"Well Miss I'm so glad you asked. The answer is well...You appeal to be strangely familiar to one of my friend's....Friends. Simply put it." The operative answered in a quite active and weirdly, happy tone towards her as the rest of Argos team had entered the port station and were all slowly making their way around the room with eyes on the Belladonna and it's rather miss mash crew, keeping their weapons holstered as they stand guard for both their commander and potentially, their businesses partners.
The operative put his hand on his sides, giving a quick look behind the female Kanad and at her companions before looking back at the supposed captain.
"Now, that ain't the only reason I came by, just to give you a good hello. I'm also in search of...interesting individuals for my benefactors. In short, business, clean and simple." He continued, the white eyes of the ballistic mask with a roughly painted red stripe from up to bottom met with the Kanad's eyes after he finished speaking.
"A friend's friend..? That doesn't count for much, I assure you," Yanim grimly replied, her tail lazily swaying back and forth behind her. "Some of my old 'friends' are up to no good. So I asked you, 'who are you?' Will you answer that question, or am I expected to do business with a masked stranger?"
As she spoke, Rask remained fixated on the figure before him while Virin scanned the room. His eyes widened as he noticed more of the dark-uniformed soldiers appearing among the crowd. [I]So this is what it's like...[/I] he thought to himself as he remembered the black uniform he had worn for the SS. He was about to raise warning when he realized his boss already knew about the threat, the optical package in her tail coming into use as she swayed it back and forth, scanning the room and marking targets.
Virin swallowed hard. He remembered the pop-out machine guns he helped install into the Belladonna's underbelly back on Terra and knew that Yanim hadn't forgotten them. But given who they were facing, the gambit would probably fail. He said a silent atheist's prayer in hopes that the situation would remain under control.
The operative took an moment to look at downwards as he raised his hands up, slowly taking a step back before resuming eye contact.
"Heh, for right. Where's my matters, I'm 592,Gamma phalanx,Puma class Panther operative in the Argos PSOC or as my comrades like to call me, red." He said as he swayed his head to it's right, looking over the Captain's shoulder towards the Kanad that had just cleared his throat.
"I analogize for putting you and your crew in....this rather unfavorable position here. Let me ensure you that I nor any of my colleagues have the intent to harm you. We're just carrying an proposition, that's all." 592 stated as he met back with the Captain's eyes, the two robotic overseers begin to slowly walk forward out of crowd and behind 592, keeping their movements visible as they approach the vessel. The other Panther operatives stood their ground, weapons still hosteled with their hands to the side as they kept watch both the bystanders of the crowd and on the Belladonna and it's crew.
"Argos..." Yanim repeated, having relaxed slightly after the proper introduction, but still alert. The name didn't ring any bells, but at Rask's insistence she took him absolutely seriously. She motioned for her crewmates to put their guns away before moving forward. "You can call me Yanim, or Terika, either is fine, Red. Just don't call me anything else you may have heard, understand?" She gave a sly smile.
"Sure thing," Red replied, as chipper as before.
"So what's your offer, Red?"
((DG and I are going to bed, will continue tomorrow))
"Renegade huh? Good choice, good choice. Shame that Bruta is here." Varn split Iska's bet into two parts. One for The Renegade and the second for Bruta being in the first 200 casualties. "As for me, I'm betting on the Raven for survival and the Black Dragon to bite the dust." He wondered when they would reach their destination.
---
Seth looked through the list of names that Varn had transferred over to him. He raised an eyebrow at some of them. "Hod did these crazy bastards stay alive so long?" Mercury and Noble were organizing the troops, so he had some time to himself. After some though, he send his picks for the bet. He got up from the captain's chair and walked outside the "Fang". The Wolfpack was being organized into small squads. Heavy weapon, sniper and assault teams were being formed. A portion of the troops were put on vehicle duty. The few hover tanks they brought along would be of great help. All they needed was the attack order from Saw.
