gollee
Lore Master 
I write things
Posts: 828 
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Post by gollee on Jan 20, 2014 16:55:48 GMT
During the time when we were on Apollo, I wrote a rescue operation story, since I practically retconned Inis to bedrock, that got retconned too, So I have created a new idea, based on the same thing, that will also help to flesh out my characters and Planet. Now, I need four characters to be part of the team, they preferably need to be connected to Inis, or as mercenaries. I would prefer at least one female character, as that adds more dynamics than just an all male team. I would also need to know what equipment they specialize in. ((They won't have their own unique gear on this mission, due to customs officials, etc)) Here is what I have written as a start up, so you can see if you want to participate. ((The reason it is Inis, not Amy, is because Amy is still not officially related to Varan, she is obscure, and she is wealthy in her own right, with funds that Varan has no access to otherwise, that he can access if she is still there to give him access))
The officer grimaced as she zipped the cuffs shut around the thief’s wrists. She had managed to subdue him after a short struggle, leaving her with a long, shallow cut down her right forearm, and a split lip. Thankfully, her body armour had protected her from the first desperate stab as she had run the criminal to ground. She brushed her long cyan hair away from her sweaty face as she pulled the thief to his feet.
The thief himself was relatively non-descript, average height, short, mousy brown hair, a hard to remember face. He had tried to snatch a woman’s handbag, then knifed her when she wouldn’t let go. The officer had left two comrades to help the woman, while she chased the thief.
“Bitch! Le’ go of me!” The thief yelled, pulling on the restraints. The officer frowned and took him by the arm, leading him out of the alley he had ran into. She stopped; she had heard something behind her. The officer turned to see three people emerging from a door at the side of the alley, armed with automatic weaponry. They quickly raised the weapons, pointing them at the officer. The officer shoved the thief behind her, and turned, pushing him before her, and they opened fire. The officer jerked as bullets rained onto her back. The firing stopped, and the three shooters ducked into cover to reload.
The thief stared at the officer in shock as she dropped to her knees; her hand went to her belt, taking out a small key, which she pressed into the hand of the thief, with bloodstained fingers. She gave a short, spluttering cough, spraying blood down her front. “Run…” She said weakly, and slipped sideways to lie in an expanding pool of blood.
The thief ran, rounding the corner just as the shooters emerged to finish him off, two bullets streaked past him as he escaped round the corner, clutching the key to his restraints, with tears of fear running down his face.
The three shooters moved up, next to the downed officer, “Move her. Now! We need to get out of here,” One of them said quickly, slinging his gun across his back. One of the other shooters nodded, and scooped up the unconscious officer, “Some of the bullets got through her armour, and she is bleeding pretty bad.” He said, putting her across his shoulder. The three of them quickly backtracked down the alley, going through the door they had emerged from, “We can treat her on the truck, but that guy is going to warn someone, we need to move.”
The room they had entered was a garage, they had quite obviously been living in it for a while, there were empty snack wrappers littering the floor, and three rough cots had been set up in the corner, in the centre of the room was a plain white van. The shooter carrying the officer went into the back of the van, while the other two went into the front and started the engine. The garage door slid open, and they drove off.
Inis gave a quiet, pained groan as she woke up. She was lying on her face, and the floor was moving, her arms were restrained behind her back, but that wasn’t what she was concerned about. Her torso felt like it was aflame with agony, and there was a peculiar heavy sensation in the left side of her chest. She could just about hear someone else moving around in the darkness, when a bright light blasted her retinas.
The shooter gave a yell of shock as the officer spasmed on the ground, before grabbing her and holding her down, eventually the spasms stopped, and he continued staunching the bleeding from her back. She began to move again, so he slapped the back of her head and growled at her, “Stop moving, girl.”
Inis froze as she heard the other person speak; she could feel them doing something to her back. She gave a short cough, and felt something splatter against her lips, she opened her eyes a fraction, in the blinding light, to see specks of red on the floor in front of her. At that moment, the other person poured some chemical onto her wounds; Inis shrieked in a blaze of agony, and blacked out from a sudden blow to her head.
A few hours later
Varan Truesight was just sitting down in his armchair when his PDA beeped from across the room. Frowning, he stood up and walked across to it, there was a notice on the screen, /New message received/. Varan sighed and pressed a few buttons on the touchscreen, then blinked in surprise as the PDA informed him that it was a video message. He walked back to his chair, sat down and played the message.
The picture was grainy, but Varan could make out a darkened room, with a chair in the centre, he thought there might be someone sat in the chair, but he wasn’t sure. He saw some movement in the corner of the screen, someone moving in the darkness, then the dull rasp of a light switch being flicked on. Varan looked back to the chair to see that it contained a young woman, with very pale skin and long cyan hair; she was wearing a bloodstained police uniform, though the armour appeared to have been removed. She was cuffed to the arms of the chair, and she seemed to be unconscious, there was blood on her lips, though her chest still rose and fell with breath. On her lap was a small cardboard sign, it read, “Hello, Uncle.”
