Dwan got off the wall and watched the holoprojector, as it repeated news that had happened a bit ago. "I've seen enough shit in my life to know this is a set-up. Most likely the Crimson Son trying to stomp HarkArk's reputation into the ground.", Dwan said in a confident tone.
"If that's the case, looks like they achieved their goal. Everyone will be in a panic in a few days time if they aren't already and they will look for someone to blame. Times will get tough for HarkArk employees if it all spirals out of control."
Lion shut down the hologram. "I hope the others will be back soon because I have a feeling that Saw is gonna need every single asset he has in the fight against Crimson Son."
Kira was sitting inside the hangar, she waited for the inevitable. Jeremy was killed by those men. She couldn't say anymore, what happened happened but all these things had to get out of hand were too hard comprehend. She rose from a chair, and looked around. She attempted to contact Harken Saw, even her superior on what happened today but as a result? Nothing. Simple minded silence.
Things were going to hell plain and simple, and if they don't get their act together soon they will all die trying. She went to the Brig, knowing full well that Lion and Dwan were taken there. She wondered what were they doing on another ship? Judging by others they were presumed dead. But there were other things coming to mind. She entered through the door seeing everyone.
Her face was devoid of all emotion from the events that transpired.
Lion looked at Kira. "Kira, how are you holding up?"
(Guys help me join back in please)
[QUOTE=liberalllama;48494145](Guys help me join back in please)[/QUOTE]
[What kind of help do you need? kilerabv already posted a tl;dr for you. The situation is big enough that Pippin can find out himself.]
(Okay, i am here, i am talking now)
Pippin pushed off from against the wall of the hangar and chased after Kira. "Hey, wait"
[QUOTE=Viper123_SWE;48493957]Lion looked at Kira. "Kira, how are you holding up?"[/QUOTE]
Kira stood looking down, she was hesitant to say anything that came out of her static mouth. "I-I don't know." She pressed her hand against her forehead, covering her eyes. "Things have gone to shit. No communications with Privateers, Harken Saw is nowhere to be found. Jeremy is gone." She explained.
"Hey, wait"
She saw Pippin. She got her hand out of her face, turning.
"We're going to make it, I'm sure Jeremy would say the same thing."
As Viper exited the station, wondering if it made the right choice on what to say in it's last goodbye to Yanim, if it was right to have just let her go, Viper thought as it walked through the entrance of Heidrov. Should I have offered to help her? Why didn't I? The Sanghvi mind thought over and over but was pushed back into reality when central loading den's top deck erupted into an fireball, the blast shook the Sanghvi a bit in the snow but was physical unscathed by the explosion.
The feeling of guilt and regret filled the Sanghvi's mind as it watch Yanim's undoing, the freighter raced above smoke to the clouds, the primer was a mess as squads rushed to the burning building to put the raging fire while the rest sounded alarms and fired their primitive ballistic weapons at air in the general direction of fleeing vessel followed by several ATGMs from their armored vehicles, all in vain as nothing was able to hit, let alone damage the ship as it left the stratosphere.
The Sanghvi tired to leave Heidrov's primer in the ensuing chaos as snow storm started to develop. "[YOU!]" The Captain yell at the top of his lungs as he ran to the Sanghvi. Viper could only turn to see him as he drew his handgun, an massive and antique khergian revolver, pulling it out to aim at the Sanghvi.
"[You're going to tell what in the hell just happened!]" He demanded to Viper as several surrounding guard had gathered around their captain. "[Right fucking now!, No bullshit!]" He yelled again as he put his finger on the trigger, aiming directly at Viper's head.
"[Sir, the Volgrim is gone! We need-]" Mirko cried out before receiving a hollow point round to the leg, delivered from the Captain's hand cannon. "[Dammit! Did I order you to speak Mirko?]" The Captain said as fired his gun at his leg, turning his attention to the downed soldier. "[Soldiers! Do you speak when I order you not to!?]" The Captain yelled out to his men. "[Sir! No,Sir!]" His men instantly responded.
"[That's right!]" He enthusiastic answered his to his men. "[It's the chain of command! It's what's seperate us from salvage and lawless clanless, it what's makes us whole, both as a unit and as a family.]" He told his men with a smile on his face.
"[Oh..go-] Mirko cried out as the Captain fired another round into the snow next to him."[Private, Do you speak when I order you not to?]" The Captain repeated as he crouched down next to bleeding out guard.
"[Sir...N-No-]" Mirko tired to speak before he began to moan and cry from the intense pain. "[I'm sorry Private, I can't hear you.]" Captain said in low voice as he aimed the gun at the private's head, cocking back his revolver's hammer..
"[Sir! No,Sir!]" Mirko desperately yelled, trying to stay conscious as he stared down the gunbarrel of his commander officer. "[Very good Mirko.]" The Captain said as let his thumb off the hammer, patting him on the back before picking himself up and turned towards the Sanghvi, letting Mirko past out in his own puddle of blood.
