OOC:You talk good sense code, i'll write something.

IC: Dev slumped to the floor, things started to blur around him. He couldnt tell what was going on.
He looked at his hand, blood gurgling out of it and onto his clothes. He ripped a peice of his shirt off and wrapped it around his hand. Dev then grabbed the gun on the counter and returned it to his coat pocket.

His eyes darted over to Damien who still held his gun. "Hey pirate" He called out, Damien looked at him not saying anything. "You have something of mine" Damien tossed Dev's other gun at him. Dev picked it up and grumbled a thanks.

He sighed and recounted the events. Chuckling to himself he wondered if he shouldnt of hoofed the old guy in the nuts. He of course considered himself the good guy. But some of robs last words puzzled him.

"Things happening in siruis, things bigger then us. Threaten to destroy our way of life."

Dev thought two things "What the hell is going on? and should i try myself to stop it?" Judging by the people involved he thought he wouldnt get a warm welcome if he tried to get involved period. Not even the pirate liked him so much.

Also Annoyance ran through his mind, he nearly had beaten Rob in a fight if that damned pirate hadnt stepped in. After all eh had no intention of killing the old guy, just making sure Rob knew he was better. Of course there was a disagreement on that statment.

And considering he was not in such a good position he wondered if the pirate and the girl would kill him or turn him into the cops. Of course he could easily bust out of kuasri prison, they were worse then liberty when it came to crime. In Dev's mind kuasri was a joke and he had no respect for the crime lords there. The bounties he collected from them were very easy.

Oh well he thought ime to get up and pray those two dont do something nasty.

OOC: There, not messing with nobdy or moving events forward.

Edited by - DSQrn on 3/13/2005 3:34:35 PM

Edited by - DSQrn on 3/13/2005 3:34:48 PM

IC: "Ah man,what the hell happened?" said Jurgan regaining consciousnes while taking a snuff of Cardamine."You were knocked unconscious" replied Damien."Well no crap sherlock,did someone help you with that?"."And werent there four of you?". "Yes,but he vanished".Replied Dev."And you Soklovsky,i want my money!".Jurgan then reached for his dual weapons,but they werent there."Where are my Daumann Devstators?".Yelled Hans."Here" replied Damien."Give me them or ill..ill,ah forget it"."Just get me a bandage and some Tylenol."

this'll be my last post for about a week, after that I head off to England!

IC:
Damien sat at the bar of the Dragon Palace, quietly waiting for Tanya to return from the equipment dealer. Dev and Hans sat next to him, noisily laughing and telling stories about their pasts, drinking heavily, and throwing random pieces of cutlery at the bartender. With a smirk, he remembered days when he would drink and laugh with Hans like that, years ago at Vogtland...

That, of course, was before he had left the Red Hessian ranks to become a Bundschuh freedom fighter. Since that day, he hadn't exactly been well liked by any Hessian, regardless of his friendship beforehand. He hadn't exactly liked the Hessians either. But...maybe the wounds of the past should not be a guiding force of present actions ...part of him exclaimed.

Unbidden and uncalled for, though perhaps summoned by the fiery liquid that burned in his throat, Nikolai's beautiful face appeared in his mind. Laughing with him under a cold sky on a frozen Rhineland planet...talking with him for hours in dimly lit New Berlin cabarets...Damien's soul burned fiercely with the images just as his throat burned with the vodka. His own thoughts torturing him now, he realized that somewhere in the galaxy, the man he loved was being tortured beyond belief by a fat, old, Bretonian son of a b*tch.

"Nikolai", he muttered under his breath, "I swear I will find you, wherever that bastard is keeping you."

Damien left a message for Tanya on her commlink--Whether you like it or not, I will find Travis for you. Look for me at Bruschal --then turned to the conversation beside him, listening to the end of Dev's fighting tale. He saw Hans' eyes were glazed over, and the man seemed to be nearly passed out on the table. A smile spread across his lips. "What's the matter, man?" he joked. "You used to be able to drink ten times as much as that before getting smashed!"

