Begin Again

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Thomas McTavish

Absent, forgotten god
Original poster
FOLKLORE MEMBER
Invitation Status
Posting Speed
  1. 1-3 posts per week
  2. Slow As Molasses
Online Availability
Quite often
Writing Levels
  1. Intermediate
  2. Adept
  3. Advanced
Preferred Character Gender
  1. Primarily Prefer Male
Genres
Dark Fantasy, Fantasy, Zombie, slice-of-life survival, Post Apocalyptic, Cyberpunk, Sci-fi, High Fantasy, Modern, medieval
Jace Altran, one of the survivors who was evacuated to Brunt-Maxis, had finished getting his gear, licenses, and everything else he would need to start his new life. If he was going to make it through the grief that had struck him as it did so many others, he would do it how he always handled pain. He'd fight through it, and do the one thing he knew he was good at. Killing things and getting paid for it. Or stealing thing and getting paid for it. One of the two. Either worked for him, as long as he had something to do.

He went to a place labeled as Main Square. If he was to find a job at either profession, he'd find it here, amongst the large crowd of people, vendors, and businesspeople going about their days. He did what only a few of the others with the same Idea as him were smart enough to do- he made a sign offering his services as a Hunter, and walked around Main Square until someone who needed him for something approached him with a job tobe done.
 
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Virmire "Seven" X | 14 | Brunt-Maxis



The first sign that something was wrong was when the infinite blue sky, with the three moons that shown even during the day, flashed a bright red. The second was the shaking- like the planet was tearing itself apart at the core. The third.. were the screams. They pierced the air, shrill and full of fear. Virmire's training kicked in- as did a few others of her student counterparts, as they stood up and turned towards the noise outside of their classroom. Although it was obvious others shrank back, scanning their surrounding for a quick getaway. Her braver classmates, now standing up from behind their shining metal desks, exchanged glances. No adult was present at the room- it was a half-an-hour self-study session where they were left alone on their holograms to work on their work or whatever other endeavors they decided to partake in. Many spent the time exchanging vids off the internet, which was perfectly understandable. Even prodigies enjoyed watching cats and babies do pointless, yet strangely entertaining stuff.
A girl, Rune, stepped towards the sliding doors, which opened automatically as she neared. A teacher ran in as soon as they parted, bloody and with a lack of breath. Then there was an explosion, and the air was filled with smoke and fire. Everything from then on was a blur to her. Getting up was a haze- most of her classmates laid on the floor, whether unconscious or dead she wasn't sure. Any clear thought were wiped away, her mind primal and livid with the idea that she might not survive. That whatever was.. attacking.. might get to her. She looked around frantically, a few of the students that laid on the floor's heads parted as their insurance implants made their way out of their body. They were dead. Move. You have to get out of here. The voice that echoed wasn't hers. Masculine yet melodic.
"Ah, Vi," her voice cracked, raspy as it was. Vi was her AI, installed onto her augmented, synthetic arm to keep her company. A quirky little trait added on by your's truly. Named ironically Vi (as in Virtual Intelligent, when it was truly an Artificial Intelligent), it was "Seven"'s first fully-aware, completely unique and truly 'alive' AI. A mind of it'd own.
Somehow, she managed to obey Vi's instructions, staggering through the building. The floor still shook, and she feared another bomb. By the time she was outside, she was ready to collapse. It didn't help that the sky looked like it was dripping blood at this point. She looked at one of the planet's moons, Hectate, as a huge chunk was suddenly blown up. It split into pieces, no longer a glorious thing that decorated the planet's sky like a diamond.

