RP: Bounty Hunts Prologue 2.1 - The "Iron Ferret"

Lapas moved out from his spot in the corner and prepared to leave when he realized he still didn't have his weapons or his bombs. He just didn't feel right going out without his equipment. The Iroma resolved to search the entire ship until he found where "snake tits" hid his stuff.

Amanozako had done little more than listen idly as the crew went on about their things and landed the ship and talked about the new desolate ball of scum and villainy they now were landed on.

Once everyone broke up and went about their ways, thee neko went back to her cabin and grabbed her things. Her guns she had with her already but now she also grabbed her coat and fedora, slipping them on. Her rifle she left behind, stowing it away in her locker and secured it. She then took out the sample proof she had taken from her bounty heads on the passenger liner and put them in the pocket inside her jumpsuit. She planned to make her way to the nearest appropriate terminal and file her claim for their bounties.

With everything she needed on her, Amanozako headed for the exit hatch.

Lapas discovered his weapons in the bathroom of all places. Lapas wondered what could have possessed the Snake Tits to actually hide them there. He pondered this up until he made it to the exit hatch where he met Amanozako. "Hello my adorably eared Yamataian friend. Well more like ship mate since we haven't really talked to each other yet." Lapas couldn't really be brought down at that point he was happy to have his explosives yet again strapped to his back.

Desmond didn't particularly care about bossing other people around, but the increased pay certainly had its value to him. "How much we talking about?" The bounty hunter asked Kendra.

"Well I will be honest with you," Kendra said, leaning against the wall. "First I want to find out how much it costs to run this shit. Then I will come up with wages for everyone. 1st officer though. He won't be getting a wage. He will be getting a percentage of our income. How much is that going to be I cannot tell ya right away, you can undestand that right?"

"And what if the other crewmembers don't like it?" Desmond inquired, fishingfor something in his pockets.

"Well they can go I guess. No one is keeping them." Kendra said with a shrug of shoulders. "Of course if we get a nice loot I am going to share some of it. If I would just pay everyone few hundred DAs and kept everything for myself they would shoot me very soon. Plus I plan to cover for medical and what not. It is a bounty-hunter ship in making. I will figure out the things as it goes. I hoped you and Nicholas would help me."

Desmond nodded, finally procuring the pack of cigarettes in his pant pockets. He picked one up with his teeth and put the pack away, "Fine, but I should let you know, this ship is barely functional." He said, "I can do the repairs but there are no parts." He added.

"Hmm," Kendra rubbed her chin in though. "Well I heard there is another tech on the ship. She might know where to get parts cheap. Oh and supposedly there is a doctor too. Did you find them in your sweep?"

"... Yeah." Desmond replied, not adding anything else. "What about them?" He asked.

"First, do you think they will be danger?" Kendra showerd one finger, and then added another. "Seconds did they say if they are going to stay or not?"

"The mechanic? Not sure, but the doctor knows how to handle himself in a fight. Not sure if they will stay or not, they didn't seem to be causing any trouble." Desmond said.

"Well I won't need them for the hunt. I will need them for the tech and medical stuff." Kendra said with a smirk. "I mean it will be good to have someone to stitch us if something would happen. As for the ship being in tatters, I think we might look for some hunt jobs here on Delsauria, make some money and repair what we can. Though it suck that we won't be able to hunt ships for now. Still better this ship then no ship right?"

Desmond nodded, "I still haven't taken a look at the outer hull of the ship." He explained, giving himself the reason to get lost.

"Yeah, we got a lot to check. I was not even in captains room." Kendra said. She knew they might soon have some nice credit, but she wanted to put all that into repair of the ship. "Oh in the room of our late target we found some jewelry. Nick will try to sell it, so that could give use some money to repair the ship. Do not tell other though. I don't need anyone lured to it."

" 'Course." Desmond said, litting his cigarette up and heading for the exit hatch.

"Okay, mr. 1st officer." Kendra said with a giggle. She finally looked more relaxed and less 'angry bitch' for once.

== Maharombi Spaceport - Landing Pad D-5 - "Iron Ferret" Ramp ==

Over the PA system, the assembled group of Hunters would hear Jacob's voice once more, "Unlocked the ramp, just press the big shiny button to open up. Don't get killed out there!"

Nicholas, who was leaning against the wall next to the mentioned button, reached over and slapped it. The ramp, about as well kept as the rest of the ship, made quite a bit of noise making its way down, and upon reaching the ground, it hit with a *thunk*.

