Akhain GazhornStart researching about Boka and Systar, try to find anything that will help me.
[3] - At home, Akhain settles down at his computer and gets to work. Any scrap of information he can gets his hands on will help both him and the bounty hunter in their mission. [2] There's little to be found about Systar that wasn't in his files. Akhain looks through a few mentions - reports about his work before coming to the planet, a priest complaining about his heavy-handed methods on an obscure forum - but they yield little of worth.
Boka proves to be a similar case, guarding his secrets well. A member of the prestigious Majahi family, he's one of the most powerful crime lords in the region. His family had close ties with the old regime, but muddled enough for him to avoid arrest. Other ties include the Dos Tarishs, a powerful trade conglomerate in the region. Despite denials from the Guard and the Republican intelligence services, rumor has it he's infiltrated practically every department of the government. The use of an outsider like Systar would seem to confirm this. Boka has a reputation as a hedonist, spending millions or billions on his lavish, secretive parties.
There's little else Akhain feels like he can trust. Rumors and outlandish claims, possibly put out by the man himself, drown out whatever truths might be out there.
Hurid yl BassdromHP: 75/75
Equipment: NTT Inferno
(22/26), Thermal Blade (8/8), Snaplock Pistol
(8/8), Paragon Combat Rifle
(10/10)Funds: 0¤
Known Perks: MultiVision Ocular Modification,
Combat Stimulant PackageFaction: Free Republic
Target: None
Systar was sore, tired, and completely worn out. He was concerned about this break-in and babysitter he had, but he simply didn't care right now. He needed sleep.
Sleep off injuries. Check the Consul data packet in the morning.
[4] - Finally letting himself relax, Systar wanders over to his bed, stashes his equipment on the floor, scavenges through a med-kit and gets to sleep. The day fades away quickly, and his dreams are, as far as he can tell in the morning, peaceful enough. His body is still aching somewhat when he gets up, but most of his wounds are healed. Systar stretches and heads to his computer to see about the Consul intel.
[5] He finds the encrypted files untouched, and opens the packet with a simple password. At first there's a hastily put-together bio and some tidbits and quotes from others towards the Consul's personality and thinking. She seems to be a career politician, never seen showing any emotion she doesn't want to show, even in more private situations, being a diplomat and famed orator before the collapse of the old regime. She was a popular choice for Consul, but her habit of overriding senate measures has brought about charges of dictatorship lately. Both the traditionalists and radicals have reasons to dislike her, but she's still playing the political landscape well, keeping the sides from becoming too hostile. Despite her lack of military background and small role in the revolution, she's recently befriended the militarists by directing a large-scale increase of law enforcement and Guard forces to deal with the gangs and any opportunistic foreign powers.
General Dalia and the Republican Guard are some of her most vocal supporters. They see her protection as paramount, and elite Blood Pact mercenaries have been hired as her bodyguards alongside a platoon of Guard Hounds. These measures have been widely criticized as a waste of government funds and pressure is mounting for Dalia to dismiss the foreign mercenaries - a possible angle to pursue if Systar had any friends in the government.
She leaves the Consular Palace always with an armoured convoy or, alternatively, in total secrecy. This makes public appearances like the speech better striking places, unless Systar can get himself in the senate chambers or other governmental complex.
Her speech is due soon, but this Systar knew already anyway. Hopefully, he can get this Boka mission out of the way so the government will stop looking over his shoulder that much. Calamien the intel broker and the ID she promised Systar should be on-planet soon.
A wide variety of speculation accompanies this sourced and more trustworthy intel - the creator of the packet has helpfully left notes to point at what they consider more or less believable. Systar doesn't see anything worthwhile to his mission there, regardless.
