Planet New Tokyo was a special place. For some it was an urban paradise with everything available, to others it was a planet of run down slums. Whatever the case, it’s no lie that the major Kusari criminal empires have strong ties to the planet. There are enough backstreet bars and run down, areas that the police don't check, for any criminal empire to flourish. Being a capital planet with a huge population, that makes Manhattan look spacious, there was really no limit to what you can acquire here. It's well known by the people and the authorities that the GC run Cardamine dens here, The Blood Dragons run recruitment outposts, and that the Farmer's Alliance.... well no one really cares about them.
Those are just the major criminal empires. The amount of small arms dealers or petty gangs you see is unnerving. New Tokyo is a true blessing to some, a curse to others. If you have credits you get the better side of this, you can buy a kamikaze ship if you really want. Would probably be a foolish purchase though...
Today in the depths of Kusari, there is a bustling market as always; Holding weapons, ammo, drugs and all. Towards the side of the "Parks Arms Market" was a small store, easy to see, but hard to notice. Its windows were reinforced with steel, and an auto turret guarded its entrance.
Wearing her usual stuff, long brown coat with a skull on the chest and a belt with a sword and a gun holster, wearing her shotgun on the back, her boots covering everything up her knees and leather pants, which were easy to move in, Tia moved towards the small store on the side. The steel reinforcement and the turret made the store look like a good one, aside from the other stands through the whole damn street. Knowing that she needs to speak full Kusarian, she enters the shop. "Konbanwa."
The shop has tons of different arms, varying from small guns, to bigger rocket launchers. Tia came to the register, but nobody was there. " 'Uh... Is anybody there?' ".
As she approached, a man emerged from the shadows. He looked like a cross between Rheinland and Kusarian, maybe with a blend of Libertonian thrown in. He spoke in a strong ascent with only minor amounts of Kusarian in his words. "Uh..? Oh. Need something?"
His voice was gravely and rough.
Tia looked at the guy, pretty much scanned him. It did not surprise that people in the slums were like that. After looking around and what is behind the man she decided to speak. "I need slugs for RX-82-Light Plasma Shotgun and bone breaker bullets for FF .40 Shax Magnum. Are you selling those? If not, where can I get them?"
Tia stood there and did not continue as she was awaiting for an answer.
The man looks, he face sharpens looking old and worn. He rolls his eyes and flicks his thumb and fist backwards indicating the door to his left. "Another one..."
He takes a long sigh and walks back into the shadows. The auto turret clicks and begins tracking, he seems to be a little cautious.
Tia frowned at the turret, she inspected it and pushed herself off the table. She proceeded to the door the man pointed at. The door was open so she freely went through it.
Behind the door there was a sharp left, going down some stairs. They were wooden, worn. Each step looked more bent and broken than the last. The stairs lead down into a similar looking front this one more heavily defended. At the entrance alone was 4 auto turrets, all protected by a thick sheet of reinforced steel. There was The turrets guarded another door. Upon the first step in all four turrets jolted their aim towards the sound, their barrels spinning. The stairs behind became sealed and a voice came from a speaker "Another move and you're dead."
The voice was a woman's. It was soft and delicate, but it had a disguise of anger and aggression. "What do you want?"
Tia stopped moving entirely. Only her eyes were scanning the turrets and her ears tuned to hear everything that could be heard. She took a deep breath and spoke up. "I need ammo. I hope I can get some without getting shot at."
Tia kept looking around looking at wherever that voice is coming from.
A grunt came out of the speaker. "You think you can just come in here?"
Her voice changed tones becoming more hostile. "What do you have to offer me that will allow you in? I don't know who you are and have no reason to trust you."
She laughs a little "Not that I need trust when I got enough automated defences to render you a unidentifiable corpse."
"Well I am pretty sure that you accept credits as payment. And the shopkeeper told me to get here. I need rare ammo."
Tia sighed. "I don't think it’s okay to shoot everyone you see."
She breaks into good set of laughs. "ha.. you really think that you're are more than that? Ooh boy..."
The speaker crackles a little. "In my store. you bring a product or something of value to get it. Or you be my friend. You are not. Either you have something I want like a rare piece of tech or some Cardi, or you don't get in. Simple."
