[IC] The Marauders

[ONL]

"Ten-four. Once we breach the atmosphere, call me up to the cockpit and I'll help you find the LZ. Easier to find somewhere safe to land with an extra eye." Thomas said back to Ace and turning back to Darius. Ace was a good pilot, an excellent pilot really, but Thomas knew the difficulty of sometimes actually finding a safe spot to land on, especially on such a hostile planet as this one they were landing on.

He had to chuckle again at Darius's remark, his statement was true; most people who went out into the space-business looked forward to the millionaire-life they thought awaited them, and here they were, on their way to an icy planet with no life, certainly no human supermodels. "You can always hope, can't you?"

"You should go there once before your time is up, things have improved since the Terra Black Years. The sky is much clearer and the air cleaner. I was there five years ago, went to where my ancestors came from, Ireland it's called. Fine country, green fields as far as the eye can see, polite people, and always a pub to get some drinks. And besides, Earth is where we all came from."

Thomas could have gone on what the Earth looked like last time he was there, when Rae finally entered the shuttle. "Apology accepted, Miss Driani." Thomas said to her, watching her sit down beside him and nodding to her, glad to have her with them. With the extreme climate down there, someone with Rae's abilities would be highly needed. "I've taken my share of bullets, lasers and arrows through the years, Zhara, I think I know how to deal with the situation...Nonetheless, good to have you on the ground-team, you're medical expertise will be valuable either if we get shot at or not. It looks like your home-planet, doesn't it? Well, except the lava pouring out of the planet's core." Thomas said to her, giving in to the need to scratch his eye-patch and the empty eye-socket, trying to do something to get away the pain still there.

[Heat]

"Maybe someday. After I finish my business with the Marauders." Darius replied, showing his confidence in his own abilities by ignoring the fact that this was pretty much deemed a suicide mission. The authorities wanted him to die on this mission, same with the other criminals. He intended to make it all the way through alive, he always liked to prove people wrong about him.

"We'd better get going soon, I'm getting eager. I hate waiting." Darius said, just seemingly bored of waiting for the mission to start.

[Kyelin]

Nafi observed silently as Rane jumped nimbly into the ring, and removed his sword, which curiously almost looked painful for him. "Well, everyone's got their safety blankets, I suppose..." Despite now being unarmed, this was going to be a tough fight. For one, he had more of a reach and height, probably weight too. It was hard to gauge his speed, but it was probably going to be fast. And, to top it off, they were most likely equal in strength, her prosthetic limbs boosting her power and him being slim but toned with muscle. Without hesitating, she slid under the rope, and stood up, jogging on the spot quickly to limber up her legs. Nafi was going to be solely relying on technique, which she was sure she had the advantage on him with. Still, she wasn't going to make it easy for him.

"Right, one round, tap out or knockout. And no killing, cause I think the captain would then be quite pissed we'd murdered each other while he was away. Mylik, pay close attention: This will be a hell of a bout." With that said, she entered a classic guard stance, and jabbed at the air a few times to warm up a little more. Yhis was going to be interesting, that's for sure. Maybe bloody too.

[An Outsider]

"No swords, no killing. Anymore handicaps you wanna place on me?" answered Rane wryly. Truth be told he had always been a little brutal for friendly sparring, so this was bound to get messy. Even without the Sword he still felt that the best way to win a fight was to be as savage as possible, to take the offensive and force the flow of battle into your favour. That said, if Nafi was as technically gifted as she claimed then maybe savagery wouldn't be enough.

Her bout with the sparring bot had provided no insight into her weaknesses, to be honest she had looked about as good a scrapper as Rane had seen. That meant he would have to use the opening of the fight to gauge her abilities and check for chinks in her armour.

Strutting forward he began to roll his shoulders, limbering up. As he neared her he began to dance around her, first to the left then to the right. With his right arm in a low guard he began to throw quick right jabs at her defence, probing punches more than anything else. Alright girly, lets see what you've got.

[Kyelin]

Nafi smirked, and spoke up a little. "No, that'll do. To be honest, it's more for your benefit than mine. Good practice, you know?" As she finished, Rane approached her and brought his hands up, a wide smile spreading across her face. Let's see if the stories are true then, Lizard Man... She raised her guard, and blocked his jabs, keeping him towards her front as he maneuvered around her, looking for an opening. He was much taller than her, and his movements were quick too. For now, it made no difference, as she kept her guard up and waited patiently, responding in kind when the opportunity arose. Nafi was also sure to land a few low kicks in his legs, so as to try and fatigue his stance.

