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Thank you for the consideration but I'm going to withdraw Ben from this game. I've currently got quite a few games and adding another might be more than I can handle. Combined with the pace that seems likely for this game I think it's better than I leave it to the people that want it more. Have a great time folks!
Benedict Daxos, I have put you down as someone Sapphire knows in her background is that ok..? Sure thing - I tried to set Ben up so anyone who's been around the crusades a while and is somewhat morally gray might know him (for better [he's such a good guy] or worse [damn dogooder!])
Offering Ben Daxos, a virtuous bravo paladin who is nothing like the knights in shining armor the crusades know best, but who still tries to do a little good in the world. He's inspired by Sharpe (which I have read) and Gaunt's Ghosts (which I haven't properly). Hopefully he's the right kind of guy to lead a black-ops team and maybe, just maybe, lead a few of them into the light at the same time!
"Yes please, Carrie." Ben replies, keeping his cool. "Make sure we're running hot as well. There's going to be some combat I think."
"Go then." Ben says with a nod, "And good luck to you. If you happen to have any proof of your claim we can act as messengers for you, maybe get the news into some of the right channels."
Ben sighs quietly - he didn't really want to get involved in this job in the first place and now the moral dilemma makes the whole thing harder. "Yes or no everyone, quickly." He says, their potential foes are ready for a fight anyway so giving them any more warning doesn't hurt much.
"You have some sort of proof of course?" Ben asks, his tone neutral. "Since I'm sure you understand that, given your name and... current state it might be difficult to believe what you're saying. You could show us around, make the lack of weapon facilities clear. Show us the zayapedes perhaps? Or give my doctor a look at your research on antidotes. I am willing to be convinced, but I am not. Yet."
"We'll be fine as long as we are not directly exposed." Ben says eventually, after consulting with his doctor. "Let's press on."
"That's Hellfire Toxin." Ben says with a frown, having done his reading on the trip over. "We need to be careful, there are clearly experiments with it going on right now."
"I'm afraid not." Ben says firmly. "We have been requested to deliver you to Captain Fireheart. He wishes to speak with you personally. Still I understand the inconvenience so you are welcome to close up your shop for a few days. We can wait a short time." He inclines his head slightly to Penny, acknowledging her wisdom and gesturing to Chase to stay near the proprietor. He has any intention of letting the formian out of his crews' sight.
Ben has the advantage of Carrie whispering in his ear to help him out which makes finding an intact core in the second bot a trivial matter. He is diplomatic enough not to flaunt his success though, which might be why he is the captain...
"And since they're coming with us there'll be plenty of time for us to have these conversations." Ben says pleasantly. "I'm sure Chase can help you tidy up so we can leave sooner." He gestures to the mechanic and her fistigons, just in case his veiled threat wasn't clear enough. "Now. Let's get going. The sooner we leave the sooner you'll be able to get back to your lovely store."
Delighted to have not been shot yet Ben takes aim and fires at the second robot before moving to make sure their actual target can't get away.
Ben sighs, keeps one eye on the formian to be sure he doesn't get away and sights on the nearest robot. "Focus on the mark 4!" He calls, doing just that.
"Yes there is." Ben says politely, motioning behind his back for Chase to block the exit. "We'd like your help locating Agavana Oathbreaker please. After-all, we can't have someone running around with that much hellfire toxin can we?"
His smile is wide, possibly a bit too wide to be genuine. "Now, shall we do this like civilised beings, or are you going to try and run and force us to catch you? My doctor is very good with tranquilisers but I don't think they're all tested on formians. You don't have any allergies do you?"
"I'll make a special effort to look for lingerie shipments on the next planet." Ben replies with a straight face. "Although as I understand it we're already carrying enough to stat a boutique or two." His poker face is annoyingly good...
Ben frowns, dealing with mass murderers, even at one step removed, is a nasty business at best. "Understood Captain. We will do our best to complete the job quickly and with a minimum of fuss. Do you have any other information that might be of use to us?"
