18+ The Hunt

[Andre Marek]

Aden set down the various pieces of his rifle on the Judicators workbench and leaned over to make sure they were all in prime condition. Once he was sure the weapon system would perform when he needed it, he snapped the individual pieces back together. He stared at the rifle before him for several seconds before taking it and storing it in one of the several lockers along one wall of the cargo bay. He spun the dials on the manual lock and and closed the blasterproof door. On his way to the ladder leading to the cockpit, Aden paused to grab the kitbag that housed Jessicas backup gear and slung it over a shoulder. As he turned to leave, an icon popped up in his HUD. He stopped in his tracks. Apparently, someone had procured an administrator status for the Judicators onboard web reciever entirely without his permission.

The first name to pop into his head was that of the newcomer, Baroth. His paranoya made him immediately suspicious of the man but his brain came up with another response despite his distrust of his new passenger, "Jessica... I told you not to toy around." He muttered into the confines of his helmet. "Blast it kid." Grabbing hold of the rungs of the ladder, Aden climbed until he came to the medbay hatch, which he pulled open and stepped through. Empty. He cursed under his breath before pulling up a real time layout of the Judicator. A quick inspection revealed that Baroths room now had two heat signatures instead of one. "What's with that kid... I swear I so much as turn around for a minute."

He set down Jessicas gear on the medbay cot and opened a line to the cockpit, "Sky? Whats our ETA?"

She responded instantly, "About ten, maybe fifteen minutes to landing. Where you been this whole time?"

"Cleaning the cargo hold. You take us in. I'm going to talk with our passengers."

"Which one?" she asked.

"Both."

Aden walked back out into the corridor again and then turned around at the sound of an opening door and came face to face with Jessica, still clad only in a blanket, with Baroth close behind her. Before she could hand him the datapad she was carrying, he said, "Jessica..." He glanced back at the man behind her and then into the cabin before continuing, "You've met our passenger I see. And you've discovered the Judicators onboard servers."

(OOC: Sorry for no color. I'm away from the computer.)

 

[fellowknight]

Before Baroth could get the datapad from the girl, a voice emerged from the doorway of the cabin. The sudden voice caused him to look up and slid his right hand to the butt of his V8 Energy pistol. He relaxed, somewhat, when he realized who it was. "Jessica..." He said, "You've discovered our passenger I see. And you've discovered the judicators on board servers." But before Baroth could say anything, Oracle but in.

"Spectacularly so. I don't know how you found her, Marek, but she sure as hell is talented." She said, stepping out from behind Baroth.

 

[Simus]

Jessica's cheeks flushed pink when Marek opened the door and confronted her. She hadn't expected him to finish cleaning his weapons so soon and he had obviously found out that she had given herself administrator status on the Judicator's servers. It was only to investigate Baroth but Marek wouldn't care. All that mattered to him was that Jessica had messed around with his systems, which were supposed to be very well protected, when he had asked her not to. Baroth's interjection didn't really help. Marek and his infamous T visor were staring her down and her hands shook so much she dropped her datapad. She was still hooked up to it and her thoughts were still being transcribed.

Oh crap, he's mad. He probably knows I hacked the servers but it was only so I could find out about Baroth and Oracle! I wonder if he knows about Oracle or the fact that she's standing right behind me. Marek is mean when he's mad, and he could just as likely smash Oracle's home chip as clean out her temporary files. Wait a minute, am I still hooked up? plops!

She yanked herself free of the datapad but it was too late. Everyone was able to read what was already there and her pink cheeks deepened. Plus her blanket had slipped off, exposing her naked body to everyone in the room. She wanted to run out of the room and hide but all her exits were blocked so she covered her chest with her arms as best she could, slumped down against a wall, tucked her head into her arms and waited for it to be over.

 

[fellowknight]

The room fell silent as Jessica's datapad hit the ground, showing her current thoughts.Then, a few moments after unhooking the cord, her blanket fell, exposing her naked body. She nervously covered herself, crouched in a corner, and looked away from every one. Oracle was the first to her side. She carefully wrapped the blanket around her body, helped her up, and took step to Marek.

"I'm taking her to the medbay. It'd be faster and easier if step to the left a little." Oracle said firmly. After a few moments of silence, Marek stepped to the left, allowing the two to pass. Then he and Baroth had a momentary staredown, before Marek followed them.

 

[TheShadedOne]

Dah'Sharrah ignored the departure of the shuttle from the destroyer above Cyris. It didn't seem to apply to her or the hunt. The Khajiit bounty hunter followed the green armoured bounty hunters ship into hyperspace, and through the Aldmeri blockade. She listened as the younger green armoured man reported he'd picked up a fight between some slavers, and an unidentified party on the planet. The blue armoured man followed the younger hunter to assist, and Dah'Sharrah debated accompanying them.