SystarHP: 75/75
Equipment: Thermal Blade
(1/8), Aurora Revolver
(4/6), RUS9 Incendiary Grenade (1/1), Zuche 3 Cloaking Device (2/6)
Funds: 25,300¤
Known Perks: AugeanTech LightningBolt PackFaction: Bounty Hunter
Target: Consul Mona yl Vsiri (New Regime), Boka yl Vsiri (Crime Syndicate)
Unless I luck out, this is probably it. Another fine predicament I've gotten myself into. Gao considered the engines; if he could somehow lure or at least check if the hostiles were in front of the exhaust, he could probably kill them that way. Perhaps there was another way off the ship - a venting system, maybe - that he could go through while they were occupied at the airlock. Or maybe he could just move the ship close enough to the lab ship that he could sprint from one to the other before he got shot.
That was probably his safest bet, and he put his plan into action.
[5+1=6] - The ship is a piece of cake to power up for Gaosaron. He feels the hull of the ship reverberate as the engines come online far behind him, sees the control panels lit up with countless displays and info screens. [2] Intimidated by the complex manual controls, [2+1=3] Gaosaron quickly programs a rudimentary track for the ship to snap back to if he strays off-course. The distance to the lab-ship isn't great, but the last thing he wants to do is to crash into anything.
[5] Following the track, he takes off smoothly, just a meter from the floor, and begins increasing the thrust. He hears the aliens scatter beneath as he goes, [2] moving away and following him after momentary confusion.
The freighter moves across the bay. Gao turns it around, cut the engines and lets the ship 'crash' back down, sliding the rest of the way from its momentum. He stands up when it slows down, gets to the door, and manually forces the airlocks open.
[2] The aliens and the construct were left behind, but they're approaching fast. The Vantahin decides it'd be better if he got inside the labship as soon as possible. The doors slide open as he watches – it looks like the AI is still control of the ship itself. An electronic voice buzzes from the labship's speakers.
'
Hurry,' the AI says,
'get inside and free me so I can deal with them!'AlliesLeading the survivorsTarur RatrikHP: 75/75
Equipment: Flechette Shotgun
(9/10), RUS9 Incendiary Grenade (2/2), Thermal Blade (6/8)
Known Perks: AugeanTech FlexiSpeed Aid,
NovaCore Analytic-Reactive Augmentation,
FocusedFaction: Bounty Hunter
---
Gaosaron el-Anaula Ra'VantahinHP: 44/75
Equipment: Widowmaker Shotgun
(4/7), Golgo Mechanical Blade, NTT Inferno
(26/26), RUS2 Accelerator Carbine
(11/14), Guard Security Pass, Low-Level Security Pass
Funds: 25,450¤
Known Perks: NovaCore Electronic ModificationFaction: Bounty Hunter
Target: None
What was the Victory Corp, anyway?
He sent a message back the mystery sender.
Whats the nature and scope of this job?
Action: Do some research on the victory Corp-the who and why would they be under a contract? Send the above message
[2] - The response to the message comes surprisingly quickly, but the contents are disappointing - a simple '
Details will be provided at the location mentioned. If interested, come at once.'[3] 971 looks up anything he can find on the Victory Corp online. There's little on their local business, unfortunately - looks like they haven't been on the planet long yet. There's a much more on the company proper - it's the largest merc outfit in the region, if not in all of civilized space. Unlike the Blood Pact and DiamondEye, their two biggest competitors, they claim no specialized role. As their official website says, hundreds of thousands of their mercs are hired as anything from private security in urban, prosperous worlds to massive private armies on unstable backwaters every year, working for both authoritarian governments and on peacekeeping missions. They've recently announced they're looking to branch out into AI and electronic warfare, though investors are skeptical they can match DiamondEye in that field.
[5] Early talks with the current regime to hire the Corp to aid Republican forces in unstable areas of the planet were shot down by Generals Pazhek and Teuron - the latter is a familiar name, one of the old regime defectors 971 worked with in the revolution - for having worked for the old regime in the past, according to the Generals' statement. There's a few scattered private contracts that have been announced, but they don't seem to have anything big going on right now.
