The ORION Files (Closed/Started)

[Lunar Templar]

'Note to self, never ask about things again...' Shanoa though, 30 minutes into Sal's story.

After an hour though Sal, finally finished his story, that said she 'face palmed' when Sal said he'd never been able to open it. A wooden box beat him. Though given the exhaustive detail he had on it's history, probably didn't want to damage it cause of it's conversational value should some one ask about it.

But while Irina discussed a price, Shanoa investigated further. Finding a Biometric lock. On a wooden create. "Some one was ether funny or stupid" she said as she accesses the lock, and it did as such locks did, and automatically scanned who was accessing it. 'right ... just hurry up and tell.

"Access granted, Welcome back Operative Flauros the lock chimed as Shanoa jumped and bounced off the ceiling, then crashed into the floor in surprise as the box just ... opened ...

The Contents of the box where 2 fold, a Sniper Rifle of some kind, Shanoa didn't know what kind, it looked custom and she was kinda to spooked to scan it, and a small metal case of some sort, to small for ammo so it probably held something else.

Right now though, Shanoa was ever so slightly freaking right the fuck out internally, something that was fairly visible by the way her tail was thrashing about. It opened, the BIOMETRICT LOCK opened FOR HER, with out her doing anything, and who was the Operative Flauros? Why was there a lock with her brain scan data, the ONLY PIECE OF HER FROM ORGANIC LIFE SHE HAD LEFT, off in deep space, tucked away on a PIRATE OUTPOST.

After about a minute of so of her freaking out and generally over working her processors cooling system, it went into auto shutdown to prevent any permanent damage to her systems and to give them a chance to cool off. The good news is, the sharp pointy thing on the end of her tail, was now on the floor and not thrashing about wildly.

After a couple minutes, the four legged frame powered back up, the mono eye flashing back to life and locked on to the open create. She looked around. "Sorry about that. Yes. I will be taking the create, and everything in it." Shanoa's tone was calm but was also shaky, clearly not having fully recovered from the shock just yet.

 

[Athol]

Hard Boy was down but not out; unfortunately Mary now had another problem. The table she?d knocked Hard Boy into had been occupied by a couple of male young bloods, who were well into a ?crawler binge. A few of the freed reptiles could be seen darting across the floor, in a desperate attempt to find anything that resembled safety, not that many of the patron were paying the little escapees that much attention.

The two intoxicated Shree fixed their gaze on Mary as the source of their woe, and as Mar launched herself at Hard Boy, one of them swore at Mary and pressed his own attack. Most people, when confronted with an enraged Shree, would either try and escape or maybe go for a weapon of some sort, anything to stay out of melee range; Mary ducked low and met the charge head on.

Coming is under his main arms, she slammed her left shoulder into his mid-section, just as she felt the claws of one of his secondary arms rake her back. With a hiss of pain, she balled her right fist and slammed it against the small of her opponents back. When she?d been getting all touchy feely with Mar, the light pressure of her organic hand had done as intended and made Mar?s nerves tingle; slamming a hammer blow from her mechanical right onto the same spot on her adversary made his entire world turn white with pain.

Once, twice, three times for good measure, she hammered the nerve cluster. Young Blood One?s grip on her went slack as he stared blankly into space; his mouth was open like he was trying to scream, but all he was managing was a muted ?croaking? sound. Mary didn?t get a chance to savour her work, as almost as soon as her last blow landed, Young Blood Two grabbed her right arm and yanked her free of YB1.

The blows came fast and heavy, driving Mary to her knees mostly, though the fact that he was still holding her right arm was keeping her somewhat upright. She twisted as best she could to rob the punches of some of their power, before striking hard with her left at one of YB2s knees; this caused him to stagger slightly which in turn let her yank her right arm free.

Forcing herself upright, she then delivered a hard kick to the same knee she?d just punched, breaking it and then following that up with a closed fisted backhand from her right, straight across YB2?s face. A spray of blood, saliva and teeth arched across the bar. This seemed to act as a catalyst of sorts, as within moments, the whole bar started to devolve into one big free-for-all.
--
From behind the fortified bar, a quiet sigh was lost in the growing clamour. The old man reached under the counter and tapped a button causing heavy shutters to seal off the actual bar area completely; that done, he pulled out a stool and a pad, and began reading. The lights, sound system and other hardware where all designed to survive something like this, and the tables, chairs and cups were all made from recycled polymers; once the fight had burned itself out, he?d sweep all the broken stuff into the recycler and print out replacements from the 3D printer in the backroom?just another day.

 

[Outcast107]

Pitt wonders around the port city of Tortuga. Looking for a certain area in the city where he can find an info broker. He remembers an old friend of his saying that he was moving to Tortuga. As business would be better here and no one would dare try to ice him in a city full of pirates.

'Hmmm, he should be around here...I think..' Pitt thought as he stops in an alley way. Some druggies laying on the sides of the alleyway as they got their fix. Pitt would then notice a door with a sliding peephole at the top. Walking over as he was about to knock but stop. "hmmm what was that code..."