She was not very fond of slavers. Then, helping the unidentified individual might cause their bounty to become suspicious...Deciding to land in Blacklight, she headed to the market, where nearest the hangar area. She noticed the silver armoured Breton. "Admiring the view?"

 

[Andre Marek]

Skylar touched the mic activation button on the Judicators helm and keyed in a line to Erigins flight control, "Erigin, this is the Judicator, requesting permission to dock in Blacklight." While she waited for their response she eyed the Dominion blockade with the Judicators sensors array. They were enemy. At least, on paper they were. She hoped she didn't run into any of their own agents on Erigin or she would have to kill them and that would probably blow her cover, something she wanted to avoid if at all possible.

"Judicator, you're cleared to dock in hangar JT-57 in Blacklight. I'd advise you not to stray too far from the city. The countryside is crawling with rebels, slavers, and mercenaries."

"Affirmative. Bay JT-57. Judicator out." She closed the channel and plotted in a route for the capitol. Swiveling around in the pilots chair, Skylar examined a few of the feeds from the ships security cameras. She was surprised to see that Aden was now in the med bay along with both Jessica and the new guy. The cameras didn't have sound, but from his stance, Skylar could tell that, yet again, the kid had managed to annoy him somehow. He was looking back and forth at the two, cycling between reading Jessicas data pad and staring at the new guy. Sucks to be them, she thought dryly as she turned back to the view port, which was rapidly being filled with Erigins landscape. Aden hated when people messed around with him or his property in the best of times, a trait they both shared. Being on board his ship only served to make him more irritable. Whatever had happened though couldn't have been too serious; He wasn't pointing a blaster at them anyway.

As the Judicator neared the planet, she noticed two of the other hunters ships peel off and head toward a small cluster of buildings in the countryside not to far outside of Blacklight. Curious, Skylar used one of the monitors to zoom in on the pair and then on what she suspected to be their destination. Even as she watched, several brightly flashes of varying colors darted between a few buildings and then more went in the opposite direction. They were unmistakably blaster bolts. And two of the others seemed interested, although, she hadn't been patched into their comms so she didn't know why they wanted to get involved with someone elses skirmish. Maybe a target of opportunity... On a place like Erigin it wouldn't be out of the question. No doubt some of the Empires enemies have gotten tangled up in this. She decided it was at least worth a look. However, she doubted Aden would feel so inclined, nor did she think their passengers would be. She'd have to go it alone then. With a few deft movements, she activated the auto pilot and set it to take the ship to the hangar. Grabbing her vest off the back of the seat, she slid it on and walked down the corridor until she came to the med bay and popped her head inside.

Aden's was in the middle of saying something but stopped to look at her while across from him, the new guy and Jessica also turned to look at her. "Aden... Hope I'm not interrupting anything too important," She said with a smirk, "I spotted something planetside that a few of the other hunters seem interested in. A gunfight or something. I'm going to go check it out."

Aden started to say something again but she continued, "Yes the ship is on auto pilot. Don't worry about it, I wont be gone long." She smiled and started down the hall again before stepping back and sticking her head through the door again, "Oh, and I'm borrowing one of your jetpacks by the way." She grinned and darted back down the hall as she heard him swear. She was probably the sole person who was capable of using Adens gear without getting her head shot off and she made sure to use that privilege whenever she could. sliding down the ladder to the cargo bay, Skylar went over to one of the lockers and spun the dials on the lock. Swinging open the door, she reached in and pulled out one of the spare jetpacks Aden kept. Then she grabbed a rebreather mask and goggles and fit them over her face. The jetpack was meant to be flown in conjunction with a suit of armor or similar interface system that could assist in flying the gadget. Without a suit or helmet, Skylar would need the simple HUD offered by the goggles in order to actually fly the thing in a strait line. Although she sometimes wondered why Aden even kept any of this stuff around when he himself never went anywhere without his armor.

Once she had the pack and face mask fitted properly and synched she waled to the back of the bay and pulled up a grate in the floor that lead to the maintenance crawlspace below that extended down into the 'chin' of the Judicator. Grabbing hold of the small ladder she scampered down the cramped hole until she came to another hatch, this one pressure sealed and locked closed by a sophisticated security system. This was the Judicators emergency access hatch. Or in this case, a convenient way for to get off ship without it having to level out into its horizontal position. By now they were well within Erigins atmosphere, only a few hundred feet above the surface on a course for Blacklight, so she could jump without fearing becoming a space popsicle. Hitting the release button and entering a code, Skylar pulled the hatch open and without hesitation, jumped feet first.