---
Subject 971HP: 75/75
Equipment: Golgo HMG
(14/22)[/acronym], Widowmaker Shotgun
(7/7), Thermal Blade (5/8), Aurora Revolver w/ Analytic-Reactive Targeting System
(3/6)Funds: 10250¤
Known Perks: AugeanTech FlexiSpeed AidFaction: Bounty Hunter
Target: None
>Load Widowmaker.
>Internet search for any decent, nearby watering holes where I could get a drink or seven to celebrate my successful mission.
...Preferably within walking distance, but meh.
>Send a message to my sister Galybe, asking how she is and telling her of my escapades(With 971, no less!). Ask after the (rather large) Otoli family, too- is Tmaero walking again, yet? What about Father, is he sleeping at nights again? How is Mother coping with it all? And sweet little Brelat, the youngest sibling, I hope she's kept out of all this trouble- and then ask if she'd like to meet up sometime to chat about the bounty-hunting life.
>Remember to check my inbox for job offers or whatever else may be there. I gotta get into the habit of checking that.
>Finally, look up some kind of weapons dealer, preferably one recommended to me at some point. Check their prices for, say, a rifle? Or maybe one of those fancy Aurora revolvers?
[5] - Lying down on his bed, Kaviv Otoli activates his implant and searches the neighborhood for any watering holes for him to drown his sorrows in. Plenty of them turn up - he notes down their addresses for later.
[4] Kaviv gets on his computer and exchanges messages with his sister for a while - Galybe has trouble believing Kaviv actually worked with 971. They talk for some time about their family and their goings-ons, and Kaviv is glad to find out everything seems to be mostly alright.
Perhaps sensing something's wrong between the lines, Galybe jumps at the chance to meet up with his brother and says she'll pay a visit at some point. Kaviv can tell she's atleast somewhat worried.
[2] There seems to be some trouble with Kaviv's inbox, and he can't get his jobs to show. He eventually gives up and reads through the numbers and addresses given to him by other revolutionaries, looking for a weapons dealer. [4] He gets in contact with one called 'trustworthy', if that means anything to a smuggler. While they talk about prices, he feels like the dealer at the other end is mocking him for his inexperience somehow, but calms himself down.
RUS4 'Snaplock' Automatic Pistol [2000¤] [1 Ammo Clip: 300¤]
A common light-weight sidearm with a high rate of fire. Meant for close quarters combat, and useless at long range. 2d8 Damage at Close Range, 1d8 at Long Range. 8 'Shots' Per Clip.
Aurora AU25 Revolver [4000¤] [1 Ammo Clip: 600¤]
A powerful and accurate pistol popular with mercenaries. 3d12 Damage at Close Range, 2d12 Damage at Long Range. 6 Shots Per Clip.
'Widowmaker' Shotgun [3000¤] [1 Ammo Clip: 450¤]
The ubiquitous shotgun, with hundreds of thousands of copies and versions all across the sector. It's block-like, sturdy silhoutte is known to all, and it's the standard 'bad guy' weapon in entertainment. Cheap and easy to manufacture and simple to use, not to mention quite effective, it has variants for almost all races and sentients of the known world. 2d20 Damage at Close Range, 1d4 at Long Range. 7 Shots Per Clip.
RUS2 Accelerator Carbine [6000¤] [1 Ammo Clip: 900¤]
A flexible assault rifle and the standard weapon for the military of the old regime. Effective both at long and close ranges. 2d20 at All Ranges. 14 'Shots' Per Clip.
Zuche 4 Railgun [10 000¤] [1 Ammo Clip: 1500¤]
A high-tech marksman's rifle beloved by gun nuts and mercenaries all around the world. Comes with a reactive targeting device which calculates the exact point to shoot for the owner. 1d100 Damage at All Ranges, -1 to Enemy Dodge. 1 Shot Per 'Clip'.
