[R]Outlaw Star[R] IC

[mcstringer]

Rated R: Violence,sexual suggestion, Blood, gore, and Language.

Space....The ultimate final frontier. Humanity has finally expanded into the vast unknown, and it will never stop.

Humanity has expanded into the vastness of it all. Met new races and invented awesome things, but there is still something humanity has not discovered, but it seems they are very close.....now.

The Galactic Leyline the ultimate rumor, question, answer, adventure.

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

Blue Heaven, The dust ball of an asteriod belt in the middle of nowhere. It was there Aden LengLeng a.k.a. Shadow, one of Ctarl-Ctarl Empire's best espionage agents, worked as an extra handyman for the shipyard.

"Hey grease monkey get out here!"

A muffled response came from one of the wrecked ships sitting on its struts in the yard. A greased out Ctarl-Ctarl rolled from under it a few moments later. His blue jumpsuit and white painter's was coverd with the this and thats of that day's jobs. It was hard to tell if there was a person underneath. Being the new guy, he always got the dirtiest of the jobs. He prefered his handle Shadow because he just hated his name, but he also needed this job to not know it had an espionage agent under its nose.

Shadow dropped the tools in his hands as he stood up and removed the goggles protecting his eyes from the extra mess that came with the job.

"What!"

"You got a call is what. Now go answer it. I'll finish up here."

"Thanks boss."

They traded places, and Shadow walked to the backroom office with the phone. He whipped his hands on a dirty rag, then slapped the answer button on the vid-phone. A blurred face of a Ctarl-Ctarl Commander appeared.

"Sir, code A32E1 reporting."

"At ease."

Like I was ever at attention.

Shadow loved being far far away from the stuffiness of the Empire. He could do almost whatever he wanted as long as he reported in on time. The blurred communications that allowed him to pretend being formal were just a perk.

"The Empire is freeing you from your placement on Blue to actively hunt down the Leyline. Data will be dropped for your mission before you leave. You are to leave for Sentinel III imediately and after that do anything possible to get the Empire the Leyline"

"Yes, sir"

The call ended quickly after, and Shadow smiled.

Yah, I am getting off the rock!

He puts in a call to a job aquantince while he was there to tell him about the job and the possible pay out.

"Red's not going to believe this."

[Volkov]

Location: One of Blue Heaven’s Hotels

Kael was laying in bed half awake in bed. Vanna was already dressed and ready to leave.
While she was in her own universe of sleepy bliss Vanna threw her shorts at her face with a prompt
“Get dressed. We’ve got a job.”

“But my hips huuurt~….and it’s probably your fault.” Kael pouted as Vanna adjusted his neck collar with a sigh “There’ll be beer later. I’ll be in the lobby. Be ready in 20 minutes or I’m leaving without you.”
Kael flopped around on the bed like an impatient fish throwing a tantrum whining “Fine!”

When she heard the door shut she opened one eye and batted her multicolored hair out of her face to sit up chewing on her inner cheek. She got up and started singing until she finished dressing “ I wanna be your princess….I wanna be your princess…..tell me my prince what can I do for you~♫”

After putting her boots on she stared out the window a bit brushing her teeth and quickly checking the time to make sure Vanna wasn’t leaving without her and making sure her shirt was all in order she opened the door and sprinted downstairs in a tired blurr until she spotted Vanna walking towards the exit after giving an elegant wave to the hotel doorman. Kael bounced after Vanna and gave a big cute smile to the doorman which made him nearly smack the door into his face. Kael hunched her shoulders looking at Vanna sideways “Soo….you going to tell me what this is all about or do I get to guess for the next five hours until one of my thumbs gets shot off?”

[Cheshire]

Location: The Vundiha (Docked- Blue Heaven)
As Vanna walked into the Vundiha, a crew-member ran up to him, "Sir, since we're leaving early do you want me to prepare breakfast?"