The fight moved along for a good minute with no apparent progress, with Nafi receiving a few well placed jabs from Rane, and still landing low kicks, predominantly in his lower right side and thigh. She was more inclined to use her legs in combat, to make up for her terrible reach and weaker arms. Right now, she needed to get some distance between herself and Rane, so, as quickly as she could, she ducked after his next jab, and twisted underneath his left arm, slipping behind him, and attempted to land a kick in his lower back, so as to drive him away a little. Also, hoping to piss him off. Just a little.

[Jones Sparrow]

One by one the land team filed in. He gave them nods, and rolled his eyes if they saluted. He listened in to the conversations inside the shuttle, still waiting for the others to show. He had his arms folded, tapping his foot. He gave a laugh and shook his head at Darius' remark. "'after you're done with The Marauders? Didn't anyone tell you? We're a suicide team." Jason said, clearly giving sarcasm at it, a grin on his face. He had no intention of staying here later on in life. When he was trusted enough he would leave town with his ship, and anyone who would join. If they didn't, well, see ya later, Jason supposed.

Skylar eventually walked in to the shuttle, clearly nervous about something. Was it knowing that she was going in to action with a highly skilled team, another secret, or was she wishing she took her death sentence with the Committee...

He climbed in to the shuttle, knowing they were glancing at him. Judging him. Most were new. Most were deadly, and worked alone. What made Jason a leader? He will show them sooner or later. He hadn't had a casualty over the couple years he lead the team. He sat down. "Alright, ladies and gents. Ready to go..." He knocked on the door to the cock pit, indicating that they were good to go.

"Once more in to the fray. In to the last good fight I'll ever know... Live and die on this day. Live and die on this day." He muttered softly as the shuttle lifted off the ground, the latch opened, and they slowly made their way in to the dark cold void of space. The lights were off, the white surface of the planet illumated the interior through the window. After reciting the poem he looked up. "If you see anything that seems suspicious, even the tiniest bit, let me know. Knowing the team's luck, we usually get the worst case scenario... Everyone get the equipment? Comments, questions, concerns, stories?" Jason asked, leaning back. His nerves were relaxed. This seemed like a basic mission. He wasn't worried too much. His team was the worst of the worst, which made them extremely skilled and dangerous.

[ONL]

Thomas looked at Jason as he, sarcastic of course, that they were part of a suicide team, but it was obviously not too far from the truth. Jason's team was always assigned on the most dangerous missions, and thus the veterans of his team regularly saw new faces join and eventually leave their ranks. But some came through alive, and Thomas counted down the days left in the Marauders, and then he would leave the crew at the closest Galactic base. And from there, home to Mars.

Jason recited the same poem for himself, the same as always, and the one that had followed Jason through his career. He then asked the crew if they had remembered everything and/or they had any last questions. Thomas didn't have anything to ask, his search for answers would begin once they landed on the surface. And then Jason asked if anyone had any stories to pass the time. Thomas had plenty of stories, but he wasn't the best story-teller. His stories usually evolved rather slowly and without anything other than facts, facts, and more facts. Instead he looked at Jason and gave him a small smile.

"Why don't you tell us a story instead, Captain? When we were tasked to search for an old transport ship last year...Which model was the ship again, Sir?"

[Akayaofthemoon]

A small smile graced Rae's features at Darius comment before responding to him." I am glad to be of assistance. I would hate to see you have to defend yourself and dig a bullet out. I have been in that position more often then I would like and I really don't recommend it to be honest. What I am worried about is what a wound like that will be like in this climate, seeing as how it will give anyone a second degree frost bite if the skin is exposed." She knew being shot was bad enough without having to deal with the frost bite first since there wouldn't be an easy way to get to the bullet.

"I have faith in both of your skills so I am sure that everything will be just fine. I'll probably just be here for support this time around but it is always nice to be appreciated." Rae replied, turning her attention to O'Connol as she spoke now also making a quick mental note and trying to keep her voice steady, " Yes, it looks very much like that of my home planet. If you took away the lava and added never ending storm clouds then it would be almost exact. It is one of the reasons I am curious to see what is under the surface since that is how my people live. It is more for comfort then need but it could be the same with this planet."

It was about that time that Skylar and the Captain joined them, which meant the mission was about to start in full swing. In her opinion, it was about time because the curiosity was killing her. She hadn't been on a planet of ice in a long time and it would be nice to have that feeling of home even if it wasn't. She closed her eyes, relaxing into the seat as she listened to the Captain once more recited the poem he spoke before every mission and the same one she had heard for years. It was nice to know that some things never change and that you can count on them.