The Killing Moon [2430-1-4-Thur-9:00pm]

[Grace Forjacks]

Romulus was the largest of Nox's moons, and also base of one of the largest mining operations in the System. The crater was so large you could see it from space, the giant code digging deeper and deeper still into the grey crust of Romulus, all the way down to the minerals that were worth their weight in credits. Structures ran here and there across the crater, depending on what sort of operations were going on. To the right, a giant trencher was straddling the sides, the slow moving pinwheel shovel chewing up dirt and rock and depositing them into an ever-growing pile further into the mine. Another pile sat a whiles way, twice as large as the current mound, and machines were clustered around it, pick and sorting through the refuse, looking for anything left behind. To the left, Grace could see the great towering drills puncturing the surface, searching for new deposits.

Like many operations of this scale, instead of attempting to build a dome to house the large and unwieldy machinery, and the constantly growing hole, they'd attempted to terraform the dead hunk of rock. It had been slightly successful. While nothing grew on the surface, they had managed to bring about some sort of atmosphere. It was breathable, but it wasn't exactly pleasant to inhale, since it was foul tasting and heavy to keep the artificial atmo from simply leaking off the planet. The Dwarf seemed to be having no problems with it, but the rest had donned gas masks with modified filters. Grace and Klove had their own custom-made masks, but the rest of the crew had to deal with what they could scavenge from the supply lockers. There were enough masks to go around, Grace had made sure of that. She didn't need her crew dying on her, not when she was paying them to carry the crates for her, and watch her back.

Her youngest brother wanted to come out here when he was done his schooling. Grace couldn't understand the appeal. You had to wear a mask anytime you were out in the open, and when you were inside, it was just you and one thousand other men all eating and sleeping in shifts, breaking your backs to pull up the metals used on Terra.

The dirt crunched underfoot as they headed to the main building. There wasn't exactly a spaceport to park in on Romulus, so she'd gotten as close as she dared to the buildings, and they would walk the rest. It was a short enough distance, and she should be able to keep her eyes on the ship while they were exchanging the diamond bits for credits, but all the same, she locked the ship up and left Quillan aboard since he would probably just trip all over the rocky surface. A reputation took a long time to build up, and no time at all to ruin.

[Klove Makem]

Klove took long slow breaths, trying to ignore the way the air stunk and stung at his lungs. Even with the mask, even with a clean filter, his heightened senses managed to pick up on what was filtered out. He'd tried to get around it, but he hadn't figured a way yet. So he suffered through it, reminding himself they wouldn't be out here too long, and when they were finished, he could go take a shower and wash the worst of it out of his system. He snuck a look at Kenna, feeling jealous that the Dwarf could breathe so easily in all of this. No wonder they went into mining with lungs like that.

He and Castle were carrying one big crate of diamonds, hands on either side of the carrying handles. Enan and Kenna were carrying another. And Szar was carrying one all on his own. Grace wasn't carrying anything, except her eInkr and and pistols riding low on her hips. The rest of the crew was armed, though not so obviously. Grace always seemed to be able to get away showing her guns, maybe because they thought she wouldn't know how to use them, or maybe because they were too busy looking elsewhere to notice. Klove used to be able to get away with it too, but then he'd hit sixteen and a growth spurt, and suddenly people had started staring at him and his guns instead of letting their eyes just pass over him. Now he kept them tucked in his jacket, easy to reach but not blatantly obvious.

They stepped around one of the larger rocks dotting the surface, nearly as tall as Klove himself. While other areas were cleared out, probably so the ships could land, this area was still rocky. Maybe this helped out in some way, kept down the winds from the atmo generators. Right now they were just being a pain in the ass. The main office was only ten or twelve meters away, and he could already see the men waiting for them to arrive.

[Jared Castle]

Castle was carrying a big crate with Klove. It was full of diamonds. A lot of heavy diamonds. It was hard to carry but he tried not to let it show that he was struggling. He looked over at the newest addition to their crew. He carried an identically big crate by himself as if it were nothing. Szar was going to be harder to trust than Klove. Klove was a friend he had gotten to know and like before he knew he was a were, whereas Szar is some random Merc from the Underworld that transforms into a bear. That was very different.

As hard as Jared tried to accept the fact that weres are people, trusting Szar would be harder. Castle wondered how Enan felt about this new addition and how friendly he'd gotten with the captain so quickly. Maybe she was just friendly. No that's not it.

Castle's arm was beginning to feel numb as they trudged along.

[szarados]

If Nox was the Hell that the humans would have the whole of the ’verse believe it to be, then Romulus was a fittin’ rock for purgatory. The Terran spaceport had been built on as nice a piece of land as existed on the dark planet, but there were large patches of the world that were just as harsh as its moon. Szar had been born to the far-north were the woodland oases were thin-spread, and one often had to tread amongst the black rock. There, volcanic gases heated the air, and left behind the permeating scent of sulfur. Yet, there was something about the mining colony here that was worse.

