Havoc Again (Remastered)

2 years prior to The Force Awakens...
A persistent and interactive galaxy set shortly before the events of Episode VII

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Red Dragon
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Havoc Again (Remastered)

Post by Red Dragon »

Slade has been averaging out to about two to three deliveries a day, more then some, less then most. The pay though was more then enough for him to keep him fed, the docking fees paid, fuel in his ship and enough for spending on things he wanted... Most of the time. It wasn't that he didn't want to work being the reason he only took those two to three jobs, his ship was just too small for the other jobs that are in the area. Though his work wasn't just limited to cargo delivery. He would also ferry people around as a cheaper alternative to the local public intra-system transports. When there wasn't work for his ship, Slade would head for a small station on the outskirts of the system to work as a bouncer for a popular dive simply named "Howard's", where things often got out of hand. He earned a reputation there, most of the regulars know not to push their luck when he was around, new comers would quickly learn why. The owner there liked him a lot and paid him well because of this, and often tries to hire Slade permanently.

Today though he only managed one delivery job, and it was a small one. A mixed collection of crates from different clients, with the total income from the delivery being slightly less then normal. He would have to go work for Howard tonight if he wanted to be able to refuel his ship. He wasn't too upset by this though, he needed to work out some stress his weights couldn't relieve on some poor schmuck who is either too stupid or too drunk to know any better.

He was about halfway done with moving the crates off his ship when the sound of a woman's voice caught his attention. "Hi... Ummm... Are you Slade?" He looked up to see a gorgeous dark skinned girl with stunning yellow green eyes and auburn hair. She was wearing the typical style for people in this system, which was tastefully tight and revealing. In her case and loose fitting net like "shirt" with no undergarments, a tight very low rise capris and carried a shoulder bag that looked almost a little too big for her. It was this kind of sight that kept him coming back to this system, even if there wasn't much work.

He straightened up smiling, "Yeah I'm Slade. Can I help you?" She visibly sighed in relief and stepped farther into the landing bay, stopped then turned around and peered out into the large access way. When she was satisfied with what she saw, or didn't see, she pulled out a data spike from her bag and jammed it into the socket for the blast door controls. Slade stepped forward reaching out his hand as if he could stop her from half a bay away. "Hey! I'll have to pay for that if it damages anything! What are you doing?!"

The Spike was quickly ingested by the socket and the blast door came slamming shut. Slade could hear the locks engage inside. The woman ran up to Slade, "I'm sorry, but I'm being followed and I need to give myself enough time to explain myself to you." Slade could tell from the fear in her voice that she was in trouble, he felt he should at least hear her out before he did anything, "Well I'm listening." He said crossing his arms and shifting his weight to his other leg.

"First my name, I'm Nerissa. We actually went to the same school for a short while..." The look of realization came across Slade's face, he thought she looked familiar. But she was so young back then, too young it seemed. She still looks young but damn did she fill out. "I remember! Damn its been... Three years... Did you ever finish that project with the atmospheric generator?" Nerissa couldn't help but blush a little, she could tell he was checking her out, that didn't bother her, but the fact that he remembered one of her earlier projects from school... "Oh! Yeah well... That didn't pan out as well as I wanted, but back to what I was saying... I have developed something else that has gained a lot of attention from many companies involved in ship technology and building. So much so that one of those companies has been harassing me greatly to sell them the tech. The problem is they weren't willing to meet my price, so i went with a company that did. Now they are after me to steal my tech. They have been very persistent and have nearly blocked all my attempts to meet with the other company."

Slade nodded, it wasn't that strange for companies to fight over new tech or over talented engineers. Sometimes it got really dirty, people getting hurt or diapering... Some of Slade's missions while in Havoc squad dealt with similar situations. "Who are these companies?"

"Rendilli Star Drives and some out of the way subsidiary of Kuat's, Rendilli is the one that is meeting my price." Slade nodded again. Rendilli was a good company, their business practices, when compared to others, were mostly on the up and up. An older company that existed since well before the fall of the Galactic Republic. Their space craft and other products are so well crafted that even ones built well before the Clone Wars STILL find a place in modern fleets. Kuat on the other hand were often always in some sort of dispute over corporate sabotage, and even though they had built some of the largest and most powerful war ships while under the Empire, their designs were shoddy, full of design flaws and lacked any real forward thinking for a long lasting quality vessel. It's no wonder Nadiri Dockyards would take the old Imperial Classes that the New Republic get its hands on and rebuilds them into those fancy Starhawk Battleships.

