The New Journey Begins

Gerrik walks down the off-ramp of the transport, he looks around to see if he can see anyone following him. Chau Sara this fringe world seemed the perfect place to lay low for awhile. The Dominion should forget about him in about a week or two he figures, he looks towards the tanker where 'Project V' was smuggled with the aid of a mercenary. He walks over to the big cargo ship, and nods towards the merc. She acknowledges him and starts the lift downward, as the lift touches ground she activates the levitating trolley. They hurriedly move it to a secluded warehouse at the edge of town.

As they exit the building Gerrik hands her the bag credits he promised and closed the big sliding doors. As he walks away he looks back towards the warehouse, 'All of his years of development and research all for a killing machine' he thinks to himself. as he merges into the crowd to search for a place to set up shop.

Sledge was lost in the cheap booze that swashed back and fourth in the small glass.  He was waiting patiently for his contact to arrive, and it was taking longer than expected.  The small clatter of glasses and muttering of tired marines filled the small bar, and it distracted him from the time being pissed away.  He slouched back in his seat, glass in hand.  Staring at the ceiling, he began to monologue to the friend next to him, "You know... I never cared for the tight spaces of a vessel.  Even something as big as this battle cruiser; they find a way to make it so damn cramped."  He paused to take a drink.  "The real son of a bitch is, I always wind up on ships.  Smugglin' a ship, hidin' on a ship, Deployin' from a ship."  He shook his head and brought the glass to his lips.

"Well you can't expect your little jet pack to take you everywhere...Sledge."  The figure of a woman crept from the shadows.  Sledge looked up in surprise and then cracked a bitter smirk.

"Well look who showed up, sum ten minutes late?", Sledge replied with a hint of frustration.  "You embarrassed me in front of my friends!", he said sarcastically as he gestured to the small group of soldiers sitting behind him.

The woman shot back, "Considered how you look in front of others... and anal about being on time?  They did change you." 

Sledge grimaced, and placed the alcohol back onto the counter.

"Alright X, enough small talk.  You know where Einstein is?", Sledge barked.  "X" nodded her head, and walked closer to the bar.  After reaching Sledge and his friend, she leaned in and sat next to them - softly grabing the glass and pulling it towards her.

"I know where yer' boy is... But I need my compensation.", X said with a smile.

Sledge snatched at her hand and pressed it firmly against the glass, "Don't go gettin' too pretty X, these boys haven't seen action in a while...  Ain't that right boys?!", he shouted.  A few of the marines propped up, glaring at "X".

Realizing the rotten deal she had suddenly found herself in - X glared down at Sledge and jerked her hand away.  "You bastard..."  She paused and sighed "Chau Sara.  Your friend and his doo-hicky are on Chau Sara.  I dropped his stuff off in Sector 573, near a warehouse..."  Slightly panicking, she stood up and tried to swivel away from them.

X turned around after leaving the seat, "You forgot how to make a clean deal or sumthin'?".  There was great anger and a tint of betrayal in her stern tone.

Sledge smiled at her - "They changed me, 'member?"  He looked back at Galven.

As This "x" woman approached them Galven couldn't help but imagine her ablaze with beautiful fire, a demented smile stretches across his face as he flicks his lighter. Galven snaps out of the fire's trance when the women stormed off.

"Ya want me to burn her sledge?" Galven looks at sledge with a bored expression

Navis sat a few stools down from the rest of the boorish group of so-called marines.  Although it was true that they were technically of the same military, they were still essentially criminals and scum, and she preferred to distance herself from them as much as possible.  It's not like life expectancy was very long for them, anyway.

"Shot of whiskey."  She called out to the bartender who was busy juggling between the other patrons.  He nodded back to her as she turned her attention to the approaching informant.

Navis listened half attentively to the ensuing conversation, not wanting to be uninformed of the current going-ons.  It was slightly difficult to understand their abominable dialect, but she was able to understand the gist of it all.  Very quickly, however, the informative conversation took a predictable turn for the worst - at least for the informant.  

"These boys ain't seen action in a while...  Ain't that right boys!?!" The loud dumb one who was speaking the most proclaimed threateningly as he sized the informant up.  Finally Navis turned to fully look at the group of marines, and realized the loud one who was speaking was the one she had heard about from her Dominion commander.  He was the one she was supposed to work the closest with.  She audibly sighed at that prospect.

