17th Parallel Bar IV

[Aileron]

Alright, if you haven't read the rules by now, they are here:

 

17th Parallel Bar Rules

 

 

If you signed up in the signup topic, plz don't spend any of your first post describing your character, except if you are Tex and need to sign up again.

 

Any late entries who wish to sign up (or sign up again) should do so here in your first post. If you sign up late, you are allowed to know some things that has been revealed by somebody else earlier in the topic, but don't push it.

 

 

As for the setting:

 

The Bar on the "17th Parallel" is a small place with bad lighting and excellent drinks. Playing soft music in the background (23rd Century contemporary), with decor to match, this is the excellent place to rest while ships are refitted/refuelled/repaired, and the first place anyone goes for information of a slightly less-than-legal nature. Many shady deals have occurred here and its reputation is beginning to stretch even to systems as far away as Antares.

 

The owner of the bar is known to the patrons as "Manus Celer Dei", both to those who, without his intervention would have died in one of the many scuffles that occur at times, and those who know of his previous occupation as an Alliance Soldier-citizen, and the reputation he earned in several engagements against the Ithkul. He prefers however, to keep his past closed to all but his trusted compatriots, many of whom were also former members of the Alliance defence force.

 

 

Current Events:

 

The number one issue on everyone's mind is a wave of piracy occurring throughout various systems in the Alliance. These pirates are not exceptionally brutal or inhumane, they only thing unusual about the recent attacks is that the pirates are more coordinated than usual, seem to have more resources than what they usually have, and the pirates have had a great ability to avoid the patrols of military and security forces. Certain aspects of the economy have been devastated. Food, Fuel, and Ore shipping is perhaps the worst affected and most important industry hurt. The cybernetics industry, one critical for production of Alliance military forces, has also been hurt...Cybertech is projecting losses for the first time in decades, and their compe!@#$%^&*or Implanx Inc. can rarely get their products on the shelves and is considering filing bankruptcy. Manus Celer Dei, among other concerned citizens, have posted bounties on any pirates captured or killed...1000 credits for grunts, 5000 credits for officers, 10000 credits for captains. However, local bounty hunters have had only limited success tracking the pirates.

 

The elections for the Kanatis system are underway. President Cal Ross, age 75, is the in!@#$%^&*bent president. He is running on a platform of improving intelligence agencies to combat piracy. His opponant, Senator Fredorick Harris, age 82, is running on a platform of arming civilian vessels that claim anchorage in the Kanatis system. While the Kanatis Presidency doesn't entirely run Kanatis itself, let alone the entire alliance, many of the governments of other systems respect Kanatis' positions as the model to follow. Dr. Blake is also running in this election, but he's a third party candidate in a traditionally two party system, and has no real chance of winning.

 

The Terran League, Ithkul Imperium, and Kanatis Alliance have just finished talks over the Oricanetes Treaty, signed in said system. The aggrement promises that should the Ithkuls or Terrans ever attack one of the six systems in the Alliance, the other power would ally with the Alliance. Though this does little other than formalize the state of affairs that has been going on, this promises a new age of true peace between the three powers. There is much political pressure on Exis to commit to a similar agreement, but so far they have not made any real response.

 

There is a rush to get the new mental implant, the CTMI 5600. It promises to not only be ten times faster and have more memory than current implants, but also has the unique ability to stop and reverse aging. However, the prototype product has yet to be approved by any of the system governments, or the Terran, Ithkul, and Exis governments. Not only that, but the recent acts of piracy have been preventing many models from being produced. Still, because of the urgent need involving the elderly, pre-market verions can be purchased by anyone over the age of 70 Earth-Years.

[Manus Celer Dei]

Manus opens his bar for the day and begins reviewing inventory by hand while checking on the modifications being made to his latest client's ship at the outfitters via his neural implant.

[SeVeR]

Buzzuzz flies in through the the window and lands on the shoulder of a wooden parrot

 

"HaRR!, giveth me a cold brew me matey, i been sailing the seven seas and my wooden leg hath gone mouldy!"