"They sent men after me this time... They were waiting for me at the starport. When they noticed me they tried to box me in, I managed to get through them and made my way to you..." Slade raised a brow. Before he said anything she continued, "Yes I already knew you would be here and basically thought of you as plan B..."

"So you knew they were going to send men after you?" She nodded, "It was something that crossed my mind. My ability to buy tickets off world was blocked in nearly every way. Then all of the sudden I was able to get my tickets, I was hopeful but it raised a few red flags in my mind." If Slade was in her position it would have for him as well. "So if it turned out to be a trap of some sort, which it turned out to be, I wanted to find an alternative means of getting away and maybe some protection, and that's when I saw your name... We all knew you dropped out to join the military, it was all anyone could talk about. How and why would a engineer with such promise would just giver it all up to be some meat head in the army... Erm... No offense intended..." Slade gave her an annoyed look, "Yeah well it was my choice and in the end its going to end up helping you out a lot now isn't it?"

It was at that moment that Nerissa actually sized him up, Yeah Slade was big and packing the muscles. The intimidation factor was at least there. But all she really knew about his military career was that we was in the military. Then her eyes met his and she was locked in his gaze. She wasn't sure what she saw deep in him but what ever it was it made her feel kinda safe and nervous at the same time. That's when an explosion erupted from the blast door, as Nerissa turned to see what had happened Slade ran by her into the smoke and fire. Grunts, voices and Blaster fire could be heard even over the ringing in her ears.

As the smoke started to disperse, there stood Slade, surrounded by bodies on the floor. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly then turned to look back at Nerissa. "There will be more, but for now we should be ok." Slade looked back down at the bodies, he knelt down and started searching them.

Nerissa was speechless, Slade had killed them so easily and quickly. She wasn't even sure if it was necessary, but looking over the scene she could clearly see their would be attackers had their weapons drawn... She took a few steps closer to see what Slade was doing, what she saw shocked her so much she let out a yelp. Slade was looting the corpses, taking their credits and whatever else looked to be valuable. Slade looked up at Nerissa when he heard her yelp. The look on her face told him all he needed to know about her outburst. "Nerissa, I need you to stay calm and listen to me. I know this isn't right, I would never do this if I didn't need to. But we are both in some dire shit here now." He looked over everything he looted then back up at her. "I simply don't have the credits to to travel around the galaxy at will and i really don't think they will make it easy for you or me to access any credits we have now.

Everything was happening so fast now and so suddenly, but he was right, she didn't have much in the way of credits, and she has been blocked from her bank account already by these people... Slade pulled a data pad out from a hidden pocket in one of the attacker's jackets. "Here we go..." He said getting up and stepping over a body to show Nerissa what he found. "Their orders..." He looked it over for a moment, "Amateurs, didn't even try to encode this... You aren't gong to like what this says..." He handed the pad to her. "Wait... Why didn't anyone come to see what exploded..." Slade looked around the port the pointed up at something. Nerissa looked in the direction. "The cameras and sensors are off, the Starport police were likely paid off." Slade looked back over to the goons. "These guys look like they are locals. Not the typical Suit Thugs that would have been sent to collect you."

Nerissa had a bad feeling all of the sudden, her body started to shudder. She lifted the pad up and started to read the orders and her skin paled. "Th... They would have killed me... It says to capture me only if they couldn't get my plans or the prototype. If they were able to get even one of those they were to... Dispose of me..." The terror that came over her was so great, she was forced her to her knees and tears started to stream down her cheeks. "How... Could... Why?"

Seeing her like that, knowing what she must be feeling. The same questions she might be asking herself had plagued him as well. Slade, during his time in Havoc Squad was often ordered to leave a fellow trooper behind or was sent into situations where he and his men weren't likely to survive, knowingly put in those situations by his superiors. At least He was conditioned for this sort of thing, he expected it and trained so that he would survive and deal with it, to help his men get through it as well. And here is a young woman, not even at the prime of her life, an engineer who came up with something that is apparently so great that some suit feels its worth more then the person that created it. Her greatest worry up till now might have been simply if she would ever meet the "right guy" in her life, not if someone was about to put a blaster to her head. Maybe they feel threatened by her, made a cold calculation that even if she were to go on to design even greater things they wouldn't benefit from it, even if they managed to steal this one from her, and so they rather remove that threat.

