RP: ISC Phoenix [Mission 7] - Siege on Sector 72

[Luca]

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.

 

[Lamb]

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.

 

[ShotJon]

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.

 

[Scot]

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.

 

[Nevaraon]

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."

 

[Luca]

"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!"

 

[Scot]

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.

 

[Fian]

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...?"

 

[Nevaraon]

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.

 

[Lamb]

"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.

 

[ShotJon]

Zeta wasn't waiting for anything. Or anybody. As soon as she saw that man, she broke off into a run. He ran fast, but Zeta ran faster too. Sebastian's shouting cleared a way through the crowd for her a little.

She followed strange man with pistol in her hand and tried to run to him, prepared for him to suddenly turn around and fire or throw anything. She ran, waiting for a chance to get to him and jump him or the opportunity to shoot him in the leg.

 

[TeslaTornado]

"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Shouted a voice from somewhere in the crowd.

The bigass red barrel of a Finagle's Revenge carved a swath through the center of the crowd gathered in the square as Vincent, new gun in hand, sprinted forward. He had descended into Full-On Kill Mode again: he was a guided missile, plowing down everything in front of him, whether that meant androids, Freespacers or market stalls. The mercenary had one goal in mind at that moment, and he was breaking for it.

The gunshots had caught him at a bad moment. He'd finally been able to get a Finagle (leave it to Freespacers to be the only people who sold Freespacer weapons), and had just checked out when the gunshots in the dock rang out. He had knocked over half of the store's front window display trying to bring the Finagle to such an angle where he could get through the door with the big gun balanced on his shoulder. From there it was a simple affair of getting out onto the street - not difficult except for the crowd, which he just plowed through anyways.

He saw the runner, and members of the Phoenix crew chasing after him or her, and immediately took off in pursuit.

 

[Luca]

"Shit," The runner cursed to herself, upon seeing three people running after her - no, wait, three people and an ID-SOL with a Fingale's Revenge, "What the shit?"

Now she was sprinting for her life, and she eventually found that the crowd was an impediment. She made a bounding leap, laughing in the face of gravity as she flew towards a building. She was being watched by just about every citizen in the area.

She then turned around mid flight with a HHG in hand and squeezed off some rounds - barely missing Zeta. Another shot flew past Robert, whilst two went towards the ID-SOL, one pegging him in the right arm whilst the other flew between his legs.

"Alright, all bets are off!" She taunted mid flight, before landing on a roof three stories levelling the handcannon with her pursuers. "Who's first in line for the wrath of Yuki?"
Everyone in a seventy or eighty foot radius of Yuki could hear her. She sounded beyond pissed.

From this angle, she looked lithe in a black bodysuit and combat heels, somewhat petite, and almost as crazy as Luca. Golden locks adorned her head with a bow in a most ironic fashion statement, and now it was apparent: it was a Nekovalkyrja - and she was ample, and mad.

"Well bugger me," Sebastian cursed as he put his .44 forward, "If this is what we're dealing with, we're either in over our heads..."
He then fired six rapid shots in blinding speed, and somehow, this lithe lady managed to dodge all five - except for one which hit her in the heart.

She looked down at the wound, then polished her biceps in their direction, ignoring the bullet's impact.
"C'mon, I've had men fuck me harder and die worse than that," She gloated as her regeneration sealed the wound up, "Mr. Pavone is going to die, there's nothing you can do to stop it. Then I'll be after all of you next." She then started to blend with the background, as though using a cloaking device similar to what was encountered back on N-357, eventually her outline disappeared from view at long distance.

"Yeah we're in over our heads," Sebastian cursed again as he flicked the cylinder out and loaded a fresh set of bullets in, and the crowd had hidden for cover.

An armed Automata with a Jiyuuian assistant then arrived on scene, late.
"Damn it, we've been chasing her for months," The Jiyuuian policeman cursed, with a Fingale's Revenge in hand, "She's left a string of dead mercenaries behind her."
"Targets include ID-SOL, Nepleslians, Geshrin, Male Yamataians & Jiyuuians," The Automata recited, "All convicted criminals, army veterans, freelancers or otherwise wealthy or powerful."