The group would find a party of five men standing outside the ship, in a semi-circle, and they were armed. The unknown party wasted no time in pointing their weapons, and the apparent 'leader' stepped forward, shotgun raised, "Where's the bitch, Kara?" He obviously had little love for the former Captain of the "Iron Ferret", though he didn't know that she was already dead.

His lackey's whispered amongst themselves, no kind words were spoken, and a particularly interesting quip from one of them would be picked up by anyone paying attention to the group, and not the leader, or the guns.

"Just kill em, the bitch is somewhere on that ship. Milk her for every DA stolen." Some of the members nodded assent, and pointed their guns with more hostility.

Landing bay

Lapas the master of social grace that he was stepped forward to speak. "Fear not friends Kara is very dead thanks to these brave heroes and myself." Lapas already his hand in his bag and was rummaging around for one of his many bombs. "Now if you would just give me a minute to find her stolen goods envelope we can get on our way gentlemen." He nodded to the other people standing around in attempt to say 'stall em'.

Kendra and Desmond were a bit behind the others so when they reached the cargo bay, it was already fucked up. We will need camera that shows us outside. Darnit. Kendra thought and carefully put her backpack down. She took out her bow and stringed it fast with trained movement, putting the arrow-bag to her belt. She nodded to Desmond.

"Got a grenade?" She whispered a question to Desmond, hoping the horned guy would stall them long enough.

"No." Desmond replied, taking his pistol out of the holster and checking the magazine to see how much bullets it still had in it. Next he pulled the slide back, inserting a new round into the chamber and flipped the safety off. He readied the weapon and pressed himself against the wall next to the exit hatch, ready to pop out at any moment and fire at the bandits.

They had taken on an entire pirate crew and jacked their ship. Five bandits with a bad temper wouldn't be too much of a big deal.

"Ready?" The bounty Hunter asked Kendra as he watched her ready her bow.

"Ready as I can be. Let's hope are comrades know how to act fast." Boa said as she pulled out a red-finned arrow. A broadhead. Good at doing damage. She wanted one of them alive. So her first target would be a thigh of man on the right. "I will go from the right, you go from the left. OKay, three, two, one shoot!" She said after counting down, firing an arrow at the left of rightmost men and then fast-drawing another red-finned arrow and firing it at man next in line. If Separa'Shan knew something, it were their bows.

As Kendra picked off her targets from the right, Desmond picked his from the left. The bounty hunter peeked out from his cover, then aimed at the first man's midsection, firing his pistol twice and, going to the next target and so on. While the bow did little noise every time it shot an arrow, it was interrupted by a couple of reports from his pistol.

=== Maharombi Spaceport - Landing Pad D-5 - "Iron Ferret" Ramp ===

The leader looked Lapas up and down, and pointed at him. One of his henchmen pointed his pistol and fired at Lapas's foot. The round embedded itself, and passed through, and blood welled at the new hole in Lapas's foot. "Lies won't get you anywhere punk." He pulled the bag away from Lapas, and threw it behind him. "She owes a lot more than what you can fit in an envelope. So, where is she?"

The right-most henchman yelled in pain, as a red-tipped arrow found its way into his upper thigh. He fell to the ground, dropping his weapon in the process, and the others turned their attention to him, save the leader. The left-most fared slightly worse, as he found blood quickly staining his shirt. He fired his handgun in the general direction of the ramp.

The leader looked at the source of the fire, and saw Kendra and Desmond. He quickly pointed his shotgun at the duo, and fired.

Nicholas hit the ground, pulling Lapas down with him, trusting Amanozako to move herself as well. The bullets from the left henchman flew off-course, and the shotgun spray passed over them. The cloud of shot flew into the ship with intent to kill, sadly disappointed as a small amount grazed Kendra and Desmond's exposed body area.

The remaining two henchman took a crouch, making Kendra's second arrow, and Desmond's next two bullets miss. They brought their SMG's up, and started to fire into the ship. The leader looked down at Nicholas and Lapas, and raised his shotgun. "See where lying gets you?"

Landing Ramp

Lapas desperately fought off the urge to cry out in pain as the round hit his foot, he hadn't even realized he was still clinging to a frag gernade as his bag was being ripped away from his hand. He grit his teeth and was prepared to throw it when Nicholas knocked him to the ground.

He watched as the homemade bomb flew out of his hand and broke on the ground at the feet of the guards. He curled up into a ball to absorb the worst of the blast.

Desmond recoiled back to his cover after the leader fired, not realizing some of the buckshot had grazed him. He looked to the other side to see if Kendra had been hit and then got ready for his second go at the bandits.

