The ORION Files (Closed/Started)

[Outcast107]

While Eva was annoyed, she didn't seem to bother by the request of Irina. "I will see what the Director thinks of these new terms you brought up, Irina. Meanwhile, as you said let me lead you and everyone else to the Armory." She turns towards the door and head towards it. Assuming everyone would just follow her as she walks down the dark blue metal hallway.

The two soldiers following right behind her, while the two soldiers that were waiting outside follow behind the group. Walker had to say he was impressed with Irina. Not everyone had the balls to talk to a V.D. like that and get away with it. Walker hopes that this all ends well and they could get a nice payday for this job. Though the cold pit of his stomach told him either wise.

A few minutes of walking, they finally got to the Armory, or as it was labeled "Armory A". As the door open up, Eva walks in a few feet and turned around to meet their gazes. "This is one of our Armories within the Prometheus. I"m sure it will be to your liking. Now while you...look around our equipment. I shall be talking with the Director. Stay here and do not damage anything." Eva said as she left them with the guards, which stand at the nearby doors. Letting the Orion group take a look around.

Inside the armory doors, there were only a few feet of space and then a large mesh wall with several terminals mounted on it, and in the middle of the wall was a man standing at what appeared to be an old-fashioned teller?s window. Looking up from what he was doing he looks annoyed at seeing the mercenaries standing before him. ?So you lot are the war dogs the boss hired.? He said, not bothering to hide the scorn in his voice. ?Miss Mayer said you lot were to be let have a look at what we?ve got.? He added, waving to the terminals. ?Frankly I don?t know why were not just spacing the lot of you and doing the job ourselves, but those answers are above my pay grade.? With that he returned to what he?d been doing.

Walker let off a low whistle as he took a quick look around. He was highly impressed by all the firearms here. Not paying any mind to the man as he knew not a lot of corps folks like their type. He walks over to one of the guards as he asks, "So I have a few more people waiting on the ship who didn't feel like coming over. Think you can get Miss Mayer on the line to ask if they are allowed over."

For a moment, the guard didn't do anything until he gave an answer. His voice was deep and had a robotic feel to it. Probably just a psych thing they have going on with those helmets of theirs. "She said bring them over." He simply said. Walker smiled as he radios back to the "Sweet Child of Mine". The guy manning the pilot seat for now making an announcement over the coms at Sweet Child. Simply stating that anyone who going on the mission and wants goodies to come on over quickly.

 

[Anti-American Eagle]

Brian paced slowly around the hangar in thought, observing what little there was within the hangar, and scanning both his own systems and anything within reach. Mind mingling with flawed, weak firewalls and simple unsecured devices scattered about. Little of interest appeared, and there was little he was curious about but breaking into everything in range unconsciously was wired into him, even if he didn't look at it, even if there was nothing there.

Eventually he settled his eyes on an empty cockpit of a mech system, he supposed belonged to the Mary woman. Not supposed. He had seen her sitting in it until she had disappeared. He studied it, noting its weapons and running through for any weak points in the design incase they were ever needed.

His patterns repeated until he heard the announcement. Did he need anything? Not really. Did that matter? No.

Brian returned to his work area, released himself from the armour, and reengaged security in full before making his way to the shuttle.

 

[FalloutJack]

Ten million was a nice opening figure for what was essentially smash-and-grab and of course the keeping of the cargo intact in order to secure payment. Elliot was already thinking of demands and provisos about up-front payment and the best ways to boobytrap the Drax artifact to guarantee payment and safe departure from the area, plus Grace knew that in a situation of them having two competing parties desiring the same thing, they would attempt to find a way to get paid twice. This was pretty normal a procedure, and Elliot was about to speak up...when the cat-lady, Irina, decided to have words first. ALOT of words.


For the uninitiated, this was a serious amount of wordplay, essentially adding in a number of extra clauses and statutes to a contract. However, the way she did it brought a smile to the pretending-to-be-human mercenary's face. In her own way, she was asking for money up front and definitely more benefits, on the perfectly understandable basis that both parties would want to be protecting their reputations, along with the asset to be seized in question. It was actually fun to watch, and Elliot just sipped his glass of water while he did. Over comms, he could hear a small chuckle from his partner. Apparently, Grace was still listening in. A normal person here would be totally lost. The two of them, however, found this funny. Go figure.

"We'll still need the bomb, though."

Elliot made a sound by sucking air through his teeth.

"Twice as many explosives?"

He made a thoughtful "Hmmm" noise, rubbing the stubble on his chin.

"Alright. I'll prepare it."

