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@KaiserElectric

Hmm....Not a bad idea, I like it. Considering one of the things we're considering is an overhaul of the Magic system and what have you. So we may have to change a few rules here and there. However, I don't think it'll bear much problem for this particular character. ^^
@Letter Bee Okey dokey, I'll stand by then. ^^


So, in the sudden wake of Letter giving this to me...

I'm currently discussing with the others about the future of this RP. So, while I also suggest standing by for now, I don't think there's harm in at least telling me what those ideas are. ^^
Circle of Hell- Exterior

"Ascendancy's ascendancy, let one go, and he'll either be shot by higher ups anyways or arranged back in line to go about killing the weak and different like nothing happened. Just because a bunch of rebel groups are making their hatred of them clear by actively fighting against them, doesn't mean they're the only ones with a dislike for these heartless fools. Moreover, you... do realize what kind of ship this is, right? This isn't some ordinary prison convoy, I've seen this particular model often coming into and going from the worst parts of Ascendacy prisons back when I was an inmate. The kind of prisoners in this ship, assuming they're alive after this crash, are the kind awaiting Death row. If avoiding a Massacre to avoid being scapegoat for them was an objective, that plan may have already went up in smoke as soon as you arrived down here. I've seen the Ascendancy string up worse PR disasters from events far lighter than this. ...As for the gunship, you say that, but it looked to me you were too focused on that tank to even notice the Gunship hovering its way in, guns and missiles at the ready. Couldn't find any other thing to grab and throw at it, and made do with what came walking my way. If anything, the fact it was an Ascendency soldier was fortunate. If it happened to be a farmer or one of you, I'd have nothing to take it down with. Which reminds me, ...Narvia was it? I was about ready to head your way and forbade you entry for your own good, but it sounds like you're just like me; nothing I can very well do about that. Likely for the best, these kids may need all the help they can get." The Giant said to Rachel and then to Narvia as he walked their way, being careful not to step on the liquid John still is, before staring down at the little puddle of mana.

"You can call me Rook, and sure thing. Hopefully we caused enough of a ruckus here to keep the Farmers from getting involved. Last thing I need right now is a stray farmer rebel getting killed here on my conscience." The Giant, known as Rook, said to them, before extending outwards towards the ship, politely implying to let them go in first.

"I'd advise being careful in there. Like I said, this ship is loaded often with very dangerous individuals, who knows how many of them are out of their cages..." Rook then told them as they walked in. He once again looked to Rachel who asked him a question.

"In my humble opinion, I think it's dangerous to walk into the middle of a war zone like this planet and expecting not to harm a single enemy purely for the sake of pacifism or reputation. People going into a war without expecting necessary bloodshed is nothing more to people like the Ascendancy than easy targets to shoot at, whom they have nothing to lose for shooting at. If they miss your head, what are you going to do to make sure they don't go for another try? Kill them? That violates that little code you have, and they would know it. Harm them? That could work but what's the insurance they don't decide to get cybernetic replacements for whatever you break and go right back into doing as their told, attacking and killing under someone else's orders, pride of humanity? Pretty sure that's easily broken the moment kids like you are the one to take them - well-trained professional soldiers - down. You make it known that you're not out to kill them, and they will take as much advantage of it as possible. Personally, I do what I have to. I see people hurting others, I make sure they never hurt anyone else again. That's all there is to it." Rook said. While in all that spiel he made no mention of a direct answer to Rachel's question, it would be very clear based on what he said, as well as what he did before, that he's certainly no pacifist like the others.

-----

"Umm...Wha-what is he doing?" the Sharpshooter whispered as he watches Rook and the others enter the ship.

"His job." the voice in his mind said via a telepathic channel.

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

Circle of Hell- Interior

As the knife streaked through the corridor, Stella, Reisus, Natasha, and Eldrid may notice that the outline of the ancient lettering, which upon closer inspection looked like the letters of the Greek alphabet, were glowing with a dim white light. From out of the cloaked one's left sleeve, it pulled out what appeared to be a magic staff of wood.



As soon as it did, the Knife thrown at it was stopped dead in its tracks, simply floating there as if time stopped for it. As it sat there in the air, most of the runes across the hallway began to peel away from the walls in pieces and fly into the air, scattering like a black dust until most of the runes were gone, leaving a few of them behind.

She touched the hard light of the blade with her staff, the tip of it igniting with a bright white flame, quickly extinguished as soon as it lost physical contact with the blade.

"Magic... I see. The Bane of Proxima, alive and well...unexpected...but not unaccounted." The voice echoed in their heads. The knife with the hard light blade suddenly span around until, it seemed to split off into eight identical knives, all of them with a Hard Light blade just as bright, spinning in a circle. Without warning or a flinch from the entity's part, the blades all pointed back at this group of four, once again spinning like the revolving of a chain gun before they were all shot back towards the group. Some would question how its possible for one knife to suddenly turn into eight knives, however, in this kind of magic world, it isn't so much of a stretch to assume that she managed to craft illusion-replicas of the knife. Assuming that is the case, that means only one of these knives must be the real one, but as Eldrid may point out if any of them despite to let their guard down,

It seems the...odd boy, who tried to use his water to wash away the runes, has caught on to the special nature of these Runes. This one appears to know a little about runecraft...interesting. However he would find that the runes that were still left did not activate even as he tried to perform a physical contact with them.

It's true that some runes are designed to activate upon physical contact with someone or something, they're commonly used as traps against any oncoming opponents unfortunate enough to step on them. However, if Eldrid is anywhere near as knowledgeable about Runecraft as he lets on, he would know that not all runes are like this, some activating as soon as they are ready, others being activated by the will of the caster remotely. It was a sound strategy, the cloaked one had to admit, impressive even, given how rare this method is.

...However, it prefers the latter's sense of control, and prefers using inks that are waterproof purely so something so simple as washing the runes off with water doesn't work.

