(SetsunaSpecOps) Open Season

"On approach vector to Kodian homeworld, decelerating to orbital velocities." Kwon's eyes glowed subtly as she interfaced with the ship's controls through the two hemispheres on the armrests of her pilot's chair.

"Our next pickup is down there, being held in lock-up for a few things which I'm sure he didn't do. Everyone in jail is innocent, after all." Heiran laughed. "Take us in, Kwon. Sending the coordinates to you now."


The Red Moon burst through the cloud cover of the planet, wisps of vapor trailing from the few leading edges of the micrometeoroid-pitted hull as it fired its thrusters in a final slowing burst before settling down onto the landing cradle outside the prison complex.

Taking a seat on the other side of the visitation booth, seperated from the person he was meeting by a transparent wall of armor glass, Heiran stuck the white noise generator against a wall of the cubicle to confound any listening devices or eavesdroppers outside the dome of static noise the device projected.

Picking up the phone, he looked at the Kodian across from him in the eye.

"Good," Heiran checked his chronometer, "Afternoon, Mister Hadgard. Quite a place to find you in. My name is Heiran Jiang, and I've come to you with an offer."

"And you are" came the words from Karl's mouth, dripping with sarcasm "I'm quite interested on how you intend on getting me out of here, as I'm serving a fifteen year jail sentence." Karl adjusted his posture in the chair and lit up a cigarette from a wrinkled pack on the counter in front of him. He continued to think on how they were planning to get him out of this hell-hole, he hoped that it was good."I hope you've done your research, a prisoner release is very rare on Gashmere. By the looks of it, you seem to be government agents from a world I'm wanted on. As long as you have a warrant and plan to bring me back once my trial was done, I'm sure they'd have no problem with letting me go..." Karl really hoped that these people weren't planning on breaking him out, no good could come from that. Karl continued to hold up the phone to his left ear while idly puffing on the cigarette, waiting for their response.

"Breaking you out, Mister Hadgard? Certainly not, we're law abiding citizens of the Empire and so on. I'm just here to deliver a present. Kwon, if you would?" Heiran motioned to the guard station to his side.

Kwon walked over to the item bin and dropped in a small parcel, watching as the object was scanned over with various devices before being delivered to the prisoner side.

"Just a pack of gum, Mister Hadgard. A rather potent new product from your friends in the corporate district. Two flavors on each stick; do try not to chew them together. You may find the results...not to your liking? By the way, have you heard? The moon on your world will be eclipsed tonight. A shame they don't allow prisoners out to the courtyard at night. An occurance like that doesn't much happen often, I imagine. Oh well."

Karl scooped the pack of gum into his left paw and then into his shirt pocket. A few moments later, he nodded to Kwon and hung up the phone. He then headed to talk to one of the more lenient guards at the facility and after a few minutes of talk, he was give permission to watch the lunar eclipse that night. Karl then returned to his cell and decided to take a nap. He sat down on the bottom bunk and closed his eyes, remembering that this shut eye could only last for about five hours.

Karl woke up from his afternoon nap a little late, but it didn't matter, now was the time when he had to go. He got out of his cell quickly and headed to the courtyard, package of gum securely in his shirt pocket. The guard that he had made a deal with let him in, Karl could not help but stare at the beautiful sight for a few moments. Karl then quickly snapped himself out of the trance and got to the task at hand, which involved removing the two pieces of gum from the package in his shirt package. Karl then approached one of the courtyard walls and leaned up against it and removed the sticks from their individual packaging and quickly read the instructions scribbled on the inside. He then placed the green stick on the wall and quickly laid the red stick over it. He then jetted away from the wall in lieu of the oncoming explosion.