Varan was shaking with anger, and fear, as another sign was put in front of the screen, “We will be in contact, have money ready” The video ended.
Varan felt sick, and shaken to his core. He turned towards the door, and shouted, “Amy! Get up here!” He dropped the PDA on the table and stood up as a woman walked in quickly, “I am here…” She said very quietly, her hands were shaking slightly. Varan took a step forwards, and hugged her tightly, “Thank god you are safe,” He whispered. Amy looked at him, “Has something happened?” She asked. Varan hesitated for a moment, “Your cousin…Inis…” he shook his head and pointed to the PDA. Amy walked over to it and carefully picked it up, replaying the video. After a few moments, she gave a cry of shock, and nearly dropped the PDA. “Oh Gods…” She whispered, “Oh Gods, oh Gods, oh Gods…”
Varan took the PDA from her and set it down on the table, “Go round and get Savar, and Kiera, they deserve to know.” Amy nodded quickly and ran off. Varan picked up his PDA again, and began searching through his contacts page; a glint of rage flickered in his eyes.
After a half-hour, Amy returned, leading another two people, a man who, like Varan and Amy, had bright green eyes, and a woman, who had grey eyes. Both were very pale as they approached Varan. He held out his PDA to them, and stood up, moving to stand near the edge of the room. Within a few moments, the man let out a short gasp, and the woman clapped her hand to her mouth, both of them looked close to tears. The woman turned to Varan as the video ended, and snapped, “What are you waiting for?! Start collecting funds, this is your fault!” Amy flinched at the harsh tone, and stepped backwards into a shadowed corner. Varan said quietly, “Kiera, you know as well as I do, less than a quarter of hostages are returned alive, we can’t give into them, if we do, we may never see Inis alive again,” Savar slowly dropped the PDA onto the table and said quietly, “If they kill her…We can bring her back, Kiera…You know we can,” Varan shook his head, “No.” Kiera glared at him, “What do you mean, no? She is our daughter!” Varan spoke again, “I have messaged the archives, both the Centres, and the Corporations, Inis’ genetic back ups were wiped, three hours ago.”
The phone rang, everyone fell silent for a moment, before Amy picked it up, “…Hello…” She held it for a moment, then flinched, and held it out to Varan, he took it. “This is Varan Truesight, what do you want?” Varan set the phone to loud speaker, “We want credits, nineteen million, one million for each year of your niece’s life.” “How do I know she still lives? You could have killed her immediately after that video, I already know you wiped her back ups.” There was silence from the phone for a moment, “Very perceptive of you, I see you live up to your reputation, it does not matter, however, you will bring the money to the place I decide, and you will not contact the police, I will know if you do.” Varan barked down the phone line, “She will be at the drop point, alive, if you know me as well as you say you do, then you know I have the connections, and the money, to call down a starship on your location, and if I do not see her there, I will not hesitate to do so.” “I suppose the deal is set then, Truesight, Your niece will be at the swap point, alive, you will deliver the money, or she dies, and her body will be destroyed. We will be in touch.” The phone clicked off, and began droning, Varan replaced it on its stand. He turned to face the rest of the group, “I will begin collecting funds, Savar, I need you to go through Inis’ contacts, see if there is anyone who might be able to help us, we can’t go to the police, any mobilisation from them will be noticed, if need be, I can hire mercenaries for the job,” Kiera glared at Varan, tears streaked her cheeks, “And what job is that? You are going to give them their money, and get Inis.” Savar turned to Kiera, “Kiera…They won’t give her back… She is a threat to them, the only thing we can do is fight them, try and rescue her.” Kiera glared around the room, and shoved past Amy, nearly knocking her over, as she stormed out. Savar turned to Varan as he steadied Amy, “I will go see who I can recruit…If this ends badly…” With that point, Savar left after his wife.
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Post by subdigital on Jan 20, 2014 17:41:09 GMT
You could most likely have Seth in there as the team leader. Inis has worked under his command enough times that I would assume the two know each other. Or if you need that female character you could take Emilia, the two don't really know one another but I would assume a operation like this would need a pilot that can get in and out of the area quick. Just throwing them out on the table, your story so I dont mind if you use them or not.  |
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gollee
Lore Master
I write things
Posts: 828
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Post by gollee on Jan 20, 2014 19:51:37 GMT
Seth sounds good, but if I don't get a better female character, I will go with Emilia.
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gollee
Lore Master
I write things
Posts: 828
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Post by gollee on Jan 20, 2014 21:26:47 GMT
Okay, the team will be: Emilia Denevarcus, Cristof Marmalade, David Riden, and Lysanuh Dilgan
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Post by sgtsammac on Jan 20, 2014 23:15:52 GMT
Feel free to stick Sam or Steven on as back-up chars. |
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Post by Mewoykyinuis on Jan 21, 2014 2:18:09 GMT
Hazel has had experience in that and infiltration. So I'd imagine David would refer her for consultations.