Navis clasped a trigger on her mask, causing the air in the mask to decompress and create a quiet hiss.  After removing the mask, she quickly took the whiskey she ordered and downed it before getting up from her seat.  She had already seen enough of the scene at hand and learned what she needed, and she did not desire to see what would happen next.  She passed by the group and to the other corner of the room, where she could be more at peace and tune them out.

Sledge backed away into his seat, and shrugged at Galven.  "As far as I'm concerned, we have a double-timin' criminal on our ship."  He tapped his chin softly, and shot a glare at "X".  "Now - I don't remember standard procedure for dealing with these kinds of circumstances.  But I'm sure a well-read individual as yourself can give her the run down."

"X" backed away slowly, facing the crowd of soldiers.  Her hands were clenched and she was seething with rage.

Galven gives sledge a nod of understanding and stands up silently with blank expression on his face as he approaches this "x" woman he could not for the life of himself to find the words to express his feelings of her beauty but orders were orders to scare her.

"x" watches nervously backing away as this scared looking man walks up to her thinking "fuck is he this low to sick his dog on me?" fear is evident on her face as the man grow closer.

In galven's head "i must appeal to her but how?" Standing before her with a blank face finally spoke "I must express how beautiful you look but....."  pauses as a twisted smile creeps across his face "...... I cant help wonder how much more stunning you would look ablaze... care to find out?" He Proceeds to pull out a lighter from his coat pocket that he was playing with earlier.

"x" backs away in fear trembling "WHAT THE HELL KIND OF QUESTION IS THAT?" turns to sledge her expression was mixed with terror and anger. "CALL OFF YOUR HOUND SLEDGE!"

Sledge laughed halfheartedly, "Show some respect!  He's honest folk, which is ah helluvah' lot more than you can say."  He could tell some of the marines were getting uneasy, and so he sighed and ordered to Galven, "See her off the ship, alive - if it's not too much trouble."

Sledge had his fun, but there wasn't much time to be wasting.  Without looking back he hopped out of the bar seat, slapped a few credits on the table, and then started walking at a brisk pace out of the bar.  He twirled his hand in the air, motioning the rest of the platoon to follow him.  "Got ten minutes, then I want every one of you shit-stains on the ship."

As Sledge made his way towards the armory, he wondered to himself "Where the hell is that damn spook?  I've got orders to specifically not leave without it."  After collecting his gear, he quickly exited the room and advanced towards the docking bay.  With any luck, he was betting on her already being prepared.

As the confrontation between the scoundrels played itself out, Navis busied herself by sending a status report to her Dominion Commander through her masks readout.  Chau Sara was considered a fringe world, and although resettlement missions were conducted, it was likely that communication would not be possible upon landing.  That being the case, her Commander would at the very least be updated until then.

The 3D readout was processed internally through the mask and linked right to the users sight; thus, unlike the usual communication done through hologram and transmissions, the readout could only be seen by the specific user, and any message would be sent directly to the recipient with very little possibility for interference.  This secrecy was very important to her Commander, as he had his own objectives.  She didn't much care for what his reasons were.  It was just convenient for her since she didn't have to deal with the rest of her party, at least for the moment.

After the 3D communications readout shut itself down, Navis adjusted her mask to its default state.  With the normal readout restored, Navis once agan turned her attention to the group of marines she was assigned to.  Sledge - the loud dumb one from earlier - rallied up his companions for departure and left, presumably heading for the dropship.  She also noticed, to her piddling surprise, that the informant from earlier was not harmed.  Her opinion of the group marginally increased.  

Navis waited a moment as Sledge departed, and then moved to follow him.  Eventually, they reached the docking bay, which held their assigned dropships along with various other ships ready to launch.  She could only imagine the pilot was ready to get off this mechanical trash heap, and she couldn't help but sympathize with who she imagined was the only sane person left on this station.

"It seems your crew is ready, corporal."  Navis spoke through her breathing apparatus as she approached Sledge.  As a result of the masks robotic voice, extra pressure was focused on the word corporal, making her sound disdainful of the rank. "I will ensure everything goes smoothly on my end, but I expect you to control your boys back there.  All goes well and we'll be done by tonight - and you all will be able to skulk around whatever heap you end up on until next deployment."  Navis said with a strict tone, wanting to make sure Sledge knew that this wasn't some non-sense mission for a couple of deadbeats.  It was unlikely they even realized how important this mission was to a certain Dominion Commander.