"A black widow," Sebastian summarised, frowning deeply at the implications for Luca, "Perfect."

-

Meanwhile, back in the Alley, Enzo was following the trail of blood until it stopped at a certain point. He then saw a male figure clutching his eye, trying to stem the bleeding.

In his other hand, he had a Zen-Arms 10mm pistol with a suppressor, and his good eye was still alright. He tried to fire shots at Enzo, but one hit a dumpster, the other went wide, and the third one nearly struck Enzo's left foot.

"Damn it," He cursed as he fired again, this time only grazing Enzo's jacket, "This is the fifth time this 's happened, dying."

-

"This is only going to get interesting," Luca said as he watched the woman from afar, drawing his own HHG, "Tell you what though, good taste in guns, amongst other things."
John put a hand on Luca's shoulder, "Look, she'll screw you," John recited an old Nepleslian axiom, "Then kill you, and fuck us over, whoever she is."

"She looks familiar, though..." Luca recalled.
"Yeah, looks like that broad from Planet of the Tentacles 4, part XXX." John recalled one of his favourite lonely-night cures.
Luca shook his head, "Nah she looks more like the dame from Behind the Galaxy of the Amazonians." Which was a much tamer movie by comparison.

Echelon was busy with Arin, "Now that this crazy woman has revealed her name, I've got a lead. Excuse me," Echelon replied to the spokeswoman, then seeming to go away. She came back a minute later with the following information, "Yuki is the name for an archetypal Black-Widow killer. Her tracks are incredibly well covered. No records of service history are present."

She paused, as if to take a breath, "Though, the skill present in what information just been uploaded in the past few minutes suggests professional, possibly governmental training - and it is acknowledged according to forensic evidence of crime scenes and eyewitness reports that she hasn't been known to work with others."

This seemed to position the Jet Bulls as a forward party for Yuki - and the implications of government training meant to the NAM Spokeswoman that she could have any number of restricted technologies at her fingertips.

Meanwhile, Panther was confronted by a few Freespacers, who just stood and stared at the Kohanian, wondering just what he was. Similar looks of wonderment were given to the Elysian Patrician too.

This was getting nebulous, just as any action thriller story does, and yet this is reality.

 

[TeslaTornado]

Vincent felt the bullet hit him in the right arm, the high-caliber bullet digging into his arm and punching clean through the other side before embedding itself in the floor behind him. The shot had missed any essential bones and arteries, but nevertheless it did what HHG rounds did best: hurt like hell.

So Vincent reacted in his own special way: instead of bitching and moaning, he got ripshit pissed off and started barking out threats and cursing even as he retrieved the dropped Finagle's Revenge with his left arm (he had been bred ambidextrous) and started moving back towards the ship.

"GRAAAAAGH! YOU GODDAMN DAUGHTER OF A BADGER-FUCKING ASS-WHORE!" The massive ID-Sol shouted, finally taking a knee and cursing some more, his eyes flipping through every possible method of observation he had, attempting to catch a glimpse of the cloaked assassin.

 

[Fian]

"Oh, a Neko." Arin exclaimed. "With a cloaking device too!"

Now previously the Representative would be disturbed by the fountain of hate gushing out from the ID-SOL, but now with the wisdom she had accumulated from her travels she has now accepted that this was due to the natural pride standard issued to all Nepleslian men. Being shot by a much smaller woman with a phallic symbol made by your own National company helps too. "Medic!" She cried out to the other members of the crew as she ran over to Vincent.

With the threat now known in advance, she has now the luxury of rigging up solutions beforehand instead of doing it in the middle battle. She'll visit the market later to find the parts she needs, but first she'd better provide some comfr- 'Customer Service' to Vincent. She stood in front and facing the ID-SOL and then shouted in an official tone. "It is against the interest of The Company for it's self-defense products to be used against law-abiding citizens!"