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gollee
Lore Master
I write things
Posts: 828
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Post by gollee on Jan 21, 2014 6:28:33 GMT
Cool, that gives me a three person back up team now,
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gollee
Lore Master
I write things
Posts: 828
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Post by gollee on Jan 21, 2014 17:17:53 GMT
Okay, the first section I can post, the rest of what I wrote today is still awaiting review by the relevant people
Inis woke suddenly, though she kept her eyes tightly shut, she had moved, now she seemed to be sat in a chair, and her arms were strapped to some thing in front of her. The pain in her back was muted now, though she still had a heavy sensation in the left side of her chest, and it was harder to breath. She opened her eyes a fraction, then opened them fully when she saw that she was in a dimly lit room.
Across the room from her, there were three people, two men, one Tajara, she couldn’t tell the gender, they looked over at her as she pulled on her restraints, “Ah, so she is awake,” Said one of them, stepping closer. He was quite pale, with short, dark brown hair, and a plain face, Inis stared at him in shock, “You!” She shouted, pulling harder on her restraints, panting heavily as she found it harder and harder to breath. The man nodded, “Me,” The Tajara walked forwards, then looked towards the third man, hissing, “We need some thing to send to herrrr Uncle, to demand rrrespect.” The third man nodded, sitting down in a chair in the corner of the room, before raising a warning finger, “Remember, she is worth more intact,” The Tajara nodded, and looked at Inis carefully, he noticed a dull blue glow at her neckline, “Ah…Jewellerrry” He hooked a claw underneath the amulet’s chain and flicked it upwards, so it lay against Inis’ throat. The amulet was a vivid, electric blue crystal, hung on a fine silver chain, surrounded by plastic fittings. The Tajara purred, “Pretty pretty.” He reached for the amulet.
A bright flash of blue shot from the amulet, earthing against the Tarjara’s hand, igniting it. The Tajara threw himself back, yelling as the fire spread up his arm, “Smiles is on FIRRRRRE!” He began slamming his arm against the wall in an attempt to put out the blaze. The third man stood up calmly and took a fire extinguisher from the wall, activated it, and sprayed it over the Tajara. The fire went out immediately as the water smothered it. The Tajara made an angry spitting noise, not dissimilar to the sounds of the water on the flames. He glared at Inis, she smirked slightly, her amulet still lying against her neck. Smiles lunged, slashing her across the face with his claws, cutting three deep gouges from her cheek, Inis screamed. Smiles retreated out of the room, mreowling his misfortune.
The first man picked up a pair of insulated pliers, and carefully lifted the amulet off, over Inis’ head, placing it in a small cardboard box on the table in front of her. The third man quickly sealed up the box, and took it out of the room. The first man placed the pliers down, and walked in front of Inis, “So, you do remember me?” He took a small knife from his belt, and placed its point against the back of Inis’ hand. “You really screwed up our operation, didn’t you? How you even recovered from those wounds I dealt you, I have no idea, let alone how you managed to get off that shuttle without passing out from loss of blood.” He slowly began twisting the knife, applying a small amount of pressure, Inis’ other hand clenched shut, and her face went slightly red. The man began applying more and more pressure to the knife, watching the pain grow in Inis’ eyes. Her whole body shook as the tip of the knife scraped across a bone; the bleeding cuts on her face were forgotten now.
After five minutes of the silence, the knife hit the desk under Inis’ hand. The man let go of the knife, leaving it sticking out vertically from the back of Inis’ hand. He undid the closest strap to her hand, allowing her wrist to move. He carefully took hold of her thumb, and smallest finger, and jerked them upwards, pulling her hand up the knife. Inis couldn’t help herself, she screamed.
Varan waited impatiently in his living room, he was waiting for some people to arrive, and they were already late, he suspected that they had run into trouble at Customs, he thought, the only non-corrupt department on this godforsaken planet. He heard a parcel fall through his letterbox, and frowned, before walking to the door.
The package was a plain cardboard box, unlabelled, Varan’s heart gave a jolt, it must be from the kidnappers, He took the package and carried it into the living room, he could hear something rattling inside. He set the package down on the table, and carefully began to take off the packing tape. He hesitated for a moment, and then opened the box carefully; the inside was filled with a gentle blue glow. Varan’s breath caught, and he slowly took the amulet out of the box, there was a letter with it.
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gollee
Lore Master
I write things
Posts: 828
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Post by gollee on Jan 21, 2014 22:33:08 GMT
Some more:
Mr Truesight
This caused my compatriot quite a lot of trouble, if you fail to meet our demands, we won’t kill you niece, well, not right away, we will send her to you, piece by piece.
Have the credits, at the centre of the Ostern wastes, I am sure you know where that is, two days from now, at midnight.
Mr West, Mr Crimson, Mr Smiles.
