The Last Job (R)

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The Last Job (R)

Post by Notorious »

(OOC: This thread is generally open. Just shoot me a PM or an OOC post first, thanks! Rated-R for content)

Dizzy Rex inhaled deeply, the embers on the tip of his cigarette flashing from a dull orange to a brilliant yellow. He removed the cig from his lips and opened his mouth to contribute to the thick cloud of smoke drifting over the table, and then using the same hand that held his cig he grabbed a short glass of whiskey and sucked it down, the jingle of ice cubes taking away from the silence in the room. Rex grinned at the men and women sitting at the same black table, the same dark room, and the same junk pile of a ship as he. Here he was again, another random crew of scoundrels, another shady job, and another nervous employer. When the risk is as ridiculous as the price, seek Dizzy Rex - smuggler, pirate, and mercenary extraordinaire.

Six hours into the job and Dizzy was already in hyperspace with a group of people he didn’t have time to background check. His client wanted things done quickly, so Dizzy pulled his shit together. Rex went with a much more green crew in order to preserve order - he didn’t want any rogues or smart guys with him for this job. Naturally it would be more productive to bring along more experienced individuals, but only if time warranted the proper investigation. Diz didn’t want any mavericks on his ship stealing his loot or planning hijacks, so instead of organizing a tough, experienced crew he went with one he could control better. The job he was hired for might require hauling a lot of valuable materials, so he didn’t want any funny business. Dizzy continued to stare at them, watch them sweat as he sipped his whiskey and blew smoke in their faces. They needed to know who was in charge.

“We’ve got twenty-six hours to go over this plan. That should be plenty of time to get it right, eh?” the captain said, randomly locking eyes with different members of his crew. They nodded obediently and some murmured half-assed affirmations. “Good, I’ll remember you all said that.”

Dizzy set his glass down and smashed the butt of his cigarette into a nearby ashtray. He pressed a button on the side of the table expecting a holographic projection to appear, but the table remained unresponsive. With a slight grunt of disappointment Dizzy gently hit the table. A rumble of mechanics hummed to life and soon a projection was shown to the rag tag crew.

“There we go,” Dizzy grinned, grabbing a pointer tool. The projection first displayed a planet, but using the tool Rex zoomed in on a specific portion. “According to our benefactor, his brother’s ship landed on this region of Dxun, and contact was lost after a peaceful period of one week. Now, all we got to do is go down there and find out what the hell happened, but we’re not going to just drop in and say hello like a jolly band of sith spawn. First, we are going to use our long range sensors…”

The mission was surprisingly standard. Rescuing somebody’s lost brother, mother, girlfriend, whatever, happened on a regular basis. Typically there was a reason for mercenaries to be hired, meaning that the person requiring the rescuing either had a price on their head or was up to no good. Otherwise, the employers might be more inclined to execute the rescue mission themselves. Rex could expect to find outlaws holding the target hostage, a camp attacked by rabid alien creatures, or even that the target is hiding from the employer. Whichever one it was, Dizzy Rex had a human and his crew to find.
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Post by Notorious »

The Devil’s Plank entered the Dxun system with little flare. The rugged YT-2000 had seen better days, but the ship was a perfect reflection of its captain and the two of them were far from retirement. Dizzy sat in the pilot’s seat with his co-pilot slightly elevated and directly behind him. A third crewman manned the sensors, a fourth waited patiently in the turreted laser cannon, and the remaining two members of his team of six were seated in the lounge with an array of tools an arm’s length away.

“Looks like we’ve entered on the wrong side of the planet,” Rex declared. The system did not look how it did in the projection, which meant that they had exited hyperspace while the planet was rotated a different way. It was only a minor nuisance.

“Aye captain,” the co-pilot concurred. Dizzy hit the accelerator, bringing his sub-light engines up to full power as he swung around to the other side of the jungle planet.

“Give me a status readout on the planet,” Rex ordered the sensor array operator.

“Life supporting. Massive life-form readings as well, but I’m not picking up any active civilizations. Temperatures are mild, probably spring in the northern hemisphere. There’s some odd entities here – probably crash-landed ships or perhaps ruins of a society. If our target is still planet-side then his ship either crashed or is offline.”