Vanna smiled, walking towards the center of the ship, where the helm was, as well as his captain's chair. He thought for a moment before nodding, "Yes, I'll have some pancakes, as I always prefer, with strawberries and ice-cream on top, with strawberry sauce. Kael will have-"

"LEMON DROPS!" Kael demanded loudly, smiling brightly. Vanna sighed and face-palmed... "No... Kael, you can't have lemon drops... I'm not going to have you pass out because you didn't eat. Make her bacon and crepes."

"Yes, sir!" the man snapped a salute off and ran to the kitchens, and Vanna continued on his way, Kael following close behind. She quickly returned to nagging him about their objective, finally Vanna turned and groaned, "If you must know, Kael, it's about the Leyline..."

Location: Somewhere in Blue Heaven
Yuge was laying on a floor in a dark room, a half empty, warm can of beer in his hand. The television was on, but he wasn't really paying attention. He sighed, taking a sip and grimacing at the warm liquid. It was just then that he heard his phone go off, and got up, walking over to it.

"Yes?"

[Evil Troy]

“Yeah haha! This is the life!”

Somehow the red headed terran always knew how to kick back and take it easy. This time was no different. Dmitri was sitting back on a couch between a blond and brunette. Even though he and Shadow had only been on Blue Haven a short time it already seemed like Dmitri was living the life. Too bad he was starting to run out of money and he didn’t know it. As he enjoyed the company of the girls and a few drinks he looked at the clock. 17:03.

“OH SHIT I’M LATE!!!”

At that time a tall man wearing the bars uniform came up to him with a piece of paper in his hand.

“Your bill Sir.”

Grunting Dmitri sat up to get out his wallet. Unfortunately for him, there was nothing but the black lining inside when he opened it. Fear spread though his body as he could feel his eyes widen and dart back and forth from the tab to his empty wallet back to his tab. Smiling he looked up at the waiter.

“Um excuse me, where is your phone?”

Raising an eyebrow at the question the waiter pointed towards a back hallway.

“Thank you, I’ll be right back.”

As calmly as he could Dmitri got up and started walking towards the hallway; as he got closer he began to sweat with stomach-gripping panic. What was he going to do? He had no money, and there was no way Shadow would ever pick up his tab. It then hit him. When he reached the phone he looked around and saw a door that apparently led to the kitchen. Without wasting any time Dmitri opened the door and ran through the kitchen. As he did he could hear waiters and cooks protesting with sharp “Hey!”-s and “You’re not supposed to be back here!”-s. Ignoring them all, he exited through the back exit and ran down the next two blocks before stopping in a back ally. Breathing hard he looked at his watch. 17:27.

“Damn Shadow’s gonna be pissed.”

Dmitri then slowly started trudging towards the hangers where he knew he’d find Shadow. There, he opened the door and walked in.

“Hey I’m here.”

[mcstringer]

Shadow came quietly came from behind his sometime partner, Dmitri, and put him in a rear naked choke.

"RREEeeeeedddd,... you finally got here. Good for you. If you were a few minutes later, I would have hunted you down and killed you myself. In front of, the whores you were sleeping with...."

Dmitri knows the death threat is not true, but also knows that some switch somewhere in Shadow's head might decide to turn and make it true.

Shadow yanked Dmitri to the ship, well Dmitri's ship, but the modifications are Shadow's. He let go of Dmitri so the poor guy could finally breathe. Shadow walked around the ship making sure everthing was spick and span.

"I have turned your old hunk of junk into something more respectable. Good thing too because we are going to need it."

He did not know if Dmitri was hearing what Shadow said because the poor piece of near junk called a ship looked like it got a major overhaul. It looked near new with a few obvious upgrades and a few not so, like the "extra armor", which was just abunch of dumpable missle pods that activate when released.

"We have a nice paying mission from my side of the road. Problem is it is high risk too. You don't have to come....since we are going after the Leyline."

Shadow whinced when he said it, because the Leyline is only thought to be real by kooks, the desperate, and high level pirates.

