hired gun

An uneventful week passes, and nothing much happens in between. Johnathan is staying on Vrak for a while longer for a “deal” to go through. Olia is as happy as can be, but doesn’t mention why. Vhith got a pay raise and looks marginally happier, but is still overall depressed. John the merchant is gone and The two brothers have nothing to spend their money on since Feryun’s good stock is way out of their price range.

One evening Vhilem, Triton and Feryun were having a blast drinking mush-rum, eating, and telling stories, and Vhilem gets a call. Vhilem excuses himself and picks up the call to see it’s from Olia. “yo Olia, what’s up?” Olia is relaxed and can be heard drinking something. “yo. Got a lead for you. Got a crew that is willing to take an extra gun hand. Pay is 20k each and the crew is pretty competent.” Vhilem’s jaw drops. From a dull week with no advancement of his goals to suddenly a golden ticket of an opportunity, It’s too good to be true. “Woah woah woah. What’s the catch?” “No catch. None that I know of, anyway. They're going to A-12 to fight for the Gorthain side of the war. Honestly, I don’t think you should take it, but I know you want some cash.” The excitement in Vhilems voice is infectious. The country bumpkin who has no clue what war looks like and only heard the words 20k. “I’ll take it! Just point me to the right direction.” “Your funeral bud. Come over to the bar and I’ll point you to them.” Vhilem hangs up the call and comes back to Triton. He tells Triton the news and they both say goodbye to Feryun.

They go through the wet damp streets of Norn with ease and quickly get back to the Thirst Trap. Inside it’s packed with fresh mercenaries who are willing to risk their lives for a chance at making some quick cash. The two brothers head to the bar and see poor tired Vhith manage the bar, alone. “Oh, you two. Go through the double doors and into the door to the left. The boss is waiting.” “Thanks Vhith.” Vhilem waves at Vhith and heads to the double doors. Inside is the usual scene of scantly clad men and their clients. The two brothers ignore them and head into a very secure looking door. Vhilem touches a panel, and after a few seconds the door opens, and Inside is Olia’s office. It’s made of imported varnished old earth mahogany real wood flooring, a high definition background monitor covers the entire wall and shows a dreary-looking metropolis with never ending rain, An expensive real wood table made from Vrakian forkwood trees, and on the table sit three monitors. Sitting across the table is Olia in a comfortable office chair made by “Bacchus”. Bacchus a life of luxury at an affordable cost, Bacchus.

Olia is sipping on some champagne and motions for the two to come in. Vhilem leads Triton inside and they both stand in front of Olia. “yo…what was it I told you to come here for?” Vhilem is used to seeing Olia drunk, but he is still annoyed by it. “ugh… we came because you told me about a potential opportunity to join a crew.” Olia lifts his drink in a toast and spills some of it all over her tale. “OH RIGHT! that…that thing um… right.” An uncomfortable amount of time passes as no one says anything. “…OH, I REMEMBER NOW. Yeah, yeah uh… here I wrote this number…down so I don’t forget and stuff.” He takes another sip and hands Vhilem a note. “Just tell…what’s his face my name and he’ll…do stuff.” “Why not just tell us over the phone?” Olia looks puzzled as if he himself doesn’t know the answer, but then he remembers why. “Right! There was a reason for me to call you in here.” Olia leans in and rests his head on his hands. “I like you two.” he hiccups. “But uh…your both kinda dumb and don’t know…things.” Vhilem rolls his eyes, Olia keeps going. “I ain’t gonna stop you, but some advice. That plasma gun.” Olia then wretches over and holds his stomach. He grabs a nearby garbage can and vomits into it. After vomiting, he laughs at himself and pours the rest of his drink into the trash. “That’s the last drink for…right now. uhhh where, where was I… THE PLASMA GUN. Yeah, never mention it or use it in the field, kinda. People WILL kill you if they know.” Vhilem nods and asks. “So I shouldn’t take it, is what you're saying.” Olia shakes his head. “No you absolutely should take it with you. If you go up against someone wearing tier 2 armor and above shoot em with the plasma gun.” “Is that all?” asks Vhilem. Olia scratches his head and thinks real hard, and he remembers one more detail. “Ask Feryun if he still has some explosive ammo for Triton. Im pretty sure he should have some, but I don’t know.” Olia lays his head on the table and drifts off to sleep. “lets go Triton. Olia passed out.” Triton nods and follows Vhilem, like always.

