. After that we can head out to the lab and check for our original objective.

Any objections?"

Gomez flashes Kolya a thumbs up as he absentmindedly scrolls through his news feed on his compad.

Henrietta stood back as the "execution" was carried out.

She had no desire to soil herself with rodent blood. Sometimes those vermin carried hidden diseases that would make the bullet all too appealing.

Business appeared to be done here. Now it was on to the next job.

She couldn't help but feel glad that needless death had been avoided, if you didn't count the hunters at the hospital, or the bikers she herself had killed. She hated killing, and did her best to kill only to save lives, hers included.

"I dont suppose we could grab some hot tea on the way? It really warms the joints and oils the creaks in my bones."

As the group gathers up their things Kolya calls two grav-cabs. They split up in the two cabs and head for the docks. On the way Kolya asks the driver of his cab to stop by at his apartment, as it is on the way, to pack up his duffel bag with his belongings. As he always paid his dwellings up front there is no further delay for administration. They landlord will reset the combination on the lock and tomorrow a new tenant will reside in his former quarters.

At the docks they head into the ship to regroup, after grabbing a breakfast and some hot beverages on the way.

"So, who will deliver 'the proof' and collect? And how do we continue. You said something about a second job?

Oh and I was going to take up Roz' offer to join your crew - if there are not objections. This bird seems trusting enough and I was tired of Genoa one way or the other.

And damn, these pastries are good - where did you get them?"

You make your way back through the concourse. Passing through, you notice a steady stream of people entering and exiting the Mercury Hyperloop. It seems to be becoming quite popular.

As you travel along the moving walkways, you catch a glimpse of a live news feed of the Gorgon Group's assault on Bloodhound. From the aerial camera view, you can see Gorgon mercenaries carrying what appear to be server stacks out of the building as it burns.

Security for going off world is much lighter than coming in, and you're able to make it back through the star port to the landing pads.

On your way to your ship, you pass by a bulk freighter where cybernetically augmented crew members are unloading what looks like a vehicle of some sort. A cyborg mercenary stands guard, his five robotic eyes following you as you pass.

You arrive at your freighter to see a pair of docking officials standing in front of it looking perplexed as they type on the landing pad's computer console.

Kolya signals his comrads to hang back a bit and heads over to the officials next to the ship. "Hey officers, might I ask you for an information. I am looking for my friends ship and it is supposed to be here, but embarrassingly I forgot the ships name, could you tell me who this ship belongs to?
Oh is there a problem with the terminal? I happen to know a thing or two about these, parents produce this shit. I personally think those things make our lives harder more often then not, 'm I right?" Innocently chattering on, he leans over and peeks onto the terminal, as if to see where the technical issue lies. "Don't you wish sometimes we would not always have to deal with these soulless devices sucking the time out of a beautiful day, such as this? I mean, sure, they do help with some things, but whenever you need it to work, in order to get off and have breakfast break, there is some kind of technical issue."

Zhen packed his tent and hummed to himself as he did. Time to refocus always had that effect on him. He flashed smiles at the others getting ready; although he disliked having to compromise in decision-making, it felt good to be on a team again. Hopefully he could overcome the less-than-ideal first impressions. The women had seemed unfazed, but all the men had expressed varying degrees of frustration or disagreement with Zhen's approach so far. He'd just have to figure out how they ticked and how not to tick them off.

He piled into a cab with everyone but Kolya, who mentioned needing to stop by his place. Best to give the man his privacy. They ordered drive-thru on the way to the spaceport. The breakfast food here was good, and he tried not to let it remind him how much he missed his people's cuisine. To help distract himself, Zhen made small talk lamenting the crazy situation from the day before and expressing his appreciation that everything had so far turned out better than expected.

At the port, Zhen waited with the others for Kolya to arrive. When he did so, Zhen handed him a bag with his breakfast. "I hope you like this. I ordered their special combo... Oh, it's Jerry's."

"Yeah, I'm not sure about delivery. I assume Roz or whoever met Slater will do it, but we should all be there in case something goes wrong. First, though, I think we're stashing these two on our ship, minus the startup codes, until we come back. That should give them a safe place to lay low until we're done with this other job."

Zhen kept his eyes open for any sign of being followed or noted especially by authorities. The news hadn't given their descriptions, but that didn't mean that they hadn't been circulated at the port.

He watched as Kolya talked to the techs, asking an aside to Roz: "This is your ship, right? Any idea what these guys are doing here?"