Varan carefully folded the letter, and put it on the table next to the box, The Ostern wastes…
The Ostern wastes was where, during the War of the Gods, the Followers of the Storm had sacrificed hundreds, if not thousands, in a macabre and horrifying attempt to draw the attentions of their mythical leader. On orders from the House of Electorates, the Devastator, his old ship, had dropped a particle beam on the site, during the war. An entire region reduced to glass, to erase the horrors of war. Rumour had it, you can steal hear the spirits of the priests, chanting their obscene rituals and hear the screams of the dying prisoners.
Varan was sat, staring at the amulet in his hand, running a single finger across the smooth crystal, when the doorbell rang. He heard Amy open the door, and some talking, and soon an entire troop of people marched into the living room.
The first one was quite aged, looking almost as old as Varan himself, though his head was still black, he wore a mixture of black and dark grey clothes, with an empty holster at his waist, though the bulge under his jacket made Varan suspect that Customs weren’t quite as attentive as they should have been.
The second one was younger, and shorter than Varan and the first man. He had dark brown hair, and a very cold face, with a large collection of scars, he wore red and black clothes, similar to those Inis wore as her uniform, he also had a holster halfway down his leg, containing a rather old, ratty looking pistol, but Varan could see that the focusing crystal at the end of the barrel was brand new, and the trigger looked well-worn.
The third one was a woman, the shortest of the four of them, she had dark purple hair, and was barely shoulder height to Amy and the two men, she was wearing a plain blue T-shirt and jeans, though she had a tool-belt slung over her shoulder.
The last man was only a few inches taller than the woman, and his skin was darker than the rest of them, he had dark brown hair, almost black. He was wearing a long black trenchcoat and had a rather angry expression on his face.
The four newcomers, and Amy, sat down on the collection of chairs and sofas in Varan’s living room. Several of them looked both surprised, and shocked, to see the amulet that Varan was holding. Varan slid the paper across the table towards them, without saying a word. They took turns reading it.
The first man spoke, in a thick Russian accent, “So this, you want us to go to this place, and get your niece, da?” Varan took a deep breath, “Yes, I am willing to provide equipment, weapons, money, hell, even orbital support if I have to.”
The First man nodded, “Da, da, how much you paying me, hmmm?” The purple-haired woman glared at him, but he took no notice. Varan responded, “Thirty thousand credits, after Inis is safe.” The man rubbed his chin, “I suppose that will do,” He conceded, it was a generous offer. The second man spoke, “We will need to know the location of this…Ostern? We will be at a disadvantage; they might expect something like this.” Varan nodded, then opened his mouth to speak, but paused as a jangling noise echoed from the corridor, getting louder, “Here is your equipment, and guide,” A tall man walked through the door, his head brushing the ceiling of the old house, he was carrying three large rucksacks, which he set down on the table, he was wearing a forth. Varan made a gesture towards the rucksacks, and the four people began rummaging through them, pulling out a dizzying amount of equipment.
The first man quickly snatched up an odd, elongated assault rifle, as well as a small pack of grenades, while the woman grabbed a thick dossier, with the lettering across the front, VTOL C74 Skyhunter. The second man collected various knives and survival supplies, along with one of the assault rifles. The last man snatched up a pistol, then opened his trenchcoat and began pulling out various plastic components, slotting them together, within a few minutes; he laid a fully assembled sniper rifle on the table. Varan looked at it, then at the man, “Oracle 3525? 7.92? What sort of scope?” He man ran his hand over the rifle before responding, “Class three scope, twenty times magnification.”
The first man snorted, “You won’t get that many shots with that, da? The plastic will deform, an expensive toy,” The last man shrugged, saying, “It gets the job done.”
After the supplies were dolled out, Varan did a quick check to see who had what.
The first man had collected an assault rifle, two spare power cells for it, three packs of grenades, and some basic survival supplies, his personal revolver and a knife.
The second man had his pistol, two pistol magazines, an assault rifle, three power cells, a backup pistol, and a field medical kit.
The woman had taken a pistol, and five spare magazines, as well as the dossier, and a medical kit.
The last man had his rifle, two pistols, a combat baton, and two spare magazines for his pistols.
The first man examined his assault rifle, “Now, Cristof has seen many weapons, but this one is strange, it has no magazine, just a power cell, and it fires projectiles? Da?” Varan nodded, and slid a paper across the table to the man, he read it, “The 792 Hurricane, rail weapon, well that explains the weight…400, or .600, that is useful…” The other man looked at his assault rife with renewed interest. The woman waved her dossier at Varan, “You have one of these?” She grinned greedily, “Where?” Varan gestured over his shoulder, “Out the back, I got it from a military contact; they thought it was disarmed, it wasn’t.” The tall man gestured for her to follow him, and they left to go examine the craft.