Ben wakes up the next morning alone, slightly dishevelled and with the fading memory of some very pleasant dreams. Thankfully the experimental necrograft seems to deal rather brilliantly with hangovers, so despite his alcohol consumption the Captain is up and ready to go rather quickly. Quickly enough to note Penny and Chase returning to the ship together. Not that he says anything. --------------------------------------------
With a little help from Boots the information is procured and Ben lets out a meditative hum. "Well the Captain is a dedicated veteran, and well thought of in the community. He doesn't strike me as the kind of person who would be easily subourned for anything less than a planetary sized bribe. EJ Corp might be able to do it, but I doubt Eline would have those resources to spare. Despite the jobs difficulty I think this would be worthwhile. Having positive contacts in law enforcement would make this a much safer place for us to return to in future. Having something of a home-base may serve us well further down the line." Unless any of his crew object vociferously, Ben returns their acceptance of the job and arranges a rendezvous at the Dyeworks forthwith.
Ben represses a snort and tries to focus on the various life threatening situations in front of him.
"Come on girls! You can do this!" Ben says encouragingly as he steps back and fires at the creature from point blank range.
"Bother." Ben says when another monster pops up. "Need some help over here!"
"Get behind me, gentlemen!" Ben says firmly. "Now get that thing ladies!"
"Katherine, distract them!" Ben calls, before diving between two defrexes and pulling off a service panel. "Damnit, I'm a red-shirt, not an engineer!" He mutters, tracing the main power relay into the sub-conduit and then reversing the polarity with a short burst from his sonic screwdriver (never leave home without it!). The holograms fade away, leaving only a number of angry two ton mammals to deal with...
Ben, taking a moment to think like a saboteur, decides to head for the upper levels, working up to the turret if he doesn't find anything wrong with the galley and the rec suite.
And he doesn't...
Ben may not be a master of any particular skill but when he needs to he sometimes remembers the important and with a little help from Carolyn he rips out the damaged transformer and risks electrical burns to twist the remaining wires into a crude circuit. Chase is going to yell at him later when she has to fix it properly, but the airlock works and the null space settles back into its normal dimensions, so he'll be alive for the yelling and that's good enough.
"Damn it!" Ben curses. "I'm heading for the cargo hold! Remember not to kill the cargo if we can avoid it!"
"I'm fine Carrie." Ben says soothingly as he re-enters the ship, although admittedly still limping. "It's not serious and we needed to get the cargo onboard first. I'm sure Katherine will be patching me up forthwith."
"I'm more concerned about how quickly he found us." Ben says with a frown. "Once we get back we need to double, triple and possibly quadruple the ship for any trackers." "Could you do some scans please sweetie?" He subvocalises to Carrie. "Anyway, we still have a job to do folks, so let's get this cattle rustled up and move on nice and quick!"
"I send out a comm signal on every planet we arrive at." Ben says, managing something between a smile and a grimace as Penny closes the most recent injury. "Somehow everyone pays attention to that and not the one where I ask for well renumerated work for reasonable effort..."
Carrie: "I just have to distract him until Chase gets there. Penny will keep me going." Ben thinks, realising that he now has five girls to look after again.
Thankfully Carrie resists the urge to panic, which helps Ben stay focused. Since there's little else he can do he shoots back!
With his sights on the sniper, Ben aims and fires!
Sadly all his luck was used up hitting the grenade.
Where is he? Ben thinks back, rolling off his enercycle. He hits the ground hard, but does at least land on his feet. His rifle comes with him and he crouches behind the cycle, aiming his rifle upwards.
Ben agrees with Tasha's assessment! "Turn them as quick as you can!" He commands. "There's mines up here." Pulling his rifle he does something desperate, and shoots at the grenade.
Ben seems to be getting the hang of herding the beasts and manages to break up a number of skirmishes between them.
Ben goes zooming towards the plant, gunning his engine and generally making a lot of noise. A shot through one of the plants tendrils helps too.
Ben meanwhile keeps his eyes on the herd, trusting his crew to get the job done. His trust is not misplaced, as he knew it would not be.
"Of course officer. You'll find our licenses are in order." Ben replies. He's no judge of whether their badges are genuine, but best to consider them that way until the shakedowns start.