[Aileron]

[OOC] What the !@#$%^&* happened to everybody else that signed on? [/OOC]

 

A few systems away on Kanatis...

 

The annual Cybertech party that Dr. Blake was hosting had just started. Company employees and their families, as well as local political and business leaders were all celebrating. Dr. Blake was having a conversation with the safety inspectors for the CTMI 5600, when his secretary pulled him away for the annual toast.

 

After a quick speech, Dr. Blake stepped down. There few quite a few more people here than on the guest list, and he was beginning to get nervous about all these people on his estate. He tried to convince himself that this fear was irrational - how could they know about the secret laboratory on the premises? Ofcourse, he kept a cool composure, smiling and pretending to be relaxed when on the inside was a growing need to oversee the security.

 

Finally, he could hold the feeling down no more. He quitely slipped away from the party and strolled into his home office. He turned on the computer and set the moniter to show the feed from the hidden security cameras. The back corridors were empty. Dr. Blake gave a sigh of relief, but too soon.

 

Just as he was about to turn the moniter off, one woman, appearing to be a guest at the party, showed up on the camera monitering the hallway to the lab. "Perhaps a lost guest?" Dr. Blake thought to himself. The rest of his mind did not really believe this, as he stared at the screen. The woman stopped infront of the lab door, made a quick glance up and down the hallway, and pulled a lockpicking device from out of the top of her dress.

 

Dr. Blake scrambled to pick up his communicator. "Dr. Blake to security - We have an intruder in section E5. Repeat - Intruder in section E5!!!". Dr. Blake thought to help capture the intruder himself, but remembered that there still was a party downstairs. If they became suspicious, than this would all be over.

 

Dr. Blake turned off the computer, and returned to the ballroom, where he found a few of his old buddies from Saggatus III, and they started to talk about the war.

[SeVeR]

Buzzuzz lays some eggs on Ailerons head and flys away to watch the maggots spawn! Fly my beauties fly! Well, crawl first... but then fly!

[Aileron]

*takes a shower...eggs are washed off and die down the drain*

 

[OOC]Erm...superpowers...I was far away on Kanatis...you travelled faster than the speed of light on nothing but beating your wings...which btw doesn't work in space. Jeez, wth happened here? Quite a few people signed up, but the only serious players here are Manus and I.[/OOC]

[SeVeR]

The eggs hatch down the drain as mutated super-flies. They begin to breed in the sewers, eating all the !@#$%^&* that is flushed away. Sewer workers start to go missing.... human body parts are found in the sewage purification plant. A team headed by Doctor Blake is sent down to investigate! ...

 

Buzzuzz watches silently from the sewer walls, Doctor Blake and his team are armed to the teeth but can they take on 200 million man-sized super-flies with wings! Tune in next time to find out! "Dun dun dunnn....!"

 

[i flew there at warp speed in my jav-enterprise hybrid ship]

[Manus Celer Dei]

Please Please edit my posts! I'll give you a hug

 

Fixed.

[Aileron]

Aileron's team happens to be armed with flamethrowers (accompanyed by heat protective suits). They fill the WHOLE passageways with hot flame. Since these are flies, they are actually attracted to the flames and move TOWARDS them rather than away from them, and even if they wanted to dodge the flames, they couldn't because they are filling up the entire corridors. The result is complete annihilation for the mutant flies as they are all burnt to a crisp, except for buzzuzz who is sentient enough to stay away from the flames.

 

For him, Dr. Blake takes out the flyswatter he was carrying and swats buzzuzz with one swift smack.

[Greased_Lightning]

Tern (Rease) docks at the 17th Parallel station and travels towards the bar to meet with a 'client' not knowing that he is being shadowed and observed by two agents of TDI. He enters the bar and takes a seat across from another patron, Lafde Juron, a smuggler and purveyor of information. Tern orders a local brew, waits until the drink is served and the server out of earshot.

 

Tern - "So? You said you wanted a meeting?"

Juron - "Yes, I have some information I believe you might have an interest in."

 

One of the agents from TDI enters the bar and takes a seat at the bar with a view through the mirror of Tern & Juron's table and watches their conversation. With the use of his implant, he can see what they are saying.