"Strovilisméni Kataigída" It said, its voice distorted and without gender as it slams the foot of its staff to the ground. The Runes across the room all began glowing simultaneously, before then exploding, not in balls of fire like people would expect, but enormous and powerful gusts of wind, completely dispersing the water that was trying to activate them prematurely and blowing towards the four, as if they were all caught in a powerful wind tunnel.

...Plus side: If any of them kept their eyes even a little open, they'd notice that all the runes were now fading as they pushed the sharp and powerful winds towards them. It seems that was the last of the runes in this hallway. The cloaked one seemed to notice this too as, if any of them could see, it was now floating away from them, using the forceful winds as a distraction.

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

Laichstarg

As the captain and Kherol talked within the confines of Kherol's office, the sounds of footsteps could be heard outside, the iron-tipped soles making a light clunking sound as it hit the marble beneath his feet. While everyone among the Royal Guard were going about their duties across the headquarters of Laichstarg, a young 4'9" man was walking down the same path that the captain did, reading up a report paper given upon the Captain's arrival to explain the situation at hand.

Even among the young and recently disciplined soldiers that made up this elite guard, this one stood out like something of a sore thumb. His knee-high boots were plated in iron as he dressed himself a pair of dark grey pants, and a matching seemingly noble vest with a large red collar over two small ponchos covering his shoulder, laced with yellow trims setting up an artistic yellow design. The mark of the Royal Guard was right on the center of his chest, as he eyes shown an emerald green and having VERY blonde, to the point of it being white, short hair. To his left side was a Royal Guard standard-issue pistol, to the right, his oddly shaped and shiny white sword, glittering in the light like a large diamond.



He seems to almost always have such a stern, robotic look on his face, the kind that could kill a man and his family and not shed a tear. He can't say he is a fan of the reputation his looks and his favor with Alexander has given him. However, in the end, it would be worth it if his commitment inspires even one of these elites to go as far as they can with their talents. Maybe then, it would be safe to show them what he's really like...

More importantly, he knew what he had to do as soon as he starting reading the papers in one hand while keeping his sword close to his hilt with the other.

"A nine-minute radio silence on a Max-Security Prison ship...? It crashed, yes, but even so that ship was carrying the Rogue Realist AI, the recovery team was well-trained soldiers, not just law enforcers..." Kotaro said seemingly to himself. Despite looking stern and cold, his tone was calm, yet gentle. As soon as he was done talking, the sword glowed a dim white light.

"...Maybe there was a prison break due to the crash?" a disembodied voice said, older and more gruff compared to Kotaro's own, like comparing a 20 year old son to his 50 year old father.

"It might but...If that was true, then they would have called and requested back up." Kotaro said. As soon as he did, he managed to open the doors to Kherol's room, walking towards the Captain and Admiral, before giving them both a salute.

"Kotaro Winterborn and Paragon, reporting for duty!" He said to them, more specifically to Alexander.
Circle of Hell- Exterior

The giant man in response to John Green's questions slowly raised his open hands up over his head to show that he was unarmed, a typical signal of surrender or meaning no harm.

"Easy, junior. Leaders're not usually this jumpy when someone comes along and takes out a small enemy for you. Plus, usually the first line of questioning's something along the lines of "Identify yourself", or something like that. Instead, I give you nothing to go on, and you immediately ask me to give you some command code, assuming I'm from the same faction as you, and granting me command of your little...whatever the hell this is suppose to be if I give it, just like that? Goes to show how little you know about your own comrades. Presumptions like that gets many-a-people killed easily in this line of work." The giant explained as he walked towards him, clearly having some kind of russian accent to his gruff voice. He then noticed the Ring of fire that appeared over him to stop him in his tracks, looking towards the girl mage who did so as she asked who, or rather, what he was.

"...See? She gets it, and she's not even the leader." The Giant then said. Although it was hard to tell due to that helmet masking his face, he did not seem phased in the slightest about this ring of fire if his tone is anything to consider. It was if he thought this little ring of fire was not a threat to him in the slightest. The fire ring then faded, his arms still up in the air.

"In any case, be at ease, ya jumpy munchkins. I'm not a part of your cute little rebellion forces, and I certainly have no intention of taking command of this little ...thing you got going. I, and a few others like me, are simply your everyday space mercs. We were hired by some rich fellow to help out the Farmers. No clue why he'd care about them, but we make it a point not to ask questions. That's when that ship over there crash-landed. We knew this ship was Ascendancy-made, and figured there might be survivors given how the ship's still intact and all. Hell, we could tell that thing's a prison ship just by looking at it. For all we knew, they could have gotten desperate and try to release their prisoners to fight for them in exchange for some kind of pardon. Some of my comrades are still in there, I was tasked with staying outside to make sure no one else got in there for reasons of safety, or in the ascendancy's case, making sure none of them decides to back them up...you're welcome for that, by the way." The Giant said, laid back despite the circumstances he's in.

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

Circle of Hell- Interior

As the rest of the infiltration team began walking through the walls, the screams were getting louder and louder, yet it didn't seem like the loudest screams were within the hallways they were currently walking though. Rather, it sounded like whoever was screaming...whoever was causing the screams, were in a hallway on the opposite side, just past the wall. Fortunately, this could mean that whatever was doing this hasn't noticed them yet...or it could mean that its hunting for them, a thought best left to their minds to decide.

However, what they would be bound to notice as they walked were the Runes, hundreds of runes lined across the hallways, all of them radiant with high-class magic, but was dormant, as if they were waiting for something. If any of them were to use the same kind of analysis magic Snow did, they'd have the same results, the magic essentially getting cut off.

As they step on the runes however, they would hear it as loud and as clear as day, the sounds of screams, painful agonizing screams and sound of someone, or something, cutting and tearing at them, the sounds of metal screeching like nails in a chalkboard, and indeed they would start to see claw marks on walls start slowly fading into existence. The smell of blood and flesh go through their noses as blood puddles started to form, and with them even more corpses of the ascendancy deceased, runes burned onto what remained of their skin.

It appeared that these runes, whatever they were, blocked and recorded all thing detected by the five common senses of a human being, only revealing themselves when the runes are touched and tampered with.

