Into the Void

[An Enemy Spy]

Around the ship are locked crates, docking equipment and other useless stuff like that.
On board you are met by a short red haired woman with a nasty scar on her neck. "You the new guys?" she says with obvious distaste. "Excuse me if I don't make a formal introduction, but we have to get this rustbucket into space, pronto." She leads you down a short hallway to the small bridge of the ship. At the pilot's control seat is a thin hispanic guy. "Holly, who are these guys?"
"The hired muscle. Don't waste your breath talikng to them. Their brains probably can't process language anyway."

[Jayngfet]

Vincent sighs "Such a polite group we're associating with here, now I no longer need to pay the television companies for my daily diet of questionably legal groups in a beat up old ship. Thank you for the warm welcome" he says.

[dresdor]

Brad says nothing. He secures his pack and braces himself for a rough launch.

[ufo]

Slowly assuring himself that there is no more direct danger, Patrick starts:
'Quit your bickering, it's hardly worth our time,' he says and gives the girl a hard stare. 'Tell me, who the **** is bombing the place?'

[An Enemy Spy]

Holly straps herself into the seat. "Who do think? The Republic attacks this planet all the time. And don't say **** on this ship. The last thing I need are ****heads like you thinking they're all tough, talking like that to me. Now strap yourselves in. Ricky here isn't a fan of slow takeoffs."

[dresdor]

"Do you have any turrets or other ship weapons? I've been trained in the operation of most kinds." Brad looked around. "Any other freighter I wouldn't bother asking, but Carker seems like the kind of person to outfit his ships with non-standard equipment."

A Republic attack was a bad thing. Having survived bombardments, by luck and some small measure of skill, Brad wasn't looking forward to going through another one.

[Jayngfet]

"Yes, I don't think we'll be able to continue conversation if we're blown out of the sky a mile high" He says, strapping himself in "And if I see so much as a scratch that couldn't have come from above on my ride Carker's going to pay for it".

He thinks for a moment

"Speaking of which I don't think we ever formally discussed anything monetary."

[An Enemy Spy]

"There is a turret at the back of the ship. But you had better pray to God that we don't need it. I doubt that we will be attacked. And don't come to me about money. That's Carker's problem."
Ricky begins to take off, knocking you off balance. "Hang on to something!" The Icarus rises out of the courtyard and rockets upward into the sky. The clouds are soon behind you and the color of the sky gets progressively darker and finally black as you zoom into space. The anti grav turns on and you all pitch foward onto the floor from where you had been pinned to the wall. Holly laughs. "Told you to strap in." Through the window in front of you, you can see a massive space battle. The Republic has sent 6 battlecruisers, similar in appearance to the zeppelins you were shown pictures of in your history classes in high school. Countless smaller ships surround them, fighting the outnumbered Confederate fleet. Explosions blossom all over the place, as vessels dissapear into giant balls of flame. Hundreds of fighters dart around, softening up larger ship's shields with missiles and lasers while the capitol ships finish them off. The battle takes place in an eerie silence because of the vaccum. Holly sits back in her chair and sighs contededly. "Who would of thought that war would be so soothing? Don't fire at anyone." she adds.

[dresdor]

"Just in case we are noticed..." Brad says, and heads for the turret. He straps himself in and lights up the controls, watching for any enemy fighters that take a sudden interest in the fleeing freighter.

[An Enemy Spy]

None of the cresent shaped Republic fighters assault you, and the Confederate ones are too worried about the enemy to waste time on a freighter. In fact, it seems as if the invaders are deliberately ignoring your ship. Finally, you are clear of the fight. Holly unstraps herself. "See, I told you we wouldn't be attacked."

[dresdor]

"Indeed" Brad says passively. He didn't trust that the Republic ships would let anyone off the planet while they were invading. It wasn't good military tactics to do so. He had seen in battle that most Republic commanders weren't that stupid.

"Since he didn't exactly have a chance to tell us before we left, what exactly is our mission?"

[An Enemy Spy]

"We're trading with pirates. He seriously didn't tell you?"

