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Post by Jenny on Feb 27, 2011 22:30:51 GMT -5
Nasira, they call me. New life, new name. I was once a nobody, a ward of my uncle. Selling stolen scrap metal gave us a meager living in a shithole of a house beside a junkyard. It was not an ideal place for a growing youth, but I saw possibilities in what others saw as useless garbage. My uncle did not bother sending me to school so I taught myself how to build things. Make things work. Waste not, want not. That's where the space Captain Lucent Harbinger found me. A skin and bones girl of only sixteen. The thought of living inside his spaceship entranced me. Imagine how I felt at the thought of being surrounded by technology. And I would be able to dive into the guts of it, seeing how everything all came together. I was soon promoted to ship engineer, so adept was I at fixing things, patching up parts of the ship once thought unfixable. I still pinch myself to see if I am awake or dreaming. No, this is very real.
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Post by KD on Feb 27, 2011 23:12:35 GMT -5
Living today without a way To understand the weight of the world Faded and torn, old and forlorn My weak and hoping heart
For the child, for the light For the heart I once had I'll believe and foresee Everything I could ever be
For the heart I'll never have For the child forever gone The music flows, because it longs For the heart I once had Shadow is an old companion of Ghufu's, who traveled with him for a long while until at one point she was lost, trapped in a primal shadow realm for decades and possibly centuries. Ghufu sought her out and freed her, bringing her to the Rhinocerous. Shadow originally hailed from a tribal culture that was wiped out and enslaved by a larger empire. She's had to adapt to technology and machines over the centuries but can still get easily confused by them. She has a basic understanding of machines and likes flying a great deal but dealing with the modern technology around her can sometimes be a bit overwhelming. She still wears the scars ritualistically carved into her flesh from her people and has solid black eyes with no pupils, also a trait of her dead people. Officially, Shadow has no title. Like her name, she's a shadow in the background, a deadly weapon that moves around the side lines. She's a vicious fighter who wields power over the shadows with a bloodlust and wild streak that has never left her, making her capable of horrific acts of violence if she loses control. Because of this, she's extremely withdrawn, the only people she's anywhere near close to is Curtis, her mentor, and Lucent.
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Post by aetherwalker on May 10, 2011 14:52:04 GMT -5
Subject: 1000563472 4030 SDY Name: Lucent Heironimus Harbinger Class: Prisoner level AAA Status: Prisoner currently is at large and considered highly dangerous and an Enemy of the State in Empire space. All agents are advised not to engage. Observe and report status and location to the Bureau of Alien Reclamation Service. Background: Subject is 25 years old and male. Incarcerated in Maximus Prison at age 7 for aiding in subversive acts against the Galactic Empire of Solaris with his parents. Because of the subject's young age, he was selected for labor internment at the facility instead of the standard penalty: death. Subject rebellious and uncooperative until facility staff deemed him a danger to both himself and other prisoners. Remanded to Ward C for the Criminally Insane at age 15. There he underwent Personality Reconditioning Therapy three times weekly for the next 6 years until 4026 Solarian Date Year when he was deemed rehabilitated and fit for type D work class citizenship at Reinig Station, Orion System. Subject was discovered to be demi-human on route to Reinig Station and servicemen aboard the E.S.S. Elba attempted to subdue and detain but subject exhibited lethal force, leaving no survivors. Surveillance cameras recorded subject escaping offship with a sleeper cell of the Demi-human Liberation Front, Enemy of the State Kreushef, Dieter. Reinig Station
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Post by aetherwalker on May 11, 2011 11:31:14 GMT -5
"I fucked up, D," Luc told his XO unhappily. He pressed his forehead against the starlit window, eyes squinted shut, a sour look on his face. "The raid's a tainted victory. Though we got the artifact, we lost many of our best people and it's my fault. I overestimated our readiness, the plan was shitty!" "Buck up, kiddo," Deiter replied. The brawny man stood over the tactical holo projector, scrutinizing it. "You couldn't have known about the seraph, and I don't ever wanna hear you talking that garbage in front of the crew. What's done is done, so suck it up and get your head back in the game!" "You're right, D, thanks." Luc took a deep breath and turned to join him. "What's our next move?" "We've got the artifact now, it's time to got shut the door on that space hole! After that, we'll have all the time in the universe to deal with our enemies down on Solaris. Can you believe the hole's in Orion sector? Yeah, Reinig's