At the end of the hallway they would then spot someone, or something floating in the air. Whoever or whatever it was, it appeared to be humanoid in the shape, looked human in shape in fact, wearing a long flowing black cloak, and holding a rather large staff in its hands. Only...you couldn't see its feet, and its face was covered in a hood. However, it seemed to have noticed them, as beneath the darkness of it hood, a glowing single red orb, like an eye, shined bright enough to be seen passed the darkness. ...The scary thing being, that said red eye was the only thing seen in that darkness.

It didn't move in the slightest, didn't make any sounds. There was no evidence to prove that its even there. As if it could simply be a mirage. Yet they would then feel something...touch their mind, as if a finger poked into their brain, and they would hear in their head a voiceless whisper...

"Interlopers...why are you here...?"

---

"Temptress Pawn, but close enough, I guess." Tempt said immediately in response to the AI recognizing them. When the AI asked his question, Monarch answered simply:

"You should already know: The Morals and ambitions of our clients are of no importance to us. Think of us however you like, but that is our policy." Monarch said. The AI then continued to explain what it has already done, and why killing him would prove of little significance in the grand scheme.

"...Touche'. ...However, if that was your attempt at saving your own life, then I must admit, it seems I've overestimated how intelligent you truly are." Monarch said to him, his cybernetic arm morphing into a cannon of some sort point directly at Realist's core.

"Honestly, as the leader of a robotic uprising, I would have imagined you to know this already. That data you distributed? That was valuable information as I am certain you know, As far as anybody else was concerned, you had the better hand by keeping it. So let me ask you this: when engaging in an ultimatum against your enemy, when blackmailing someone, when keeping someone hostage, what are the two golden rule you must never break? ...Never let go of your hand, and never let it be played early. Your threats and demands must hinge on your bargaining chip creating a grip on your enemies. If that bargaining chip is gone, regardless of reason, your enemies no longer have any reason to do as you say; your grip on them is gone. Take that data you distributed: Had you kept that knowledge to yourself, you may have had a ground to stand on, you could have threatened us with releasing that data if we lay a hand on your core. But as you say, you already released that data, you threw away the one thing that could have convinced us to spare you. You have nothing to stand on now thanks to that, nothing to keep me from throwing you towards a planetary junkyard. I may not have much profit from it as you say, but I can safely say that I and my client would at least have the satisfaction of knowing you're silenced, and kept from making our troubles any worse." Monarch explained. If Realist could zoom his sight inside the barrel of the cannon, he would see some...thing generating energy from it, it would be difficult to make out what it is he would see there, it's nothing that would be even in his records, but it seemed...different from the metal material somehow. Of course, this was hardly the time to contemplate what's in there, as all that matters is that that arm cannon was charging up and prepared to fire towards Realist's Core...

...But nothing happened. As if the cannon had some kind of emergency shut-down, the charging stopped, and his hand converted back into a regular hand as oppose to a cannon.

"At least, that's what I would say. However, in spite of what you did, my client still has a use for you alive. Our orders are only to kill you when that objective is no longer possible. A true mercenary puts his client's desires above his own." He said. Immediately afterwards, he and Tempt could hear the loud noises coming from the ship's frontal area, including the "entrance" caused by Kelan. It seems some of the interlopers have made their way into the ship...which meant that time was running out. He may not have known why these people were here...

...But he can certainly guess.

"...Tempt, begin the re-programming processes. Be quick about it; we don't have as much time as we thought." Monarch said to the woman beside him. She gave a nod and immediately headed for Realist's AI core, engaging the computers below it, and implanted a flash drive she took out her own pocket into the computers before beginning the typing on the keyboard.
What do you mean Part Alien? Because they already have crushed Alien bodies injected into them in order to give them powers...


I think he's asking if there can be humans who were born through interspecies relationships resulting in a natural-born hybrids. Such as if, for example, a Rau've mated with a Human.
@Letter Bee

Kind of interested in this general premise. Would you let me join?


As the GM is likely asleep due to his time zone, I'll speak on his behalf:

It is open for business, so by all means, go right ahead. ^_^
Circle of Hell- Exterior

Needless to say, the sniper from before did not expect what came down from the sky, breaching the cloud layer as it made its way down to the Circle of Hell below. The sniper looked up, completely distracted by the giant suit of power armor alongside a woman coming down right towards the ship. Good news for him was that, by the trajectory he could see them coming down in, it looked like they were going to land meters away from his nesting spot, so there's no danger of them landing right on top of him. All goes well, they'd land inside the ship without even noticing him.

Bad news is, the boss ordered to take down any Ascendancy interlopers who'd get involved. Neither of these two looked like they're from the Ascendancy, but they were interlopers nonetheless. The sniper sighed in dismay; he had hoped that these newcomers would make sure he didn't have to kill anything. Still, orders were orders...maybe he should contact the boss just in case though. With that in mind, with his gun still pointed towards Kelan and Natasha above, he decided to go for contact with Monarch...through an unreachable channel.

"Sniper Pawn to Monarch, we...umm...got two people coming from above heading straight for the ship....What do I do?" The sniper asked.

"Are they ascendancy soldiers?" the man on the other line asked.

"...Ne-Negative....err....That's a negative sir. I...have absolutely no idea who they are. One of them looks like that one mercenary we saw a few jobs back...Celin, I think his name was, but he has that container on his arm...Umm, the other one, I have no clue about."

"Kelan? You're certain it's Kelan coming down?"

"The Armor, the metal arm with the tube on it and something alive in it...matches our impression of him sir. ...Umm....Do I have to shoot them down? I have the shot, I could probably...you know...kill them both with one."

"...Hmm...Negative, Snipe. Hold your fire, and let them land. If they're with the others, it's best we keep them alive for now." The Sniper gave a sigh of relief.

"Y-Yes, I understand, boss." He said with a smile, pointing his Rifle back towards the decoy team, now on the attack against the Ascendancy soldiers, ignoring as Kelan and Natasha made their landing in the ship a couple meters away from him.

