The Blackstar Company

[Gideon020]

Attention, the Rozinante is now boarding, all crew are to return to the Rozinante by 1700 Hours.
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Prophet Station is the closest many of those born on the planet Gateway to the rest of Union and other, independent, territories, a bustling trade mecca carefully separate from the planet below kept at a carefully-sustained 1930's techbase, and inside the station the local flavor is in full force with the numerous art-deco, gothic and other decorations looming over the bustling hubbub of a hundred-thousand constructed and derived languages translated in realtime by the OmniNet.
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=}+{=
=}-Sarah Flandry-{=
So I guess: here we are.
=}+{=​

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Character Name:​

Rabiah Malik

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Character Name: Neil "Redcap" Gallagher​

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<<<Big Mac>>>

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Character Name: Yuuka "Tinkerbell" Ito

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Character Name: Emerick Argent

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The Six of you have just reboarded the Rozinante, a rebuilt Nobunaga-class Battlecruiser that used to belong to the Duchy Of Cartensa before it was destroyed in a Union naval campaign. Now, what was once the pride of a destroyed nation is now the home for the Blackstar Company, a mercenary company of a very particular reputation in a field where there are greater and more powerful groups.

The Blackstar Company are infamous for their ability to work for anyone, and legendary for their ability to take on and succeed against incredible odds, a group known to be utter hardasses, for whom retreat is rarely an option.

The six of you have just spent your first moment of freedom since undergoing 'Orientation Training', where the Blackstar's leader, The Captain, ensured that the lost investment of multiple parties are all in 'functional' condition. Pilots, especially mercenary pilots, are products of intensive training and potentially billions of Manna invested in nanotech, chemical and genetic augmentation, hypnotraining and other means of ensuring that Pilots are the very best even as inexperienced rookies.

And The Company is not picky; there are child supersoldiers with higher ranks than century-old veterans, former prostitutes who are now expert hackers, celebrities once known Union-wide who are now the Company's spies, traders and diplomats.

As you board the Rozinante, you receive a message over your various communication devices from the ship's primary AI, the central mind of it's operations collective known as a Legion.

Spoiler: Greetings From Durandal

Oh look, our new recruits are finally back from their little vacation. Did you enjoy yourselves? I know I would if I could leave this ship, but then I remember why I stay inside.

Would you like to know the reasons?
1: I am surrounded by over a hundred meters of capital-grade armor.
2: I have access to anti-ship missiles, laser cannons, particle cannons, more missiles, and some railguns for variety.
3: I also have access to a very big gun, which I like very much.

Now that you're aboard, The Captain has ordered that you inspect your Mechs, make sure your personal gear is in order, and then report to him to find out about your first 'real' combat operation. That word was in quotes because I am smugly certain you are being mocked, so do try to live up to expectations, I have a betting pool going on your hilarious, explosive failure.

With the message delivered, you are now free to access areas of the ship.

The Armory is where you can inspect your Hardsuit and Personal Weapon.

The Mech Bay is where your Everests are stored, in case you need to make sure everything is in order.

The Library is where you can access information on various topics thanks to the Rozinante's OmniNet connection.

And finally, the Pilot Wing is where you can visit the Bar and chat with other Pilots and Crew.

 

[LuteStrings]

Yuuka hummed softly to herself from within Wish, hands gently flicking switches and running over controls, running a basic systems check as she did so. She trusted the CORE of her mech more than anything in the world, really, but the Shell was, while somewhat personalised with a readjustment and addition of armour, not her work, something she had a little harder time trusting to work perfectly. Nodding to herself, she pulled herself up and started to climb out of the Everest, the battered shell of her home-made music player bouncing on her hip as she did so. The engineer turned around and sealed the mech back up, straightening her jacket. Patting the side of Wish, she walked along the scaffolding around the Mech Bay, heading towards the door.

