Final Destination: Ad infinitum

DeletedUser28032

Choosing to ignore the comments concerning his state of sobriety Dante listen's to the Quarian's answer with mild curiosity though couldn't help but lose all focus on what was being said when one of the more gung ho contingents of their group started ranting over the use of words causing Dante to give Ghor yet another of those See what I mean? looks before finding himself being drawn by the conversation being held between him and Nelx; a cynical smile sliding onto his face as she dodged the question concerning her skill set "That’s because she doesn't have any...she’s a bloody tourist!" he snarled with undisguised distaste. No wonder she doesn't look like a merc, she wasn't one!
"What’s a matter Barbie? Did you get bored living at home with mommy and daddy so decided to go and play with the big boys? Go home little girl before you get one of us killed" the humour had completely dropped from out of his voice as he snarled at the girl. He had neither the time or patience for fools and rookies and this girl was in his opinion both; stay away from her Dante that girls going to get you killed and it won't be a quick bullet to the back of the skull like Ariel either.
Thoughts of another pretty girl he'd once known flash through his mind doing little to improve his mood or opinion of Nelx.

 

DeletedUser35174

For the most time Saracen had kept quiet, he watched each of the mercenaries carefully. They all seemed dangerous all but the female human, Nelx. Saracen watched her carefully, everything about was different, the way she walked, way she talked. He doubted she was a mercenary, or has ever been in combat. The neo-human Dante, seemed dangerous, Saracen wondered what the flesh implant around his eyes was used for. They were bickering among themselves, Saracen wasn't a fan of small talk unless it led somewhere. He wondered how long their employer would take, he wanted to add a few modifications to his mech Iggz. Earlier he had discovered a flaw in his shadow system, and he intended on fixing it.
By now a new mercenary had entered the room, and had barked something about words being meaningless, although none could see, Saracen was grinning behind the mask he wore. The merc who entered was Maxwell winter, he had heard stories about him before. This was an interesting group though Saracen. ""What’s a matter Barbie? Did you get bored living at home with mommy and daddy so decided to go and play with the big boys? Go home little girl before you get one of us killed" snarled Dante, all humour leaving his voice, now he was for real. Saracen slightly tilted his head, looking at no particular person, "If you die, it'll be your own doing, not the girl's." the words came from behind the mask, his voice was normal but had a sense of authority. "We're here for a job, you all know the routine." he added before leaning back on his chair and resuming his earlier position.
 

DeletedUser

The blonde female laughed and winked at him. "Well you're going to be a lot of fun to talk with aren't you?" She giggled.
"No, but I'm fun in other ways." He grinned.
Suddenly Dante snarled at the girl, saying that she wasn't a real merc, just some barbie who'd run away from home and wanted to play at war, and she was going to get them all killed. Looking at the girl Maxwell couldn't help but agree with his conclusion, she didn't appear to have any physical skill. So either a techie or a mechie. Either way, she wouldn't be a danger to Maxwell and the other groundhoggers.
But before he could intervene the masked man butted in.
"If you die, it'll be your own doing, not the girl's. We're here for a job, you all know the routine." He spoke with power and authority, implying experience. Yet Maxwell couldn't recognise the merc. Huh, he'd have to keep an eye on him.
Now it was his turn, he stepped forwards towards Dante. "Look
yángguāng, if yer've got a problem with the other mercs, then yer might as well get up and leave. If yer don't trust the girlie there then don't get in her gorram way. Dìyù! Yer don't even know whether she's a mechjock, techie or groundhogger yet so don't judge. Míngbáile ma?"
 

Apelatia

Well-Known Member
It was as she sat observing the room that Dante made yet another attempt to provoke her. Pausing momentarily in her thoughts, she looks at the neo-human and emits a chorus of laughter at him. "Oh, you are in a good mood today aren't you Dantayyy. Tourists don't carry weapons my dear. You shouldn't judge by appearances..." Winking at him, she continued to talk in her sarcastic voice, "Anyway, I find it rather amusing that you think to call yourself a big boy... Ohhh dear..You look no more than 17 to me..." She chose to ignore the comment about her getting one of them killed, instead finding it extremely amusing, so much so that she put her head in her hands and chuckled to herself, her eyes gleaming with amusement. Once she had recovered, the weirdo who had ranted about the words earlier, replied to her statement, saying that he was fun in other ways. For the first time that day, Nelx frowned. She wasn't going to be anyone's playtoy. But that didn't entirely rule out the possibility of getting to know this strange man with his strange language... Staring directly at him, she spoke, "Be careful not to dive too deep into the ocean Mister." Sending a wink in his direction, she waited for Ghor's response.
 