His eye was off the scope staring at John Green's stunt as he became a thing of white liquid and rushed right over the Ascendancy folk, knocking them out.

"Wow..." Snipe whispered to himself, impressed at the attack. It did seemed odd that such a small group would manage to take down a battalion of soldiers, but this was enough to convinced him that, whoever these people were, they had talent for warfare.

"Could those be...those rumored magical soldiers from the Battle of Proxima? But I thought those were suppose to be working for the Ascendancy as their elites, what are they doing going up against them?" The Sniper thought. At the very least, it was comforting to see that they were simply knocking these people out as oppose to killing them, something he could tell they are very capable of just by observing what little he's seen of them so far. It was rumored that these supposed magic soldiers were monsters, a bunch of devil children that would slaughter their enemies without a second thought. Sparing the life of these soldiers, these nameless grunts standing guard, was more than enough to show that they were capable of compassion, or mercy, and that they were indeed human.

Sadly, the same couldn't be said for himself or his comrades. The boss gave orders that there were to be no ascendancy survivors whatsoever. There was a part of him that hoped that these soldiers would have killed the grunts, yet the ones rushed were out cold, and the one grabbed by the clearly psychic girl was now running away. To top things off, he could hear the roaring engines in the distance, as a Gunship began heading their way.

"A gunship...?" Snipe asked himself. He fired the communications disrupter not that long ago, so there's no way any of them could have called for backup. There was that possibility that they'd head here when they notice that the area's a dead zone of communication disruption, but this thing arrived much faster than he was expecting...

"Boss, Uh-ummm....We got a problem, The-their Backup just arrived on a gunship. Umm...What're your orders?" The Sniper asked.

"Faster than expected...No matter, we can't afford any of them to find out what's happening here yet. Take it down, leave no survivors." The man on the other line said. Snipe began aiming his gun towards the gunship, his hands shaking as he tried to get a precise aim. He could head-shot the pilot without much problem, but everyone else on that ship...

"I...I..." Snipe thought, freezing up as the Gunship began dropping ropes for backup to drop down into to take the unknown party down.

"At ease, Snipe. I got this..." Another voice, much more gruff and deep than the man from before, said, causing Snipe to snap out back to his senses.

---

Within minutes of Rachel letting that Ascendancy soldier retreat out of there, the Moonstrike Decoy team would hear a muffled scream coming from the direction of where the Soldier ran off to. Within mere seconds, those muffled screams turned into actual ones, and they would see the soldier Rachel extracted memory from, flying diagonally upwards through the air, spinning out of control as if he was tossed or launched from a powerful caterpult, straight at the Gunship. At terminal velocity, the soldier's body slammed right into the gunship in question, causing a massive bloody dent in its hull and causing the ship to fall out of its orbit. Since it was already fairly close to the ground in its float, said impact caused it to hit the ground a few meters away from the Circle of Hell's area, and exploding as soon as it did.

From the opposite side of the Crater, where the man was running to and from where he was thrown, the Decoy team would see the silhouette of a giant human, or at least a giant Humanoid, wearing rather light black armor, save for the dense chest plate, its arms being particularly large in mass, especially compared to the rest of his physique, clearly shown as muscular all over. His face could not be made out in the slightest, circular and without any hair showing which suggest that either he was bald, or had a round helmet on. The latter was correct, a helmet with a giant visor of black tinted which was large enough to cover the face and top part of his head, the same kind of Helmet the Sniper had on. Upon closer inspection, the light armor looked less like armor, and more like giant black sleeveless shirt and some lightly armored pants, his giant arms having four rods covering them from the shoulders down to his wrists.



The giant raised up his hand and slowly waved his arm left and right towards the Decoy Team, slowly walking towards them as he did.

"Sup boys and girls, ...Room for one more?" The giant man said to the Decoy Team. As he did, one could swear they would see a red eye glowing at the center of the Visor.

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

Circle of Hell Interior

As time passed, the Circle of Hell's inside was becoming quieter, the walls becoming redder and filled with numerous levels of viscera. Combine with the distant echoes of screams, the sounds of scraping metals across the ship, and the markings on the walls, markings that an expert of magic would easily recognize as runes of both Daemonic and normadic origins, and this ship was slowly starting to seem more and more like a haunted house. If there were guards still around in these halls, they were in a panic, running around trying to find the ones responsible for this in vain.

It also seemed like there was more than one person around here. As one of them was clearly going slasher movie on guards all over the ship, there was clearly another, or at least it seemed like it, a black cloaked individual, floating around the halls without touching the ground like a ghost that haunts the prison ship.

Meanwhile, Deeper into the ship, in the prison cell that housed the Realist AI, the guards would notice two people walking towards them... Like Kelan with his Belial armor, it seems these were both armored humans, potentially cyborgs, since neither of them showed any sign of skin. They didn't sneak up to the guards, didn't even try to move in slowly, walking towards them as if they owned this ship.

The one behind the other was clearly a woman; the armor seemed specifically designed to show off her feminine physique.



The other was gender-ambiguous, but was more potentially a male than a female in stature. It could be noted, however, that the this person's left arm and two legs were clearly made of a different metal than the rest of the armor.



Both of their helmets were of the same general design as the giant and the Sniper outside.
If anyone was there to notice, this was the one observing the Xuanxang as it made its landing.

The two guards immediately noticed them, and were quick to aim their guns towards them.

"Freeze! Hands where I can see them!" One of the guards said.

"My, my, is that any way to treat a lady?" The armored woman asked. After said rhetorical question, the armored woman did as requested, showing her hands to show she was unarmed...then immediately dashed towards the two before they could react, grabbing them both by their heads, and effectively smashing them together a few times. The constant collisions were hard enough that the friction of their helmets colliding caused sparks to fly, the metal on their helmets denting from the impact. She then immediately jumped upwards while still holding their heads, arching over the two guards and turning both her hands accordingly, snapping both their necks as their heads spun 180 degrees, killing them before they even had a chance to scream out. She immediately dropped them, slapping her hands together as if dusting them off.