[Jayngfet]

"Yes yes, outlaw hieress, potential gunfire"Vincent says quickly"seemed scared for a veteran of so many battles. Sarcasam and space battles aside, you know how many pirates there will be? Or perhaps a few higher ups?"

"Also" he says after a moment "remind me to ask him how much it took to bribe them,avoidence would make our lives that much simpler".

[An Enemy Spy]

"This is a trade mission, not an assault. But don't worry. If the pirates try anything, I have enough explosives to blow us all to hell." She pauses. "What's that?" She says, pointing at the paper with the phone numbers that is now sticking out of Vincent's pocket.

[Jayngfet]

"Little something extra curricular Carker gave me. Extra-curriculars, tips on interior design." Vincent says nonchalantly "About his little sound pillar, I figure if I take the pillars material and apply it properly I can do all kinds of crazy things".

[ufo]

"Would you mind telling us what kind of goods we are trading?" Patrick asks, failing to hide his distrust for Holly

[An Enemy Spy]

She waves Patrick off. "Classified. Not even I know." She turns back to Vincent. "What sort of uses? Anything along the lines of kidnapping innocent girls from their homes, forcing them to live inside a glass torture tube for the rest of their lives and pumping them full of of drugs to keep them looking young and pretty? I suppose that you'll feel like you're a part of high society, won't you? After all, tube girls are all rage right now. Is that what you were planning on using it for?"

[Jayngfet]

"Of course not, Even if I did use slaves it wouldn't be worth it. What I'm interested in the pillar, that kind of sound amplification could be very effective in lots of places." Vincent replies "And I never would have pegged you as a humanitarian."

[An Enemy Spy]

"I don't care what you want to use it for. Those pillars are designed for people, and every time someone buys one of them, the bastards behind it all get richer and can make more of them. More young women have their lives taken away from them, and more aristocrats have something to show off to their friends, who in turn, get there own pillars with girls inside of them. Then they start buying more, just to show off their wealth. If you want to amplify sound scientific reasons, which I doubt, go to a lab."She grabs the paper from Vincent and storms out of the room.
"Just so you know," Ricky says. "Those pillars a very sensitive subject for her."

[Jayngfet]

"Never would have guessed from the yelling and grabbing"Vincent says as he follows her out of the room "Wait, I want to talk to you!"

[An Enemy Spy]

Holly turns around and crosses her arms. "You wanna talk? Fine, talk. But don't waste my time."

[Jayngfet]

"Look, I don't like this any more than you do. Trust me." Vincent starts "But we just can't ignore this."

He takes a deep breath.

"Look, let me share something with you. I was going to to take this material, make a weapon out of it. I don't like this at all but there are opportunities here. Of the pillar factory smashing variety if it helps"

[An Enemy Spy]

"A weapon. You want to turn a glass tube that amplifies sound into a weapon? What do you have in mind, a fishbowl that you stick over someone's head and pound on? No. I have a much better idea about what to do with these numbers."
Back on the bridge, Ricky checks some instruments. "We should be reaching our clients in about ten minutes. Get ready.

[Jayngfet]

"Not exactly a fishbowl or strictly a weapon, but tell me, what did you want to do" Vincent says, returning to his seat, his eyes never breaking contact?

[An Enemy Spy]

"I'll tell you later when I have time. Right now we have to get ready for our meeting with the pirates." She turns around and goes into her room. The door locks.

[Jayngfet]

I check my gun to see how many bullets are left and if the grappeling hook is working. Then I check how much more ammo I have on my person.

[An Enemy Spy]

Vincent discovers to his horror that his gun does not have even a single bullet in it. A cold wave of fear washes over him. But then he rememmbers that in the future, people use energy weapons, so he calms down. His grappling hook is working fine.

[Jayngfet]

Well then I check the batteries, and any other batteries I have on me and brace for the rough landing.

[dresdor]

Brad checks his gear, making sure his grenades are in quick reach and stretching his legs. If anything unfortunate were to happen, he wants to be ready.

[ufo]

Likewise, Patrick makes sure that his weapon is in complete working order and that the power source is fully charged.

((OOC: He also discovers that he is a completely different timezone from everyone else ))