“So, who is that tall guy, you said he is our guide?” Lysanuh asked, leaning his sniper rifle up against the side of his chair, Varan nodded, and answered, “His is my nephew, Gollee, Inis’ brother, don’t worry about him slowing you down, he works with the special operations section of the Defense Force,”
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gollee
Lore Master
I write things
Posts: 828
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Post by gollee on Jan 22, 2014 17:51:41 GMT
Some more:
Inis blinked in the harsh light, as the door to her cell was opened. She was been lying on a small, wooden cot in the corner of the filthy room; her right hand had been crudely bandaged, though there was still a slow seepage of blood into the crusted dressings. Crimson entered the cell, and walked over to the cot, where Inis lay, pretending to be asleep. He stood over her for a moment, before reaching down towards her right hand, his favoured way of waking her had been to dig his thumb into the wound whenever she passed out. Before he could reach her hand, Inis pushed herself out of the bed, towards him, her good, left hand clawing at his chest harness, trying to get a grip on one of the two, ornate knives that were there. Crimson took a smooth step back, catching her hand easily, before using her momentum to twist it behind her. He held her there for a moment, listening to her cry of surprise, shock, and pain; before shoving her roughly to the side, knocking her head first against the wall, and to the ground. Inis lay on the floor in a heap, panting and gasping; it took her several minutes to recover from the exertion. She slowly climbed to her feet, bracing herself against the wall, before launching herself at Crimson again.
Crimson neatly sidestepped the ill-planned attack, smoothly drawing one of the knives from his chest harness, and with a swift, quick motion, laid open the muscle of Inis’ upper left arm. Inis stumbled at the blow, with a strangled yell of pain. She turned again, and dived at Crimson’s legs, trying to knock him down. He made no attempt to dodge the attack; instead, as he went down, he turned, so he was looking at Inis’ back, and slipped an arm around her throat. Inis stopped moving immediately when Crimson began applying pressure to her neck. With his spare hand, Crimson gripped Inis’ wrists, and twisted them behind her back, before wrapping a zip tie around them. He let go of her throat.
Standing up, Crimson gripped Inis’ long hair, and pulled her to her feet, ignoring the cries of pain, he gestured to the door, from which West and Smiles had been watching, and West walked forwards, and wrapped a dirty strip of cloth around the wound on Inis’ arm, halting the flow of blood. Crimson began to lead Inis out of the room, keeping his grip on her hair.
He pulled her back into the room she had first woken up in, and strapped her into the chair in the centre. Inis glared at him, and noticed, with a slight thrill, that she had managed to split his lip, a minor victory, but a victory nonetheless. Crimson noticed her gaze, and brought his hand to his lip. He looked at the blood impassively, then turned and went to the table along the back wall. Inis strained her neck, but she couldn’t quite see him, she could, however, hear the sounds of metal on metal as he sifted through a large array of tools and devices.
After a moment, the sounds stopped, and Inis heard him straighten, and walk back towards her. When he was stood in front of her, she saw that he had picked up a pair of pliers. She looked at him, and he looked back, then he said, in a conversational tone, “Your friend reacted to this quite well, time to see if you are the same. I am sure the Followers won’t mind one missing finger,” He pressed down on the back of Inis’ left hand, stopping her from moving it, and then took hold of the fingernail on her left ring finger, with the pliers. Inis’ muscles strained as she attempted to pull her arm away, but she lacked the leverage. With a sharp tug, the fingernail was pulled out, with a dull sucking noise. Inis’ breath caught in her throat, and her pupils dilated. Crimson put down the pliers, and took out on of his knives. He placed the edge of the knife just below Inis’ second knuckle; he turned to look at her, “If you scream, I will take a second finger,”
The knife clicked as it tapped the table, Crimson carefully lifted the knife, flicking the blood of the blade, before glancing at Inis, she had turned even paler than usual, and her lip was bleeding from where she had chewed it. He picked up the severed finger, placing it to the side while he wrapped a clean cloth around the stump of her finger. Once that was done, he lifted the finger again, and slipped it through the fittings of a copper chain, which he hung around Inis’ neck. “You did not scream, unexpected, that is enough for now,” He turned and left, closing the door behind him, leaving Inis in darkness. Her head slowly tilted forwards and she hung in her restraints, unconscious.
Emilia dug her finger into her ear and rubbed it around, “Everything sounds odd here,” At that moment, they were 100,000 feet in the air, travelling at Mach three. Gollee shrugged, subtly checking that his seatbelt were still secure, “Different air composition, sounds waves are more compressed here, you will get used to it in a few hours, but you won’t be able to hear as well as an augment,” Much to Gollee’s discomfort, Emilia turned fully around in the pilot’s chair at this, “The hell is an augment?” She asked, not looking at the controls. Gollee gestured towards the flashing control panel, “Do you min…The contr- Oh fine, augments are the people who get themselves genetically altered to fit the planet perfectly, like Inis. They aren’t especially common, not many people like altering themselves that drastically, one of the most basic things the augments do is have their ears elongated to a point, it helps them pick up higher pitched waves.” Emilia nodded, seemingly satisfied, and turned back to the controls; Gollee gingerly released the death grip he had had on the sides of his chair.