And with that, Miss Mayer would be leading them out and down to the Armory.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Meanwhile, in the cockpit of the Archer, Grace received nottification that the airlock had been opened from the Sweet Child of Mine. Since there had been no break-ins from the Sweet Child itself, this had to be someone from the ship itself and not an intruder. She flipped on the surveilance they installed, little bugs and micro-eyes that blend in well with their surroundings, in that they look like screws or bolts that you would find at a ship's interior. She found Mary working her way into the system of a hallway terminal, gaining access. What was she...looking for? Well, whatever it was, she wouldn't find it there. That terminal was only hooked into two things: The airlock...and the restroom. This would become apparent as Mary heard a toilet flush from a nearby room, something automated that Grace had put in there to confuse people, intruders especially. The airlock control was, meanwhile, accompanied by a ReadMe file that was multi-lingual, but none of them in English. The airlock, meanwhile, had a code-lock on it that was not currently engaged. Grace and Elliot both knew the codes. One would operate the locking mechanism normally. The other would fling somebody into outer space. Anyway, that's enough hijinx for now. Grace was now in the hallway, a number of feet away, completely cloaked from sight.

"Is there something you needed?"

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

The guard minding the armory was a real charmer, except not at all and what an asshole. Elliot managed a pleasant smile as he spoke to no one in particular, though he might've been addressing the good crew of the Sweet Child of Mine, for all anybody knows. The point of it was to take the piss out of the grumbly guard.

"This is why I didn't re-enlist. I prefer to give a damn about my surroundings. Of course, it's obvious why anyone would want us. Businesses donn't mind fighting dirty, but they DO mind getting caught, and they hate losing. The term that everybody is so desperately searching for is 'Deniable Assets'. But enough about that. Let's see how well you can fortify my own storehouse."

On with the goodies!

 

[Athol]

{Ignore. I dun goofed}

 

[Athol]

Mary made a face as she heard the head flush. Crap-baskets? She hadn?t expected a craft this small to be running something as cumbersome as dedicated systems for the airlocks?and the head, apparently. ?Either this bucket is older than I thought, or those two are more paranoid than I expected.? She muttered. ?Probably the latter.? Backtracking and shutting the terminal down, she stepped back and took a moment to orient herself to the little ship?s layout.

?Alright.? She said softly looking about. ?Heart o-? A voice out of nowhere interrupted her thoughts.

"Is there something you needed?"

?Jesus fuck!? She yelped, her holdout gun snapping into it ready position as she looked about. A full sweep of her immediate area showed nothing, but that didn?t mean much. Must?ve tripped something. ?I was looking for any information you guys had on me, that and anything about if you were thinking of trying to collect on me.? She kept her tone light, but her weapon remained ready. ?Can?t blame a girl for trying??

 

[Evrant-Knight]

Shortly after Velka's questions were answered, the subject of payment came up, and it appeared that the Director of Chronus himself was willing to shell out a sum of credits big enough that it eclipsed by a great margin the now paltry offer that the Terran Grand Republic was willing to pay.

Now Velka was not what you'd call skilled in negotiation when it came to business matters, she could influence things a little bit, but certainly not to the degree that Irina displayed when she laid out quite the comprehensive business proposal before the Vice Director, which seemed to rile her up somewhat, which made the Reshani smile a bit. Once these initial negotiations were out of the way, the team was lead to one of the onboard armouries, where the quartermaster, for lack of a better term, had a few terse words for the group, wondering why Chronus wasn't doing the job themselves.

Velka paid him little attention as she looked through the stock trying to find ammunition that was compatible with the Fulcrum; which was largely unsuccessful given that most of the weapons here made use of solid shot ballistic rounds, and whilst they could be used, the overall output and range wasn't as good as the pulse ammunition that was standard issue. However, the grenades she found were cross compatible, so she began looking through them.

 

[Lunar Templar]

Shanoa had been ... distracted. A typical self diagnostic of her mechanical body showed several errors that needed to be dealt with. That 'bug hunt' took longer then she'd thought it would have and by the time she 'woke up' the rest of the crew was off seeing about a job.

Shanoa, having shit else to do, and having seen that there where two TGR ships near by she decided to have a bit of fun with them, and picked the one or the right and stealthy hacked her way into the ships main frame. So after messing with the life support so that the next time they make a jump the air in the ship will leave the crew under the same effect as sucking helium, cause it so the next time the went to use the Main Guns they get 'Male Enhancement' adds on their screens as well, and generally screening with the ships system in such a manner as to just be a massive pain in the ass of the ships crew and not kill them out right, which also included malware on the ships capstans person terminal that liked to redirect them toward some very questionable porn sites that may or may not have actually been a felony to be caught partaking in.

After setting all those 'traps', which would likely be triggered till some time later. She just kinda chilled, eves dropping on a few different conversations to see if there was anything worth while to listening in on and poking around for any classified files worthy of note, that she could possibly sell to some one that didn't like the TGR, cause she didn't like them ether.

 

[FalloutJack]

You can't see it, but Mary's reaction did bring a brief smile to Grace's face. To further the surprise situation, she quietly went from cloaked human to cloaked light-form and drifed silently around in order to revert to the human again behind her, once Mary had calmed down a little and spoken her peace. When Grace next spoke, she was visible and holding a knife. It was casual, but her stance suggested that she was well-practiced with it.

"I could blame you, but I won't. The information is off-limits."

Then, a thought occurred to albino girl.

"We are mercenaries, so it would be reasonable to hire us to protect you from possible bounties, rather than being a part of said problem. It wouldn't require much, just a motivation to look at you more like a crewmate and less like a potential payout."