 

Tern - "What sort of information?"

Juron - "The kind that costs money...10000 credits"

T - "10000? I don't care if you have the codes to the Exis defense system. 5000."

J - "(spits) Pah! I could sell this to the Terrans for ten times that price, but they would ask me questions of how I got it... and I doubt they would appreciate my methods such as you do. 8000."

T- "Very well

Slides credit wafer across the table and takes the data pad from Juron and reads of current pirate activities, ship placements across borders, then comes to mention of an incident on Kanatis involving mutant flies at a party and the apprehension of an intruder, her picture pops up and Tern recognizes it.

"This is interesting. Any other information you hear about this incident on Kanatis would be appreciated."

J- "Of course. I feel I should warn you... it appears someone is very keen on our conversation." He motions to the agent at the bar, who quickly shifts his glance.

T - "Hmm...I'll keep my eyes open."

[Manus Celer Dei]

Manus, busy dispensing drinks to the various patrons and debating the merits of the Alliance cultural ascendacy ideology with a loudly arrogant Ithkul freighter pilot, notices one of the TDI agents in the bar and motions over to her.

 

Looking annoyed at the interruption, she gets up an saunters over to the bar.

"What is it?"

"AIS want a chat with your people, shall I tell them you're here?"

"Not yet, I'm still on objective, be done in an hour"

"They really want to see you, sounds like a Cat4 issue, don't take too long"

The agent pauses in thought for a second, pondering what it could be to upset Alliance Security so much, but decides to ignore it for now and concentration her mission.

[17thParallelNPC]

[OOC]I kinda wish there were more players before entering the first npc, but what the heck...

Greased, you !@#$%^&*umed too much...she wasn't caught.

Manus, I apologize, I'm going to have to roleplay your character slightly.[/OOC]

 

A woman entered the bar, but this was not the usual patron. Her ragged appearance implied that she must have recently been through !@#$%^&*. Her hair was in a random mess, and she was covered in dirt. She must have been in some kind of battle as she was nursing a few lacerations and plasma burns. She was dressed in nothing but a formal evening gown, no shoes. The gown was dirty and torn in multiple places, to the point that it was barely hanging on the woman's body. In her hands was an assault disrupter rifle with plasma grenade launcher attachment.

 

The ship she flew in on was in even worse shape. The terrier had seen much better days. There was massive damage to the ship, and the engines were out...she had to glide the thing into the hangar. It was clear that this ship would never fly again.

 

The mysterious patron did not waste time waiting at the bar, jumped over the counter and helped herself to a bottle of Trullarian Ale. After downing the whole bottle, she helped herself to the first aid kit mounted on the wall. It was only then that she noticed the face of the very troubled bar owner. She then walked over to a closet, which was stocked from floor to ceiling with backup first aid kits, and replaced the one she took off the wall.

 

She then walked over to Manus, and dragged him into one of the back rooms.

 

T: "I apologize for my rudeness...I am Agent Thallina Darkstar, TDI. I need to use this installation to contact my superiors."

M: "I'm a forgiving man, but next time you try to manhandle your way through here the cleaners will be scraping your brains off the walls for weeks"

T: "I am authorized to share this information with you, indeed it affects your government more than ours."

 

...

 

Suddenly the screen started to flicker, and collapsed into static.

 

T: "What type of outdated crap do you use here?" Thallina yelled at Manus.

M: "This is an emergency comm, you want quality you use an implant like normal people"

T: "Cybertech is tracking the locations of neural implants by their connection to the Alliance database, and are feeding that information to the pirates. That's why they have been so easily able to avoid the patrols...they know the location of every soldier in the alliance."

M: "You have proof of this?"

T: "No...My copy had an accident. I need to get this information to Terra to get TDI support on this."

M: "This comm system is down, you will have to charter one of the pilots. Oh...and you owe me 20 credits for the ale"

T: "You can take the ship I flew in on...it should have a couple good parts left."

