Roza Kubai's Story

Roza was in a horrible, terrible mood.

It had started with that weird black thing on the giant television screens (GEHENNA, she remembered it being called) threatening to destroy her entire known world. Generally, when someone threatens to destroy you and everything around you, it's pretty much a given that your day and mood will suck as a result. It didn't help that right afterward the entire planet was blacked out, which everybody in the Lower City seemed to take as and excuse to either run around panicking like chickens with their heads cut off or loot, kill, and rape anyone in their immediate vicinity (at least, more looting, killing, and raping than usual). It really didn't help when, less than an hour later, a certain Dagojouiisan synthetic called her up to task her with finding and babysitting his eldritch charge, who was trying to travel to the very thing that had kicked off these bad turn of events, and destroy it. At least he had been decent enough to provide her a means to get to get onto the Realta Nua, the ship where the eldritch rogue Byatis was supposed to be on.

Even in her bad mood, Roza couldn't help but appreciate the splendor of this huge city before her. It was certainly prettier than the Lower City, and definitely prettier than Dagojouiise, her homeland and by a particular twist of fate, her current destination. She had mixed feelings about that last part.

Clinging tightly to her her small satchel and her long bow with it's quiver full of arrows, she scanned the crowd for Byatis. He was a big eldritch abomination, his... unique sort of appearance shouldn't be as hard as it was beginning to feel. Stuff like this would be hard to miss. Unless, Roza thought, He's turned invisible. In that case, she was screwed.

Ridley turned to look, and Vlad glanced, towards Gelon as he pushed his way through the crowds. Both listened to him speak briefly.

Ridley 'blinked', seemingly baffled by Gelon's mere presence and words. "...You? You're our new teammate? HAH!", Ridley folded his arms. He clearly did not think much of Gelon. "Well, shorty, what happened here was I got sick of her rilin' me up. All those ice puns....."

Vlad shook her head, smirking and glancing at Ridley. She took a moment to think, before blurting out, "Cool story bro."

"YOU LITTLE!", Ridley nearly threw himself towards her, only the tiniest remnant of his self control held him back.


------

Quin looked at Lekan, surprised. She proceeded to float and follow them to the park.

Mosa turned to James, and chuckled. "HAHAHA! That I do. You be a good James, and Mosa might just give you overtime on this one! Hahahahhahahhahaha!!" Mosa's laugh is quite....loud, to say the least. Enough to draw attention from those hanging out in the park.

She floated besides Lekan, not saying anything for a long time, as they hover through the pak and catch up with James and Mosa.

"I demand burgers."

....Until she suddenly said that out of nowhere.

-----

As Byatis received a hug from Clockwork, a voice inside his head can be heard. A synthesized, dry and disdainful voice belonging to his "watchman", Darkstar.

"Byatis. Finally."

Everyone who joined VENOM was required to receive a cybernetic implant, to allow the Watchmen; the higher-ranked assassins, to keep track of them. As assassins, they are expected to be masters of stealth....which would make tracking them down normally difficult. Usually, Darkstar is quite the nagging watchman, but GEHENNA's transmission gave Byatis a moment of respite....until now, apparently.

"I have a new contract for you and Roza."

Darkstar presented Byatis with a 'marker' in his head, to find Roza's location.

"Meet up with her, so that we can discuss this in greater detail."

Byatis squirmed out of Clockwork's hug pretty quickly out of instinct. He didn't like being restrained like that, even if it was a gesture of friendship. He only had a few exceptions. Byatis grinned awkwardly for a moment then hard a voice in his head.

Him. Ugh. Darkstar.

Byatis stopped to listen, as Sentinel and Clockwork got farther and farther away. Byatis had their signatures in his head, so he could track them easily if he needed to find them. A contract? On the ship? Byatis wasn't expecting that, but work was work. Byatis let Darkstar know he heard the message by hissing annoyingly. With that, the invisible predator leaped up onto a balcony and made powerful leaps from building to building, tracking Roza's signature. Roza was one of his fellow faction members. Byatis seemed to like her, especially her stories of great space tales. They were like listening to an epic! Though he wasn't sure how much was factual, but he didn't mind one bit.