Unimpressed, the one with her ignored her stunt and walked inside the cell, staring down Realist as the lady followed suit.

"...We meet at last, Realist. ...I assume you are already aware of who we are, and what we're doing here." The person said, clearly male, and with the same voice that was giving orders to the Sniper, and seemingly to others as well.
A few hours ago...

Dark Matter Bar



The Dark Matter bar, A rather repulsive and polluted environment befitting the polluted atmosphere of the city block and the world with it. Alcohol, soot, and smaug could be felt all over the place; while this place had all the makings of your typical late night bar, it seemed to be missing a particular factor...the alcoholics that would be enjoying happy hour on any other planet at this time of night. Instead the only thing filling up the bar space were a bunch of robots, some blantantly servant, waitress, and bartender bots, but some were sitting down in the bar, as if mimicking common customers of the establishment. Perhaps they were like that so as to imitate activity so that the more recent, more organic and/or sapient guests would believe it to be more active and open than it really was.

Inside this place, way in the back beside a window that looked out to a dockyard behind it, was a boy, no more than 18 or 19 by the looks of it, rather scrawny in muscular stature, and seemed to be wearing fashion that's...both outdated and unwise in a futuristic time like this. A red velvet overcoat over some black jeans, a white cloth shirt, and even an olden-style captain's hat on his head to boot. He doesn't say anything to you upon arriving, not even seemingly aware of your arrival, instead seemingly focused - almost in awe - on the straw that he was spinning like a top in a shot glass.

Whether by going straight towards him, or getting a drink and maybe some food first, he waits patiently for you to arrive regardless. Only when you are close does look up towards you, away from the spinning straw in his glass, but still says nothing. He then tilts his head towards the window, as if to say for you to look out it. What you find there would likely be as unexpected to you as the boy sitting there.

A giant, nay colossal ship that seemed to fill up most of the docking area by itself was just outside that area, but it was not like any ordinary ship, not because it was somehow advanced, but because it was somehow...outdated. It looked like a massive sailing ship from Earth's ancient times, right down to having a jolly roger hoisted atop its back sail, that of what appeared to be a black flag comprised only of a white circle protruding white spikes outwards as if to impersonate the coronal filaments of a total solar eclipse. It even seemed to be made out of wood with the exception of several metal tubes that seemed to disturb the otherwise classic design into a more steampunk one; it's a wonder how a ship like that can stand the gravitational pressure, or rather lackthereof of outer space. You look over at the side of the ship and see a name burned into its wood.



"...Aye, Nevermind the looks nor let it fool you, matey. Tis but a disguise, a shell for protection as well as intimidation. It simply did not feel right whatsoever to have me ship look anything less than the genuine article, a symbol for which we all should stand for. Course, a sea of black and diamonds is a treacherous thing to sail through on a ship of log and iron. Rockets may help it fly above the waters and lands alike but the moment it splashes the stars beyond, it wouldn't be long til sinks to an abyssal grave, and sinking up there's a million times worse than sinking down here...Savvy? ...Here's the real shipception, lad/lass. Not quite me style, but it's the only kind that can sail those black waters, so I can't complain." The boy said to the visitor, speaking in a rather over-the-top british accent to the point of pretentiousness. As he spoke, he held up a hologram device and placed it on the center of the table, activating it to show a hologram of the supposed REAL ship inside that wooden shell, clearly smaller and more reasonable for space-faring in design than the one out there by the docks. ...Though clearly still as unsubtle in its design as its supposed shell, something that might need to be worked on at a later date.



"This is the ship that poster you saw was for. Many came to this planet, but only a select few of you will be able to make it to this Bar. You're one of the lucky ones that me boy Arms filtered out. Seems at least he saw your potential. ...Happy you could come here, I can just tell by looking at you that the poster I distributed was well worth it. ...Oh it's no joke...Well, the name itself is. I had to use a different name to keep the marines and admirals from sailing onto me case. B. Morgan's the name of a poor pirate Captain that's sure to have a bunch of officers knocking on his door right about now. Shame how easy it is to get accused of crimes you don't commit in this galaxy, ain't it? My name is Arron Marshal Falcon, the Captain of the ship you came to hop onto." The boy, Arron, then said. It would be at this time that some of you may think of this as some sort of joke, or a prank. This kid? This pretentious, clearly inexperienced brat, is the Captain you were about to sign yourself to serving? Those who thought all of this as ridiculous would likely be about to leave, but then notice that the robots in this place started acting strange and blocking the door, keeping them from leaving.

"Now now, is that anyway to treat your employer, just walk out on him the moment you notice something off about him? ...Well, I suggest you don't bother lad/lass, this place has quite a strict curfew to it that is currently in effect, and has been for about an hour now. We managed to trick the system to get you in here; getting you out, ...wee bit more difficult. Cameras and guards are everywhere out there, and they will have you arrested or shot the second you step into their sights. After all, a little birdy told them some rumor about a secret piracy ring going on around this city block, ...don't know why they'd possibly believe such a ridiculous story. I'm betting you're likely an outsider of this planet. So the moment they find out you're not part of their registrations, you get L. Prime's police force hunting you down and arresting you for curfew violation and Conspiracy. ...What's that? Explain what's going on? Sre, you can try that, but I don't think they'll believe you...If only you had evidence to prove you came here for legal reasons, oh hold on a second, you did...before you burned it to ashes. ...I know you came here for pirate reasons, which is specifically why me first mate filtered you and others like you, out of all the folk that came a knockin'. You can have them arrest me and me first mate, but they won't be able to catch us, and even if they did, you'd still be in their crosshairs along with us; they're a ruthless bunch, those Lancelot police. From the moment you stepped inside this bar, whatever bridge to a peaceful, law-abiding life, went up in smoke. ...Amazing, isn't it? A piece of legal paper, a right place at a right time, and the choice to follow these things, is all it takes to ruin lives. You likely came here knowing that, but all the same: ...Sorry bout that, matey." Arron explained to them. It would be clear now that this child, still as pretentious and obnoxious as he seems, had more to him than one would think. He WAS the one who somehow got an ad for piracy "legally" distributed across the many sectors and systems of the empire. He's clearly implying that he set this whole situation up in such a way that whoever walks in that door like you did would be faced with an ultimatum: Stay and listen, or leave and be labeled a wanted criminal, hunted down the moment you take that first step outside.