She gasped as the blast of air struck her but quickly rotated so that she was plummeting face first towards the planet. Using her arms and legs to steer herself, Skylar glided towards the position she'd marked on the HUD. The two other hunters had landed near each other and she made a bee line for them. When she was less than a hundred feet above the sun baked ground, she again spun around and activated the jetpack, stalling her decent. The thrust required to stop her fall ate up most of the packs fuel but she had plenty left to get where she needed to go and quickly came to a hover above the two hunters ships. As she landed she saw that it was in fact the younger of the two green armored men, along with the guy with blue armor who she'd seen helping Jessica back on Cyris. Dropping down to the ground in a puff of dust, Skylar smiled at the pair and said, "Hello boys. Whats the story here then?"

 

[Drahkma]

"Admiring the view?" Corvis turned to regard the Khajiit bounty hunter. His helmets' 360 degree wraparound vision had detected her, but he hadn't actually heard her approaching. 'Boots and armour must have stealth tech. Nice.' "That, and doing a little preliminary recon. If our bounty is here, I don't want to move in unless I'm sure she doesn't have any friends backing her up." Not that there was much to admire. Mostly sand, stone, Dunmer, soldiers, more Dunmer, more stone, and lots more sand.

The few soldiers were a mix of dark elf locals, and Dominion soldiers. If there had been any question in his mind who the Dominion had been backing, there was none now. Despite that, the only intriguing mercenary types in the area were Corvis and the Khajiit. "Are the others on their way?"

 

[Simus]

Oracle covered Jessica up with her blanket and helped her up before Marek herded them into the medbay. Jessica was shaking as she sat down on the medbay's cot and squeezed Oracle's hand with her own to beseech her not to leave. The ship was cold even without her being naked but she was scared of Marek. She felt her presence on the Judicator was tenuous at best and she was worried that he'd abandon her as soon as he found a place he deemed was safe. Hacking into his servers would probably widen that criteria to "breathable planet."

Soon enough Skylar broke the staring by barging in and notifying Marek that there was a firefight at a cluster of buildings on Eregin's surface outside the capital and she was going to check it out. The ship was on auto pilot and she was going to borrow a jetpack. Marek didn't seem happy with this and Jessica's eyes went wide with surprise. The last time she saw anyone use a jetpack, or more specifically a jump pack was when she rode along with an Academy power armored unit on maneuvers. That particular unit specialized in jumping from a low flying dropship and either using a jump pack or an anti-grav generator to safely land. Even while wearing an insulated flightsuit she was cold and she thought those guys were nuts for doing that for a living. Some even jumped into battle with full auto blaster pistols and big chaniswords. Now those guys were just crazy.

Of course the guy who ran that place was crazy so I guess the boot fits.

She continued to wait for Marek and got nervous again. She put her arm around Oracle's waist and gave her a scared look in the hope for some comfort. It was a look that said "I could really use a hug right now."

 

[Baneloth]

Kyle left his ship before the engines had even had a chance to cool and was already in cover behind a large, sandy hill, Galen landing moments after him, and doing the same. He nodded to the man, appreciating the fact that at least one of the group had decided to follow him in. He didn't necessarily need the help, but it was the thought that counted. "Wait here. I'm going to see what we're up against." He dropped to his stomach, and crawled up the hill, until he had reached the top.

He had a fairly good advantage point, and could see most of the buildings nearest them. He could also see the five slavers approaching, in varying armour, and wielding an assortment of weapons. Apparently, the two ships landing hadn't gone unnoticed. 'They would have to be pretty blind, not to notice that...' he slid down the hill, and noticed that they'd gained a new member. The woman that had been tagging along with Marek. Dust was still settling around her, and she had a jetpack on. 'She must have dropped from the Judicator. She's got guts, I'll give her that much'

"Hello boys. Whats the story here then?" Kyle waved a hand towards her in greeting, and switched his helmets output to exterior, since neither Galen nor the woman wore helmets. "Impressive entrance" he said, grinning underneath his helmet. "Slavers, looks like. Five of them incoming, and probably more inside their camp. Don't know who's in there, but they're giving them hell. We'll move in as a group, and try to link up with whoever is inside"

Kyle stood up, and stepped to the side, clearing the hill, and giving the slavers a clear line of sight to him. One fired, and a projectile bounced off his shoulder plate. Obviously, they didn't have the best tech. Kyle levelled his arm, and fired his railgun, the powerful gauntlet mounted weapon tearing through one mans' armour. As that one fell, the bounty hunter drew his pistols, and opened fire on the slavers companion. The other three circled around the oppossite side of the hill trying to get to the woman and Galen. He decided to let his two companions handle them.

 

[fellowknight]

When Jessica looked up at Oracle with that depressed look, her artificial heart melted to liquid databits. She didn't care whether the hunter or the whole galaxy was watching, she was bound to comfort this girl. She pulled into the hug her eyes demanded, and eagerly returned it, ignoring the other two presences in the room, physically of course.

