Stories of the Venture

[the quinn]

Here is the start, you find your self on Hera
OOC

Spoiler

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I'll give more detail in a bit, times are a bit hectic

[Bonecrusher Doc]

Lena Rassekh, unemployed on Hera

Lena sighs as she finally sees the silhouettes of the spaceships. Her knuckles whiten as she grips her shoulder straps, mustering her courage to finish her long journey to freedom.

There's nothing left for me here anyway.

She gets a few strange looks from passers-by, but stares back at them until they look away. They see a smooth-faced young woman in her early twenties, with olive skin and a long, thick braid of dark brown hair. Her dark eyes are moist at the moment, and she runs the sleeve of her worn deerskin jacket under her strong, slightly hooked nose to wipe it.

I just hope the security's not too tight at the spaceport... I wonder if there'll be folks who'll want to search my pack.

Her vintage olive-drab backpack is heavier than most city folk would care to carry, but then, Lena is stronger and hardier than most city folk, even though she is only of average height for a woman and slender. In addition to her pack, she has a long leather bag of some sort, with a strap on it allowing her to sling it over one arm. Her dark jacket is untailored, but fits her well enough. Her khaki trousers, on the other hand, are far too big on her, and patched many times. They are belted high up on her waist, under her jacket. Only her thin dark-green t-shirt and her sturdy boots look new, though the four-pointed compass star stamped on the heel leather is the mark of an outfitter company that has not existed since before the Unification War.

[SilentNight]

Kenneth Selden

Ken lounges about inside the Venture's loading bay, keeping an eye on the open door and hoping he got some results. He'd put the word out there was work for people willing to take a gamble, intentionally vague but it might work. Hah, "a gamble," got that right. A run of bad luck had forced him to completely scrap his new ship, leaving him with nothing but an engine. He just hoped he could get whoever showed up to stay on while they picked up a job.

[Dorizzit]

Tidus Renn
Fugitive

Tidus wanders the shipyards, looking around. A casual observer might just take him for a drifter, but a closer look reveals he has the stance of someone who knows how to fight, and his steps have purpose and clarity in them. He takes out a slip of paper from his pocket. Let's see, the add said "take a gamble." I'm not sure how doing anything is any more or less risky for me, so...I should fit right in. Ah, here we go. Seeing the Venture looming in front of him, Tidus strides up to the open loading bay. He takes in the interior quickly. Man, this thing's a scrapheap. Most of the components have been stripped out. I wonder if it even has an engine... He calls out to the man lounging inside.

"Hello! Are you the captain of this vessel? If so, permission to come aboard? The name's Tidus Renn, I've been looking for a crew to sign on with."

[SilentNight]

Kenneth Selden: Captain

Seeing the newcomer, Ken gets up, "That would be me. Kenneth Selden at your service, welcome aboard. As you can see, it's in sorry shape. That would be the gamble. I'll need a crew to get the thing running before I can actually pay you anything. What can you do?"

[Dorizzit]

Tidus Renn
Fugitive

Tidus steps onto the ship, climbing the ramp slowly to come fact to face with Kenneth.

"What can I do? All kinds of things. I can pilot a little, I'm good with people, I can keep someone from dying on a battlefield, I can plan, I can lead and I can follow orders. But what I'm best at is fighting. I'm a good shot with these-" -he gestures to the pistols hanging at his sides- "-And I'm better than most with a sword or my hands."

He walks around, taking a look at the interior of the bay.

"I do have a question though. Are your operations going to be fully legal? I don't care overmuch one way or another, but I'd like to be informed of the situation beforehand."

[SilentNight]

Kenneth Selden: Captain

Ken nods, "Good, guess you're first mate then. I'm not sure about legality, probably a little of both. Used to run a black market during the war. Champagne can get pretty scarce out on the border planets. Don't think I've got any swords lying around though. I don't suppose you've got an arsenal of parts anywhere on you?"

[ApatheticDespot]

Andrew Nelson

This is dumb, thought Andrew Nelson yet again as he made his way through the starport crowds. It was an odd career move, to be sure, to go from the doctoral Computer Science program at Ariel University to answering vague adds for crew members on a cargo ship but the fact was that Andrew Nelson was bored. Since the U war he had drifted from job to job, never finding work more interesting than debuging the security system at a strip mall. He wanted a challenge again, and there were only two ways to find it. Either he take a position at one of the big Tech firms and wait for a fed to walk into his office with a "Dr. Nelson I presume" and a little problem that perhaps he could help them with, or he look for less conventional areas of employment. Which was why he found himself standing at the bottom of the loading ramp of a ship called Venture, looking up at two large men conversing in hushed voices about, if he overheard right, swords. "This is dumb" he said quietly.