"[And when I order you to speak..]" He said as he lowered his voice and turned to the Sanghvi, walking closer to it as he cocked the hammer on his gun. "[Then you will most definitely speak.]" The Captain whispered as he aimed his Magnum at the Sanghvi's head.
"[Fine the Captain, what is it that you wish to do know?]" Viper spoke in an monotoned voice, unfazed by this Captain's rather cruel display of power. The snowstorm was taking from as the surrounding soldiers began to looked towards the raging fire behind them but chose to stay still until given the order.
"[Where are-]" The Captain said before being interrupted the one of his higher ranking subordinates yelled over to him "[Sir! Sir! It's the Lieutenant Colonel!! He urgently-]" He said as ran towards him, carrying a bulky set of radio equipment.
"[Can't you see I'm-]" The Captain said as he turned in frustration towards the communication officer. "[Sir! It's order!]" He said to the Captain as he reached to him, the Captain turn to the officer and urgently pick on the radio in the officer's hand, ignoring the Sanghvi as the chain of command can never be ignored within the Levko hierarchy.
"[We'r-Atta--I-repeat-We are under attack! Kanads..We need-]" Was all that could be made out of the static. "[Sir! What is it? Sir!]" the Captain desperately tried to get an response as sounds of the brewing storm was beginning to take shape.
"[Fool..]" Viper's voice could be heard through the set before turning into complete white noise and static, the Captain pushed the officer in anger and turned to his back, only seeing snow and nothing further than five feet. Like the Kanads, the Sanghvi was gone as well. "[Sir, What should we do about the raging fire?]" An Guard said to him as Heidrov was consumed in flames.
Viper walked towards the Archius, the implant leading the way through a waypoint and it's vision unhindered due its thermal properties. However, snow itself proved to be an rather large hindered as Sanghvi's limbs were pointed and were no way devolved for this type of environment. Often sinking and constantly digging itself out of this frozen hell but Viper was able to reach the Archius within the hour.
((I'm curious at this point: I could either give you all periodic updates on what's going with Yanim and her new "friends" as they take an assload of revenge out on some people, or I can switch over to playing as Kr and give only the occasional glimpse to the other story as it unfolds. TBH I'd rather do the former, but I'm not sure about your level of interest in a side story and I don't want to annoy you all.))
[I wont mind it, but that's just me.]
"Pippin, while I want to share your level of optimism, we have to face facts that were in a bad position." He received a notification on his HUD. "Looks like Viper and Iska are back on board. Let's hope we can resolve this entire situation."
Lion leaned on the cell bars. "We'll get through this, my old man used to tell me every day that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. He's been right so far." Said Lion to Dwan, Varn, Kira and Pippin.
Pippin shook his head. "We have to be optimistic, morale is...quite important."
"Yeah, you're right." Varn leaned back on the wall. "We can't beat them alone though. I may know where to get some help though."
"Fine I guess. Once everyone is boarded I suggest we move out of this planet. Find some allies, make sure we're ready." Kira stressed enough. She contacted her ship, ensuring they pack up.
Pippin nodded. "Good, I'm sure everyone on this crew has contacts. At this point, we need to use every asset avalible to us. I can contact some friends if we need somewhere to hide out, and I'm sure some of the more...disreputable folks here have some more interesting favours they can call in."
[video=youtube;_VJ1flRKjqQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VJ1flRKjqQ[/video]
The clouds above began to part, the ship rising ever higher as the blazing sunlight hidden beyond illuminated the minimally-equipped but well-maintained interior. Yanim had watched the horizon as it fell away, reminded of her departure from Kanadys a year prior. It wasn't just the climate that felt familiar, it was the sense of stagnation and insecurity disappearing, and the entry of possibility and self-sufficiency. She had changed a lot during her time on the Archius, but one thing that had remained constant was her unwillingness to allow her fate to be decided by anyone but herself.
Neasha's hand trembled as she held the stick- the kanads behind her still had their guns at the ready, but she was afraid to turn and speak with them. Not a word was spoken until the ship was safely outside of the atmosphere. "Where are we going?" she finally asked. Rask and Virin looked to Yanim, who remained silent for a moment as she mulled over the question herself. "Please don't hurt me;" Neasha continued, "I know I'm breaking the law but please don't put me in prison. You can have all my money and my ship; I don't care. I'll start over, please!"
"What the hell are you talking about?" Virin demanded. Rask suddenly stifled a sneer and looked to Yanim, who suddenly realized what was happening and was also nearly brought to laughter. She decided to play along.
"Bribery is still a crime, even if you've already surrendered your rights!" Yanim shouted, barely able to sound serious. Virin looked on in utter bewilderment.
