Everflame (Finished)

[Asia Kali Yusufzai]

(OOC: http://www.thefurryforum.com/forums/index.php?topic=10424.0)

Above the dirt tracks of Skeeva, a light flared in the sky falling to the sand covered wastes near the small village of SkeeBerren. The light kep falling, gaining speed. The closer it came, the clearer it was, a falling spacecraft.

"Status report?!" Asia yelled as he scurried around the ship dousing fires with retardent gel. The ship's computer refused to respond, before slowly growling, building to a piercing screech. Asia fell to the floor and covered his ears, until the audio shorted out. The rabbit stood back up and ran to the cockpit, looking out the window and watching the ground burn towards him. Checking the status displays, everything flashed red. The wings had long since become irreperable. With only one option left, Asia grabbed his weapons and a small energy dampening case and squeezed into the emergency protection capsule and pulled breathing tube to his mouth. With one button press, the casule filled with a flexible yet sturdy gel, before the ship hit the ground, smashing into pieces, leaving a crater and a sea of debris. A group of children stood staring at the spectacle, as Asia stumbled out of the wreckage, dazed yet relatively safe.

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Korius snorted as the loud bang awakened him. "What is buggeration is going on?" He was sitting against the wall of the tavern, his sword between his legs and against his shoulder. He just finished an assignment out here on suppressing a mob, and celebrated last night. What can possibly be happening now? He took out his little PDA and connected it to his shades. He zoomed in and watched the figure that walked out of the wreckage and his database running through the left lense. "Hmm. A lowly cop. Seriously loaded, but low ranked cop." He sighed and reached to disconnect his PDA when some lights started flashing into his left eye. He smiled, "Hello hello . Someone's got a price on their head. Hmm, one of 34 cops that went AWOL  after the Everflame got stolen." He picked up his katana and walked casually to Asia. "Good morning, sir. Need any help?"

[Asia Kali Yusufzai]

"No," said Asia, swaying from side to side, barely keeping his head steady as he looked around. Walking a good yet unsteady few paces towards town, he turned back to the black wolf. He put his hand to his head and thought for a moment, before throwing his arm forward, pointing lazily."I need... a drink."

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

"Ok, follow me." Korius led Asia towards the tavern and sat him down at the bar. "Darius, got any of that mineralized water left? Get this man a litre, and I'll have shot of bourbon." He took out his PDA and looked up at the bartender. "How many credits?" Darius growled at Korius as he took out the receiver behind the bar. "That's 200 credits on top of the 3,000 you owe me from last night!" Korius keyed in his PDA and, sure enough, he had money again, just on time. He connected the PDA to the receiver. "There you go, mate." Darius slammed the two drinks onto the table and walked off. Korius now turned his attention to Asia. "So, what's a lowly cop like yourself doing out here? Messed up on your landing, I see. You wouldn't possibly have stolen something of great importance from the government, now would you? O-ffi-cer A-si-a?"

[Asia Kali Yusufzai]

Asia blinked a few times to shake off the crash. As the drinks arrived, he grabbed his water and splashed it over his own face, shaking his head while Korius spoke. He mulled over the things the wolf was saying, then looked at him, stared, straight in the eye, sat back and smiled.
"I wouldn't think that a person like you would care, but I'm saving the galaxy, especially the kinds of people who live in little towns like these." He gestured around the room with his head, placing his hands on his lap and never taking his eyes off of this most mysterious of strangers.

[KittKat chunky~]

The piercing scream of a woman filled the air, the sound rang on and on through the forest, before  finally being cut off. The group of civilians froze, furtive gazes around into the surrounding undergrowth.... three members of the group ran back along the path, what had once been a main road was now so overgrown it was barely recognisable, the body lay in one of the many pools of sunlight filtering down through the forest canopy, the air was thick and heavy with pollen.

The lead figure turned the body face up with his foot, a long gash across the young woman's face told the tale of her death... even as another cry came from the main group they had just left behind...

"TRIFIIIID!"

The shout no one wanted to hear.

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Korius chuckled as he took off his shades and glared at him, "Well now, you can't tell me you've never heard of me. Aside from being a mercenary, bounties are a great hobby of mine. And you, my furry little friend happen to be on the police's bounty list. You're one of 34 AWOL cops the day someone stole the Everfire. You might think you've fooled others with an energy suppressant case, but you can't fool my nose. Any feelings you have, I feel, and anytime you lie, I know. So you want to give me a good reason why I shouldn't drag you back to the Sphere? And for your sake, it had better be a darn good one." His right hand resting on the hilt of his katana while drinking with his left.