There are docks nearby. The professors have ships there, perhaps-
Before Vi could finish it's thoughts, a large figure appeared in front of Virmire, gun cocked and pointed at her head. Slowly, the small girl rose her head to meet her attackers eyes only then realizing it was a teacher. "Virmire!" the adult exclaimed, relieved to see the student. Virmire would return the sentiments, had the large wound the teacher was covering startled her. "Ah, just a flesh wound." she assured, but the bleeding was bad. "Let's go. I have a ship in the docks nearby, I don't want the Ravagers getting to us before we manage to escape. Do you still have that AI of your's on you?"
The child swallowed and nodded, feeling suddenly very small. "Good. My ships' AI's memory hardware got screwed up. Probably Ravager tech. We can't fly out of here without one."
They made their way to the ships, luckily not coming face-to-face with whatever these "Ravager" monstrosities were. Virmire didn't have time to mourn or think, only act. Only rely on the urging voice of Vi in her head that echoed to keep going despite the limp in her step and the giant headache that vibrated through her skull.
The FTL drives hummed to life as Vi crossed over from Virmire's arm's hardware to the starship.
Miss Beuram, the professor, took to the galactic chart with a hurry, despite the blood that was now dripping over the Nameless Lander's floor.
And they got out of there. With the boost that the FTL drives had, worsening Virmire's headache, but at least they were out. From above, Virmire could see that the same red glow the sky had taken up now stained the once green and blue paradise of a planet's ground. It looked like Old Mars, in the Sol System. Like it had been blemished by the gored bodies of her friends, and classmates, and teachers. The thought made her want to hurl.
The Ravager ships seemed to be focused on ground attacks, but besides that, the menacing patrol ships seemed to have no interest in stopping those fleeing the disaster. Virmire didn't think much of it, but "Seven" worried. No matter.
"Full speed, Vi." Beuram said, voice bleak, before collapsing on the floor. "Nononono," the girl rushed to Beuram's side, worried, but it was obvious that no matter how much Virmire begged the universe, Beuram didn't have long to live.
There were no dramatic last words.
Just steady breathing, and gradually, acceptance.
And a limp body to burry.
---
When they docked on Brunt-Maxis, worried cops surrounded Virmire's ship, seeing that she had no license and was essentially a fourteen year old girl piloting a lander by herself (AI's don't count, apparently). She quickly explained the situation, presented Beuram's body, and that shut most of them up. They left the lander under her ownership, but without any permission to fly. She got herself some medical treatment, healed up just fine. "Sell the Lander, it'll be a good bit of money." one of the cops had suggested. The girl just shrugged, not mentioning that she still had a hefty amount from a stash she had found that had belonged to her deceased professor. For now, it was a place to rest, and that was all she could ask for.
She fell asleep to the hum of the engines, and the slight vrooming noise of the old FTL drive.


 
Kindred Williams | Finding Purpose | Brunt-Maxis

Kindred sat, alone, in a crowded spaceport. It was cold on the floor. Hard, too. He had his back propped up against a column as hundreds of people rushed past him, around him.
Earlier that day, Kindred was planning on staying the night in a relatively large starport town. The next day was the day of the first job interview he's had in a while. He was really hoping that life would give him a break, and maybe a little money on the side. Nearly a day later, here he was, given enough money by a previously unknown benefactor to buy a ludicrous amount of stuff and start a new life as his old one and everything he loved in it had just gone up in flame. The white, melting kind, too. Not the kind that leaves singed childhood pictures for you to pick up and carry in your wallet. Just a pile of ash on a bigger pile of ash on a really, really big planet of ash.
Some sort of sick joke played by some cosmic deity, probably. Frankly, Kindred just wanted to vomit.

He looks down at his belt, considering using that new revolver of his to blow his brains out. It would be nice, easy, painless. Kind of loud. Messy.
Well you know what? Kindred wasn't about to be the end of some metaphysical joke. No goddamn deity was about to turn him suicidal. He's survived worse. Well, not really. But he's gotten close.
He gets up, dusts off his pants, and follows the signs to the spaceship dock.
 
Ajax observed the region of space on his holo map. An asteroid field now replaced the location of his home planet. He sighed. He had gotten nasty wounds from fighting gangsters, but nothing hurt more than losing everything and everyone. He turned off the holomap and made his way to the square, where the police station was. He figured he'd talk with the officers there about getting him a job.
 
