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 Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2009 5:43 pm
Blackfoot panicked at the sight of the warning screen. He hesitated, trying to figure out a reasonable response when Raptor inevitably asked him, 'What next?' However, he was spared that fate, and wave of relief washed over him, seeing the Alhena fleet come to their rescue and guide them out their predicament.
"That was a close call," Lazarus commented, serene for the moment, now that danger had passed.
"You're just lucky he didn't have time to think," Elijah interjected. He was still upset with Black for not being better prepared.
Not that Black blamed him. Even he thought he could have been better prepared for the possibilities and inevitabilities. Nonetheless, he quickly found an open seat on the bridge and strapped down himself for the flight to Alhena. It was quick, and when Raptor got up to meet the crew that had rescued them Black went with him. There, they met up with the other two members of Star Wolf, Pandora and Red. He hadn't been briefed on them; they would be wild cards in his mission and he would have to guard his words around them until he could figure them out.
When Pandora acknowledged him, he returned the gesture with a curt nod in her direction, not that she bothered even looking his way. Black, being a small creature, as are the genetic traits of a ferret, did not like the sizable threat of the bear. However, if Raptor wasn't showing fear, he wouldn't either. As he took up the rear of the Star Wolf team, he held his chin high, bobbing his whiskers in an insouciant gesture against the crew of the Alhena space station. He reassured himself that his blaster, the kind that was standard issue amongst the CDF, was still holstered at his waist, and followed the others, trying not to notice the foreboding presence of the muscled Labrador behind him, taking up rear guard for the Alhena Defense Squadron.
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Posted: Wed Jul 15, 2009 12:10 pm
The Starwolf crew and their entourage of ADS pilots made their way down a seemingly endless hallway that lead into a blinding light. Red and Pandora struggled to peer around Bear's overbearing body to see what mysterious things might be awaiting at the light. They could not hide their childish curiosity. Both wolf moved up to inches behind the massive grizzly and took turns looking around his girth. Raptor, in a surprisingly rare moment of utter cool, cracked a smile. "You two act more like cat's than wolves." Those two "cats" gave the bird a look of pure malice; he payed no mind to them.
As they continued to walk, they passed into the light and was bathed in the rays of artificial lighting. To the groups right, in place of wall there was windows looking into the heart of Alhena. The group was baffled by what they saw.
Faces of crystal glass looked down at them as bodies of iron and steel extended above and below the windows view. If the crew had to judge from the busy streets and regularly low-level maintenance crafts that were hovering about, they might have probably guessed they were thirty to forty stories up when in fact they were up around the eightieth floor of most of the buildings. Below the suspended roads were more roads where millions of men, women, and children went about their daily lives, unaware of the convicts who would soon to be intermingled in with their society.
 "Ah yes. Team Starwolf," a low rumbling growl came from further down the hallway. A young lion dressed in a rather official looking coat, though the rest of his wardrobe was nothing fancier than what Raptor wore under his. "Welcome to Alhena" the lion greeted with a bow. As he rose, he held a hand out towards the ADS pilots and motioned for them to leave. They did without so much as a hint of objection. "I am Nikolai Shepherd, the head of the Alhena Defense Squadron and twin brother of Viktor Shepherd, the spokesman of the Alhena people."
Raptor knew who the lion was when he had first laid eyes on him. Their was an unlikely past between them. Viktor, very much like himself, had attended the the Cornerian flight academy and was an extraordinary pilot to say the least, though nothing that could have placed him on a pedestal like Marcus and Raptor had been. However, while his flying was only a little above the normal crowd, his skills as a tactician were what made Raptor remember his face.
The lion took a pause to seize up his old Cadet mate, seeing if he had changed from his cold-shouldered self, and seemed to enjoy what he saw. "Well, Iron Beak, seems like you got your a** in a heap of trouble this time. And here I am again, covering for you." Smirking, Viktor turned his back and began on his way further down the hallway.
Pandora leaned over to eye her brother. "You know this cat?"
Raptor began to follow, scratching under his head feathers. "The guy was my superior when I was a cadet in the Academy. If I got in trouble, which I did often, he'd either cover for me, or take part in the punishment. The guys a brilliant tactician, which explains how we got out of that Cornerian mess."
"What do you think he wants?"
"I don't think he wants anythin; But I'm sure his brother does."
