Zero.
The sound of clashing can be heard as four armoured peacekeepers arrive on the scene. Three surround Rakiri and the cargo, while the fourth acts as evacuator for all the civilians nearby.
"THIS IS A RESTRICTED AREA. LEAVE FOR YOUR OWN SAFETY." He constantly bellows as he ushers them out of the area.
The other three draw their rifles at Rakiri.
"Capt G'ula-Smith." One nods at Arif. "This is Whiskey-Foxtrot-One-Nine battlegroup. Secured the area inside Port 4-A, Market level. Four peacekeepers and one civilian security member have surrounded the suspect. Civilians are being relocated."
"Permission to use lethal force granted by Terran Command."
Rakiri seemed trapped. Five guns trained at his head? One false move, and he could be riddled with bullets.
"Stand down. Now," Arif says, firmly and clearly. "Or we might be forced to remove you in a permanent fashion."
Rakiri chuckles. "You humans are so amusing. I suppose I have time for another game."
His skin bristles with electricity for a split second before there's a massive discharge of blinding, electrical energy, which will disorient and knock back everyone surrounding him if they aren't adequately protected. This will also have the unfortunate effect of destroying the crate.
Old habits die hard, especially when no one else lets them die either."C'mon, asshole," muttered one of the peacekeepers. "You got nowh-"
He was cut off by a blinding blast of electricity. The blast sent out an EMP shockwave which knocked everyone on their backs, guns scattered away from them.
The building powered down for a split second, before switching back on.
After a few minutes, Arif helped his team members up.
"What the fuck?" Arif grumbled.
"Sir," asked one peacekeeper. "the suspect has disappeared, and the cargo has been breached open. The humanoid is inside."
"Holy shit." Arif was annoyed.
"Terran command, update from Whiskey-Foxtrot-One-Nine. Suspect has escaped with cargo. Nowhere to be seen. Used a heavy electric attack upon five peacekeeping officers and one civilian."
There was a moment as he awaited communication.
"Major, command has put out an APB for the suspect. He managed to fry our body cams, but not before we got a good picture of him and the cargo. All Terran spaces have been alerted, and command are reaching out to other planetary and solar alliances to distribute suspect data."
Arif patted his crewmembers on the back, sighing and panting. "Look... Uh. Good job, guys. Thanks for coming out here. I'm issuing an order for you guys to stay here for a couple of rotation cycles in case he comes back."
"Yes sir," the four of them uttered in unison.
"Okay, good."
Arif scanned the area with his optical sensor to track where he went-
Rakiri had used the electric attack as a cover to escape through a circulation vent. There's no way his crew could pick him up now. He sighed. But at least the cargo containing the humanoid had been abandoned. That's a win. But it was mutant. Could be dangerous.
"Okay, change of plan. I'm going to approach the cargo and attempt to extract the humanoid. I need you to cover me in case it goes rogue."
The peacekeepers nodded, as Arif cautiously approached the cargo. Inside, he noticed the humanoid.
"Holy fucking shit."
His optical scans showed that this was no ordinary humanoid. He was bio-upgraded, with unknown levels of electromagnetic powers. There were so many kilowatts inside him that his sensor couldn't give a definite reading. He tried to match his biological lock with all databases he had access to but came up blank.
Well, not quite blank. But it was a set of files that Arif didn't have access to. A whole bunch.
"What the fuck is Graham? Group for the... Radical... Wut?" He looked to the other peacekeepers, who shook their heads. Maybe they were a bunch of rogue scientists who modified humans. Arif heard tales of these guys. Realising he couldn't break into the file with sheer brute hacking - which would get him canned - he tried to find more files.
A datafile for a civilian, "Thomas Johnson" came up, but with zero information. No age, no race, no place of birth. No information. It's like this person didn't exist. Or... More likely, someone or something linked to Graham didn't want anyone else to know he existed.
Arif snapped at his peacekeepers. "This is a direct order. The cargo was destroyed in the electric attack, okay? You did not know anything about the cargo. If anyone asks, I told you to hang around and wait. I am detailing this cargo and the humanoid as classified information."
Arif didn't know how to bring around this humanoid, but he started by shaking him.
edited 25th Feb '16 5:43:54 AM by Inhopelessguy
Amada Spaceport, Marketplace
Well kid, looks like you're in the clear for now. How very lucky for you. See ya...
Jiko wakens suddenly, which is actually rather odd considering how cryo-stasis is supposed to work. Something must have gone wrong, not that he had any idea to what had transpired since his initial capture.
