Kitcha, who was already more or less one step away from inside the ship already, went right there as soon as the Martian began to advise that very thing.
"Oh, sanitation, I'll never take you for granted again..." she remarked as the ship closed, taking a deep breath of the (at least relatively) fresh air. "So, which way to the restrooms? I wanna be sure I don't have a germ from that place on me by the time we reach town..."
"Oh, it's just down the hall." The Martian Princess told her, "Now than, I'd suggest you use the special soap I have in there. It's from Jupiter and that stuff can usually kill a lot of germs."
Timeskip: 3 Hour Flight to the nearest city
Chapter 2: Alchemy, The Magic of Science
"Welcome to Hastor."
The Princess had brought the mercenaries to a large metropolis built inside of a dome. It was one of the many Martian cities built like this. Belle-Abelon stepped off as she embraced the hot son that pierced through the glass outer dome and engulfed the building-and boy, was it hot. The Martian days were long and always long. Rain only seemed to happen at night and rarely at that. Mars was essentially a desert planet with very few greenery or water.
"These Martian Ships pale in comparison to the work of the Earthling's vast or complex creations, but anything you find here will be well suited for Mercenary work." What she meant was that anything made here would have the best weapons and defenses a ship could possibly be built in with. As the door opened, the Princess walked them out of her ship, dressed in various robes and rags to cover her face and body, hiding her identity.
edited 2nd Feb '16 4:39:39 AM by HydraGem
Emerging from the ship squeaky clean, Kitcha pulled up her hood to ward off the searing heat. Uranus' extremities of seasonal temperature change were always a bit annoying, but thankfully for her in this moment, her genes made her cozier in the heat than most would be. 'Twas a lot cozier than she felt walking to the ship last night, really.
"High class gunships, huh?" She commented, folding her lower arms gently as her upper arms traced the outlines of prospective purchases. "I was hoping for something with a built in holocinema, but can't complain about something that gets the job done, can I?" She grinned, letting her eyes wander the plethora of vehicles. Preferably for something dark navy blue. It's a cool color. "So, anyone got their eye on something in particular...?"
This lady must have been rolling in dough. On the way to the city, Ray had taken the liberty of patching himself up. He had came out of the lab with no major injuries, which was nice. The bar fight had left him with a nasty burn scar on his left shoulder. The skin was twisted, and it generally looked pretty damn badass. He left his jacket draped over his shoulders in the heat as they went through the bazaars. Most people covered up to protect themselves from the sun, but it wasn't uncommon for some of the natives to simply wear very little.
"Oh, I definitely see something that catches my eye." Ray said. Like a ship being drawn into the gravity of a planet, he was slowly gravitating towards one of the local gentlemen's clubs. If he entered, it was unlikely he'd be leaving with his last mission's pay.
edited 2nd Feb '16 3:47:51 PM by HeroicSociopath
Belle-Abelon rolled her barely view-able eyes from under her robes. Humans, always trying to mate with anything that moves. But she wasn't going to stop him, it wasn't her concern. And since it was in his possession, it wasn't her money either.
"Alright, come this way. The shipyard isn't too far from here." The Princess said, leading the way from where Ships came in to be docked to where ships could be bought. And it seemed the number of ships had doubled. They came in all sorts of builds: from standard to odd to silly to menacing. Various Martian and even a few non-Martian mechanics stood proudly as they tried to sell their creations.
Meanwhile, if Ray was seriously heading into the nearest Gentleman's Club, the one that was closest was named the Branding Iron, the place looking like it was renovated from an old weapon's factory due to it's large size and smoke chimneys that were across the top.
edited 3rd Feb '16 12:38:06 PM by HydraGem
Kitcha gave Ray a skeptical glare. "... that is not what I meant," she flatly stated with a shake of her head. She decided she didn't care enough to actively stop him, not thinking he would do anything as dumb as blow an entire 10 thousand credits on... questionable services, as she continued to the shipyard.
"Nice variety they got here..." she commented with a nod, turning to hail one of the mechanics. "Heya! I'm looking for something sleek, fast, and expensive with a dark navy blue paint job. Got any expert recommendations?"
edited 3rd Feb '16 2:37:58 PM by Cedi
As he neared the joint, Ray paused. First off, it looked more like a factory than anything else. He was also kind of leery of a place called the branding iron. That, and he had the strangest feeling. Like two sniper rifles were pointed at the back of his head. He looked over his shoulder, fully expecting a pair of gunman to be ready to off him...Nope. Just Kitcha and Shira. Weird.
Still, it had always been Ray's dream to go to a strip club. His father had always enjoyed going to them, but he always made Ray stay outside and watch whatever car they were driving. There had even been a few times where he had been out there until the sun rose, so whatever went on in there must be the best thing in the world. So perhaps against his better judgement, Ray strode in.
Belle shot a glare at Kitchia from under her robes. Expensive. That was rather daunting, but it's not like she couldn't cover it.
The mechanic walked over. He was a big, burly Martian man who's hair had left his head and onto his arms and chest. The Martian looked over at the motley group and grinned, "I have quite the ship for ya!" He had a thick accent of...some kind. It was like Southern American mixed with a bad Asian Impersonation, but nonetheless, he showed them a ship, a ship he most likely built himself. It was a rather sleek looking ship of a dark blue color.
"This is my baby. She is fast, tough, and powerful." He told them, "She can fly from here to Mercury in a day, tops!"