Finally after a good ten minutes, he spots Roza in an amazingly secluded street on the Realta Nua. Byatis crawled up onto a thick lamppost in front of her and made himself visible to her. He laid on the post, cheshire cat style, genuinely smiling. Actually happy to see her. "Welcome to the biggest flying death trap in all the galaxy! Looks like we gotta kill some people? I dunno, Darkstar never tells me aaaaannnnnything unless its convenient." He said sarcastically.

As Byatis laid on top of the lamppost, a blue hologram was projected from his forehead, and to the ground in front of Roza. The hologram took a couple of seconds to materialize, revealing it to be the sleek and sharp synthetic assassin, Darkstar. He looked at both Byatis and Roza, then folded his arms.

"You both found each other. Good. We have a very high profile contract for you both while on this journey. Don't mess it up. I will mark the client's location on your minds."

With that, Darkstar turned off the hologram...and projected another marker not too far away, on some back alleys near the lower deck cabins' entrance. Although Darkstar was not Roza's watchman, he was still able to cast a visible marker for her, thanks to the Watchmen's unified network. He just can't bug her telepathically all the time.

They make their way through the secluded streets. Seems like the lower class was either too busy in their cabins or out enjoying the amenities in the third deck. At the marked location, they find their target...

..A red haired young man with a perpetual frown on his face. He looked like he had been waiting for hours. He turned towards Roza, scowling. Since Byatis was invisible, he has yet to see him. "Ugh. What took you so long? Aren't you people supposed to be the best of the best?"

He shook his head. "Nevermind. I'll get to the point. My name is Ozma Knight, and I need to get someone killed." He looked at Roza with intent.

"I need Anguirre Knight, head of the Protector's Alliance, dead."

...Patricide. Towards the leader of one of Stratevaria's most prominent guilds. This was not going to be a simple task.

----

Megahertz listened to Sentinel closely. Her glowing eyes focused on his eye as he told his tale. She looked at the ground, embarassed, when Sentinel mentioned about her being the first person to know about his desires.

She continued listening, with a sympathetic look on her face. The tentacles which coiled around her hair was let loose, and rubbed nervously against each other. She finally looked at Sentinel again when he stopped midsentence. "Sentinel? HEY, Sentinel! That's not funny- HEY!" Since her arms was still around his, she was dragged down to the ground as he fell. "Ow..! Someone. SOMEONE. HELP!", her eyes wide and panicky, she glanced between Sentinel and the crowd of onlookers, who can only gawk.

Not everyone recognize synthetics as true living beings, even today. Megahertz panicking about her newfound friend was seen as strange. It's just a robot. If it's broken, you can get another one, as some of them would think.

----

Quin said nothing, instead standing up again, and following Lekan with a hover. She shadowed him like a guardian angel.......or a guardian dragonfly-bug-lady, perhaps.


----

Vlad looked at Gelon. A few seconds of awkward silence passed, and she chuckled.

"Sure. Why not....I kind of miss the old leatherbag."

Even though they broke up long ago, they did so quite amicably. She wouldn't mind seeing him again..not at all...for old time's sake.

Roza's was more than a little irritated by the rude way her client was talking to her, as well as how Byatis had conveniently turned himself invisible so that she got the brunt of it. However, this job she was being presented with was big enough that she put her foul mood aside for the time being.

Like many people in Stratevaria, she had heard of the Knight family, and knew well enough that they were rich and powerful people. If one of it's members were to be killed, Roza was sure that the death would be felt throughout most (if not all) of the galaxy. Especially if it was the death of the elder Knight, Anguirre, who was the most powerful and famous of them all. If the identity of his killers were to be named, the infamy would certainly add to their reputations, which would be just as much of a danger as it would be an enhancement. Roza was also curious as to why Ozma Knight, who was well known in his own right for far less benevolent reasons than that of the rest of his family, would want to have his own father murdered. She almost gave into the urge to ask him about that, but decided against it. Her client was someone important, which meant that he was also someone to avoid pissing off, which was generally what happened when Roza ask her clients any sort of personal questions.