"Please be patient while a Representative of The Company supplies a solution for your problem!" She cocked her head slyly to the side and winked.

 

[Nevaraon]

Robert groaned as the neko faded away from sight. "Why do we only get the crazy people with invisibilty?" he asked to nobody in particular. He moved over to Arin and Vincent. "You ok big guy?"

 

[ShotJon]

Zeta was thinking about spraying the roof with few rounds from her pistol, but she sent away that tought. Neko didn't get killed by being shot in the chest with .44 round. Her SEP wouldn't probably do much better. Arins flamethrowe could though.

"Let'S head back to Captain," said Zeta to Sebastian. "Also I think we are going to need some thermal vision, if that she-wanker has cloaking."

 

[Lamb]

In the alleyway, Enzo was dashing behind the dumpster. Upon hearing the man's comment, he was reminded of the sniper who died on Nepleslia Prime. "Maybe this guy's got some Yammie merch to keeps him from dyin' for real." occured to him as he pressed his back up against the dumpster. He briefly stuck his head out slightly to look at the sniper struggling with his eye. He knew he was going to be able to outreach him, but he had to act fast.

He reached onto the dumpster and in one motion flung himself forward in a tackling somersault. As he crossed the distance between himself and the sniper, he slid the rifle out of his belt by the barrel. Then, landing in front of the sniper, he swung the rifle full-force like a baseball bat; his torso turning into the strike. He felt the rigid stock of the rifle break over the side of his opponent's skull, sending shock waves through his arm. When he had caught his breath, Enzo knelt down to examine the unconscious man. Enzo retrieved the man's pistol and removed its suppressor. With it re-noisified, it was welcome to rest peacefully tucked handle out into his pants, under his coat. During his inspection of the man's wounds, Enzo made certain to stick his knife into the sniper's other eye, blinding him. With most of his work done, Enzo lit a cigarette and took a long, heavy drag. Smoke filled the alley.

When he had a minute to gather his thoughts, Enzo reached for his communicator and sent Luca a message. It read: "Got sniper in alleyway. Said something interesting; maybe you should come check out. I don't know nothing about this Yammie shit. Awaiting instructions."

 

[Scot]

Panther retrieved the knife he threw and let the others dash after the runner. Instead of giving chase, he decided to go to a nearby shop and buy a hoody jacket and changed shirts. He now was wearing a grayish hood jacket with a logo of the station he was on with a piece of cloth covering his snout.

There was also a spare sleeve, but seeing some of the Freespacers he wasn't too surprised.

The Kohanian better disguised decided to take a stroll around the station, with his cat like gait being the primary indicator that he was something other than human, and a bulging pocket an indicator of something dangerous hidden in his jacket and pant pockets.

For his own motives, he began to search around for the assassins. Finding the leader's head would most certainly be a challenge for someone trained as himself. He asked about popular areas of the station so he knew not to head to the worst hiding spots, and cursed not having several DA cards so he could pay some for info.

 

[TeslaTornado]

"You ok big guy?"

There was around a tonne of sheer, unbridled, concentrated rage just behind Vincent's eyes as his head slowly turned to face Robert, the vein in his neck throbbing like the bass-line to an Aethersperm song. His face was the shade of purple that could only be achieved by a beet and his tombstone teeth were bared, locked together in a bear-trap grimace.

"Yeah, I'm just fine," Vincent grunted, his voice layered with sarcasm. "I'm only BLEEDING FROM A FIST SIZED HOLE IN MY GODDAMN BICEP." He grinned maliciously, seeming to channel a bit of blood rage through the pain. "But I'd feel a bit better," he said, a bit louder, "if you'd bring me the dick-sucking catwhore that did this to me so I can shove both thumbs into her eye sockets and SPLIT HER SKULL OPEN WITH MY BARE FUCKING HANDS."

And the most disturbing part was that Vincent meant every word of it.