Flare Gun [3000¤] [1 Ammo Clip: 450¤]
A simple pistol that stuns targets for a few moments with an extremely bright flare. Stuns for 1d4 turns. Can hit multiple targets. 1 Shot Per 'Clip'.
Industrial Cutting Laser [12 000¤] [1 Ammo Core: 1800¤]
A tool of heavy industry, designed to cut through thick sheets of metal. Short range, but devastating firepower. 2d100 Damage at Close Range. 8 Uses per Core.
NTT Inferno [8000¤] [1 Ammo Clip: 1200¤]
A light-weight SMG, with a large clip. No longer produced outside private manufactories. 2d20 Damage at Close Range. 1d20 Damage at Long Range. 26 'Bursts' per Clip.
RUS7 Missile Launcher [10 000¤] [1 Ammo Clip: 1500¤]
A military-grade RPG used by the old regime. 1d100 Damage. 1 Shot Per 'Clip'.
SychTech Flechette Shotgun [7000¤] [1 Ammo Clip: 1050¤]
A shotgun that sends explosive, needle-like flechettes everywhere. Used widely by more sadistic mercenaries. 2d20 Damage at Close Range, can hit multiple people. 10 Shots Per Clip.
Golgo HMG [14 000¤] [1 Ammo Magazine: 2100¤]
A powerful heavy machinegun used to provide suppressing fire as friendly troops advance. The large drum-like magazine allows for long continous fire. 2d30 Damage at Close Range, 1d60 at Long Range. Suppresses the enemy. 22 'Bursts' in Magazine.
Carver-Delta SMG [7000¤][1 Ammo Clip: 1050¤]
A simple-to-use SMG with variations for many different species. Lightweight and easily conceable. 1d30 Damage at Close Range. 1d20 Damage at Long Range. 10 'Bursts' Per Clip.
Taranta Black Flame Gun [16 000¤][1 Fuel Canister:2400¤]
A black-market favorite, the Taranta Black is modelled after old military flamethrowers. It throws up a gout of white-hot flames that often engulf the target entirely. 1d40 at Close Range. No Long Range. 4 Bursts Per Canister. Does 1d10 damage for 1d6 turns afterwards.
SychTech Pulse Carbine [10 000¤][1 Ammo Clip: 1500¤]
A new SychTech release, the Pulse Carbine can be shot at varying power levels, making it popular with law enforcement and bounty hunters, despite its overall low damage output even at the highest level. Level 1: Stun for 1d3 turns. Level 2: 1d12 at Close Range, 1d4 at Long Range. Level 3: 1d30 at Close Range, 1d8 at Long Range. 8 Shots Per Cylinder.
Kaviv OtoliHP: 75/75
Equipment: Snaplock Pistol
(8/8), Frag Grenades (4/5), First Aid Packs (6/6), Widowmaker Shotgun
(6/7)Funds: 9000¤
Known Perks: Navigator Uplink PackageFaction: Bounty Hunter
Target: None
Run and go for the low tackle and attempt to scoop up the knife. Stab?
[5] - Barauc doesn't wait for his opponent to attack. He snaps into a charge, feet falling hard on the arena floor. His opponent [Dodge:4-1=3], crouched and flipping the knife from hand to hand, is ready, but not quite ready enough. He pulls back an arm to swipe at Barauc, but the bounty hunter comes in fast, stepping to the left at the last second to deliver a [Damage:5-2=3] staggering hook into the alien's stomach. The pit fighter stumbles back with a snarl, [2] still holding the jagged knife, [1+1=2] trying to regain his balance but in vain. He falls to his back and Barauc leans in - [2+1=3] only for the battered fighter to spring into action at the last possible moment, [Dodge:5] slashing at Barauc's feet with speed he barely manages to avoid.
[5] The man's wounds are getting to him, though, as both Barauc and the audience can see. Their bloodthirsty chant is only growing more and more intense, impatience breaking through. This battle has been one-sided, and though they're entertained, they want it to end so they can see better matches. Barauc's goes in for the kill.