The jet gracefully swooped in for a landing, the landing pad sparkling blue as ions ricocheted off of the surface from the thrusters. The jet itself was a heavily armoured avian-like craft, with three laser turrets mounted at various points, and a large rail cannon mounted under the cockpit. There was an assault door mounted at the back, closed at the moment, as well as two of its four thrusters, with the other two being mounted on its wings. The craft itself is a dark, iridescent green, while its thrusters glow a faint blue. It had a bulky, armoured section between the cockpit and the passenger bay, containing the micro fusion generator, according to the dossier.
The other three members of the team were waiting, just off of the landing pad, carrying their equipment. Once the jet had landed, and the men were certain that Emilia wasn’t suddenly going to fire up the thrusters again, they moved round the back of it, and entered.
Once inside, and once they had stowed their packs in the various spare seats, Gollee brought them all into the passenger bay.
“We are going on a flyover of the Ostern wastes, there is normally one every day, and this time we are replacing the normal craft, that way, we won’t be suspicious. We are looking for anything out of the ordinary.” He said, looking from person to person, Emilia was picking at her nails.
David spoke up, “And out of the ordinary is what, exactly?” There was a murmur of agreement from around the bay. Gollee nodded, and said, “Anything structured, the Ostern wastes was subjected to a heavy bombardment, over one hundred years ago, burned the place to glass, it was declared uninhabitable to humans by the government at the time. Any structures, or any patterns we see out there, were likely made by the kidnappers; they have to be holding my sister in the area.”
Emilia frowned, “If there is a flyover everyday, there must be some sort of threat there. Mind telling us?” Gollee sighed, clasping his hands together, with his forearms placed across his thighs, “The Ostern Wastes is close enough to Cevalon for the Followers to attempt to send raiders, either in ones, or twos, across the Wastes, the flyover has to find and eliminate any followers, the sheer size of the Wastes prohibits any real ground action, so we rely on our air superiority to protect the place.” Cristof nodded, and said, simply, “Sounds good, lets go, maybe we can catch a few of your Followers too, da?”
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gollee
Lore Master
I write things
Posts: 828
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Post by gollee on Jan 23, 2014 16:47:33 GMT
Next bit:
West tipped the bucket of water over Inis, and she woke up with a spluttering yell. West looked at her coldly, then smiled, “You have a visitor,” He gestured towards the door.
In the doorway stood a severe-looking woman, wearing what looked like plain farmer’s garb, but Inis could see that the fabric was much higher quality than the ordinary. The woman had grey hair, tied back behind her head, and she wore a necklace of some grey metal. She looked over at Inis, with a calculating eye. “I remember this one; she has some value to us. The Followers will be willing to barter.” Smiles grinned broadly from the shadows behind Inis, “Hearrrr that? Walkerrrr? Meet yourrrr new ownerrrr.”
The woman’s face stayed impassive, “No agreement has yet been struck, abomination, we are willing to offer five million for the priestess.” Smiles bristled at the insult, but he kept his claws concealed as West responded, “Her family is offering nineteen million credits, you will have to beat that, or we might run into…Problems,”
The woman frowned, “Nineteen million credits? Who precisely is paying this ransom? That is not street money.”
Smiles dug his claws into the back of Inis’ chair, before replying, “The esteemed ex-admirrrral of the Devastatorrrrr, and currrrrent leaderrrr of the metal marrrrket. Varrrran Trrrruesight, This is his niece.” The woman didn’t respond to Smiles, instead directing her attention to Inis, she took a swift step forwards, gripping Inis’ jaw with her left hand and twisting her head around, examining her face. “She is an augment…That makes it difficult to ascertain that what you say is true…” The woman took a small picture out of her briefcase and compared it to Inis’ battered face.
After a few minutes, the woman smiled, released Inis’ face, and straightened, turning to West, ignoring Smiles completely, “It seems that you are correct, though, after those heretical augmentations it is hard to tell, this is Inis Truesight, having her as a hostage will benefit the Followers greatly. I assume the normal procedures have been undertaken?” Smiles nodded, and surreptitiously placed himself between Inis and the woman, “All genetic backups of this one have been wiped, Smiles made sure of it.”
The woman looked at Smiles, and nodded once, despite the distasteful curl on her lips, “We are now willing to offer thirty million credits, on delivery to a secure location, we will provide additional guards to ensure you reach the designated location, they will arrive in a few hours.”
The Skyhunter arced gracefully through the sky, at two hundred feet; it was startlingly close to the ground, but that was necessary for what was happening inside.
“We have ground-pen radar, a recent upgrade to the systems, David, or Cristof, get it online and scanning, chances are they are underground,” Gollee pointed towards a console at the side of the passenger bay, and David walked over to it and began bringing the systems online.
“Contact!” Lysanuh called, he was sat at one of the windows, “Big dust cloud about…Two, three kilometres east,” They all lurched to the side as the jumpjet went into a high velocity turn and swung around to face east. Gollee shaded his eyes from the sun and stared at the cloud. “Looks like... What the hell…” he turned to Emilia, “Track their path, I have never seen the Followers move in numbers like this, a single buggy is rare, but five…” He turned back to the windscreen and stared hard at the vehicles.