The atmosphere was dank, unnatural. It made him uneasy. It could be that he had grown soft with the years, but he doubted it. No, it was more the fact that, by his reckoning, the gods hadn’t wanted living creatures on this damnable moon. If they had, they’d have been here already, wouldn’t they? ‘Course, he’d never admit that it gnawed at him the way it did. Religion is one o’ the few topics he’s not apt to talk about.

So, he carried his crate just a mite faster than he might’ve on a normal planet, doing his best to look like he wasn’t in any kind of hurry at all. He didn’t appear to be armed. That wouldn’t do on a Terran outpost. But underneath his long jacket, he had packed a semi-automatic hand-cannon and a knife nearly as long as his forearm. Better prepared than dead.

It was hard to miss Castle’s look, and he returned it from behind a pair of tactical sunglasses. Word was the man didn’t much care for were’s, but the day would never come when he would lose a wink of sleep over it. Long as the man could keep the business end of his gun out of Szar’s face when the chips were down, they’d fare just fine. He wasn’t looking to change anyone’s mind about his race.

"We there yet?" he managed from beneath his two-sizes too small mask. A thin smirk on his lips that nobody’d see.

[Kenna Kleykir]

Kenna had to really leg it to keep up with the Humans and Weres, barely keeping from cursing under her breath. Allfather damn her short little legs, and Allfather damn their long ones. And Allfather damn the doctor, who kept trying to slow down for her. She wasn't a child and she could keep up, even if it was a pain in the arse.

At least she didn't need a mask. The air was heavy, but Kenna had grown up in the mines, and she'd grown up in the low levels where the thick dust hung in the air for days after a new shaft, and sometimes gases came up out of the deep when they came across places where the planet's crust wasn't as thick as others. Centuries of these encounters had left Dwarves with lungs that could stand damn near anything.

She snorted as she heard Szar snark under his ridiculous looking mask. He seemed alright. Kenna liked Weres. They weren't all that different from Dwarves, 'cept for the bit where they turned into beasts. But hadn't her mother always said all Men were beasts?

They finally reached the mining office. Kenna was all to happy to set her end of the box down. She sniffed the air, trying to identity what the hell it was she was smelling. Not sulfur. But it sure stunk as bad as that cursed mineral did. And then her eyes drifted over to the large mechanical shovel, feeling... a bit envious, and a bit homesick. Her people could have had that, or something like it. Instead, she'd been cast out and they wouldn't have anything mechanical, and some other child would grow up with only one parent because those fools hadn't learned a damned thing.

[Grace Forjacks]

Even with only his eyes showing through his mask, Grace recognized Gord Bey. They shook hands, Gord squeezing maybe a little harder than he should have. Grace let it slide, faking a smile under the mask even though he couldn't see her mouth with the filter in the way. "You're early!"

"My ship's a speedy gal." She told him, "Three boxes, just like you requested."

"Mind if I peek?" He asked. Grace motioned to Klove to open up his box. He and Castle set it on the ground and the kid got it open. The diamonds didn't sparkle this far away from the sun, and not through atmo this thick. But they were still the real deal. Gord picked one out of the case, giving it a once over and nodding, "Huh. Just like you said."

"I'm not a cheat." She told him, which was mostly true. Now, maybe Grace hadn't mentioned she'd likely salvaged it from the missing ship that never delivered the bits he needed, but that didn't make her a cheat. That just made her smart. As far as he knew, Grace had a hundred cases like this in all sizes and shapes. She drew out her eInkr, checking her account.

"Depost'll come in soon enough. Give it a minute." He tucked the diamond away. "Mind if I take 'em up?"

"I do." She kept her smile up, "Once the payment's in, they're all yours. Until then-"

"Fair enough." He tucked his hands in his coveralls, looking over the crew. The Dwarf was staring off at some of the machinery. Engineers. They were all the same. Put something new and large in front of them, and you could forget getting them to pay attention to anything else.

The eInkr beeped. Grace checked again. The payment came through, and it looked good. She tucked the padd back into her jacket, "Have yourself a nice day Gord."

"Feel free to come on in." He said, in a voice that was maybe a little too eager, and his eyes dropping a little too low to the v of open jacket. "We've got a bar on site. Sure would be nice to see some new faces."

"Sorry, tight schedule to keep. But next time, we'll see what we can do." Grace had no intention of ever stepping foot inside. It would be like cutting her throat and jumping into a shark tank. Actually, the shark tank sounded more appealing. At least she'd be dead before the sharks all closed in and turned on one another. Some women thought it was funny to pit men against one another. Grace didn't get any particular pleasure from men's jealousy, particularity since it tended to treat her like a prize to be won.