While Baroth watched the exchange, a certain swell built up in his brain. While he was on all terms aware of the current situation, his questions remained. Who was this girl really? Was she lying about Simus? Did Simus' bloodline still continue? He found standing in this girl's company the hardest thing he'd ever done. His knees shook slightly and his hands fidgeted. He needed to do something to occupy himself. He rolled his shoulders and popped his neck, looking from Oracle and Jessica to Marek several times, before directing himself to Oracle.

"Nevermind that Rex thing, Oracle. You'd be better off here. I'll contact Rex, alright? You just stay here and comfort Jessica." He said, turning and facing Marek, who was leaning on the door frame. "Excuse me." He said in less than polite tone. Marek's response was tilting his head to the side slightly, before pushing himself off the frame and stepping out of Baroth's way. As Baroth passed, Marek raised an armored hand to his chest, stopping him as he leaned in. "We will talk later." Baroth raised his hand, grabbed Marek's wrist and roughly pulled it away from his chest. Then he walked past him, muttering under his breath. "Oh, I'm well aware."

As Baroth closed the hatch to his cabin, he opened a manual line to Rex. However, it was intercepted by the Dominion blockade they must have passed earlier. "Unidentified comm channel, this is Dominion star destroyer Eminence. State the reason for your attempted communication or we will stasis your ship."

"Eminence star destroyer, this is Judicator. I'm attempting to contact a mercenary who fell behind the group, over."

There was silence for a few minutes, before the destroyer responded.

"Roger that, Judicator. You are clear for comm link up."

Finally, the line reached Rex. "You contacted me, sir?"

"Yea. I need you to jump to our coordinates. You will run in with a star destroyer. Pose as a Mercenary with any holoprojections you have to."

"Yes sir. Where should I land, sir?"


"Blacklight. Get here as soon as you can."

"Right, sir. I'll be there soon. ETA, ten minutes."

"Just get here. And fast."

"I'll try, sir."

"Please do." Baroth finished, before cutting the line. He paced about the room for another few minutes before heading back to the medbay.

 

[TheShadedOne]

'So he's taking precautions. Smart. Dangerous to do it out in the open though' glancing around at the Dunmer citizens, going about their business, under the watchful eye of the half-dozen or so soldiers. Remove the soldiers, and Dah'Sharrah would never have guessed there was a war waging on the planet. Either the dark elves in Blacklight were overconfident, which was stupid of them, or they'd simply gotten used to war, and didn't let it affect their day to day lives.

"Are the others on their way?" Her silver armoured companion asked, and she shrugged
"Probably. I saw them going in for hangar bays when I was heading over here. Unless they piss some important official off, they should be here soon." moving her sniper rifle, so that it wouldn't impede the movement, she sat on the bench beside him. "So, I guess if we're going to be working together, we should do the whole 'exchange of names' thing, huh?" She extended a lightly furred hand. "I'm Dah'Sharrah. Call me Sharrah, if you like"

 

[Baneloth]

Derek set the Nomad down in a hangar bay, stood, went to the armoury, reattached the jetpack, grabbed his shatter rifle, and put on his helmet. He walked to the panel that would lower the boarding ramp, and allow him access to Eregins' soil. Unbidden, a host of memories came to him: His father, teaching him to shoot his first blaster. His father, stepping in front of a gang of Argonian thugs, shielding a group of cowering Dunmer women and children. The sound of blaster fire as his father and the Argonians opened fire upon one another.

Terrick Varastian hitting the ground, the last of his breath escaping in a pained gasp. A child, barely more than ten years old, struggling to get a body into the grave he'd dug...Derek shook his head, clearing the images. He was on Eregin to do a job, not grapple with the past. Taking a deep breath, he lowered the ramp, strolling down it and releasing the pent up lungful as he went. He paid for his ship to stay, before leaving the hangar bays behind. He went down to street level, noting that not much of Blacklight had changed.

The city had weathered many conflicts, and looked like it would be doing the same during this one. The sun baked the ground that made up the citys' roads, and the gusts of wind created miniature sandstorms. The only thing that had changed were the Dominion soldiers patrolling the streets. And the Thalmor. He noticed a double column of sinister looking, black armoured soldiers, with red stripes on their breastplates, lead by a mer in the black and gold robes that symbolized the faction.

Derek had read that when people had still been on Nirn, the Thalmor had hunted down Talos worshippers. These days, their role had changed. On Dominion controlled worlds, the word 'Thalmor' went hand in hand with 'shock troopers'. The elite. The best of the best. Trained for everything from assassinations to conventional warfare. If they were on Eregin, it meant the Dominion was taking the civil war much more seriously than they had in the past.