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Rolf was sitting in a fast-food restraunt talking to his AI "Marcella", her image floated above his wrist. "Marcella how are we doing on the new AI?"AI bowed and presented a blueprint in place of her image."13% complete. Her artificial body is complete, we're currently running at 35% efficiency the power here will not suffice for your 65% efficiency goal, Mr.Wyvern." Rolf sat in , he let out a sigh. "Sir, I've been found 2,000cr has been charged on your account, you now have 6,800 left. I suggest finding a job. I found a law firm who needs some help, Would you like me to notify them of your acceptance?" At this point Rolf was at his Gravcar door, Marcella jumped to the car and opened the door. Rolf hopped in and accepted the job as Marcella drove to it's destination. "Only here for a half a month and it's proven hell..."
 
After retrieving all of her necessary - and some unnecessary - gear, Alaina Lockbey headed toward the ship yard to settle into her new home. The hover trolley, which carried all of her new belongings, floated closely behind her trailing red hair. She was nervous at how many people were all ready standing along the sides and in the center of the Brunt-Maxis. All of them held signs looking for a job. If she didn't have the professions she was lucky enough to have, it may have been difficult to find a job. However, it seemed traders were a little hard to come by at the moment. She saw plenty of signs stating they had a medical degree, which was her other profession. Though, in her own opinion, you could never have too many doctors or nurses. Especially considering why they were all at the Brunt-Maxis.

Taking a look at the ticket she was given, she found her Carrier at Dock K34. She had chosen to have a few upgrades, including the turrets she had selected. They were all ready there. Despite history with refugees being treated poorly, she felt she was quite lucky to have this place as temporary shelter. As she thought about how grateful she was, despite the circumstances, she had boarded her ship through the cargo bay. It would do nicely for her. Several large bays, well-armoured, plenty of cabin room for any crew members, and a functional kitchen.

She had requested the Captain's Cabin to be among the other crew chambers. It was there. Just another room among the others. Opening the door, she was glad they had downsized it. She needed only a desk and bed. A king bed, of course. A king waterbed, absolutely. Sure waterbeds were highly out of style these days, but she had heard so many wonderful things about them from her family's history. Dropping her unnecessary supplies in her room, she continued through the ship. Everything was there as she requested. Now it was time to get to trading, or finding someone to hire her.

Alaina, who went by Ana to friends, made herself a sign and headed to stand along the other refugees.
 
Vex Kezzen Mira | 19 | Brunt-Maxis


''WAAAAAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!'' shouted Vex. He was riding on his hoverbike to the docks to get his new gravship he'd bought with the money.
With a rifle on his back, a revolver at his side, and a ''really freakin' cool laser sword'', he rode into the docks, let his bike fold, and stared in awe at his ship named the Arkite. The valet guy stood at its side, and Vex high fived him and gave him a tip. As he got the identification chip for it, he walked into the ship and looked at the wonderful interior. He looked at his armor and smiled. ''What a wonderful day...'' he said to himself. He actually did care about his planet, but decided to move on to a new life.

He sat in the cockpit and looked at the systems. Weapons were in check, nothing was wrong. He sighed and put the chip in his armor so the ship would immediately recognize him when he got back, and walked out of the ship. He stared at the line of people looking for a job, and looked at a bar. Guess I'll look for an assassination job... he thought. He walked towards the door and looked back at the line again.
 
Ajax was accepted by the Brunt-Maxis police force. With all the desperate refugees pouring in they needed the help. He was put on patrol in square. He parked his armored gravcar nearby and went on patrol, laz rifle in hand.
 