 

 

Suddenly the lights in the bar went out as the power was cut. Nervous patrons pulled out their weapons. A few seconds later, a massive explosion blasted down the door to the bar. Multiple men entered the bar with disrupter pistols firing. Each was dressed entirely in black with sungl!@#$%^&*es. Thallina stepped outside of the back room and fired her own weapon, taking out three of them. She ducked down and used the bar itself for cover as many more of the mysterious figures fired back at her.

 

The patrons did not know who these invaders where, but fought them anyway, turning the bar room into a full-blown warzone. The figures in black attacked relentlessly, without regard to their personal safety.

 

Over the sound of the disrupter fire, Thallina shouted "I need a pilot who can fly me to Terra!!"

[SeVeR]

Dr Blake suffers the wrath of Buzzuzz's 56 trillion children who act as his bodyguards and they acidify him and his whole team.

[Aileron]

Dr. Blake's team burns the 56 trillion children with the flamethrowers as well. Since they are also attracted to the flames, they are quickly annihilated too.

[SeVeR]

[unfortunately for Dr Blake they are "sentient" like their father (makes sense) and aren't attracted much to flames.]

 

The 56 trillion flies after acidifying Dr Blake and his team take pieces of Buzzuzz's DNA from the dropped flyswatter and return to flyatropilis to clone him.

[Aileron]

[OOC] Sentient in this case means "stays the !@#$%^&* away from the guys with the flamethrowers"...since flies can't "acidify" something from a distance, they wouldn't be able to get close enough.[/OOC]

 

When the 56 trillion flies couldn't be beaten by simple flamethrowers, it lead to a standoff. However, the Alliance military (who at this point has no reason to think Dr. Blake is up to something), did not take kindly to this invasion attempt by Flytopia. Fortunately, they had an army of 25 trillian jetpack outfitted frogs to deal with this sort of thing standing by.

 

When released, the frogs inflicted massive casualties on the fly army, forcing them into a route all the way back to Flytopia.

 

[OOC]SeVeR, I am REALLY close to editing your posts. This isn't a nonsensical topic. Your roleplaying my character into the sewers in the first place was a clear violation of the rules. I only went along with that because it allowed me to kill your character. Also, its illogical to assume that flies growing up in sewers would mutate...the only thing down there would be feces, which flies normally grow up around. Having 56 million sentient lifeforms support you with fanatical devotion when you attack a random person with no provocation is a superpower. You also skipped out on the portion where those 56 trillian flies would need to travel in ships...which at some point the Kanatis Alliance fleet would react to them. Did you even read the history?

 

Just let Buzzuzz stay dead, and start over in a real character. The only reason that "humans only" isn't explicitley stated is that some people might prefer to roleplay androids, cyborgs, mutants, etc. You would probably prefer roleplaying a mutant pirate creating havok on the Kanatis trade routes anyway. Do you hate me so much that you have to destroy this topic for everybody?[/OOC]

[Manus Celer Dei]

She then walked over to Manus, and dragged him into one of the back rooms.

 

T: "I apologize for my rudeness...I am Agent Thallina Darkstar, TDI. I need to use this installation to contact my superiors."

M: "I'm a forgiving man, but next time you try to manhandle your way through here the cleaners will be scraping your brains off the walls for weeks"

T: "I am authorized to share this information with you, indeed it affects your government more than ours."

 

...

 

Suddenly the screen started to flicker, and collapsed into static.

 

T: "What type of outdated crap do you use here?" Thallina yelled at Manus.

M: "This is an emergency comm, you want quality you use an implant like normal people"

T: "Cybertech is tracking the locations of neural implants by their connection to the Alliance database, and are feeding that information to the pirates. That's why they have been so easily able to avoid the patrols...they know the location of every soldier in the alliance."

M: "You have proof of this?"

T: "No...My copy had an accident. I need to get this information to Terra to get TDI support on this."

M: "This comm system is down, you will have to charter one of the pilots. Oh...and you owe me 20 credits for the ale"

T: "You can take the ship I flew in on...it should have a couple good parts left."

 

[OOC]

Manus, I apologize, I'm going to have to roleplay your character slightly.

 

Grmble. Fixed your post.