After a second, David swung around in his chair, “Got it, their path has them intersect a buried structure, definitely man-made, I can see the rooms,” Gollee nodded, “Emilia, please activate remote control of the underside X-rays, you use the rail cannon, we need to take them out, especially now we have seen them,” Lysanuh and Cristof moved to each side of the cockpit, near the remote controls of the two unlocked X-ray turrets.
Gollee took a breath, “Take them out,” The roar of weaponry was immediate, two of the buggies exploded into ash and smoke instantly, another one was blasted into shards from a hypervelocity rail shell. The two remaining buggies swerved towards the rapidly decelerating Skyhunter and opened fire. The crude projectiles and energy blasts spattered off of the Skyhunter’s armour, as its lasers opened fire again. Two small puffs of smoke signalled the end of the brief skirmish, all that remained of the Followers were ash clouds and the scattered remains of the blasted buggy.
The woman scowled at the voice coming through her headset, West glanced over at her, from his seat, “What is it?” He asked, he had been playing cards against Smiles, and losing. Taking advantage of his distraction, Smiles proceeded to check the cards on the table, before slipping a few up his sleeve. She glared at him, “The government patrol spotted and destroyed the team that was on its way, we are on our own.”
Smiles shrugged, putting down his cards, “We can send those thrrrree we hirrrred to take herrrr, so long as we get paid firrrrst”
The woman sighed, “It seems to be the only option in this case, I doubt this little base you built yourselves will stay undetected much longer anyway, we need to move her,” She wirelessly sent thirty million credits to the one-use account Crimson had set up.
Emilia set the Jet to hover, while the five of them moved into the passenger bay to review their findings. David had brought the scan of the underground structure up on the console; it clearly showed several rooms imbedded two metres below the surface of the glass, with a concealed tunnel to the surface.
“How are we going to get Inis out of there? The moment we are detected, they will kill her.” Emilia said, sitting on one of the chairs in the passenger bay, Lysanuh shrugged, “That is if she isn’t dead already,” Gollee looked at Lysanuh for a moment, then started in surprise as his phone rang. He quickly answered it, he had it linked to Varan’s home phone, so he could hear any new messages the kidnappers sent,
“Someone else has their eye on your niece, a thirty million credit eye, unless you can beat their price… I am afraid you will be getting these messages for a long time… And they won’t be as polite, and civilised as we are.”
“I can up to thirty eight million, twice your first price, just don’t hurt her,”
The phone clicked off and Gollee threw it across the passenger bay, forcing Cristof to duck to avoid being hit. Gollee clenched and unclenched his fists, “We wait until they try to move her, then we take them out while they are mobile. It is all we can do.”
The three gunmen were strapping on assorted pieces of body armour when West entered the room, leading the woman and Inis. The woman was holding a thin plastic lead, which ran to a collar around Inis’ neck. She was almost dragging Inis forwards. When the woman stopped behind West, Inis leant against the wall; she was barely able to stand. The gunmen loaded various pieces of equipment into a buggy and the woman climbed in. She pulled harshly on the lead, causing Inis to stumble and almost fall. One of the gunmen caught her, and helped her carefully into the buggy. The woman turned to stare at the gunman, who looked away quickly. After a few minutes, the buggy was loaded up, and they left through the concealed tunnel to the surface.
West, Crimson and Smiles met up in the central room. Crimson nodded, “The money has been transferred, we are clear to leave, Varan would never have paid us, he would send a team to recover the girl, smart man.” West nodded and pressed a finger against his headset, “Starship Fractal, you are clear to jump us, I repeat, you are c-“ The three of them disappeared in a flash of blue light.
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gollee
Lore Master
I write things
Posts: 828
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Post by gollee on Jan 24, 2014 16:24:22 GMT
Last section:
The Skyhunter settled down on the glass plain about two kilometres from the underground structure, the team hurried out of the passenger bay as soon as the thrusters shut down, spreading out over the area between the jet and the structure. David and Cristof concealed themselves in slight indents in the glass, almost invisible from the structure. Lysanuh climbed to the top of one of the surrounding dunes, an inevitable formation from wear on the glass, and sighted his rifle down towards where the scans said the tunnel opened up to the surface. Gollee moved up another dune, closer than Lysanuh’s and took out a pair of binoculars. Emilia activated the cham-coating on the Skyhunter, but kept the thrusters hot, in case she was needed.
All five of them listened quietly as the roar of an engine echoed across the plain, seemingly from nowhere. After a few moments, a buggy drove out of what had looked like a small indent in the glass; it was loaded to capacity with five people. Both Gollee and Lysanuh focused their scopes on the occupants, it was difficult to see them through the dust and smoke the buggy generated.
Gollee spied a flicker of blue on one of the passengers, and focused further, the person was hunched over, pressed into the back of the buggy, her face was obscured, but her hair and skin tone was unmistakable. “She is there! This is our chance!” He shouted over his radio, and took aim with his rifle.