[Dodge:4-1=3] His foot comes down on the man's fingers, [Damage:5-2=3] and before the pit fighter can move, he kicks, hard, his boot smashing against the alien's skull. There's a nasty crack and his head flies back with a scream that's quickly drowned out by the blood in his throat. Barauc watches him move feebly for a few seconds, and die.
The crowd breaks into screaming, their howling faces forming a wall anywhere Barauc can see. He enjoys it for a few moments and turns back, returning into the fighter chambers. Musa greets him at the door.
'You did well enough. Not too flashy, not too boring - shame he couldn't get a proper hit on you. Well, we'll find you a better opponent next time, someone more on your level,' he says. 'I think you...'
[6] Musa puts a finger to his ear - Barauc hears bits of words from the commbead there - and listens, acknowledging at the end. He frowns before continuing.
'Well, I've just been told someone's decided to challenge you. Must've been impressed by the scrap just now. He's an outsider like you, apparently, heavily-armed and all,' he says, pausing to think. 'Damn. We've got a fight between audience favorites coming up we've been preparing for weeks, but upstairs says to let your challenger fight now - he must be paying well. I think... well, I could put you in a team match. You up for another scrap, or do I tell them to wait?'
---
Barauc Na'ShalHP: 35/75
Equipment: Zuche 4 Railgun
(1/1), Zuche 3 Cloaking Device (6/6), Aurora Revolver
(6/6), RUS2 Accelerator Carbine
(14/14)Funds: 4500¤
Known Perks: Focus Improvement PackageFaction: Bounty Hunter
Target: Judge Tegarr (New Regime)
Loria touched Téodosio's arm, indicating he should let the little alien go. She held her palms out, facing upwards in a gesture of peace. "Are you Mr. Gray? I'd like to help in any way I can." As shocked as she was at the situation trying to sound sincere was an easy task.
Try to get the guard to let us in to investigate the scene. If that fails, leave without getting in to a gun fight for which we are woefully under prepared.
[5] - 'Mr. Gray' stops his hand mid-way inside the coat when Teodosio lets go of the secretary, but his expression doesn't change. He steps outside in front of the doors - Loria is sure she can smell burning flesh in the brief time it's open - and eyes the two newcomers suspiciously.
'Right, the appointment people. Christ, Teem, can't you keep your mouth shut for one minute?' he says, rubbing his eyes. 'I'm sorry, but I'd appreciate if you left now. We'll let you know if we can still help you... later.'
[1] Teodosio decides to use this chance to speak. He drops the rest of his fake identity and steps forward confidently. 'Teodosio Gouveia, private investigator. I'm investigating the influx of designer augments into the city. Your boss was at the center of this. Let us through and we'll track these things back to the supplier.'
Mr. Gray blinks hard - and the next moment his arm has flashed inside his coat and pulled out a heavy handgun. [5] To her credit, Loria is just as fast and finds herself aiming the tiny pistol at their hulking opponent. She's not even sure if he notices it.
'I don't think so, Mr. Gouveia. We were wondering just now who shot up one of our clients' apartment so bad just now. Guess you're the one who's been causing all this trouble. Seems to me the smartest thing to do for me is to blow your brains out now.'
[6] Gray is keeping his pistol between Loria and Teodosio - in other words, needing to adjust his aim if he wishes to shoot. The assistant, Teem, is stumbling towards the side, gone totally white.
---
LoriaHP: 35/75
Equipment: Miniaturized Pistol
(5/5), Sharp Knives (2/2)
Funds: 4300¤
Known Perks: Navigator Uplink PackageFaction: Bounty Hunter
Target: Mille Roskank, Anthony
---
Sorry, sorry and again sorry for the lateness. School has been busy and I've managed to waste what little free time I've had anyway.
Author
Topic: Nowhere To Run - A Futuristic Bounty Hunter RTD - Turn 51 (Read 88142 times)