[Volkov]

Location: The Vundiha (Docked- Blue Heaven)

Kael pouted slouching with her arms crossed when her demand for her breakfast being her favorite candies was severely denied by Vanna. “That’s what coffee and soda is for. Staying awake to do things! …like play online games. and uploading pornography vids to video signs in public streets~” she whined with a sigh to the end of her tone but before the crew-member ran off he winked at Kael. Which much to Vanna’s dismay probably meant there would be a small bowl of Lemon drops by her breakfast. Which made Kael fist pump in the air with silent giggles until she felt something hit her and furrowed her brow immensely returning to badgering Vanna about the job, tilting her head as he mentioned the Leyline.

“The….Leyline…?”

Kael was struggling as far as the expression on her face went from thinking. To tense. To stressed out holding her hands to her head then she pointed at Vanna in surprise and exclaimed:
“No! don’t! we can’t!
I’ve heard it’s a galaxy filled with crazy old men and their wisdom.
all in boxer shorts! ….With giant police hats!”

For a good 10 seconds Kael was flailing her arms in a panic,
Then her words caught up with her brain realizing what she just said, before Vanna could have time to twitch an eyebrow in mock frustration followed by a facepalm or not she bowed her head apologetically looking like a sad puppy that was just punched in the head
“…Sorry I’m still not awake yet please do go on…wont interrupt I promise.”

Even as much of a spoiled princess Kael was;
she knew when to shut up with her crazy conspiracy theories.

[Evil Troy]

When Dmitri felt the arms of the Ctarl-Ctarl wrap around his neck he instantly noticed shortness in breath. Instinctively he yanked and clawed at the muscular arms but even he knew it would do no good.

“I’m sorry…..I ran into some…..trouble on the way here….”

His words were broken and full of gaps from where his neck was being squeezed, and the fact that his voice had taken on a new tone, from the constricting airway, anyone one around would have probably have found the situation humorous. When Shadow finally let go of him he dropped to his knees and took in a deep breath. It wasn’t until he looked up that he finally saw his newly modified ship. Dmitri’s eyes lit up with delight as he looked at the new upgrades. Not really paying attention to Shadow was saying he looked at the ship up and down.

“Wow armor upgrades, missile pods, rear booster modifications. All this thing needs now is a paint job, and maybe even some detailing, maybe flames running down the side.”

Most of what he said was mainly to himself. In all truth he didn’t even know that Shadow was even talking. That was until he caught the Galactic Leyline part. Hearing this he looked up over the ship at him, a serious expression on his face.

“The Galactic Leyline? Isn’t that just a myth? I’ve heard stories about it. No one knows its location or even what’s there, but some believe that untold wealth lay there, enough that a person could create an army that could withstand both the pirates and the alliance.”

Thinking about this wealth put a large grin on his face. He would never have to work again if he found it. Not to mention he would be famous!

“Shadow, let’s go! Let’s go find the Galactic Leyline!”

[Cheshire]

Vanna sighed and shook his head, "Kael, I have no idea where you hear these things, or why you believe them, but you either need to start drinking less, or more, whichever gets your head on straight."

Crew members began running around from place to place on the ship, making sure everything was green and ready for launch, as Vanna found his seat and relaxed, closing his eyes and waiting for the food. This wasn't going to be an every day mission, and he already knew this one would be full of stress. After a moment, he winced... yeah... this one was going to be a headache... he already felt a knot in his shoulder.

Groaning, he looked over to his second-in-command, "Kael, mind giving me a shoulder massage? I got a damn cramp..." It was half a request, half an order; spoken as though he were asking, though with the expectation of obedience. As he sat there, he started to think of the Leyline... what was it, really? It was supposed to be a great treasure... perhaps the most valuable treasure of all... but what exactly was it...

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

Yuge sighed he walked out of the room motel room, looking over to the owner, a friend of his, who merely shrugged and told him that he can't let him stay for free when there's a paying costumer waiting. Yuge flashed him a smile and laughed, letting him know he understood... this was something of a regular occurrence whenever he was around these parts.

Stepping on to the streets and looking around, he wondered what he was going to do next... he was almost broke and he had no gigs lined up anytime soon... sighing again, he headed off to a nearby authentic Chinese food place... another place owned by a friend, so he might be able to score some cheap or free food, at least...