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Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 3:20 pm
Blackfoot frowned at the big lion before them. Geez, doesn't the CDF hire anyone smaller than a Landmaster tank? His ears perked up when Pandora had asked Raptor about the big cat, whose name was apparently Shepherd. He overheard him explain to her that they had been equals at the academy, and then explain that Shepherd had often bailed him out of trouble. I don't like this. Shepherd on top of the two she-wolves? There are too many wild cards here, I was never warned about this. Blackfoot swore to himself he would have words with his employer about this when they next spoke.
"This is a pickle,"Lazarus agreed. "But it's nothing you can't handle, I'm sure of it."
"Just tread carefully and avoid tipping your hand. We need O'Donnell to trust us, and that means not stirring up the water where his allies are concerned."Elijah pointed out.
"Right."Blackfoot replied.
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Posted: Sun Aug 02, 2009 8:35 pm
The young lion lead the Star Wolf team into a large open room, the walls flourished with rich looking renderings of various landscapes varying from golden deserts to tropical jungles. Near the top of the wall where the ceiling curved into the become the ceiling, the landscape became stars and space. Further down the green and gold carpet leading in from the door was a sort of throne-like chair, but it was facing away towards the back wall, which was decorated with a skillful rendering of Alhena's gorgeous city. Nikolas ignored all the fancy features in the room and approached the silver seat ordained with burgundy plush. "I brought our guest, Viktor."
A Tail peeped out from behind the "throne" and then did a tuft of shimmering black mane top off with a equally alluring black tappa. The Chair spun around to reveal its current occupant, a rather large lion with a sort of easy-going look to him. At first glance, the "cool cat" looked a bit on the chubby side, though that could have just been due to the monkey suit he wore. "Ah yes, Teeeam Star-Wolf. Welc'me to my ca-rib."
Pandora gave the almost picturesque figure a hardy little chuckle, muffling any laughter with her slender wrist. Red simply rolled her eyes. Raptor seemed to show a little bit more respect for the cat. He didn't laugh nor give any hint that he thought the outfit was old fashion and utterly outlandish, even if he did pull the look off. Though he couldn't control his trigger happy mouth from slipping, "Don't mind me asking but does the accent come with the suite?"
Nikolas palmed his face and shook his head, expecting his brother to go off on the bird for inquiring about his appearance and accent but was pleasantly surprised by Viktor's hardy laugh. "The suit comes with the voice, muh man. But, we can pass witty remarks, later. Right now, le's get down to the business." Raptor's face seemed to darken into his more serious demeanor, his buisness face. "Now I know about your... "little" situation, Raptor. I know aaall about it. I know about you, you're Wolf Clone, Pandora, and that your little red friend, there, is a Cornerian fighter who got caught in this mess." Raptor seemed to become a little uneasy. How could someone know so much about them. If he knew about Pandora, then he's got it good with someone high in the Cornerian army. But how would he know about Red? "He he he. I know these things because I'm intertwined in this little web of yours O'Donnell. See, when the Pandora project had first set up, our father was a key figure in it's development, financially of course. He paid a lot to see this project through, though a heart attack brought those plans to a halt. All the information he had before his death, he passed it on to us. Seeing as how a large sum of what was now my brother and mine's money, we decided we'd at least keep an eye out to make sure it was being used where it should have been." Viktor grabbed his tail and began swinging it around lightly. "Enter you. You stole your sister-in-law from the facility causing this giant mess of yours." The lion released his tail and stood. With a flick of the wrist, he had a cane in his hand and began to walk towards the group. "While on the run, enter in little Red. Nickolas, like yourself, knows the grand bypass codes for the Cornerian Fleet's main database. I'm sure we both know how that is, hmm? Well, he never taught you how to look up changes and false data. He's a expert at findin things that don't add up."
"I'll say. He was probably my best teacher in the academy," Raptor quipped really quickly before Viktor went on.
"Yes, I'm sure of that. He found your changes in the database and traced them to the source. Seems you started covering up for Red here the same way Nikolas did for you."
"What do you want from me?"
"We want you to keep running." This time Nickolas spoke. "I don't believe fighters should be created, and my brother doesn't like the idea of Corneria having a personal fleet of of one manned fleets. Raptor, consider Alhena your home, because here we'll keep you safe. We'll offer you jobs, and find ways of keeping you posted on who's sniffing around your trail."