Kindred walked among the rather dense crowd, keeping one hand on his holster. The populace seemed agitated, which was understandable. Some of them had just gotten off a refugee ship similar to his own. Some were walking about dazed and confused, others sobbed, even more were shouting angrily at unseen authorities. Yet there were others, unfamiliar types. Many were talking or arguing in unfamiliar tongues, waving arms angrily as they tried to get futile points across. A circle of bodies had formed towards the right wall, some of the crowd cheering an unseen fight.
Kindred thought to himself that it was best he got to the shipping dock as soon as he could, before the entire crowd turned into a melee.
 
Being one of the survivors of her old planet, Karina was evacuated to Brunt-Maxis. She was given everything she needed to start a new life, granted the dread and loss she felt inside her for the planet she once called home. She had been accepted by the Brunt-Maxis Police Force not too long ago, meant for standing at guard, making sure everything was in order and no violence broke out. With her augmented left arm, she reached up to push a strand of hair out of her face. Her eyes glanced around the area, scruitinizing everyone near her, as well as a new girl with long black hair and faint purple ends. She looked towards her right, watching as a person completely enveloped within a robotic-like suit, mostly dark grey entered another position. She appraised him for a mere moment before turning back to everything in front of her. The girl stepped forward within the line- it seemed she was looking to get Cyber-tech training. Interesting, but not something she'd do. The engineer job was available, that would go well with her cyber-tech training. Karina watched as she waited in line for that part of her career. Maybe she'd think about hiring the girl to work on her ship sometime. An extra hand was always what she needed, especially when you were still coping and learning about this new place, this new home...
 
Zayne slowly opened his eyes and stared blankly at the solid grey of his wall. It'd been a week since he had last heard from anyone he knew, after being tossed on a new planet and given some credits. He applied for his bounty hunting license as soon as possible, and bought some gear and a ship. The same ship he was lying in now. The generic AI that came installed on the ship crackled to life "You have received a message at your terminal" It droned listlessly. Sighing he sat up and looked at his computer, shifting his focus "Remind me to upgrade and reprogram you the first chance I get" Standing he walked over and opened the E-mail. "well there's good news" he said looking at the letter stating his license application had been accepted
 
Ajax caught sight of a scuffle several meters away from where he was standing. He slung his rifle over his shoulder and drew his stun baton as he approached the gathering crowd. "Disband immediately!" He shout at the crowd in an authoritative voice. He pushed his way through to the people. He held his baton high and pulled one of the 3 men off the the others. The second turned toward him with a knife and upon seeing he was in tough armor the dropped the knife and ran. The first followed close behind.
 
Aramis Myrddin, darkred
It was kind of a drag, all things considered, having one's planet blow up. Aramis didn't really have much of a connection to home. He'd been in contact with The Millenion Organisation for months before the event had occurred, planning to leave to head for the station anyway. He'd been off planet for about a week when word had caught up to him that his home was destroyed, and his family all dead. A loss, certainly. Not all of his family, but a good chunk of them. His sister had been away for schooling in some space station. The rest that he knew were dead.

When he arrived, he caught the notification, withdrew his money, stocked up on supplies and a ship, and headed out to meet up with the organisation. It was a quick process, getting him organised. He was expressed sympathies, informed of what was expected of him, given a few things to make settling in easier, and sent on his way. He didn't expect much else really. He'd settled most things during communications before he'd even left the planet.

The new recruit had a few things left to take care of. First of all, if he was going to make his way, he needed to start collecting contacts. The first one of necessity was to be a Trader. In the chaos, he doubted there would be much difficulty in that task. He made his way past the line of refugees, looking casually over them, trying to find someone or something that caught his eye. It was then that he spotted a flash of red. It took him a moment to reacquire the origin of the red, but when he did, he couldn't help but smile. It was a young woman holding up a trader's work sign. It was precisely what he was looking for.

Quickly, and without hesitation, he headed over to her, and signalled her away from the crowd. If he was to talk business with her, he didn't want the business to be overheard by anyone who might be listening. Easier to just step away and discuss things there. Besides, if she wasn't interested in helping him, the odds were fairly decent she'd have to be killed, and it was difficult to do that properly while surrounded by all sorts of other refugees.
 