[Dorizzit]

Tidus Renn
First Mate

Tidus raises his eyebrows.

"Well, thanks. Happy to be aboard. And don't worry: I brought my own sword."

He taps the hilt protruding over his back.

"Also, you appear to have a visitor."

Tidus gestures with his head at Andrew.

[Bonecrusher Doc]

Lena Rassekh

Lena looks around her, bewildered by the sheer number of people in the spaceport. It had been such a long time since she was in a town, except for short trips for supplies with her dad - and now she was alone.

She spies one man who has stopped in front of a ship. He looks a little uncertain as to what he's doing - same as me. She wets her dry lips and steps up to Andrew Nelson. She commands her voice to be strong and confident.

"Excuse me Sir - do you know where I should ask to get passage off the planet?"

[ApatheticDespot]

Andrew Nelson

Andrew turns around to see a young woman, somehow contriving to look utterly out of place even in the staggering diversity of a starport crowd. "Most of the ships around here will take on passengers to earn some extra coin. They all have their destinations posted out front, you shouldn't have much trouble finding one going your way."

[Bonecrusher Doc]

Lena Rassekh

"I just need to go... somewhere out of the way." She steps up on the ramp of the ship, still wearing her pack and leather bag. "Excuse me gentlemen, where are you bound?"

[SilentNight]

Kenneth Selden: Captain
"Nowhere, for the moment," Ken says, "I presume you're here about the job. Y'see, the deal is this bird is dead in the water. Had to sell all my parts. So if you two'd like to sign on, you can start earning soon as we get her together. Either of you happen to have access to a load of ship parts?"

[Thiel]

Mark Graham
Pilot

"Damn, this place is crowded!" thinks Mark as he squeezes his way through the throng trying in vain to spot the ship mentioned in the ad. "Should have brought a friggin picnic basket!" Then, spotting something near the edge of the crowd: "Hmm, that looks about right."
As he approaches the ship he slows down to get time to straighten his grey coverall.

[ApatheticDespot]

Andrew Nelson

"No, but if you need to build a ship control computer system from the ground up, I'm the man you need. I'm Dr. Nelson." He said, extending his hand "I'm an analyst, it seems to me that if you're planning a gamble you could use someone who knows the odds."

[Bonecrusher Doc]

Lena Rassekh

"Dead in the water... perhaps I should look elsewhere... but you say you're hiring? What kind of work will we be doing? I don't know anything about spare parts, but I'm pretty handy with lots of other things... I really don't care where we travel, as long as we're not too... obvious."

Lena steps just inside the ship, slips off her pack but then puts her leather bag back on her shoulder. She backs up against the bulkhead to make room for an approaching man in grey coveralls, to whom she nods in polite acknowledgement.

[King Tius]

Dr Eugene Roe
Physician

The small crowd of people now gathered near the door of the Venture's cargo hold might notice a man slow to a halt near the mighty vessel. The thin man is dressed in clean slacks and a white undershirt tucked in neatly. Over this he wears a dark leather aviator jacket. Upon the left shoulder is the familiar red cross of combat medic that has been sewn on, though clearly it came from some other uniform originally. The man's shoes are meticulously well shined and the rest of his clothing seems in a state of perfect order and cleanliness. He is obviously Italian (according to the countries of earth-that-was) and has his dark black hair perfectly combed and in order. His high cheek bones and deep set blue eyes give him a serious look, especially as he squints and gazes up at the Venture. Befitting an obsessive-compulsive man he has a cigarette in his mouth which he draws from at an almost perfect rhythm. The worn doctor's bag in his hand and the small duffel bag over his shoulder are the man's only possessions.

After examining the ship thoroughly the man walks straight up to the group and waits patiently and politely to introduce himself. Though he doesn't say much and speaks in a soft tone, those listening do not get any impressions of shyness from him. Rather, the man exudes calm and precision. He does not extend a hand to shake.

"Good afternoon. Does this ship need a physician? I will take a standard crew fair for my services provided that I am given complete control of your medical facility and am given the proper money to keep it stocked. I'm a hell of a cook, too."

He stands and waits patiently for a reply, smoking.

[Bonecrusher Doc]

Lena wrinkles her nose at the smell of the cigarette... and at the man's claim that he was a good cook. The only job I can think of that I could do on a spaceship, and I was just about to say I could do that! She takes a half step out of the ship, uncomfortable with all the people around. I really don't know a thing about applying for a job. Maybe I should just find a working ship and book passage on it... but that will take money, and I'll still need a job after that.