Ben doesn't bother to hide his grin at Boot's mistake and Carolyn's 'helpful' interjection. "That's a good start." He agrees. "I'll talk to some local vendors, see if I can convince them to let us use some enercycles for a little less than market price."
It takes a lot of sweet talking, but Ben gets his way.
"We will deliver them for you as soon as possible." Ben replies, "Oliphant out." With the connection cut he turns to his crew. "Boots, set a course. Chase, Penny, work on what we have available for setting up pens and so forth - this is going to be a dicey one. If nothing else waste is going to be a concern. Katherine, can you do some research on defrexes? We may need to tranq a few and I don't want deaths because we got doses wrong. Carolyn, transmit Taming the Herd to my pad would you flower? It seems I've got some reading to do. Anyone else want a copy? I'm sure Carrie can highlight the prurient chapters for you."
Ben spends the evening drinking rather a lot and becomes somewhat vapid with it, chatting away merrily about absolutely nothing and asking all sorts of questions of the Wintermourn's captain and crew.
"It has certainly been a pleasure, Doctor." Ben says with a smile. "I'll leave you to my colleague here in case you care to barter further. Should you ever need anything else, please do get in touch and we'll be happy to supply for you." He sends his 'business comm' to her pad - investing in a secure and anonymised communications address was the first port of call when they came into funds - even before the crew got their shares. Secure communications for jobs benefits everyone afterall! "Six hours ladies." Ben says as they head out. "I imagine staying any longer won't be good for us, but I'd like to investigate the net and see if there are any local jobs so there is time for a drink or two if any of you want it."
"Indeed we do, Doctor." Ben replies, taking the datapad that Penny offers and proffering it to the skittermander with a fluid motion. "Fifty tons as ordered. You will find all the paperwork is completed - we simply need the transfer of payment and you can specify where you would like them."
"I'd never recommend jealousy." Ben replies seriously. "And no, I don't believe so. She likes to tease and enjoys looking for an angle. I don't intend to indulge her." "Cold showers Boots." Ben replies. "Take them daily. It'll help you keep your cool. If you get this excited over shooting then no doubt you'll propose the next time someone puts a hole through me in a bar fight and I'd prefer not to lose my pilot and my life at the same time." He seems to assume that he will get shot, but then again he has history on the side of that assumption. -----------------------------------------------
He leads the way towards the tents, outwardly all confidence, although his longarm is firmly in place, currently disguised as a rather elaborate set of knotwork down his jacket.
"Carolyn, transfer firing controls to my chair!" Ben orders. "Boots, I'll try and clear you a path!" A series of short bursts ring out from the chain cannons, punching a larger gap in the swarm for Boots to fly through. As the pilot maneuvers Ben continues to fire staccato blasts into the creatures - keeping tentacles and huge floating bodies out of the ship's path.
"We do have missiles." Ben says. "Just try not to blow them up please Penny. We want a name as efficient runners, not murderers."
Ben chuckles at the by-play between Chase and Carolyn, and wouldn't be human if he didn't admit to a momentary distraction caused by said words, but then a wormhole appears and Penny isn't doing her job properly. "Boots, hard to port!" Ben snaps, "Damn it Penny! We need more than that!"
"I'm sure Jinx is quite the pilot." Ben replies, full of politeness. "But you've never seen Talah in action either. Enjoy the show. She always performs better with some competition."
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Ben replies. "My commiserations however, bio-containment can be the worst. As for your race I'd point out that we got here, first but I'm a sporting fellow so I'll take your wager. Talah, GO!"
"I'm afraid I don't have any cough syrup for your throat in my quarters, but I'm sure I could ask Katherine to whip something up for you." Ben replies, one corner of his mouth quirking up slightly. "You don't sound so well. Perhaps you should go to your quarters and lie down? We have some new holo-novels that Carolyn could stream for you while you recuperate."
His smile is positively beautific, the picture of a concerned captain.
"Should I be incapacitated then that will be your decision." Ben replies, neatly passing the buck back again. "And if you keep up that expression Talah I'm going to start thinking that you want other things from me..."
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