The Furry Forums
Creative Arts and Media => Roleplay => Serious RP => Topic started by: Romulan_Furry on April 07, 2015, 05:19:34 PM
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(I'm late, I know. This is my first RP here. Anyone interested in joining, see the details here: http://www.thefurryforum.com/forums/index.php?topic=27512.0 (http://www.thefurryforum.com/forums/index.php?topic=27512.0) )
Travis stepped off the transport onto Dragon'taan, the heartland of the Dragon-shifters and home of the Dragon'taan Coalition and their military, the Dragon'taan Marauder Corps. This trip marked the twelfth time he'd set foot here, and each time, it never ceased to amaze him. The clear skies, the bustling, busy city, the dragons flying here-and-there... it was a wonderful world.
But Travis's business here wasn't a vacation. He'd been called here. While his warship sat docked in orbit, he had been invited to a meeting with General Kyle Indari himself, the legendary hero of the Marauder War. He could only ponder how his comrades in this "crisis" would react, coming face-to-face with the man who led the DMC to victory.
Who else would be here, he wondered...?
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Van Zandt closed his eyes, grunting as his ship decelerated from faster than light speeds. though his ship was equipped with inertial dampeners, he felt his stomach go queasy and his legs grow slightly weak. The ship was going faster than the speed of light, so it would be virtually impossible to stop all of the inertial forces.
after allowing himself a brief second to collect his wits, he tuned in to the local traffic communications network
"Dragon'taan Docking command, this is Dendarii free mercenary ship Approaching storm, here on the interest of PR transmission 44877I-09, how copy?"
"Dragon'taan copies all, wait one while we transfer you to a secure channel."
He nodded, though he knew the traffic controller could not see it.
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The channel burped static while it was switched to the secure line, before a female AI came on the line. "This is Clara, Chief AI of General Indari, to whom am I speaking?"
* * *
Travis headed toward the designated meeting area, inside the DMC Mercenary Enclave. He wondered what this was all about - something regarding General Zaarin of Universe 02-Gamma...? He didn't know. But pay was offered, and Travis heard that the DMC paid well. That was enough to get Travis motivated. So here he was.
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"Jelani Van Zandt, commander and owner of sensational free mercenary battlecruiser Approaching Storm . Here to inquire about your PR transmission." the kangaroo sighs, adjusting his beret and taking a brief look at the report became to his headset from engineering. All systems nominal. Forward gravity lance online, secondary plasma cannons at full capacity, and ship-to-ship marines fully operationally capable, save for one that had some sort of alien STD from their stay on Barryar.
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"Ah, yes, I remember that name," Clara said. "Listen, I'll tell you what I told the others; get docked, get planetside, and head for the Mercenary enclave in the military district. General Indari will meet you there for a full briefing. Pay is separate from the other mercs coming for this job. If desired, I can provide information on those involved in this op; but I do not have clearance to share details of the op, even on this channel. Any questions?"
(If desired, I can provide a picture of Travis's ship. Heck, a picture of your ship if you have one would be great.)
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"Copy, read you Five by Five, Wilco." He sighs, taking a brief moment to gesture to his adjutants "how many guards may i bring, and how well shall they be armed and armored?" He sighed. He hoped he would get at least two, in at least half armor. Full space armor would be preferable, but unlikely. His troops, he would pick the busiest and most professional looking, more of a show than anything.
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There was a pause on the channel, then Clara's response; "You may bring two guards, armed and armored as you wish. Assuming there's nothing else, you now have clearance to dock - get to the Mercenary Enclave ASAP. Sooner we get the briefing out of the way, sooner we can get this crisis taken care of."
* * *
Travis was about to open the door to the Mercenary Enclave when a hand was placed on his shoulder. "Thought you could run off for a vacation to Dragon'taan without me, huh?" a female voice asked him. Travis smiled. He knew this voice.
"This isn't a vacation, Tigress," he told her. "This is a mercenary contract with the DMC."
"If you say so, love," Tigress answered. "What's the op?"
"Not a clue," Travis responded as he opened the door. "Come on, then - I know better than to try to talk you out of this."
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Van Zandt quickly donned a set of Dendarii officer's dress fatigues, quite similar to the undress uniform he currently wore, though with golden trimmings, a golden colored strip along his leg, and all of his medals and ribbons which he had earned in the service of the RPDF (the Dendarii didn't give very many medals, they were a mercenary force, after all. Though they did allow officers to wear any medals that they had earned in their previous military occupation, an officer with a bunch of medals looked vastly better than an officer with a blank chest)
He kept on his beret and command headset, also donning a pair of optional, black synthleather gloves. it made him look much more professional. or at least he thought. He instructed his bridge crew to dock his ship, calling on two of his marines, Myles and Knight were their names. They were a bulldog and a husky, respectively.