“Very well,” Dizzy replied, easing up on the throttle as the ship came around to the correct side of the planet. “Lets have a closer look.”

The Devil’s Plank approached the portion of the planet that their target’s ship had apparently landed on. Dizzy skimmed the atmosphere for a few minutes before he dove in for a closer look, all the while keeping a close eye on the sensors. The crew could plainly see the treetops of the jungles, but their sensors were still seeing ghosts.

“Start sending out a hail,” Dizzy Rex ordered his co-pilot. “If there were pirates here they would have attacked us by now. Nevertheless, shields up, and look alive in that turret.”

“Aye, captain.”

Rex brought the ship down just above the tallest tree. If their sensors didn’t pick up something soon, then either their target was gone or some one was jamming their equipment.

“Hailing Expedition, this is the Devil’s Plank. We are here with orders to rescue you – our friendly code is 68-9942. Hailing Expedition, this is the…”

The co-pilot’s voice might start to get annoying if the searching portion of the mission continued for too many hours, but the other crewmembers were talented enough to concentrate on their own agendas. Luckily the sensor operator discovered a signal before too long.

“Captain, I’m picking up a ship nearby, apparently offline.”

“Coordinates,” Dizzy held back his excitement like a good captain should. He tilted the ship on its side and made a tight turn in the direction of the landing site. He punched the accelerator and sent them soaring over the jungle. His maneuver was rather daring at an unnecessary time, but no one questioned him. Rex had a time limit… and his employer wanted to see his brother alive. The Expedition, his brother’s ship, should also have a crew of eight men – but they were unimportant.

The Devil’s Plank closed in on the location and came to a complete stop. Dizzy leaned forward and peered out the cockpit window in an attempt to see the ship they were searching for, but he didn’t spot it right away. Tilting the pitch just slightly, their ship began to slowly spin so that he could see everything around them.

“We’re here,” the sensor operator confirmed. Dizzy said nothing – just kept his eyes peeled. They all sat there, gradually spinning, for nearly twenty minutes. Finally, Rex pointed to a dull gray object hidden beneath a canopy of trees.

“There,” he said, grabbing the pitch and straightening the ship out. He eased the accelerator forward and brought them directly above the ship. Dizzy activated the intercom and from the cockpit spoke directly to his two operatives waiting in the lounge.

“We’re directly above the Expedition. Grab your gear – you’re going in.”
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Post by Notorious »

Two cables dangled from the bottom of the Devil’s Plank like writhing snakes thirsty for the jungle floor. Only mere meters above the treetops, the battle hardened YT-2000 hovered in complete stillness as a man and woman prepared to lower themselves to the ground using the cables. The Expedition was both covered and surrounded by trees, which meant they would not be able to land anywhere near it. The crew was not about to make a trek back to that location for the wrong ship, so instead they sent two scouts; Andrik and Riyzauh, both humans.

The humans rapidly descended beneath the thick canopy and landed harshly enough to stir up the dirt around their feet. Andrik and Riyzauh laid low, crouching down so that their heads were level with the foliage. They meticulously scanned the drop zone with blaster carbines at the ready until they were both satisfied that no ambush was coming. Still keeping low to the ground by bending their knees and curving their backs, the team quickly approached the ship until they were within arms’ length. Riyzauh slung her carbine onto her back and removed a scanning tool from her pocket as Andrik remained armed and ready to effectively guard her back.

“This hunk of metal is dead,” Riyzauh declared. She placed the scanner in a pocket on her utility belt and retrieved a cutting tool instead. “If there’s anything inside it’s either been deactivated or is in the process of decomposing.” The young woman, rugged and not particularly attractive, pointed the cutting tool at the hull of the ship. She hit the activation switch and held the unit tightly as the vibro-edge went to work. Set on maximum power, the tool slowly but effectively sliced through the thick metal hull until an opening big enough for the two mercenaries was created.

Riyzauh readied her blaster as Andrik took the lead. He cautiously entered the shuttle with his eyes darting in every direction, but like Riyzauh said the ship was desolate. Andrik removed a tiny cylinder from his belt and attached it to the side of his carbine. After flipping a small switch on the object an intense light came from one end, illuminating a good portion of the dark hallways within the ship.