The word, "alright" was spoken instantly from Raptor's mouth. Everyone in the room was shocked. "The offer is too good to be, but if you'll hide our tails, then I'll take the offer."
"Well then," Viktor said with a sort of sly smirk, "Nickolas, take our new friends to where they'll be staying. while they are here."
As instructed by his brother, the lion twin started back down the long corridor in a relatively mute mood. Sure everyone put in a small quip to break the silence, but no one ever followed up with a conversation. Anxiety and anticipation were the blocks. Only two and a half hours earlier, the crew had been sitting ducks, waiting to join their old friend Fang in the slammer, however now they had a safe haven. How thing turn so quickly.
Nikolas lead the group out into the open where the crew was exposed to the people of Alhena. Were the group commoners, they would have seen nothing but a well kept community. Raptor, however, quickly picked up on the places secret. "Almost all of these people are mercenaries," he stated glancing about.
"Good eye," Nikolas complemented as he turned a corner and entered into a large luxurious looking building. Actually, it was the most luxurious spot of them all. The lobby alone was furnished with fine silks and expensive tapestries. Nikolas walked to the desk were card keys were laid out him, and he handed each member there own card, meaning to each their own suite. "Feel free to roam around and explore, all I ask is that you don't go to the lower levels below the Residential area."
"Why not? You got slums?"
"No, because people who your father wouldn't associate himself with mingle down there." With that, he left the group to themselves.
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Posted: Wed Sep 23, 2009 12:04 pm
Raptor took a glance at the surrounding luxury and frowned. His father never spoiled him, and often told him never to spoil himself on worthless things. Naturally, the high quality ambiance was pushing against his naturally rugged personality. No sooner had Nikolas disappeared around the corner of the glass doors, Raptor began on his way out as well. "I'm going out," he called with a wave of his hands and was moments away from leaving when a hand caught his. He sighed, knowing exactly who it was. "Pandroa-"
"Can I come?" She pleaded with him, her face as bright and chipper as ever. It had been a while since she had been of the ship, and anyone could see from her wildly wagging tail that she was ready for a day and a night out on the town. "It's been sooooooooooooooo long since I've been of the Terror. We should go shopping. Or maybe the arcade. No wait I got it! A Dance club! I'd love to go to a club to-"
"Not now," the raven mumbled.
"But-" Pandora was about to protest but was stop by a very firm voice, on Raptor didn't usually use.
"Not. Now." His point made he slid his hands into his pockets and trudged out the automated doors. He need to find some place low to get in a few drinks, drown out his questions and relax. "I need a ******** pub," he cursed under his breath.
Pandora was left, staring at the door. Why was Raptor so upset? Only three hours ago, the Star Wolf team looked like it had seen it's last day, and here they were living the good life. What did he have to be upset about? The answer, as hard as she found herself looking for the answer, she could not find and found herself failing mentally. Tears began to stream down the side of her cheek. They went unnoticed until one made it's way down to her neck. It came to a shock to her, she not being fully aware of her own disability to control her constant mood swings. Using the back of her hands to whip away the tear, she turned away to find solitude in her room.
Sunny, glanced from the door to Pandora, enraged a little from Raptor's little scene he made. She had the good mind to go out there and demand an explanation, but had the knowledge to know that asking O'Donnell anything while he was like that was pointless. So she decided to follow the older wolf to their room. She stopped at the elevator door and turned to Blackfoot with a very awkward smile on her face. "Hey... uhm.... Hi. I'm Sunny. Sunny Frye. Welcome to our dysfunctional family."
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Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2009 10:36 am
Black struggled to say something, knowing they would get suspicious if he was quiet for too long. He couldn't think of anything to say that wouldn't sound stupid or totally blow his cover, though. He tried to look unobtrusive in the room, seeing as how no one noticed him, anyway. Black took comfort in that, he was used to not being noticed, it was his element and he was safe in it.
Black remained passive through Raptor's conversation with the huge lions, though his fur bristled in surprised alarm at Nikolai's mention of finding things that don't add up. He tried not to let it show as he followed at the back of the team again when the second lion led them to their quarters. As soon as the door opened, Black was amazed.
Such accommodations these were, the lush carpeting, easy-on-the-eyes textures, and simply elegant decoration flabbergasted him. He was still admiring their suite when Raptor's tone grew low and bothered. He snapped at Pandora before he left, who immediately started crying once he was out of sight. Black felt sorry for the girl, but it seemed she was well taken care of because the girl Red followed her, but stopped in the doorway to talk to him.