 

And Jim, please.[/OOC]

 

As the fighting starts Manus reaches for his NFusion-Bolt Pistol and switches his implant to armed combat mode, targeting reticles appear and his vision mode switches to enhanced IR. Leaning out from behind the cover afforded by his position he fires and hits one of the !@#$%^&*ailants squarely in the chest, which promptly explodes in a cloud of blood and gore as the warhead detonates, scattering many of the fighters towards any available cover. Two more shots are fired and two more sungl!@#$%^&* wearing fighters go down.

 

It is all over quickly, the combined combat experience of the bar patrons was more than a match for the surprise offered by the seemingly suicidal attackers. Inventories are taken of casualties and first aid nanokits are distributed amongst the wounded. Those unharmed immediately contact the stations lax emergency service personell, and try to ward against further attacks as Manus and some of the more inquisitive patrons attempt to discern the iden!@#$%^&*y of who juat attacked them.

[Greased_Lightning]

Tern and Juron are still seated at the back table when the strange woman enters. His back to the bar, Tern does not see her as she enters but hears her yelling at Manus and turns slightly to see the latest crazy drunk. He ASSS his head slightly at the disshevelled figure as he briefly has a feeling of recognition, when the lights go out and the sungl!@#$%^&*ed figures enter and begin firing. Tern upturns the table and pulls out a disruptor pistol and returns fire. A stray bolt hits Juron in the chest, wounding him severely. Tern downs two of the attackers and then gets around them and out the door heading to the docking bay to safeguard the new information. The TDI shadow agents remain behind, one wounded in the exchange.

 

Agent1: "Wait, where did Rease go?"

Agent2: "I don't know, get me a med kit, hurry!"

Agent1: "We're supposed to be keeping tabs on him !@#$%^&*it! I'm going to go find him. God knows what he could be doing."

 

The agent runs out of the bar and down the corridor, leaving his comrade to the medics.

[Aileron]

[OOC]Post edited accordingly. Sorry for doing that, but it would be strange to describe it without dialog.[/OOC]

 

Dr. Blake and company left the sewers. The Kanatis military was curious how he am!@#$%^&*ed such a force. The explanation given was that it was a combination of Cybertech security personelle and concerned citizens. He then made a speech, tying this event to his bid running for the Kanatis presidency.[OOC]Admittingly bull!@#$%^&* and unbelievable, but give me a break. If it were my choice, I would have left the mutant flies in the sewers and had the Kanatis security forces deal with them. I'm not roleplaying a pest exterminator.[/OOC]

 

Upon returning to the office, he checked the reports of the pursuit of the agent who broke into his lab, only to find that all of his goons were killed. This failure was very upsetting to him. Years of work went into this plot, and just now as it is almost completed, someone has a hint as to what is going on. He knew that all the data she had was undoubtedly destroyed when the EMP bombs broke through her escape ship's shields, so she had no proof...but proof or not the eyes of authority would still be pointed at him.

 

The one thing he didn't need to fear was the goons being traced back to him. The fact that they carried no id and their memories were wiped prior to the mission !@#$%^&*ured this.

 

Ail had to accelerate his plans. That night he ordered the kidnapping of the Kanatis implant safety inspectors. They were drugged in their sleep. They were brought to Blake's secret laboratory, where surgical staff quickly inserted versions of the CTMI 5600 into their brains. They then were returned to their beds. None of them had any memory of any of this, and awoke the next morning with no suspicians whatsoever.

[Greased_Lightning]

Cmdr. Rease Bumps this thread in hopes of making it known again. Then farts, puts up signs saying Greased should've been RPG Forum Boss, and then blames the fart on a dog.

[Aileron]

[OOC]Well, apparently only three people are participating in this topic. I'm trying to get this working, but most of the hardcore rpg players were long gone before this topic started.

 

Erm...note that Thallina still needs a ride to Terra. If Cmdr Rease is gracious enough, maybe he should charter her a flight. [/OOC]

[Paine]

*sits down*

 

...hmm, quiet.

 

*yells at the bartender* Get me a bottle of ye-ole-beer.