The pinch-faced woman inspecting the terminal looks up at Kolya. "Oh, hi. Yes perhaps you would be able to help us then. Are your friends 'R. Cassidy, H. Valschardt, and I. Collins?' The ships name is actually the issue. We don't have any identifiers in the system right now. Would you let them know to submit the name to customs ASAP? Right now the ship is being flagged as unregistered and that'll prompt a security alert if they try to take off."

The other official, a stocky mustachioed man squints at the ship. "Can't be too careful these days. Lots of Khochenian ships coming into port right now." He glares over at the bulk freighter you passed on the way in.

Kolya replies to the woman: "I'll be sure to let them know and that they should not attempt to leave before the ship's name is properly registered. Thank you for your help and concern. I will in fact give them a call and see what's the hold up. But you don't have to wait here, I'm sure you have a lot of work these days. It seems like busy times.
Just tell me... ", he turns towards the man, "what is the problem with Khocheni ships? I have been a bit out of the loop of late, mother is sick and out there at her place you don't really get any information and since I came back this morning the news was full of the situation over at Gorgon's, quite a mess that one"

Ian placed one of his jury-rigged ear pieces in and began streaming music to it from his comm-pad, whistling along to the smooth jazz playing into his ear. As he stood back from the conversation he realized that their ship had no registration whatsoever.. Jeez, who even let us land without so much as a ship name? He shrugged and sipped his coffee from the to-go cup.

"I'm gonna head to customs and get our ship properly registered, any thoughts on a name? I was thinking something along "Silver Noir" or something involving a random object or color and a genre of jazz."

He snickers, though, he didn't quite hate the name he had just pulled out of thin air.

Roz launched into the proferred breakfast immediately, taking little notice of what it looked like, and more concerned with getting it inside her as quickly as possible. When she was younger she had been a picky eater but a couple of years living sometimes hand to mouth out among the stars had starved any quibbles. As long as it wasn't actively rotting she would eat it now.

Taking a swallow, she grinned over at Zhen.
"Thanks for that Nips, and yeah after we get these two safely stored I should maybe give our contact a call and see about showing them the video. Concerning that raid on Bloodhound though we might not be high on their list of concerns, bit of a deeply buried cluster that. We might have a look at the second job. Basic situation is- this lab Thalamus have a bit of tech our client has paid for but the oasis has drained dry."

She gave Kolya a sudden wink and shook her head.
"They've stopped replying. So yeah it could be scree littered across a sheer face or it could be a one strike splurge. I think it's probably worth starting with visiting and being straight up and see where we go from there."

As Ian mentioned his suggestion she giggled.
"Silver Noir? You sure you aren't giving us your late night video search history? I'm starting to see why I'm too young for you."

Brushing some crumbs away from her cheek, she crinkled her forehead briefly while she thought.
"I kinda feel this is going to be the kind of thing where everyone is going to strike their pick and lay their own claim but if we are all doing it, I'd lay my strike for "The Wayward Queen".

Thelonius wrote:

Just tell me... ", he turns towards the man, "what is the problem with Khocheni ships? I have been a bit out of the loop of late, mother is sick and out there at her place you don't really get any information and since I came back this morning the news was full of the situation over at Gorgon's, quite a mess that one"

The man looks you up and down with beady eyes. "Oh nothing in general, but there's a bad element of cybergangs arriving. Reports call them the Babylon Cartel, and they're involved with just about every sort of crime we've got laws against. We've got to keep our eyes peeled for them now, plus all those damn refugees from Ibeen too." He gives your ship another look up and down, attempting to appear nonchalant. "Say, that ship looks like a Khocheni make. What did you say brought you to Genoa, sir?"

"Oh, I have been here for a while. My friends they started a very young trading business. I think this their first run. Supposed to transport something for one of the corporations or sth. The ship they recently bought used from some trader, I don't know from where. Who is gonna buy a new ship these days, with the prices as they are and all. " Kolya starts turning away, pulling out his compads, pretending to start to look for a contact. "Anyway, if you don't mind officer, I'll get going and see if I can find them. And I'll be sure to tell them to register the ship properly. Thanks a lot for your help. Have a good one! And good luck with this Khocheni ships. I hope there won't be any trouble. "

The pinch-faced woman's terminal beeps. "Ah just received it. 'The Wayward Queen,' perfect. We'll log that in the system and you should be good to go. That's all we needed, thank you." As the two officials turn and walk away, the man looks back over his shoulder and gives Kolya an icy look."Enjoy you visit, sir."