Acceptable or not, Grace knew that the mere idea of getting paid by Mary for the same thing that her brother wanted would make Elliot laugh. However, it was only natural for her to try and get paid twice.

 

[Athol]

When the voice piped up behind her, Mary did a half step/hop, forwards, opening the distance between herself and the now visible pale girl. Damn she?s good. The corridor was not very big, and the girl had slipped around her like a ghost. At least she didn?t slip that pig-stick between my ribs as she passed. She kept her forearm mounted hold-out gun visible, but at a non-threatening angle.

"I could blame you, but I won't. The information is off-limits."

?Well it was worth a shot.? She replied with a smile, masking her thoughts.

"We are mercenaries, so it would be reasonable to hire us to protect you from possible bounties, rather than being a part of said problem. It wouldn't require much, just a motivation to look at you more like a crewmate and less like a potential payout."

Clever little thing ain?t she? Mary sucked air in through her smile and chuckled. ?And you and your partner would also just happen to make a double paycheck between me and Dicky-boy?I can appreciate that; buut?? She said with a shrug. ?If I could afford something like that, I wouldn?t be here.? Any further explanation she may have given as to just why she couldn?t pay the ?protection? money ended when her comm-bead chirped.

The crewman talking in her ear told her to hustle over to the Corp ship to gear up if she needed anything; Cronus was being rather generous and offering access to their arsenal. A smart girl never passes up the chance for some new toys. She thought with a smile. Turning that smile towards Grace, she shrugged again. ?Well I assume you got that message too?? She asked, not waiting for an answer. ?I am going to see what I can get. These corporate types may be assholes, but they generally have nice stuff.? Folding her pistol back into her arm, she breezed back out of the gunship and onto the freighter.

---

The trip from the freighter?s airlocks to its shuttle bay took only a few moments. Once she was there, she banged through a truncated pre-flight before launching the ugly cargo hauler on a least time flight to the corporate warship. After a brief interrogation by the warship?s Comms Officer, and landing the shuttle beside the mush prettier Devil-Fish, Mary was escorted to the rest of ORION. ?Hey Boss!? She chirped brightly as she stepped into the armoury. ?Dunno what you said t? these folk, but it musta been somethin? good.? She added in her best Outer Colonies drawl. Ignoring the Armory Officer, she headed over to a free terminal and started paging through the contents.

Tabbing through she built a list of small arms and relevant ammo, not that she had any intent of actually using most of the stuff. Aside from a few boxes of ammo that she was planning to keep for the small arms she already had, the rest of the stuff would net her a tidy sum of beer money. Her small arms order complete, she tagged it for delivery to the hauler she?d flown over, and was about to step away when she spotted a ?Small Craft? tab. Opening it, she realized it was a list of all the small craft the Cruiser had in inventory?including attack craft. Come to mama. She thought to herself as she saw it.

The FAI-45 ?Spectre? Trans-atmospheric interceptor was an ugly, slab-sided, monster and Mary was in love. Decades newer than her current bird, it was much faster at sub-light speeds, and unlike ?Misha? it even boasted a short range jump drive. Sensor-wise, even with the significant upgrading she?d done to her old rig, it?s on board suite was far more powerful. The cockpit layout was for two people, but the back seater wasn?t required to make the fighter fully operational; Mary smiled wickedly to herself as she made plans as to just what sort of goodies she could swap into that spot.

The weapons were a bit of a trade-off in places, but overall the capability was greater. The gun was a lone single barrel revolver cannon, in the same 30mm, but it lacked the ability to swing off the sip?s centerline; its ordinance was where the greatest difference lay. It mounted six twenty shot ?swarm? launchers for short range anti-fighter missiles [http://www.sir-differel.com/images/equip-crv7.jpg], three on either side, behind the cockpit, giving it the look of air intakes like on an ancient air breathing ship. At the root of the ?wings? where they met the main body it mounted a pair of bleeding edge tech plasma launchers; while the shots were unguided of course, and shorter ranged compared to conventional missiles, their destructive capacity even against quite tough armour was rather fearsome for their small size. The main bays were smaller, and the older missiles she already had wouldn?t mate with the more modern launch rails, but she was pleased to see that her existing warheads would fit on the newer missile bodies. She could only carry ten total medium range anti-shipping birds in two bays, but she gained a center-line weapons bay for air-to-ground munitions.

Appending her previous small arms order to include a not insignificant amount of reloads for the fighter, she then tagged it as a separate request. She heard a tone come from the Armory Officer?s terminal a few moments later, and then and grunt from the man himself. ?You...Red hair.? He barked, waving at her from his cage. ?Get over here.? Mary sauntered over with a smirk. ?An? jus? what can ah do for you?? She asked, keeping the affected accent. ?What the hell do you think you are playing at?? He snapped. ?What makes you think I?d let some OC knuckle dragger like you have one of our newest multi-roles??