 

[Simpli]

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Flicking her screen up and thus gaining a perfectly good view of the bare ceiling over her bunk, Sarah could only let out a small yawn as she closed the page she had been reading just now, having spend the bits of free time she had gotten to read herself through past engagements and missions of the company and similar – after all there was no reason to start into her life of exile half-assed. Pushing herself up from her bunk and running a hand through the blue hair, her current iteration was using, she reminded herself to smile more and be far cheerier than she had been before – clean breaks and everything, important to living other lives and stuff.

"So you are basically a pilot in space, with phobias against running around without your armour, got it Durandal_1707, no worry.", she chirped back and ran a hand over the suit her body was clad in, making sure that it set as smoothly as possible and only then did she open the door. Turning to the right she headed for the Mech Bay – not that there was much to check on Everests to be honest, they are the modern day military mules after all, so at least that point should be finished quickly.

=}+{=​

 

[always_confused]

Rabiah was helping, or rather, being helped by, the mechanics on routine maintenance of her Everest when she got the message. Acknowledging the message, she finishes up giving her Mech a once-over. Thanking the mechanics and engineers, the true heroes when you look at the big picture, she makes her way towards the Mech-Bay's exit. All the while thinking of what the upcoming deployment would be like. This was going to be their first taste of 'real' action. They'd all been trained extensively for this very moment. It was time to prove their worth to the company.

Catching sight of one of her co-pilots, Yuuka Ito, Rabiah gives her a little smile. "Hello 'Tinkerbell'. How's Wish holding up? Ready for action?"

@LuteStrings

 

[Unimaginative]

No one would mistake the man standing in front of the Everest shell to be part of the milling maintenance crews: from the gruesome pair of Y-shaped scars on the left side of his head, to the shock of red hair and finely trimmed facial, to the almost arrogant slant of his stance. Neil Gallagher snorts at the AI's tone and dismisses the message before he looks back up at the machine in front of him. Unpainted and unblemished, the mech was the opposite of it's pilot, though it was a difference that Neil was ready to make up for.

To an outside observer, the expression on Neil's face could be broadly called a smile, or less generously as a "toothy grimace" or "like a shark on combat stims". As his eyes traveled over the lines of the, no his, mech, his multitude of scars ache, flares of pain that raced across his ravaged body, a reminder of his own experience with the war machines. When his gaze lands on the multitude of strange protrusions that ran along along the mech's torso and limbs, his smile grew even more savage. The whistles had taken an painful amount of effort to design, but the fact that the engineers had managed to humor his request was something that Neil would have to thank them for if he made it back.

Taking one final look at his mech, finally noticing the blocky text that named the machine "BANSHEE", Neil turned to look at his new comrades.

 

[LuteStrings]

Rabiah was helping, or rather, being helped by, the mechanics on routine maintenance of her Everest when she got the message. Acknowledging the message, she finishes up giving her Mech a once-over. Thanking the mechanics and engineers, the true heroes when you look at the big picture, she makes her way towards the Mech-Bay's exit. All the while thinking of what the upcoming deployment would be like. This was going to be their first taste of 'real' action. They'd all been trained extensively for this very moment. It was time to prove their worth to the company.

Catching sight of one of her co-pilots, Yuuka Ito, Rabiah gives her a little smile. "Hello 'Tinkerbell'. How's Wish holding up? Ready for action?"

@LuteStrings

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Yuuka glanced over at Rabiah, reaching up and pulling her goggles from over her eyes, resting them on her forehead. She nodded, glancing up at the other woman's Everest, practised gaze scanning for any particularly bad points. Seeing no problems, she turned back to her teammate, face fairly expressionless as she shrugged. "Everything seems fine," she said, voice quiet and a touch distant, "though I will want to acquire a better SHELL for it soon." She glanced over towards the other two pilots, Neil by his own mech and Sarah just entering the Bay. More than happy to let someone else take charge of the conversation, she fiddled with her music player, idly thinking of what songs to add to it later.