Derek just hoped his fellow hunters had the brains to not attack them. He knew neither the Dominion nor the Empire was much loved, but starting a fight in the middle of the day, while hunting a bounty was not only a bad idea, it was all but advertising their presence to the target. If Kaylin Ataro knew she was being hunted. Odds were, she did. Derek got the impression that one did not run from the groups employer, and expect to be left in peace.

He arrived at a market square, where the military presence was somewhat lacking. He glanced around, noticing the silver armoured Breton, and the Khajiit woman. He made a bee-line for them, making sure to keep an eye on his surroundings as he did so. When he arrived at the pair, he asked "notice anything strange?"

 

[T. Rakinson]

"Okay, people. Here's our ride. Oh, and for those of you that have a score to settle with the empire, you'll have to wait for another day. Unless, of course, you feel like taking on a Imperial destroyer and its' complement of fighters by yourselves"
Easier said than done. As far as Vendetta's against the Empire went throughout the ragtag group, 15 imagined he was far from top dog. Despite his physical form remaining blank and empty as always, in his limbo 15 couldent help but panic. The ship didnt seem to notice the approaching group of ships, but all it would take is a small engine leak and BOOM. As they grew ever closer to the vessel, 15 finally began to relax.
Then the fighters appeared.
If he could have had a heart attack, then that would have been the perfect scenario. Almost instinctively he reached out to press down on the plasma cannon trigger, but as all the bounty hunter ships slowed down he hesitated and then fell back into his chair, as majestically as his cybernetic form could.
After what was about half an hour but had felt like several days, the fighters began heading back to the ship, and within a few minutes the cruiser began to move again. pushing the thruster forward surprisingly quick the bomber craft flew under the belly of the giant ship as the world around 15 dissapeared into the slip space tunnel.

************************************************************************************

As the ship finally came back into the world of slowness. All 15 could do in his dazed state was target lock the nearest ship with autopilot & set to "follow".
A new group of ships replaced the imperials & a com chat came up between one of the hunters and what sounded like an Altmer. The com shut off and the blitzer lurched forward again, which didnt help the almost recovered solider.
Finally 15 regained a proper conscious just as his ship seemed to stray away from the group, following a singled out ship; the one he had targeted earlier. As the ship & a few others headed in the direction of what 15 was guessing to be Eregin, he weakly tried to regain control from autopilot, to no avail.


Within a few minutes his ship was levitating a hanger, waiting to copy a landing procedure of a ship which came up on the sensor as Silencer. As 15 finally regained control of the blitzercraft, a voice came out on his comms, asking to negotiate payments. 15 was about to reply when a panicked, non recorded voice came through.
'Non-dominion Military craft eh?'
15 checked around for any spare credits for a bribe, and found some in a small metal box near the exit door. Not bothering to give the owner of the voice a reply, he pressed the unlock button and prepared walking out of the now-landed starcraft.
As soon as he was on the hangers floor several armed & armoured Aldmeri soliders came out of different corners, each aiming blasters at 15.
'Dont move droid!' one of the tougher looking elves called out. The team of Black suited soliders circled 15, causing the crowd around them to disperse. 15's hands went to his two Asium pistols, just in case one of the opposition opened fire. It was only a precaution, for SOURCE had contacts with the dominion, but he wasnt sure if he would be pardoned on this area of the planet. It was a shame, bribes generally didnt work with the dominion, they were too proud to take them... in public. Despite his confidence that he could win in a confrontation, he couldent help wonder where his fellow hunter had gone.
Just as the circle of Mer began closing in on 15, the buff elf who'd shouted before frowned, as if someone had just told him some dissapointing from inside his helmet.
'New orders' the now disgruntled Mer called out. 'Were to take you to the boss'.

************************************************************************************

'So... the Empire has decided to send an android to do their dirty work? I would be lying if I said im surprised by their cowardly tactics'.
15 & Commander Ryles had been in the "interregation" room for only a few minutes, but the guy seemed to have him down as some kind of imperial droid terrorist. 15 Didnt listen to Ryles, but once the Mer began giving him an impatient look, it was obviously time to make his case.
EARIEN OPERATIVE, S.O.U.R.C.E DIVISION. SERIAL NUMBER: 15. ASSIGNMENT: BOUNTY HUNTING. TARGET: KAYLIN ATARO.
'Kaylin... Im sure iv'e heard that name somewhere...' Despite his earlier detective speech, Ryles pondered this for quite a bit. Finally he snapped out of it.
'We've had no contact from Earian officials concerning a hunting operation here on Eregin. New development?'
15 Gave a short nod.
'Well im afraid I cant help concerning your target, but ill tell my men and dunmer allies to give you free passage around the city. You step outside of the city limits, your circuits are open to slavers, bandits, and goodness knows what other kinds of pl*** are conspiring against us. On that note, have fun droid!' Ryles finished in a somewhat deranged tone.