Grace was nobody's prize. Nobody's.

As her crew dropped the remaining cases on the ground, the main office doors opened up, and out stepped half a dozen men in masks. Judging by their clothes, they weren't miners, but probably some crew stopping by to drink. Grace ignored them, about to head back to the ship. She didn't want to leave Quillan alone for too long.

And then everything went to hell when one of them said, "Grace?"

[Charlie Ellis]

Charlie was maybe a little drunk. Okay, maybe a lot drunk. Okay, maaaaybe he was way over what he should have been drinking. But miners were super lonely guys and they'd buy you drinks as long as you stayed longer and visited with them. Charlie was totally cool with that. He liked visiting people a lot. You could always talk about stuff, even if that stuff was just beer and how much you missed women.

He hated his mask. The inside was all scratched up, and it was hard to see through it. But even through it, he recognized Grace. He would know her anywhere. She was so pretty, even when wearing a mask that barely showed her face, "Grace?" He asked, to make sure it was her, and then grinned, "Grace! Hey, whaaat the heck are you doing here?"

A second or two too late he realized maybe he shouldn't have said that in front of Eddie. Charlie, fully aware of what was going to happen next, ducked back inside before somebody (probably Grace) would shoot him.

[Eddie Sprung]

What a shitty week. Eddie hated Nox and all it's fiking moons. There was nothing good out here, except for maybe a few weres, but they were hell to capture. It wasn't like with fauns and meremaids. You could grab them easy, and most of them were too timid to fight back, espeically once you'd laid into them with the boots. With weres, you couldn't tell if the hot girl was going to turn into a rabbit or a fiking wolverine.

The only reason they were out here was because they had to lay low. Cain had almost gotten their trail on Corus, and once he got his jaws on you, that dog didn't let go. So here they were, pissing away their money on shitty cheap drinks in a shitty cheap planet where it smelled like there was a rat rotting in every air vent. The rest of the men were drunk, but Eddie wasn't a dumbshit like them. He'd only had a few drinks, and he'd kept his wits about him.

Their ship was on the other end of the buildings. Normally he would have gone out the other way, but he was hoping a long walk in the noxious atmo would sober his crew up. He was so focused on just getting out that he almost missed what Charlie said until the dumb bastard repeated himself. Grace.

Grace fiking Forjacks. Eddie went for his gun and shot at her, but the bitch was already behind a rock. He shot anyway, and then looked for that kid she took with her everywhere. Killing him would be a good start. He spotted the kid to the right, going for his own weapon. Eddie aimed and shot, catching him in the shoulder.

The rest of his men went for their weapons, all but Charlie, that fiking coward, and Eddie got cover behind his own rock before someone could peg him.

[Klove Makem]

It all happened so fast. One moment he was closing up the diamond box again, the next someone was calling Grace's name and he was straightening up just in time to take a bullet right in the shoulder. An explosion of pain flooded all down his left side as the bullet slammed through bone and flesh. He staggered back, and then got to cover as quick as he could.

It hurt so bad, but he shoved the pain aside, shoved it down. The ship was twenty meters away, and there was cover all the way back. If they could just get from rock to rock, covering one another, they'd be fine. But that all counted on everybody else working together, and on nobody else getting messed up.

Klove pressed his good hand over the wound, putting pressure on it. It hurt, but at least this way he wouldn't be leaking blood all over the place. That would kill you faster than the basic wound would. The gunfire started and Klove just kept his back to the rock, looking for the best route back, and looking for someone to cover him.

[Grace Forjacks]

Grace hit the dirt behind the rock, chips of stone popping over the top as the bullet hit it. She got her pistols out. There was a wet, meaty sound. Someone was hit. She glanced left, and found Klove ducking behind another rock. He was gripping his shoulder and blood was dribbling all over the ground. Fik. She was going to put a bullet right between Charlie's fiking eyes.

The others grabbed cover. Grace peeked around the corner. Eddie was already out of sight, but one of his other little minions wasn't so quick. She shot him in the head, body hitting the ground with a thump. Someone else pegged another of the slower crew members in the knee, turning the man's cap into a crater. Gord quickly high-tailed it before he could end up shot full of holes. He'd probably alert security, and then they'd all be fiked. Security wouldn't care who started the fight, only that it ended as quickly as possible.

"GET BACK TO THE SHIP!" She yelled to the rest, "SZAR, GIVE US SOME COVER! CASTLE, GET KLOVE MOVING!" Then she leant back around the rocks and started firing the moment she saw someone's gun come up over their own rock.

[Jared Castle]

Castle watched suspiciously at these men who came out of the main office. Then one of them recognized Grace and called her name. Which caused chaos. One second they were about to head back to the ship, the next, they were under fire by six men. Castle quickly pulled out he Desert Eagle and fired as soon as Klove took a bullet in the shoulder.