Lion chuckled and tossed some credits to Varn. "I'll bite, my bet is on Renegade." He said as the crew waited for the transport to take them to Saw.
The transport landed on the same platform as the crew dispatched themselves to the ground. The transport deactivated as the pilots took a break. They quickly entered to Harken Saw's office. Harken Saw stared at them and rose from his chair.
"Before we greet and act buddy buddy. I ask you, all of you. Do you at least have a piece of the Oracle before they got to us?" Harken Saw asked them.
"Good, I'll was thinking that you're never ask. Miss Yanim." Red said cheerfully before making an quick chuckle as he let his fall arms down to his sides and spread his legs sightly outwards.
"From what our...friend had about you was only positive, very fast on your fleet and extremely resourceful in both mechanical and hostile situations along possessing a great set of skills in most various other fields. Sad to see what could have been a great asset to Collective being framed for that unfortunate incident on the fuel station, State Security is oh so dedicated to spinning such a glorious tail of self sacrifice and noble courage to protect the image of an rather insane and cruel officer.....But enough of this idle cit chatter, let's get down to real meat of the steak here." He stated as his tone begun get more serious as the two mechanical agents walked upside him, leaning in towards Yanim.
"We looking for several potential candidates for an future contract after we fix this embarrassing mess that Saw has put himself into, let me just say that you're past experiences with..an very prominent party have already put yourself above the rest of the competition." Red turned to look towards his left superior as it step aside him.
"Interjection; Yanim-Captain. Your business with us will be well compensated for, if so chose do so." The robotic figure said in it's cold and janky voice to her.
"Question: Yanim-Captain. Any further information requested?" The drone asked after a second after the other had finished it's words.
Yanim's smirk helped to hide her uncertainty. It wasn't clear how these men knew so much about the GKVR raid and Hanza; a number of potential candidates rolled through her mind which might have served as the common link between the two organizations. And with so many men on hand, were they trying to coerce her? Or merely displaying the legitimacy of their offer through a show of strength? The mask on Red's face made it impossible to determine the sincerity of his flattery. It all amounted to a zero-sum.
"We're willing; money is money, after all," Yanim replied after thinking it over for a while. "But," she said with a skeptical gaze, "we'll need the 'contract' in print, and that agreement must be cancelable if there aren't any outlying debts. We'll also need an advance guarantee payment if it involves a lot of travel, as you might expect, so that we can pay additional salaries and equipment costs. I'm sure we can discuss the exact terms after we've had our way with the Crimson Son."
"Terms, acceptable; Yanim-Captain." The left drone replied to her. "Conclusion; Yanim-Captain. Thank you for you're dealings with the Argos PSOC, We hope to hear from you." The right one said again in the last order as last time the machines spoke, slowly departing after there talk with the Belladonna's Captain.
Red turned back to face Yanim as the rest of his team begin leaving the area. ''Sorry for my benefactors behavior, cold shoulder and all but there good when you get face to face with them." Red stated before taking an quick back over to the rest of comrades.
"Anyways, good luck with in this upcoming clusterfuck. Don't worry about crazy shit like this when you're working along side us, we always clean our own messes with our own hands." He remarked as he left to join the rest of his team.
Lion shook his head. "We were unable to visit any of the three planets you mentioned, so no, we don't have any piece of the oracle."
As the many mercenary groups and PMCs, as well as the numerous renegades and contractors, bartered and argued with one another, one group rose up and yelled at everyone to look at who was coming through.