She stood silently for a moment, sucking on her teeth before she replied. ?An? here ah was thinkin? yer boss said that we could gear up what we needed from you guys?a mighty generous offer by the way.? The man flinched a bit at the mention of his superior, but still held his ground. Undeterred, Mary pressed on. ?Ya see, ah need that ship to do mah job?you know the one we was hired to do? Circumstances dictated that ah was unable to depart mah las? port o? call with a full kit so all ah got is some laser heads?an? ah don? think your boss would appreciate me nuke?n stuff if ah need to give air support.?

At that he seemed to blanch a bit. ?But wh-? Before he could finish, Mary cut him off. ?But what about jus? getting some proper air-to-ground kit you may be askin? Well my bird?she?s an ol? ship, an? none of it would fit her hardpoints.? The smile she?d had the whole time she?d been talking turned into a glower, and she rapt once on the cage with her right hand. ?Plus you idjit, if you?d ?ve looked at the request fully instead of lettin? yer own prejudices run yer mouth, you?d see I only wanna borrow it.?

Reaching into a pocket she pulled out an ID card and handed it to him. ?There.? She said, ?Now ya know who I am.? The ID was perfectly legitimate, and yet utterly fictitious. According to it her name was Mary-Anne Eloise of Troy City, on the planet Cullman; in reality she?d bought it off an ID seller on Tortuga for 1500 credits and a crate of rifle ammo. To the best of her knowledge, Ms. Eloise was a real person, and all the ID info was real, only the original photo and prints attached to the ID had been replaced by Mary?s own, with the help of some cracking software and a skilled hacker. The fellow looked at the ID suspiciously for a moment, before donning a headset and punching in a code into his terminal. ?Leftenant Davies ma?am, Armoury Officer of the day. Sorry to disturb you ma?am, but I have a supply request from one of the?contractor-yes that one?it?s just tha-no, no ma?am, I understand what the memo said, it?s just that that is a to?I-I?m sorry ma?am I wasn?t trying to second guess you ma?am?I?ll get the order processed right away ma?am, sorry for bothering you.?

Visibly flustered, Davies took the ID and scanned it in and handed it back, in rapid succession when it was confirmed as legitimate. ?A-alright.? He said, still shaken. ?The ship is yours, but you are on the hook for damages. Somebody will be by to escort you to the hanger bay in a moment.? ?It has been a pleasure doin? business with you sir.? Mary replied with one last sweet smile, before stepping away.

 

[Generic NPC 22]

The Orion Files | Chronus Corp. Heavy Vessel Prometheus | Armory

Irina Rostikova | Edward Aubergine​

[hr]

Glancing over at her bodyguard and companion, Irina noted the somewhat bored look on the Shock Trooper's face, causing her to roll her eyes. "A Shock Trooper is issued everything that he will ever need when he is assigned to the Orbital Drop Corp." Edward Aubergine had once informed Irina when she'd attempted to purchase a rather large looking Nuclear Warhead Launcher for him. Regardless, she did feel it would be somewhat necessary to order a few piece of equipment on his behalf, if only to later sell it if money ran short. It was, after all, free.

Walking up to one of the terminals, the skilled merchant browsed over the armory's inventory with some interest, noting that there were a few drones that were compatible with the Redeemer's Drone Control suite. Touching the screen, the Catican placed a pair of reconnaissance drones, two heavy shield drones and a couple of drone blanks into the digital basket. Continuing, the human looking Catican Female paused to look longingly over the specifications of the high efficiency fusion core that was listed in the ship components tab, but instead tossed two mini stealth modules and a couple of holo-projectors into the basket.

"What are you intending to do with those drone blanks?" Edward's deep voice thrummed behind her as he looked over her shoulder.

"Just an idea I've had floating in my head for a bit." The Catican Mechanic muttered as she tossed in a pair of compact flame throwers into the basket.

"Careful that you do not overstep your Cas..." The Massive Catican started to say before pausing, remembering that they were without Caste. Were they still accepted members of Catican society, Irina would not have been able to create new weapons or devices as that fell under the auspices of the Science Caste. Scratching the back of his head, Edward changed the topic, "Flamers? Why?"

"You need a wider assortment of weapons. I think that these flame throwers would be handy if you were trying to clear out an entrenched position" Irina commented as she started putting a few items for herself into the basket.

"I've told you in the past that a Cati..."

"But you don't have a squad to work with. You have to be more well rounded." The Catican Merchant said as she reviewed her final equipment list.

 2 x Compact Flame Thrower (SKU# FT-2134)
2 x Recon Drone (SKU# DR-0938)
2 x Heavy Shield Drone (SKU# DR-0939)
8 x General Use Drone (SKU# DR-0001)
2 x Drone Stealth Module (SKU# DRE-0007)
4 x Holo Projectors (SKU# GEN-0022)
2 x Hacking Modules (SKU# DRE-0039)
2 x Docking Clamps (SKU# DRE-0042)
1 x Utility Arm Tools (SKU# UA-2398)
4 x Needler Launcher Modules (SKU# NED-0005)
4 x Sonic Pulse Wave Modules (Non-Lethal Ordinance) (SKU# NL-2981)
4 x Hypo-Needler Launcher Modules (Non-Lethal Ordinance) (SKU# NL-2319)
1 x Cobra Assault Rifle (SKU# HW-1230)
1 x Combat Armor (SKU# ARM-0009)

Would you like to check out?
[color=green]Yes[/color] | [color=red]No[/color]

"If that is our reality... then could you..." Edward started to ask as he pointed towards a few items on the screen.