Van Zandt walked to the docking bay, and his personal shuttle. The two marines were there and ready for him, in full ground combat armor, armed with the most advanced plasma arcs available to the Dendarii. Van Zandt was armed with a simple, custom plasma pistol, with gold trimmings. it sat in a black, Kydex holster on his hip, and it was more for show than anything.
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Travis and Tigress were escorted to the briefing room, where they sat waiting for the other mercenaries who came for this job. "Know anything about the other mercs here on this contract?" Tigress asked Travis.
"Nope," Travis answered. "Don't even have a clue who they are."
(Gonna see if Tybalt is still wanting to participate.)
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The trip through the amidgets of Dragon`than, though bumpy, was relatively uneventful. He landed quickly, unlocked, had his weapons checked and registered, and then was quickly off to the mercenary enclave, which they had landed relatively close to. Myles held open the door for him, so that the mercenary captain could walk in at a crisp, proffeasional parade rest, his arms folded behind his back.
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(That's "Dragon'taan", mate.)
The receptionist looked up at the mercenary officer. "Name and business?" she asked.
"Excuse me," Clara's voice cut in, "I believe these are some of the mercenaries General Indari hired. Van Zandt, I presume?"
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"Yes ma'am." Van Zandt said, nodding his head "Van Zandt and company to see General Indari." The kangaroo stood, his strong, muscles tail swishing behind him
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Two humans with dragon eyes stepped into the area, both armed with RX Hybrid H7M1 Hybrid Assault Rifles as Clara said, "Private Stiles, Private Mak'tar, please escort these gentlemen to the briefing room."
Stiles - the human with crimson dragon eyes, pale skin and goatee, regarded Van Zandt without expression. It was Private Mak'tar - the one with emerald dragon eyes, dark skin, a scar over his right eye, and an Austrailian accent - that spoke up. "This way, gentlemen." He and Stiles began to lead the way to the briefing room.
(Tybalt, if you're gonna post, post now, before this kicks off.)
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((seems like he is not. sadly. I waited a bit for him.))
Van Zandt nodded, quickly following the dragon-eye humans. His command headset took a simple moment to perform a scan of the two, immediately giving their species, name, and biometric readout, storing it along with the fifty thousand others he had stored. his headset could hold the population of a whole planet, which amounted to about seven billion. The whole of the Dendarii fleet had been recorded, along with several notable members of the galactic community.
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"Excuse me! HEY!" a DMC Marine shouted, moving to and grabbing the deer by his arm. "This is a restricted area, civilian! How the hell did you--"
"Relax, marine," came a gruff voice from behind. There was a steady Dnn, Dnn, Dnn of heavy footsteps from behind, as a half-human, half-Dragonarian (Dragonarian = anthro-dragon without wings) dragon-shifter with piercing, sapphire-blue dragon eyes approached them, dressed in full powered battleplate armor. Next to him was a full-blooded Dragonarian woman with pink scales and a wedding ring on her left ring finger.
The marine immediately released the deer and snapped to attention. "General Indari, sir!" he greeted the man. "This civilian... I thought this person was trespassing, sir!"
"Yes, well, while I applaud your vigilance, that 'civilian' happens to be one of the people we hired to deal with something you don't have clearance to know about. You will step aside and let him pass. Am I clear, sergeant?" General Indari said.
"Yes, sir!" the marine responded, snapping off a sharp salute and quickly getting out of the way. Indari looked to the deer with an expressionless face, then started moving again toward the briefing room. The Dragonarian woman stayed behind, looking to the deer with a smile.
"Don't mind Kyle - he's just jumpy lately, considering recent events," she said. She indicated the deer's arm and asked, "Sergeant Jefferson didn't leave any marks or bruises, did he?"
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The Dragonarian woman just laughed lightly. "Kid, this isn't a monarchy, so you don't need to bow," she said. "The Indari family may hold a lot of power here on Dragon'taan, but we are far from it's governors. We leave that duty to the Coalition.
"Anna," General Indari said from within the doorway of the briefing room, "We need to get this briefing out of the way. Sooner this shenanigan is done, sooner we can all relax." He entered the briefing room without another word, followed by two dragon-shifter marines leading a Kangaroo and his pair of guards.
Anna chuckled. Looking back at the deer, she told him, "You may rise, kind sir - and don't mind my husband; again, he's just jumpy. But for time's sake, you may want to get in there."
* * *
As General Indari appeared int he room, followed by others, Tigress's face held a look of shock. "Is that...?" she asked.
"Yep," Travis muttered to her. "The legendary Hero of the Marauder War - General Kyle Draco Indari."
Tigress took notice of Anna walking into the room behind General Indari. "And that must be General Indari's wife - Anna."
"Where is their son, I wonder...?" Travis mused.
"Rumor has it, Kyle and Anna had a second child - so their son is likely taking care of his baby sister," Tigress responded with a grin.