As they head out of the Thirst Trap and into the rain Vhilem makes a call to Feryun. “Hey buddy.” Feryun is excited. “Friend! How can Feryun help you.” “Do you have any explosive ammo for Triton’s gun?” Feryun gives a defeated sigh. “Yes I do. The whole thing I give for…1 thousand credits.” “deal. we’ll come by and grab it. Can you get it ready by today?” “yes yes. Come by whenever, Feryun have it ready.” “Thanks.” Vhilem hangs up the call and pays Feryun. He then makes a call to the number he got, and a man with a silky smooth voice picks. “Yes, what do you want?” Vhilem is very polite and sounds more meek than usual. “Yes uh. Are you in need for extra gun hands?” “Yeah? Oh, are you the guy that Olia mentioned, a Vhilem?” Vhilem is relieved. “Yeah, I'm the guy.” “Come meet me at the docks, space 40.” “Will do!” The man on the other end cuts the call before Vhilem could say goodbye.

Vhilem and Triton briskly walk to the docks. Having to come here so often, they know their way around and even say hi to some mechanics that Vhilem befriended. They reach space 40 and on it is a massive Blaird carrier a “kangaroo”. No one is outside waiting for them, but the main hatch leading into the kangaroo is open. Vhilem is unsure if he can walk in or if anyone is inside. “Helloooo…is anyone in there?” A heavily armored man who quietly walks up behind Vhilem tap his shoulders, and Vhilem turns around to see him. He is taller than Vhilem and is wearing a headset that covers his face and head, but leaves his mouth open. He is wearing tier 1 biomechanical ablative plating that is made to be destroyed and regenerate quickly, and keep the wearer alive. In a sling in front of him is his main weapon, an R-2 mini from one of grinder’s subsidiaries, Mantis. The R-2 mini uses quick gauss rifle tech to power up quickly and fire with decent power, but nowhere near the max power capabilities of a standard gauss rifle or its power tweaking abilities. Where it lacks in power it makes up for in being an infinity weapon that doesn’t require reloading or recharging. The man is drinking a can of soda through a straw.

He smacks his lips and asks. “you Vhilem?” Vhilem nods and holds out his hand for a handshake, but the man waves him off and keeps on talking. “My name is Gil Taruk. I was assigned as the commander for this mission. You have 1 day to prepare whatever it is you're going to bring and I expect you to be here by 4, understood.” Gil then taps on his head for a second and says. “there. sent you the contract. Sign it before 4 and don’t bother me with the contract specifics.” Vhilem nods and before he can get a word in the man heads into the Kangaroo carrier. Vhilem has dealt with dismissive leader types before, but even those people gave Vhilem a little bit of leeway to talk. Triton grabs Vhilem shoulders and says. “lets get ready.” Vhilem nods and doesn’t let Gil get to him.

They pass by Feryun’s food truck and he hands them a few explosive mags for Triton. He then asks. “How was it? Did you talk to mercenary people?” Vhilem nods. “yeah, a guy named Gil Taruk.” Feryun makes a pained expression and says. “Feryun hear things about that man. Good commander who gets job done, but people die often around him. Don’t know if it because he like to kill his own allies or he so mission focused he forget people are people. Feryun say, don’t take it. More opportunities in future if alive.” Feryun is genuinely afraid for them, but Vhilem gives his trademark disarming smile that puts Feryun at ease. “If that kind of thing would stop me I’d have no opportunities in the future, Feryun. The galaxy is large and most people would shoot you in the back for your body parts, but that ain’t gonna stop me, in fact it’s what drives me!” Feryun gives a puzzled look. “What does friend Vhilem mean?” Vhilem excitement fades and is more somber. “I lost someone in the past…it always pisses me off when I think about it. I want to make a place where justice actually exists! And I want as many people to live peacefully!” Vhilem regains his positive energy, and it rubs off on Feryun and he is also excited. “Yes achieve goal my friend! Feryun cheer for you to come back!” Feryun pats Vhilem on the back, and Vhilem smirks.

Vhilem waves goodbye to Feryun, and the two brothers head off to their place. Vhilem signs off on the contract and takes a glance at the important details, mainly the pay of 20k for both him and Triton everything else is irrelevant to him. He triple checks all their equipment, supplies, and weapons. To hide the plasma gun, Triton holsters it in a thick leather holster on his side. From a glance it looks like any decent pistol. They both rest and are ready to go with their first squad of mercenaries, to war. They make their way to the docks to meet up with the commander. Outside is a bright sunny day on Vrak, Vhilem takes it as a good omen.