gone. The hole ate it and the station's been overrun with nasties. No time to lick our wounds, even, at the rate the corruption is spreading. You go rally the troops, man, and I'll get the Rhino moving." Deiter tapped his comm. "Deiter to Helm: Start warming up the mass propulsion drives and set course for Orion sector, it's time to kick some ass!" "Psh!" Lucent grinned and headed out the door. * * * * * Lucent found Nasira in Engineering, at the very aft of the Rhino, fiddling around in the guts of the food synthesizer generator core, up to her arms in lubricant. She was muttering to herself about some 'damned shoddy, third-rate catalyst induction matrix!' He gave a little rap on the door with a knucle, smiling at her grumbling. "Nasira." he cleared his throat, not waiting for her to look up. "I know you haven't had much time to settle in since we recruited you off Tau Sigma Nine, but I have a special project for you. I don't suppose you know anything about weapons systems? Hmm? Well, most of our ship's weapons systems- gunnery, mines, missiles, and the like are adequate but not really space-worthy when you put them next to Solarian models..." He got to the point, "one of our tech teams was able to steal some prototype weapons plans from the Pleroma Station database in the raid. I need you to take a look at these..." He handed her a data chip. "But there's a twist here: if at all possible, I'd like you to mod these for amplified damage or shielding penetration." His eyes flashed a little, then, and he grinned a sharp little grin, leaning forward conspiratorily. "don't breathe a word of this to anyone. Not even your engineering teams." He laid a slender hand on her shoulder for a moment, signalling his confidence in her. Then, Luc headed out, making for the transport up to CityWide, the ship's residential and 'downtown' areas. He had a date with Shadow tonight.
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Post by KD on May 11, 2011 15:23:36 GMT -5
Forgot about her until Ghufu reminded me XD: Eva Sante: An old friend of Deiter and Curtis's, Eva Sante is a galaxy renowned club entertainer and high class courtesan. She's also the only thing the Empire considers worse than a demi-human: a full blooded human who sides with them. With her popularity, charm, and travels across the galaxy, Eva has a wide network of informants and information trafficking, making her an excellent double agent. She is one of the Rhinoceros's main source of information from inside Empire space and helping demi humans escape the clutches of the Bureau of Alien Reclamation. So far, no one has been able to trace anything back to her and she's covered her tracks well.
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Post by KD on May 11, 2011 15:51:52 GMT -5
One of Shadow's habits that seriously creeped people out...and she creeped quite a few of them out...was how often she just stood absolutely still.
When she did so standing in one of CityWide's large windows looking out into space, as she was now, with her back to the main populace, her black clothing and hair made her almost invisible.
From behind, it was easy to mistake her for a human. But the eyes that peered thoughtfully into the depths of space were black on black, the sclera only slightly lighter than the pure black iris. Her lips were naturally dark and her pale skin seemed to carry an odd tint, as if shadows moved beneath her skin the same way they moved around her.
Strictly speaking, she hadn't been born anywhere near Empire space or its surrounding galaxies, which didn't change the fact she couldn't be human and never could have been.
She stirred, turning away from the window, breaking the illusion of invisibility as the movement shifted her coat aside revealing lines of pale flesh and a sharp face void of expression.
There was nothing to suggest she was worried about Lucent but she was. She was a warrior first and foremost, she knew how easily things could suddenly go wrong...and they did...but you didn't have to be a mind reader to see Lucent blamed himself at least partly for the lives lost in the raid.
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Post by Jenny on May 12, 2011 17:21:55 GMT -5
At the arrival of Lucent in engineering, Nasira grabbed a grubby towel and swiped at her arms to try in vain to get some of the lubricant off of her fur. It only ended up in slick, ruffled fur. She shrugged a little. The only way to get this out was a good scrubbing with a liquid of her own design, a rather powerful degreaser. She turned to Lucent, quite intrigued. She flexed her hands eagerly even before he handed her the data chip. She broke out in a gleeful grin and supressed a squeal of joy.
"I'll get right on it... after I get done fixing this hunk of junk." She didn't really mean it, she looked at the inner workings as the beginnings of a beautiful child. Right now it was an ugly catapillar she simply needed to coax into a beautiful butterfly. After she was done with it, it would be even better than new.
She looked at the chip, turning it this way and that. She looked up at Lucent, a serious look crossed her face. "I won't breathe a word."