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Van Zandt stood, stoic as ever. He clasped his hands behind his back, the ribbons on his chest denoting various achievements he had accomplished while in service of the reaching progress defense force. He eyed the general, his face giving no indication of what he was thinking.
Hell, he didn't much like Indari. In his experience, e didn't much like anyone that he couldn't trust. Though he may be paying him, he could definitely not trust him. Though he may be somewhat of a legend, he definitely could not trust him. in his experience, the only people you could trust are your own men, and even then, you could only trust those deemed trustworthy.
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The marines closed the door to the room once everyone was inside. General Indari stood at the podium and began, "Now that we're all here, we can get started. Break this information down succinctly; We have three months to avert another major military conflict. As was stated in the priority transmission that brought you here, roughly two weeks ago, an Imperial Embassy on Anaxes, Universe 02-Gamma, was attacked, no survivors. Since then, we have received numerous reports of similar attacks on multiple Imperial interests in that 'verse. Yesterday, Lord-Admiral Dimitrius Zaarin, the leader of the Galactic Empire on 'verse 02-Gamma, approached DMC borders and accused us of attacking his empire. He says one of our operatives was the culprit behind these attacks. While he has no evidence, he is threatening a major military offensive over this in three months if we do not bring the culprit to justice."
"The only lead we have is this: At every one of these attacks, one of our Marauder Operatives, code-named Marauder One, has been sighted going into the area of these attacks," Indari continued. "This is all the more important because not only is Marauder One one of ours, but we have him listed as Killed In Action in the last conflict with the Empire twenty-two years ago."
"Did it occur to you that this may be someone is merely taking on Marauder One's name?" Travis asked.
General Indari looked directly at Travis, then responded, "Yes, as a matter of fact, it did, which is why we want this Marauder One alive - not only are we wanting to figure out whether or not this is the real Marauder One, we are also trying to discern what the motives are behind these attacks. Anna," Indari nodded to his wife.
Anna stepped up, and brought up an image of an asteroid installation. "This is the Cairn Installation, the site of the last attack. As with the others, Marauder One was sighted heading into that area. He was not, however, seen leaving it. We suspect he may be still inside."
"And Zaarin's Imperials are just going to let us waltz in there, unchallenged?" Travis asked.
"We have been allowed to investigate the matter ourselves, but we were forbidden to send out own people. That's why we asked for you all. None of you have ties to the DMC, and therefore, Zaarin will trust your word more than ours," Anna explained. "Your orders are simple: Find Marauder One, capture him, and bring him to Dragon'taan. If, however, you find evidence that Marauder One was not behind these attacks, you are ordered to find the real culprit or culprits behind these attacks and deliver any such information to Dragon'taan. Any further questions?"
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"My ship is not a detective's ship, Indari." Van zandt said, in a professional tone " so I assume the other mercenaries you have provided will be doing the investigating, while the Approaching Storm provides groundside security, and acts as a forward operating base."
He paused a moment to wait for questions. hearing none, he continued "The Dendarii have their own intelligence operations, but they are likely much worse funded than yours. though our operatives may have some contacts yours don't so they will be kept readily available."
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"Very well," General Indari said, hearing no further questions. "Get whatever you need and get going - we have three months to resolve this crisis. Dismissed."
Travis and Tigress rose and approached Van Zandt, and Travis tapped on his shoulder. "I'll meet you in orbit. I know where the Cairn Installation is, and how to get there." Looking to Tybalt, he told him, "Unless you have a ship of your own, you may want to come with us." Moving his head to indicate Van Zandt, he added, "Or him. Either way."
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"We don't think you'll bring us down, Tybalt," Tigress said. "Trust me, we've met people who've tried to bring us down - both intentionally and unintentionally."
"Yeah, we've seen those types - you don't look like one of them," Travis agreed. "Takes guts to waltz into a mercenary contract with the DMC dressed in civilian clothes, bow to the wife of General Indari like she's royalty, and take on an assignment of this magnitude, knowing full well what it could cost you. Anyway, I'm Captain Travis Drake." Moving his head to indicate Tigress, he added, "This is my girlfriend, Tigress." Travis accessed a radio in his left gauntlet, then spoke, "Drake to the Incognito... three to beam back."
Before the transporter energized, Tigress looked to Tybalt. "Word of advice - close your eyes. Makes being beamed from one location to another a lot less nauseating," she suggested.
The transporter energized, bathing anyone in the immediate vicinity in a green light, as the transporters of the Incognito teleported Travis, Tigress, and Tybalt from the surface of Dragon'taan to the halls of the ship itself.
(If I can find one, Tybalt, I'll post a pic of what the ship looks like inside - Reman vessels share a common interior layout, and the bridge of one Reman ship is virtually the same as another.)