[Cheshire]

(Fail double post, thanks to firefox being retarded... can someone delete this? >_>)

[Volkov]

Location: The Vundiha (Docked- Blue Heaven)

“From the internet….” Kael dropped her head pouting as she took Vanna’s sigh and shake of head as disapproval but then held her hand up enthusiastically “…and, because being a entertainment giddy-brainless-pop icon means sometimes you just got to stop listening to common sense! Hence why all of my co-workers in the industry are stupid.”

When she heard Vanna mention she probably needed to drink more she shook her head up and down agreeing “Yes! More potato based Vodka on the double!”

Kael span around on her heels following Vanna to sit nearby but not directly near Vanna picking up a handheld video game nearby as Vanna was relaxing, yet having enough common sense to connect some earphones to it. pushing one earphone in her ear gently and beginning to play it while waiting for food, though the odd hushed, or whispered frustrated whiny mumbles would come from Kael every so often.


“Dangit….I was sooo~ not prepared for a boss.

Ha! Take this Lt. Kerflont!

Revive~!

….geez, why do healers have to be so squishy.

urk!

she’s down….no rise potions.

this isn’t going to end well.”

She seemed to be incredibly concentrated on the game as Vanna’s demand request for a backrub came to her she immediately held her handheld game up above herself as far as her arms would reach exclaiming quietly on the verge of tears

“Nooooooo~! I was so close!”

Then she tilted her head to look at Vanna pulling the headphone plug out of her ear tossing her handheld game that was flashing -GAME OVER- on it, to the empty chair beside her “Huh? Oh- Kay.” She then stood up and went behind Vanna and began to give the captain a gentle shoulder massage to get the knot out of his shoulder bopping her head left and right as if she had a song stuck deafeningly in her head, while in reality she was wondering who’s skull she would have to crack today for dinging Vanna’s lovely ship. Or what the suspicious mission was really all about.

[mcstringer]

Shadow and Dmitri had successfully navigated their way out of Blue Heaven. While still in the asteroid field however, Shadow caught a curious blip. So, being who he was he tapped a console of buttons to identify that blip.

"SHIT, shit, shit, shit, and shit some more."

Shadow dashed to the weapons platform of the small ship.

"It is a pirate vessel. 30 degrees left and near 90 under us. Let's hope they aren't jumpy and we can get a chance to enter ether space."

[Cheshire]

"Sir, we've located the targets."

A grin crossed over Vanna's lips, "Good, move into firing range of the guns, we give them one warning, then we open fire. Don't kill them, though... we need the information... focus on disabling their engines and weapons."

"Yes, sir!"

The Vundiha's thrusters flared up as the crew got to battle-stations, and the ship moved to engage Shadow and Dmitri's vessel. The manual guns would line up and aim at the ship, along with the automated ones, as the targeting system was activated. As the ship approached, a single transmission was sent to the other ship.

"Surrender now, allow your ship to be boarded, or we cannot ensure your survival."

[mcstringer]

"Surrender now, allow your ship to be boarded, or we cannot ensure your survival."

"Oh Shit some more."

Shadow was not normally this scared, but up against at Confirmed On Site pirate vessel like the Vundiha he felt justified in being scared.

"Red as soon as we clear this junk use the upgrades to hit the ether. I'll program us to a near trajectory point for repairs. Hell, I am dumping some of the disposables, too."

The disposables in question were extra unactivated missle pods when unattached would open up and a single volley of mini-Hell would unleash like at this moment. The disposables dropped and fired their saving volleys while the ship was obviously being nailed by the pirates, which had not turned to slag because of the unholy upgrades to the shields, hull, and quick acting engines of the ether drive system.

The system activates the calulated jump to Sentinel III, where they will probably followed. All thanks to the fact a greedy dockmaster sold the pirates the information that Shadow now has the activation codes to the strongest ship ever built. He also did a little digging to find the man that might know its location on Sentinel III. Shadow prayed to whatever god that is out there that his masterpiece was not turned to junk for nothing.

