BlackThorn Operation Files: Casanova

Lich King

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Jul 24, 2016
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Operation Name: Casanova
Goal: Safe Transport of DiTech Cargo
Operatives: Zoe, Aliasse Ryley, Rosetta Ryley, Aedan, Brünhild Eisenwald, Geo
Recorded complication: Raid Attempt by Hotbox Pirates

Deep in the outer reaches of Space, the Elegius IV has been tasked with delivering a shipment of DiTech weaponry to a Space station located above the planet Garnen a few days off from Manta Carlos Space Station by FTL. Threatened and plagued by repeated raid attempts and passage manipulation by Pirates recently DiTech has hired BlackThorn to bolster their security and ensure that the cargo vessel docks safely and without delay. With several days of FTL achieved the Elegius IV has suddenly been sent out of Hyperspace, stopping a few days off from Garnen.

Captained by Merk Havan the crew of Elegius IV has been set to task on discovering the strange hiccup and preparing to jump back in after the situation is handled. Little do they know that deep within the bowels of the ship strange and magical forces are at play to ensure that that never happens.

SOMEWHERE UNKNOWN

"Captain, it appears the Elegius has fallen out of Hyperspace." A bearded man with a raspy voice looked up from his computer terminal on the mysterious ship's bridge. The dimly lit room was filled with colorful light and images as other crewmen were focused on their tasks respectively.

Behind them was a blonde haired woman sitting in her chair with a bored expression on her face, tapping on the arm of it rhythmically. "What are you telling me for you know what to do old man. Have the rest prepare to jump as well. Hopefully, those idiots don't screw this up. A lot of buyers on this one." As the black lips of the women closed once more the bearded man set about his work.

With a countdown of 3...2....1, the ships vision of the starry sky was replaced by the zooming light streaks of FTL.

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Saber

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Aedan Drago

The young man's sharp glowing eyes looked over everything as he walked his patrol, his nose twitching a little as it picked up the various scents around him. He'd made sure to look over the layout of the ship and read any information the company had provided for them, his enhanced intelligence made remembering such information useful.

He'd had his eyes on Blackthorn for a while, it seemed like a good group, so having graduated college early, again thanks to his new ability, he'd signed on with them. Aedan would stop again, his nose twitching again, so here he was, on a space ship, protecting crew and cargo, along with a team of other security agents.

 
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Nameless

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Never in their lives did the sisters guess that they'd find their way into space. Aliasse was worried since she knew what would happen if they get sucked out into the void. It wasn't a pretty fate, and even if they'd be saved before the critical time arrives, recovering from that would not be quick. She needed to be careful with her teleporting, preferably there'd be none of that. Rosetta on the other hand was just watching the stars go by. It was magical! What a stroke of luck them being signed on in this mission. She had to wonder what else she'd get herself into. Yet, there was this nagging feeling at the back of her head, and that never meant that something was wrong. But she didn't want to ruin this for her sister.
 

Kaya

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Zoe was in the middle of a recharge, the power adapter plugged into the back of her neck. She was powered down to only the most minimal functions where she was monitoring the room around her and judging the ship's FTL and route as she connected with the ship making sure that they were not interrupted in their mission.

The Bio-Android was avoiding most conversation through the trip. It felt strange to be operating with others. Most of her life experience was solo hunting her... Aunt's. Well the robotic AI equivalent of Aunts. With a mental sigh Zoe left that train of thought and continued to monitor the status quo.

But something was now wrong with the ship. The AI didn't catch it fast enough to warn anyone when the whole thing dropped suddenly out of FTL. The lurch was enough to cause Zoe to need to fully reactivate and pull out the plug hastily to keep it from being pulled out by the fall itself and being possibly damaging something so sensitive to her system.

Gritting her teeth and getting to her feet she sent a signal to her.... coworkers. "We have unexpectedly dropped out of FTL, possible tampering suspected, please be on guard for other potential complications to our mission."

Zoe then thought a bit further and sent what schematic information the Black Ops Android had obtained to Geo with a short message. "I did not catch what happened between all clear and the drop from FTL. Thoughts?"
 

Dean

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Jul 12, 2016
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Geo had already recharged herself so the android had been sitting at a window watching the stars go by, the sight of it bringing back old memories for her. To her it was good to be in space again, while she thought of the Earth as her home now the need to be among the stars would always still be there. So her daughters message was no surprise as she had already noted that the ship was no longer moving.

“I believe something could be wrong with the engines.” she replied before continuing, “Unknown if it was a mechanical failure or sabotage. I will take a guard with me to investigate.”

Getting up she motioned for the Blackthorn guard that she had near by to follow her.