They are the first to arrive, and Gil is outside waiting for the rest of the crew. Gil is smoking and is looking at his phone. He barely notices the two brothers. He looks up from his phone and takes a smoke and blows a puff of smoke away from the Brothers. He flicks the smoke away and checks his phone again. “contract is signed. Head on in and take any spot you like.” Vhilem doesn’t want to get on his bad side so they head on in without saying a word.

Inside the carrier the seats are lined on the sides of the ship. The middle section holds a large crate held down with nets and tie down straps. On top of each seat is a net to hold items. Vhilem and Triton sit next to each other near the middle and place their items on the personal holding net on top of their seats. After getting comfortable more people walk in.

One individual is wearing lean armor and a hood with face mask. On his back is a massive Gauss rifle like the one Johnathan uses and he has a massive knife in a holster in front of him on his shoulder. He sits in the farthest corner. The next person is fully armored from head to toe and carries many bags all over. They have only one weapon, a pistol. It’s holstered prominently on their chest. The heavily armored individual sits next to Triton and says hi, It’s a lady. The next two people walk in: one wearing heavy armor and the other practically no armor at all. The heavily armored one wears no helmet and is visibly augmented with cybernetics. He has short brown hair and black eyes and has quite the confident smirk. He has a rifle on his back that has a neon blue glow outlining the gun. The less armored one wears glasses and is heavily augmented with cybernetics. His eyes are cybernetic, his face has obvious marks signaling his entire face is augmented, he licks his lips and his tongue is segmented, His hands are also cybernetically enhanced. On his back is a massive and complex looking machine. They both sit next to Vhilem and the cybernetic man puts his massive machine on the personal nets. The last person to arrive is Gil and as he enters the hatch closes behind him and the ship flies off into the Vrakian sky.

It doesn’t take long for the ship to get to space and other similar ships fly near it and head to the same location, A-12. “ok crew. The names Gil, I’ll be your commander. The trip will be about 6 hours from here so I’m gonna use that time to get to know you guys and how best to use you in the field.” He points at the loner with the gauss rifle. “You first. What’s your name, share it to the class.” Compared to how Gil talks to Vhilem is night and day. There is a warmth to Gil’s voice it is both welcoming and commanding, and not dismissive. The hooded mercenary looks up and speaks through a mic, making his voice sound robotic. “Names Noko, I’m an assassin by trade. Good at scouting and taking out high priority targets.” Gil nods and asks. “And what about your weapons and armor.” Noko puts his gauss rifle in front of him to show off. “This here is a top quality Nox M-1 Q-1 reaper.” Everyone but Vhilem and Triton nod with respect. “The armor is Tier 3 steel ablative coat but I have a tier 0 Nox chameleon field.” “Nice!” says the heavily armored man.

“scout it is then.” Gil then looks at the heavily armored man and asks him for his specs. The man salutes and has a stiff posture “Sir, Sarko Valenchi. Tier 1 power diffusion plate, fully armored!” Sarko shows off his weapon. “And a Nox panther M-3 Q-1. I’m a shock troop and all round front line specialist, Sir!” “Huh, another Nox man.” “used to be one of their guards, sir!” Gil shrugs and moves on. He points at the man next to Sarko and he folds his arms and leans backs. “Tuta, combat engi, tier 4 lightweight steel mesh with internal exoskeleton.” Tuta takes out a hefty revolver looking weapon. “A hercules hole puncher M-2 Q-3.” He then puts his gun away and points up. “And my turret and anti-swarm tech.” Gil nods and moves down the line.

“The two meat shields, and you what is your specialization.” Gil points to the fully armored woman. She looks away and speaks softly. “Oh, uh my name is Aphra Xulita. I uh only have this.” She reveals her weapon. “A Nox loud needler gun, infinity variant. As for my armor it’s um tier 2 bounce plate with internal exoskeleton.” She puts away her weapon and and takes out a hyper-dermic needle from one of her pouches. “I’m a frontline medic. I have both organic stims if any of you have non-mechanical views and Nano replacers for the rest of us. I also carry various other medical items for disease and non critical injuries.” She puts her needle away and looks down and away.

