In the last episode...

The quest for a holiday after the Tami events was mostly unsuccessful, although many interesting faces had joined the crew of the Phoenix, including Zeta, Enzo, Seiren, Uriel, Panther, Echelon and Naoko - along with Nyezeh spreading her wings again in triumphant return!

Their quest for a holiday lead them to Drift, initially on delivery, then a Heroes Welcome, now an assassination attempt against Drift's Governor. Fortunately, it was foiled with the Crew's presence - but now they have a new problem to deal with...

It's all up to them, yet again in a new, long awaited episode of INTERSTELLAR SPACE CRUISER - PHOENIX!!

MISSION 7 - START!!

A few minutes passed since the attempted shooting, and they were a few very long seeming minutes. During which, a plan was hotly debated near the loading ramp of the Phoenix. A crowd had gathered around to watch the spectacle, with the sounds of gunfire attracting attention initially. Drift Policepeople and Militia were also stationed in the area, keeping the crowd at bay

"Splitting up is an advisable plan, we can't stay in one place," Sebastian advised as he tried to get a feel for the station, yet getting a framework out seemed illogical - since he had no experience in Freespacer vessels.
Yamataian designs always had halls to divide everything, Nepleslians preferred communal, open rooms with temporary walls, but Freespacers were totally alien to him, "But none of us know where we're going."

"We're still alien to this city," John observed with a sigh, "And judging by the crowd, I think we're already getting attention from the locals."

Echelon's voice popped up on Arin's datapad, "I have made an analysis of The Libertarian Republic of Drift. I can provide directions and, to a degree, surveillance."

A Jiyuuian bodied police officer emerged from the crowd, "Sir," She asked Luca, sternly, "I am going to have to ask you to leave, for our sake."
"Make me, I am not leaving one of my former crew buddies to sustain his injuries alone," He stepped forward, glaring into his eyes, "I want revenge as much as the next man."

"Let him be, I trust him," Galar's voice popped up over the Officer's radio.
"Governor... you're sure?" The officer asked, "These people have bought a war to our doorsteps."
"And he'll fight it alongside you. He is a professional soldier," Galar was, to a degree, bluffing, but this wasn't wrong, "And his crew look powerful enough to investigate whoever this is."

"What's his condition?" Luca asked intently.
"He's stable, and he's got enough bodyguards to make Yui envious," The police officer replied, "But if he wants you to stay, I can't argue with that."

"Well," Luca said as he walked over to a body of one of the black-clad hitmen, "What do we know about our attackers?"
"I'm not sure, we've had a steady supply of people coming in and out of Drift," She sighed lightly, "They could've been waiting for you."

"Obviously they expected me to be a pushover," Luca smirked, "Joke's on them."
"But we need to scour these enemies out of Drift," The officer stated, smacking her fist into her other hand, "Their presence will destabilise what little neutrality we cling to. We do not want this to become a political chess piece, and will we harbour scum."

"That's probably not what Galar intended, no," Luca replied warmly.

"Vanatosk and I will keep you posted," The officer then moved away, doffing her hat, "We'll be conducting our own investigations, but any help you and your team provide is greatly appreciated."

"And I thought I'd had my share of assassination for the month," Luca turned to his crew, "Any ideas on where to start?"
"I will provide explanations for any queries you might have about Drift, to a degree," Echelon spoke up, an unforeseen eagerness in her voice.

Enzo was the first to speak, having spent the entirety of the previous fire-fight with crossed arms and a tapping foot.

"Well, now thats the preliminaries are over we cans begin the opening rounds." he cleared his throat before continuing, "I've beens here before, recently as a matters of fact. From what I understands, it was still being constructeds when I was here, but the general layout seems to match. I agree with Sebastian that we splits up, see? An' I ain't intendin' to stick arounds the docks, neither. If he's still alives, I'd take pleasure in the interrogation of the cyclopian sniper. If he's dead, I'd still take pleasure in his stuff."

After the last line, Enzo cackled a little while he mimed stuffing a large bag. With his piece done, Enzo took it upon himself to light up a cigarette and enrich the atmosphere inside Drift with unhealthy, aromatic vapors. Within seconds, the filthy grifter had accrued a small cloud of smoke in his general vicinity.

Zeta was still standing on the landing ramp when firing started. SHe vitnesses Luca amazing shot at the sniper and she quickly drew her own pistol. Then suddenly those three men emerged. Firefight was short.

But Zeta wasn't happy. Luca was hit. Even though his vest protected him, next time he could be hit with a rifle or something worse. She should be there to chatch that hit. Not his vest. She walked down to Luca with her pistol in her hand looking around for any other targets. She was eyeing the crowd for anybody suspicious.

Panther was looking right at the sniper before Luca put a hole in it, he chuckled at the thought though instinctively crouched low when the short firefight began.

Without saying much to anyone, the Kohanian walked up to one of the fallen enemies and picked up his gun and any ammo he had. He figured a small weapon with automatic would do nicely to compliment his stealthy assortment of tools if things went badly, and then he unmasked the dead man to see what kind of ugly human they were dealing with.