Everyone did so, and to their surprise, saw the Golden Wave! Having arrived at about the same time as everyone else, they had gathered all their ships together to avoid any potential strikes against them. They were bringing the full force of the Wave, now numbering near the 500 number mark. The group everyone was seeing consisted of about 40 people, including the crew of their head ship, the W-01. Almost everyone started yelling at them, antagonizing them for freeing their slaves, many of whom are now part of the Wave itself. Aver Lagul motioned the group to move forward, ignoring the many rabble-rousers. Then, out of the blue, a Gold Dust jumped in front of them, threatening to shoot them. Lagul motioned Olv to deal with the man. Olv rushed at the man and used a Saiyan CQC maneuver on him, disarming him. He pushed him forward and decked him in the face, causing him to fly into the crowd unconscious. "For someone who can't go Super, you can still pack a mean punch.", Lagul told Olv, patting him on the back. She motioned the group to continue forward.
Harken Saw stared straight at the crew, he placed his hands against his hips as he was silent. "Well, that's unfortunate. Very unfortunate. Heck, I'm not even mad. I'm just surprised." He paced with a tone of dissatisfaction.
"Very surprised that you've managed to fail to retrieve one single piece. Is that so hard?" Harken Saw shook his head as another person came into the mix. Agent Kira.
"Mr. Saw." Kira said. Harken Saw looked at her then to the crew. "Agent Greene, you were ordered to watch over the Archius Crew. I specifically gave them an order to savage those three planets. Not only were they not there but I'm not seeing any pieces around. What exactly have you been doing?" He'd asked her. Kira give him a straight face as he wandered.
"Extreme circumstances: After we disembarked from Termina Central I watched over the crew as they went to Hanza Fuel Farms. The State Security came and took full control over the station. The situation was extremely dangerous on my own. Hanza blew up and we had no idea what went on inside." Kira explained. Harken Saw insisted she continue by gesturing. "Then the Crimson Son called the Archius through a video, a Kherigan. Surprisingly he was left unscathed. I insisted we rescue this man before the Crimson Son did any harm." Kira lied on the last part, it was Jeremy that wanted to go after them. To prevent any more damage from Jeremy's name she took the blame. The last incident on Hanza most likely took a toll on Jeremy and made him cynical til he died.
"And you fell for it? Was this Kherigan of any importance to this mission at all?" Harken Saw asked, receiving silence.
"No."
"Then why did you insist on rescuing this insignificant person?" He raised his voice, walking closer.
"He was an innocent caught in the crossfire, I felt that it was my duty to ensure he lived." Kira answered, begging her consequence wasn't too severe.
"Oh, your duty is to ensure innocent lives are out of the burner. Is that correct? If it meant risking tooth and neck and not to mention violating these operations?" He pressured her but she didn't answer. Harken Saw stared, narrowing his eyebrows towards her.
"You disappoint me Kira."
"Hey, it was the right thing to do!" Pippin accidently said alloud.
Isk gritted her teeth whilst Saw was blasting Kira. She wanted to tell Saw to fuck off but realised there were bigger things to worry about. Suddenly Pippin had an outburst and Iska punshed him on the shoulder, giving him a frown.
Virin removed his cap and ran his hand through his hair, sighing with frustration. Gataska, having watched the whole exchange while understanding very little of it, looked on him with concern in her eyes. "[What happened?]"
"[It was nothing,]" Virin replied with a sour inflection as he began to reiterate the entire conversation. "[We lucked out...]"
Rask stood up, having knelt to regain his composure after the stressful situation. He cleared his throat and spoke with a business-like tone uncharacteristic to him, "those mercenaries, if you weren't aware, are Phoenix Corps working under a new name. There was no time to explain before, but the GKVR had information which led us to believe that they would be resurfacing soon in a big way. Those uniforms, the equipment, they were dead giveaways. They're definitely back and they're nothing to fuck around with."
"So are you saying we shouldn't deal with them?" Neasha asked. "I'd be fine if that's the case. I'm not used to these big galactic players and we're a brand new outfit. Besides, they probably only want the boss," she said, indicating toward Yanim.
"Well..." Rask reflected on the details, tipping his head back and forth. "Keh. It depends on the, uh, 'specifics,' of the contract. If we can get favorable terms we might take away our first profitable job after this HarkArk-Crimson Son business. Let's just not get in over our heads. What do you think, boss?"