He knocks three times then stop. Knock two more times then stopped. Then finally knock four times then stopped. No answer as Pitt sigh and try again. This time three knocks at the start. One knock after and then three more knocks. When that failed he try once more in a random combination until he heard a voice with a thick accent yelled out, "By my great grandmothers scales JUST COME IN!" Pitt opened the door after he heard it unlock as he wonders inside. "Ahhh, Pitt. Been a long time." Came a voice from deeper inside the room.

"Indeed Groug. Or should I call you by something else?"

"Nah...Groug is still good. I left the last city I was in before anyone knew who I was. Hehe, come have a drink with me. Unless this is a business visit."

Groug came into the better lighten portion of the room and Pitt saw he still look the same. A rather dark green scaled reptile like creature. He wore medium size armour that protected most of his body. His large powerful tail trailing behind him. In his right hand was a large barrel pistol. Pitt wasn't used to alien type weapons but knew if it was one of Groug's kind weaponry, it was deadly enough.

"Mmm this is a bit of a both Groug. Came to see ya since I remember you were station here. Plus I have some..info I need. Willing to exchange some...though I might need time to..gather it before I can deliver it to you."

" mmm for an old friend..that's fine. But let set business aside. Come..Tell me of your travels with the...dah...what was the ship called again?"

"Heh, the ship was called the Sweet Child of Mine. It is named after an old earth song."

"Blah..you humans and your naming.

With that Pitt started to recount his travels with Walker and what happen since he last saw his friend.

 

[Generic NPC 22]

The Orion Files | Tortuga | Marketplace | Crazy Sal's Cosmic Co-Op and Outlet
The Rifle, The Spikes and the Wardrobe
Irina Rostikova​

[hr]

"

[b]Access granted, Welcome back Operative Flauros...[/b]

"

"Operative Flaur-WHOA!"

While Shanoa was freaking the F out, Irina and Crazy Sal had been doing their best at avoiding the Panicked Puss' Piercing Posterior Projection, which meant that Crazy Sal received another near secondary circumcision while the more Graceful Tongue Groomer avoided the situation by jumping onto one of the shop's high support beams before grabbing onto the nearly newly fleshy circumcised Sal and hoisting him up.

~Whirr[sub]rrr[sub]rrr[sub]rrr...[/sub][/sub][/sub]~​

"Christ almighty. Is it over?" The Crazy Shop Keep inquired, looking down at the unpowered robotic chassis as if it would suddenly lunge at him and bite his manly bits off.

"I think so. Looks like a failsafe to keep her systems from overheating." Irina hypothesized as she lowered the human down to the ground before hopping down to check on her Cat-like Companion. Even from the distance of a few meters, the Catican Merchant/Mechanic could feel the heat radiating from Shanoa's body and even see the visible shimmer of heat haze rising into the air.

While her cat-like co-conspirator cooled off, the Curious Catican eyed the small canister housed in previously locked lock box. Picking it up out of the crate, Irina popped open the lid and looked inside and noted that it contained two data spikes.

"How adorably quaint." She mused as she pulled out her personal computing device an placed one of the spikes onto its flat surface and then the other, "Terran Grand Republic clearance required... and... encrypted."

[sub][sub][sub]~Whirr[/sub]rrr[/sub]rrr[/sub]rrr...​

That would have been Shanoa powering back up after having cooled off sufficiently. Turning, Irina observed that her Feline Friend was still a bit shaken from whatever had happened, her voice still unsteady as she spoke.

"Sorry about that. Yes. I will be taking the crate, and everything in it."

"Well now that we know what's in the box... I'll say that 10K is not going to..."

"Yes it is Sal. The fact that there's a data spike requesting HIGH LEVEL TGR clearance codes to access means that whatever is on it is data that the TGR will 'disappear' you for even being remotely aware of its existence, let alone what they'll do to you if they thought you accessed it." Irina paused for a moment before grinning and pointing at something behind where Sal was standing, "Besides... I want to get that."

It was a wardrobe, crafted out of old oak tree from Terra Prime by a long extinct society of humans that called themselves the Amish, located in... well... that's not important. What was important was the label on the wardrobe.

"I do so love vintage 21st century Terran clothing." Irina practically gushed as she sent Sal a digital list of the remainder of her purchases that were to be delivered to the Sweet Child of Mine.

"10 Cray Class Navicoms?" Crazy Sal questioned as he continued down the list, "I can do this. But we're even on the store credit then."

"Deal." Irina said as Sal quickly counted out the balance of credits due to Irina and Shanoa, "Pleasure doing business."

------------------------------- After exiting Crazy Sal's Cosmic Co-Op and Outlet -------------------------------​

"Sooooooooo.." Irina started off the conversation awkwardly as the two walked towards the Tortuga Sands Casino, "Do I call you Shani... or Agent Flo now?"

 

[Lunar Templar]

When Sal started, briefly, to try and jack up the price, the Mono eye swung sharply toward Sal, and the the blade on the end of her tail opened up.