The landing on Sentinel III was hot and rough. Luck was with them and they landed in an abandoned area of the planet. The hot landing temporarily knocks them out. Gladily they would be of it because their treasure was turned to junk and neither would want to see it.

[Sigma]

"Yo Clyde, another glass here will ya?" a Silgrian said with three empty glass cups on his left. the bartender nodded and filled another glass with a blue liquid, sliding it to him as he caught it, taking one gulp. "Ahh! damn that's good...." the silgrian stood up and set the money on the counter, taking his leave.

As he exited out the bar, he was met by several menacing looking men all wearing leather vests and holsters around their waists. "You Dawn?" the middle one asked with a grin.

"Why should I bother answering?" the silgrian asked to him. "Lets cut to the chase....."

"Ah? your clever. our boss wants your info, he says to take you alive, but.....we'll beat the shit outta ya first."

"Good to know." the silgrian said as he pulled out his handgun, blowing the middle man's head with a three-burst shot. the two men looked in aw, shock and finally anger as the body fell. then looking to the one they referred to as "Dawn" as he blew the smoke from the tip of his gun. "Who's next?"

[Volkov]

“Mpph!” Kael exclaimed, she was still half eating a piece of toast she asked for after having her breakfast while trying to pilot the Vundiha steadily it was clear they weren’t going to surrender and that only made Kael whine into her toast while mumbling aloud the obvious through said toast
“Tey- arfnt-surfendering!”

Then she gulped down the last of the toast with an abrupt choking cough that made her cringe severely, she looked back up to see exactly how she was flailing the ship around course after Shadow and Dimitri’s vessel

“Damn good toast~♥….can we not ram the ship into another ship like a violent prison assault this time!?”

Kael called back to Vanna before lowly mumbling to herself “Don’t wanna sacrifice another outfit budget to repairing a small ding on the side again.”

When her eyes met the front again they widened at the mini-hell was unleashed, some of the Vundiha crew scrambled to assist in navigating a way around it, but they didn’t get off without a nasty scar gracing the lovely Vundiha’s cheek, that gained an audible “FUCK!” from Kael as she pulled a hard left only to find that the vessel they had been chasing made a jump in the midst of the hell hailing down on the pirates,

“Captain! We’ve got a firm signal we’re good to go on your word!”

A crewman abruptly exclaimed as everyone was preparing to do whatever it took to vault after the ones who scarred their ladyship, even if the mission was attached to it, Kael of course seething at the brim with a twitchy eye was more than ready to rip someone’s nails out.

But the final word for a chase or not would depend on the Vanna’s whim

[mcstringer]

Shadow stubbled about Sentinel III. Most of the people probably thought he was a drunkard or the loser of a bar fight, and with Sentinel III being the way it is, they could have easily tossed the coin to say both. The planet city is a grimy rundown industral backwater in the armpit of the universe. It' ambience is of a hopeless small Western style town with its citzens somehow still squeezing a living between drinking and bar fights.

Shadow stubbled about with his left arm at his side either his arm is broken or one of his ribs. Some blood has congealed above his eyes making it hard for him to see. He clothing is ripped in shreds. The crowded streets quickly parted for him like it was a living being that instinctivily knew not to get near an injured Ctarl-Ctarl. It is an old saying about an injured tiger that is well proven and propetuated through the Ctarl-Ctarl themselves eventhough they never met the extinct Earth animal.

The other half of the group that was being trashed and beaten by the Sigrian nearby busted out of the shadows like a bad smell. They held a menace comparable to a high school bully squad, and compared to Shadow on a good day, they were just a bump in the road. Too bad for them, today was not one of Shadows good days.

"You'd be moving alon' in a nutter direction, ain't ye?"

Shadow moved as much of the cake blood from his eyes as he could to see who blubbered. His natural pride would not leave the situation well enough alone.

"I 'be' going wherever the fuck I want. Now outta my way before I put my foot to your mouth."