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The dendarii had transporters as well, but due to their massive energy consumption, they were generally only used in emergencies. The current situation most definietly was not an emergency.
and plus, teleporters always make Van Zandt nauseous. He was supposed to be a rock to his men, he couldn't be seen vomiting in front of them.
once he was back inside the command room of his ship, he ordered them to order the men in his navigation room to warm up the FTL drives, on a course for uploaded coordinates.
The approaching storm was a ship of primarily Roomen design. it was a sleek, low profile thing so that it didn't present much of a target to enemy warships.
it also had all of it's command functions spread out ,in that there is no one bridge.(which, if fired upon, would chaos within the ship, effectively clipping her wings) The weapons are managed from a separate location than the propulsion, and the propulsion managed from a separate location than the shields, and thus, are managed from a different place than the the actual command post was deep within the ship, surrounded by several meters of extremely thick tungsten carbide armor, and also it's own miniature shield generator. though to add another redundancy, each station can take over the responsibilities of the other.
The result is an extremely durable (albeit expensive and quite a power drain) ship, and with all of the armament that the Approaching Storm has, that can dish out twice as much punishment as it can receive.
he sighed as he stepped out of the small mudskipper class transport ship, into the docking bay. His docking bay
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Travis and Tigress walked through the dimly-lit halls of the Reman Light Warbird Incognito, with Travis saying to Tybalt, "I hope you'll forgive the darkness - Remans are not comfortable in the light."
(Still trying to find my screenshot of the Reman bridge - when found, I'll post it in the presentation topic.)
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Tigress and Travis stepped onto the bridge, which was better-lit than the rest of the ship, but still fairly dim.
"Tactical, contact the Approaching Storm and send them our IFF tags," Travis ordered, the Romulan at the tactical station nodding in response. Travis then looked to the Helmsman. "Helm, clear all moorings, prepare to engage impulse engines." He nodded to the Comm officer, who worked on her console, then reported,
"Dock master reading, sir."
"Dragon'taan Traffic Control, this is the Warbird Incognito, requesting exit vector," Travis said.
"Warbird Incognito, this is Dragon'taan Traffic Control - exit vector uploading. Follow your nav. Good luck, and come back in one piece. DTC out."
"I have the exit vector, sir," reported the helmsman, a pink-furred Feline.
"Engage impulse engines, make ready to generate the TDIG rift once we're clear. Captain Travis to the Approaching Storm, do you copy? Over," Travis stated.
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"Exit vector cleared, FTL drive spooling up."
"Copy, all crew prep for jump. FTL jump in three....two...one... and we have liftoff." Jelani sighed at his navigator's use of that term. The human insists on using such terms as that. says it's an old thing from his culture. He's a damn good navigator, so Van Zandt let it slide.
The Approaching storm pulsed her engines for just a second, gliding forward in the vacuum of space.
Then, with (what would have been, had there been oxygen for the sound to travel through) a loud, resounding thump, and a brilliant flash of light, a wormhole opened in front of the Dendarii battlecruiser, and the Approaching Storm just continued gliding into it.
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"Incognito to the Approaching Storm," Travis said, seeing his ally head out, "You are aware that I have to generate the TDIG rift that'll take us to our destination? You can't just FTL jump there - it's in a Parallel Universe, Universe 02-Gamma. You'd need a TDIG Rift Generator to get there."
"We're clear of Dragoin'taan traffic, Captain," The helmsman reported.
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Van zandt raised a brow "Parallel universe? Honestly, why are helping them, then?" Jelani sighed, shook his head, and said, tersely "It is my contract, and I am a mercenary. so I will do it."
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(I apologize for my absence; doing anything online is difficult when my internet is reliant on satellite signal and there are storms blowing through here every other day. I'm sorry.)
As the helmsman started generating the Trans-Dimensional Intergalactic Rift, Travis explained, "In case you didn't know, the DMC aren't the only ones who have the ability to jump between the 'verses - Necromyans, ISC, Zaarin's Empire, the Covenant Remnant... to name a few. Zaarin's Empire is a threat to the DMC because they are one of the few who managed to get their hands on DMC tech and reverse-engineer it."
"Rift ready, sir," helm reported.
"Very good - open it, put us just outside the Lennico Belt, and provide ample space for the Approaching Storm," Tigress commanded.
"Captain Travis to commander of the Approaching Storm, we're going to drop out just outside the Lennico Asteroid Belt, where the Cairn Installation is located; unless your ship can sail through the asteroids unhindered, I would respectfully suggest you shuttle over here to the Incognito once we're clear; we'll then investigate the Cairn Installation together."
"And bring at least a fire team of your marines with you; god knows what kind of traps may be left in there," Tigress added.
The TDIG rift opened up shortly thereafter, a massive, swirling maelstrom of light and fire, before it cleared and the Lennico belt could be seen. The Reman Light Warbird Incognito sailed for it, hoping the Approaching Storm was close behind.