"Oh gods," Neasha mumbled under her breath. "Don't you know I've been set up? I never wanted to be a smuggler- they told me I had to do it or they'd send people after me, please believe me!"
Rask sneered. "Believe you, [I]smuggler?[/I] Even if you were forced," he said with exaggerated hostility, "it's not like we care who sent you. We're putting you in a deep hole, [I][B]forever.[/B][/I]"
Yanim and Rask both burst out in laughter. Shocked, Neasha finally turned around to see that only Virin still had his gun out, and was shaking his head in annoyance. "We're not arresting you," he said, having finally realized what was going on. "We're not even with State Security, not anymore. We just needed a ride."
"Wha... what?"
"You should have just taken my money when I offered," Yanim said, having straightened back up. "Now we get to ride for free. Like I said before, it was nothing but your loss."
"You... shitheads! How dare you!"
Virin finally cracked a smile as the other two began sneering again. "I liked you better when you were kissing up to us." Neasha fumed at the remark.
"So now you've got my ship. Are you taking the cargo too?"
"That depends," Yanim replied. "What's the cargo?"
"Fuck you, that's what!" Virin shoved his pistol into her chest and repeated Yanim's question. "Okay, okay, gods, you're the [I]worst.[/I] Basically, it's drugs. Like, all the drugs."
Yanim's eyes lit up.
"So we're headed for Duroma, then?" Virin asked.
"Keh! Fuck that," Rask replied. "What kind of business is that? It's a saturated market. I say we take them to-"
"Mercury," Neasha interrupted. The others paused and waited for an explanation. "It's in the Sol system, and it's a good place for dead drops. There's a huge temperature difference between the light side and the dark side, so you drop your cargo in a sensitive container next to the terminator."
Rask mused, "so then your buyer has to cough up to get the location of the goods, and if they try to take you-"
"The goods burn up with no evidence left behind, and everyone loses." Neasha sighed and crossed her arms, wondering how long she'd have to put up with the kanad invaders. "Is there anything else?"
"Do you have any kagakitazh?" Yanim asked.
"Like 800 kilos of it," Neasha replied, throwing her hands into the air. "Go get high, please, and then take a nap in the airlock."
Yanim smiled. "I'll be back in a minute," she said. Virin rolled his eyes while Rask took a seat.
Sertum and the rest of the Auditors opened the metal door, operating the small circuitry around the area. “Well that was fun, very nice of you to kill the Captain Sertum.” Folter placed his hand onto Sertum’s shoulder, Sertum turned and pushed him against the wall. Each one seeing Sertum react become surprised.
“What do you take me for?” Sertum questioned as Folter chuckled. “An Auditor, just like we should be, men of war.” Folter answered. “We serve the highest order, but don’t think we can do what we please.” Sertum said slowly, making sure he actually understands what needed to be done. “Is that so? Then please remind me why did our associates had to die after their duty looting the Archius failed?” Folter called him out on.
“Even I don’t go that far when you think about it.” Folter insisted Sertum enjoyed doing this as an excuse to justify killing. For the greater good perhaps. “Ever imagine the possibilities being sought out by others? Witnesses cannot be allowed to tread forward.”
“There is such thing as mind wipe.” Folter corrected, Sertum turned and walked away from the conversation. Folter straightened his posture, placing his claw scratching against his own armor. “Embrace who you are Sertum! There is no shame in being a killer.” Folter gestured outwards. The others walked away as they carried on to their business. Mariahlus crossed her arms, looking at Sertum.
“Some loose ends should be tied up regardless. I don’t blame you. Besides, we have our own lives to tend to now that the deed is done.” Mariahlus said. She was unsure of the outcome and their own future. But seeing how HarkArk is now in shambles she could rest easily for now. "You are correct." Sertum said to her turning his head. He stared outside of the transition process to their bases. "We are not men of war despite Folter's insistence that is who we are." She shook her head at the mention of Folter.
"Folter has a blood lust view on things, it does not surprise me." She placed her hand to her chest looking down. She wanted to change the subject, to her Folter was a harbinger of sadistic morals, nothing more nothing less.
"What do you think will happen once we arrive?" Mariahlus asked, eager to know. "It is hard to determine, I assume the Principals will greet us after this assignment. After that, I do not know." Sertum admitted. Mariahlus leaned against the railing, looking above. "I hope we finally get the rest we need. There are so many things I must attend to." Mariahlus suggested.
"Let us hope that will be the case for all."
Lion gestured towards the cell door. "So are you going to let us out or are we supposed to stay here while the rest of you save the galaxy?"
"You see Lion, I'm under direct orders to keep you here. I'm sure that Viper would chew my ass out if I were to put my palm on the lock mechanism like this" He places his hand on the palm reader."And I really shouldn't look directly into the eye scanner to confirm, like this." He looked directly at the eye scanner. A second later the cell door opened. "Huh, would you look at that. The door must have malfunctioned."