The bounty hunter waited as the wall behind where he was standing was peppered by SMG fire a few moments later until the fire ceased, and then quickly popped out of cover and fired at one of the bandits twice before popping back in.

As it was, he had cover, while they didn't, he had the upper ground up in the loading ramp, which they also didn't, all he had to do was to wear them out by attrition and not overexpose himself to their fire. They already had two down, after all.

"Not one damn moments piece" Amanozako grumbled as she tumbled behind one of the ships landing struts for cover. She had just finished repairing her armor and already another gunfight. She had not even had the chance to collect her bounties from the last one. At least she would be able to add these mooks to the sum as well

At this moment though, she was regretting leaving her impaler in her cabin. It would have made nice quick work of the enemies. She drew her pair of HHG's and angled her left arm around the side of the landing strut, took aim and fired several shots at one of the bad guys.

The hand cannon barked loudly as it sent three rounds down range. As soon as the third shot was off she withdrew back behind cover and listened for the telltale scream that would come if she had hit someone.

Kendra also did not wait around, soon as she let go of first arrow, her hand was already reaching and drawing another red-one. She set it up, putted it with trained move against the string and started to pull the bow again, aiming already as she did. Her next target was the boss of the bad guys. She aimed for his pelvis area. Most bullet proof vests did not reach that low and it made perfect gutshot. Best was that gutshot would not kill him right away so he could still talk.

=== Maharombi Spaceport - Landing Pad D-5 - "Iron Ferret" Ramp ===

Kendra would feel several rounds impact her. She was lucky to be wearing the armor vest, it saved her many a wound, but it didn't cover everywhere. She would feel a burning pain in her tail, on her pulling arm for the bow, and a shallow wound on her shoulder.

The two henchman turned to look at the little ball that came to a halt between them. It took them to note what it was, a frag grenade. They both exclaimed, but before they could start to dive away, HHG rounds passed through one, while handgun rounds passed through the other. They fell over, and could do little more than stare at the little ball for their last few seconds of life.

*BBOOOOMM*

The frag grenade exploded, sent clouds of deadly shrapnel outwards. The two henchman next to the explosion had no chance of survival. The shrapnel harmlessly pinged off the ship, Desmond, Amanozako, and Kendra were safe from the blast.

The thug leader was pushed forward, shrapnel embedding itself in his back. He pulled the trigger, but it went wild. As he struggled to right himself, he would feel a searing pain in his lower torso, and upon inspection, a red-tipped arrow had found it's way into his gut. He looked up at Kendra, who was also injured, and flipped her off. He fell to the side, breathing hard. His shotgun was out of reach, and he didn't seem to be carrying a sidearm.

Lapas and Nicholas would feel shrapnel grazing over their skin, some stray bits biting their unprotected parts, but were mostly fine. Nicholas looked at Lapas, "Are you crazy? Could have killed us. Good work."

Landing Ramp

Lapas slowly moved to stand up forgetting completely about his injured foot, right up until he decided to put weight on it and went falling back to the ground. "Owww thanks, glad to know I accomplished something. Anybody on our side dead?" He just laid there on the ramp hoping none of his new friends were horribly injured or worse.

Amanozako took a moment to scan the area with her red eyes, making sure there were no more hostiles about before taking the time to eject the spent shell casings from her HHG's and reload them with new rounds. This done she replaced both weapons to their holsters on her thighs.

Without speaking, she went over to the remains of the hostiles and checked them for anything useful or any identification.

Desmond whistled to himself, watching the frag grenade cut the bandits to ribbons. That would be a problem to clean up. He looked to where Nicholas and Lapas were lying at, then holstered his weapon upon seeing that they were 'okay'.

The bounty Hunter reached for his cigarette packet, fishing one of the cancer sticks with his teeth. He started to reach for the lighter, but then stopped when he saw the red stain on the left sleeve of his jacket from the buckshot that grazed him earlier.

"Damn." Desmond simply commented, lighting the cigarette up and looking at Kendra. "You alright?"

Kendra watched the main baddie fall over with an arrow in his abdomen. She smiled and tilted to the side, leaning against the wall. She blinked, trying to chase away they pain, her right hand hanging limp. Taking deep breaths, she slowly slid to the ground trying to get hold of herself. Then Desmond got to her, she blinked against looked up to him.

"Not really," She said, fighting off shock. "D-didn't you say there is a doctor on the ship. Damn this hurts. Their boss should be alive, milk him for info. Fuck." She put her healthy hand over the tail-wound hoping to slow the bleeding.