((Here's a good pic of what the ship would look like: http://s317.photobucket.com/user/mauther/media/sci-fi/space001xxxxxx.jpg.html
))
Meanwhile, at the Branding Iron, the place had a thick fog of sweat, drinks, and shame-from either the scantily clad Martian strippers or the men that were partaking in this activity, it was hard to tell. Credit Chips were being tossed around by various patrons, clothing was laced all around the floor, and various people were drinking and gambling. And in the darkest corners, there were various men and women discussing in the shadows. What they were saying, Ray was too far too hear. It could be important...
But who cares? There are Green Skinned Space Babes dancing on the table!
Huh. Well, this was less awesome then expected. Sure, there were naked ladies. But he could just get that on the internet. And no dudes either. Still, Ray had never tried gambling for real. That said, his dad had taught him to play Venuxian poker at a young age .
"Hit me." He said, as he sat down at a table not too far from the group in the shadows. He'd play one game of space poker. One game. Then he'd leave before he got into another bar fight. As he was dealt his 17-card hand, he grinned. He had two space dragons, and a reverse turn order card. Maybe a couple more games.
edited 3rd Feb '16 6:03:49 PM by HeroicSociopath
"Oh, by all means, right this way." The burly Martian lead them into the ship's interior. It looked like a mix between a simple apartment-save for the obvious lingering smell of fuel and leftover oil and the open door leading to the front of the ship-which looked much more like a ship's cockpit and control room.
"The living quarters isn't much, but the weapons on this baby is where it really shines! It may not look well armed, but this baby can blow a whole in Military Ship." The Martian Mechanic flinched when he saw the glare from Belle, but not knowing she was a Princess, he asked, "What? What did I say?"
"A Witch?"
Sitting not too far from Ray were a set of Martians. A poster of a Venuxian on it. In the dark atmosphere, that's the best guest Ray could've made. He might've only been able to hear their conversation because, relatively, he was pretty close to eavesdrop over the club's music.
"That's what they say. They say she's a Witch and that she turned an entire town of people into zombies, but it's a load of crock." One of the Martians said.
The second took the poster from him, "9,000 Credits, huh? Not too bad a price for a quick job."
"Urgh..." Kitcha held an upper hand to her mouth, keeping her breath for a while as she adjusted to the foul odor. "Well... it's a little crowded, and it'll need some renovation... buuuuuuut we can make it work. What does the rest of the jury say, hmmm?" She turned to the rest of the party that wasn't blowing all of their pay with a clasp of the lower hands, still holding her breath.
Loud music was blaring and cards flew into the air as the players drew their weapons. The third and final round was underway, which meant they were doing a Uranian shuffle. Red light reflected off of his face as he shot holes in the cards. As the last one fell to the ground, the players took their seats. Ray had used the opportunity to sit across from the group of bounty hunters. As the dealer sorted through cards that were still usable and threw away ones that could no longer be identified, Ray got a good look at the poster.
A witch? That was just silly. There wasn't any such thing as magic, unless you counted his natural charisma. Still, the lady on the poster was pretty foxy. Ray resolved to keep an eye out for her as they entered the Jellybean Eating contest. Ray lost to the biotron, but not before scarfing down 250 beans.
"Good game." Ray said, forking over 20 credits. The martian and machine he had been playing with nodded as he got up, leaving the bar. It was less fun than he'd hoped, but if he went back to soon, the others might not think he was hardcore. Scanning the streets for a distraction, his eyes fell on a neon sign for Han's Junk Shop. The chimes clinked as he entered, boots tapping on the pink tile floor. A Uranian man greeted him with a curt nod, black eyes watching him to make sure he didn't steal anything.
When Ray came out, he was bearing a huge cardboard box on his shoulders. He really wished he had asked for a dolley or something like that to carry his newfound riches. Welp. It wasn't too far to the spaceport. He started lugging the crate off to try and find his crewmates.
((Sorry for the sucky post. I've been a busy girl.))
"There, fine." Belle groaned, "Let's just buy this-"
BOOM! BOOM!
"The bloody hell?!" snapped the Mechanic as he looked outside of his ship.
Outside, the town was being engulfed in bursts of laser fire that came from the sky-or, more specifically, the spaceship that was attacking the town. It seemed almost random in it's attack. The ship had a skull and crossbones painted on the front with a witch's hat. It was crudely drawn, as if someone just took a spray can and plastered it on. As Martian soldiers tried to hurry to their ship to counter attack, missiles seemed to have been launched and land into the town. Only, instead of exploding into a mess of fire and force, they released...soldiers. They were pods!
The soldiers walked out of the pods were armed with fire-arms! They looked like AK-47 and seemed to keep firing lasers at random people. Civilians. Soldiers. Mercenaries. Ray-Ray?! Yes, some of those weird troopers were even shooting at poor Ray, who was just trying to hurry to the ship.
edited 11th Feb '16 2:18:47 PM by HydraGem
Kitcha stumbled a little as the crashes smashed her eardrums, clasping her head lightly in the aftermath. "What the... REALLY!?"
As Kitcha took in what was going on, she glanced back at Snakeye. "Sorry, I gotta find an idiot before he dies throwing all his money away on hookers and space poker", she declined with a faux calmness. She drew her blades. "'Sides, you don't want me touching any of these controls!" She added with a straighter tone, rushing out of the ship with a leap forward

"Splendid!"
The Princess said, "Now then, since you're all on board-both literally and figuratively-it's going to be a long trip to the nearest town on the 'day side' of the planet. It's getting cold and, frankly, there's also a sand storm coming in our direction. Sand Storms on Mars are infamous and I'd like to avoid it if I can."
As soon as our heroes got on, the door would close. The ship began to take off into the air before flying off and out of the desert they were stuck in.