Then Irina stepped before anything came of it and she 'stood down' as Irina pointed out one of the data spikes was asking for a high level TGR clearance code. Which just added more questions to the growing list she already had. Shanoa just stayed quiet and out of Irina's way as she settled things with Sal.

The mono eye swung toward Irina, the back forward as she asked her question. "I don't know who this 'Flauros' is, but that was a biometric lock, and I did not, hack into it. It did it's typical scan, and just opened on it's out." Shanoa paused for a moment. "If that sounds odd, it's probably because it is. Most AIs are just ones and zeros after all. Me though? I was created using the neural data of what was a living person. Data, they had to open up the skull and remove said brain to get." Shanoa did not sound right still, a bit of her usual 'fire' was still missing.

"At anyrate. I finally have a lead on who I used to be, before ... this ..." Motioning to her self "Sorry ... I just wasn't expecting to get a lead, on a pirate outpost, and with a TGR data spike. I thought I was just some random nobody, but clearly, not the case ..."

She paused again, the shook her head. "Let us leave it for now though, lest I flip out and overheat again, and partake in the time honored tradition of 'throwing money away at a casino'."

 

[FalloutJack]

It wasn't that Elliot was afraid of a fight, or even that he was worried about how a fight with a room full of drunks was going to turn out. He had confidence there. He just didn't want to be the one to start the fight or be the cause of it. It was unprofessional, and it was always better to let the fight start because of somebody else so that he could claim to be the good guy in the mess. He could understand that the drunken Shree wanted to have a fight, but Elliot wasn't giving them the excuse to dogpile the mercenaries. Because then...they'd have to kill everybody. Oddly enough, it wasn't this 'minor incident' that triggered things, or even Mar decking two guys against the reinforced bar. It was actually Mary causing some teeth to go flying across the bar, to Tink! themselves against Elliot's armor.

"Okay, now it's time for some music."


The bar erupted into chaos as some shutters went down at the bar! Well, that was understandable. After all, the owner's gotta protect his- Oof!

"Watch it!"

Someone had slammed into him from the side, knocking him off balance, so he turned and dropped the guy's face into his knee. Someone tried to tackle him at the waste from behind, but the force was transferred right to the guy he'd be holding, so that guy flew back because of a faceful of chest armor and Elliot launched himself right into the nearby wall before grabbing and flipping that guy around, ending it with his foot in the other's face when he was on the ground. He'd no sooner turned than he raised his arm to put up a Paladin Shield, 'cause a guy slammed into it and...oh! That was one of the friends of Fingers and Hard Boy! He had a shiv in his hands, looking for a neck to drive it into. Well, Elliot shoved him right off his feet and dropped onto him, shield first!

"No no no NO- AAAAAUGH!!"

He ended up donkey-kicking someone - he wasn't sure who - before getting up to look around. He still had to make sure that Mary was in one piece...or one piece and her cyber-pieces. Point is, intact, and it would be nice to know that Mar was okay, as well. He didn't worry about Grace, of course. Not only had Grace lived on the streets, but he'd taught her a number of fighting techniques to improve her own style from homebrew to officially badass.

Grace Hart was not physically strong, like Elliot. She relied more on speed, agility, and quiet execution. That said, Elliot wouldn't like it if she knifed everyone in the bar. So, with her blade held in reserve, let opponents dash themselves across the floor as she slipped to one side, avoiding impact, then kicking down at the back of the neck for quick incapacitation. Grace hit soft-points for greater damage, kicking or elbowing noses, kneepits, and of course crotches if the anatomy called for it to be there. She might've just hopped over one of Fingers' other remaining friends and slammed down her foot to break his tailbone. She really didn't care how, exactly, she was kicking butt. Only that she was doing it.

 

[Texas Joker 52]

Tortuga Drift | Shore Leave | Dead Orbit Bar
"Gonna feel those cuts and bruises when the high wears off."​

[hr]

It didn't even take a second after her display for the excrement to hit the proverbial fan. A pair of nearby Shree, easily riding Crawler highs like she was, to gang up on Mary, while a bunch of the other patrons started to move in on both Elliot and Grace, and herself. Mar squared her shoulders and hunched forward before she let out a loud, guttural howl, and charged through a group of four as they moved on her, scattering them to either side before she skidded to a halt.

She braced a foot against the wall behind her to come to a full-stop with only the slightest stumble, and turned to face the men and women she scattered. One of them was a Mantid, a large six-limbed insectoid that was already getting back onto it's four legs, and was starting to skitter toward her. It reached out towards her neck, only for her to reach down, hooking two arms under it's abdomen and heaving it over her and into the wall behind them. As she did, it managed to score her back with wickedly sharp claws, ripping her vest to shreds in the process.

The mantid was immediately followed up by a trio of Terrans, two men and a woman. And at that point, her drug-fueled instincts kicked in and she began to batter and bat them aside with deceptive strength, even picking one of them up and throwing them at the Shree attacking Mary that wasn't preoccupied with blinding pain.