[Asia Kali Yusufzai]

High above Coloran, a lone carrier entered the atmosphere. Inside a small crew made final checks on a solid day of preperations. The pilot, a young brown bear, clad in denim, looked down over the landscape.
"Well blow me over, look at all that forest. You sure we wanna land near that stuff? You said it was dangerous," he said to a meerkat who stood at his side. The meerkat looked at him disapprovingly. "Alrighty then, you the boss," said the bear.

Pulling on a headset, he sent a message on all frequencies down to the planet below.
"People of Coloran, this is the good ship Admiration and we come to save yer tails from these..." The pilot stopped, turned to the meerkat and asked in a whisper, "What are those things called, again?"
"Triffids," the meerkat replied.
"Yeah we're savin' y'all from these Triffid thingies. Reply if you can and we'll see if we can clear some forest to land near ya."

Meanwhile, on the planet's surface, the triffids creeped through the forest, you could hear them crawling through the shadows and the mist towards the fearful civilians, cowering behind what weapons they had.





Elsewhere, on Skeeva, Asia's smile grew as the wolf chuckled, watching his hand moving to the katana in the corner of his eye.
"Is saving the galaxy not a good reason? I felt it was... oh well." In one movement, his hands lifted from his lap, threw the table forward and reached up to grab his Miralan Blaster. At the same time, he kicked back against the floor, throwing himself and his chair onto its back, and firing off a shot, tearing the table apart.

[HowlTheGrayWolf]

In the midst of all the chaos following he lose of the Ever-flare, in the Stratacorp main industrial building, is a riot. Angry workers who were on strike attacked the main building, and now even the riot troops are having trouble containing this violent act. Howl, being an executive worker, didn't have a problem with his position, yet pushed to improve work for others. Sadly, his efforts did not stop the riot, so now, he is attempting to escape.

Howl opened the secret compartment under his desk then grabbed his Colt 1911a1 with several clips and loaded it, he swiped his suitcase then ran for the back entrance. There, multiple riot troopers stormed in with loaded weapons. One of them shouted, "Freeze!" But being a war vet, Howl tried to use this to his advantage, so he bolted through the door to his left as tazer shots flew past him. He ran down the hall and got to the stairs, he peered down them....no troopers. While on the last floor before the main exit, more riot troopers started coming up the stairs, so he walked into the 1st floor and ran up to the large windows. Howl thought for a moment, "I guess I don't have much of a choice...no way am I getting in trouble for this mess." There, he discharged three shots from his Colt and jumped out the window, landing atop a truck. At first, he struggled to get up, the pain he felt wasn't extremely bad, but certainly strong. Stumbling to his car, he opened the door and sat down, closing the door behind him and fastening his seat belt. He then called to his car, "Take me 30 miles north of this building to my home." The car responded with a, "Of course sir." Howl sighed and thought again, "Now that I'm most likely wanted, I'm going to have to go to the outer slums after I get all the stuff I need."

The car doors swung open as Howl ran up to his house door and opened it with a hand-print authentication pad. Rushing to his room, he packed a couple bags full of clothes, then he took his pistol and combat knife strap with shaking hands, and forced it on. He went to his in home ATM and took out 3,000 dollars from his account, shoving most of it into his second suitcase. "This should keep me afloat for a while." Once everything he needed was packed, he reloaded his pistol then walked back to his car. Putting his suitcases right next to him, he spoke once again. "Take me to the outer slums center about 100 miles from here." Once the car got moving, he settled down for a moment. "Hopefully the troopers won't find out I'm gone until it's far too late...."

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

As soon as he saw Asia grab for his gun, Korius unholstered his M500 from under his left arm and fired at the same time. He sat still despite the bar being blown, and smiled as a line of blood showed on Asia's face where he aimed. "Not bad for a cop, but your aim's a bit off. The last time I checked, the Everfire is what keeps the Sphere and its surrounding planets, peace." He smiled and holstered his gun. He briskly, and before Asia can blink, walked right up behind Asia, their backs to each other. He kneeled down and took out his PDA and snapped a picture of the man he killed behind Asia. "You're lucky officer. This illegal hunter stepped in on my territory and was the last of the mob that I cleaned up here. Also, he was aiming for your head.", poking the back of Asia's noggin. He stood up and clicked send on the photo, a few lights winked on and off and he pocketed the PDA. Without turning around, he continued. "Well, thanks to you, I've now got my full bounty and pay for this job. As a thanks for the money, I'll let you off. There's no point in me killing you as you are. Face it old-timer, you're out of touch." Korius walked up to the bar's receiver and plugged his PDA into it. "Here's ten G's Darius, should more than cover that bar and cleaning up that body." He pocketed the PDA again and turned to Asia and smiled as he finished his drink that never left his hand. "Ah... so, where are we headed?"