Edited by - Wilde on 3/13/2005 8:46:28 PM

OOC: I'm not exactly sure where Dev, Tanya and Rob are, but I'm sure word travels fast.

IC:

Hahukum Konn sat stiffly in the bar at Helgoland Station, unconsciously still carrying some of the military training he'd had so many years before. He'd decided to pit-stop here and drop off the Water he'd picked up to make room for more H-fuel.

As he sipped the harsh Rheinland beer he'd ordered, he overheard the excited Zoners who'd just come into the bar.

".. don't believe it! You shoulda seen this guy; he had this punk kid's HAND stuck to the benchtop with a knife!"

"Did you get to talk to either of 'em?"

"No way. The guy who'd knifed the kid disappeared almost like he was a ghost, and the kid, he's got this kinda spiked blue hair, he looked really psychotic to me. I stayed away from 'em and got the hell out of there."

"Smart idea. Glad I bumped into.."

At that point, the Zoners must have realized they were talking too loudly, and shoved off to the far corner, presumably to continue talking about the strange events they'd seen.

Konn leaned back in his chair and wondered if there wasn't more to this than just a random bar brawl. A guy who could disappear out of a room as though he were a ghost sounded like someone who'd had special ops training. You didn't get to hear a lot about those kind of people; they were supposed to keep a low profile for some very good reasons, number one of them being that they often worked undercover.

The psychotic kid he'd heard about -- well, Konn had a few secrets of his own up his sleeve, and one of them was that he'd bribed a Rheinland Police officer at Pirna in Dresden (yeah, he still felt a bit guilty about that, but he didn't report to a superior officer anymore, and sometimes you just gotta break the rules if you're gonna poke around the border worlds) and had walked away with a very nice experimental Daumann sidearm that was supposed to have one helluva kick for a thing that fit into your hand and looked like a thick credit stick. He wasn't a man to pick fights, but if this kid running around Sigma wanted to pick one, he'd better not try one with Hahukum Konn.

----

Summary: Introduction of Hahukum Konn, small-timer ex-military who bends a few rules every now and then. He doesn't, as yet, know of the plot by Jack Mason. Maybe one day he will.

Tanya watched the ensuing struggle between Rob, Dev and Damien with some amusement.

For all of Rob's efforts to remain unseen and unknown, he seemed to be attracting more trouble than she ever could. The young bounty hunter appeared to now have a personal vendetta against the veteran. And for some reason beyond Tanya's understanding, Rob didn't kill him when he had the chance.

Once Rob had the situation under control, Tanya said she was going to the equipment vendor to upgrade some weaponry. Just as she was about to pay, she found a small device planted on the outside of her right thigh. Annoyed she missed someone planting anything on her leg, she surreptiously removed the device, appraised it as a commlink then placed it in her ear.



Tanya,

Sorry I had to leave like that, but I think I need to disappear for a while. I'm still interested in taking Mason out but it seems we'd be better off chasing down leads independently. If I come across anything I think you need to know I'll make sure the information gets to you. Likewise, if you uncover any juicy bits, please let me know. The commlink I left is keyed to your voice alone. It broadcasts to an automated memory system which I have remote access to. Leave any messages for me there.

I hope that some point in future we might again work together.

~Rob



She sighed. Rob was a consummate professional, but clearly the recent 'coincidences' had driven him to step back from the frontline of Sirian life. Tanya knew he would be working the shadows, but for now that's where Rob would operate.

The young woman called the scrambled line and left a message in a soft tone.

"Rob, Tanya. Thanks for your assist. And the company. It was good to be normal for a while. I agree with your logic, we may draw less attention if we work separately for a while. Hope you do likewise. I'm heading to Kusari space to find out whether my friend Kenji survived. Look for me there if you need me. Good luck.