Sledge turned to face the menacing figure - the ghost.  He hadn't seen the towering figure approach him, but he was glad it had made its way here.  After hearing it speak, Sledge was taken aback by its obvious insults.  "I didn't know you spooks had any kind of personal attachment to yer missions..."  He gave a painfully artificial chuckle, then shook his head.

Sledge tighten the leathery gloves around his wrists, and zipped them to be compressed.  He walked halfway up the open ramp, and turned to face the ghost.  "Now listen, I don't know how you spooks feel about hierarchy, or 'the mission' - but we don't do that song and dance around here."  He spoke distantly, like he was remembering something from the past.  "Seen too many men die from bullshit, and I don't want to wind up as one of 'em."  He was hoping that this thing wouldn't butt heads with him; but in retrospect he figured it was inevitable.  In the end, he supposed he was just hoping that it wouldn't be one of them.  "Most of us do what we're told; 'cause if we don't, they'll shoot us... or worse."  His tone was stern but calm - he was arrogant, but he wasn't going to let his pride compromise his chances of survival.  "I've got orders straight from the top of the stinker, we're in your pocket, spook."  He slouched and animated his arms, "Wouldn't want to piss off our great leader, or his belov'd constitutes.  We'd end up straight on the highway to zerg country."

Sledge was more than willing to jump ship from the whole goddamn dominion if it meant he could live another day - and he hoped he could get that across to the ghost.  He theorized that because ghosts and their kind were so close to central, they wouldn't understand.  "We wouldn't be here if we weren't good enough, so don't worry 'bout that.  I've gott'em in line."  He walked further inside the ship, with the metal frame under him clanking from the heavy boots.  After taking his seat closest to the exit, he grabbed one of his weapons, loaded a magazine, then grumbled.  "This is gonna be just great." he thought, "I wonder how it'll handle my friend Flamy McFirepants."

Galven sighs "yes sir" with that he and "X" heads of to her shuttle. The walk to the ship was very quite minutes pass in silence before Galven spoke "I apologize for the scare i gave you earlier order were order you know..." Galven rubs the back of his neck "....and i believe we own you thanks, you could have left when insulted not giving us anything especially after before...."

"X" takin back by the dog's words. "you actually sounded intelligent for a moment..."

Galven frowns "am I that brutish looking to be thought simple?....alas I suppose my sanity is in question and my leader is not the brightest so I could understand why you would believe that.."

Galven and "X" reach her ship "well you should be off" Galven turns to leave but before walking away "X" grabs his arm and softly spoke " If your this wise while follow that asshole.. you could do alot better..." galven without turning shook her arm off "i follow him because he earned my loyalty youd be lucky i dont burn you for insulting him" with this he walks away as "X"'s follow him leave before boarding her ship

Ten minutes later her rejoins sledge at the shuttle equipment in hand taking a seat next to him. "shes safe sledge" with that he pulls out a lighter and begins playing with the fire like a pet.

Although it was clear from his speech that Sledge was trying to get rid of her as soon as possible, Navis didn't quite let it end so easily.  She didn't buy into his pitiful story about being shot down by Dominion forces if he disobeyed - he was a criminal, a murderer even, and enlistment was his just punishment.  Navis had no sympathy for him, and she had to be sure he knew his place.

"As long as I am here, you will do that 'song and dance'."  Navis responded to Sledge in turn, her robotic voice not sounding any kinder.  Not that it could.  "If you understand, then that is good enough for me.  I don't expect much from you but to follow orders whenever I give them.  Other than that, you and your subordinates can act as you normally would."  

The two entered the dropship, and Sledge quickly took a seat next to the entry.  Navis began to approach the very back, but momentarily turned around to give one last comment whilst the two were alone.

"No one wants to be stuck in these suits forever.  Not even a ghost.  If you want to stay alive long enough to make it out of the military, I suggest following orders and befriending someone higher up."  Navis paused, slightly unsure why she was even bothering to waste her breath on this scumbag.  "If all goes well in this mission, you may even have such an opportunity.  So don't screw up."