So instead, Roza cracked her lips into the smirk that usually appeared on her face whenever something had piqued her interest. "All right then, Ozma Night," she said, staring straight into the holographic frowning eyes of her client, "You've got my attention. Tell me more."

Byatis watched at Ozma talks, very amused that he'd want his own father killed. He looked at Roza who, unfortunately had to deal with this...Ozma's... arrogance. Byatis was also familiar with the Knight's family name, especially Ozma and his quite human supremacist views. As much as Byatis enjoyed showing his appearance to strike a sudden nerve in their clients, considering this was high profile, he figured he should stay invisible as to not ruin the contract in any way. Byatis would give Ozma the illusion of safety, even though Byatis knew it was the opposite. He just wished he could tell Roza why he stayed out of sight, but that would have to wait.

Megahertz was surprised by Lekan's presence. She did not expect to see an Ondari here. Then again, this ship DID came from Nebulon, the trading hub of the galaxy, so perhaps she should have. But that does not matter right now. She looked at the crowd as Lekan asked his question, hoping someone there would have an answer.

"Eh? A repair bay?"
"Welll...there's the hangar in the lower decks."
"Oh yeah, right! You gotta pay to use their services, though."

Quin blinked, and stated in her usual stoic way, "Let us hurry, then."

The four traveled to the lower decks, with Quin helping to carry Sentinel.

The hangar is quite dark, in contrast to most of the ship. Barely any lighting. Unused and/or broken speeders and hovercrafts are strewn about the dark brown metal floor. Quite the messy sight. Floating maintenance drones and single-wheeled repaired droids can be seen moving around without purpose.

The four placed Sentinel on a metal slab, and Megahertz turned to Lekan with a hopeful look. Quin gazed at the array of tools mounted on the walls. Wrenches, screwdrivers, fusion cutters....


-----

Mosa laughed loudly at Colt's unexpected smile. "HAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHA!!" It was truly unexpected. He shoved Colt's left shoulder lightly, and then smiled himself with approval. "Then Mosa will pay for it." He turned towards the merchant, and paid for the scarf, before kneeling in front of Colt and handing it to him. Even kneeling, the eight foot tall Mosa still looked huge. Especially with that oversized arm holding the tiny neckerchief.

"....?"

He then glanced to the side, having seen Gelon's figure amongst the crowd.


-----

Ozma grimaced. "You're the kind who gets to the point, then? Good."

"I need you to make the killing look like either an accident or a consequence of battle. For both of our sake. Tensions have been rising between the north Beastmen tribes and the south Akarjii spiders. Tension which both you and I can exploit. "

Ozma folded his arms. "My fath-....Anguirre is heading there to pacify the situation as the goody two shoes Protector's Guildmaster he is. Of course, what I am tasking you to do will make this....a futile task."

He paused.

"Before we get to Anguirre's murder, I need you to assassinate two targets: the Beastman Chief Garush, and the Spider Queen Vitani. You need to make it look like they were killed by assassins of the opposing groups."

He glanced around, as if paranoid someone would interrupt or listen in on their discussion.

"If my predictions are correct, then the two groups will go to war, Anguirre will try to pacify them....and that's when you make your move."

Ozma held his hands behind his back and stood up straight.

"I will reward you handsomely for this, that I promise you - both your organization, and yourself....assassin. Now, are there any questions?"

Byatis continued to cling to the wall, listening to the conversation. He's already made it up in his mind that he would go for the Beastman chief, because Byatis's venom could easily make it look like a spider killed him. He'd have to tell Roza after she was done talking to Ozma Knight. Byatis was starting to get impatient, he just wanted to get this job over with so he could take a nap. Lucky for him he's got an upper class quality bed waiting for him in Megahertz's suite.