With that, the landing platform is deserted except for your group. Yuri and Priya are able to board the Wayward Queen without issue.

In the ship, Kolya sits in one of the chairs in the galley and puts his feet on the next. "Alright gang, how do we proceed? I understand you/we have another obligation here? How about we attack that head on and get started. The docking fees here are not to laugh at, so every day saved is credits on the account.
Sgall we go ahead to wherever we have to go and take a look? Then we can best decide how to get what we need to get. "

Zhen tenses as the officials ask about the ship's origin and Khocheni gangs. He keeps quiet for the rest of the conversation, keeping his attention elsewhere. Once they leave, he turns to Roz, looking concerned.

"I don't like this. We don't need any extra scrutiny from customs. Your registration is legit, right? This isn't a stolen ship?"

"I think we need to go pay Thalamus a visit immediately. Getting paid by Bloodhound is also important, but I want to be off this planet ASAP. If customs is getting twitchy, we don't want to be around when they start clamping down. "

As Zhen turned to her, Roz's face fell slightly, her concerned look mirroring that of the other.
"That fracture might be spidering eh? It's a sight more attention than I like to be getting. And no, for once this really is all legal and squared away correctly. Every i dotted and hand cocked. As you say though, lets maybe lets hope the oasis stays dry and make our move from here sharpish."

Moving deeper into the platform, her face lit up again as she saw the Wayward Queen. She might have only been away from it for a day but it still sparked joy in her heart to see the ship. A part of it was hers. It was more than just a home, and a way to earn money. It was the living representation of a dream, of hope, of freedom. Without a ship you were stuck on whatever planet or station was your last, a destiny limited to only that which was around you. With one the very stars couldn't limit your climb.

As she moved up the gangplank, she paused for a second to reach out her hand and stroke the cold metal exterior.
"Back again, Queenie. Hope you've been good! And if not, you clean up well"

Inside the ship, she hoisted herself up onto the wooden table in the middle and sat crossed legged on the end. Leaning forward, with her chin on her open palms, and both elbows pointed into her knees, she looked out at the others.
"Nips makes a fair point. I don't quite feel a quiver beneath my feet, but the pebbles are starting to slide. The quicker we move the better. So yeah, here's the sitch."

She leaned back and grinned at Zhen and Kolya.
"The person putting down the bluebacks is Isaak Teke, this bigwig in Cornacopia. Despite having more buildings filled to the brim with wealth than I've committed sins, he's confined to a grav-chair. He organised for a lab here, Thalamus Biomedical Industries to develop technology which would get him mostly moving about. Aparently this modulator has been completed and paid for, but the lab has stop responding to contact. He's paying us 35,000 to persuade Dr Haydee Ojeda, the head doc, to return it to him."

Taking a moment to stretch her arm behind her neck, she then continued.
"This lab is about a 30 minute grav car ride from here. This Gorgan group who seem to be making all the moves on this planet, have just bought out this lab, which could be why they are suddenly ignoring their commitments. Or maybe I'm overthinking it. Changying has got us copies of the layout which might be important if we need to grab this component sneaky like. But there is still a chance this might all be a misunderstanding. So yeah if I was to strike my pick and lay a claim down, it would be to call down to the lab now and speak to Dr Ojeda and see what's happening."

Ian sighed as he entered the Wayward Queen as it was now called. It was his ship and he did enjoy piloting it, but it was a no smoking zone for him, just the thought of not being able to smoke for the entire trip to Yorbund after this next job gave him a headache.

"What's out plan B? I have a few things in mind but they'd all get us bagged for terrorism should they also go south."

He retired to his quarters for a brief moment and came back with a decommissioned space navy uniform that he had gotten on his PMC escapades and handed them to Yuri.

"There's a razor in my room, get the stubble off your cheeks and keep that on if you plan on doing anything while we get enough cash to actually make it to Yorbund."

Ian still didn't quite enjoy the idea of going to the planet; it still held many memories for him and none of them were ones he was fond of remembering. The screams alone would still make him shudder to date. He sat in a chair near Roz's position on the table, staring off into space as memories came back to him against his will. As his mind wandered he took his old cigarette lighter from his pocket and absently flicked it open and closed, making rhythmic tinking noises.