"Of course!" Irina responded before adding Edward's requested additions and submitting her shopping list to the Armory. Looking at the man on the other side of the window, "Have my items delivered to the Shuttle Redeemer. Now then, what do you have in the way of clothing?" She asked the man, with a rather sly grin on her face before looking for some victim to drag along with her and spotted Mary, grabbing her by the arm, "Come with me. We've got some serious business to take care of..." the Catgirl commented as she dragged Mary towards the shipboard Salon and Clothes-o-rama!

 

[Lunar Templar]

Shanoa listened to the idle banter of 'idiots' for a little while, and after finding nothing of note worthy value. Apparently the ship was just a glorified escort, which annoyed her a bit. She headed back to her body, but not before rewriting the ships Voice Module to sound like a mix of Christopher Walken and Star Trek era William Shatner.

The mono eye on the mechanical form flashed back on and after the stat up was finished, with a lack of anything better to do at the moment with everyone still out, presumably relating to the job. She did give thought to gutting the corporate ships mainframe, purely out of malice toward massive corporations in general, but since they had hired the group figured that would be considered 'bad form' and could possibly effect the pay out later as likely hood of being shot at, and she rather disliked being shot at.

So she didn't.

Instead she took a stroll through the hanger area to actually have a look at everyone's gear. Walkers, and Fighter craft where the order of the day. One ship seemed to be built for speed and maneuverability more then anything else. She naturally took scans just to have a look at the more intimate details, though she did start to wonder why they'd want some one with her, rather narrow skill set around when they seemed to be all about 'blowing it the fuck up'

 

[Texas Joker 52]

Outside Local Sasleyria Space | Chronus Corp. Heavy Vessel Prometheus | Armory
"Groovy."​

[hr]

Near the end of the meeting, Mar had largely tuned out the voices of both the Chronus representative, Miss Mayer, and the rest of her crew, only half paying-attention to what was said. After all, Irina was simply negotiating for more money, and successfully at that. As far as she was concerned, she got the basic gist of it all: This Drax Artifact was most likely incredibly dangerous, and naturally, was incredibly valuable. The Sadleyrian locals were supposedly in the mindset where, if they couldn't have it, no one could, at least according to Chronus. And Chronus was hardly a trustworthy contract holder, since they had more than enough firepower and potentially even specialists that could do the job in-house without a problem.

Which told her, ORION was going to be the fall-guy. And possibly even the TGR by extension. Chronus was going to try and come out of this smelling like some Terran flowering plant, probably with all of ORION dead. All of that led to her final conclusion as they were finally led to the shipboard armory, being that if they were most likely going to be turned on, why not go nuts with the requisitions?

As the others either took datapads to look over the inventory and make orders from there, or simply physically took their selections from what was on display, Mar was more than a little surprised to see Mary stride in, especially since she had stayed aboard the Sweetie. She must have taken one of it's cargo shuttles. Giving the Pirate a nod as she strode over to both her and Walker, Mar took one of the datapads in mid-stride and began to scroll through it.

The first thing she was concerned about was small-arms. While her ELF Gun was usually more than enough against organic enemies at close range, she needed something for distance. And something caught her eye before too long. Something of Shree make.

- Raav Personal Defense Solutions Model N76 10mm "Impaler" Needle Pistol (For Testing)

- RPDS Model N76 Standard Flechette Cartridges, 15 Flechette Capacity

- RPDS Model N76 Armor-Piercing Flechette Cartridges, 15 Flechette Capacity

- RPDS Model N76 Charged "Disruptor" Anti-Synthetic Flechette Cartridges, 10 Flechette Capacity

She frowned a little at the fact that they were currently being tested, but there was probably a case to be made that there couldn't be a better test for an older model of Shree weapon than simply going out into combat and using it. Walking up to where Mary had just finished presumably haggling with the Armorer, Mar held the datapad up to him with a true-hand and tapped the selected weapon and ammunition types with a claw.

"This thing says these weapons are currently being tested, even though they were developed one standard century ago. Don't suppose I could take a pair for a field test, could I?" she asked with a small smile.

The Armorer, already flustered and irritable because of Mary no doubt, told her that he'd have to check on that. As he turned away and presumably spoke to some corporate manager higher up the ladder, she began to scroll through the inventory list a little more. She was more than a little impressed by the variety of equipment they had. Most was of Terran make, but... Wait.

She scrolled a little faster until she came across a section labelled Small Craft. These Chronus folks were testing weaponry themselves, given that they had some Shree Impalers listed as being in a testing phase. It stood to reason that perhaps they were testing other equipment as well, she thought. Then her eyes locked onto a name that made her knees go a little weak, and her lips to spread into a grin.