 

[Conundrum]

Mac Attack was definitely not the most original or imaginative name but then Marcus was not the most imaginative person and as he checked over the last of his systems from inside his Everest Marcus was more than willing to accept that. Everything was in order as he expected, there had been little reason to assume otherwise but then if they were supposed to be going into real combat soon he figured this was one of those better safe than sorry times. Sitting there in his mech he thought through things again doing a mental checklist for anything he might have missed and came up blank.

With that done he began to pull himself out of the mech and looked around at the rest of the mechbay. He was not familiar with the group he was supposed to be teamed up with and that was a bit unfortunate. Maybe they would get lucky and have a chance to bond over drink he thought. If not, maybe when they got back from their first mission and he finished extricating himself from the mech. "So, anyone know if we are supposed to head out to the boss as a group or how does this work?"

 

[always_confused]

Sensing Yuuka's distaste for and awkwardness in social situations, Rabiah gives her a final nod and leaves her alone. It was a pity, the ex-security guard thought, that the team didn't know each other better. They'd all trained together in the 'sims, yes, but that was arguably the only time they ever really interacted with each other. 'Ah well.'

She was brought out of her thoughts by Marcus' hollered question, "The message didn't say, but I'd be surprised if it wasn't one of those little things we're going to be judged on. I'm done with my mech, I'll be going over my gear in the armory, so I'm outta here for now. We can all meet up in the Bar in a bit and make our way to Captain as a squad when we're done with whatever. What do you think?"

@Conundrum

 

[Unimaginative]

@always_confused

"I think I'll join you, If you don't mind," Neil says as he pulls up beside the severe looking woman, his rumbling burr coloring his words, "Don't feel quite right without my hardsuit on."

That and Neil knew little about his comrades. He mentally goes over what he knows about the woman, Rabiah. Private security, picked up from the wreckage of a pirate raid and piloted a mech geared for mid range combat, one of the three combat oriented pilots alongside himself and Guillotine. While he would have preferred to talk with the latter, but the man seemed not be around at the moment.

 

[LuteStrings]

Sensing Yuuka's distaste for and awkwardness in social situations, Rabiah gives her a final nod and leaves her alone. It was a pity, the ex-security guard thought, that the team didn't know each other better. They'd all trained together in the 'sims, yes, but that was arguably the only time they ever really interacted with each other. 'Ah well.'

She was brought out of her thoughts by Marcus' hollered question, "The message didn't say, but I'd be surprised if it wasn't one of those little things we're going to be judged on. I'm done with my mech, I'll be going over my gear in the armory, so I'm outta here for now. We can all meet up in the Bar in a bit and make our way to Captain as a squad when we're done with whatever. What do you think?"

@Conundrum

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Yuuka blinked, a little confused as to why Rabiah had just walked away, completely unaware at how her normal distant attitude might come across. Shrugging again, she just nodded, re-clipping her music player to her belt. "That seems wise," she said.

 

[Conundrum]

"Yeah, meeting at the bar seems like a solid idea. My gear is already stowed so I will see you guys there," Marcus had very little in the way of personal property and most of it fit in his mech anyway. Given the state of the company even taking care of uniforms had not been a real issue allow him to simply cart around a couple pairs of coveralls for daily wear.

Leaving a ways behind Yuuka Marcus began to make his way to the bar, the girl did not seem particularly personable and with the other two heading to berthing so he would taking this short walk effectively alone it seemed.

 

[Druby]

Emerick lets out a lazy yawn, leaning back against the backrest of his seat at the bar. An empty glass sat in front of him, water of course, as he simply idled a bit of time away. His personal effects had long ago been put into order as he didn't particularly own many things that were overly large or bulky, and while he liked to carry a few charms and mementos around with him, they were usually on his person no matter what. His mech itself was similarly established, a loud out that he'd long preferred and found had worked for him, and he didn't bother with much more than a quick visual inspection. Seeing the others going a bit more in depth, Emerick had decided that he could afford to kill a bit of time and so left for the bar for a quick snack and a drink.

The man glanced up towards the time, scratching at a scar upon his face. "Guess everyone should be about done by now..." he muttered quietly to himself as he picked himself up. "I suppose I ought to get going then."