Tanya."

She closed-out the commlink then took a deep breath and began to make her back to the bar.


***

Inside the bar, Hans was beginning to sober up. A couple of blasts of Cardamine and he was up and ready to go, at least he felt that way, though he body was lagging behind somewhat. Sitting beside him in the booth was a very tense Dev, and even more tense Damien. He still wasn't sure what Dev was going to do next, but was thankful when the young bounty hunter stood up suddenly.

"Guys. I'm heading out. Gotta contract to finish. I'll see you around," he said quickly in his usual hyped-up manner. Damien had seen the kid in action, noted his lightning speed and decided that Rob beat Dev into submission through better training and of course, greater experience. Still, Dev had potential and quite possibly the fastest person Damien had ever seen, with the exception of Tanya perhaps.

The way she leapt for cover, covered a huge amount of ground from the pillar she used as protection right up until she leapt off the side of the Ocean Soul and eventually disarmed, then immobilised him. She was like quicksilver.

An impulse reaction made him leave a message for Tanya, via his commlink:

Whether you like it or not, I will find Travis for you. Look for me at Bruschal

He wasn't sure whether Tanya would accept his help, but maybe if he helped her, she would help him dealing with Mason. After all, he still held Nikolai and if word got out that Damien failed in his mission to kill her, Nikolai's own death was assured. Damien would have to talk with Mason again, extend the deadline. Maybe include the details of how Tanya escaped, perhaps mention the complication of Rob and Dev's arrival.

Anything to save his beloved.


***

Tanya strode back to the bar and before she entered, noticed the spikey blue hair of Dev leaving the bar. He glanced at her briefly, grunted something inaudible, then strode off into the crowd. She chuckled as he walked away. Perhaps Dev would gain something from this. He had plenty of confidence, skill, but he lacked the temperament of experience. Sometimes, picking up a gun and trying to shoot your enemy is not the right way. Tanya laughed again at the irony of her thinking, given her last assault on Mason's hideout was exactly in the same vein.

She glanced through the doorway and noticed Damien and Hans chatting together. The young woman was about to walk in when she halted mid-step, then spun on her heel.

And walked away.

Edited by - Athena on 3/14/2005 7:08:53 AM

Edited by - Athena on 3/14/2005 7:40:39 AM

OOC: Good chapters guys.

IC: Dev walked through the crowds his music blaring into his ear-drums. He was grinning, he rather liked that Hans guy, good stories good fun. Bit to much of a druggie. But something gnawed at Dev, the words of Rob still ate at him.

He realized that his little game with rob could of been endangering something importent. His care-free spirit was a bit diminished by the events at hand. What puzzled him is that Rob thought he was after Revenge. It was more complicated then that, he ended up fighting Rob, Rob was good, he wanted to fight again.

"Wonder if he can fence as well" Dev mumbled to himself. He ended up by his ship, and as he climbed in it struck him. His usal grin returned he hopped to his computer and sent a recorded voice message.

" Hey tanya, i figure you dont want to be hearing from me. most dont in general. But i know something is going on. You dont have to accept my offer i dont expect you to but realize this. Your currently with a solem freedom fighter and druggie. Now what i can do for you is quite simple. I know your looking for something, possibly someone. I can find em. I'm a bounty hunter we have to track our victims err targets becuase the fat rich people wont for us.

Also if anyone has connection the underground of smuggling and gang wars, its me. if you want my help feel free to do so, i dont really expect you too but whne judgment day comes i can prove i should only be stuck in purgatory for a few thousand years.

Well good luck, Dev"

Dev leaned back and sighed in his ship. He had sent the offer, if she accepted he would have something to do, althought probably he wuldnt egt payed. ?if she said no, as expected, he could get a nice job and go back to his life.

But wondered if he could let this go after all he had seen and heard. One thing few people knew is if you want Dev to leave you alone, bore him dont catch his interest.