He walked over to Nerissa and knelt down in front of her, taking the pad from her trembling hands and tossed it away and pulled her into an embrace. She was startled at first, but the doubts she felt about Slade, the danger she thought she saw in his eyes seemed to melt away, and she only felt safe. "Don't worry, I'll get you through this. You came for my help and I'm going to give it." Slade said before he let go and looked her straight in the eyes. "Trust me." Now She knew what she saw in his eyes, Strength and determination, so much so that it made him dangerous, and that same strength and determination fortified her resolve. She stood up wiping her eyes dry. "So... Whats our next move?"
Last edited by Red Dragon on Sun Oct 02, 2016 10:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"This is the captain. We have a little problem with our entry sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and then... explode."
--Serenity
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Re: Havoc Again

Post by Red Dragon »

Slade stood, helping Nerissa up, "First we need to get as much as we can for this." Slade held up the bag of items he looted from their would be attackers. "But the only person I know that wouldn't mind buying this crap is on the station that's in the outskirts of the system." Nerissa gave him a questioning look, "Its where these guys likely came from to begin with, Its a rough place." Nerissa nodded understanding. "So we might run into trouble..." Slade nodded, "If not more goons sent after you by that Kuat branch, then the pals of these guys." Slade looked off in the distance and smiled, "Don't think too poorly of me when I say this, but this is getting kind of exciting." Nerissa was taken aback by his statement, all she could think about it was how could someone find the danger they are both in exciting. Their very lives were on the line now. "How...? Why?" She asked.

Slade thought for a moment, he wanted to find the best way to put it to accurately say what he actually felt. "Its not so much the danger of it, though that is a part of it too. I am a soldier and a man after all... But the adventure, the call to action and the wonder of where all of this will lead us too... It reminds me of my time with my parents when I was younger. I'm not sure how I can put it any differently..." Nerissa could understand what he meant a little better now and was relieved to hear it was more about found memories with his parents then it is about about the killing or the possibility of being killed. "I think I Understand, lets just get going. I Feel like we are pushing our luck here." She walked of to the crates Slade had been unloading and checked each one. "It must still be on the ship... Good."

"So I guess you hid your engineering marvel under an assumed name that happens to be one of the crates on my ship?" She smiled and nodded. If things didn't go as they did it would have been picked up by another delivery service and send off to meet me at another location. Doesn't matter now though." They both walked up the ramp to the cargo pod that was attached under his ship. She checked the remaining crates and pointed out hers, "This one." Slade walked over and activated the other crates anti-gravity skids and skillfully tossed them out of the ship. "What are you doing? Do we have time for this?" Nerissa asked.

"Kuat's little hell spawn is likely going to keep anything its involved with under wraps. But will use anything else to their advantage. If I don't leave this cargo here I can easily be labeled as a thief or at worst a pirate. Then they could legally get local police forces after us."

"Couldn't they just make something up if they wanted too set them after us?" Slade shook his head, "Too much work and would get them involved, and investigated. But if it were my clients that reported this, and they would, and it gives them an advantage with out putting them selves in the line of fire."

"That makes sense I guess. You seem to at least have a pretty good idea on how this might be playing out..." Slade shrugged, "To many lies and bribes can ruin everything, morons who think otherwise tend to hurt them selves in the end." Slade had been in those situations, ex Imperial officers using their ill gotten wealth to try and throw him off their tracks or attempt to get him and his troops in trouble with local law enforcement. Never worked out for them.

"I should let the delivery company know they don't need to come pick up my crate then... right?" Slade tossed out the last crate and hit the switch to shut the pod. "No, if its not there they won't care, its only if you report it missing, which it isn't. They will simply message you that the goods wasn't there for pick up." They both climbed the ladder up into the actual ship.

Nerissa was impressed at how clean and maintained the old Nu Class was. She had heard that loner pilots were often lacking in hygiene and only put enough work into their ships to keep them running. This was clearly a stereo type Slade didn't fall under. Now that She thought about it, Slade had changed a lot from what she remembered. He was so average and didn't really stand out much in how he looked or acted. Now he has sculpted his body into what she could only assume to be his peek limits, he carried himself with purpose and with power. He proved to be thoughtful and caring as well.

"You ok? Your turning red..." Slade's question pulled her from her slight daze. She turned redder when she realized she had been checking him out like he was her when she first came to him. Slade just smiled, he knew, and she knew he knew, which made her blush even more.