Tia takes out her sword. Quite a rare one at that. Something that could not be found just by looking around for it. " Ahktar Modern Katana Style Blade. Forged with steel and iridium. It can cut through pretty much anything. And I have two of them. I think it's a good gift for a.... newborn friendship."
Tia smirked and looked up at the gate awaiting in silence.
The women snorted "I like you already."
The turrets stopped spinning as a beep was heard coming from the door.
The door made a metallic clang and the door swung open. as it crashed against the side another passage revealed itself. This passage was not like the others. It was well let and lined with steel. The corner turns into a wide open space, all the walls liner with steal and turrets. There are 4 mechs placed around the room, their heads scanning the room over and over. There are guns and ammunition littered all over the place, aligned in rows just like a shopping centre. In the centre was a long red chair, designed for people to lay on. It was here the woman resided. She has long lush hair, that flowed to one side. Her eyes glowed extremely bright beckoning attention in their own right.
"So... what may I... do for you?"
She speaks softly, as her eyes dart up and down the woman before her.
Tia looked around the rooms she was passing through. "I like what you have done with the place. Good setup for a weapons dealer. You might even make a good information broker. Anyways."
Tia took out her magnum and her shotgun, then set them to the table. "I need slugs for the shotgun and some bone breaker bullets for the .40. You have those?"
She giggles playfully "Ah ah ah! First, your entrance payment..."
Tia raises her eyebrow. "Okay..."
She took out her sword and set it on the table. "In its state, its worth a fortune, but I rather use it for combat. Anyways. Are we cool?"
"Yeah sure sure... browse..."
She trails off while she examines the sword. "OH and touch anything you're not supposed to and the defences will 'react' to it."
"Yea yea."
Tia answered and started looking through the wares.
She swings the sword in her hands a couple of times and continues examining it. "It’s a fine blade. I could find a use for this I think. You find what you are looking for sweetie?"
"The blade holds more strength than a common katana blade, but it's maintaining the same speed."
She picked up several slug packs and bone breaker .40 packs. "Yea I have them...."
She hears several heavy guns from the room above. "Damn. Is your friend going to be okay up there?"
"Yeah he's fine... well I am anyway. Couple of them guys die a week. It’s fine. I have been running this thing for years, only one thug has ever got passed the first set of defences. There are another three sets you probably missed. I have two on public display to make it seem like they are protecting something valuable, but still seem easy to defeat. Just means I can clear up the loot left behind. If they were somehow able to get in here at all, I have enough guns and firepower in this room alone to destroy everything within a 200 mile radius of us. That's just with the stockpile of ammo I got!"
She laughs maniacally.
"I got more special merchandise for those special occasions."
"Anyway..."
Her eyes lock into Tia's. "Why don't you come sit up here next to me and we can talk... business."
"You got me at business"
Tia sits next to the dealer. "I will kindly introduce myself. Tia Stormclaw. Mercenary, assassin, you name it. And you?"
"Hmff... I like you... and... I'd say I got enough evidence on you so far for you not to betray me so..."
She pauses while still staring into her eyes. "Call me... Aurelia Kiku. Arms Dealer, Information Broker, Terrorist, and all out crazy maniac."
"Oh? What kind of evidence. And again, you got me at crazy maniac."
Tia smirks and chuckles at the same time looking at Kiku.
"Cameras. There all over this facility. It the classic 'You get me, I get you.' "
"Hmmm. Interesting I must say."
Shots heard again, this time closer. Shots fired from turrets could be heard for a few seconds, then silence again, like nothing happened. "Somebody likes disturbing your peace."
"Yeah... I got the biggest stash in a very very large radius."
She gives a long sigh.
"Oh well. Anyway. Business."
"Business, yes. What do you want to talk about exactly?"
Tia readjusts herself on the chair she is sitting on.
"You want a product from me yes? Well let’s talk prices. And after that we'll see what happens."
"Well. I came here for ammo, but.... Now that you are offering your products I can talk jobs and creds, depending on what you want."
"Oohh... Tempting. Tell me. What do you think of the various Kusarian powers?"
"What do you mean... powers?"
Tia raised her eyebrow in confusion.
Once again eyeing her up and down "You know... those big bad organisations that ether want to enforce their laws on you... or destroy you where you stand... there is enough for the civil war to happen!"
She giggles playfully.