While the others converse, she softly asks the man in grey coveralls, "Are you looking for a job here too?"

[SilentNight]

Kenneth Selden: Captain

Kenneth looks over the newcomers with an appraising eye and after flicking some imaginary lint from his flak vest, says, "Well, professor, we could certaintly use some equipment, if you're willing to stick it out." He turns to the Italian and the man in the grey coveralls, "I've not got much of anything right now but we could use a physician, afraid I can't pay any of you anything until we get this ship running and get some jobs but there's food and empty bunks. And what do you bring to the party mix?" he asks the coveralled man.

[MrEdwardNigma]

General Blackburn
Bounty-Hunter and Veteran

The General looked at the crumpled piece of paper in his hand, scribbly writing all over it. He'd gotten it in a bar, not far from the docking area for spaceships. The man had laughed. A gamble, he'd said. General Blackburn would take whatever he could get now. He had a job lined up on the planet. There was a certain man, part of the elaborate criminal element on Hera, who had a bounty on his head. Not by the Alliance. Individual contractors. The problem was, they wanted him alive, and if he kidnapped him his friends would want the General dead. So he needed to ensure he had transport before kidnapping the man. A gamble was good enough for him. He'd stormed into battle with less than that.

The General stopped at the ship and shoved some people aside. He didn't have time for this, and if they minded, well, they'd just have to fight him, wouldn't they? He grinned at the though, showing a nasty set of brownishly lined teeth.
"You, over there. You the captain of this wreck? I'm here for the job"
He puffed out a cloud of smoke from his cigar and added "Does that piece of shung-hau even fly?"

Character sheet repost:

Spoiler

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Name: General Blackburn (No first name given). Will introduce himself as various aliases if needed, or if not, most frequently Joe Smith, Edgar Richmond or Sei Sun. Will also punch anyone in the face who sees through this, no matter how weak his charade.

Job: Passenger, or maybe something else, but definitely not captain.

Appearance: The General looks like he's lived, a lot. He has long, scruffy grey hair and an equally grey, long beard. He has thick, black eyebrows (surprisingly, considering all his other hair is grey, even his chest hair). The General has piercing, shifty blue eyes. They seem to stare right through you, through everything, but they occasionally quickly dart to another direction and then back. He's got ugly teeth, brownish in the corner of his mouth, where a cigar habitually rests.

For an old man the General is surprisingly muscular. His arms and legs are like thick, hairy trunks and he's sporting a six-pack and a broad chest. His poor hygiene and collection of scars detract from his general attractiveness though. He hides his build with a tough, worn brown trenchcoat and is usually wearing some kind of bodyarmour beneath his clothing, though not quite as strong as that of the "purple-bellies". He wears black leather armoured pants, a loose grey shirt and a thick belt with two guns: a sawn-off shotgun and a regular handgun. The General wore a broad rimmed leather hat and a red scarf with white polkadots on it, which both came in handy when hiding his face from the authorities. Though he often secretly found himself wanting to be spotted.

Personality: The war never quite ended for the General. It's hard to imagine him before it started. He sort of became one with it, the spirit of battle, the madmen leading the men into the fray and howling as tore through the enemies' lines. He longs for battle. At least there he knows how to behave. He doesn't know how to handle other things, turns them into competitions, violent more often than not. He seeks conflict. Anything else is hard for him to understand.
"All is fair in love and war, and what is love but just another form of war?"
He doesn't quite make friends, but rather fighting buddies, or in lack of that drinking buddies. He still won't think much of them if they're not worth something in a brawl though. And even those that are willing to fight besides him can't expect much loyalty from the General. He loses himself in battle, coming back to his senses afterwards. He doesn't much like his senses. When in lack of a good fight the General may start acting strange. More twitchy. It's always there, lurking somewhere beneath, as evidenced by that strange darting of his eyes, but it only surfaces when he feels locked up. Locked out of the battlefield. The thing is, as long as you can manage to direct his energy, he's a quite valuable ally. He'll convince himself of any cause if it can get him into some more fights.