The buggy closed on Cristof and David, and Cristof threw a grenade in front of it. It detonated, forcing the buggy into a sharp turn to avoid the blast. Too sharp, the buggy rolled over as it tried to avoid the grenade, throwing it’s passengers across the glass. One of the armoured men ht the ground head first and stopped moving. The other two were thrown clear and quickly climbed to their feet. The woman and Inis, pressed into the back of the buggy as they were, stayed in as it flipped, becoming trapped underneath.
Gollee David and Cristof fired on the two dazed gunmen, high calibre bullets scything them down, blasting off large chunks of armour before sprays of blood stained the glass. The jet decloaked and lifted off, accelerating towards the crash, Gollee, David and Cristof hurried towards the smoking buggy.
There was a hacking cough from the buggy, “Stop… Right there!” The woman called to the three men, who slowed. The woman had pressed a large muzzled pistol to Inis’ temple. Inis had been knocked unconscious by the crash, but she was better off than the woman. Inis had been pressed far enough into the back of the buggy to stay intact, the woman, on the other hand, had been caught up in the twisted wreckage, several of the warped metal struts had impaled her against the side of the buggy. “Any closer, and she dies, and we don’t want that, do we?” Gollee, Cristof and David stopped. The woman smiled, there was blood on her lips, “Good, now drop your weapons!” After a moment’s hesitation from the men, the woman jabbed her pistol into Inis’ head, eliciting a short groan. The men carefully placed their rifles and pistols on the ground, and stepped away from them. The woman smiled cruelly, and turned her pistol towards the men, when a loud crack echoed across the plain.
The woman’s head detonated, like a rotten melon hit with a stick, all three of the men looked around at the dunes, to see Lysanuh sliding down one of them, discarding his partially melted rifle. Turning back to the wreckage, the three of them began trying to extricate Inis from the wreckage, but it was no use, the roll had twisted the frame too badly. They turned and watched the Skyhunter land about twenty metres west of them, and Emilia hurried out, tool belt over her shoulder.
Emilia kneeled down next to the wreckage that held Inis in place, and quickly began cutting chunks out of it. After a few minutes, a hole a foot across had been made, and together, the men managed to pull enough struts out of the way for Emilia to ease Inis out of the hole.
They hadn’t been able to see from afar, but Inis was in a bad way. The crash had not only knocked her unconscious, but it had also snapped her leg backwards. Cristof hurried to get a stretcher from the jet, while Emilia and David applied what medical supplies they had to Inis’ multitude of wounds.
The injuries they had seen from afar had only been a fraction of the abuse Inis had suffered in the twenty hours she was missing. After getting her back to the jet, a comprehensive medical scan uncovered significant internal injuries, bullet shrapnel, on top of her extreme physical injuries. Her left upper arm had been lain open by a serrated blade, her right hand had been impaled by the same weapon, she had a bullet lodged in her left lung, which had completely deflated, and was beginning to wither, her left ring finger had been severed, then hung around her neck like an obscene trophy.
As soon as they were on board the jet, Emilia ran into the cockpit, and started up the engines, bringing them back to Cevalon at top speed, Mach 15. They were decelerating and landing outside Cevalon General within three minutes of breaking the hypersonic barrier.
Inis’ injuries were extreme, but not lethal, though she was in surgery for five hours to remove her ruined lung, repair her kneecap, and remove the shrapnel. A cloning patch was placed over the stump of her missing finger, of Mars Confederation designed.
The next day.
Inis sat up in the bed, leaning against the pillows, her face was still badly bruised from her ordeal, but she was conscious and aware. Stood around her bed were David, Emilia, Cristof, Gollee, and the rest of Inis’ family. Lysanuh Dilgan had left early in the morning; he had said he had something he needed to do.
“I will be back to work soon, Gods willing,” Inis said lightly, looking around at the relieved and happy faces around her, though some worry and anxiety was still present, Inis’ lips were almost blue, and she was breathing hard, they were still waiting on the clone vat to produce a new lung for her, and until it did, she had to survive with one, and medicine. Kiera looked like she had been crying, “Did they get them? The people who took you?”
Inis shifted uncomfortably, “They got the people who took me hostage…But not the organisers, they stayed in that…Place… In the Ostern,”
Varan frowned and leant closer, “There was nobody left in that structure, we made sure of it, after checking it, we followed the standard procedure and bombarded it, no one inside survived,” Inis’ face brightened slightly, and she nodded, before glancing down at her missing finger, Savar noticed, and said quietly, “It will grow back in a week or so, the technology is quite new, but nowhere near untested, it will be fine,”
Inis nodded, “I suppose so…” She said reluctantly, then looked over at the door as it opened, a doctor entered, he spoke, “The cloned lung is ready, you must leave,” Varan sighed and straightened up, “Alright, everyone, lets go, get well soon, Inis,”
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Post by sgtsammac on Jan 24, 2014 17:03:46 GMT
Awesome! Great job! :3
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Post by Rusty Shackleford on Jan 25, 2014 21:23:08 GMT
I am giving this the official Rusty Seal of Approval.  |
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