Mosa was so deep in reminiscience, he didn't listen to Gelon. A few seconds pass, and he looked back at him, and blinked. "Uh- I'm sorry, what??"

"OH, yeah! Vlad!! Uh...maybe...maybe tomorrow? Or the day after?" Mosa glanced around nervously while twiddling his fingers. "Mosa....not ready yet. Yeah." He said that last part solemnly, almost with a whisper. And coming from Mosa, a whisper is...very rare.

"So ANYWAYS, me and Colt are goin' for ice cream....ya wanna come along? My treat.", Mosa changed the subject quickly.

----

Clockwork gave a thumbs up with his left hand, since his right hand is busy with the chopsticks. Pressing two fingers from his left hand to his left horn, he projected the coordinates to K2. It's a nice, comfortable upper class home in the upper class living quarters. "You sure you can make your way back in that state, captain?", Clockwork asked politely.

----

Megahertz sighed with relief, and waited, looking at Sentinel with a hopeful look.

Moments pass, and when she saw Sentinel waking up and twitching to move, she let out a sigh of relief. She almost smiled.....but at the last second, she remembered everyone else is in the room, and she turned away and folded her arms, her hair fluttering from the speed of her movements.

"Geeze, you had me worried for a second there, you cyber-jerk!", Megahertz said with an annoyed, overly pouty tone.

Behind them, Quin continued hovering around aimlessly.

----

Ozma paused, thinking it through.

"...I'm not sure this qualifies for a hazard, but......keep...keep my sister out of this. Let her not see my father die by your arrows. Please."

Ozma said that with a hesitant, yet sincere tone. Just by the look on his face, you could tell his sister meant the world to him. His father, on the other hand....

"I suppose that will be all.", Ozma nodded. "I wish you luck on this mission. The risk shall be great, but the reward shall be even greater."

Ozma narrowed his eyes for dramatic effect.

"...Especially since I am a very.

Good.

Tipper."

And with that, Ozma cuts his transmission, leaving Roza and Byatis alone. And Darkstar, in Byatis' head.

Roza watched as the projection of her client faded away before her. This was going to be a pretty huge sort of job, probably the biggest she's ever had actually. She would have figured that a huge job like this would go to someone much higher ranked and more experienced than she was. Not that she was complaining. She was rather excited about this job, it would provide some measure of adventure in her life. Things had been getting kind of dull lately, so this was exactly what she needed. A full on smile found it's way to her face, her previous black mood was almost completely forgotten.

"So," she said in Byatis's general direction, "It looks like we got our call to action."

Byatis reappeared after the transmission fizzled out, smiling happily back at Roza. Even when he was sitting, he toward over her. "Hahaha! This should be fun!" Byatis chuckled a bit. "I'll take the beastman chief. I can make it look like the cause of death was a spider bit." He said with a jolly tone and his long spinal-like tail whipped behind him. "And you take the Spider queen. Heheh!"

Byatis stood up tall and his face soured. He'd have to ask Darkstar about where the beastman chief was and was going to be. He didn't like talking to Darkstar. "Ssssss Darkstar. Where is the beastman leader. Need to kiiiillllllll him." He thought in his head so Darkstar would hopefully hear.

Mosa kept quiet for a few seconds as he thought of Colt's question. Then, his crocodillian smile returns as he turned to look at Colt. "Good idea."

And with that, Mosa and Colt retreated into their cabins for the day.


----

The ice cream shop owner greeted Gelon, but he can't seem to find Vlad anywhere. She must have gone somewhere else.


----

Quin stopped her hovering and glanced at Lekan. She quickly nodded, and obediently followed.

Megahertz looked at Sentinel for a few seconds with a relieved expression...before turning around and strutting away. "GOOD. let's go, then!"

She stopped suddenly.

And then strutted back towards Sentinel, and looked at him some more....