“That’s better,” he said, a little more satisfied with the increased visibility. Still, he’d prefer it if he could also see behind him, but the darkness dominated any area he was not pointing his light.

“Looks like somebody got feisty in here,” Riyzauh said as she slipped through the makeshift entrance. “There’s blast marks everywhere.”

She was correct. The corridors were heavily scored and generally filthy. Random tools and appliances were everywhere, including mechanical items that should have been underneath the floor plates and inside the walls. Medical supplies and food also decorated the floor and walls. Riyzauh setup her own flashlight as well and joined Andrik for a walk to the cockpit. The two mercenaries grew tenser by the moment as they crept through the wreckage, both of them hopelessly pondering about how the ship was so badly damaged. From the look of the ship on the outside it landed fine, but the fights that broke out on the inside were devastating. Neither of them spotted any corpses or discarded weapons, which was even more disturbing then having found the bodies. Who did this? Where did the victims go?

“Oh wait,” Andrik said, suddenly stopping. Riyzauh was slightly startled but held in her surprise. “We forgot to report in…”

“Damnit,” Riyzauh cursed, angry at herself and even more so at Andrik. The two operatives removed tiny headsets from their belts, unfolded them, and put them on.

“You amateurs,” Dizzy’s voice chimed in over the small speaker in both their heads. “What took you so long?”

“Sorry, captain,” Andrik apologized, “we just forgot to…”

“Shut up, Andrik. Just give me a report and get the job done.”

Andrik and Riyzauh continued their slow walk through the ship and updated Diz on their mission so far. The ship was deserted, destroyed on the inside with evidence of a battle, and no bodies or weapons were anywhere.

“I’m beginning to hope we found the wrong ship,” Diz said with disappointment. He could say that he hoped, but in reality he knew. The scanners identified the ship correctly. Still, he could hope for some kind of glitch miracle, just for the sake of hoping.

“We’ve reached the cockpit,” Andrik said, his eyes fixed on a half-open, bent in door at the end of a hallway. Judging by the dents and the small space just big enough to squeeze through, the sliding durasteel door had been torn open at some point. This was the end of the line, the last place anyone could hide on the ship.

“What’s inside of it,” Diz asked through the headset.

“Don’t know yet,” Riyzauh said, the hand holding her carbine beginning to shake. Andrik tensed his muscles as well, putting forward his best effort to remain steady. The two humans slowly approached the door, both of them pointing their weapons at the opening.

“Your turn to take the lead,” Andrik said, motioning with one hand to the door. Riyzauh shook her head in protest.

“Fuck you, Andrik. I opened the first door.”

“Yeah, and I went through it,” Andrik replied.

“Stop bickering, you two. Andrik, go first,” Dizzy interjected. Andrik mumbled something inappropriate and peered through the crevice. There, sitting in the pilot’s chair, was a man.
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Post by Notorious »

The Devil’s Plank drifted in silence directly above the downed ship below. Dizzy waited impatiently with his communicator near his lips for a response from Andrik and Riyzauh with the rest of the crew huddled around him. Ever since they had reached the cockpit they grew silent.

“What’s in the cockpit?” Rex asked eagerly. “Talk to me, you two, what’s in there?”

Nothing.

“Frakken frell spawn, you two, what the slag is in there?”

“It’s a Rodian,” Andrik’s voice finally came through the comm. unit. “He’s fried. Looks like self-inflicted wound… to the head.”

“That’s hardcore,” declared Will from behind Rex. Dizzy ignored his comment.

“Check the ship’s log. We have to make sure this isn’t some other random ship,” Dizzy ordered. After all, the jungle had begun growing over the hull, which was another reason why it was so difficult to find. It was completely possible that the Expedition had left days ago and this broken down pile of metal was an ancient abandoned -

“It’s the Expedition, all right,” Riyzauh soon replied.

“Damn it,” Dizzy whispered. “Upload all the data to the Devil’s Plank and get your asses back up here. We have to find out what the hell they were doing here in the first place.”
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