DeletedUser28032

The girl was beginning to irritate him that smart arse mouth is going to get you in trouble sweetheart...and if you wink at me one more time I am going to remove that eye! Dante silently raged just as she pointed out his youthful appearance "Well...that’s the joy of genetic engineering isn't it?" and if I was you I'd take my own advice and not judge this book or any other within this room by its cover or you’re apt to get a rather nasty shock. It was at this point that one of the other mercs stated that if he died then would be his own fault and that he should know the rules by now, Dante carefully considered the advice before slowly nodding his head in agreement, something about the man made him believe that he knew what he was doing although that could just be his conditioning responding to the tone of voice he’d used.
He was on the point of replying to the masked man only to then find himself instead being confronted by the same grunt that had bellowed at them earlier, no doubt smitten by the pretty face in the room Hell she's causing trouble already!
"I don't have a problem with Mercs I have a problem with Tourists who think it’s all just a laugh and a game and then gets somebody killed through stupidity! say what you like about hidden talents but until she proves otherwise she’s a liability" not that any of these idiots would see it that way, no they just saw a pretty face and would act like idiots because of it. God damn it! It was so infuriating being the only intelligent merc in the galaxy!
 
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DeletedUser

"Please stop shouting. Some of us are trying to sleep." The silver haired man said, turning golden eyes towards the girl, and the two transhumans. "Boss should be here by now I wonder what's taking him?" He said activating an onmi-tool on his arm and fiddling with it for a few moments before letting out a sigh and lifting himself into a standing position. "Looks like he's held up in a meeting with local officials. Looks like I'll have to do all the explaining." As soon as the man in the officer's uniform opened his mouth, the silver haired man raised his hand to stop him. "We both read the mission statement I have been put in charge of this, not you. Now lets just introduce ourselves then you can leave and go about what you were assigned to do." The man in officer's suit nodded reluctantly and the two turned back the the mercenaries.
"Now then, lets start with introductions. My name is Xane Ex Nihilo, Ace mech pilot and test pilot assigned to the prototype high speed space mecha." The silver man said waving a hand towards the man in the battle armor as he stood up.
"Nihilo Morbasa. Test pilot. Gigan type." The man said, in a deep voice, before stepping back.
"And i'm.."
"Derek Styme, test pilot, pilots the Mad science mech." Xane says interrupting. "Okay, that's the introductions, time for you two to be off helping science or something." he says hurrying the other two to leave.
Once Nihilo and Derek pass out of sight Xane spins around towards the mercenaries, activates his omni-tool, dims the lights in the room and causes a holographic image of the planet rotating in the middle of the table. "Lets see.. how can this as quickly as possible." Xane said quietly staring at the rotating planet for a few seconds before clasping his hands and looking towards the mercenaries. "As you may or may not be aware, depending on how well you read the contract, you are tasked with defending The space station Pegasus and our experimental units. In order to see if you are up to the task we are giving you a mission to take out a pirate base that is harassing trade routs." With that an image of a dwarf planet appears in place of planet Bartheon. The image zooms in and focuses on a space station orbiting the planet with a space elevator connecting it to the planet below. "We will be taking out whatever standing fleet they have, capture station and then capture or destroy the base they have on the planet below. Any questions?"
 

DeletedUser31931

As the man asked his question, Chal replied without hesitation, "I am here on my pilgrimage, I am learning about mechs and currently am lacking in funds, therefore this contract will give me some money to help continue my research as well as the chance to continue upgrading my mech and improve my skills to the extreme, I wish to be fully prepared for when I return to the Migrant Fleet." He was going to say more, however, he was cut off by the rather rude gentleman who ranted about words. He stepped back, observing this argument rather than taking part as was his style. He said nothing until the briefing had finished. When it was asked for questions he finally spoke. "How will we be infiltrating the ship and what back-up if any do we have available?" He asked the man, Xane Ex Nihilo if he remember correctly, or something like that.
 