"Well....there is one happening right now. You know.... I started one war already. Make people come in right time and anything can happen, war, genocide, annihilation. Anything you can wish for."
"One without morals? Oh I really like you!"
She fidgets playfully with her hands. "We have the Blood Dragons, The Republic... the GC... and the Exiles. All with enough manpower to destroy the entire of Kusari, but which to fight for... that's the question."
"I halfly originate from the GC. They raised me as you would say. I have been spending some of my time in Liberty so situation there is no different. Still... Kusari /is/ home."
"A GC woman? You're full of surprises. Sooo... What's your stance then?"
"My stance is simple. Nobody attacks me and I won't fire back. As long as I don't get paid."
"Money? I like money."
She twirls a few of her hairs.
"You like chaos?"
"I try to do my jobs...."
she sighs. "...without innocent people getting involved."
"Hmmf..."
she turns away, looking in the other direction. "You say your were GC born and raised?"
"Raised only. I am zoner born. I was trained to kill and leave without doing too much damage. That would be a meaning of an assassin."
"Hmm... hai. But you work as a mercenary... you lack purpose."
"I work as a mercenary in space, as a pilot. I shoot what is targeted, nothing else. And I get paid for it."
"Then tell me. Why did you leave?"
"I wanted so see new things, the rest of Sirius. Then I wandered into Omicrons and stayed there for a long time. I worked with an organization of some sort. Now, the organization is split and I tend to have assassins on my ass."
"But what of your sisters? You would leave them behind?"
Her voice becomes slightly agitated.
"I did not leave them behind. I was granted permission to leave, so I did. Others simply decided to stay. They did not really like me because I was not of pure Kusarian origin."
"I seen that before... I guess from you have told me that you don't have the same methods as the rest then do ya..? Hmm... Hai?"
"Hai.... My methods are different from others.... but I get the job done."
She chuckles to herself softly. "You're a rather unique personality aren't you."
She pauses and picks up a more serious tone. "But this is all talk so far. Do you have any examples of your abilities? You have some nice, rare, equipment but so do those who are rich enough to buy it."
"I am getting payed by lots of people to help them take down libertonian lawfuls. You can ask anyone there of Tia Stormclaw and they will tell you. Or do you want me to prove it right here?"
Tia looked at Kiku's eyes and smirked with a small piece of evil within her.
Kiku grabs her hand "I like where this is going. How much damage could this do I wonder?"
Tia got close to Kiku's face. "Trust me... A lot of damage."
She sent out a cold look with a smirk that would make anyone fall down. "Ooohhh.... Intimidating. How about we put your skills to the test?"
She raises her left arm to her mouth and speaks "FR-Open".
As her speech ends a short sequence of beeps is heard and a reinforced wall slides down revealing a firing range. Each column had a slightly different target for all the various scenarios. There is a small control panel at the front which is assumedly used to set up various settings and programs. "Please go ahead, use the panel. Demonstrate your ability to me!"
Her tone was sinister and evil, this matched her grin.
Tia gets up. "People do love to challenge me...."
She takes her weapons and readies them. "Lets see....."
Without too much button pressing she seemed to have put something on. A few seconds later targets started popping out and moving fast. Tia did not do anything for the first five seconds as she was looking at what to shoot. After that she started taking them down, one-by-one, without missing a shot.
"Impressive. But how are you on your feet?"
As she finishes 2 automated mechs jump out from the floor, their gatling arms spinning.
"You are on!"
As the turrets start shooting Tia starts jumping around the room dodging bullets like there was no tomorrow. After the turrets ran out of ammo, Tia settled down. Her coat had one hole in it. "Damn it."
"Sloppy. Impressive, but sloppy."
"I don't do this very often. Well when I do, walls are usually replaced by people."
Tia lets out a small laugh after finishing.
Kiku stands up "A little honing and you could tap into your true potential."
She's behind walking towards Tia, her steps elegant and graceful. "Question is, how far are you willing to go?"
Tia turned around towards Kiku. "I think that my potential is gone. I might have lost it a few years back. I was much stronger than this, but I don't think it's too late to try it again. Anyways. What are you implying to?"
"Something to test your worth... to see if you are worth my... time."
Her voice is slow and soft. "There is always room for improvement, and I believe that it is done through practical experiments. You have impressed me thus far... I want to see if my desire to get to know you further is well placed... from a business perspective at least."