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Post by aetherwalker on May 15, 2011 3:20:04 GMT -5
Lucent strolled out of the elevator and onto CityWide's elegant promenade, overlooking level after level of cafe, mall, park, and residential areas. This was the top level, the observatory, where one could enjoy the view into space and meditate on the stars. Right now, there were few people up here, so he had little trouble spotting Shadow. Luc was dressed in dark slacks and a green silk shirt which complimented his green eyes and blonde hair. He strode toward her holding a single red rose, smiling. "Hiya, babe!" Was what he said when she turned around. Shadow was amazing. She was not human, and yet not demi-human either. Last of her race and brought here by Ghufu. That alone meant she was a person of note. The seraph chose his traveling companions well. All of them seemed to have a special destiny ahead of them. Luc and Shadow had grown close over the course of the last few missions. He was impressed with her competence and cool-headedness under fire and the ease with which she seemed to be picking up skills tech-wise. She was an anomaly of a sort in that no one else in the known galaxy anyway was able to use tech and magicks with equal proficiency. A mech pilot who was as versatile groundside was valuable indeed! "This is for you." he said softly as he handed her the rose. * * * * * Solaris, night time in a city that never sleeps, just changes its clothes. He took a long drag off the blunt, hand-rolled cigarette he had purchased in the black markets a day earlier. It had mild narcotic qualities and a taste similar to the cloves he'd enjoyed back on Earth, only these were much worse for him. A crime in Sun City to be sure, but he had favors owed him by local politicians in exchange for his generous campaign contributions. Curtis eyed the blunt and took a last drag, clipped the cherry off and stowed the rest for later. "Eva, has our man showed in the club, yet," he asked into the receiver hidden in a lapel button. If all went well, they could be unloading several crates of modded weapons within the hour. Very illegal and nigh impossible to get unless you had the right connections. The op was still dangerous, but the planning was there. "He's here." came her reply. "VIP lounge and four bodygaurds around the room." She shifted her grip on the sniper rifle as she sighted through the scope, she'd be using in a bit. Curtis rubbed the back of a hand across his chin and went in. He casually made his way up toward the lounge. dressed as a waiter, he went easily through and into the lounge where his contact was entertaining several young girls . He sneered inwardly. One of the money elite in Sun City, he was everything money was, arrogant and self absorbed living in a dream world of vain splendor on the backs of the long suffering poor. "Monsenior Cassini, your meal will be ready shortly." Two of the bodyguards came alive, he wasn't surprised, he'd seen them right off. Monsenior dismissed the young ladies. He was searched for weapons but was clean. "What do you take me for, Monsenior? "You can never be too careful. You have the payment?" "Why of course, Monsenior," Curtis replied with the barest hint of sarcasm, Handing the man a book. Cassini took it and thumbed through the pages, and upon finding the credit chip worth several mil, let out a yelp of pleased surprise. Cassini then placed a call to his people in the shipping district. Curtis smiled a predatory smileand held out his hand toward the Monsenior in the shape of a gun. "Bang!" At that moment the window behind them shattered and Cassini's chest exploded. Curtis pointed his gun-fingers at each of the bodyguards and each went down with one fatal bullet. Curtis blew imaginary smoke from the tip of his finger. "Good work," he said into the secure channel and took a few moments to lay down a few deeply incriminating pieces of evidence for the cops. Then, he made his escape. * * * * * * Shadow and Luc were laughing and enjoying their private, candlelit dinner, when the alarms sounded. Luc stood abruptly, knocking over his chair. "What the hell, man?" and tapped his comm open. "What's going on, D?" "Empire bogeys just showed up. Bounty hunters from the look of 'em. Got past our sensors with cloaks." "Don't let 'em board, damn it! Scramble the fighters and have gunnery come online." Lucent looked over at Shadow. "No rest for the wicked, eh?" Then he made for the elevator. An ace pilot, he would be out there with the rest of the fighters ships.
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Post by KD on May 15, 2011 4:05:57 GMT -5
Shadow was on her feet the second the alarms started up. She shot Lucent one of her rare smiles, her dark lips quirking with amusement. She caught him by the front of the shirt and pressed her lips lightly to his in a brief kiss before he went, and moved to head to the main body of the ship.
She'd clipped the bottom of the rose's stem off and plaited it into her hair earlier and made no move to remove it as she headed down. She wasn't an expert at space combat by any means but she'd been in enough and knew how bounty hunters worked well enough to make an accurate guess where they'd board if one of them managed to get through. If they did, she'd be waiting for them with a knife in one hand and a gun in the other.
Kalle, one of the soldiers assigned specifically to engineering, was a young demi human with a line of horns down the middle of her scalp and a tail, her eyes slit pupiled and jackal yellow. She swung into the main area of Engineering, a shotgun in her hands. "Nasira! We gotta get to the weapons systems, that's the first thing they'll try and disable!" And Kalle knew without a doubt the only person who could keep them up if the bounty hunters tried to screw with any of the systems was Nasira. And if any of the bastards tried to get on board to do it, well...Kalle would protect her.