DeletedUser

"Be careful not to dive too deep into the ocean Mister." Nelx replied, Maxwelll just smiled.
It was then that the silver haired man chose to speak, briefing them. Finally! They were getting somewhere. Apparently they were going to be defending an experimental space station, and to prove that they were up to the task they were going to be sent to whack a pirate base. Maxwell smiled, this would be a walkover. Provided, of course that they were just the usual wannabe brigands, rather than organized warbands, fully equipped and trained with power armour, mechs, airhogs and artillery.
The man showed them a holo of the base, a space station above Bartheon. Maxwell began to grind his teeth. Shame, he hated space warfare. In space he had to rely on arrogant skyjocks to keep drones off his back. Plus, a single stray round could break pressure or breach the hull and get them all killed.
The man continued; the skyjocks would wipe out whatever standing fleet existed, they would take down the space station, then hit the groundside base.
"How will we be infiltrating the ship and what back-up if any do we have available?" Asked Chal. Maxwell nodded, that was a sensible question. If they were taking out a space station his groundhoggers would need fire support if they weren't going to be knocked out on the way. He added his own query. "And what exactly are we up against? What pirate skyjocks are there, what's in the station, and what's holding the gorram groundside base?"
 

DeletedUser

"If there are any big ships our assault carrier is equipped with breachers we can use." Xane said to Chal. "As for back-up, since the Terran Empire doesn't have patrols this far out and the Federation of Bartheon dumped this task on us... Lets see: you guys, me, an assault carrier and if they aren't busy one of our Cruisers might show up with our other experimental units." Xane says with a dark smile. "In other words we are on our own unless we're lucky. Don't worry though, anything smaller than a cruiser is no match for me." At Maxwell's statement Xane grimaced. "Unfortunately that planet is a bit away so we have to make due with a two day old report of the space station. From that and earlier reports we've gathered, the makeup of the ships around the station varies greatly from blockade runners to cruisers. The station is being used as a hub for pirates in the area; but we don't know what they do at their ground base. So all in all we are going in blind and we're going to wreck all of their toys. So at least it'll be amusing for me."
 

Deleted User - 819397

Ghor smiled and was about to reply to Nelx when the mercenaries that had been there from the start began talking. Motioning that they should pay attention, the mechanized man turned and fully focused on the trio before them.

It seemed fairly straightforward...protection detail for this ship, and to prove they could handle it they were to take out a pirate base, both station and ground. Chal and the man who kept switching languages both asked good questions, and upon hearing the answers to them he raised a finger, indicating he had something to add. "I'm assuming you're aware of my mech's ability to turn into a one man spacecraft. Would you prefer I stay with the others or be a mobile combatant outside? I can do either...as I'm to be working under you three I figure it would be best if I defer to your judgement."
 

DeletedUser28032

Dante sat in a contemplative silence as the briefing took place; analysing the information and storing it away for later use. He'd known about the test mission having read the contract cover to cover before handing them one of his own detailing his preferred payment methods for them to sign, making it abundantly clear that he wasn't a charity.
When Xane called for questions Dante once again remained silent listening as the obvious questions were asked and answered, though when Ghor made the suggestion of him joining the flyboys in orbit he decided to speak up from his slumped position at the table "Nah stay on the ground its where we're strongest, leave space to the flyboys...besides..." Dante pauses to tilt his head slightly to one side as if in thought; the inside of his lenses’ filling images and technical data as the various pieces of software installed within his brain ran varying combat simulations before speaking again "...if we were to seize control of the base we can knock that damn elevator out and cut them off their supplies...not to mention gain access to any SAM sites they may have down there" a small smile curling up at the corners of his mouth at the thought of knocking their ships out of orbit using their own missile batteries.
Realising that he may have overstepped his mark, yet another hazard of being the only intelligent merc in the galaxy Dante then shrugs at Xane in a nonchalant manner "But hey its your party...I am just the piano player"
 