“I am on my way to the engine room now.” She said over the comm link before nodding towards the door and making sure the other followed her. She was unsure of the persons name, something clearly human like Robert or Bob, but the man knew his job so it did not matter. The both of them marched down the hallways, keeping an eye out but everything seemed ok. Everyone they passed were in DiTech uniforms and all seemed to be just as confused as they were as to why the ship had stopped.

Making their way to the engine room the door slip open as they approached and what they saw inside was not good, there was a DiTech employee with some tools or something in hand who looked like was trying to get the engine to do something. There seemed to be blast marks or scorching in some places so a fire of some sort had clearly erupted in the compartment.

“Status report.” she demanded as her eyes scanned the room.

“It's not good,” the DiTech engineer groaned, “Whatever happened has taken out the FTL engines and we don't have any idea what it was or how long till we can fix them yet.”

“Right” Geo said with a nod before turning to the Blackthorn employee that had accompanied her. “Assist him as you can, I will let the others know.”

She watched her co worker head over to the engineer and then turned around to survey the rest of the compartment as she reported to the others.

“The engines have been damaged, no cause of yet but we no longer have FTL capabilities,” she leaned in close to check some scorching on the wall before continuing. “There is an engineer here who is currently checking out the situation but things do not look goo...”

The sentence was cut off, but before Geo's line went dead the should of a blaster being fired could be heard over the link.
 

Lich King

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BRIDGE OF THE ELEGIUS IV

"Why have we stopped Craing." The bald alien looked over to his Co-captain who was fully immersed in checking the ship systems for any more damages or problems. These things could happen. Merk had lived through enough ship malfunctions to not panic immediately..but this...this wasn't right to him. DiTech was up his nose on getting the cargo delivered. He knew why....while the crew was oblivious he had taken on this mission for both pay and prestige. A reliable Captain could go places in this galaxy.

Looking up from his screen the Co-Captain spoke to Merk who was running his eyes of the numbers as well. "FTL is damaged it seems. Tech says it'll take some time to get working again. What are your orders?"

A small bead of sweat was starting to form as the worst case scenario began to form in his head. "Have security watch over the cargo and make sure the ship is swept through and through. Better safe than sorry."

Other Bridge crew members shared looks as the Captain was baring the usual look of calm he had plastered on for all their years of serving him. He could feel it in the room as well and so with swiftness, he fixed his face and with the push of a button made an announcement across the ship. "All ship crew be advised that we are experiencing some difficulties, stay within your quarters. All Engine crew are to set about checking our systems."

He sighed...that should settle things a bit. A busy mind was less fearful..or so he thought. With a loud ring of lasers, the Co-Captain neatly placed by his side fell limp and out of his chair. Yellow blood painted the computer in front of him and the face of Merk himself. Before he could turn, several more shot rang and other were ducking for cover.

The large circular room had small consoles where people would sit and work, each one was now guarding the life of a crewmate as they tried their best to avoid being shot. Merk himself did no such thing. Drawing his pistol he aimed it at the perpetrator a man he knew well.

"Xentha what are you doing!" A response was received, several more shot came is way but he dived for a nearby console firing back without regret. All shots landing true the body of his friend fell to the ground.

Within seconds the green formed female kin changed to a....human? They looked humanoid and had pale skin and hair. Without delay he moved to the Blood covered panel, pushing her former second in command aside and announced clearly and boldly "Shifters ha-" the announcement would cut leaving a deathly silency across the ship.

Play of Events:
  • Bridge was attacked
  • Ship Communications have been sabotaged
  • All players will have heard "Shifters ha-"
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Saber

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Aedan Drago

Then things went to hell, the ship stopped and he heard troubling things over his intercom before ship communications went down. Aedan would click his tongue thoughtfully, he'd hoped for a quiet job, but that obviously wasn't going to happen. "Check your weapons, not fully sure what's going on, but stay ready," he'd say, quickly taking charge of his small security group.

They'd start to move again, "let's do a sweep of this area as we make our way," they originally intended to circle back, but he wanted to check control. He'd heard the word shifter, which was troubling, their eyes could be useless in determining friend from foe, so he'd rely on his nose for that.

Moving forward, he'd quietly sniff the air, his enhanced nose searching for anything out of place, his enhanced intelligence remembering the ship layout. It was a big ship, plenty of hiding spots where one could hide, assuming whoever was on the ship wasn't already among the crew.

 

Demonicmuffin

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“Eeeeh~? An attack? They really caught me with my pants down didn’t they?” Dots said to no one in particular, exiting the restroom, slinging the gun off of his back, and patting its barrel affectionately. “Sorry Missy, I can’t boost you up, company rules. If things go south I promise you you’ll get that upgrade.” He told the weapon softly, pressing a small button on the side of his mask.