He lead them through his small workshop, through his cabin to the front of the shuttle where he called down the co-pilots seat for her. "Strap in, I want you to familiarize your self with the cockpit and controls, just in case. Just watch me for now, ok?"

"Ok." She sat down, strapping her self in as the chair raised back into the cockpit. Slade got into the pilots chair and followed her. After a short check list Slade had the shuttle powered up and ready to go. "Lets get going."
"This is the captain. We have a little problem with our entry sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and then... explode."
--Serenity
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Re: Havoc Again (Remastered)

Post by Red Dragon »

The trip to the station was going to be short, Nerissa was quick to learn the controls. Slade let her pilot the ship while he went to ready himself for the fight to come. His armor was in various pieces, scattered around in different stages or repair or modification. A lot of it hadn't been touched for months, if he didn't keep notes on what he was doing or had planned for it he would have long forgotten why many of it was taken apart. Though now he wished he hadn't put it off for so long, more then half of it was unusable in its current state.

He sighed and undressed, he then slipped on his under layer body sock, the fabric tightened comfortably around his body, he could feel the woven in systems start to regulate his body temperature already. Next came the under armor, this also tightened around his body and the body sock. He went through a series of motions that calibrated these under layers of armor, allowing him near perfect freedom of movement and connecting them together through touch. Synced together these layers already provided more protection and options for him then what a typical New Republic soldier got. After looking around again at the various pieces of what would be the outer layer, or the hard shell some might call it, there wasn't much in a usable state. His portable shield generator and its micro fusion core were still usable, but without the rest of the armor its effectiveness was greatly diminished. Better then nothing though, so he mounted it on his utility belt, slipped on a pair of armored combat boots, latched on some grenades, grabbed some extra gas magazines for his rifle, activated his rifle and put on a long over coat. He was as ready as he could be.

"Slade..." Nerissa called down from the cockpit, "Someone named Keith is on the communicator. Says you two need to talk?" Slade sighed. "Pipe it though the intercom." Slade heard the click as Nerissa did as she was asked. "Hi Keith... Whats up?" The high toned voice of Keith came through too loud. "Hi pal, noticed you heading straight for me after you little scuffle at the space port..." Nerissa whispered "Sorry" and adjusted the sound as Keith talked. "Ha! So it was you that was hired out to send those goons, hope they weren't your best or your going to be in trouble pal." Keith's voice sounded like he was hurt, "Now come on, you know your the best guy I could possibly have in my payroll around here, and when i noticed the little lady was heading to you, I actually called off my real team and sent in those morons. I'm not going to pick any real fight with you, in fact as thanks for taking care of some of my minor problems and for your past work I want to help you out."

Slade raised a brow, " Well I was going to ask a favor or two, but you knowingly sent men after me... I'm not sure I can trust you at the moment." Slade had raised back up into the cockpit but left Nerissa in control for the moment. He switched the communication from voice only to a holocall. "Shit Slade, you weren't kidding. Your ready to assault my station aren't you..." Keith's now visible face betrayed how nervous we was starting to become. " Look the... people... that contacted me aren't the sort to ignore or mess around with. You know the type... Well maybe you do but you'd go after them anyway." Slade nodded, "Yeah I know, and your right, I'd still put them in the ground, or space them... or" Keith raised a hand interrupting Slade, "I get the idea. I had to at least make it look like I tried. If I knew it was you I had to deal with to start with I wouldn't have even taken the job. Now I'll have to return the advance I requested plus a extra as an apology, and take a hit to my reputation."

"So how are you going to make this right with me then Keith, I haven't heard any mention of that yet." Keith smiled, "What are those favors... If they are within my power then consider them payment for taking care of those problems i sent you way." Slade frowned, "That's right, you said you didn't send in your real team. So I guess you finally managed to get me to clean house for you huh?" Keith's smiled faded, "Not my proudest moments I assure you. I always valued your help, advice and honored your requests to stay out of my more seedier business practices."

Slade let out a sound of disgust, "They weren't requests." Keith held up his hands in defense, "Yeah I know... Look whatever you need, just tell me."
"I need fuel and the Havoc needs a less noticeable and telling paint job as well as a dummy registration." Keith nodded, "Done, and I'll toss in a thousand credits too." Slade rolled his eyes, "Yeah ok." Keith sat back in his chair, "Great, you got clearance to one of my personally owned bays, see you soon."
"This is the captain. We have a little problem with our entry sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and then... explode."
--Serenity
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Re: Havoc Again (Remastered)

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Keith waited in his bay with nearly all of his men as well as the dock workers that would be doing the work he promised to have done on Slade's Nu. His men were geared up but not in any defensive or attack positions.