DeletedUser

After a pause the cyborg, Ghor, raised his hand and asked about his knowledge of their mecha and whether the cyborg should help him fight pirate fighters. "Oh, yes we know roughly all of your mecha's specs. We had you tagged as soon as you entered the system; as you know you have to either go through official channels or try and run through millions of remote guns. So yea, you and the overly friendly one over there will be with me taking out anything that can fly." Xane responds pointing to Nelx. The transhuman decided to pitch in with his opinion which receives smirk and questioning eye brow from Xane. "Let me reiterate our forces with consist of us." The statement being punctuated with him offhandedly pointing at all of the mercenaries and himself. "And an assault carrier. We will not be attacking the ground base first because this mission is to see your abilities not for me to prove that I can take out the entire pirate fleet... Any other questions? If not, be at the hanger in an hour for departure. Don't worry we already moved all of your things to the ship." Xane said pulling up a holographic map of the area with a blinking box around the hanger and a timer running down.
 

DeletedUser

"Unfortunately that planet is a bit away so we have to make due with a two day old report of the space station. From that and earlier reports we've gathered, the makeup of the ships around the station varies greatly from blockade runners to cruisers. The station is being used as a hub for pirates in the area; but we don't know what they do at their ground base. So all in all we are going in blind and we're going to wreck all of their toys. So at least it'll be amusing for me." Came the answer Maxwell had been dreading.
The assault cruiser would be heavily vulnerable to skyjock and SAM fire as it made the attack run. Once they got on board the space station Maxwell would be okay, but the silver-haired merc made it sound like it was going to be a complete suicide run. However from the smirk on the man's face Maxwell suspected that he had something prepared.
The robot asked if he could take his mech out into space to deal with the pirate skyjocks, the silver-haired man answered with a yes, saying that the robot could accompany Nelx. So then... the little girlie was a skyjock aye?
Dante suggested infiltrating the ground base and taking over the SAM sites and use them against the pirate skyjocks. Maxwell nodded in agreement, he would always prefer killing with both feet on the ground.
However the silver haired man did not share his concern, and abruptly stated that they would be taking out the space station first.
"Any other questions? If not, be at the hanger in an hour for departure. Don't worry we already moved all of your things to the ship." Said the merc.
"Aye," Maxwell chipped in. "Looking around I see lots of mechies, but I'm the only groundhogger. Can I bring my troopers along for the ride?"
 

DeletedUser28032

With his suggested plan shot out of the water Dante patiently listened to the rest of the questions being asked before getting up and heading for the door as he'd been instructed to. He wasn't overly thrilled with the idea of having to rely on Barbie to cover their approach on the station though that would be Xane and the toasters problem to deal with.
Retrieving his side arm from the security personnel he quickly holsters the weapon before heading for the hangar with the rest of the merc's "I hope them damn techies haven't touched anything on Trinity or there’s going to be trouble" he said more speaking his thoughts aloud than voicing them to any of the others, the mech could be temperamental enough without someone messing with its insides "First one to one hundred buys the beers"
 

Apelatia

Well-Known Member
Genetically engineered eh? Nelx grinned at Dante in return. She couldn't resist uttering a peal of laughter at his mention of her being a tourist, rather than a merc, though she didn't say anything on the subject. What he said was partly true... She wasn't really a merc, this was just another adventure... A dangerous one at that. It was at this point that a silver-haired man with gold eyes attracted her attention from the far end of the table. He moaned about him not being able to sleep, then after some talking with his compatriots, of which Nelx didn't really hear much, he introduced himself as Xane, and the other two as... Blegh, she'd forgotten already... Xane briefed them on the fact that before they got down to defending Pegasus, that space station that had been assigned to protect for this mission, they were all going to have their abilities tested by a raid on a pirate space station orbiting a small planet...

