Nerrone's Rangers IC [Thread 1]

Kaaran picked up the guna nd ammo clip, putting both in his left pocket, as an alarm rang out across the market. He grunted his thanks towards the stallholder, and headed off deciding it would be good to put the ammo clip in the pistol. He felt the reassuring click, and headed off to an electronics merchants to find a few transistors, Xor gates, timers and adders.

Xol stroked his chin. The poison was a bit overpriced. "Throw in five small darts and I'll take it all for 14."

I ran out with all the parts I needed and headed for the ship. "Kwa, bit of trouble, some of our credits where somehow, somewhere, deactivated. They worked fine last payday. Sometime this month some of our credits where deactivated. And um...I kinda set off an alarm in my position over here...I left an IOU at J'Rodar's shop though! What do I do now!?"

Feren was still looking puzzled as he tried to work out what the devices he and detected were, so he decided to investigate. He got up and gathered his stuff and headed into the market. He had only moved a few yards when an alarm sounded in the direction he was headed. The alarm did not sound good to him, and his military instincts kicked in, he decided to investigate so followed the sound cautiously. he was tempted to take out his new weapon, but thought his pistol would be more sensible... he put a grip on this gun and headed towards the alarm.

"18 with the five-pack," The backstreet stall-tender replied. There was an undertone to his voice that said something along the lines of: "I am hungover, I have a knife somewhere on my person and you are bothering me during my lunch-break. Do the math." ...But perhaps that was just his way of speaking.


Kwa, almost at the gates of the Steel Towers in the center of the city at this point, was not pleased.

"You did what?!" She took a moment to gather her thoughts, "...Okay, here's what you do: Drop everything and run — but not back to the Lacuna. Smash your comm-link if they catch up to you: I don't want the Rangers to be linked to a break-in, Spode knows what'll happen, now move!"

I got ready to smash my com, and sadly dropped the supplies I had "bought". Although, I kept the bag....and the robot parts. I wasn't used to breaking orders so much, but it had been a long day. Enforcements where closing in, and I pressed my com badge to self destruct. One more button and it'd short circuit. I made that design. I thought.

Click

With a fizzle, the com link smoked and the enforcements caught up. I tried to punch through, but I knew deep inside, that this time I had seriously messed up. And now my- What do they call it? Ah yes,- "Karma" would get the best of me. I weakly continued to fight the authorities, with as much confidence as a straight A good student getting in deep trouble would've had. So, in other words. Not that much.

Feren stopped dead as he saw the authorities apparently arresting someone for some sort of misdemeanour. He smiled ryeley as he'd seen this happen a lot... though the lack of brutality was reassuring somehow. He decided instead to check his RDA, it indicated that the devices he was investigating came from somewhere nearby. he headed past the curfuffle towards this location.

Xol squinted, then handed over his credit chip for the shopkeeper. A few slides and clicks, the poison and darts were handed over, and he left just as quickly as he had come.

((Xol: 11 credits.))

Celdryc was annoyed at the shopkeepers response. Ship hulls were made of a complicated alloy that lower grade magnets had difficulty connecting to. But at those prices it was probably good enough. He paid the shopkeeper for one (He'd have to wait for the other), showing abvious annoyence. He walked back outside, making his way back to the Lacuna.

A large being watched from afar as the robber fled from the store. He also saw the being drop everything he had stolen. As soon as the robber was surrounded by officers, he intervened. The being walked over to the officers and said "Hey,hey, the runt dropped the goods. No need to punish him. I'll just keep an eye on him for the rest of the time he's here"

((Celdryc has 1 credit, the "large being" is unaware of the assult, just the robbery))

Feren was about to walk into a shop called "'J'Rodar's engineering supply warehouse" when he noticed his RDA had indicated the parts he was looking for were actually behind him. He turned and checked the details and looked - they seemed to be located within the kerfuffle he had just passed. This disappointed him, he decided to move closer and see what happened.

He wondered how he was going to find out what they were... probably useless, but he was sure he could use them, whatever they were.

Kwa heard the momentary fizzle as Quark shorted out his comm-link. At this point she was in a glass elevator, pacing impatiently back and forth across it as the market district dropped away below her. She broadcast to the whole group: "Alright, Quark has gone silent — we need eyes on the ground here, what's the situation?"


Several meters from J'Rodar's shop, Quark was restrained and cuffed by a pair of police officers, who proceeded to search him: they quickly confiscated all of his weapons and several assorted gadgets, all with price-tags from the shop still attached, and placed them into cellophane evidence bags. Apparently satisfied that he was no longer carrying anything potentially dangerous, they began attempting to drag him into a waiting squad car, when a large figure intervened.
"We're taking this one in on a charge of aggravated burglary," one of the officers restraining Quark replied, "Now if you would please stand aside, sir, we have a job to do."