...before grabbing his hand and pulling it, forcing him to follow her as she strut back to their living quarters.

The four proceeded to head towards the upper class living quarters. For Lekan and Quin, This...sets up quite a standard for their own cabins. A standard that obviously won't be lived up to by the lower class living quarters.

Megahertz immediately dived towards the couch in front of the fireplace and laid there, yawning."Wonder if K2 and Clock are back already...", she mumbled sleepily, snuggling against the comfortable couch.

Quin kept quiet as she surveyed the house. She focused on a particularly nice sofa for a few seconds. And then she turned to Lekan, and said out of nowhere, "......I hope we have sofa as good as these."

----

Darkstar stayed quiet as he does his research. There's a good reason why Darkstar is a watchman and not just a killer anymore - somehow, someway, he has access to satelites around Stratevaria, and could tap into them to drain information quickly and secretly. After a few seconds, he replied, "Northern Dagojouiise canyons. Do'gaki caves. Chief Garush hunts there everyday approximately at noon from 12:00 PM to 4:00 PM. Great place to stalk, hunt, kill. Things you like to do."

Darkstar paused, discovering more information.

"Alternatively, more straightforwardly: home invasion. Find him in his longhouse. Northern Dagojouiise plains. Do'gaki settlement. Man-bear tribe Half an hour away from this ship's designated landing position. Best strike at night. Body would be foundmore quickly found, if this route is taken."

Byatis smiled a bit as Darkstar spoke. "Northern Dagojouiise? Great I can go sleep in then." He turned to Roza. "Well good luck with the Spider Queen! See you in a bit!" Before she could respond, Byatis cloaked himself once more and was off to the upper-class home that Megahertz had gotten for them. As he hopped from roof to roof, Byatis watched the 'sky' which simulated the transition to night time. It wasn't actually sky, it was just a projection but he thought that was pretty convenient. Back on Megido it was dark. All the time. Because nothing says 'death world' than utter darkness. Byatis, oddly enough, missed Megido a bit. He began to wonder just WHY he was taking this voyage. No one told him to. Was it a desire to hunt GEHENNA? Was is homesickness? Byatis wasn't entirely sure.

Finally, when the simulated sky became night completely, he reached the house. Byatis was able to track it by the stench of alcohol on K2 and the unique metal components of Sentinel. Byatis knew he wouldn't fit through the door, so he crawled in through the window on the second floor. From downstairs, the sound of heavy footsteps can be heard thumping on the upstairs area. Byatis uncloaked himself and lazily made his way to the biggest bedroom, the master bedroom. He calmly climbed onto the bed, which normally would be rather large, but next to him it looked tiny. He barely fit on it. Byatis finally laid on the bed like a dog would sleep in a crate. His tail coiled around the bed, and he closed his eyes to sleep.

As Byatis left as quickly and abruptly as he came, Roza just blinked, thinking that today was just a weird day. a very, very weird day. At the very least, it would make a good story to laugh about later.

She thought about the job that she was undertaking. Byatis had claimed the beast chief for himself, which she was okay with because he could probably do the job better than she could because of his own poisonous venom, but that left her with the Spider Queen. As a child, she had heard many a story about the spiders and their elusive queen, and none of them were at all pleasant. They were mostly used to scare young Dagojouiisan children into not wandering away from their homes. Oh yes, she knew the stories. It was common knowledge that if you wandered north, the beastmen would get you and grind your bones to make their bread and eat you. Or if you ran into spiders, they would spin you into their webs and suck out your blood for soup. And eat you. The morals of these stories were usually some version of "If you don't want to die, stay home, because pretty much everything beyond your tribe or village will eat you first chance they get".

Roza chuckled a bit to herself. Never had she expected to have to face her's (and pretty much every human child's in Dagojouiise) nightmare. Actually, she hadn't even expected to come back to the planet itself in the first place. "Home sweet home". she wistfully thought. Where everything tried to kill you, and danger was aplenty.