Gil is finished with his inspection and stands in front of the crate. “That’s all I need. Do whatever you want. Once were an hour away from the planet we get ready.” Gil leans on the crate and goes on his phone to kill time. Sarko, while chatting with Tuta, catches a glimpse at Vhilems main gun and asks. “Hey you two, the newbies.” Vhilem looks at Sarko and points at himself, Sarko nods. “Yeah, you two. That gun what is it?” Vhilem feels no need to be secretive about his kill-a-ton and shows it off. Sarko whistles and rubs his chin. “A kill-a-ton ey. So what grade and quality? Or is it infinite?” Vhilem is visibly confused. Sarko notices and adds. “I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised. Q stands for quality and M stands for customer model grade. Customer model grade: goes from 0 to 3, prototype, custom, consumer grade, and military grade. infinite doesn’t get grades or quality since its new tech, buuuut technically speaking they are all considered M0 Q0.” He points at his rifle. “Model 3 quality 1.” Vhilem makes a big O face and nods. “Well, I'm not sure about that.” “give it here I’ll show you.” Sarko stretches his hand past Tuta and over to Vhilem. Vhilem un-slings his gun and hands it to Sarko.

Sarko turns the gun around, trying to find its make. On the left side of the frame near the back in small print. He finds the make, and it reads “Nox KTM0Q0 206996 made in” the origin is left blank. “huh!? how the hell did you get your hands on this? Family heirloom or rich uncle?” Sarko looks over at Vhilem and winces looking at their tier 5 armor. “…never mind can’t be rich uncle.” Sarko hands the gun back to Vhilem and Vhilem is both shocked and proud. “What’s so shocking?” asks Vhilem. Sarko looks suspicious and squints his eyes. “You don’t just find original prototypes just lying around and you two ain’t Nox, so how’d you get it.” Gil and the rest of the crew seem interested and look at him. Vhilem doesn’t know what to say.

Vhilem is scared now, knowing the gun has value and from a company that seldom sells to just anyone, but he takes the honest approach. “I uh…I bought it.” “Bought it…for how much.” “…500 creds.” Sarko shakes his head. “uh huh…500 thousand? seems a bit much even for an original.” Vhilem shakes his head. “500 just 500.” Noko chimes in. “Who was selling it? You catch their name?” “He said his name was John.” Noko nods. “Of course it was ‘John’.” Noko makes quotation marks with his fingers when he says John. Sarko backs down. “Guess you got lucky. Probably just wanted to get rid of it and go away.” Vhilem recalls that John did disappear not too long after.

A few hours pass and A-12 comes into view and the war has truly gone out of control. The plant is further cracked and fires can be seen from space. Volsta spaceships can be seen being blown out from low orbit and dogfights happen all over the outer orbit. The ship does not take a different route; it goes faster. A contingent of Volsta ships spot the incoming carriers and break off to attack them. The escort of attack ships break off to fight the incoming Volsta aggressors. The escort do their job and force the attackers to focus on them rather than the carriers. “Not much longer till we get into orbit. Get your shit ready to shoot as soon as the doors open.” Everyone checks their weapons and has them ready.

As soon as they break through the outer atmosphere and are inside the planet they are attacked. From across the planet shells fired from Helion air splitters holding suicide drones explode near them. The ships remain on course and take explosion after explosion. The ship is rocked and the crew hold on to the harnesses with dear life, except Gil. Gil stands tall his magnetic boots holding him steady, and he grabs onto the crates for support. The explosions get chaotic, but the ship holds until one drone hits one of the lift engines. The ship loses altitude and more explosions make the ship veer further off course. “Shit.” Gil yells out. Gil then makes a call to the captain overseeing their operation. “Captain Furma this is delta we’re losing altitude and are going to have to make a hard landing.” After a few seconds of static, an old man speaks to Gil. “Roger, once you land secure the parameter and wait for further instruction, out.” “roger.” Gil talks to the rest of the crew. “We’re going to have to crash land. Once this ship is down we secure the perimeter and wait for further orders!”

The ship’s Ai looks for a good spot to land, but the area below is infested with enemy troops. Another explosion rips through the hull making a hole appear. The onboard atmo shielding covers the hole immediately. The ship finally spots a decent area to land and dives. It hits the rocky floor with extreme force making holes as It bounces on the rocky surface. It then slides and finally comes to a full stop. Vhilem’s heart is racing and for once he thinks to himself, “Am I in over my head?”