I was cuffed, and after a tall figure tried to help, I was shoved inside. I had been behind bars before, but now it seemed worse. I put us all in danger, and did something stupid. Now it would be very hard to save me, and I had another feeling that it wasn't just jail I'd experience in the coming days. Much more. Maybe even worse. My identity could be traced and that would mean I'd drag CLEU into this, which was one of my biggest fears at the moment. I don't know if I could hold up under their control. I tried to snap out of in and sunk into my seat.

Feren watched on as he saw the "criminal" dragged into the car along with all the devices he was tracking. He had however been close enough to actually gauge what one of them was, and he could do with it - it was an RDA Transmitter, a small device that you plugged into an RDA to enhance it's scanning range. The other three remained a mystery. he decided that since they were in the custody of law enforcement, the devices were probably safe for a few hours at least... besides, he suspected they had no idea what they were.

He therefore turned around and walked into J'Rodar's engineering supply warehouse and ask the shopkeeper about the devices that the "Criminal" had clearly taken from the store. he walked into the store and walked up to the counter and waited, assuming that J'Rodar was composing himself after whatever had occurred. he stood there and looked around at the wares.

Quark spent a surprisingly short amount of time stewing in his cell: it was mere minutes later that the door opened once more and he was escorted into a dimly-lit interview room — a small area hosting only a table, three chairs and a large pane of polarised glass across one side for surveillance. Occupying two of the seats on the opposite side of the table were two figures dressed like civilians, but in every other way having the look of professionals on their home turf.

Quark was guided into the seat on the opposite side of the table, and a recording device was turned on.
"Greetings," one of the figures said as the door closed, "I am Corporal Bronsted and this is my colleague, Corporal Faust." Faust nodded levelly, and they flashed him their identification cards, both of which bore the sword-and-circle motif of the Coalition.
"We are not here to talk to you about your arrest for assaulting and stealing from a local entrepreneur — in fact, should you choose to co-operate with us, we can ensure that there shall be no need for anyone to speak of it ever again." Corporal Bronsted smiled in what he hoped was a friendly manner.
"No, our primary concern, mister Quark, is getting to the bottom of a series of deaths that occurred recently on the world known as Ezekiel IV. Would you care to tell us what that name means to you?"

The two C.L.E.U operatives couldn't believe their luck: despite all the fuss about not putting the local police force in the firing line, they had delivered the suspect to them swiftly without a single loss. Now it was just a matter of paperwork... and time.


Back at J'Rodar's store, the man himself shortly emerged from the stock room with a patch of gauze plastered to the side of his head and a black eye.
"Sorry, we're closed," he sighed as he caught sight of Feren.

Feren could detect the annoyance in J'Rodar's voice and he was not surprised by this at all, neither was he surprised by statement of being closed. However, he wasn't here to buy anything, he was here to establish some facts. He smiled at J'Rodar warmly.

"I'm not here to buy anything... or steal anything, either. I am here in search of some equipment, which has unfortunately left your store with that criminal." He smiled again. "Four of the items originated from my homeworld and I was wondering if you knew what they were? And, how I could get hold of them, now they are in police hands?"

Feren smiled again hoping to make J'Rodar feel more at ease.

Cranks patience was wearing thin. He found nothing of use so far, and he was tired of walking around in the crowded, smelly market. The technology that they sold there was not advanced enough to repair him. "It's hopeless...." Crank hung his head, stared at his feet for a moment, and began walking in no specific direction.

J'Rodar's head was pounding severely, but he nevertheless held staunch beliefs about customer service, which even now he clung to: "I'm afraid I haven't had time to take stock of my losses, though doubtless the police will be getting back to me on that. If you want to get hold of evidence to a recent crime, I'm afraid I don't see any legitimate way to do so in the near future... But if you've got a legitimate claim to those items, I guess you could go down to the station and sort it out with them directly: it's further north, just past the Varrian's Head."

Feren nodded politely at the shopkeeper, he didn't expect much else as a response anyway, he thought for a moment.

"Thank you, Sir, I shall let you take stock and recover."

He smiled at J'Rodar and left his shop and headed in the direction he had come. he noticed something on the ground where the criminal had been arrested, it appeared to be something that had been dropped during the kerfuffle, so he bent down and picked it up. It was a battery of some kind, it would not fit any Ergonian technology he was aware of, so he put it in his pocket and continued on.

He walked towards the Varrian's Head and SumaTek, and then walked straight passed them. He came upon a municipal building which was clearly a Police Station... the sign above the door confirmed this. He walked into the station and strode up to the counter and waited for someone to help.

He was not entirely sure how he was going to see the evidence.

The police officer manning the station's front desk emerged through a door behind said desk, speaking into a phone and holding a mug of what was probably some form of caffeine derivative that smelled like it had been fermented under a heating pipe for several years.