After the silver-haired man had finished briefing, Chal asked if they would have much back-up. A sensible question, Nelx thought. There was a man of some decency, and intelligence. They would get along just fine, she was sure... The weirdo Chinese guy then asked about how they would be infiltrating the ship, and what kind of enemy they were to be facing... Xane responded to both questions, saying that their information was two days old, but that they would be attacking with an assault carrier, the mercs in the room and perhaps a Cruiser too... Nelx didn't pay much attention to the rest of his response. She could find out all the boring stuff later on... It was then that Ghor spoke from beside her, inquiring as if he would be allowed to do some flying around with his mech. Xane responded with an affirmative, also saying that himself and her...frowning at his use of 'the overly friendly one' to refer to her...would be joining Ghor. She would have to teach him not to call her names later on then... During this time, Dante offered up another meaningless lecture that was soon dismissed by Xane.

After this, Xane dismissed them, informing them that they should be in the hangar in an hour's time, and that their mechs were already on the ship waiting. Nelx smiled as she tapped the small cube in the left pocket of the coat which she was wearing over her sweatshirt. They obviously hadn't remembered to take it off of her, though they obviously knew its specs already, complimented by the fact that Xane knew of her mech's ability to fly. On her way out, Nelx retrieved her lightsabre, and began walking in the direction of the hangar behind Mr. Know-it-all Dante, who seemed worried about whether the 'techies' would have messed with his 'Trinity.' Nelx guessed that was probably his mech, unless the neo-human was stupid enough to bring his girlfriend along with him. She doubted that even he wasn't that much of an idiot... At Dante's other comment, Nelx laughed, "You think you will make it to 100 eh, Dante? This should be so much fun to watch, don't you think?" She winked at him, then strode ahead, contemplating the adventure that lay ahead... She was happy that she would be out flying, rather than ground battling. Anything to keep Dante in the dark about her abilities was a pleasure enough. Nelx maintained a quick stride as she made her way towards the hangar, intending to be there early, so that she wouldn't miss out on anything exciting...
 

Deleted User - 819397

It appeared that Ghor was to be one of the group fighting off the station's defenses, along with Xane and Nelx. His question answered, he stood and departed with some of the others. He paused at the guard's station long enough to get the inhibitor on his right arm taken off. As his plasma cannon was a part of his arm he couldn't simply remove it, so he'd instead consented to allowing the inhibitor to be put on instead. Once that was finalized, he made a beeline for the hanger. Unlike the others he didn't have any gear to pick up...The Savior was his only piece of equipment.

Once in the hangar the mechanical man ran over to his mecha. He stroked it lovingly, almost as if it was a dog. This went on for a moment, then he barked a command in his home language and the mech's chest plate sprang down, making what almost resembled stairs so Ghor could simply walk right into a space that had clearly been made specifically for his body. Rather than fuse himself with the machine though, he pressed a button and a holo screen came up. He began to scroll through status messages rapidly, clearly checking for anything that seemed even slightly out of the ordinary. He wanted to be at full strength for this fight.
 

DeletedUser35174

Dante nodded in agreement after he heard what Saracen had to say. Then they started talking again, and like before, Saracen ignored them. A silver haired man and 2 others interrupted them and started introducing their names, Saracen made note of all three names, just in case. The silver haired man, Xane who Saracen supposed was in charge started de-briefing them about their mission. They were to attack a space station. A few mercs asked questions, sensible questions, which were answered.
"Any other questions? If not, be at the hanger in an hour for departure. Don't worry we already moved all of your things to the ship" finished Xane. Dante and the female were the first out, then came the robot. Saracen followed close behind. He picked up both his sabers and made his way to the hanger.
"Iggs" he commanded and his mech automatically turned on, his back opened up to reveal a built in etching, specifically for Saracen. Before entering he activated both his sabers, Red and purple laser blades sprung from the hilts, there was no change in the weight of the sabers, he swung the blades back and forth and came to the conclusion that they weren't tampered with. He placed his sabers in the slot specifically etched for both of them and entered his mech. The mech immediately became online, unlike other mechs, Saracen's mech shadowed every move Saracen made inside. There were no controls, only Saracen's body. He started off by taking a few steps, normal. He jogged a few feet, no changes. Then he decided to do complicating maneuvers, he sprinted forward somersaulted, and activated Iggz' blade halfway through the jump. Iggz landed on a crouch. Perfect. He checked the power level of the blade, normal. No changes were made at all. Saracen grinned behind his mask
 