By that point, the Armorer had turned back to her and started to speak.

"Look, you can requisition them, but you're required to submit a report on their performance in combat conditions--" he started, before Mar practically shoved the datapad in his face and pointed to something on the screen with a wild grin.

"Great! And I want that one too!" she said excitedly.

- Terran Grand Republic 223-Space Superiority Fighter "Hellbat" (For Testing)

 

[FalloutJack]

"If I could afford something like that, I wouldn't be here."

At this, Grace said "You can't blame a girl for trying.", with just the smallest trace of a smirk in her expression. She was sort of mocking Mary, but in good humor. It was shortly after this that the transmission to come aboard the Promethius was received, stating that if they wanted any new equipment, now was the time. Mary stated that she was going to, and it made sense that they should se about plundering Chronus' stores for useful weapons. Hers and Elliot's weapons were both tough and custom-made to their specifications, but in time - and after much rigorous dissembling of the parts to check for bugs and other nasty things - Grace felt that even these weapons could feel like home.

"I'll go, as well."

With Mary leaving, she locked up the Archer and went along to the shuttle in question.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Elliot, meanwhile, had been looking meticulously for something high end that would dwarf the weaponry that he and Grace had stockpiled for all occasions. When he saw the Caticans pulling out a Cobra Assault Rifle, he most-decidedly wanted one, as well. However, that was for heavier targets, and it was a heavier weapon, not as versatile. It was a state-of-the-art bang-bang, but it was exclusively for blowing shit up. Eventually, he found something that he liked. Well, two things. The first was reliable in any situation and thoroughly badass. The latter, though... It wasn't exactly common a weapon, and they took a while to charge, but it was ultimate badass.

"Hello... An M41A Pulse Rifle with mounted launcher and an M41B Plasma Rifle. I can toss out the other rifles and just use these."

He wasn't going to, but let's explain. The M41A used similar technology to alot of the gauss-based weapons that were floating around, but the pulse rifle was better, because with a gauss coil, you were losing some of the force due to an inefficient energy transfer. These, however, had a contained rail system and were stronger, greater for penetration. That was the reliable first one. The second rifle was even better. A 'variable phase' plasma rifle, which essentially meant that not only did it have control over rate of fire, but whether it was series of tight shots, splashing wads, or even a solid stream. Another thing he'd found, before he saw Grace walk in, was a number of Paladin Shields in a rack.

"Oh, now this will save your frigging life."

"What is it?"

"These are compatible with my suit, but you can wear one without it, even. They compact to basically a bulky armband, but at the right distress from the user - i.e. Imminent danger - they unfold and have a pulse output to defend you with a counterforce on the alloy shell that performs better than a solid-state alloy shield."

"Get some."

"I will. What're you taking?"

"Arms for the Archer, and this."

"Oh... I thought those were illegal."

It was a special kind of ammunition, one that fit sniper rifles and special handcannons. Elliot's was compatible, but Grace had also found a Murdock Heavy-Caliber, a handgun dedicated to firing these bullets. What they were...were drone, smart bullets. You lock them onto a target and then fire it. And regardless of whether the target is moving or even being evasive, it has a high probability of hitting it, because it's got a scanner plotting its course on the move to find and intercept that target for the kill. So, their list ended up looking kind of like this...

M41A Pulse Rifle w/Launcher
M41B 'Variable Phase' Plasma Rifle
Cobra Assault Rifle and Ammunition
Wrist-Mounted Paladin Shields
Murdock Heavy-Caliber and Drone Bullets
Skuld-Class Gunship Turret Ammunition (Exploding, Heavy-Piercing, EMP Disabler)
Hull-Piercer Railgun Ammunition
Riot-Blast Missle Pod Packets (Six Missle Packets)
Demo-Packs with Remote Triggers

The armory man looked over their invoice, then back at the two of them, then back at the invoice.

"What the hell do you need the explosives for? There are ALOT here."

"Because...if your information is wrong in any way that would require us to blast through heavy armor and we don't have the capability to do that in a controlled manner-"

"Or at all."

"Or at all, the mission will have a serious damper on it, won't it? I'm not taking chances, and neither are you. Our happiness is your happiness."

"Alright, alright... Just get your shit out of here and out of my life."

"Pleasure doing business with you."

"Oh, blow it out your ass."

Elliot just smiled and they got their new toys sent to the Sweet Child, where they'd load it onto the Archer soon after.

 

[Anti-American Eagle]

Brian sat in silence on the shuttle ride over, checking the seal on his helmet and the covers on his ports. The walk from the lock to the armoury was long, the pilot apparently having dropped him at the wrong port and the guards being slow to direct him. Standing in line behind the few others still going over equipment he waited patiently, somewhat trying to spot what they were acquiring and when it was his turn he began looking over the available supplies. His order came to read in two parts as he went through the terminal.

Three kodiak maintenance kits, three hull patch kits, three field drug manufactories, a signaling kit, twelve boxes of ammunition for the guns on his kodiak, a series cheap old batteries, and a couple of old pulse grenades.