Background: Some would say Blackburn was born in the heat of battle, and in a way they might be right. Before the war there are no records of him to be found (secret information to be sent to GM), and during the war it gets hazy. He's mentioned, sure. Everyone met General Blackburn once upon a time, and they all had different nicknames for him. Howling Dog, The Coyote, Mad Jack (never mind that no-one was sure about his name) or many others. Strange thing was though, that these acquaintances exist on both sides of the battle. Alliance and Independents alike remember fighting with him, or alongside him. It's not quite clear what exactly happened. Did he spy for the Alliance and infiltrate the Independents? Was it the other way around? Are some of the stories merely legends? Were there two General Blackburnses? The details are fuzzy, but one thing's sure: he was there. Some describe him as an excellent strategist at the beginning of the war, but after that legends become wilder and wilder. At some point the General lost it and turned from a brilliant commander into a bloodthirsty madman.

And then, just when he was getting comfortable, the war ended. The General was lost, for a while. The band of warriors he'd gathered around him disbanded and the General too had to return to life as it was. Except he couldn't. He didn't know how. He sought professional help. Went from guru to shrink and back, but nothing seemed to help, especially not because any hypnosis or meditation seemed to bring out quite the amount of suppressed anger in the General. Eventually the General's specific form of insanity attracted interest. Scientists, they called themselves. They may or may not have been working for the government, Blackburn doesn't remember. Things get hazy more than once in his past, but he remembers every single bomb that went off in his vicinity in the war, every single fallen comrade and every single scar on his body. The scars on his mind, less so. They messed up, he remembers that much. He got out, that was obvious too, and some nasty laserburns testify that they didn't let him go willingly. It had gotten worse, in a way, his mind. No more sad melancholy, shock of the spoils of war. No, life was war. His worn out old body was enhanced. Faster, more focused. One track of mind. Hardly any sleep. Just... battle. It was all he could think about, like a machine.

The General started hiring out as a mercenary, but was quickly kicked out of any crew he joined for collateral damage. So he took the loner's road. More people to fight with that way. He became a bounty-hunter. Not a particularly good one, but good enough to pay the bills... sometimes. A bigger crew would come in handy. It would offer security, more jobs, and he wouldn't be stuck on the same backwater planets because he can't pay a ship all the time.

[SilentNight]

Kenneth Selden: Captain
Kenneth narrows his eyes at the newcomer. "Not currently, no. I presume you're here about the job?" he nods at the piece of paper. First order of business is to get my bird off the ground. You're welcome to sleep and eat here until I can pay you.

[MrEdwardNigma]

General Blackburn
Bounty-Hunter and Veteran

"So it doesn't fly?" the General said, puffing out another cloud of smoke. He dropped the large plastic suitcase he was carrying. It made a loud thud.
"But you're saying I can stay here 'till it does? Somewhere I can put my stuff without any vultures pilfering it?"
The General arched his brow, wrinkling his wearied forehead heavily. There were quite the amount of scars on his forehead.
"When's this bird expected to get it's wings back? Take off, I mean"

[SilentNight]

Kenneth Selden: Captain
Ken shrugs, "If you're going to help with repairs then sure. As far as timeframe, assuming we can get the parts, I'd estimate a week at the most."

[MrEdwardNigma]

General Blackburn
Bounty-Hunter and Veteran

The General stretched out. He'd been carrying around that suitcase for the better part of the day and was glad to be rid of the weight, if only for a few minutes.
"Don't worry, there's plenty of places on Hera to get some parts, as long as you've got the money to pay for them. What exactly would my job be if I took it?"

[SilentNight]

Kenneth Selden: Captain

Ken shrugs again, Depends on what you can do. We've already got a medic it seems but what've you accumulated in you're time?"

[Bonecrusher Doc]

Lena Rassekh

"Are you looking for a job here too?"

Whether or not Mark answers, Lena decides that she'd better make up her mind fast as to whether or not she wants this job, or all these technical experts might fill all the positions. On the downside, she'll be starting out working for free and still be stuck on Hera. On the upside, she'll have food and a good place to sleep, and this might just be the only ship captain desperate enough to hire a young girl with no technological skills or experience. 'Fortune favors the bold,' that's what Dad always said. With her leather bag still slung over one shoulder, she slips past the others to stand directly in front of the captain, feet apart and hands on her hips.

"I don't know how many folks you're hiring, but you'll want me. I'm the hardest worker you'll ever meet. I'm not a gourmet chef or a brain surgeon, but you'll learn soon enough that if you want something done, you'll ask me, 'cause I won't rest till it's done and done right. I've learned to do everything for myself - grow my own food, make my own clothes, and tend my own wounds. And I'm tough. I've been frozen, starved, and gored, and I've never given up. And most of all, you're going to hire me because I'm crazy enough to start working for you right now, no questions asked. Now where's my bunk so I can stow my gear and get started?"