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Ajax caught sight of a scuffle several meters away from where he was standing. He slung his rifle over his shoulder and drew his stun baton as he approached the gathering crowd. "Disband immediately!" He shout at the crowd in an authoritative voice. He pushed his way through to the people. He held his baton high and pulled one of the 3 men off the the others. The second turned toward him with a knife and upon seeing he was in tough armor the dropped the knife and ran. The first followed close behind.

Karina noticed the same thing as soon as the male immediately left his post. She heard the fight, approaching the area, as well. Since those two scaredy cats had run off, she made the point of going after them instead of standing around, holding one of the boys by their collar. After relentless chasing, Karina came back with both boys in hand. "Should've been there," she told the male enforcer, sarcasm lacing her voice. "The ride was fun while it lasted." She tugged both boys forward, a tight grip on their upper arms.
 
Anastasia looked around the large plaza. She had been here for a few weeks, hadnt really lost, or gained money yet...But today was the day. She let her gaze fall upon the large fountain in the middle of the square, and walked over to it, sitting down and waited for someone to come along, having already put an ad out on the local bulletin
 
Ajax had the other man in handcuffs by the time Karina got back with the other two. "Must have been quit the chase. I hear muggers put up the toughest fights" he said jokingly.
 
Ajax had the other man in handcuffs by the time Karina got back with the other two. "Must have been quit the chase. I hear muggers put up the toughest fights" he said jokingly.

Karina scoffed in amusement. "Oh, they put up a fight, alright," she spoke, handing off one of the men to another enforcer nearby so they could handcuff him, as she only had one set of handcuffs on her. She pulled the man's arms behind him, latching the silver metal around his wrists. Her eyes landed on the other enforcer and offered her "kill" to him. "Make sure you see to it he gets the proper discipline for his savage actions." The man nodded, holding both men by the arm- Karina's, as well as the one Karina had given to him so he could cuff him up. She looked back at the man in front of her, no longer focused on the muggers. "You're new, right?" she remarked, sticking her hand out towards him. "My name's Karina. It's nice to meet you, Mr...?"
 
Rolf arrived at the law firm and stared in awe at the tall building. "Welcome to the Yugloi tower. It is said that they have a 83.77% case win rate, I recommend staying out of trouble sir." Rolf snapped out of his daze and walked inside to the front desk, he introduced himself to the lady and before he could get another word out she dragged him to a room. Four men in suits stood and sat around a nice polished glass table. Rolf sat down on the opposing side of them, this is when hell happened. They slid a computer over to him and gestured for him to turn it on, one of the men turned on a projector the other pulling the humongous shutters down over the windows. Rolf watched as one of the men stood up and closed the door breaking the silence. "Mr.Wyvern was it?" Rolf nodded. "Well, Mr.Wyvern, our firm has had some trouble in legal issues lately and we need some help from you." He points a finger at Rolf and walks over to the projection circling parts of a map of the world. The man slides the stylus back into its cupholder. "Each one of these areas i've circled are 1 of 3 things; A data farm, Police department, and rivaling firms and buisnesses. I know what your thinking "ooh police this guy's crazy!" Well, they're circled as warnings and safe havens. Next, the data farms all belong to certain firms if you use the IP address of one to attack another you could potentially destroy that specific firm. Lastly, the circles over the different law firms is just as easy refference. You have a month to complete this task, failure will result in death." With that Rolf was thrown outside back on a scenic route to the Grav-car.
 
He shook her hand. "Ajax, and I am new. You?"

"Same," she replied, smiling a little. "I just arrived not long ago and I must say, that suit fits you well." Karina smirked. "It scared them off and gave me a good workout with this heavy metal." She slipped her hand from his grasp and rolled her shoulders forward, in an attempt to relieve herself of the sore she felt in her neck. Karina couldn't wait to get home and take the plates off.
 
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