Edited by - DSQrn on 3/14/2005 6:16:05 AM

Tanya received Dev's message just as she climbed into the cockpit of her Falcon.

She sat down and pinged a message back as her ship left Yanagi and engaged cruise engines to the nearest trade lane.

"Dev. This is Tanya. It's highly likely Mason would have gone underground, given his cover was now blown. If you can think of a means of finding him, that would be a start. Look for me on New Tokyo and leave a message with the spaceport bartender."

The hunt was on.

"Well,i must be on my way" "I must get to New Berlin,some contacts i need to meet,Auf Wiedersehen!" As Hans walked to his ship he thought if hed ever meet the others again. Probably,he thought."Never seen a man such as Dev in years" he murmered

OOC: Pretty short but ey what the hey

IC: Dev walked into the New Tokyo bar and made a face of disgust as soon as he heard the music.

"F*** Kuasri" He mumbled, a big man overheard this, unlunkily for Dev happened to be a blood dragon.
The Tall man picked him up by his collar, and pushed him into the wall

"Got a problem, Zoner" He sneered. Dev grinned and spat into his face. The big man threw a punch at him, but he moved his head aside. letting the mans fist smash into the metal wall. The Blood dragon griitted his teeth and growled "i am going to gut you you dirty thieving-" He was cut off by a blast of pain and as he looked down he saw his own blood trickle on the floor. Dev smiled as he pulled out the knife from the mans chest and placed it ontop the blood Dragons head. Then he Grabbed the dumbfounded Blood dragons hand and placed it on a table.

Smilling Dev unsheathed a sword he had brought with him.

"Now" Dev said "This is for being kuasrian" and he cut off the mans pinky figner.

"For annoying me" Dev said, then removed two of the mans fingers.

"Now for being a idiot" Dev said with a smile And he choped the mans entire hand off.Then taking the knife from the mans head, he stabbed it into his arm, all the way through and into the table. The man passed out and Dev returned his sword to its sheath but left the knife in place.

Dev walked over to the bartender laughing at the shocked people. "Hey man, look see this peice of paper, i need you to give it to a girl that walks in here. Here name is tanya. She stands out, you'll know. in the mean time im gunna go grab a smoke on the pad. oh here's a buck for the mess" Dev said, tossing the man a coin.

Walking out he wondered of the face of the man he was undoubtly going to try to kill.

Edited by - DSQrn on 3/14/2005 2:53:40 PM

OOC: *chuckle* that was really over the top, DSQrn.

IC:

Hahukum Konn learned from an ALG Waste Disposal employee that the cheaper H-fuel was to be had from the Sigma GMG stations, or from within Kusari proper. Konn hesitated a little at that last; he'd tried to stay out of Kusari as much as possible; the Kusari people were reported to be a bit unfriendly to the other Sirians, particularly the Rheinlanders, and their strange customs meant someone could easily offend them.

Nevertheless, Diamond running was getting to be a bit tiresome when every johnny-come-lately and his sidekick wanted to swipe your stuff. So, H-fuel it was, and so onwards to Kusari.

Konn got into his Crusader, signalled that he was ready to leave, and heard the all-too-irritatingly-cheerful launch controller's voice: "Freelancer Beta-dash-three, you are now cleared for launch. Good luck out there!"

"Yeah, bugger you too, launch control," Konn said to no one in particular. He hit the engine controls, and flew out of Helgoland. After docking with the trade lane heading towards Gas Miner Naha, and then later entering the jump gate to Honshu, he realized he didn't even have a nav map of Honshu at all. Oh well.

Out he popped, and right into a smash-up battle between Blood Dragons, Samura ships, and Kusari Police! His ship was raked by cross-fire as a Blood Dragon veered away, a Kusari Police ship in hot pursuit.