Robert hit the deck as the first shot rang out and had pulled out his pistol but wasn't able to a good shot at any of the hitmen from where he was. By the time he got back up the fight was over. He helped Luca back onto the ship. "I vote for sticking together. I don't know this place well enough to go around by myself."

"Go ahead and nick his stuff," Luca told Enzo as he kept looking around, "His scope will be useless, but hopefully the rest is fine."

Unfortunately, it seemed as though the Cyclopean sniper had found the strength to crawl away, but he'd left a severe trail of blood on the way. The trail was heading along the top of the small building, then to a fire exit, and moving towards the alley.
He'd left his rifle where he'd dropped it though, it was a banged up Styrling Longbolt with a tally of 6 engraved into the stock.

Panther's inquisitive streak was rewarded with a few glances from onlookers, who'd never seen a Kohanian before, and two magazines worth of .45 calibre pistol ammunition. The unmasking of the nearby body, however, yielded the face of a Nepleslian or Geshrin mercenary, probably.

The person looked fairly average in the face and had shaved himself bald. Closer inspection yielded a tattoo on the left side of the neck, of a circle within a semicircle, and a decorative text reading "AD HOMINEM". Probably a mercenary branding symbol.
Luca walked over and knelt down to have a look.

"Galar," He radioed to the Governor, pointing the camera of his communicator to the tattoo, "I think we have a lead. What does this symbol mean?"

"My guess is it's a merc band of some sort that operates in the Outer Colonies," He shrugged a little, then turned away momentarily, "Hm. Seems like it's a small band of mercs called the Jet Bulls."

"They're only about 200 strong, but they don't actively engage in piracy, so they aren't a threat to the United Outer Colonies. Therefore, they're allowed to operate - sort of. They're known for taking any job."
"Damn," Luca groaned, "Maybe they aren't the only ones after me then."

Zeta, on the other hand, was scanning the crowd, and she saw confused and horrified Freespacers, Geshrin, Nepleslians, a few Yamataians and Jiyuuians. Most of them weren't armed, but a few were, and their weapons were firmly in their holsters. However, further up the back, she could see someone stepping away from the back of the crowd, and then running into the market place.

Sebastian was the only other person who noticed the man in the back making a run for it, "Wait a sec," He noticed, "We got a runner!" He pulled out his old-fashioned revolver and pointed forwards, to disperse the crowd, "Out of the way, now!"

Panther was in the business long enough to know human's sometimes have a love of marking themselves of what business they do, probably not much different from his own race. He sniffed the man a little to see if he had a specific scent, while his nose was not as strong as a dog variant, at least he could recognize it if he smelt it again.

"Certainly will be a challenge," he muttered a reply at the identity of the merc.

He collected the gun and ammo too, tucking it away in his pockets when he heard a yell and looked up to see the man running. His sharp eyes locked on the runner and moved his arm downward quickly to make a knife appear in hand to throw at the runner. Afterwards he gave chase, ignoring the stares from the onlookers.

Now if Arin needed something, she'll make it with her Fabricator. If Arin needed to know something, she'll run a search on the InterNep. Now there was no way she could reproduce Luca's new assailants in flesh and blood nor were they going to openly reveal their nefarious plans online so the Representative felt extremely useless at the moment. Give her a technical problem for NAM's sake! She reviewed the new information provided by Galar, but was still unable to come up with anything on her own.

"Hey Echelon." Arin asked, exasperated. "Maybe Polysentience would have heard of something...?"

Robert was up and running as soon as he heard Sebastian call the man out. He drew his pistol on the run, closing in towards the man. "I got him!" he called out to the rest of the crew.

"MY NEW STUFF!" Enzo shouted over the trail of blood, "It crawled away without me taking it!"

Without another word to Luca and the crew, Enzo sprinted away and swept up the rifle. As he ran along the trail of blood, Enzo tore the warped scope off of its mount atop the rifle and threw it down on the ground. With another quick motion, he hopped onto a dumpster and in one more jump made the edge of the building. Hanging by one hand with the rifle, Enzo scrambled up the edge of the building and onto the roof. He turned as he reached the roof and held the rifle to his shoulder, taking aim at the running man with the crew in tow. He had a perfect bead on the man after a few seconds and he pulled the trigger, effectively making the gun click unresponsively.

"Oh, how the hell do ya works this thing?" he mumbled in frustration, fumbling with the bolt on the newly acquired rifle. After a moment, he grasped the idea and pulled the bolt back on the rifle. There was a satisfying sound as the next bullet slid into the chamber. Without another look, the vagabond raised the rifle again. His target was too far away and the crowd was too thick for him to make the shot with a rifle. He slid the rifle into his bandolier and pulled his revolver, skillfully slamming back the hammer in the same motion. By the time he had raised it, however, the target was too far away and the crowd was too thick for him to make the shot without being Mel. The situation being out of his hands, he wished the crew a silent good luck whilst he turned back to the trail of blood and sprinted over its path and into the alleyway.