"That doesn't look good..." Nerissa spoke her thoughts out loud, Her tone worried."

"Its a show of force, not of intent. Its more for his benefit then to threaten me, he has to show his men he is in control here."

"Is he?" She asked. Slade turned to her and smiled, "Of course not..." Nerissa didn't know how to take that answer. Surely Slade didn't think he could take down all those men. She watched him throw a leaver and the seal for the shuttle's cargo pod broke, and the only thing that stood between them and the amassed forces outside slowly lowered. Before the ramp was even half way down there was a blaster shot. To Nerissa's horror Slade's body flew to the back of the cargo pod and crumpled down to the floor, smoke rising from where the bolt had struck him.

Time seemed to slow for Nerissa, as shouting and more blaster shots rang out all she could do was stare at Slade. Terror over him being killed and what would happen to her, sadness over him being killed because she brought him into this whole mess. A battle raged outside the shuttle, but it didn't matter to her. She slowly walked up to Slade's body tears streaming down her face. She couldn't bring herself any closer to him then roughly a foot away. Her vision blurred from her tears. She closed her eyes and wiped them clear, when she opened them again Slade was passing her. She barely saw him up from the corner of her eye. She turned to look at him in complete shock, She watched him sprint out from the shuttle's exit rifle blazing a path in front of him.
She turned back to where his body had been, nothing, and turned back to where he was.

Slade had taken cover near the entrance to his ship, his chest hurt so bad he wanted to just die. That was a hell of a rifle that knocked him back, definitely not something a typical thug would be using. It had to have been a professional with custom or expensive gear, likely a bounty hunter considering who they were primarily dealing with. After confirming he was clear for the moment he checked himself, the shield and armor did its job, it kept him alive if only barely. He opened up a pouch, slapped a bacta patch over his wound and hit himself with a stim pack that would numb the pain, keep his adrenaline up and stimulate his healing.

"Slade! You alive?!" Keith yelled out over the blaster fire. Slade didn't answer of course. "There are four of them, one is nearing your ship!" As Keith said that a heavily armed and armored bounty hunter came around the side of the shuttle to the front. The bounty hunter knew he screwed up the moment he saw Slade. There was no stopping what was already happening, the bounty hunters momentum from his sprint, the angle he was in relation to Slade, he was already dead.

Nerissa snapped out from her shock when she saw a bounty hunter come into view, just as fast as he appeared half his head blew up from Slade's attack. Slade put two more shots into the man's chest leaving only a hollowed out torso with a broken shell that was the bounty hunters armor. Slade then grabbed the body with his free arm and tossed it clear from the shuttle with surprising strength. "One down!" Slade yelled. "Make that two!" Keith replied. "Other two are making a brake for it!" Slade stood up and took a good look around and spotted the bounty hunter that had to be the one that shot him. He was carrying a rifle large enough to do what it did to Slade.

Nerissa had since moved to the opening of the cargo pod taking cover to the one side. She watched Slade leap from his cover while pulling out a grenade. He triggered its timer and took off in a sprint. Nerissa never saw anyone move so fast, Slade tossed the grenade as he dropped to the floor, sliding to a stop behind some hang equipment. Nerissa cover her ears but there wasn't explosion instead the spot Slade tossed it, ahead of the bounty hunter quickly filled with a red smoke. Slade was up again and he sprinted into the smoke after the bounty hunter. There was blaster fire in the smoke then silence. Nerissa's attention was briefly directed to Keith when one of his men ran up to him. "We spaced the one that headed to the next hanger." She looked back to the smoke, which was nearly gone after being sucked up by the station's atmospheric regulators. Slade was dragging the the bounty hunter over to Keith then tossed the body at him. "Here, I'm sure you want to send a message with this." Keith gave Slade a sinister smile and kicked the bounty hunter.