As 15 stepped outside of the fortified "embassy" He began winding streets aimlessly, struggling not to take too much notice of all the poverty and vermin that seemed to cover the planet. Eventually he seemed to reach the edge of a market area. Noticing the place from where he had parked earlier, he began pushing through a thickening crowd, trying to find the hanger amidst all the brothels, Undeground slums & a thousand other things.
Finally 15 noticed three of the hunters from on Cyris, and the bot began walking over, the words OBJECTIVE? flashing up on his visor as he reached the small group.

 

[Drahkma]

The Khajiit replied that the others should be arriving soon, and then extended her hand. "So, I guess if we're going to be working together, we should do the whole 'exchange of names' thing, huh?" Corvis took it in his own hand and shook. "I'm Dah'Sharrah. Call me Sharrah, if you like" Corvis hadn't heard the name before, but he was sure if he did a little digging, it wouldn't be hard to find a Khajiit bounty hunter. "Corvis...Allendis" come to think of it, she probably hadn't heard of him, either. His helmet sensors detected the green armoured man with the jet pack, the older of the two, approaching. "notice anything strange?" Were the first words out of the mans mouth. Straight to business then. "Besides the lack of mercs besides us? No, not really"

 

[TheArgonianDrell]

Hunkering down in cover, Argus decided that the battle was certainly not going in his favour. Four more slavers had joined the three that had already been blasting away at his meagre defences. He could eliminate three people on his own, in the open, perhaps even four, but not seven. Especially not when they knew exactly where he was, they had reinforcements readily available, and Drell had none. Then, in a pause in the shooting, probably the slavers reloading their weapons, and trying to get a better firing angle on him, the Argonian assassin heard disant blaster fire.

It appeared, someone had engaged the slavers' perimeter guards. He heard someone closer to him speaking urgently into a commlink, and saw four slavers dash off, towards the sound of the fighting. 'Interesting.It's not Aldmeri or Dunmer troops. Not nearly loud enough. And I doubt its' more than three or four people. Either mercenaries or rival slavers.' He concluded. Neither of whom were likely to help Argus. However, the fighting had drawn off four enemies, and evened the odds for the assassin. Whoever it was would probably shoot him in the back without pause. Which meant Drell had to act now, before the slavers returned, or their attackers arrived.

The assassin vaulted over his cover, and charged the nearest slaver, a human that had made the mistake of getting too close. He was only three meters from Argus' cover, and was only turning towards the assassin now. Letting his straps take the weight of his LRB, Drell grabbed the mans wrist with one hand, guiding the blaster away from Drells body, and extending the arm as far as it could go, and slammed his open palm against the slavers elbow. The joint popped out of place, forming a weird bulge as it reversed. The slaver screamed, dropping his weapon.

Yanking on the already injured arm, Argus placed his back against the slavers, as the other two opened fire. The human took the energy rounds and bullets meant for the Argonian, and his screaming stopped. Releasing the dying human, and drawing his pistol at the same time, he fired on the first man, hitting him centre mass, and then turned slightly, his second shot going through the other slavers chest. As the corpses hit the ground, Drell stepped up to make sure they really were dead, before moving on, towards his target.

A small corvette class ship, modified with very illegal weaponry. Argus had no doubt that the ships cargo bay had been converted into holding cells. This was hardly the first slaving operation he'd stopped. He walked up the ships ramp, noticing the absence of guards. 'Lazy or incompetent' he thought. As he moved throughout the ship, he did notice several guard patrols, mostly made up of two or three people. Those, he left intact. It would slow the pursuers, and if he started killing patrols, it would let the slavers know an intruder was aboard. Like a shadow, the Argonian assassin made his way towards the captains cabin.

 

[Blackwhite1223]

Galen landed his ship a little apart from Kyles, opened the cockpit, and was immediately hammered by the heat. His bodysuit protected him from the worst of it, but he was lamenting not having a helmet on him. From his belt, he pulled an earpiece, that was attached to a long rod, that was made to follow the curve of the jaw,and had a small microphone at the end. Not as functional as a helmet, but at least he could hear Kyle, if the need to speak on private comms arose.

He considered taking his sniper rifle with him, but decided against it. From what he'd seen from the air, most of the buildings were the same height, and offered no real advantage as a sniper perch. Perhaps the hill that they'd taken cover behind, but it would leave him very exposed. He clambered out of the cockpit, and dropped to the sand below, then he glanced at Kyle, willing to let the man decide how they should proceed. "Wait here. I'm going to see what we're up against." Galen nodded, and nearly shot the woman that dropped from the sky moments later. "Hello boys. Whats the story here then?" The woman said calmly, as if she hadn't just dropped out of a moving ship.