DeletedUser28032

Incapable of glaring due to his implants Dante had to make do with slowly raising his hand in a threatening gesture behind Barbie’s back as all five of the blades emerged from beneath his nails, though the girl having already overtaken him would not have seen any of this allowing him to keep this particular surprise for later. Slowly letting his breath out in a frustrated sigh he allows the blades to retract back into their housings before muttering "Perhaps another time" murdering someone in the middle of the corridor would most certainly be bad for business.
Upon entering the hangar he quickly sets about locating Trinity, pausing only to watch as one of the other mercs started performing acrobatics with his mech and finding himself quietly impressed by them if a little concerned about the ceiling height.
Finding Trinity next to Ghor's mech, Dante activates his Omni-tool in order to run a diagnostic; feeding the information straight to his lenses, a small smile of satisfaction briefly touching his lips as he finds it still to be in perfect working order before shutting down the program and scaling Trinity's right leg in order to reach the already open cockpit.
Once inside he wastes no time in making himself comfortable within the leather pilots seat; pulling on a pair of gloves and a headset before firing up the controls "Hello Trinity, did you miss me baby?" he drawled as the control panels lit up like a Christmas tree, the hatch immediately closing and pressurising with a hiss as it did so.
Taking a few experimental steps forward in order to check the servo's he catches sight of Barbie and briefly depresses the trigger for the rotary cannon; the weapon making a sound not that dissimilar to a zip being opened as the barrels spin, though with all of the safeties still on there is thankfully no flying lead. Not caring whether or not she found this little display threatening or merely amusing Dante laughs as he then uses Trinity's single hand to flip her the bird before activating his comms "Ok boys and girls I am ready, lets get this show on the road!"
 
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DeletedUser

As the two trans-humans and two humans left Xane turned towards Maxwell. "As you are no doubt aware your pay is quite generous. In fact I might say you are one of the best payed of our combat men. As you may have noticed there are varying degrees of combat knowledge in this group. The reason your pay is so high is partially because you are good at what you do and because we need you to train these people to be able to defend themselves outside their metal suits. Now I realize their foot combat skills haven't been proven yet so I will grant your request to bring your men along, but hear this." Towering over Maxwell Xane's laid back personality was suddenly gone. Suddenly a feeling of menace and authority exuded from the silver haired man. "I have read reports on you, I know you have done less than agreeable things before and have survived despite impossible odds. But.. if you or your men cross us. I will come after you and it will be a fight you won't come back from." With that Xane's face softens and he walking out the door. "I expect to see both of you at the hanger. Oh yea and watch your back, even here death hides in the shadows." He calls over his shoulders as he walks down the corridors away from the hanger.


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As Dante’s words reverberate around the hanger a loud alarm goes off warning about the large hanger doors As they begin to slide apart revealing a view of the city and allowing strong winds from outside to blast inside. Once the doors fully open a large ship lowers to take up the entire view, blocking the hanger off from the wind outside, slowly makes its way into the hanger and lands.
 
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DeletedUser31931

(OOC: Braet, I was PMing him about the omni-tool... Also considering everyone-else's mech was outside I figured despite what he said mine would be too. Also just to clear something up my mech about 5 metres high.)
With no further questions Chal waited until all the questions had been asked and he was about to slip out again when the lead mercenary spoke. He listened to his words and shook his head, he was still a very good ground combat fighter despite what many people might think. He slipped out and down to the hangar just in time to see the ship come in to land. He collected his weapons and made sure they were working before pulling out his omni-tool and remotely accessing his mech, he checked the stats and made sure everything was working as well as checking the position,and so seeing that his was now near the ship, he commanded it to open as he walked across.
Walking up the ramp that had slid out Chal smiled. He slipped into the seat, it was programmed so that he just controlled it with movement and the rockets were fired by him calling targets at were he was looking. The med-bay was the first thing people would walk into, it was quite cramped, there were only room for two people in there along with the diagnostic equipment and the nano-bots. Thinking about the nano-bots he powered up the suit and scratched it with the sword, then he let the nano-bots flow out and they flowed over creating a golden haze that half a minute later would be as good as new. Smiling he waited for orders.
 
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