With another howl, she picked up one of her other Terran victims as they laid dazed on the bar floor and began to swing them like a flail indiscriminately. If they weren't a part of her crew, she swung away, before tossing her unconscious weapon to the side and pinning another random opponent to the ground and pounding them with a trio of fists next to Mary, Grace and Elliot.

When one of their friends tried to pull her off, she only answered with a headbutt and subjecting them to the same beating. Throughout it all, she took fists, and the occasional graze of a broken bottle, but she gave far better than she got.

 

[Generic NPC 22]

The Orion Files | Tortuga | Tortuga Sands Casino|
No Trust in Tortuga...
Irina Rostikova​

[hr]

Fate was a bit of a fickle thing especially considering that Shani had managed to find something relating to her past, that was unlocked with the only biometric data the A.I. had, on a Pirate Station many, many, MANY light years removed from TGR space. The probability of actually happening should have been astronomically improbable due to just one of these factors but with all of these factors, it would have been more statistically probable for Shanoa to escape unscathed from the clutches of a ten limbed, male Drift Drake at the height of mating season[footnote]Drift Drake: A highly territorial multi-limbed creature that inhabited interstellar space. During mating season, male drift drakes favor building their nests in abandoned drift stations... typically newly abandoned drift stations that were able to detect the drake before it muscled its way through the station's hull[/footnote].

"Sorry ... I just wasn't expecting to get a lead, on a pirate outpost, and with a TGR data spike. I thought I was just some random nobody, but clearly, not the case ... Shanoa stated, still not clearly over the shock of her finding a piece of her past. A moment or two or three passed before she shook off the shock, "Let us leave it for now though, lest I flip out and overheat again, and partake in the time honored tradition of 'throwing money away at a casino'."

"Actually with the statistical improbably that just happened back at Sal's, I think the Casino will be throwing money at us..." Irina paused for a moment, her brain trying to block the foot that was rapidly heading towards her mouth. Shani had just shaken off the fact that she had once been someone of note in the TGR and the last thing that she needed was to be pulled back into that line of thought, "I mean ME off all sentient beings getting out of Crazy Sal's with creds still burning a hole in my pocket... stick me in front of a dealer."

As the two continued down into the entertainment district, the distant noise of a bar fight could be heard (and ignored considering the frequency of such an event in a place like Tortuga). Before long, the two Casino bound Cohorts were bathed in the lights of the Tortuga Sands Casino...

Spoiler: Cue the music...

Rubbing the belly of a Gilded Fat Little Terran Religious Icon as she entered the establishment, the Feline Degenerate Gambler's AR overlay lit up as her Nanex detected that nearly everyone in the room was armed in more ways than one. There were, of course, the typical assortment of firearms but the surprising thing was the sheer number of "gambling aids" being used. While most were cleverly disguised as a hat or button or false prosthetic, some of the patrons made only the slightest attempt at hiding them, such as the patron with the probability manipulation field generator that had a pair of security officers looming over him.

~BZZZT!~​

Even from the other side of the room, Irina could detect the smell of burnt hair (the air purifiers having purposefully been programmed not to filter out that scent) as one of the security guards administered a not so gentle zap from his tazer.

"C'mon! Get up!" Officer #2 ordered as both guards grabbed the cheat, hauled him towards an airlock and tossed him through the open door. Seconds later, the man's venting was met with a number of cheers as a prominently displayed display was updated.

DAILY BONUS JACKPOT!!!!
9,779,237​

Flagging down an attendant, Irina pointed at the board.

"What's th..." The Casino Kitten started to ask before the attendant, obviously used to such questions, interrupted her.

"Here at the Sands, we realize that the vast majority of our patrons aren't the sort that would gamble without trying to have some sort of advantage. So to make things interesting, the owners started a program where the credits confiscated from the cheaters that we catch... [small]and vent[/small]... are added to the daily bonus jackpot. The winner of the bonus is the visitor who can accumulate the most credits in a 24 hour period without being caught [small]...and vented[/small]." The attendant answered before moving on, subtly pointing at a patron who he'd spotted palming a card.

~BZZZT!~ ~BZZZT!~ ~BZZZT!~​

 

[Athol]

Mary wasn?t really fighting anyone specific anymore; the bar had collapsed into a general melee, so she was just picking targets of opportunity as they presented themselves. A kidney punch here, a tackle there, one spectacular pile driver on a guy that?d grabbed her ass once, and a never ending stream of jabs, crosses and kicks as openings presented themselves.

As she brawled, she tried her best to stay close to her current shipmates, not that the others appeared to need any assistance, but old habits die hard. Looking over towards Mar, she watched with a smile as the Shree racer was doing her level best to make her latest victim one with the decking. ?Hey little girly, how?s ?bout a kiss?? She was interrupted by a raspy voice in her ear, a rough hand grasping one of her breasts, and a large body pressing against her from behind. Stupid, lost situational awareness.