A canister of powdered mercury sulfide, a canister of powdered mercury iodide, a canister of powdered diamond, a canister of palladium ore, a canister of tritium ore, a canister of iron filings, a canister of solid white phosphorus, a coil of electrum wire, a canister of deuterium oxide, three canisters of hydrogen gas, and a canister of helium 3.

The armoury manager looked at him oddly as he input it "What the hell do you need all of that for?"

Which he replied to with "What do you need it for?" And then he asked "Do you have any field cannons, kodiak portable?"

After a couple of moments he replied, "What kind?"

"Doesn't matter. Needs mechanical triggers and reloadable magazines."

"One model in stock. Surplus. Obsolete. Marked for destruction."

"Add it to the order, and four loaded magazines. Send it with the rest to the Sweet Child."

"Fine. Whatever."

 

[Outcast107]

Walker smiled a bit at how his newly gather crew seem to be excited to be getting free weapons. It was almost like kids at Christmas, just instead of kids, it's highly train and/or dangerous people. Chuckling a bit at the thought before walking over to the terminal and started to look over the guns they had.

He wasn't picky but he also wasn't that greedy. Taking simple one of the Cobra assault rifle and some extra ammunition. He simply smiled and waved at the guy who gave them a bit of hell earlier. Though it seems his team was giving him some hell back right at his face. Walker didn't need to say anything as he got what he needed. "Thanks again for the guns!" Walker chuckles as he walks over to everyone else. He was going to say thanks to Irina but she was already dragging Mary off to wherever they were heading. Shaking his head a bit as he walks up to Elliot.

Looking over the list he got as he looks at the bounty hunter. "Getting whatever you can huh?" Walker let out a low whistle as he double check the list. "You sure we'll be needing all of this? They are colonist after all..." Walker said. While he did approve of them getting what they can, he was a bit worry that this was overkill for a group of people who were barely making it live out here.

Meanwhile

Vice Director Mayer had just exited the conference room and she seems a bit annoyed. She really did not see why they were relying on the TGR and Mercs to help them out with this problem. If she was in charge, she would have made everything seems like an accident happens at the mine and be off with the artifact. Though it wasn't her call and she couldn't do anything about it. The Director seem a bit tickled at how she told him that a Catican female was able to squeeze more money out of them. Though two could play at that game.

She headed towards the armory everyone was at and stop at the two guards outside of the room. "Radio me once they are done with their 'shopping.' When they are done, escort them to the same room we had the meeting." She said and the guard did a quick salute before Mayer walked off.

 

[Athol]

While others made their acquisitions, Mary had stepped away and was making a mental checklist of stuff she wanted to get once they got to somewhere like a ?freeport? station. Distracted as she was, she failed to notice Irina approaching her until she felt the Catican?s hand wrap around her left forearm and try tugging her onwards.

"Come with me. We've got some serious business to take care of..."

Instantly her arm tensed and drew towards her, while at the same time her feet turned slightly against the direction of the pull, and her knees bent slightly to lower her center of mass; as all thin happened, the soles of her artificial feet changed shape slightly, the silicon rubber shifting to increase the friction between Mary and the ship?s deck plate.

At the same time she was instinctively countering being drawn onwards, her left hand wrapped around Irina?s wrist, applying just enough to become uncomfortable without causing actual injury?yet. ?How ?bout you explain just what you?re planning first.? Mary replied levelly, the affected accent vanishing. Instinct had nearly caused her to deploy her hold out gun as well, but fortunately her situational awareness managed to override that potential complication.

 

[Evrant-Knight]

Whilst some members of ORION were going overkill with their requisitions, Velka showed a bit more restraint, or at least it would appear that way; not because there wasn't much that interested the Reshani, far from it, it was rather that, given her function as a reconnaissance operative, she normally travelled light. After adding the grenades for the under-barrel grenade launcher of Fulcrum to the purchase order, there was one, or rather, two additional items that piqued her interest.

"What is the deal with these drones?" Velka asked the armoury manager at the kiosk, who appeared to be a bit spooked at the sight of her.

"Ah, them, they were a prototype model for a new line of surveillance equipment about a year ago; however they never got around to being tested, by the time anyone ever considered using them, the finished product came out, so they got left behind. Had been meaning to scrap them for a while now, but like before, they became forgotten."

"Tragic. Add these to the purchase requisition, see if I can't make use of them."

"Sure. Be my guest. Glad to see the back of them." The man said with a huff as he tapped a few buttons on a console beside him.

 

[Generic NPC 22]

The Orion Files | Chronus Corp. Heavy Vessel Prometheus | Armory
Plans Within Plans...
Irina Rostikova | Edward Aubergine​

[hr]

"(Well this is more than a little inconvenient...)" Irina Rostikova thought to herself as she gave Mary's arm an experimental tug towards the clothing store. She'd been plotting planning this adhoc shopping excursion as a way of not only bonding with her new co-worker but as a way to thank Mary for her help with the drunken human that had narrowly avoided being spaced by Ed.