With that said, Navis took her seat in the back of the dropship.  Only moments afterward, the dropship began to fill up with the other marines.  One 'marine' in particular stood out due to his bulky armor and tank.  She stared in bewilderment at him for a moment, unsure why a firebat was still commissioned in this time period.  Her interest diminished after a moment, figuring that this sad ragtag group probably never got with the times.

The warehouse door slides open to reveal a shaded figure, the figure shoulders slump as the door came to a stop. The figure takes a couple steps inside the warehouse and looks at the huge canvas covered object, his hand comes up and grips the necklace hanging around his neck. Gerrik's mind takes him back to the last frantic hours before his treason, he remembered his wife and daughter in shock and fear as he told them what he had and is doing.

They begged him to stay and that it wasn't too late to return to the dominion and get pardoned. He shook his head at the thought and told them that there were too many people who needed help for him to consider his own life in the equation. He told them to tell the authorities everything that they knew when they showed up, but he never told them how and where he was going.

Returning back to the present he picks up a toolbox and goes under the canvas and begins to put the finishing touches upon the weapon. One thing echoed through his mind, no matter what happens he will return home and bring smiles to the most important women in his life. That was his solemn oath.

Sledge never looked up from his weapons while the ghost spoke, but he did take solace in its words.  It seemed to have understood what he was saying, in whatever capacity a spook could.  But backpedaling from its original posturing didn't mean much to him much, as he still suspected this spook would be more than happy to send him straight to hell if it meant it could complete whatever obtuse directive it was given.  This worried Sledge greatly, and he rested his head against the cold steel plates of the ship behind him to cool off.  He let his eyes rest for a moment, and tried to remember how the hell he wound up here at all.

Sledge heard some other soldiers fumble there way up the ship, but he remained sullied.  After awhile, Sledge opened his eyes to Galven.  The hulking firebat sat next to him, and said "She's safe Sledge." 

Sledge smiled and said softly, "Good...good."  He looked at the warm glow from the lighter, and was surprised that the crazy son of a bitch didn't chop her up and barbeque her.  As scary as Galven was, Sledge actually trusted him, which was something he needed now.

After awhile, everyone was on board.  The ship ran down the checklist of equipment and personal, then proceeded to take off.

A few of the marines shuffled about uncomfortably, before one of them finally had the courage to speak up.  "Sledge, who's this johnny come lately?", motioning over to dark, ubiquitous figure in the corner.

"My boss."  He said with a straight face, as the engines purred outside.

Galven staring intently at the flames "sledge? Arnt you worried about this mission? they said it be routine be we now have a ghost..." the flame flickers a bit while Galven watches "....the goddess I know is troubled by this, she worries that this well be difficult for our men and her follower, she worries that this mission is bigger then they say and that the specter is of suspicion, it's mission for us unknown" 

One of the marines next to him chuckles "...moron all that goddess is bullshit ya know, if there were a god we would be in this me...." before he could finish his sentence he was lifted by the throat in one swift motion by Galven now standing slamming the mans back against the side of the shuttle he was sitting on he face blank.

"you dare insult my goddess of the flames...?" Galven"s face was that of stone as he raise the poor man off the ground "she wishes me mercy on you, but I don't believe you deserve that grace..." his grip tighten choking the man ".....alas a command from the fire is absolute." with that drops the marine gasping for air craws away as Galven sits back down the rest of the marines shift uncomfortably. 

"she is indeed troubled...." he opens his lighter again and watches the flame flicker out.

Navis silently observed as the strange firebat and another marine got into a small scuffle in the front of the dropship.  She paid it little mind, but it was clear that the firebat wasn't someone the rest of the crew should take lightly.  Probably one of those crazy types affected by the chemicals in the propane tank.

"Eh...  So...  Ahem."  A nearby marine spoke up to her.  "Can you read my mind?" 

Navis looked at him for a moment, wishing that her lack of an immediate answer would get the point across that she really did not want to talk to him.  He returned her gaze with a dumb look.  "Y'know, I hear about you ghosts all the time.  Weird psychic protoss shit."  

Navis sighed, realizing that this trip was going to be longer than usual.

After the long flight the shuttle enters the atmosphere. the shuttle shakes and rattles as it grows closer to the surface. 