Nerissa ran to Slade and embraced him, tears once again streaming down her cheeks. Slade returned the embrace with his free arm but kept an eye on Keith and his men. "So... Can you get to work on my ship before anything else happens?" Keith was staring at Nerissa when Slade asked his question. He looked up at him and pointed at her, asking a question without words. Slade nodded and Keith's posture relaxed nearly to the point of slouching over. "Shes so young though... This galaxy hasn't changed much since the New republic took over... If anything its getting worse..." Keith said then he let out a sharp whistle. The hanger techs Slade saw earlier came out from there hiding spots slowly. "They are dead! This is nothing new to you. Get to work and I swear if any of you screw up on so simple a job here you all will suffer!"
"This is the captain. We have a little problem with our entry sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and then... explode."
--Serenity
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Re: Havoc Again (Remastered)

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The Havoc never looked so... stock. Even when Slade first bought it, it had a custom paint job from the last company that used it. Now it looked like it was just recovered from a derelict Venator Class Cruiser long forgotten to time. No longer flashy it could easily blend in with other surrounding shipping. Keith's personal medic droid finished patching Slade up and then started to give Nerissa a look over. Its examination simply only confirmed what Slade already knew. Physically she was fine, but she was suffering from a high amount of stress and shock. She needed to rest and relax. Rest could be facilitated with some drugs the droid offered up to help her sleep soundly, the relax was something they wouldn't get a chance at, not until they at least reach Redilli.

Nerissa looked to Slade when the droid offered her the pills, Slade nodded with a smile. If Keith was out to kill them then they wouldn't be alive now, not after what they just went through. Slade's attention was drawn back to his ship and the shuttle was lifted off from the extended cargo attachment. Such a thing was rarer then the shuttle its self so removing it would also "disguise" the shuttle. Slade believed the saying was "Less is more".

Keith came walking up with a small bag and held it out for Slade. "Credit chips and a bunch of fresh false transponder codes, also some fake ID chips and disguises to go along with them." Slade took the bag and took a peek inside. Keith looked over at the shuttle, "Your likely going to have to make at least three or more stops for fuel. You are taking a roundabout way right? They will have the direct watched and likely trapped." Slade shut the bag, "Yeah, taking one I already have planned out... For the most part. Better to keep it loose and fast with these types." Keith raised a brow, "Well she is ready to go, good luck friend." Slade stood up and offered his hand, Keith took it without hesitation and shook. "I hope we meet again during better times."

"We'll see, Take it easy Keith." Slade then lead Nerissa back to the Havoc and they were soon on their way again.
"This is the captain. We have a little problem with our entry sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and then... explode."
--Serenity
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Re: Havoc Again (Remastered)

Post by Red Dragon »

Slade was lifted into the cockpit and started powering up the ship. Below he caught a glimpse of Nerissa, she had her arms wrapped around her as if she were fighting off the cold of a winters night. She staggered out of Slade's sight, though he was worried about her and wanted to go down and check on her, he knew they couldn't linger any longer and went back to the check list for the ship, while also performing a diagnostic and ship scan for foreign devices.

Nerissa held herself to try and keep from shaking, it did little to help. She slowly made her way to Slade's work desk and dropped into the chair, still holding her self tightly nearly doubled over. Over the last few days things just seemed to get worse and worse. She didn't think this would end, even if she did make it to Rendilli. Her thoughts grew darker about what her future may entail when Slade placed his hand on her shoulder startling her out of her daze. He leveled a sealed can of drink for her to take, when she didn't reach for it he placed it on his desk. He patted her shoulder and turned tword his bed. Clicking of clips unlocking and the hiss of seals loosening broke the silence, with a grunt Slade flicked one of his boots off. The heavily armored footwear slammed into a bulkhead then the floor. Not wanted to make that sound again he propped himself up with one hand and removed the other boot normally, tossing it more gently to the other. Next came his chest piece, he keyed in the remove code and again the clicking of internal locks and hissing of seals filled the silence. After he lift it off and placed it on the floor gently he inspected the hole in the armor, that shot nearly went clean through. He would have to completely rebuild the chest area.

Once he removed the rest of his armor and body glove he finally felt how worn out he really was from all that fighting. The stims he used clearly had finally worn off. He had wanted to go to the refresher but now he just wanted to rest. He turned and sat down on his bed, only now realizing he basically striped in front of Nerissa. She was staring at him, her face expressionless. He felt his face flush a little, "Sorry", he said tiredly. "I'm just going to get some sleep."