"I'm Emmanuel Reguard, Miss Frye," he said, making sure to throw in a respectful bow. "At your service. Perhaps I could go talk to Raptor on behalf of your friend there, and maybe you might talk to her for him, eh? Who knows, maybe we'll get lucky and they'll mend fences," he suggested. Black thought it a good opportunity to gain some intelligence on the female members of Star Wolf, and perhaps the best person for that was a drunk Raptor O'Donnell. He would give the bird time to get drunk, then he would sniff him out and lay on the questions. Black left the room and walked a long ways down the hall, out of sight of the room's door before he took a seat in a comfortable plush chair, picking up a data pad, and pretended to read a book on it.
"We didn't sign up for this," Elijah mumbled from the back of Black's mind. "This is stupid. This is beyond stupidity. We are bound to be caught and killed."
'You're the image of optimism today, Elijah. Why don't you try being negative just for once, huh?'Blackfoot thought in Elijah's direction. 'Why did I ever create you anyway?'
"If I remember correctly, he was the persona you used for that job in the mercenary corp. You had to be a soldier, and with him, you passed for one," Lazarus replied. "I was the result when you had to be a diplomat's assistant."
"Yeah, passive and meek, that was a fun job."
Lazarus allowed himself an uncharacteristic pass on dignity and did the mental equivalent of sticking out his tongue at Elijah. "My job went better than yours did."
'But at least with his job, we had a weapon in hand when things went bad,' he thought. 'Anyway, this job is what is important right now. We need our focus on getting close to Raptor, like we were instructed.'
"What bothers me is that we don't even know who we are working for," Elijah grumbled. "You wanted this job for the money, but what good is that money when we get killed?"
'Thanks for the confidence in my abilities,' Black thought.
“I believe his point is valid,” Lazarus interjected. ”The risk level of exposure is dangerously high.”
'Oh no, a risk,' Black thought. 'How would we handle that?'
”Do not laugh this off, we are in very real danger.” He held up a hand, stilling a reply from Black. ”I am aware that we are always in some sort of danger, but I fear we have gotten in too deep by preparing to cross Raptor O'Donnell. Perhaps it is time to take a step back and reevaluate the plan of action. It can't hurt just to review it, can it?”
'I suppose not. Objective one was to gain entry to the Terror Wolf, we did that, more or less. Objective two was to prove our mutual interest with Raptor, that's still in progress. The next step after that was to befriend him and then report back to our employer, which would be an optimal chance to inquire as to why we weren't informed at all about the women with Raptor O'Donnell.'[
Elijah pounded a fist into his paw. ”Yeah, I'd like to see the look on that badger's face when he finds out our price just went up. I'll show him who he's messing with.”
”Indeed we will, but one must wonder whether our employer intentionally left out that information, or he himself did not know.”
Black shivered as he wondered precisely how deeply in trouble he was. He was committed to the role now in any case. Even if he tried to back out, Raptor could catch wise and chase him down. Blackfoot had no false perceptions of his flying abilities, if it came down to a dogfight with the ace wolf pilot, he would blow Black to smithereens. 'Alright, almost time to go find Raptor,' he thought to himself. Black put down the data pad and rose from his seat, wandering down the hall in search of the pub Raptor so highly valued.
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Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2009 1:13 pm
Raptor took to the streets, rounding corners furiously, barely swaying past the locals who seemed to busy in their own personal rhythm to steer clear of his. His beak was kept cocked towards the sidewalk in front of him and never pointed away. In fact, he had passed by several rather nice establishments and a handful of decent looking pubs. He needed a mug, not a glass. Hard alcohol was what he wanted, and the finer places would only give him large moderation of the soft stuff, or the tasty b***h beer which he utterly despised at times like this.
The artificial was unusually calming; however, it still did little to curve the onslaught of thoughts cycling through the raven's head. How had he fallen into that whole mess with the CDF mess. Even as he ran through all the recent refuels, jobs, and pit stops, O'Donnell was very thorough and not only covered his tracks but made sure they stayed covered.
After about a good half-hour of walking, the bird tilted his beak up and viewed his surroundings. To his dismay, he found he had yet to leave the nice, classy residential area. In fact, as he stopped at the edge of the side walk to peer up and down the road, the dome-encased city looked like it was city all city. "Dammit," Raptor growled irritatedly before continuing his pursuit for a good drink.