A few moments later, the reaction of the two pieces of gum was seen, at first a bright flash of light but then a large explosion could be heard for several miles out. Chunks of stone and metal flew in every direction, causing Karl having to dodge the red-hot pieces of shrapnel caused from the explosion. A second after the explosion, alarms were blaring at their loudest and the prison was put into lock down, Karl decided to make his move. Now a large hole where the wall once was, Karl sprinted towards it as the guards began to draw beads on him. A few seconds later, he had cleared the opening and now was running out in the open, just as the they opened fire on him. Karl was quick to dodge the first few shots, but managed to get tagged in his left shoulder by one of the guards shotguns. The pain wasn't too horrible, but it would need to be repaired and the buckshot would need to be removed by a skilled surgeon. Karl pressed down hard on the wound with his right paw and continued to run. Hopefully, the explosion had been a signal to his new employers that he needed to be picked up.

As Karl ran towards the cliffs that the prison was built on, the light suddenly shown in his face was near blinding. The crashing sounds of the surf had done well to obscure the whine of gravetic motors as the unmarked, deep crimson spacecraft hovered before him just off the cliff.

"There's our boy." Kwon said with a toothy grin as she mentally sent the command through the ship's cybernetic interface with her to activate the weapons system, a holographic reticle projected against her right eye.

Down below, the front access ramp to the gunship lowered, and Heiran Jiang's voice boomed over the external loudspeakers. "Mister Hadgard, I strongly suggest you board quickly."

A hail of gunfire was now directed at Karl, scoring several other hits on his back and shoulders, luckily they were mainly ricochets or grazes. As the light hit his eyes, Karl stumbled momentarily and looked up to see the ramp extending. Without another moments hesitation, he ran towards and up it with renewed vigor, hoping to find a safe haven aboard the vessel. A small stream of blood was now dripping from his various wounds, but the first thing that came to his mind was why he had been chosen by these people, and what they were planning.

"If you don't mind, could I get patched up a little bit? These injuries are really starting to annoy me" Karl said with a bit of sarcasm strung onto the last few words. "Oh, and also, who are you guys and why did you help me break out of that prison? I really hope that you have something good cooked up, because the Planetary Guard aren't going to be too happy with one of their valuable prisoners leaving before his time was up" the last sentence was emphasized heavily due to the fact in a matter of a minute or two, armed ships would be coming and shooting to kill. "I'd suggest we get the hell out of here, Kwon!"

"Kwon knows what she's doing, Mister Hadgard. Let her do her job; I've found she works best when left alone. Come with me and we'll see to those wounds." Heiran said, pushing up the lever on the wall that raised the boarding ramp and motioning for the Kodian to follow him.

The ship lurched suddenly as it began boosting away from the planetary surface at top speed, Heiran maintained his balance almost out of a sense of habit as he led the way to the small, dingy medical bay.

"As I said before, Mister Hadgard," Heiran spoke slowly as he began tending to the wounds. "I represent a private consortium interested in procuring your services. Time being money, we didn't see it fit to allow your talents to languish in a penitentiary and sought to expedite your sentence. By any means necessary, as you can see."

"Now please, hold still. We've recently run out of analgesics onboard. This is going to hurt..."

Karl felt a sharp, biting feeling of pain as Heiran removed the bullet and shrapnel from his back, but he was able to keep a straight face during the whole ordeal. Karl felt infinitely better with the metal and plastic removed from his back and stood up to stretch his legs for a few moments and looked around the interior of the medical bay. Karl then swiveled around and sized up Heiran once more with many questions coming to mind. "Well, if you've seen my record, you'll know that I'm not the galaxy's best combat leader, but I sure as hell know how to bring the fight up close to the enemy" Karl said, trying to sound gruff.

He then scratched his chin with his left paw, wondering what this group wanted with him. "Are we talking short-term or long-term employment here? Also, what type of job do you have in mind for me? I can operate in pretty much any environment you can throw at me." The last sentence ending with Karl removing a cigarette from his shirt and lighting it up with his handy zippo lighter. A few slow drags were taken and then he blew a peaceful ring of smoke out. One last thing came to his mind which he spat out in between the inhalation of tobacco "Do you have anything in my size? These clothes aren't really my style." After he finished the last question, Karl leaned back and waited against the side of a medical locker, putting a small indentation in it from his massive weight.