[Asia Kali Yusufzai]

On the capital sphere, a screen lit up. "Shots fired, Stratacorp complex, rioting present," said the computer. One of the employees, a young woman, trawled through the records, finding Howl as the only gun owner on the premises.
"Ma'am, another army man just tried to shoot somone." Her supervisor, a tall and wisened vixen looked at her screen and sighed.
"Always the military. Bunch of nutjobs they are. Raid his home, check his movements," she commanded.

At once, a pair of vehicles tore through the city racing to the veteran's home.




Back on Skeeva, Asia sat staring dumbfounded at the turn of events, before slowly letting everything process inside his head.
"I am not old! How dare you," he said, full of disdain as he stood up. "And does this place look like one of the sphere's surrounding planets? I'm just sharing the wealth." He stroked his head, looking around at the mess. Most of the customers around them sat staring, half hiding behind their tables, while others had already fled. "Also, what's with this 'where are we headed' nonsense. I dont even have a clue who you are."

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Korius muttered to himself, "Well someone's been living under a rock." He cleared his throat and took a bow. "I am warrior, mercenary and hunter extraordinaire, Korius Lambent. My contracts range from the government to the lowliest of rich men. Been known as the most dangerous bloke in the galaxy for the last 2 years. As for your question, let's just say you've piqued my interest, and I'm not leaving your side until you explain to me how you stealing that thing is saving the world. If you no longer interest me, I'll probably just drag your butt back to the Sphere." He flashed back to behind Asia, their backs to each other and his sword in a reverse grip, blade to Asia's throat. "So, what do you say?"

[HowlTheGrayWolf]

On his way to the outer slums, he hears the news on the radio, "A former Military Veteran attempted to shoot an officer during the Stratacorp riot, he is said to be..." Howl slammed his fist on the wheel out of anger. "How dare they blame me for this?! Those godforsaken-" just then, a large shot hit the car wheel, making it serve out of control. It was a cop using a jet-pack, he had been pursuing Howl for quite some time. "Crap!" With a desperate attempt to get out of the car, he grabbed his suitcase full of money, ammo and clothes then bailed out. The car slammed into a building close to a run-down storage area. He put away his pistol, knowing that shooting a cop wasn't a smart idea, and ran to the storage area. With his clothes torn up, with burn marks and having cuts all over his face, he took a deep breathe and walked in, where he saw multiple dead cops. "Um.....did I come in at the wrong time?"

All the people in the place turned to me with weapons; they were war vets. One of the men in the storage area was a feline who had an type 620e Shredder, it was called that by soldiers for it's high fire power, fire rate and ammo compacity. The man smiled, "So, your that war veteran they're after, well come with us." Howl raised an eyebrow. "What exactly happened here?" He shrugged. "I guess they couldn't resist following us, as we are other falsely accused war veterans ourselves, and with our firepower and numbers far greater then theirs, it was bound to end like this. Anyway, we are gathering up refugees and taking them out of here, you can pick which border planet to stay in, as long as it isn't under the control of these soldiers." He pointed at the dead men. Howl nodded, "Well....it's the best chance I've got." He ran up to all the other soldiers, and they handed him a standard issue military energy assault rifle with multiple energy cores. "Alright, let's go." The 10 soldiers ran out to the main docks, and Howl followed close behind them. There, many heavy armed police officers attacked, shots flew past Howl's head, but he didn't hesitate to shoot this time, he aimed down his sights and fired, killing one of the men, then proceeded to discharge five more rounds at them, killing 5 more. Yet with time of the essence, he ran into the ship the men had seized, and it took off. Howl smiled an walked up to the soldier he was talking to earlier. "Can I get your name, sir?" The Feline smiled, "Yes, I'm Leon." He shook Leon's hand.

[Asia Kali Yusufzai]

"You're very fast," Asia said, looking down, trying to get a glimpse of the blade. "Let me go and you can tag along. I'll explain things when you dont have a vibro-blade to my throat," he said with a grimace.

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Korius resheathed his sword. He drew and pointed his gun to the ceiling. "Alright everyone! Out!" He fired a shot and all the people cleared out. He grabbed a chair, placed it backwards infront of Asia and sat down. "Explain."