[Dorizzit]

Tidus Renn
First Mate

Tidus glances around at the quickly swarming room. Well, it may lack some of the proffessionalism I'm used to, but this promises to be interesting. Still, the captain's going to be busy for a while. I'd better clear off. Tidus walks up to Kenneth and taps him on the shoulder.

"I'm going to take a look around the ship, maybe claim a room."

He picks a doorway and walks through it, entering a small room of indeterminate purpose. Continuing onwards, he familiarizes himself with the layout of the ship before heading to the crew quarters. Picking out a cabin, he sets his pack and sword down in the bare room. Exiting, he adds an extra lock to the door and locks it before heading back to the cargo bay.

[the quinn]

The day begins the fade, darkness begins the crawl across the planet.
Suddenly the lights ignite, streets, bars, and the spaceport springs with dancing lights. The crews assembles for the first time in the common room to have their first dinner together.
A large bang erupts from outside the hull, with a flash that barely reaches the common room the cargo bay door opens. 6 Men with large coats enter the bay.
You hear, "Mr. Selden, where is the money! And I ain't got not time for no fooling around!" as a seventh man enters the vessel. He is 4'8'' with a large top hat, and a business suite. Selden recognizes these men as Orlen Grages', a large scale black market fixer, cronies.
Access Terminal:
Hera...
Hera is a boarder planet located 5 rings away from persephone, due to it's close proximity to the central core, the planet is crawling with alliance. Laws prohibit guns from the business/corporate districts, yet peoples are asked to not bring weapons into the space port. There is one moon (aberdeen), which is a large base of operation of underhanded dealings.

[MrEdwardNigma]

General Blackburn
Bounty-Hunter and Veteran

The day had passed with enormous speed. The General remembered waltzing past his new "captain" and settling in one of the appallingly empty cabins on board. He'd dumped his trunk there, boobytrapped the door, and spent the rest of the day in a bar in the spaceport listening for rumours. He'd somehow managed to avoid telling the captain what he expected his contribution to the ship would be in all the confusion, and hell, the captain didn't even seem to know what he was doing, so chances he'd still ask were pretty slim. Still, he'd decided to stay away from the ship for now, in case he did feel like asking. It might be that the captain wasn't looking to hire a warmonger like him. He'd met that kind of trouble before along the road.

After that he'd walked back to the ship by nightfall to check on how they were doing and if they still wanted him as part of the crew, however temporary an arrangement it might be, and he'd been welcomed by the smell of dinner. Someone on board could cook, apparently, and they'd made enough for him too. The General was starting to like this ship, and the liking only grew when a bunch of thugs burst into the ship without ringing the gorram bell. Finally a chance to show his worth, he thought, his hand slipping onto his shotgun beneath the table. Still, captain might not appreciate too many casualties in the crew. He may need to take it slow, careful, deliberate. Try to remember what it was like planning things rather than just doing them.

"Made some debts you'd like to tell us about, capt'n?"

Good, he needed to draw things out until the precise situation had been established and everyone had a chance to grab their weapons. He couldn't expect the others to have reflexes quite as fast as his. Luckily none of these jokers had guns drawn ((or at least are not described as such)), so the General could probably take them all by himself, but he wasn't too sure if they wanted a pile of corpses in their ship, especially not Grages' men. He could just blow a few limbs of or otherwise seriously injure them, but that might be worse, as they'd actually be able to tell Grages about what happened.

((Okay, some questions:
-Are the men armed, even if they don't have their guns drawn?
-What can the General know about Orlen Grages? Remember, he frequently works for the criminal element or takes out bounties on them, chances are he's heard stuff.
-As for the guy the General is looking for, would it be fitting were he part of Orlen's crew, or is it better for him to be a part of some other criminal organisation?
-What exactly is the layout of the ship?
-Who is at the table?))

[Headless_Ninja]

Aaron Hale - Mechanic

Aaron sighed as he approached the ship. On his back was a pack carrying everything he owned - a little money, some food, his cherished tools and various odds and ends. His clothes were covered in oil and grease, and were poor quality anyway. Well, this was the place. He'd managed to get halfway across the planet, find a ship that was looking for crew, and now he was here. He hoped he wasn't too late, it seemed like there was activity going on onboard. This was it - no more family or friends (though he had few enough of those). But thie was the right choice. He could keep being useful, keep making a living, and most importantly, keep doing the things he knew best - fixing machines. Strange, though, for all the apparent activity going on within, there was no-one here to meet him. Maybe he was too late.

"Hello?" he called. "Aaanyone there?"