Pippin turned back to Kira. "We should go talk to Lion."
Lion smiled. "We better make a ship-wide inspection to make sure that all the other doors are okay." Said Lion jokingly as he carefully stepped out of the cell.
He looked at Dwan and motioned for him to follow before looking at Varn. "It feels good to know that at least one member of this crew knows that we need to act quickly if we're to survive the current anti-HarkArk crisis."
"Don't blame the others. Everyone is going through a difficult time right now." He paused for a second "Since the cell doors appear to be malfunctioning maybe I should move you to another secure place. Like say, the armory."
The Omega in the other cell started yelling "Hey! What about me? Aren't you gonna move me?"
"One second." Varn turned around and walked to his cell. He reached through the bars and grabbed the prisoner by the back of the head and slammed him against the bars, knocking him out cold. "I really forgot about him. We should probably drop him off somewhere when we get the chance."
Dwan followed Lion carefully out of the cell. "We should do a crew meeting, figure out what to do.", Dwan suggested.
Lion nodded. "Good thinking." He turned to Varn. "Take the lead."
"Right. I'll try to setup a meeting." Varn opened a secure channel to all members of the crew. "Attention everyone. We need to discuss a lot of things right now. Including and not limited to our new arrivals. So would everyone please meet us in the armory." Varn looked at the two. "Let's go."
honk HONK *fart*
"So," Neasha began after a long silence, "if you aren't SS, then who are you?"
"Former SS," Virin answered, dryly.
"A bunch of losers," Rask added. "Our leader left us to die when we were captured by humans during our last raid. Then things turned real bad on their ship while we were still in the brig."
"Lucky us," Virin commented. "They were going to kill us. Take a look at the Lieutenant's face; they were going to make it slow and painful." Neasha looked closely at Rask, who had previously darkened his left goggle to hide some of the damage Varn had left behind. He dialed the brightness back up, revealing an eye which was swollen shut and discolored and the dried blood which coated his cheek and part of the glass. His ear notched like a cat that had been in a fight, and his smile, which he bore to hide his own disgust, revealed his missing fang. He darkened the lens again.
Neasha was frightened by the split visage. "Why did they..."
"It wasn't just a raid," Virin explained. "The GKVR doesn't just do searches and seizures. Our job is to hurt people- humiliate people. Did you hear about the explosion at Hanza Fuel Farms?" Neasha nodded.
"We were there," Rask said with a hint of condemnation. "It was our fault."
Neasha gasped. "The news said it was an act of terror!"
Virin shook his head. "The Colonel, our leader, planned the entire mission; Rask and I had no say, but we talked in our cell about the whole operation after it was through, when we were locked up together. It didn't make any sense to us; we wouldn't have let the bomb explode. When all was said and done there was a lot of damage done all around. Nobody won."
Neasha began to understand why the humans had taken their anger out on them. These two men deserved to be locked up. "So now that you're free, are you going back home?"
"The GKVR doesn't allow surrender," Rask and Virin answered in unison. "We'd be imprisoned, maybe killed," Rask added. "There's no [I]home.[/I] Yanim's in the same position; that's why she broke us out."
"What did she do?" Neasha wondered aloud.
Virin sneered. "Anti-Collectivist activities, membership in a rogue private-interest operation, resisting arrest, attempted murder of a law enforcement officer, and accessory to fourteen counts of murder againt law enforcement officers. At least that's what I would charge her with if I were still working with the SS. There's more than enough there for the death penalty."
Neasha was stunned, unsure of what half of those charges actually implied. "That's... That's a lot."
"Yeah. GKVR doesn't like it when people fight back," Rask remarked, "even if all she did was defend herself. So what about you, serek? Who's setting [I]you[/I] up?" he asked with a rotten smile.
Neasha hesitated. "Nobody... I lied."
"Keh, we already knew that. You're a terrible liar, and we both know it's just Virin's gun keeping that knife in your boot where it belongs. Ever kill anyone with it?"
Neasha shook her head. "I shot someone once."
Rask crossed his arms, glancing victoriously at Virin. "How about we be friends instead?"
"Why in the gods' names-"
"Because," Virin answered in his typical deadpan, "you wouldn't have lost your ship if you had friends."
"C'mon," Rask goaded. "We're all lowlifes here- killers, thieves, schemers, and drug peddlers. Real scum, know what I mean?" Neasha glared at him. "Don't give me that look. You chose this life."
Yanim reentered the room, a large plastic bag filled with tazh in her hand, leaking a trail of rust-colored powder. Her smile was goofy and her eyes were glazed over. Hoisting the bag up as if to toast, "Yashta, kadaren!" she cheered. Rask limply saluted from his reclined position. Virin grinned.
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