"...don't know who they think they are, coming in and disrupting our operation before we've even finished the preliminary investigation. Anyway I'll get back to you later." He placed the phone in its cradle, took a sip from his mug and addressed Feren: "Sorry, can I help you?"

Some distance down the corridor to the left, a creature in simple civilian clothing stepped out of what might have been an interview room and made his way steadily down towards the front desk.

Celdryc continued to walk around town, running into several sketchy characters, who he had to shoo away by pulling out his rifle. He saw nothing else of interest, so he called Kwa on the comm "Anything that needs doing?"

____________________________________________

The large figure shrugged. It was hard to change the mind of the local law enforcement. Instead he walked over to where the criminal had dropped his stuff. He picked it up and walked into J'Rodar's shop. He said "I believe this belongs to you sir." He realized that the shopkepper was one of his own kind. One of the ones he'd fought a war to protect.

In his quarters on the Lacuna, Bor - having stayed behind, as there was a bounty out for him in the sector - contacted Kwa through the comm: "Kwa, I've been to this planet before. It was a long time ago, but I still remember the layout fairly well. There's a police station not far from where Quark was taken; it's possible he's inside. I might be able to get him out of there." He waited for a response.

"I'll tell you what I know about that," I said. Bronsted (?) looked at me intently. "here's what I know: Ezekiel IV is a class 4 planet that is 79.0875% Dessert and has intermediate dust storms every 23.26 hours on average. There are no sentient civilizations that have originated from it, but it is a well known market planet. An average of 105 ships land there everyday, and recently before a dust-storm there was a mysterious array of murders" I said, thinking about how this must have been annoying him. "There where 6 ships recorded to be docked there, although 4 of them left before the murders ended, and the other two remained until slightly after. The average day length is 100,067.0563 seconds long and their two moons are sulfuric. The planet's atmosphere is made of Oxygen, Argon, Neon, helium, phosphorus (Giving it a bright glow), nitrogen, and carbon upper layers. The average temperature is 307.594444 (94 degrees Fahrenheit). That's what I know. I very much enjoy memorizing planet facts. I've memorized detail like this from seven other planets. Would you like to hear them?" I asked, slightly grinning.

"Ah, Officer" Feren began as confidently as he could muster considering he had no idea how to find out what devices had been stolen. He considered starting by stating his rank and name, but decided that might be construed wrongly.

"I hope you can help me. I am trying to gather several devices from my homeworld, Ergenon VII, and I have reason to believe they may be in the possession of local law enforcement." He paused for dramatic effect. "In fact, I have traced these devices here and was hoping that I could check them out." he concluded, more in hope than expectation.

He smiled at the officer expectantly.

"Bor, Shadow, finally," Kwa said over the comms, hating every second she wasn't out there on the ground solving this problem personally, "Both of you, get down to that police station and find out what the situation is: no more violence if you can help it, just recon. If we're lucky we can pay for bail and skip town, though I'm half tempted to save some money and just leave him in there." Spode, I turn my back for one second...

The elevator dinged and its doors slid open as she arrived at her floor, the expanse of Santa Frerarro and the endless wastelands beyond spread out in a spectacular view that stretched for countless miles through the windows.
"I can't talk now — if you need help, contact Dagon if he's not already drunk out of his skull." With that, she removed her comm-link and stowed it in one of the pouches at her belt. This had better be worth it.


Corporal Bronsted, looking steadily across the table at Quark as he spoke, was not all that impressed. He knew the type: goading, foolhardy, not realising what a giant pool of offal his interviewers had him held over. His professional tone gained a patronising edge: "Mister Quark, I don't think you quite understand: You and several other individuals were identified by probes sent aboard a vessel caught escaping from a black market raid, a raid in which four of my colleagues — good men, men with families, mister Quark — were murdered. Now, currently this interview can go one of two ways: the first, you continue to joke with us, everyone laughs and you are put away on several charges related to involving yourself in the black market, plus your shenanigans in the market today. The second way, you tell us everything you know about that ship and its crew and we pat you on the back and let you go without any fuss. What do you say?"
For a moment he glanced up in annoyance as the light set in the ceiling flickered.


At the station's front desk, the officer speaking to Feren did the same: "...Darn electricians, I thought we had this cleared up last week," he muttered, "But anyway, sir, I suggest you go down to Evidence and Archives at basement level: the stairs are just around the corner to the right," he pointed, "Ask the secretary for form B-16 and we'll see what we can do for you."

Celdryc was confused, as he had had his comm off until he called Kwa. But he still listened to Kwa and began making his way to the Police station to find out what had happened.

_________________________________________________________________________

After returning the stolen objects the large figure walked outside of the store. There he found a comm device, broken beyond repair, on the ground near where the robber had dropped his loot. A common bandit wouldn't need a comm. But a group of them would. That meant that there may be more robberys, or worse, to come. Feeling that the city's law enforcement was incompetent, he decided that he would take matters into his own hands. He then set off for the police station.