He manages to pull himself out of the tube, hazel colored eyes surveying the area around him with slow deliberation - looks like he is still on Amada. Wow, he thinks. For all the trouble he went through, that bounty hunter didn't get very far. Once he is standing he brushes off his leather jacket, the arms of which are just too long and frayed at the cuffs, before pulling one of his sleeves back, revealing a mass of vein-like, if angular, silver lines running through the skin on his arm just below the wrist and moving up his forearm, coalescing and connecting to a small blinking red light before continuing on their way up the limb and into obscurity beneath his jacket. He sighs and lets the sleeve loose again as he runs his hands through his long, wavy brown hair, little tendrils of electrical energy jumping from them as he does so.
"So," he says, a little awkward as he runs his thumb over the scar on his upper lip before letting his arms fall to his sides, "I take it I have you all to thank for this?" He wonders, also, if his Synth is still in his pocket, but doesn't check.
Dysis, Ywen
"Eh..." David seems to stall for a second, almost like he isn't sure what else to say. Most of the time potential recruits have some questions for him by now, "well, what...uh...what is it you're hoping to do? Maybe we can go from there."
"Well," he says, rubbing the back of his neck as he searches for an answer, "...I guess once Tars is done teaching me, I always thought I could, y'know...get out of here? I mean, I enjoy this place, the people, the food, the life, but it's j'st...well, I wanna see what the rest of the galaxy has in store. I've only ever been here and...home."
Johnny then smiles awkwardly at David.
"Whoa...that was...crazy." Greg mutters, slowly walking out of the alley. He quickly checks his wrist terminal, which has finally reconnected with the server after Rakiri's attack, to which he sighs in relief. He approaches Arif and the newly awakened man. "You guys aight?"
Amada Underground Ventilation System
The grate from a ventilation shaft goes flying as a swift kick sends it flying and skittering further into the chamber Rakiri now found himself in. He jumped down, landing on the ground, panting slightly. That attack took a lot more out of him that he realized. He thought he would have recovered with his earlier confrontation with Jiko earlier by now. Perhaps he was just getting old.
"...Bullshit." he says as they thought enters his head. He was in his prime, easily. Though, he supposed taking it a bit easy wouldn't hurt, either. "Well, things have taken a turn...not something I haven't prepared for though. Looks like that energy he drained from me will be a blessing in disguise." he says before taking a seat to rest.
Old habits die hard, especially when no one else lets them die either.Incoming-
"Oof!" Bruh shouts as the shockwave sends him flying, the gun careening out of his hand.
"You could see what he was gonna do?"
No, I just knew he was going to do something.
"Ok, well, yeah, that was obvious....."
Bruh slowly regains his bearings, pulling himself up and looking around.
"Oh, hey," he says to Jiko. "You're safe."
"..................... Has anyone seen my weapon?"
i think i mostly want to see what happens when this whole place breaks apart"Uhh I guess so." Arif extends a hand to the stranger. "Arif. Uh. First command, Maximatan Extraorbital & Cosmological Defence Force. Your name?"
He notices Aur and Greg. "I thought you cleared the area of civilians?" he hissed at one of the peacekeepers.
"Well, sir, I did, but they still want to be here."
"Okay..." Arif mumbled. "Then you four stay here for the next few cycles. Anything happens, you report straight to me."
He turns to Greg. "I'm quite fine, thank you." He smiles at him. A scan on Greg shows no threat, so Arif powers down his rifle.
"Ah! Your gunblade thingy." Arif notices it behind a bench. He picks it up, coming face to face with Thomas. "Oh. Uh. Hello, civilian. You seem a little frightened."
Arif tosses the gunblade back to Bruh.
So... All seems to be settled.
Amada Spaceport, Marketplace
Jiko nods.
"Safe. Yeah," he says, leaning down and dusting off his jeans. He has a tingling feeling at the back of his mind, leading away and down, but doesn't think too much on it. His mind is more focused on the cryo tube still in the ruined crate and, with firm decisiveness, he reaches out and puts his hand against the smooth, cool metal surface of the machine. He can feel the electrical energy coursing through the thing and pulls against it, draining the thing of it's power. Onlookers might see small tendrils of electrical energy jumping from the metal and into his arm. When he is done, the small readout screen on the door of the thing buzzes with static for a second before displaying a blue error screen.
"Now I am. Anyway, thanks for the help. Call me Jiko."
Dysis, Ywen
David perks up at this, and smiles in a seemingly genuine manner, showing surprisingly white and straight teeth.
"Well, if it's travel you're after, we have Research Stations and Outposts all the universe, from the Federation Occupations to Free Space. You can learn to hone your craft and go anywhere you'd ever dreamed." It almost seemed like he'd given a similar speech before, but the way he trips over his words about halfway through might convince one otherwise.
This makes Johnny think.
Huh...get to see what else there is and I get to do more of what I love. Though, I don't think the other planets will be in the market for my art, unfortunately. Kinduva shame, but I'll manage.