The spider queen and Dagojouiise could wait. She had a couple of days to explore this gigantic ship. This adventure could occupy her, at least until the greater one begins. She look at her ticket, which allotted her some 2nd class lodgings for the trip. Already she saw that the light was growing dimmer, as the ship's artificial sky was slowly turning to night. Exploring could wait tomorrow. For now, she would go find her bed and sleep through the night.

Roza's eyes leisurely slid open as she woke up to a new day. She gazed at the artificial sunlight that was streaming into her line of sight, busily collecting her thoughts together into something remotely coherent. That's right, she was on the ship. She was on the ship headed to Dagojouiise. She was on a ship because she had a job to do.

She dragged herself out of bed, yawning and stretching. Putting on her clothes, she looked out of the window. It was late enough in the morning that people were outside and walking around, grabbing breakfast and chatting with each other about what a wonderful day this was or whatever else people talked about in the morning. Looking around her modestly sized cabin (which was sparse of anything other then the furniture, thanks to this whole trip being so last minute) then glanced out the window, contemplating weather or not she should go outside and actually do something. On one hand, she was hungry and some coffee sounded great right about now, but on the other hand...on the other hand... she really couldn't think of a decent reason to stay, so she guessed it meant that she was going to go outside.

Grabbing her satchel, along with her bow and arrows (she had learned during her childhood to never go anywhere without them) she went outside. The light gave off a slightly pleasant warmth to her skin, and the whole setting just felt strangely calm, with no breezes or danger of any kind, just a bunch of people strolling around in their pleasant moods. Usually, this meant that something was going to happen.

And right on cue, the loudspeakers came on, announcing that they had finally landed. A dull sort of feeling came about her. It had been a (long) while since she had left the place. She had kind of forgotten what made her leave it in the first place. She had also forgotten why she had reservations about leaving it back then, too. In truth, she didn't really feel anything about it other than a small sense of foreboding and an even smaller (like, insequentially tiny) feeling of homesickness.

Roza looked into her bag, and sighed when she realized that she was missing a majority of the survival essentials needed for this planet. She had some money left over from her previous job, as well as at least a few hours before she had to get off the ship, so she went in search of the nearest general store she could find on the ship

Vlad listened to Gelon. As he spoke, her eyes quickly turned from sympathetic to cold again. She glared at him as if he was an annoyance. "I didn't realize the mighty Gelon would need babysitters.", Vlad remarked snidely.

She turned around, not bothering to follow Gelon as he checked the rooms. "Don't waste your time with Ridley, he's going to catch up with us later." She did a double take when Gelon mentioned him being officially elected team leader, and shook her head while whispering; "What does Boris see in you..."

She sighed and folded her arms, glaring at Gelon still. "Well, 'team leader', I suggest we stop wasting time and head down to salvage the crashed ship. I was about to go without you, but you are here now, so let's go. Perhaps you can prove to me your effectiveness in this mission."

Vlad walked towards a nearby cylindrical elevator, and used it to head down to Dagojouiise. The trip took about five minutes, and Vlad stayed quiet all the way down, scowling as she stood next to Gelon.

Eventually they reach the surface of the Desert Planet. The elevator hissed open, and Vlad walked out. Around them is the rocky deserts of Dagojouiise. In the distance, great, mighty canyons can be seen. Vulture-like giant birds flew up high, letting out a distinctive cry as they soar through the arid skies. Here and there, patches of cacti were visible in the dry plains, giving a little color to an otherwise brown and drab desert. Vlad looked at Gelon, and shrugged. "Well, 'team leader'. Lead the way."

The deserts of North Dagojouiise are teeming with dangerous beasts that could sting, crush, slice, or stab you to death. Best be careful.

----


"....."

A dramatic silence.

Ridley's eye moved slightly to the left and up in his cross-like visor, making it look like he was glaring as the rim of the visor obstructed half of the eye.