The loud clang and thud of Slade's boot startled Nerissa out of her thoughts, She looked up and though her face wouldn't show it, was surprised to see that Slade was taking everything off. Her full attention was brought on the massive, wicked bruise on his chest. Something he didn't seem to notice, Her eyes darted between his chest and the armor that just managed to protect him. He then seemed to realize that he stripped naked in front of her and apologized, stating he needed to rest. He climbed into the sheets and rolled over to his side, his back facing her. Fatigue gripped her the moment he mentioned needing to sleep. With little thought she slowly stood up and removed her cloths as well. She hesitated for a moment then climbed into bed with Slade, laying on her side facing his back. He had already fallen asleep, his breathing long and deep. She shifted closer to him, then against him. Everything about him, his warmth, his smell, his very presence next to her calmed her inner voices. The dark thoughts that plagued her mind melted away, and soon she slept.
"This is the captain. We have a little problem with our entry sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and then... explode."
--Serenity
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Re: Havoc Again (Remastered)

Post by Red Dragon »

If Slade had stayed in the cockpit just a little longer, he would have seen the navi computer flicker and the calculations change on the display. But he had already set the auto pilot and dropped the pilots seat down to check on Nerissa.

As the shuttle lifted off and headed out from the hanger a lone tech was returning to their normal routine, but not before bringing up a small comlink and simply said, "It was done." A confirming beep came back over the link. The Tech smiled and went back to a normal day.

Unknown to Slade and Nerissa, a war was raging on in the navi computer. The malware installed was trying to change their destination just slightly to put the shuttle into a sun or bounce too close to a black hole, but the custom programs Slade had installed long ago, would always change it to a more safe trip. It wasn't so much fighting the malware, it was correcting what it thought to be user input error. So the malware would then try to turn the safe trip into a deadly one, and the software would once again fix the error. The result being the intended trip getting further and further off course. By the time the auto pilot locked it in, Slade's original destinations were completely skewed.
"This is the captain. We have a little problem with our entry sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and then... explode."
--Serenity
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Red Dragon
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Re: Havoc Again (Remastered)

Post by Red Dragon »

Slade hardly slept deeply, he found it typically happened when he was most comfortable, which meant a few factors were at play. Temp, the right amount of silence/sound, if any part of his body was hurting or not, or if he had someone sleeping with him. All of these factors seemed to have been met because he barely awoke to the beeping from the cockpit. As his senses came around he realized he was holding Nerissa's nude body. He struggled to try and remember when or how this happened but the warning beeping soon turned into an alarm. Slade let out a curse and lifted him self out from between the bulkhead and the small woman, over her still sleeping form, to a standing position and quickly got into the pilots seat.

Once lifted into the cockpit Slade looked over the consoles and readouts and his skin ran cold. He clearly saw what had happened between the malware and his safety system. The result being that they made so many short jumps that the shuttle was effectively out of fuel and well off course. Slade brought up a more detailed map of where they were. His eye widened and he slumped down in his seat. They were out in the middle of the Centrality, a generally empty region of space lacking many stable hyperspace routes and devoid of systems. Slade checked Havoc's reserves and punched in some numbers, what they had wasn't enough to back track to a world, and that's if he was able to purge the malware from the ship's navi computer.

Before Slade could think of... well anything he could do about this situation, a ship exited hyper space setting off proximity alarms. Slade grabbed the controls and quickly got the shuttle moving narrowing missing the newly arrived vessel. He let out a sigh of relief, both because they didn't crash and that they were likely rescued. Before he could signal them, they signaled him. "Unknown ship, Back off this is our claim. You even try to start mapping these hyper routes... Well lets just say its easy to get lost out here. Get my meaning?" Before Slade could get a word out they cut transmission. Slade signaled for them but they wouldn't reply. He switch to general transmission, "I'm not here to map out this hell hole, Its a long story but we are nearly out of fuel and need to get back to..." The other ship leapt into hyper space, clearly they had already mapped out at least one hyper route out from their current location that wasn't yet open to the public.

Slade slammed his fist against the canape then started to prepare a proper SOS signal using false names and ship registry. If they can just get to a inhabited world he could get some fuel and likely a job taking cargo or passengers to Erilnar, Capital World of Centrality. From there he can get back on course to Rendilli. He was about to lower himself down when that same ship returned from where it came, only on fire. "Well that's not a good sign..." Another much larger ship, similar in shape to a Victory Class except the front hull was forked instead of being solid, exited hyper space. Its black hull nearly invisible to space around it except for the flashes of light from weapons fire illuminating its outline. Blue and purple lances reached out and slammed into the mapper's ship, shredding its engines and dimming its lights. Slade slammed Havoc's throttle to full, They didn't stand a chance out in the open, only chance they might have was inside the ship.