Konn quickly checked his contact list to make sure nobody was hostile to him, and once he confirmed that everybody was in fact "neutral" towards him, he shook his fist at the idiot Kusari Police officer who'd hit the wrong ship, then hit his thrusters to rapidly dock with the trade lane indicating itself as "Sigma-13 -> Akita Border Station".

Once docked on Akita, Konn went to the bar and ordered a Seppuku Special, reportedly a mixture of some kind of alcoholic beverage the Kusari people called "sake", and rum.

It tasted rather good, although its effect was not as pronounced as the "seppuku" would have been; it simply made him feel rather buoyant, and he settled in to nurse his drink and go into information-gathering mode: keeping a low profile and his ears open.

---

Summary: Konn goes to Kusari for longer than he ever has been before, and soaks in the sights and sounds.

Edited by - Hahukum Konn on 3/14/2005 8:21:56 PM

OOC: What can i say Dev is a arsehole with a heart of gold

Rob strode quickly through the New London rain on his way to BAF HQ. One thing he loved about the capital of Bretonia was the almost constant rain. It suppressed people's inquisitiveness, allowing the freelancer greater freedom of action. Furthermore, whereas in most places Rob would have gathered attention from walking at his brisk pace, on New London his speed was normal.

Rob cleared the first set of doors to the massive building when a disembodied female voice told him to stand by for a print-scan. Rob placed his thumb on the small scanned and waited.

"Hello, Mr. Carter." The disembodied voice said, indicating to Rob that his false print was a good one. "And welcome to BAF headquarters. Please proceed through the main doors and prepare for a security check."

With that the two massive glass doors before him swung open and Rob stepped through. The large, open foyer looked like it belonged in a spaceport. Security scanners stretched almost from one end of the room to the other. Tucked away, at the leftmost edge was a desk with a guard. Rob headed towards it.

"Hello, sir." The guard said. "How are you today?"

"Just wonderful, thanks." Rob replied, giving the first part of the code phrase. "I just finished breakfast at old Mrs. Evershed's."

"Ah, Mrs. Evershed. She does make wonderful crumpets." The guard said.

"Her biscuits are top-notch, too." Rob finished with a smile.

"Okay," the guard said, briefly glancing down, "you can go on in, Mr. Carter. Have a good day."

"Thanks. You too." Rob replied. Part of the wall separating the foyer from the rest of the building dissolved before Rob's eyes. He stepped through the opening and entered the building proper.

The freelancer strode towards the bank of elevators with more overt confidence and purpose than usual. In this military milieu Rob knew that acting as a civilian was not the best course of action. He stepped into a waiting elevator and pressed the button for the 27th floor. His first contact and best source of information about the Bretonian military, Commodore Harry Pearce, had his office there. Rob rapped the door four times.

"Come in!" Called a familiar voice from inside.

Rob turned the handle and opened the door. Commodore Pearce, a sixty-ish man with closely cropped silver hair and a thin mustache, was sitting straight in his chair, going over what appeared to be intelligence reports. He glanced up from the datapad he was reading and his eyes widened visibly at the sight of the freelancer steeping through the doorway.

"Robert!" Harry exclaimed. "Great to see you, my boy! What brings you to my neck of the woods, eh? Looking for a job?"

"Information actually." Rob said.

"Oh, pity. I have something that would be right up your alley."

"Maybe some other time, Harry." Rob said. "Right now I need to know the location of the fleet you had in Sigma-19."

"What? How did you..?"

"You know I won't tell you that." Rob said. "I need to know where it is now. I have some questions for the survivors of the battle."

"Right." Commodore Pearce said. "Well, I suppose our needs cross here."

"How do you mean?" Rob asked.

"Well, part of the fleet disappeared after the battle. We know they haven't been destroyed but for whatever reason they split from the main group of survivors after the battle." Harry explained.

"Really?"

"Yes. In fact, that's where I had hoped you might come in. We need an independent to find the missing ships. If we send our own ships the Mollys will figure something is up. They've been more violent of late, too. We need everyone on hand just to defend our day-to-day activities."