Yanim pulled a vial of tazh out of her coat pocket with a trembling hand and theatrically snorted a heavy amount before answering. "Let's worry about one thing a time," she said with a sneer. The other two gave her a questioning look. With a sigh, Yanim elaborated, "it's not that I don't care. It's just that we have a major obstacle to clear, and we should wait until we know exactly how we perform as a crew before me make our next move, that's all. In the meantime, you all look like you could use a hit," she said, shaking the vial between her fingers, stirring up the powder inside.
Harken Saw turned to Pippin, walking over him as he took a close look on his face. Harken Saw wizened his eyes. "And look where we are now. Back to square one, perhaps you cannot understand what is at stake here." Saw folded his arms behind his back. He tilted his head and sighed.
"We cannot allow bastards like the Crimson Son take advantage of us. The Oracle will determine the balance of power among this Galaxy. If you do not have what it takes to do what's necessary then do not waste my time." Harken Saw stated, he slowly turned around, facing the front of his office. He fiddled with his fingers, tapping them gently on the desk.
"You know at first I thought this infinite source of power was to kept on a leash, keep it stored for eternity. Now that I think about it. No man should strive to have such power." He clenched his hand turned around. "We saw many foes that desire it, I know the Kanads would love to have it. Now the Crimson Son is near its goal." He stated at a whim.
"Once we take the Oracle back, we must destroy it. There must be a way how."
"With all due respect, sir..." Said Lion as he stepped forward. "... Our biggest concern should be the elimination of the Crimson Son. They've killed numerous people and will continue to do so untill they're satisfied or perished."
He gestured towards the crew. "If you want to continue your treasure hunt then be my quest, but know that it will be a suicide mission for whoever you send to retrieve the pieces. So, I really hope you have a plan because otherwise we're out. I've already died twice and I'm not overly fond of doing so a third time and I'd bet my shiny ass that nobody else on this crew would like to walk in blindly and get massacred by a bunch of gearheads."
Lion stared at Saw and then at the crew. "If it's of any interest to you, I have a plan. That is assuming you want to listen."
The Sanghvi stood quite as Saw shouted down towards the crew in his own arrogance, Viper stood forward next to it's captain.
"I agree with my Captain Eastlindht, your mad rush has left you're empire in ruins and countless of your privateer floating cold in deep space. Let us plan with reason and not haste." Viper stated in support of Lion.
"I have my own plan at hand. We can have the best of both worlds." Harken Saw spoke up he turned to his desk and walked towards it as he snapped his fingers. A chip assembled in his hand. "Remember this thing?" He showed it to the rest.
"Thanks to your delivery along with other... unknown allies. This is a final gambit. I've been waiting to use this as a last resort."
"So, what is the grand plan then?"
Harken Saw observed the chip similar to a Christmas gift. He took a step backwards and revealed a computer terminal behind the room, akin to something that could fit within a small room. He inserted the chip into a nearby slot. He waited patiently as the terminal loaded up. He nodded with satisfaction like a king.
"Decrypt the damn thing." Harken Saw remarked. He noted the fact it would take a few minutes he looked at all of them. "You're right about one thing, the Crimson Son should be eliminated." He snapped his fingers once again, showing several top secret files a year ago. A holographic showed a devastated planet turned into a death world.
"In 2381, our controlled planet Corus was hit with a massive assault by an unknown force which were presumed to be the Crimson Son. Later confirmed when we green-lit covert operations. An object was hidden underneath the crust. The orb." Harken Saw explained.
"The orb was barely escorted out of the planet. We needed a solution. This is why you were assigned this job in the first place."
"They're dangerous people willing to [i]convert[/i] anyone to their own will."
"Go on." Said Lion as he crossed his arms.
"I could [i]go on[/i] about a lot of things." Harken Saw rolled his eyes. "Abductions, killing people, specifically blowing up a planet. Which is why they're quote on quote dangerous." He gestured with his two index fingers.