"I am listening."
Tia crossed her arms and leaned on the wall.
Kiku grabs her hand and rushes them back to the couch, her energy and enthusiasm feeling somewhat innocent. "So there is this shipment yeah? The KNF recently took out a small outpost I set up for Cardamine shipments. They are gonna be moving the goods to evidence lockup aboard one of their battleships in the Hokkaido System. We are going to intercept it and get it back. We have two options. Option one is to take out the transport and escort before they leave planet Kyushu. Option two, we take them out while they are enroute in space."
She smiles playfully still holding Tia's hand. "You in hai?"
"Interesting... How many ships does the convoy have?"
"While in space... 4 KNF fighters and the transport."
"What about the outpost then?"
"Unfortunately the outpost was totally wasted by their raid. Only reason this shipment survived is because we were prepping it to be taken to Ainu."
"Is the transport on that outpost?"
"Currently its at a secured depot. We will take it out while it’s on its way."
Kiku grins. "We get the transport while it’s still on the planet. Chasing it into space would be suicidal."
"Alright. It will be leaving the depot in roughly 14 hours. Take a look around cache, see if there is anything you want to use. Come get me when you are ready to move out."
Kiku gets up from the couch and moves to the back of the room. She prompt begins looking among the line of gear, this was clearly her personal gear.
Tia took her gear and got ready. She had a strange device on her hand that she was tinkering with. It started glowing for a bit then stopped again.
Kiku began rummaging through various items bringing out a full set of gear. She had got out a full set of scout tactical gear with a high powered silenced sniper rifle, a long range machine rifle and a pump-action shotgun. Among the rest of the tactical scout armour there was a tactical mask for stealth operations. It appeared to have inbuilt sights.
Tia saw that Kiku's suit was tight around some areas. She set her eyes deeply at those areas as she scanned Kiku as a whole. "Hmm... Sexy."
She said in a flirting voice.
"Heh... damn right. Get some gear on if you want any. I'ma gonna change now."
Kiku proceeds to undress and grab the gear. While undressing she looks at Tia. "Beauty of this Scout set is that even comes with padded clothes for underneath the armour."
"I am fine with this. Mine is mostly padded from within so I don't have problems fighting."
She started charging the device on her hand.
Tossing her clothes to the side she reaches for her gear. She appeared to be quite thin and slender, showing an inborn ability - or well honed - for stealth. "Oh well. Suit yourself."
"Nice body. You got some good qualities I must say."
Tia said as she was checking Kiku out. "Cheeky."
She playfully giggles. "But I don't mind. Look all you want."
Her voice was soft and cute, almost innocuous. "Damn right I will. I am done getting ready anyway. And I really like the view."
Tia sat down and started staring at Kiku's back, from top to bottom. "Watch the tone, unless you want me to be rough back."
She giggles at her own comment and stares at Tia, her playful eyes glowing bright blue. "And how would you be exactly rough?"
Tia smirks while looking at Kiku.
Grinning, "I think I can leave that for your head to think about."
She smirks reaching for her tactical gloves and arm pads. An odd place to start for getting dressed but Kiku is strange…
She grinned. "I can't wait to get on your "good" side then. If you know what I mean."
Tia winked and kept looking at Kiku as she dressed up. "Prove your worth first whelp."
She giggles slowly dressing herself in her gear, purposely teasing Tia.
Tia slowly approached Kiku, in a more passionate way. "Should I prove it here and now or?"
While saying that she slowly got to Kiku's ear and her voice had softened. "Or should I prove myself after we kick some lawful ass?"
She smirked afterwards. "Oh.. you got some fire after all!"
She places a single finger on Tia's chest pushing her backwards. "This is a choice isn't it... Ahh but I want to make sure you put in that... extra amount of effort for our combat... maybe you will if you have some.. incentive, something to come back to." "Alright. Better get ready. Most combats are barely a warmup for me. And I get much better after combat."
Tia turned around and rechecked her gear.
Putting the final piece of her armour on "Well its gonna be a while for us to get there and get setup. We can talk strategy when we are in the ship. We'll take my Sutinga. You ready?"
"Hell yes I am. Let’s go."
Tia set her guns on her and waited for departure. "Aright then follow me!"