Only minutes later did he find himself a liquor store. How convenient. He was in and out with his prize. Cradling a bottle whose brand was known for making heavy drinkers drop, Raptor now went on the search for a place to drown himself in the strong beer. What better place was there to get wasted but the nearby park right across the street. Actually, the area was a large garden that took up a good section of the block designed specifically for individuals of certain habits to exercise them out of the public's eye, but what the ave didn't know wouldn't come back to bite him. Raptor found himself a bench, took it as his perch, popped open the bottle to his elixir and sniffed at the small opening. The aroma alone was enough to send ruffles down his neck, but he insisted on placing the bottle to his beak, getting a good gulp of the alcohol for himself.
Thus began his binge.
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Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2009 11:00 pm
Ferrets are good at seeking out their targets. With sharp eyes and a tenacity unrivaled by any other animal, Blackfoot had the advantage when it came to rooting out where Raptor O'Donnell had been. Using his size to his advantage, he weaved amongst the larger animals, bears, leopards and the like, in the crowds that clogged the streets.
He was already working against time by having spent so much time dilly-dallying at the hotel. But, it had been a necessity. Surely, it would have raised suspicions if he had rushed after Raptor, and it certainly wouldn't have won him any points with Raptor himself. Better to let the bird have his time to get nice and smattered, then Blackfoot would step in with his questions.
Still, to time his intervention just right, he would have to find Raptor first. And it seemed even with his heightened tracking abilities, that the bird was proving to be erratic prey. It was almost as if he was purposely taking absurd turns and paths to throw him off. But that was impossible, he told himself, surely the bird didn't know he was on his trail?
He wandered past various bars and wondered if Raptor had backtracked into one of them. His predator senses told him that he hadn't gotten turned around, but how would they know anyway? He decided against drifting into one in search of Raptor on the grounds that he could always come back to them, but with the swelling numbers out in force on the streets now, the trail wouldn't stay warm for long.
He was not so much chasing a scent, as a dog might, or bumbling along looking for clues of Raptor's presence. It was more an extrasensory experience, he did not deduce from any thing that Raptor had taken this path, but rather he felt his fur raise itself with tension, the same tension he felt in when the bird had scrutinized him. There was a certain feeling about being in proximity to the raven, and Black was feeling it now.
Black let his tracking sense lead him down the sidewalks, suddenly his feet swerved him to the left, across the street, towards the park. 'I can feel him nearby,' he thought to himself. 'Easy there, Blackfoot. Keep your distance from your target until you're ready to move in for the kill.' That was a metaphor; he didn't actually intend to kill Raptor. That was, unless he was directed to.
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Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 3:41 pm
The bottle of elixir was only a forth of the way gone, and Raptor was already starting to move past the stage of pleasantly drunk and onto slightly drunk. He lay stretched out over the park bench; his head rest upon the arm rest while one leg dangled freely over the back. The bottle sat upon his slowly rising and falling chest. The bird's eyes were locked onto the interesting bottle as if transfixed by it's awkward shape. In truth he was simply trying to keep it form falling. The the drink had done it's job and made him relaxed. Now he was focused on the bottle and not thinking about anything else. The trick was a stupid one, but it worked and that all that mattered.
Raptor was very unaware of the Ferret's presences. At any other time, the raven might have gotten a hint of his being watched, but when you're drunkenly staring intensely at oddly shaped beer bottles, your mercenary concentration overrides mercenary awareness. So Blackfoot remained unnoticed.
At the hotel, Pandora sat cross-legged on her silk and satin furnished bed. It was neither the intricate handmade sheets with exotic curving lines wound neatly into them, nor the rare and elegant flora that dotted each of the four walls of the room that kept her eye; It wasn't even the expensive nightstands. It was the sky. Pandora stared longingly into the false blue sky, barely blinking, hardly breath. Her eyes were red from having cried sometime ago, but now, no tears fell. Thoughts of Raptor, of Marcus, of Summyr and and even Blackfoot floated in her mind. Where all of this was heading, why had all of this began, why she was so important all seemed so disconnected now after having escaped them so long ago. However, now.... Now they were back with a vengeance. It would only be a matter of time before Corneria was on their track again.
Pandora let herself sigh before continuing silently gaze out the window
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