"You just made a big mistake.", Ridley whispered as he held back his left hand. A cold wind surrounded his palm, and suddenly, a massive shield, wider than K2 and half his height, was magically formed. Ridley lets out a roar which sounded like grinding ice, before taking a step forward and bashing K2 with his shield.

WHACK!

The sheer force of the hit was enough to send him tumbling through the air and smashing against a wall....before sliding down to the floor.

Ridley proceeded to crack his 'neck', and walked slowly towards K2. He puts an emphasis on every heavy, steady step. It was as if Ridley was an executioner marching to finish K2 off. Before he got too close, Ridley took a long and big step forward, and then another, the second step allowing him to jump high into the air. Above him, Ridley's huge frame casted an equally large shadow on K2...a shadow which became bigger and bigger as he fell, leaning to his left while holding the shield, threatening to elbow drop the poor hungover pirate with his massive shield.


----

Thankfully, this ship, being the small city it practically is, has a very handy and to-the-point general store in the marketplace. Titled simply "Charlie's Ornaments" in big, brown, friendly-looking letters, it looked quite inviting. Since it was quite early, Roza did not have to deal with overly long lines.

The owner of the store was a quiet old man, who greeted Roza with a warm smile and a nod as she entered. His store was very tidy and organized. Nearly everything was here - food, medicine, weapons, shrunken heads - anything and everything to prepare an adventurer. An old radio was playing a cheesy old music from a world long gone. It definitely sounded like something the old man would listen to. He waited patiently at the cashier as Roza browsed his goods.


----

Quin nodded at Sentinel as he bid them farewell, staying quiet as she watched him leave.

Megahertz stirred a bit as Sentinel shook her, the tentacles on the side of her head wriggling and moving about, before she raised her head and looked at Sentinel in the eye.

"Unnfff...Sentinel...?", she whispered, still rather sleepy. Despite that, she complied, sitting up and yawning, before rubbing her eyes and mumbling, "Mmmm...good morning...". When she isn't yelling, screaming, ranting, or shrieking, she actually sounds rather sweet. And slightly older, but that might be cause she tends to go up several pitches when mad.

She looked up at Sentinel curiously. "What is it...? You're not gonna break down on me again, are you?", she asked with a slightly teasing tone.

She then glanced to the side, and caught sight of K2's Jelly Roger. She rubbed her face with both her hands and groaned, her voice muffled a bit. "Right...I have to fix that pirate's junk....."

The air conditioning breezed pleasantly against Roza's skin as the perused through the goods. Charlie's Ornaments was a pretty decent place to shop at- it was calm, she didn't have a hard time finding things, and the store owner was nice enough. She could even admit that the backround music was actually kind of good too, even if it was a bit too wishy washy for her taste.

Going off of a mental shopping list, she checked off items as she grabbed them. Water- lots of water -check. Dried fruits, vegetables, meat- check. Thick fur and insulated clothing to keep her warm at night- check. Things seemed to be going well. She walked towards the cashier. As the old man rung up her purchases, Roza stared out of the window and noticed a small commotion. Curious, she asked the man at the register. "Hey old man, what's going on out there?"

The old man glanced outside. "Well if I remember correctly, there is a concert that is happening right now. A famous miss going by the name of "Interstellar Rose" is performing over yonder. I hear she's very popular with you young ones." Roza actually did know of the Interstellar Rose. A famous pop singer who's actual name Roza had never bothered remembering, she was beloved by many starry eyed teenagers, but not really Roza. Roza never much cared for pop music, or most other forms of music in general.

Roza shook her head. "Not really with me. I've never been into her music. But the stuff you got playing in here is nice. I wish more people listened stuff like this than all that crazy techno pop stuff." The old man smiled a wistful and sad smile and said "Yes, I suppose you're right there, miss. Nobody seems to have the time for classics anymore."

"It's a shame." Roza said, as the man finished putting the last of her purchases in her bag. "You keep the change, old man." She said as she began to leave the store. "Thank you, miss! You go on and have a nice day now!" The old man called back to her.