Kiku grabs her hand and leads her through the various barriers, each one closing behind them. As they reach third point they enter the room and they is just a collection of corpses, assumedly the people who tried to break in. "Told ya them defences would hold em."
Upon entering the main floor and through the door the shopkeeper is dead among with two other men. The turret had placed itself inside the roof to repair its damage automatically. "Like what I done with the place?"
"I really like it. My apartment has mostly guns settled all over the place."
"I really found a jewel in you didn't I."
She giggles. "Alright this way."
She takes her through a locked door to the side, the door is once again highly reinforced. Upon going through it opens into a wide open area that is completely walled off. She walks them over to a small panel that is in front of a large metal disk that spans the entire courtyard. "Alright... 'Sutinga' call.... and there we are..."
The Metal disk, now appears to be hangar doors to a massive underground complex, open and floor slowly rises from the bottom. Atop this floor is the mighty Sutinga. "Nice ship. Though I, myself prefer the Eagle."
Tia started approaching the ship. “This thing is more reliable than you know."
"Never tried it actually. Might even use it for a vacation ship."
"Its pretty." She says staring at Tia as Tia walks towards the ship. "Let’s board."
"Let’s go. I don't want them waiting for us."
"We got many hours before they are ready.. hehe..."
She giggles.
Tia giggled. It would be the first time she did it in months.
Being a really small ship there is not much to see actually. A small corridor leading to the cargo hold and to the cockpit. It is pretty clean, maintained and mostly silverish in color. A few pipes leading to the engines and another few, which hold the electrical wires, leading to the weapons systems, jump drives and similar things to it. The cockpit has two comfortable seats for the pilot and the copilot and a small strategic table. It is unknown how it managed to fit there without making it all cramped.
Tia sat down on the copilot seat and used the table to bring up the outpost so strategies could be made. Kiko in the meantime, while passing by Tia dragged her hand across Tia's shoulders and neck then sat down on her pilot seat and engaged the ship’s engines.
"You can't deny this is a nice ship, and if you couldn't tell I paid for its extra features."
She pushes a little button that opens a hidden door on the right side of the ship. The door appeared to lead into the right wing of the ship. "My portable bedroom."
"I think I could use that /any/ time. he he he"
Tia let out a small laugh. “Sneaky. Focus on route plotin will ya?"
"Yea yea."
Tia brings up the outpost on the table.
"Let's see... There are several buildings around it, one looks abandoned. One entry and the transport is in the middle of it. It's a small scale so there would be about 20-40 soldiers at most there."
Kiku lets the ship's autopilot slowly take them up and leans over to Tia. Reaching in front of her she uses her fingers to zoom in closer. "You see this road? They will be using it to go straight from outpost to the spaceport. Its a short distance so we wouldn't have long. I could settle in this building overlooking the road with sniper and spot for you. You could use this mine I brought to immobilise the transport, then just we need to clear up the four escort carriers."
"What would be my chances if I stole the transport?"
"Keep the cardamine... I like your thinking. I could probably take out the driver, but how would we mop up the escorts?"
"Wait. You wanted to destroy the cardamine? That would make things much easier. This way is with more credits income though."
"Profits we can't have, are ones that aren't need at all. But I like your thinking."
"Destroying the transport would be really easy. I can sneak in there without much trouble."
"Considering our options: taking it inside the compound would be suicide. Taking on the road would be a lot easier, if we can remove the escorts."
"Hmmm.... Okay. What are the waypoints to the spaceport?"
"Its mostly a straight road for the transport, about half way it will go over a small hill, then turn towards the spaceport. Should take about 10-15 minutes total."
"The escorts will be taken out through the hill, before the turn. After that we start moving the transport to the other side."
"I could use the hill as a vantage point. Take out the driver and try hit the escorts."
"Hit the escorts only. I will be the driver."
She giggles "If you think you are getting in that thing before we remove the guys driving it, I wish for red flowers at your funeral. My idea? I snipe the driver causing the shipment to stop. The escorts will begin looking at which point you use an explosive to get their attention. I'll then start shooting rapidly taking out as many as I can while you mop up the rest and get in. Come pick me up and we'll head to the spaceport. If need be we can hire a transport, I got contacts on the planet we can use to get the cardi to where it needs to go."