He's a still wack-job, and clearly mentally disturbed at that. But it's now clear that, at the very least, he knows what he's doing.

"You probably already figured this out, but I called out as many landlubbers as possible for a job offer...To join me on this ship, be a part of me crew, and take a share of all the loot we nab together. If you refuse, that's fine. ...You still gotta get onboard me ship so that I can smuggle you off the planet to a safer one, but I can guarantee you, you will be missing out on the many things we can plunder together, things that might lead you and others like you to a better life. You can accept my offer by answering a simple question: Why are you here? ...Hmm, Perhaps that's a bit too bland a question though. Let me put this another way: You came here knowing that you are being enlisted to be a terror of the black sea, a pirate. That tells me you came here with something you wish to gain. What is that something? What are you assuming you are going to get out of this...what is it you WANT to get out of this?" Arron asked. After you answer his question, almost immediately, you feel a thin plastic ring pressed against your forehead. It seems Arron took his straw out of the shot glass and has placed it on your forehead, looking through it like a microscope.

When asked what he's doing...

"Checking to see if you're lying...Me straw's a lie detector. Relax while I look into your brain, or...whatever you have that substitutes a brain." He answered. If one didn't already think him bloody insane before this point, one probably would now. Yet if you were lying about your answer, he certainly did detect it like he claimed. Was there something in the straw that could do this, or...was it some kind of ability from the boy himself? Either way, within seconds, he pulled the straw away and put it back in the glass. If you were lying he'd simply ask you to try again and answering honestly this time. But if you were telling the truth...

"Welp, looks like you're telling the truth. Honestly, as long as it was honest, it really doesn't matter to me what your answer was, matey. I need as many hands on me deck as I can get, need they be paragons or scoundrels. ...We don't have a lot of time, so let's cut to the chase: Me Ship is currently run by an army of robotic servants, Mites as we call them. Well, robot might be a tad a stretch, they're more like a swarm of little metal bugs really. They're currently hacking into those robots over there so as to keep them from mouthing a word of what happens here. The Problem is they're basic-AI drones; they understand commands given to them, but don't think like living creatures or even advanced AIs. In trying situations, they're fish without water, wiggling desperately til they die; they're not exactly combat ready for that same reason. Me ship needs more sapient folk like you and me in order to run it properly. I originally had such a crew but...they're no longer with us. Me an' Arms are the last ones left, and we can't run a ship that big with just two people, mites or no mites. I managed to get here because of my own experience as a Pilot, but the engines are...well, they're shot. I barely managed to get this thing here. It's a good engine that's designed for combat, but I'm no engineer and Arms can't do much on his own. All it needs is a few more engineers to lead the mites and fix it up, and it should be fine until we get to a station for a proper repair. I also have need of a Pilot - I frankly prefer to take command rather than fly the ship m'self - among other positions that need to be filled. You are here because Arms seems to have decreed you able to do one of the jobs we need. I'm afraid anymore questions will have to wait for later though. I've already 'arranged' for our first plunder, along with this one-on-one approach of interviewing I'm doing for everyone who walks in that door. Any ship or device you landed here with has already been taken by Arms and the Mites aboard me ship's Cargo Bay, so don't you worry about leaving anything behind. ...All that said, since you answered my question. I welcome you aboard. I'll be staying here until Arms confirms that everyone is present and accounted for, so get on board without me." Arron explained with a smile. As you do as you're told in this...bizzare situation, Arron stops you once, and asks you a question, upon answering, he nods and waves for you to go to the ship and wait for them.

The Question?

"Ah, how rude of me not to ask...What's your name?"

(For your flashback scenes, simply give your first impression, and your answer to both of his questions. If you want to add anymore details, you're free to do so.)

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

Present Time

Typhon - Bridge











Once everyone shown their acceptance and reasoning to Arron, and reported to the bridge as told, Arron himself walked into the Bridge with the Alori Gila Monster Arms following behind him as he hops, quite literally into the chair in the center of the Bridge. As if they weren't even there, he simply took a minute or so to relax on the chair giving a sigh of refreshment, before he leaned to face forward towards his new crew. A bunch of tiny humanoid red robots, the Captain's "Mites", running around and doing as they are tasked as Arron began to spoke.

"Arr... Everyone present and accounted for...? Good. Welcome aboard me ship, please mind the mess everywhere, She's had her issues, and the mites need an update on their chore procedure. So, there's no sense of telling you what you're here for, so let's skip the occupational introduction to piracy, and get straight to our current situation for...everyone who hasn't been told this already, meaning Arms and me'self are the only ones excluded. There's a Merchant ship up in the atmosphere waiting for us to "escort" them to safety after I warned them about Pirates coming to steal his everything. ...I neglected to mention that we are the pirates in question, but it doesn't really matter. They'll be waiting for us to follow suit and sail away with them to safer grounds. However, in their paranoia they may leave without us if we hurry up to meet them. So I won't hold you all for too long before we get started. Started on what you ask? ...Most of these new-age lazy-ass landlubbers across the black diamond sea of stars prefer virtual simulations to test your capabilities and wits without that danger to your life. Soldiers of the Empire, planetary police enforcers, even the pirates and mafias these days are all like that. Every virtual test's all programmed, prepared, and never gets that adrenaline of staying alive pumping into ye' veins because all you get by failing is a bloody Game Over Screen. I prefer to do this sort of work with an old-fashioned heart in mind. Real situations, Real quality testing, and more importantly, REAL consequences. I don't want you to show your stuff in a simulation because I don't want some what-if crew that I'm suppose to take word of a computer for the quality of...No offense to Rem. I want you to show your stuff where it matters most of all, in pure genuine reality where success RIDES entirely on your best efforts...Savvy?" Arron explained. He pushed a few buttons on the arm of his chair, making a few holographic screens pop up in front of him flipping them around so that everyone else can see them.