Driving her left elbow back as hard as she could, she rolled away from the hand and wheeled to face her attacker; some tall strung out station rat, who looked like he?d need a 20 min break to answer ?What is your name??. While his drug fuzzed brain was still trying to understand how she?d gotten free, she gave her reply. ?Fuck off.? She took a half step towards him, crouching slightly as she did, then exploded upwards, driving a knee as hard as she could into his groin. He let out an explosive gasp of air, and tried to scream, but with his lungs empty all he could manage was a bit of feeble ?croaking?.

Using a bit of clever footwork and his own mass, Mary easily sent her would-be attacker toppling over on to his back, where she then tattooed ?VOID? in reverse on his face with several heavy right crosses. Alright, I?ve had my fun? She thought, making her was back to the others. ?Let?s you and I get outta here?? She said over the dim of the brawl as she sidled up beside Mar; as she spoke, she ran her left hand over the small of Mar?s back once more.

Mar simply nodded and indicated that Mary should lead the way. Mary did just that, and the duo battered a path to the back of the room where a couple of heavy shutters sealed off the backrooms from the main floor. While Mar fended off anyone who tried to interfere, Mary popped open a hidden access panel, and within moments the shutters retracted, opening up the corridor beyond. On the word ?Go!?, Mar dove through the opening, with Mary right on her heels; the shutters slammed shut moments later.

?Haha! Yes?Was afraid the old fart might have fixed that by now!? She laughed, beaming at Mar. ?So, that was fun.? Mary was grinning ear to ear; her hair and clothes where in disarray, several good bruises were already starting to show, her teeth were flecked with blood that was probably hers and somewhere along the way she?d picked up a shallow cut that went from her left ear to all the way across her cheek.

 

[Lunar Templar]

Shanoa watched the apparent cheater get dragged out and listened to the explanation of how things worked in this casino, and found it rather amusing in all honesty.

After the attendant left to do other things, Shanoa spoke up. "I have a plan for this. In short. 'Kill every one, take the money and run'." She started. "To expand on that, you play straight, no cheating. At all. While I 'work my magic' and expose the cheaters, and reduce the number of 'obstacle' between us and the objective of a 'phat stack of cheddar'. You'll still need to out play the people who aren't cheating, but it drastically improves your odds of winning, let alone not dieing."

"Sound good to you? Or do you have a better idea?"

 

[Evrant-Knight]

Velka | Tortuga Drift | The Dean's Domino Effect Casino & Bar

Looking for Work: Chapter 3A - To Catch A Crook​

By her estimate, Velka had been on her little stakeout for roughly fifteen minutes, and in that time, had accrued an additional 2000 in credits; it wasn't much, but she could use it to make sure her equipment was fully stocked, but also in that time, still no positive sightings of Mr Rafe, which was certainly annoying to a small degree.

She was almost about to leave and move on to the next possible target a couple minutes later when something in her left eye caught her attention. Turning her gaze in that direction, she noticed a someone being followed by a couple of other people, guards by the looks of it, judging how their eyes seem to be constantly darting about the place, and that a hand seemed to be hovering close towards something on their belts, a concealed weapon perhaps?

It was whilst they passed by the bar that Velka got a better look at the protectee, and lo and behold, it was one Taliesin Rafe; wearing a white suit with a black shirt underneath a lightweight ballistics vest, and what appeared to be a heavy revolver strapped to his right leg. Performing a quick search, it appeared to be a modified version of one of Wesson Arms auto-revolvers, WS Model 629.

Rafe himself meanwhile was fairly calm, trying to engage in some light conversation with his guards, though they ignored it for the most part whilst his gaze passed over a few women that walked by, no doubt thinking he might try something later, but he seemed to be focused nonetheless.

"Probably thinks that he can follow the same routine as he has done countless times before. Well, he is about to get a rude awakening. However, I must wait for the opportune moment, too fast and either he bolts or gets his guards in on the action, too slow, and he slips through my clawed, metallic fingers and I go right back to square one."

It was at this point that Velka had decidedly had enough, and ended her game, walking away with a credit chit containing around 2300 credits. She waited for the trio to momentarily leave her field of vision before leaving the bar out onto the main casino floor, taking caution to hide her presence from immediate view, using slot machines and pillars for cover.

This carried on for a few moments before the trio in front of her stopped at a nearby machine, one in which a player could potentially win through multiple lines instead of just one. Rafe appeared to have whispered something to his bodyguards before they took their leave and he sat down at the machine and presumably began to play.

"This is as good a chance as I am going to get, have to strike now." Velka then approached Mr Rafe from behind, careful to not make a sound. She caught his wrist just as he was about to pull something from his jacket after playing for a few turns.

"Mr Rafe, the game is up," Velka said in a cold tone.

 

[Outcast107]

Throughout the night, Pitt and Groug drank and told each other stories about their adventures. Both laughing and getting drunk. Groug had put away his pistol after making sure that Pitt wasn't a bot in disguise.

"Ah Groug..I miss our chats." Pitt said as he took a swig from the bottle. Having taken off his mask during his story about what has happen to him and the crew of the Sweet Child of Mine.

" Mmm indeed my little friend. Indeed."