Weapons fire soon flashed around the shuttle, which stopped once he got closer to the large ship. Slade could make out point defense weapons but they didn't fire, though they were tracking him. Slade spotted a hanger, its interior lights lit up and a approach vector was signaled to him. Slade wiped sweat from his face. With the weapons tracking him he guessed that if they wanted him dead he would be already. though a far worse fate could be waiting for them inside, it meant they were alive for a bit longer at least. He adjusted his heading to match the vector he was given, noticing the point defense weapons stopped tracking him when he did so. The mapper's ship was getting pulled into a separate hanger it looked like via tractor beams.

The inside of the bay was clear of any craft and personal, giving Slade a very uneasy feeling. A landing deck lit up signalling him to land there, so he did. Nothing happened afterward. No one came out to greet them, they weren't locked down and they weren't dead. He did notice the cameras and sensors trained on the Havoc though, and for a moment he thought he saw something in the far corner of the bay. Nerissa's voice startled him, "Whats going on? Where we attacked again?" Slade looked down to see her looking up at him, covered only in a sheet with a very worried and stressed look on her face. Slade switched the shuttle to standby and lowered himself down and pulled her into an embrace. "No, we are fine. Just... We better get dressed."
"This is the captain. We have a little problem with our entry sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and then... explode."
--Serenity
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Re: Havoc Again (Remastered)

Post by Red Dragon »

Slade once more went through the process of putting on his armor. The body sock was still fine as was much of the under armor, except for the chest piece. Still he put it on but over it he put on the fairly useless hard shell chest piece. It wasn't that it wouldn't protect him, but with out the rest of the shell and it being able to be powered up, it would weigh him down, restrict his movements and rendered the personal shield useless. He put on a few other smaller pieces of the hard shell to make up for the lack of shields. One could joke he looked like a walking tank that was falling apart, but he was no less dangerous like this then if it was all working correctly.

He turned to Nerissa who was working on a second body sock, Slade had handed it to her and gave her a quick run down on how to reprogram it for her body size. With how much it would contract on her frame it could nearly provide as much protection as if she was also wearing the under armor. He picked up his personal shield and started adjusting the belt size and projection radius. Nerissa let out a yelp in surprise drawing Slade's attention, she had put on the body sock and it instantly contracted and morphed around her body, thinning out in some spots to allow for movement while thickening in vital areas to provide maximum protection. Ever since he first met this Nerissa, he thought she she was a very attractive woman. But the way the body sock conformed to her body and shaped it was something else. He realized he was staring, cleared his throat and handed her the personal shield. The belt was still a little too big, this couldn't be helped, and it hung slanted across her hips when she put it on and secured the right side to the suit. He then handed her a holster that held a DC-15s Blaster. She paused for a moment then took it and attached it to her right thigh.

Slade stepped in behind her, dwarfing her even more then normal with his gear on, placing his right hand over hers. She at first didn't know what he was doing till he spoke. "Follow my movement, reach down and use your thumb to flick the restraint off the top." They did the motion together as he spoke. "At the same time wrap the non trigger fingers around the grip and your trigger finger on the side of the weapon." The weapon felt heavy even though she had yet to free in. "Pull it free making sure the muzzle points down and away from you then raise it. Cup the grip with your left hand to help steady it and bright it to eye level." She did the movements, her heart starting to race. "Match the tops of the cross hairs and aim center of the target you intend to shoot. Only when you have done this do you place your finger on the trigger." She went to do so but Slade gently stopped her. "Not here, not now... But know that if you do need to fire this weapon, pull the trigger gently as you breath out and you'll never miss. Remain calm." Nerissa let out a sigh, and reversing the movements Slade had just taught her holstered the weapon again. She did it so perfectly it made him smile.

When they were both ready Slade lowered Havoc's ramp and they stepped out. a distinctive female droid voice came over the inter comms. "Finally decided to join me?" There was a pause and Slade's systems beeped, telling him they were being actively scanned. "Well I see you felt you needed to dress for the occasion, I'm flattered but completely unnecessary." Slade sneered under his helmet. "Please lets speak in more comfortable surroundings then this hanger." A series of lights lit a path leading to a nearby blaster door, which opened revealing a well lit corridor.
"This is the captain. We have a little problem with our entry sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and then... explode."
--Serenity
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