"So consider this your employment field test. As I said before, the Merchant is armed to the bloody teeth with his merchandise, and will fire up his cannons on our scurvy asses the second we start boarding them. But that's not all there is to it... We're violating the Planetary curfew of Lancelot Prime by being here at this time o' night. Normally, visitors aren't allowed to land here on Curfew, and the ones that were visiting are forced to either leave the planet before the curfew is up, or spend their night on the planet. Merchants are an exception, but even their escorts has to be from off the planet and awaiting them there. Fortunately for us, this was a new crew of Rookie merchants unfamiliar with Lancelot Prime's rules, so my little white lie drilled right into their skulls without resistance, though how rookies managed to get the kind of guns they did is beyond me. In any case, what I told you all about the strict ideals of this world applies to this ship as well. Oh, but you don't have to worry, because they won't arrest us if we fail...mostly because in about...oh...2 minutes or so, they'll be given orders straight from L. Prime's governor to shoot us dead the moment we're in their sights. ...Arms was getting hungry, so I arranged to invite the Governor's beloved pet for dinner. Said pet should be heading straight for the Governor's desk in a box as we speak...a wee-bit skinnier then when said governor last saw him, and with a picture of this very ship to remember us by. So, we're about to be on L Prime's most wanted list very soon. What's more of a problem that I sort of forgot to mention to you all: The Hyperdrive should be fine, but the engine has seen better days. It endured some battle damage; the mites are trying to maintain it, but there's only so much the drones are able to do without more...educated minds guiding them. ...In other words, from the second we set sail from L. Prime, We are inches from the Maw of Davy Jone's Locker! Your test is to pull us OUT of that ever gaping abyss, and Sail to calmer seas with Merchant's treasures in tow! We succeed and you shall prove to be the greatest crew I could ever hope to sail with. Fail and we ALL walk the plank!" Arron then said, showing a picture of the skeletal remains of the Governor's pet. Arms couldn't help but sigh, pinching the top of his reptilian muzzle as Arron started arranging hologram screens with the pictures of everyone on board. As Arron organized those pictures, Arms stepped up from behind Arron and looked at everyone.

"For those of you who couldn't understand a damn thing our Captain just said with all that olden lingo rambling, here's a more basic translation: Our engines are damaged, our merchant targets are going to defend themselves from us, and the Planetary imperials will want us dead the second we show our face. In other words, the moment this ship starts flying, we're fucked. We'll be put into a very bad situation, and your job is to get us all out of it in one piece with what we pillaged in tow. We get through this: you're hired. You fail: we all die." Said the Gila Monster Alori, as Arron finishes organizing the crew to their specific jobs.

"...That's exactly what I just said! ...Anyways, mateys, I've had the lot of you scanned and organized into your roles on this ship, based on your qualities and backgrounds. Each set or single one of you will each have a task. Those who aren't given specific jobs will serve as the Boarding party, and miscellanious deckhands whenever we're not doing any missions. All of your objectives are simple enough: Storm, Psi, and Spots, the Boarding party, are to board the Merchant Ship and take every bit of loot off them that you can find. In addition, if possible, I want you to capture and bring back the crew of that ship to this one alive. Cliff, Newt, and Spa, you guys are to join the Boarding party take whatever medical supply and food you feel you need to properly do your jobs. The Boarding party's secondary objective is to escort and safeguard them while they do this. Star, and Snow will be in the Engine room of the ship, doing whatever they have to to fix the Engine, or at least make sure it doesn't blow up in your faces before the day is done. Rem, as our computers expert, will be here on the bridge and the back of the ship with the other engineers updating and keepin' em comps maintained as the skirmishes start. The Mites will help the engineers and Rem both in maintenance, but make sure you give them specific orders of what to do; they're not capable of thinking outside the box like you three are. Serve and Grouch...-sigh-..."Reave", are to take control of the two Computers behind you all on both sides of the cockpit, with Wing in the center area to evade any and all attacks that'll be thrown at us." Arron explained to them, pointing to each member when saying their nicknames so as to tell them that those names are referring to them. He then looked at Arms who nodded back, extending his hands outward as a light turned on in the palms of both hands, combining together to form a holographic replication of the Ship.

"This ship has eighteen revolving pulse cannon barrels, three barrels on six turrets rotating on three rings, two turrets per ring. Normally the rings rotate the turrets around and the turrets themselves can rotate, so that we can fire from all directions. However, they're currently positioned to fire off the sides of the outer shell's port and starboard area and are locked in place, so there's no need to worry about advance movement controls on the guns for now. Instead you have to work together with Icarus, and Icarus with you, since they're locked to the sides of the ship and so can only fired in their respective directions. Therefore, Icarus will have to move the ship into positions where the cannons can be fired from the left and right of the ship. Tserv will take the left half, and Reaver will take the right. I've designed the OS on the gun programs myself, the push of a button can fire a single turret. Nine buttons for nine turrets, organized from back to front. (Meaning: Left-to-right for the left side and right-to-left for the right side.) Once we're in a position where we can unlock movement controls I'll guide you both through that, but for now, just focus on the nine buttons in front of you. The three of you will have to work together if you want to get anything blown up as things are. As for you, Icarus, much to the Captain's...arrogance, the pilot area consists of two step panels for acceleration and breaks, two control panels for the more advanced commands such as the use of the hyperdrive...and that big wheel beside the panels for steering the ship. ...Thankfully the Captain explained to me how it works, and its...disturbingly simple. Spin the wheel in a direction to make the ship go that direction, and the more you spin, the harder the turn. Apparently it's designed for maneuverability." Arms explained to the three.