"So...how have you been my scaly friend?"

Groug sighs as he shook his head, "Blah it been terrible. The galaxy is a..how do you say..a Total shithole. Its hard nowadays to find out whats true and what false. I keep hearing more and more outrages stories..like the ones you believe." Groug laughs as he took a shot at his friend for being crazy conspiracy theories.

'Hummph...if you went through what I did then you will a bit unhinged as well...and most of the things I believe are True!"

Groug laughs again, "Yeah Yeah." Groug waved him off. "Anyways as I was saying, Things are getting more crazy nowadays. I hear Chronus has something plan or had something in plan. Hard to tell with my informate. Then most of my informates within The Great Corus have gone quiet. So I"m getting nothing out of there. UGh..." Groug said as he pour himself another drink.

Meanwhile

Two pirates were coming out of a seedy bar, drunken and stumbling about. Walking around trying to find a new bar to go to as the last one kick them out.

"Ugh, that..that piece of shit bartender. Cutting us off like..." Stops as he bends over like he was about to puke. Though he just stood there for a few minutes and stands up. "Like that. We should find somewhere else to go."

"Yeah..lets..hey wait..Come here." The pirate told his friend as they hid behind a wall. Peeking over as they spy Mary and Mar. "Is..Is that Mary?" He hiccups.

"Y-Yeah I think it is..that fuc'in *****." He spat at the ground. "We should..we should teach her a lesson."

"Uh huh..not now..That big Shree she got is too much for us. Lets..Go tell the captain and then we can deal with her."

"Yeah lets go. Though we should get some more alcohol to drink be fore we do."

"OF course!"

 

[Generic NPC 22]

The Orion Files | Tortuga | Tortuga Sands Casino|
I'll see your bet and raise you... my life.
Irina Rostikova​

[hr]

"I have a plan for this. In short. 'Kill every one, take the money and run'."

Shanoa's proposition was an interesting one, though a bit telling on the type of person the Anti-Pirate Pussy Cat used to be when she was skin and bones. Perhaps it made her some sort of Mary Sue from Stockton but from Irina's perspective, irregardless of life choices, any intelligent being, regardless of whether or not that being was of natural or artificial construction, had value. It was a sentiment not shared by a majority of the Catican species as life was a commodity that could be re-created and refined through generations of genetic manipulation. Those Caticans who were classified as Casteless were without worth and their genetic sequences were viewed as useless.

With her being having recently been ejected from proper Catican Society, there was little motive for Irina to share these beliefs... but that was a story for a different time. There was still the matter of Shanoa's potential murder spree.

"To expand on that, you play straight, no cheating. At all. While I 'work my magic' and expose the cheaters, and reduce the number of 'obstacle' between us and the objective of a 'phat stack of cheddar'. You'll still need to out play the people who aren't cheating, but it drastically improves your odds of winning, let alone not dieing." The Non-So-Murderous Murder Bot expanded.

"Oh..." Irina oh'd, her voice dripping with relief. It was an indirect way of killing the players in the Casino but given that they had just witnessed two...

~BZZT BZZT ... FWOOOOOSH!!!~​

Three ventings since they'd arrived, it was inevitable that the cheaters were going to be rounded up and vented. Flagging down another attendant, Irina turned to her Casino Collaborator.

"Sounds good but I think we should make it a little interesting." Irina responded before addressing the Floor Attendant, "Tell you boss I want to make a wager. My friend here thinks that she can find more cheats than the entire floor staff. If she does then how about you sweeten up the pot by doubling it?"

The Attendant frowned for a moment, turning away before discretely murmuring into a lapel mic, though not many of the words could be made out over the din of the Casino floor. Finishing up with the relaying of the request, he turned to Irina, a predatory smile on his face as he responded.

"You have a wager, Miss..."

"Rostikova."

"Rostikova. Since we're going to be doubling the pot and there's no guarantee that you'll have anything after the dealers are done with you, here are our terms. If you win the wager and come out with the most money earned on our floor after 12 hours, we'll double the jackpot AND your earnings. However, if you fail an either of these tasks, you forfeit the remainder of your chips and ... yourself. We have a working relationship with one of the other establishments on Tortuga who would love to add you to their collection of workers." The Attendant said before amping up the wattage on his smile, "Maybe I'll visit you after one of my shifts in the near future. What do you say to these terms?"

 

[Texas Joker 52]

Tortuga Drift | Shore Leave | Dead Orbit Bar
"Patience may be a virtue, but what I'm after, isn't."​

[hr]

A slight red haze had begun to surround her vision while she continued to pound the unfortunate pirate or station rat that was currently beneath her into the bar's floor. So when Mary finally stroked the nerve cluster in her spine and shouted over the din of the bar fight, Mar whirled around, her fists raised for a few moments before she realized what was going on. Then she simply nodded and followed behind her crewmate.

The ex-pirate made herself into a woman-shaped battering ram while Mar pushed away any riffraff that tried to follow, before they both dove out of a previously-shuttered exit. With a little fiddling with an access panel, Mary had opened the shutters, then set them to close immediately behind them, and she whooped in triumph when they were out.