As the shuttle landed in minutes of landing the marines exit the ship, Galven stands up collecting his bag and closes his lighter "hope this end quickly the fires of victory await" as he walks off the ship he stops at the bottom to wait for sledge.

"Dominion craft has entered this planets stratosphere" says the console in adjutant voice, Gerrik looks up from the servo he was working on. "What is their current trajectory?" he says in a quite but stern voice. A moment passes as the adjutant calculates, "their trajectory is this town of Stone Crane".... "how did they find me so quickly?" he mumbles. 

He stops his work and looks at the machine while he thinks for a moment and thinks of how he could remedy the situation, "Since the hawk and snake have spotted each other, all the snake can do is wait and hope to strike first". Gerrik hurriedly resumes repairs on the servo, if he can finish his work before they get here he may have a chance to escape without it coming to blood. 

With a new goal set he pushes his skills and body to the limit to ensure that this plan can end with no bodily harm to anyone, even if they are Dominion Dogs. He grunts as he lifts the gigantic servo and places it back in the servo socket.

The ride aboard the ship was a long and laborious one, but eventually they made it to the planet's surface.  Sledge felt a gust of wind enter his lungs as he took a deep breath.  The thrusters slowly lowered the vessel down to the ground, and concluded with a low thud.  "Alright, it's show time.", he barked.  "Get yer kits and form up!"  The ship's exit hatch hissed as the bed dropped to the ground.  One by one, Sledge and the marines poured out of the spacecraft.  He passed by Galven, and gave a reassuring nod for good luck.

There were no needs for immediate combat maneuvers, as they weren't deployed right onto a battlefield.  Instead, Sledge had the marines group up outside of the ship, and ready their weapons.  What little amount of civilians were here shouldn't cause any trouble.  Making sure there was no one around, Sledge lunged the jet pack into place, then did a quick thruster test to make sure everything was running smoothly.  Pat Pat!, the short bursts of fire lifted him slightly into the air.  He regained his balance and sighed.  A previous incident where a jet pack malfunctioned and almost killed him made him paranoid of the things.  All of the men made fun of him for this, and he was quick to shut them up about it.

Everyone was suited up and ready to go, with the objective only half a kilometer away.

As the ship landed and the marines began to rush out of the dropship, Navis calmly waited, taking time to make sure all her equipment was in working order.  As the last marine left, Navis followed.

Navis momentarily stood still and surveyed the area, trying to get an accurate layout of the area through her 3D readout located in her mask.  However, instead of an accurate layout, the words 'ERROR: LOCATION UNKNOWN' flashed through her readout.  Navis sighed once again.  This god-forsaken planet was nothing like her missions back in Korhal IV, where every area was thoroughly mapped out.  This backwater planet had so little importance to the overall grand scheme of things that not even basic information was available.  Regardless, she knew she would have to make do.

"You...  And you."  She pointed out to two nearby marines.  "With me.  We're going around."  

"Dayum, you dun did read my mind!" One of the marines exclaimed in surprise.  It was the same one from earlier, unfortunately.  Navis proceeded to ignore him.

"Gather your men and move out immediately, corporal.  We'll go around the long way.  Remember - we want the target alive."

Gerrik pulled two huge power cables and hooked them up with electricity shooting in all directions as the two ends met. He brought a hand over his forehead, beads of sweat reappeared after the movement. His breath was heavy, he moved over to "Project V" and climbed up and sat with a heavy thud in the cockpit. He says "Computer run diagnostics check on Frame 3 through 41" while he was also running a software check manually typing in codes and backdoor's into the computer at lighting speeds. 

As he was typing he heard something, this sound was low and continuous, Gerrik froze in place not daring to breath while thoughts flew across his mind "There's no way they found me so quickly! Its impossible!". After moments pass Gerrik  slowly turns as the sound became more focused. 

He sees nothing, he looks everywhere in the cockpit to see where the noise is coming from. As he looks under his command chair he sees a cat rubbing and arching its back against the support beam. As he looked at the cat he swore that it looked familiar, he reaches for the cat. It turns around and rubs against the outstretched hand and suddenly Gerrik remembered, "Sissy is that you?" he says in a low whisper. In response the cat jumps onto his arm and runs up it and jumps cleanly on top of Gerrik's head and lays there. 