"How 'bout you explain just what you're planning first." The Former Soldier and possible torturer of kittens asked as she grabbed Irina by the wrist, squeezing a bit to cause a bit of discomfort on the Catican Female's side of the equation.

"Ow. Ow. Ow. I need that to work..." The Catican Merchant/Mechanic complained before attempting to explain herself, "I just thought I'd treat you to some clothes shopping since I think it's a good way for us to bond, especially since we'll be working together and to thank you for your help back at that Drift Station..."

Before Mary could respond, a shadow fell over the two women as a Chronus guard approached the two women, his hand floating near his stun stick.

"Problem here?"

"No no no... not at all, we were about to go into one of the sh..." Irina started to say before she was cut off.

"I'm afraid you won't be able to do that. I'm to escort everyone back to the briefing room for Miss Mayer" The guard said, not sounding at all apologetic or afraid.

"But we're not done..." The Catican Clothing Connoisseur started to complain.

"Yes... you are..."

"Fine... whatever... " Irina muttered before gesturing widely at the store, "I'll take... everything from in there... get it delivered to my ship."

She wasn't actually serious about purchasing the entire store's inventory but seeing as how Chronus had just ruined all the fun, the least she could do is order it all and then change her mind at the very last second. Turning to Mary Mary Quite Contrary, the Deflated Catican nodded towards the guard.

"I guess we'd better round everyone up and get back to the board room."

 

[Athol]

Mary was a bit surprised that she actually felt bad as Irina complained about the pressure on her wrist. She was about to explain her actions, one never lets themselves get taken anywhere by people they barely know on pirate drifts, when they were interrupted by a Corp security goon.

"Problem here?"

Seeing the man?s hand drifting towards his stun baton, Mary relaxed her grip on Irina and shifted slightly to face the goon. While Kitty and the goon talked, she assessed the threat. Too collected and alert to be new?but little ?real world? experience. She thought with a smile. While she was definitely, and happily, no ground pounder, GRN basic hand-to-hand training and a few decades outside the ?law? meant she was plenty capable of handling herself. The goon had gotten too close, and his hand was still too far from the grip of his baton. If he went for it now, she?d be on him before it left its holster; but that was all purely academic, as they were apparently all supposed go to a briefing room.

"I guess we'd better round everyone up and get back to the board room."

?Lead on, Kitty.? Mary said, releasing the Catican. ?Oh, and uh?sorry about the wrist.? She went on a bit sheepishly. ?Instinctive reaction. Tortuga and NPR may have codes of conduct for while aboard the stations, but it?s still never a good idea to let people you barely know drag you off places without warning.? She said with a crooked smile.

 

[Texas Joker 52]

Outside Local Sasleyria Space | Chronus Corp. Heavy Vessel Prometheus | Corporate Meeting Room
"He'll need a name."​

[hr]

It was a decidedly rare sight to see a Shree actually so giddy that it showed, but when her request for the 223-SSF "Hellbat" was--albeit reluctantly--approved, Mar couldn't help herself. She whooped and did a spinning leap in place, pumping all four fists into the air and even doing a quick hip-shaking dance when she landed.

She was grinning like a loon, whatever that was, all the way back to the meeting room as she trailed behind Walker and a few of her other crewmates. And while she knew she should have been thinking on the upcoming second part of their meeting, she figured that the others, like Walker and Irina, had that covered. Instead, she couldn't help but picture just how nice it would be to finally get her claws on her dream fighter.

The 223 Space Superiority Fighter of the Terran Grand Republic. Equipped with a pair of high-output, military-grade fighter engines as well as a quartet of the highest-powered thruster modules that could reasonably be mounted on a craft of it's size, and complete with six separate hard-points with which to mount weapons. Oh, they wouldn't be able to mount any of the truly heavy weapons that were effectively space-artillery, but most standard fighter weaponry would be able to be attached and integrated with the shipboard systems quite nicely.

She'd have to come up with a color scheme for it. Red? No, the Devil-Fish was already a nice crimson, and while she was particularly partial to the color, the Devil-Fish and her new ship had to be separate in her eyes. And it wasn't as if a different color would make her doubt the Hellbat's speed. Perhaps blue? That was a possibility. Or maybe a pattern of several colors. Mar grinned a little wider at the thought of a paint job that others would probably consider to be garish and unfashionable.

And of course, it would also need a name. After all, any self-respecting pilot never called their ship by it's factory model designation. They called it by a name, like the Sweet Child Of Mine for ORION's tramp freighter, or her Devil-Fish racing shuttle.

Since the Hellbat was a Terran-made ship, it made sense to her to name it after something else that was similarly Terran. But it needed to sound predatory or dangerous, to fit with it being a fighter. Vulture? No, it would give off the wrong impression. Hammerhead? That could work, since she was particularly fond of aquatic predators. Of course, there were always names that had nothing to do with animals, like perhaps Black Bullet.

As Mar sat down at the meeting table next to Walker, she leaned back and hummed quietly to herself while she continued to daydream of her new ship. She couldn't wait.