Kyle filled her in, and gave laid out the plan. Galen thought it was fairly good, for something the man had obviously just thought up on the spot. The younger bounty hunter turned and opened fire, and Galen guessed more were coming around the other side of the hill. Drawing his Paladin, a highly accurrate, powerful pistol, he rounded the hill and fired, taking out one of the slavers. "I see four more. Reinforcements, probably" he reported.

 

[Baneloth]

"Besides the lack of mercs besides us? No, not really" looking around, Derek realized the man was right. There were Dunmer and soldiers in abundance, but he didn't spot any mercenaries in the area. Nor had he seen any on his way to the market. Which was beyond strange not to see any mercenary units during a war. To Dereks knowledge, every time the Argonians and Dunmer restarted the war on Eregin, mercs flocked to the place, eager to make some easy credits. 'I'll have Kyle look into it when he gets back.There has to be some reason there's no mercs in Blacklight'

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the droid from on Cyris, and turned towards him. Having a droid on the team was good. They were intimidating, impossible to bribe or plead with, and they didn't have any hidden loyalties. The word OBJECTIVE? popped up on its' visor. Derek hesitated, knowing that for some bizarre reason, they were looking to him for leadership. Or at least to provide short term answers and guidance. Luckily, the droids' question was easily answered. "For now, we wait. Once Marek and Jessica show up, I'll take you to a safe house that'll be our base of operations for the duration of our stay on Eregin. Then we'll start hunting this Ataro woman. I doubt she's left the planet already, and Eregin is easier to hide on than you might think"

 

[Andre Marek]

"Jessica..." Said Aden, turning back to face the young woman, "Look kid, I'm not trying to be an ass, but if you're gonna tag along with me you're going to have to follow a few rules." He held up a gloved hand, counting off it as he went, "One: Don't interfere with my work. Two: Don't go around talking with complete strangers, especially ones that dangerous as that guy. For all you knew, he might have been preparing to shoot you as soon as you walked through the door. Three: Don't touch my things without my permission. And four: Don't ever hack into my ship again. Do you understand me Jessica? If you find something out of the ordinary, come find me or Skylar. Besides, why did you even feel the need to have an administrator clearance anyway?"

Just then an icon popped up in his HUD notifying him that they were closing in on Blacklight. He looked at Jessica again, "Here," He said, pointing to her pack that was laying on the cot behind her, "Get dressed in some proper clothes and then come find me in the cockpit. Were almost at Blacklight, the capital of Erigin. You can work on an explanation for that Admin clearance while you're at it too." He left her then, and headed to the cockpit where he slipped into the pilots chair and began the landing sequence.

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

Skylar muttered a curse as the younger bounty hunter opened fire on the slavers, taking out two of them. Even though the slavers knew where they were, Skylar still would have liked to try and surprise them. Any chances of the were gone now though, as the man in blue armor headed around the left side of the hill. A moment after he disappeared she heard the crack of blaster fire. Sighing, she slipped her carbine out of its holster and flicked the safety off before moving around the right side of the hill. Supposedly there were only two slavers left of this group, but more were undoubtedly on their way so it would be best of the three of them tried to keep overlapping fields of fire in order to better cover each other. The young hunter on the hill could easily spot enemies trying to sneak around their flanks and with the ex-cop and Skylar covering either side of him, they could easily fend off the poorly equipped slavers.

As soon as she rounded the side of the hill, Skylar saw another seven or eight slavers break away from the collection of small buildings and tents surrounding a mid sized freighter. Bringing her blaster to her shoulder she sighted in on the first man in the line and fired two rounds in quick succession. The first round hit the man in the chest and the second struck him squarely in the forehead causing him to vault backwards and land in a heap next to one of his friends. She shift aim and fired again, dropping another. Then a few of the slavers dropped to their bellies and began spraying blaster fire and bullets towards her, forcing her to back around the hill again. She didn't have the armor the two hunters did so she couldn't afford to take too many direct hits.

As she ducked, movement in the slavers camp caught her eye. Popping up so that just her head and shoulders were exposed, Skylar fired a quick barrage at the advancing slavers before leveling her scope on the camp just in time to catch a glimpse of someone vaulting over cover. A few seconds later, the figure appeared between two buildings, en route to the slaver ship. Ducking again to avoid the return fire, Skylar pulled out her datapad and synched her sub-dermal implants with the other two hunters. Touching the side of her neck, she said, "Hey, Mr. Green, Blue Man. It's Skylar. I think I just spotted our pal on the other side of the camp heading for the slaver ship."