"Haha! Yes...Was afraid the old fart might have fixed that by now! So, that was fun."

In her elation, Mary didn't seem to notice the expression on Mar's face, or the way the Shree began to stalk toward her. Or at least, she didn't notice right away. The meaning of both the look she gave, and the slow swagger, was abundantly clear when a pair of true-hands caught Mary's wrists and pinned them to the wall behind her, while both false-hands grasped the human woman's hips.

"That was fun. But I want more." the Shree hissed softly through her teeth as she leaned in closely, "Question is, whether or not I want to wait for what I want."

 

[Evrant-Knight]

Taliesin Rafe| Tortuga Drift | The Dean's Domino Effect Casino & Bar

Looking for Work: Chapter 3B - The Other side of The Coin​

The day, night, whatever time it was on Tortuga started out much the same as any other for one Taliesin Rafe; listening in on various systems for a number of casinos to see which ones were turning out the most profit for that day, as this would help him plan out which 'establishments', for lack of a better term, would be the target for his own brand of entertainment.

You see, Rafe liked to play what was known, as the long game; instead of planning out an elaborate heist to pull off a single big score, he liked to take small amounts over a long period of time, that way, there was less of a chance of a discrepancy in a person's winnings being noticed by the powers that be.

Sure, there had been a few occasions where people had gotten close, and some were even smart enough to string a few clues together and tie back to old Taliesin; but the man was ever so slightly ahead of everyone, covering his tracks with junk code and a few key witnesses here and there every so often, paid witnesses, of course, had to keep them loyal after all.

After picking out a few choice fruits so to speak, he would hit one of the station's many bars before moving on to the main event. He had thought about going to the Dead Orbit Bar, but apparently, a fight had broken out there not too long ago, and the place was somewhat of a mess; well, more of a mess than usual, and that simply wouldn't do.

After some deliberation, Taliesin had decided on hitting The Dean's Domino Effect Casino & Bar, as he knew that the drinks were good there and that some of the security could be a little lax on occasion, perfect for a first strike. So with his two guards, Oleg and Mishka, he went out on the town.

On his route, he passed by the Tortuga Sands Casino, a place known for having rather competent security, and a rather severe punishment for those caught cheating; said punishment he soon saw in action as a couple of corpses floated passing, making him gulp and cough up a little bile in his throat.

Note to self, steer clear of this place for the time being, and improve chip software.

Taliesin eventually reached The Dean's Domino Effect and saw that it was already fairly packed. As he scouted a potential machine to work his magic on, he tried making some conversation to his two bodyguards, but they mostly ignored them, as they were too busy looking out for potential problems; unaware that they were being watched themselves.

The trio soon reached a somewhat impressive looking slot machine which offered multi-win payouts. Taliesin asked Oleg to go fetch him a drink whilst he had Mishka stand at the other end of the bank of machines and keep watch as he sat down and go to work. At first, he hadn't had much luck, mostly getting chump change, till he decided now would be a good time to earn some real money, so he decided to reach into his pocket, and fish out his special poker chip.

What made it special, was that the materials it was made from were non-standard, it being made out of a platinum alloy, and contained a microchip inside that would interface with the casino's system, allowing him to subtly slice a portion of people's winnings, and put it into a ghost account he would later access.

As Taliesin pulled the chip out, he suddenly felt his right arm being gripped almost crushingly tight by something and then came an unnatural sounding voice from behind.

"Mr Rafe, the game is up,"

 

[Athol]

"That was fun. But I want more. Question is, whether or not I want to wait for what I want."

?Well then, I best not keep you waiting then.? Mary replied with predatory grin that a Shree couldn?t have bettered. With her hands pinned above her head by Mar?s true-hands, and her false-hands around Mary?s waist, escape would be problematic at best?but Mary wasn?t thinking of escape.

Pressing her back against the wall, she used the fact that she was being held, to leverage herself up, wrapping her mostly artificial legs around Mar?s hips as best she could, while at the same time leaning into greet Mar with a powerful kiss. Pulling her legs tight around Mar, she was only touching the wall with the tops of her shoulders when she finally broke free of the kiss with a gasp of air.

?Third door on your left,? She smirked. ?I think that?s about as far as we need to move.?

 

[FalloutJack]

Fighting had gone on, of course, in the Dead Orbit Bar. The bar was sealed and, unless Elliot had missed something, Mary and Mar had gone down a passage that...he unfortunately didn't see HOW they'd gotten it open. No time to investigate right now. As the two of them were still head-wrecking, a bunch of people were starting to notice the absense of the two ladies and starte to notice Elliot and Grace more. It was time for a change.


Elliot punched someone out and yelled.

"Smoke!"