He leans back, taking his hand off the arm of the seat, though quickly and inconspicuously glancing over to make sure the shotgun is still propped up. A bead of sweat drops off his face.
"So, erm...what does G.R.A.H.A.M do exactly? Bit of an odd name..."
"Well...uh...yeah, I'll stick around." Greg shrugs. "Anyway, I'm Greg. Nice to meet ya, Arif. And...?" he says, looking at Brah.
"...Enough sitting around. Time to get moving." With a grunt, Rakiri pushes himself up, dusting off his clothing before heading deeper into the chamber. The quiet hum of ventilation machinery is heard as he travels ever deeper.
Old habits die hard, especially when no one else lets them die either.Chris returns with a basket full of goodies, his pockets quite a bit less burdened by credits than he'd been anticipating, but he'd never been the best haggler... and the vendors here were masters at it. Besides, only the best for Peter and Greg. He smiles sadly, the best he could afford, in any case. He walks back over to his boyfriends, suddenly a bit dumbstruck by the aftermath, "The fuck happened here..?" he mutters quietly.
He then looks around, "Is everyone ok..?"
Lex had managed to leap backwards from the blast, and was currently sniffing at a particular ventilation shaft. She looks around a bit then casts a temporary telepathic glamour over herself and slips down to follow the scent she picked up.
"Oh, Chris." Greg smiles and glomps him, not hard enough to knock the food out of his hands though. "Hey' we're alright. That Echirean guy just blew up or something. But hey, now the guy in the pod is free, so." he says, pointing to Jiko.
Hmm... Rakiri pauses, jumping up to see out of a grate placed high on a wall. "...Not far enough." he decides, letting go and dropping back to the floor. "The chase is hardly going to be fun if he's that easy to find still."
Old habits die hard, especially when no one else lets them die either.Amada Spaceport, Marketplace
Taking advantage of the fact that everyone seems to be distracted (and not about to let himself get taken in by the Enforcers), Jiko turns and starts walking away from the scene, burying his hands in his pockets and feeling the familiar sensation of cool metal as his left hand brushed against his Synth. As it turns out, his path happens to be taking him in a pseudo-direct path toward the tingling he'd felt earlier, though whether he is aware of it or being led subconsciously is something of a mystery.
Dysis, Ywen
"Well, I suppose that depends on who you ask," David says, scratching his chin as if in thought, "most of our researchers are allowed to...well...research anything they want. Most stick to their own fields, others dabble. But what we do as a whole, in my opinion, is work toward bigger and better things for humanity and the technologies we use. Take my eye for example," he pauses for effect, and the iris of his eye seems to open and close quickly. Additionally, the lighting to the thing changes colors from amber, to blue, to green, and then back to amber.
"I built it myself, as well as the ship I arrived on."
"Hm?" Bruh seemed to have fallen in a trance, but he quickly shook himself out of it. "Uh, my name's Bruhian," he says in response to Greg. "It's nice meeting you..."
Look out, mutant boy seems to be slipping away.
Bruh turns, seeing Jiko walk off when he thinks no one is looking.
"Well.... He'll be alright on his own, right?"
He seemingly powered down the cryopad before leaving. I have a distinct feeling that you shouldn't let this one get away.
"Hmmmm....."
i think i mostly want to see what happens when this whole place breaks apart"Hey! Jiko!" Arif called out after him. "You can't leave! We need to make sure you're medically fit for walking around and stuff. Not to mention, even in this corner of the galaxy, a guy with lots of sparks and glowing lines on him is a bit suspicious."
Arif turned to a peacekeeper. "Get a forensics analysis on this cargo box. Remember that this cargo box and the humanoid that escaped it do not exist. I have a feeling that if the Terran or Maximatan Government knew about this, it might not go so well."
The peacekeepers nodded. "Good. I'm glad I can count on you guys."
He turned to Bruh. "So... Not bad for our first meet-up?"

"So... You're telling me you've entered this space illegally? I mean, without travel papers, you might as well be here illegally. And you're not an asylum seeker."
His mind raced back to a few years ago, when a destructed planetary core in a nearby solar system had left millions of Abotinos displaced. To deal with the mass amounts of refugees from the planet, the Defence Force had to act as a border agency. He was a senior orbital peacekeeping officer when his squadron was drafted in to help. It was horrible, seeing the huddled masses onboard a variety of interstellar hoppers, a few planetary craft, and makeshift craft with just about enough life support for the trip over. The resettlement process was worth it, though.
The peacekeepers were just outside the spaceport. It would be a matter of mere moments before they storm the Markets.
"Why are you really here? You're not an idiot. You know that being here would be dangerous. Why transit through here? Of all places?"
The answer was obvious, this place was a shithole in comparison to other spaceports and space stations operated by Terra. But Arif needed to stall for just a few more minutes.