Roza's communicator beeped as she left the store, alerting her of a new email.

"Roza,

Byatis is on his way to eliminate Chief Garush. I have news
of Queen Vitani and her legion of spiders traversing the Koren
River southeast of the Realta Nua. An ideal location for
an asssination.

May the night shroud you,
Darkstar."


The Koren River...a location that a Dagojouisian native such as Roza would be well-aware of. It is a river that span nearly half the planet, and is the main source of water for many North Dagojouisiians. Many rocks and cacti dot the landscape around the river, which should provide Roza with ample hiding spots.

Of course, the problem right now would be actually finding the spiders somewhere in the colossal (to say the least) river.


----

Ciril's datapad displayed several vehicles for hire in the hangar bay on the lower decks:


//////FSS-REALTA-NUA///////

SEARCHING_

RESULTS:

1. SAND TREADER HOVERSHIPS (1 IN STOCK) - 200 CREDITS PER DAY. PASSENGER LOAD: 20
2. DESERT HOVER BIKES (5 iN STOCK) - 50 CREDITS PER DAY. PASSENGER LOAD: 2 PER BIKE

//////FSS-REALTA-NUA///////


Clockwork whistled as he peeked at the datapad. "I vote for the hoverbikes. Much more stylish."


----

Vlad was surprised by Gelon's offer, and she glanced at him. "I think your credits are better spent on repairing your broken hardware, Deskovitch." Vlad has a naturally harsh way of talking, but Gelon could tell that she at least slightly appreciated his generosity. She then nodded in confirmation at Gelon's question. "Half."

At last, they enter the Realta Nua. The air conditioned interior was a welcome reprieve from the scorching desert. Vlad immediately took off her cracked helmet, and shook her head to get her hair out of her eyes. Ridley looked between Ophelia and Gelon. "...You have an amazing talent for pissing off everyone you meet.", he said with a genuinely....impressed...tone.

They walk several steps forward, noticing Deunan dancing with her crowd of fans, and her music blaring loudly from the park.

Vlad and Ridley took a moment to watch the Interstellar Rose, catching sight of the strange Cubey amongst the people. When nobody was looking, Ridley began bobbing his head to the catchy beat.The song was cheesy and the dance unrehearsed, but there was energy, dedication, and charm behind it all.

"HEYYYY GUYSSSSSS!"

Suddenly, from the other side, a loud, bellowing voice was heard, a voice which caught Vlad and Ridley's attention.

They saw the enormous figure of Mosa approach as he waved his huge and beefy hands.

"Mosa....", Vlad said, her tone softening when she caught sight of him.

Mosa looked at Vlad, then Gelon, Ridley, and Ophelia. "Hehehehehe! Nice meeting you all here!", Mosa said with a genuine grin. He seemed to have forgiven Gelon already, and even showed concern as he noticed their wounds. "Wait..what happened?! You hurt?? And who that be?????", Mosa asked as he pointed at the frozen Ophelia.

Vlad and Ridley looked at each other, then at Gelon. Vlad wasn't sure telling Mosa of her....activities....was a good idea. The big croc has a proportionally big mouth, one which she would not trust her secrets with.

"Mosa, it ain't your business.", Ridley replied in his usual jerk-like manner.

Mosa turned to Ridley. "That not work on Mosa. That just made Mosa even MOAR curious!", he said as he bared all his fangs in a toothy grin.

Ridley slumped his shoulders and groaned, while Vlad shook her head, and decided to lay the blame on Gelon. "Gelon touched her boobs. She did not appreciate it. Shit happened, and-"

Mosa's eyes widened, and he lost his grin as his jaw dropped. Before Vlad could even finish her sentence, Mosa turned to Gelon and yelled out,

"YOU TOUCHED HER BEWBS?!"

Loud enough that at least a quarter of the bystanders around them began staring at the group, causing Vlad to do a facepalm.