 

[Simus]

After Marek left, Jessica released herself from Oracle's comforting embrace and dug into her bag for her backup bodysuit, boots and gloves. Like her primary bag, Jessica's secondary bag contained a pocket dimension that allowed her to store much more equipment than the bag could actually hold. Enough to where she put the bag on the floor and dove half her body into it to look for everything. She had forgotten just how much she had packed but soon enough she found her tight-fitting blue bodysuit and the matching knee high riding boots and elbow length gloves. At first glance the suit looked like a plain non-shiny leather catsuit with a front zipper that went to Jessica's wrists and ankles. If one were to dissect the suit however they would find an extensive system of wiring, kinetic barrier generators and micro pulse capacitors suspended in a layer of shock-absorbing ballistic gel. This was the latest of a long line of suits Jessica designed herself and it had served her well. A shield generator protected Jessica from several shots of incoming fire and that was only her first line of defense. When shot with a projectile such as a bullet, piece of shrapnel, plasma bolt or laser blast. the suit would form a diamond hard plate that would redirect the force of impact away from Jessica and then chip off. Several shots would be needed to break through the same spot and hit bare leather and that was unlikely in a combat situation. The more shots the armor took the more plates would form. The gel inside the suit mitigated much of the impact on Jessica's body. It would take concentrated and sustained small arms fire to truly compromise Jessica's suit, even if Jessica herself would be knocked down and incapacitated from such an assault. Over all it was lightweight, comfortable, protective and she looked really cute in it.

Once dressed, Jessica assembled her backup rifle (Think Kerrigan's ghost rifle in Starcraft 2) and headed to Marek. She took the time to examine herself on the way and while she was proud to be armored up again she missed her hair. She walked up to Marek and knocked on the doorway to the cockpit to let him know she was there. She had a response thought out on her data pad.

I'm sorry about snooping around while you were gone. You've got to understand I had no idea what this mission was about and I needed as much information as possible. I didn't know how much you would tell me so I hacked the Judicator's systems to try and glean something. When I heard footsteps that weren't yours or Skylar's I looked through the internal sensors and found traces of an A.I or V.I program. That turned out to be Oracle searching the net for information on you and with my V.I Adjutant's help I stopped her. You of all people are entitled to your privacy. She found that you're the descendant of a man named Andre Marek, who was alive over a thousand years ago and was a friend of one of my ancestors. Simus Psyrakon. Baroth seemed to think that's really important for some reason but I don't know why. I loved hearing stories of both Simus and Marek, nobody called him Andre, growing up but they've been dead for a long time.

I'm sorry I hacked into your systems Marek. I gave myself administrator access because that's usually what I had to do back at the Academy during training missions to get any information I want. That's what they taught us to do. Old habits die hard. I know that was a huge shock to you and I'm really sorry about that. You've got the best cyber security systems money can by, you really do, but you've got to understand people like me can hack a computer just as easily as you can change a lightbulb. I want to help protect you!

I'm sorry. I just wanted to help and I feel like a huge burden right now. I'm broken and hideous, no longer the girl I used to be. I'm...I'm really not sure if I want to keep living. Gods, I can't believe I'm telling you all this! You're the last person who's going to give me a shoulder to cry on! See how fluffed up I am!? I've been fluffed up ever since that fluffing star destroyer!

Tears were rolling down her face as she waited for Marek to respond.

 

[fellowknight]

As Jessica left, Baroth re-entered the medbay, noticing Jessica's newfound armor and weapon. He watched her with intent and almost stopped her when he noticed she was heading for the cockpit, where Marek would surely be found. He figured he would let her have her way for the time being. As he stepped into the medbay cabin, he noticed Oracle had a smirk on her lips as she stood from her place on the bunk. "Wow, i haven't felt like this in...years. Hm...."

"Yea yea. Hey, why don't we get ready to leave the ship? I heard we're gonna be landing soon."

"Right....right. Alright, back to the cabin?"

"Yep. C'mon, let's go." He said, leading Oracle out of the room and up the hall, towards the cockpit. This is when he saw Marek taking a datapad from Jessica. Baroth almost moved towards them, to stop Marek from seeing the information Jessica might give away. But Oracle grabbing his forearm stopped him entirely.

"Baroth, no."

"She'll tell him everything. Even about you."

"You don't know that for sure."

"And if i'm right?"

"She won't tell him everything." She argued, as Baroth glared back at her."Besides, what's the worse he can do? Throw us off the ship while we're still landing?" She laughed slightly, but it soon faded under Baroth's intent gaze. He reached into the first slot in the back of his helmet, pulled Oracle's chip, and pushed the button on the top."Fine. Prepare the targeting systems and send a pre-calculated scan to the city. Avoid any areas that might track us." As Oracle faded, Baroth turned on his heel and walked back to his cabin, closing the hatch behind himself and waited for the ship to land.