Grace knew what that meant, while a bar full of drunken nobodies would be left guessing for a few fleeting seconds. Too many seconds too late, as Elliot dropped smoke bombs into the bar, engulfing the area in lots of smoke. Grace went light-form and zipped outside without a problem. Elliot did a Paladin shield-rush, leaping out while boweling people over before going into a tuck-and-roll as he got outside the bar. From there, he and Grace started running. Several men who were neither too drunk, nor too beaten up gave chase, but they weren't going to catch them. Apart from combat, these two were too good at getting the hell out for them. Grace leapt and rolled and slid around incoming people, and Elliot shoulder-checked or got around them with some kind of fluid flanking pass-up. They stopped around a promising corner.

"I think we should split up."

"Want me to track those two, Elliot?"

"Can you?"

She just looked at him like he was an idiot.

"Okay, okay. I know you're good at this. I was only checking."

"I know where they are relative to where we're standing. That's good enough."

Thus, she suddenly went light-form and floated into a vent. While frictionless, she could travel awfully fast, but when she came close to the right area, Grace returned to flesh. She did so, and started hearing the suggestive words being spoken between Mary and Mar. Peering out a vent, she saw... Okay, she felt her cheeks burning now. Holy shit, she didn't know it was like that.

I don't think I should be watching this...

Meanwhile, Elliot was walking more out in the open. He was waiting on intel from Grace, but Grace was more silent than usual at the moment. He hoped something hadn't happened to her.

 

[Lunar Templar]

Shanoa just stared at Irina for a second. "Do you not understand the concept of risk avoidance and mitigation?!" the now Annoyed AI stated. "I didn't field that idea just so you could turn around and propose a bet that could end with you worse off then if they'd just vented you."

She sat up on her hind legs "If really think risking sexual slaver is a good idea for something as silly and transient as money, fine, I will go all out and kill as many as I need to, to ensure victory. We're on the same crew right now after. 'Bros before hoes' and all that." Shanoa said, now slightly calmer. "But you better make damn sure a few coins is actually worthy of risking something as priceless as your freedom."

 

[Texas Joker 52]

Tortuga Drift | Shore Leave | Dead Orbit Privacy Room
"[CENSORED]"​

[hr]

If the Shree Pilot had been more sober, she would've reflected on how it was interesting to be on the receiving end of the leg-lock instead of the one locking her legs around her partner. Of course, if she had been more sober, she likely wouldn't have been in that situation in the first place, as she answered the ex-Pirate's kiss with equal enthusiasm. When she pulled back, she licked her lips before turning to the room that Mary had pointed out.

All the while, Grace could watch as the two stumbled inside. And the last thing anyone outside of the room could see, was Mar pinning her "captive" onto the bed while her false-hands immediately went to work. Then the door hissed shut and a red "OCCUPIED" light came on. The two occupants completely oblivious to their potential Peeping Jane, or any cameras that could be recording their every move.

 

[Generic NPC 22]

The Orion Files | Tortuga | Tortuga Sands Casino
Money is the root of ... stuff
Irina Rostikova​

[hr]

"Do you not understand the concept of risk avoidance and mitigation?! Came the angry question from Shanoa's direction as Irina sat down at a card table, "I didn't field that idea just so you could turn around and propose a bet that could end with you worse off then if they'd just vented you."

Apparently Shanoa had not received the memo regarding risk versus reward. The risk in this case was Irina's future job title going from Freelance Merchant and Mechanic to Freelance Endentured Sex Worker. While it was true that the Pink Haired Poker Kitty's wager seemed a bit excessive, there was little fun involved when the only stake involved was money. The potential life altering mechanic of the wager... that was exciting, that was what made the game interesting. With so much at risk, Irina could feel her heart pounding in excitement as the first cards were dealt. It was intoxicating. She could feel a surge of adrenaline enter her blood stream as she picked up her cards.

"If you really think risking sexual slavery is a good idea for something as silly and transient as money, fine, I will go all out and kill as many as I need to, to ensure victory. We're on the same crew right now after. 'Bros before hoes' and all that." The Cyber-Kitten commented, her anger apparently dying down, "But you better make damn sure a few coins is actually worthy of risking something as priceless as your freedom."

"Look, Shani... you'll have to trust me on this. It's not the money that's worth the risk, it's what the money can buy that's worth the risk..." Irina stated as she shoved all of her chips into the middle of the table, "All-in."

The move illicited a few excited murmurs from the others at the table before the obligatory round of folding from most everyone at the table, save for the one idiot who called her bluff.

"Call." The Grinning Idiot said as he stared intently at Irina's card, which were lay facedown on the table.

"With everything that's been going on, we're going to have to purchase information that, no matter how hard you tried, you won't be able to get by hacking into any server or device in the Galaxy. On top of that, given recent events, we're going to have to update some of the Sweetie's specs... like maybe reinforcing the Airlocks, adding some point defense and upgrading her sub-light engines. There's also one more thing that I'll have to show you... after we get out of here." Irina said, grinning as she showed her cards, addressing the man who had called, "You got me... I've got nothing..."

Except for noticing the fact that the man had been staring at the cards (and the heat activated ink mark on their corners) as opposed to Irina's face.

"Shani... if you wouldn't mind..."