“Hey guys~! Dots calling in. I’m going to the engine to see what's up, maybe have some fun while I’m there.” He said casually, his mask transmitting his words to his coworkers coms. He wasn’t afraid of a sneak attack in particular, his senses were good enough to avoid that… Probably. Either way, it's cooler to die in space then to die on earth, that's for sure.
 

EmiRose

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Brünhild was really not sure about her employers assigning agents under her. She was very much aware of her incapabilities as a team player and thus far she had been able to avoid situations where her weaknesses could sabotage her mission objective. Even now, as she was doing a routine patrol with her two assigned agents, Brünhild found herself slightly distracted by their presence. Only slightly, however, since she was a professional killer and she could still perform with accuracy no matter the circumstances.

When the chaos began all Brünhild's senses snapped into high alert and her mind went sharp. She listened to the comms and intercom and did a quick assesment of the situation. People in control were in distress or dead, the words "Shifter ha-" had been heard, most probably "Shifters have infiltrated the ship" or something along those lines was the original message to be delivered. Zoe's report concluded tampering of the engine is probable. Geo in the engine room, shots fired, Dots was heading her way. Aedan, patrolling, status unknown. Aliasse and Rosetta, status unknown. Brünhild concluded someone would most probably head to the control room, she decided to head towards the cargo hold. And like that, after about 10 seconds of assesing the situation Brün turned and headed towards the cargo hold with swift steps. Her eyes observed the surroundings keenly, the talk of shifters nagged in Brünhild's mind. She trusted her senses, they were highly enhanced, but if these shifters had abilities of masking their scent together with their appearance Brün wasn't as confident in her abilities to differ them from civilians. Of her co-workers she wasn't worried, Brünhild had studied their body language and gestures and knew their quirks. But the crew was different.
Brünhild decided to open fire only upon certainty.

Brünhild realized only halfway to the cargo hold that she had nog updated her assigned agents on the situation. She stopped for a moment to turn around and speak to them.
"We are heading to the cargo hold. Stay on me, there's high possibility the enemy holds the ability to disguise itself. Let's move swiftly, keep a look around."
With that Brün continued moving. But as they approached the hold Brün could detect unfamiliar scents, that did not belong with the ship. Her muscles tensed, and before long she could smell blood. Brün silenced her steps, making them lighter than air, and stalked forward like a large feline on a hunt.
The predator inside her purred as some shots ringed through the hallways and Brünhild sprinted forward, ready to face whoever was waiting for her.
 

Nameless

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The sisters would never have known something was wrong if Zoe didn't call in to report an anomaly in their travels. The two looked at each other and gave each a knowing nod. They had their guns in hand started planning on what to do first. The last thing they needed was to get caught by any saboteurs. Geo's message, and the subsequent loss of it following the sound of a blaster officially made this operation a code red. More information filtered in while Rose felt ill. "Something's wrong here, sis. Something bad's coming to us," she said, ducking behind a steel beam. They could hear gunfire all around and Aliasse could sense what was going on in the bridge. She too ducked behind a steel beam across from her sister as three bodies were running through their hall. There were three doors that lead to this room, and all of them could be covered from their position. And then a short announcement rang out. Shifters. This was going to be difficult. "Don't trust anyone going through the doors." "You were never wrong on danger." Aliasse kept her gun trained on the door as the three people stacked up. "One of them's with us!" Rosetta quickly shouted right before the door was breached by an explosive. A hail of gunfire rained down into the room, but they were both protected. The two of them were synced up as both fired and killed two of their attackers. They were all wearing Blackthorn uniforms. The last one shouted in a panic as those bodies demorphed and lost their disguise. "Fuck. Fuck. FUCK!" "Are you alright?!" Rose called out. "We're not one of them, and we know you're not either!" "No shit. They wouldn't shoot their own people! How the hell did you know they weren't with us?" "Intuition, now get back here and help us hold out until we can get a hold of this situation." With that, the trooper rushed to them and took cover behind a table that Aliasse helped overturn. Over the comms, Aliasse contacted the rest of the team. "Status report, this is Aliasse. I'm with Rosetta and... Jason. Two shifters have been disguised as Blackthorn operatives. I'm sensing heavy casualties in the bridge. Approach with caution. Over." "What now? We can't just sit here." "We'll have to. For now. We've dealt with shifters before. Walking into the chaos will get us killed." "I see a path we can take to security. We'll head there. Jason, cover our six, Rose, tell us if you feel danger approaching."
 
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