Nicely done, darling. It's nice to know I can still shoot straight. Eva's drawling voice was amused as she spoke through the comm. Usually I'm the one doing the undercover work. She slung the rifle on her back as she headed down to meet him.
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Post by aetherwalker on May 15, 2011 5:23:16 GMT -5
"Mmm...", Luc purred, enjoying the kiss, and Shadow's hands on his chest. It sent a thrill through him such that he almost tripped over his own feet as he hustled his butt down to the hangar bay.
"Business, man, business." He told himself as he climbed into his fighter, but as he closed his eyes, he couldn't help thinking about that kiss. He inhaled the smell of machinery into his nostrils and ran through his pre-flight checklist. The Hangar bay was opening.
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Post by Jenny on May 16, 2011 0:13:49 GMT -5
Nasira had a small, patched together computer of her own design. It was souped up, to the nines, but still small and convienant to put under her arm. She had the stolen computer chip inside one of the data ports and was having a gleeful time hacking into the information and putting together the scrambled plans like pieces of a child's puzzle. Her ears perked up at the sounds of the klaxon siren. Her head swiveled around as Kalle burst into engineering. "Right on it, I'll be there in two secs."
As soon as Kalle hustled off, she lifted her arm to her mouth and bit into it, making a neat gash in her skin. She took the data chip and grimaced as she slid it into her flesh. This was the last thing she wanted bounty hunters getting their grubby hands on. She licked the wound and bound it up haphazardly due to the current situation. She dove into a corner and grabbed her weapon... another of her own design. It was quite barbaric, due to the complexity of it. It not only shot powerful bursts of energy that could stun bohemouths, it also had a nasty feature that blasted an energy beam and make anyone on the wrong side of it into cooked hamburger in 3.5 seconds. She slung it over her shoulder and ran to catch up to Kalle. It was no trouble at all, the sprinter could keep up with any soldier.
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Post by KD on May 16, 2011 0:20:04 GMT -5
Kalle was waiting for her at the entrance to the small room that held the weapon systems. She stepped aside and stood at the door. Strictly speaking, some of what Nasira did with her handmade weapons and knick knacks wasn't supposed to be allowed but who was counting?
Shadow moved to a wall, shielding herself from view, and stared out the window as their fighters took off. Hopefully they'd deal with all the attackers without them ever having boarded the ship.
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Post by Jenny on May 16, 2011 0:29:12 GMT -5
Nasira set her rifle down against a corner and snapped on a line of viewing screens she had installed inside the cramped room. Air had to be pumped in manually, and there was a back up life system if the ship's computer had been compromised by invaders. The room's door had an automatic bolt lock and a heavy, unimpenetrable door that sealed shut if tampered with by the enemy. The screens made a short, high pitched squeal that made her ears twitched and then as they warmed up, the images came into focus. The three screens were of relayed images of imaging devices just outside the hull of the ship, which had fish-eye lenses to soak up as much view as possible. Kalle and Nasira could now see the enemy vessels, as well as the fighters moving in to engage them. She looked on anxiously, her ears moving to press against her head with some anxiety. She was not a fighter, just a tech junkie willing to defend herself. She denied herself to feel fear, not in front of Kalle.
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Post by aetherwalker on May 21, 2011 4:19:52 GMT -5
The Rhinocerous. It was not your standard model of ship. Shortly after his "Awakening" into naga form when Reinig planet was blown to smithereens by the psychic outpour of a battle between Ghufu and his then lover, Lyssande the Ashen, the Rhinocerous made its appearance. It was an alien artifact. An ark ship crashed amid the rubble of Reinig, lying dormant until the planet crumbled from around it. Damned if he was gonna let Empire scum get their hands on it! Lucent punched it, Mass propulsion thrusters rocketing him out of the hangar bay. There was a destroyer class ship out there swarming with Interceptor fighter craft. The Harbingers were out numbered, but Luc smiled a devious smile, pulled a corkscrew drop maneuver, losing three pursuers. He then released a cluster of ionic mines that detonated when they tried to follow. The Rhinocerous was not fazed much by the mosquito-like fighters, but the destroyer was a big threat. Once it was in range it would begin a deadly salvo. Still, the Rhino was not without defenses. Laser cluster primed even now for a destructive volley across the void.
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Post by KD on May 21, 2011 13:09:53 GMT -5
Kalle sent her a quick wink, then looked sharply as the lights dimmed and brightened suddenly, a sure sign they were readying the big guns.
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