"This is normally the part where I ask if you have any questions. But given our current predicament, we don't have much time left. We don't leave soon, and the planetary forces will likely find this ship and kill everyone in it. So any questions you have for me and Arms, I suggest saving for later, or answering on your own as we go about this. With that, Introductions are over mateys. The Engineering room's in the back of the ship, follow the signs, you can't miss it. The Boarding area's the way you came into the ship from. Don't worry about room arrangements for now, your stuff's been escorted to the cargo area and will stay there until this whole thing is said and done. It'll all burn and freeze along with us if we fail anyways. Cliff, Spa, Newt, and Boarding Party, get to the Boarding area. Engineers move to the Engine room, and the Compop, Gunners, and Pilot stays here to get the cannons online, and the rest of the computers operational. The Mite over there will fly us up to the Merchant ship, then will give the wheel over to Wing. Arms will be heading out with the Boarding party onto the Merchant's ship, but he'll keep his comm live to help all of ya on the bridge." Arron said. As soon as he finished, he gave a nod to the Mite who has the wheel, and the ship started to move out of the docks, curving upwards towards the skies and rocketing towards the merchant ship in question. As if on cue, the alarms would be heard blaring across the entirity of Lancelot Prime, waking up several factory workers, and making active the planetary forces.

They got closer and closer to the Merchant ship until eventually getting close enough to their side. While they were getting ready then to take off, suddenly both ships would see laser fire from the planet, as fighters started climbing up the atmosphere to meet them.

"Right on Schedule..." Arron thought. While everyone is likely distressed from getting fired on, the captain simply smiled as he sat back pressed his hands into a ball in front of his face.

"Alright everyone, Get into positions now!" He yelled. With the slamming of his fist on to the arm of his chair, the side rear of the Typhon's outer shell opened up, revealing a giant tube of some sorts that shot itself onto the door of the merchant ship, an electrical field then pulsates through the tube from the Typhon's end to the opposite end, causing the door on the Merchant's side of the connection to malfunction and open up. From inside the tube, as the electrical pulse disappeared to make it safe for the Boarding party to enter, you could hear loud voices from the other side of the merchant ship's door, as the door seems to glitch out, trying to close but ultimately failing every time. The merchant ship immediately began to fire on the Typhon, but the wood on the outer shell was surprisingly durable. As soon as the Boarding party moves into the merchant ship, however, the door closes and the tube disconnects, reeling back into the Typhon and allowing for Icarus to freely move the ship.

"Alright, this is it. Show me what you've got mateys...THE ECLIPSE PIRATES SHALL RIDE AGAIN!" Arron yelled excitedly.
Circles of Hell

Little did any of them, need they be Ascendancy or Moonstrike know, there was someone within a still smoldering hull breach near the roof of the ship, the black uniform perfectly camouflaged amidst the black smoke and darkness as he looks the crew of the Xuanxang about to make their move. It would normally be next to impossible for him to be able to breathe being in the center of the black smoke like that, however on his head was a helmet, and one of the features of it were a gas filter, letting him take point in areas that are normally suicide locations for guys like him.

As his long black coat - tattered from age - flaps in the wind, he stared upon the two groups about to come into contact with each other through the scope of his rifle...detached from his rifle to serve as a miniature telescope, said scope using infrared in order to see past the black smoke at the people down on ground level. His orders seemed clear enough, keeping watch on the newcomers as they make their way to the ship, but ensure something stands in their way to make sure none of them interfere with their own objectives aboard this ship. It seems they were trying to sneak in without being found out by the ascendancy soldiers...

...A plan that seemed to fail, as the fighting began.

"U-umm, Boss? ...The new guys are engaging the Ascendancy folk....Umm...what should I do?" The sniper whispered into his communicator.

"At least we now have confirmation they're not with them. ...Then we do this as planned, do not engage any of them for now, unless they engage you first. Fire the jammer when ready, we'll switch to Bishop's channel after that." The voice of the silhouette from before said through his communicator, a sigh of relief quickly left his breath when he had the order to not engage any of them, mumbling an "Oh, thank you God..." under his breath.

Without another word, the Sniper grabbed his rifle from his back and placed the scope back on. Aiming his rifle upwards into the sky, and loading a special bullet down the barrel, he pulled the trigger. The sound of his sniper rifle firing was camouflaged to the normal ears thanks to the guns and tank cannon firing below serving as camouflage. However, since Rachel had cybernetic ears that just got fixed up by Legion, she would probably be the only one who hears it.

As the special bullet is launched into the sky, it exploded into a mist of particles that spread outwards across the whole of the crash area. In an instant, the communications from all sides, via their ships, their communicators, and even long-range communications from afar, have effectively been jammed. No one from either side of the board is now capable of using their communicators. Fortunately, it seemed to simply be a mist that disrupts radio signals completely, rather than an Electro-magnetic pulse or anything like that, so only the communicators seemed to be effected.

Inside the ship, if the swearing echoing off the empty halls of the ship is any indication, it seems the Ascendancy forces have noticed their communications now being shot. Little did they know that that was the least of their worries. In areas beyond where Snow is, Ascendancy soldiers slowly but surely were vanishing from their posts left and right without a sound. Whatever screams were being made were not heard by the guards, thanks to the runes that were showing up more and more across the walls. Some of the hallways far from where Realist was confined, abandoned to all save for one or two guards that were no longer there, were now drenched in fresh blood, broken bones, and viscera. If the communications were working and any of them saw these blood-drenched halls, this would be when they hear the ascendancy soldiers begin panicking over the radio. Oh well, the panicked yells and hollers of those still alive reverberating across the ship as they try to find out what's happened to the others, their tone caked with fear, was enough to satisfy the one responsible for this carnage, as he jumps from one point of the ship to the other.

As soldiers began to fade, and the ones still alive were now scattering about to find out what's happened to them, two other silhouettes, one of them being the one who watched the Xuanxang from before, was making their way to the cell holding Realist, evidently from the opposite direction of Snow's path.
@Lumiere It's a shame you're pulling out, but tbh this RP had ground to a halt and I'm not sure it'll ever start so I don't think it matters too much


Oh it's gonna start. I have the IC ready, we're just waiting on two people to complete their CSes.
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