"What are you doing here cat? Susie has got to be worried sick looking for you..." Says Gerrik looking up towards the cat as it laid lazily on his head. Sigh a huge sigh Gerrik closes the cockpit as it closes he looks at the security feeds and closes his eyes and awaits the inevitable Dominion raid .

"Gather your men and move out immediately, corporal.  We'll go around the long way.  Remember - we want the target alive."

Sledge nodded quickly, then motioned for Galven and the rest of the platoon to follow him.  He turned around to face the landscape ahead, then pointed forward with a signal.  Within a moment, he was off the ground and rocketing off into the sky.  Anyone in the platoon for a while knew what the signal meant, go on ahead, and I'll be there waiting.


As he was airborne, he spoke into the voice-com on his helmet "Alright men, stay tuned in, I'mma scout around and find out where this sum'bitch is and what he's packin."  He paused to catch his breath, then said to his detachment "Answer to the spook or Galven first for immediate orders if things get hot."

Within a matter of minutes, he was positioned on a grassy knoll.  He couldn't see much, but what looked like an old warehouse.  "Found a possible location of our target.", he said excitedly.  He spat out coordinate jargon then ducked behind the knoll to pull out one his grenades.  "Large, shanty lookin' warehouse.  Doesn't seem to be too heavinly defended - but be on your toes regardless..."  With a final sigh, "Waitin' on you."  Then, he listening to the silence until the rest of the men arrived.  He couldn't afford to get too close without backup, lest the target hear the sound of his jet pack - a dead give away.

Galven stands ready with the rest of the men for sledge's signal, ponders about the man they needed to capture and why. His thoughts were cut short when from a distance he sees Sledge's signal, giving his flamethrowers a quick test he orders the marines to move out to his location with silence.

Navis and her small group of marines advanced to the west instead of directly towards the warehouse.  Although she had no clear visual readout of the area, just from simple observation she could tell that a nearby hill was placed just conveniently enough to overlook a part of the abandoned town.  The trio advanced towards this hill as the corporal did his thing.

As they reached the hill and began to scale it, the marine from earlier spoke up.

"Y'know, you a scary mother fucker.  Anyone ever tell you that?  I mean, I seen some scary mother fuckers.  Like that firebat down yonder."  His head tilted back towards the other group as Navis let out another audible sigh.  "But of those scary mother fuckers, I ain't never had one that read mah mind."  

Navis finally turned towards the marine and indulged in his small-talk, figuring that her previous method of simply ignoring him was not working.

"Alright.  What's your name?"  She spoke with some regret.

"Name's Billy Robinson sir. Sargent Billy Robinson.  I like long walks on the beach and mamma's apple pie.  'Fore she got eaten by one o em' zerglin's o'course."

Gerrik leans back in the seat and reaches inside his coat pocket, he pulls out a metal case and flicks the lid open. He grabs a large Korhal special hand made cigar, he brings it under his nose and slowly drags it across the bottom of it. The strong tobacco scent fills his lungs as he takes a deep inhale, he pulls out a little knife a slices of the an end and places the opposite end inside his mouth.

As he sits there smoking the cigar he leans back waiting for the crescendo at the end of this serenade, Sissy yawns and stretches upon his head as she tries to get comfortable to sleep. Gerrik opens his eyes at the movement and sits up and lights his cigar with a small blowtorch, He eyes the poor grade cameras he has around at key points of the warehouse. 

He had set up some harmless traps but at least it would slow and disorientate them long enough to get the hell outta dodge. He really hoped this machine wouldn't have to draw it s first blood from human corpses.

Sledge saw Galven and the rest of the detachment appear over the horizon.  He motioned them over, with the grenade in hand.

Once they arrived he looked at all of them, "Set up for the charge.  Advance forward quietly and  I'll chug this when yer close, which should startle anyone inside.  The blast will create a hole in the infrastructure large enough to squeeze ya though - so I want Galven in there first."  He looked over at the pyromaniac, "I hope you're okay with taken a few bullets pal." he said emphatically.  Continuing where he left off, "Once the shit gets serious I'll swoop in for damage control.  By then - spook's men should be here, I reckon."

With that he gave them the go-ahead, then moved over to a more advantageous position.  He held down the grenade and prepared to throw it.