By this time, his buddies had created a half circle around him, but neither had went for their guns at their sides. Big mistake. Shadow hopped into the air for a spinning jump kick to the center person's jaw. The pair at his sides decided to pay their electric bill and started fumbling for their guns at their hips. Normally people duck an elaborate kick like a spinning jump kick, but apparently the target is a bird watcher because the kick connects with a solid CRACK, and the dope got to watch those birds he loved so much. Shadow lands low and a plasma bolt from his left slams into his arm, and a bullet rebounding off his the right side of his ribs.

The noises behind them made the ones alive with the Silgarian bounty hunter look to see what was going on because any one should look behind them when you have a well armed, well trained opponent in front of you.

[Sigma]

The Silgrian known aas Dawn noticed the men turning their attention behind them as they heard noises of another fight going on. the Dawn grinned as his chance to end this presented itself as he grabbed both of their heads and slammed them hard. knocking them both out in a bloody mess.

"Well...that was convenient." he said as he ran to the direction his attackers turned to, only to see an injured Ctarl-Ctarl and a bodies laying around him. "I guess I have you to thank." he said to the Ctarl-Ctar. guessing those men were probably after him as well.

[mcstringer]

Shadow returned to a standing position. After checking for any new bruising, he ripped his leftover clothes further to make a bandage for the already damaged ribs from the crash and sling for his arm. This all happened while Dawn stood in his place expecting a response. He wiped the blood from his body with left overs.

"Oh sorry, they got in my way..... I am looking for someone that calls himself Dawn or something of that manner."

[Stryker]

"C'mon... get thrown out or stumble out or something!" he exclaimed to himself as he sat, perched ontop of a tall sign overlooking a grimey bar.

The reason he was up there, and had been up there for a few hours now was because his latest job required him to tail a target until recieving a go ahead from the client. After getting the green light,
he was to kill on sight. No questions asked. The only problem was waiting on the blasted drunk to find his way out of this dump so he could see what his brain looks like on the pavement.

After a few more minutes of mundane sightseeing through the scope of his sniper rifle, he noticed his target walking down an alley adjacent to the bar he had been in for the past three hours.

"Guess the poor bastard got enough. Well, time to end this and get paid..." he thought to himself before switching the safety off and turning on the laser sighting. "Smooth and easy money...."

[Cheshire]

"It's going to cost... HOW much to repair that? It's a damn scratch!" Vanna fumed at a mechanic. His hand twitched as he considered shooting the mechanic... but sighed and relented, muttering "Fine, fine... whatever..." before turning to walk away.

"One more thing... fix it up good and proper, or I will bloody end you, got it?" he added with a smile, waving and walking out to meet up with Kael. He smiled politely at his partner-in-crime before calmly stating, "That's coming out of your expenses, Kael. Next time you'll dodge faster..." leaving a pause before adding, "But don't worry about that now, come on, let's get something to eat, aye? I don't know about you, but I'm starving."

[Volkov]

“LET ME AT THEM I AM GOING TO RIP THEIR FACES OFF BROKEN SHIP OR NO BROKEN SHIP!” Kael was screeching at the top of her lungs while the Vundiha’s crew was trying to hold her back, until she dropped to the floor theatrically and began crying her eyes out and pounding the ground like a three year old throwing a tantrum,

As Vanna was busy talking over the expenses, then when Vanna came up to her and told her the grim news about her paycheque “W….WHAAAAAAAAT!? How was I supposed to dodge a can of whoop ass tell me that!? How about you do the driving while choking next time and I stand chortling…”
more than halfway she just gave up sulking her shoulders and pushing her hair behind her neck as Vanna started walking she whined very very quietly;

“There goes my hope and dream of getting a pair of Vira Kreen airbrushed gun boots….every time I’m so close SO CLOSE…then stinky Vanna always cuts my budget for lack of intel…”

She perked her head up and to the side when Vanna said to not worry about it and to get something to eat and spoke up wiping her eyes clean of the croc tears and becoming her cheery bubbly self “I don’t have much of an appetite after utter crushing defeat but I could down a bag of lemon drops!”