"We already know they're dangerous, what we don't know is how you plan on stopping them."
"Once that chip is decrypted, we will seek out their bases through our forces. Wipe them out completely and expose the truth. People will know of their doings."
"I see." Said Lion as he looked at the crew before turning back to Saw. "How much longer will it take to decrypt?"
"Mr Saw, while your supposed "Ace in the hole" is being being decrypted. Why don't share anything else important about the Crimson Son's capabilities or possibly, their ideology that dives them in their attacks?" Viper asked as the terminal works to unlock the chip.
As Dwan listened to Saw, there was a nagging feeling at the back of his head, trying to tell him something. Then he remembered.
"Mr. Saw, I'm sure you recall the meeting we had with you a few weeks ago. Now, as far as I recall, you gave everyone attending that meeting the opportunity to ask for a personal request from you. I asked if I could save my request for a later time, which you allowed. I feel as though it is time for me to use that IOU.
I will not be asking for anything for the battle at hand, as I believe anything I request regarding that would be pointless, as I imagine you are working hard in making sure we are prepared. That's why I decided to ask for the following; a memento, a keepsake of sorts, to remind me of my times working under this crew and under this company. However, the mementos I want are the weapons of any fallen Auditor; their weapons hanging on the side of my wall would remind me of the good fight we fought for the galaxy, no, the universe.", Dwan told Saw. He leaned over to Saw in order to whisper to him.
"Now, regarding the Oracle, I feel that I might be of assistance in getting rid of it. To put it bluntly, I'm the person on this crew who has the least documented files when I joined. My health documents only contained visual information, my history was lacking, only showing my recent activities prior to joining, and the rest of my files were, and still are, sparse in detail. You can check this yourself. The men of your company that employed me on Terra just wanted a bartender to be attending this cruise and rushed my documents to do so. You should have them reprimanded for allowing someone to join this crew without the sufficient amount of info needed. Once this mission is over and the voyage of the Archius XI has ended, you will most likely never hear of me again. That's why I believe I'm the most suited candidate in finding a way to rid this universe of the Oracle. Trust me, I will find a way.", Dwan whispered to Saw, hoping to be of assistance.
The decryption was complete as soon as Harken Saw was about to speak up. He turned and widened his eyes. "At long last."
"Mr Saw, while your supposed "Ace in the hole" is being decrypted. Why don't you share anything else important about the Crimson Son's capabilities or possibly, their ideology that dives them in their attacks?" Viper asked.
"Their capabilities are extraordinary to say the least. Since the take over of Odenia Court, I've immediately found out they planted a compact bomb that glowed the brightest violet I've ever seen.
After we escaped there was no trace of life. No to mention their troops have some form of protection utilizing the same properties. If this source is to tell me something it might be another element into their advanced technology.
As for ideology goes I can tell you straight up that any syndicate would love to further their interests with this Oracle. Power is all, and their ideology might have some form of "honor" but they're just like any other crime syndicate. Albeit more threatening."
Dwan took him away for a second. Telling him about his bartender qualities along with the request. He spoke about the Auditors. He had told Arenax about these Auditors.
"Tell you what, you have my permission to eliminate them and take whatever weapons they have on them. They do not deserve to live." Harken Saw gave his approval.
"Now, regarding the Oracle, I feel that I might be of assistance in getting rid of it..." Dwan let on about this, Harken Saw was hit with a barrel full of interest. As Dwan finished his proposal, Harken Saw tilted his head. A bartender that knows how to get rid of an ancient artifact. Harken Saw dwelled on this thought. Nodding slowly. A small leak into his train of thought opened a realization.
[QUOTE]"Believe me Saw, you aren't the only one who thinks that.", Dwan commented on Saw's reluctance.[/QUOTE]
Beneath that mask he curved his lips. And smiled.
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