[center][h1][color=00a651][b][u]NERO KAYAKOS[/u][/b][/color][/h1][/center]

A funny thing happened while people were introducing themselves.  Actually, it was fucking hilarious.  You see, a doctor had come into the room and Ariel couldn't stop staring at him.  Happened every time the doctor puffed on his cigarette.  Finally, she went over to basically demand - in her own way - that he hand the thing over, and...well...cue the barely-held snort-and-guffaw ensemble from Nero.  She was kinda' their unofficial medic, since she wasn't exactly a combat expert, so seeing her act that way here and now was just funny as hell.  He laughed out loud a bit when the doctor actually gave her the smokes!

[color=00a651][i]Oh my god, that's priceless![/i][/color]

He was still chortling somewhat when Natasha spoke up, saying she was gonna contact the big boss of their rebellion if nobody had anything more to bring up.  It finally stifled once Moonstrike One went 'Ahem'.  The hologram had no face - only a symbol - and the voice was obviously a fake, like the sample voice people use for their translators when they wanna talk English in one end and out comes another language from the Omni-Tool.  Nero couldn't get his to speak in any other voice than that of [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahkWXULckAk]John Cleese.[/url]  In any case, the voice was female, so for now...we'll assume that Moonstrike One is, as well.  I mean, for all we know, it could really be Natasha making a very good recording and just playing along with it.  Anyway, she talked about tyranny and the struggle for freedom, but these were minor things to Nero, really.  He wasn't in this for anything as big and bold as that.  At the end of the day, whoever won this fight, he was still gonna get bossed around by someone who was too busybodied to mind their own business and leave him to his own devices.  It was the mission [i]itself[/i] that mattered to Nero.  The journey, not the payoff.  What could you really offer him more than a good time?

Speaking of which, their first [i]actual[/i] mission was actually pretty good.  So, there was a big ole' farming world with big Fuck You cannons to defend itself against the Ascendancy that just had something interesting drop in their laps.  It took them a minute to get to it, but once the interruptions ceased, he got the picture.  They knocked a prison vessel out of the sky and it hit the planet, where - maybe - nobody survived...but apparently somebody [i]did[/i].  They were transporting an AI called Realist, and Moonstrike wanted them to get this guy out of there before the President-For-Life - probably some jerk named Calvin - sent in his people to go get it.  They needed to get to the planet of Plenty in plenty of time to [i]do this[/i], or they risked a non-standard game over.  No no no...  It meant there'd be a terrible setback and the lot of them wouldn't get [i]paid[/i].  Then, the question was asked 'Do you want the long route of the short route?'.  One was more dangerous, but saved time.  The other was safer, but slower.  You could see what Nero was gonna pick a mile away.

[color=00a651]"I say we do the short route.  Nobody even knows we're around here.  It's not like they'll be prepared for the likes of us, so we can catch anyone thinkin' they can take us unawares and end their sorry existence quick."[/color]

He didn't want to take forever to get to this thing and possibly fall behind the Ascendancy on this.  Better to get there in a hurry, pull out their new robot pal, and be one with it.  They could recover from shit, anyway, right?

[color=00a651]"Now, what [i]![/i] wanna know is-  What the [i]fuck?[/i]"[/color]

Abaddon the Cake-Maker!  He was offering them...lemon bars?!

[color=00a651]"I uhh...yeah, I guess..."[/color]

He lost his train of thought completely.  Whatever it is that he was gonna ask about was...just gone, banished by the weird sight of this Kaisoken in an apron.  It was only when someone new spoke up that he noticed there were more people in the room that hadn't been before.

[color=00a651][i]When the hell did THEY get here?  And hey, just how many people are ON this mission?[/i][/color]

Not the question he was going to ask before, but pertenant nonetheless.  He didn't voice them, though.  Not yet.