Jared fired back as he ran for cover behind a rock. It was low to the ground so Castle had to slide down on his back. Now prone, he aimed and fired at the men. The Eagle didn't have great accuracy or even a large magazine but it sure packed a punch. Then he noticed one of the men get shot in the head and collapsed. It must have been Grace. She sure was a good shot. After Grace gave him orders, he got up and ran over to Klove. He lifted Klove's arm over his shoulder and tried his best to make it back to the Queen unharmed.

He fired blindly behind him hoping he didn't shoot any of his fellow crew members.

[Klove Makem]

Klove was more or less useless at this point. He winced when Grace ordered Jared to come over and help him. Grace should have just left him. Now she was risking both him and Castle's life. All he could do was hope that Szar was a good shot and he and Grace managed to keep them both covered.

With his hurting arm over Castle's back, Klove left off the wound and got his own gun out. Castle fired randomly, and Klove did his best to sneak a look then and again over his shoulder as they moved from bolder to bolder. Sprung's men had awful cover, and Grace and Szar were doing their best to keep them stuck behind what little they had.

The ship came closer. Hopefully the ramp came down. If not, then Klove would have to try override it and hope that they didn't get picked off while that was going on. His gas mask was fogging up with every strained breath, and he tried his best to slow down his breathing so he wasn't totally blind by the time they hit the ship.

[Kenna Kleykir]

Kenna wasn't doing too hot. While the Dwarf enjoyed fighting, it was always a more physical sort of fighting, hand-to-hand combat, or boot-to-shin combat, something involving axes or a flail. But a gun? Kenna knew how to use one, but that was more of a theoretical usage.

She couldn't fight these guys hand-to-hand, not when they were doing their best to try blow off their heads. Kenna awkwardly leaned around the rock, firing quite randomly and trying to hit someone. She didn't hit anything, except maybe the window on the main building, and the wall. Kenna ducked back, and bullets hit her rock a moment later. Allfathers balls, this wasn't what she had expected.

Grace yelled for Kenna to get back to the ship. Castle and Klove got moving, but Kenna found she was rooted to the spot. She couldn't make herself move, and worse of all, she couldn't even make herself fire again. When she stopped being so terrified, Kenna was going to be pissed at herself.

[szarados]

Szar dropped his crate in the dirt as soon they reached the office. Sure, he was a big man, but the diamonds were heavy cargo. No reason to break his back for no good reason. The carrying part behind them, he had crossed his arms over his chest and done a damned good job of looking intimidating, his gaze fixed dispassionately on the masked fella who was apparently the buyer.

He had almost decided that the job was going to go down without a hitch when the half dozen men appeared in the doorway on their way out of the bar. Normally, he would have been able to smell the alcohol on their breath, would have known they were easy pickings by scent alone. On the damnable planet, though, all he had to rely on was his sight. Drunk as they were, that was more than enough. When Charlie spoke Grace’s name and she proceeded to bolt, well, it was fairly certain that smooth was out the window.

Two seconds later, he had his own gun in his hand and was making for cover opposite Grace. He fired two shots back over his shoulder, blindly, as he went before sliding in behind the protruding red rock, unknowingly hitting one of the drunk bastards in the knee. His pistol was a real jackhammer, the sort of weapon that a lot of guys’d carry around to look intimidating, but couldn’t wield for the recoil. In his case, the recoil wasn’t much of a problem, and as soon as he was behind cover, he’d level another shot at the place where Eddie’s men had taken cover, squeezing off a few more shots to give their wounded some cover.

Small as she was, he hadn’t even noticed that he had ducked behind the same outcropping as the dwarf at first. It wasn’t until he fell back behind their cover that he noticed she was there, and that she was frozen. Reaching out with one hand to take hold of her shoulder and give her a shove in the right direction. “Now ain’t the feckin’ time fer reflection, shorty. Get yer ass movin’!” he barked. What the hell kinda crew had he got himself involved with? Seemed the whole thing was down to him and Grace covering the rest of the boat’s ass. And him stuck having to shoot instead o’ rip out throats the way he’d like! There just wasn’t time with the authorities undoubtedly on the way.

[Hopefully that gets me all caught up!]

[Kenna Kleykir]

The shove snapped Kenna out of it. The shame and anger freezing up flooded through her, and she got her ass moving, just as the Were told her she should. Under the mask, no one could see how red her cheeks were, and that was at least one blessing.

Keeping low (which was an easy thing to do) she ducked from rock to rock, following Klove and Castle back to the ship. The sound of gunfire chased them all the way back as Grace and Szar kept them covered, kept the men behind the rocks. Kenna just ran, praying to the Allfather to not let her fall on this noxious rock, so far from home.