"Well, this is an interesting opportunity then." Rob said, smiling slightly. "I agree to help you find the missing ships and you can give me full support. It's all on the up-and-up, too."

"Indeed." Harry said. "So I take it you'll do the job?"

"Of course." Rob said.

"Splendid! Now, first I'd suggest you meet up with the remainder of the fleet, it's currently stationed at Southampton..." Harry outlined to Rob all the information he had. Apparently the bulk of the forces, under the command of one Commander William Price, had disappeared after apparently receiving "urgent orders from BAF Command". However, no one could find any evidence of the transmissions. Some of the fleet had returned to Bretonian space, however, and those ships were being repaired at Southampton Shipyards. The officer in charge of the remaining ships was Colonel Peter Mayhew, CO of the Exeter. He had led a small force, including the ruined battleship, its full compliment of fighters and a number of gunboats back to Bretonian space, as per the orders he had received from the Admiralty.

"Thanks for the info." Rob said. "I take it you'll be my liaison for this mission?"

"I most certainly will, my friend. Don't hesitate to call if you find anything. You know how to contact me."

"For sure." Rob said, standing. "If that's everything, I think I'll be off."

"Good luck, Rob." Harry said as the freelancer left the room.

"Thanks, Harry." Rob called, closing the door behind him.

-------------------

Not long after his meeting with Harry, Rob found himself in space, heading towards the Tradelane to Southampton. It occurred to him that it would be a good time to check if there were any messages for him. Rob set the falcon's autopilot to take him to Southampton and withdrew a special transceiver from one of the pockets that festooned his flightsuit. He plugged the small device into the Falcon's radio. He punched a code when prompted and waited for the information to be retrieved. A voice, sweet and melodic despite the electronic interference, emanated from the ship's speakers.

"Rob, Tanya. Thanks for your assist. And the company. It was good to be normal for a while. I agree with your logic, we may draw less attention if we work separately for a while. Hope you do likewise. I'm heading to Kusari space to find out whether my friend Kenji survived. Look for me there if you need me. Good luck.

Tanya."

Rob went over the message in his mind. And the company. The sentence, unbidden, repeated itself again and again. With it came visions of the young woman's bewitching green eyes.

"Oh, hell no Rob," he muttered to himself, "not her, and definitely not now. Drop it. No distractions."

Summary: Rob visits Commodore Harry Pearce, a friend on New London, and discovers that part of the Bretonian fleet disappeared after the battle in Sigma-19. Rob agrees to help Harry find the whereabouts of the missing ships - since that was his plan in the first place - and heads to Southampton to question some of the survivors who returned to Bretonia.

OOC: Hey, hey! We've a new player! Welcome, Mr. Konn. Make yourself right at home.

Edited by - Codename on 3/14/2005 4:13:11 PM

sound's good so far!

I am a Corsair!!

OOC: I have no idea how to get or receive private messages but anyway my e-mail address is on record if anyone wants to discuss incorporating my character into their story in a way that goes beyond a one-shot encounter.

IC:

Hahukum Konn had stuffed his holds right up to the gills with cheap H-fuel at $42 a pop, and decided that since he was in Kusari he might as well take the scenic route. His final destination, before heading back to Liberty, would be New Tokyo; see Roppongi Station, and tour the beautiful (reportedly) planet of New Tokyo itself, then through Shikoku and back to Liberty space.

So far his ears-open mode hadn't gathered much useful information, aside from Kusari Police officers complaining about inadequate resources allocated them by the Shogunate. It wasn't as bad as Rheinland's situation had been, but it wasn't much worse than Liberty's.

By this time, he was in the trade lane to Osaka, and would shortly be on his way to New Tokyo. The soothing blues of the Kusari systems, without the poor visibility of the Sigma systems, was an enthralling sight and Konn was glad for the modern days of computer control of spaceflight.