Cowboys, Ranches and Spaceships

The office was quiet as it was most days, colonies did not have much in the way of constant need for law enforcement when all they were was a single spaceport and some stray settlements. Christana did not enforce strict laws which made these settlements completely legal as long as they did not violate any basic laws or attempt to undermine Christanan ownership of the system. The newer settlements were mainly corporations and citizens of other countries displeased with their government's choices. For the most part these settlements were on their own left to face the unknown but ranger authority was still present for the spaceport and any official Christanan locations. Ranger-Commander Signa Froy volunteered to control the system as a proof of her abilities.

Signa was a greenhorn new commander and the first female commander in the last 20 years. The Rangers were not a very open minded group, ran by old stuffy men who were more conservative than most of Christana however they would make exceptions if they saw true raw talent in a female ranger. This raw talent was what they found in Signa but Signa to them was a young commander who could still make mistakes, they figured that putting her in charge of a low stress job would be a safer bet for now.

As the young commander napped on her couch which stood against the left wall of her office, a pale faced panicked man swung the door open.

"Ma'am, we have an issue!" The panicked man squeaked.

Signa took the hat which was covering her freckled face from the light and sat up straight. "Go on...."

"Our convoys been going missing." The pale faced man said with a gulp

"Any known reason?" Her curiosity for now overtook her anger.

"The last convoy reported some unknown alien force." There was an escalating sense of tension in his voice.

"We will have to investigate this as soon as possible." Signa responded hoping that would be the end of it but knew it wouldn't be.

"There is worse...." He stated with a deep sigh.

"Spit it out man, by god you are wasting time." Her anger was starting to rise, she looked as if she was turning red.

"This force is heading towards the settlements in the region." Pale face drooped his head down in shame.

"Prep the speeders, I will go with 30 men and will warn the settlements." Signa commanded as she got up and began walking at a brisk pace to the hanger

"Yes Commander." Pale face complied and followed her.

*The tires of a warthog which looked like it should have been in an Ordenreich museum sped across the ground. In it five members of the Ordenreich refuge at Hollenloch checked their weapons one last time before they came upon the burning remains of a convoy before stepping out. The soldier in the passenger seat silently gave out hand signs to his soldiers ordering them to set up a perimeter around the convoy before he advanced on it. This soldier was Knight Commander Lewis, leader of the Hollenloch enclave. He intercepted communications of a Christana convoy under attack and decided to come "help." His definition of help was drive off the attackers and demand a reward from the convoy or just wait for the convoy to get slaughtered, drive off the bandits, then take the contents for themselves. When he arrived he saw that they were too late, still he thought they could still salvage something and if nothing else they could take the convoy wreckage for scrap. He just starting to scan the wreckage when another warthog showed up with some camo knights. In Hollenloch, there were very few armor sets left on the destroyed colony ship and even less power armor sets. The Paladins got the power armor, the knights got the regular armor, anyone else would have to make due with what they could. The camo knights were the product of their environment. They wore armor that was scrapped together and specifically designed not to defend but to camouflage. For this mission they brought their desert camo for the current environment (I am just assuming the convoy is in a desert. Correct me if I'm wrong). They approached the Knight Commander for orders.*

Lewis: Hmm... definitely a Christana convoy. Markings on the convoy are correct and the guards are wearing the right gear. Much of the supplies are stripped but there is still some stuff left. The attackers must have left in a hurry. Most of the metal is in good shape. We might actually be able to get that old Mako APC up and running.

Camo Knight: Sir we're here whats up?

Lewis: We're good for taking this convoy remains but I seriously doubt Christana doesn't know about its demise. Set up shop around the perimeter and be prepared to ambush any Christana forces that get in our way. Myself and the knights will start getting this convoy ready for transport.

Knight: Sir you really think its a good idea pissing off the planetary authority?

Lewis: And what are they going to do huh? Arrest us? Yeah right. We will probably just get into a hissy fit and then go our separate ways. The Christana rangers here are led by a fresh faced runt. Im only 22 and I have more combat experience then she'll ever know. Start loading it up. Be ready for our gracious hosts.

Knight: Yes sir

Security Officer Sampson watched over the fledgling Elysium Trading Post, scanning the horizon for possible threats and keeping up with reports from the civilians and his subordinates. The posting was a good one - a good break from work in the Morgan Mercenaries after he was decommissioned from active duty, and although the life was a bit rougher than what he was used to it was a rewarding posting. His salary had doubled since last year, and he could acquire all manner of artifacts worth trading off to the Talents back home here. Still, as a firm believer of Morganite Corporate Philosophy, it bothered him to be on such an undeveloped backwater, surrounded by ignorant foreigners who weren't memegeneered at all, let alone with the proper Morganite conditioning. At least he wasn't one of the bankers or the communications experts, whose commercial services were the Post's main draw, besides from the goods available for trade.

Looking at the distance, he could see a number of Christanan speeders approaching the Post, led by a woman who he recognized as Signa Froy, who commanded the local Christanan security. He frowned, wondering if they had come to harass the post for some charges they held against them or whether something else was going on. Either way, he knew that it wouldn't be good, and using his commlink, he attempted to contact her.

"Ranger-Commander Signa Froy, this is Security Officer Theodore Sampson. We request that you identify the reason for your visit here."

The Escort was comprised of 30 speeders which were small cars meant for speed with light armor and machine guns on each side on the speeder. Accompanying the speeders were two armored personal transports with 10 men each and a flag ship speeder for Signa. On her way there through the dusty desert she spotted the convoy. "Halt, stand by here." The men stopped and got out of their speeders as Signa did the same. Just then there was a radio transmission to Signa.

"Ranger-Commander Signa Froy, this is Security Officer Theodore Sampson. We request that you identify the reason for your visit here." Was heard in her ear.

"We have detected an unknown hostile force heading towards the settlements in the area. As head of security I suggest you prepare your defenses, we shall be there soon we must check on a convoy first." Replied the Commander as she looked outward to the abandoned convoy and then proceeded to turn off her communicator.

"Alright men, I want both snipers are the ridge ready to fire on my mark. Speeders must be brought up in a line to give suppressive fire when given the command. Squad 1 shall move on the convoy by foot with squad 2 on stand by." With that Signa gave the move out order and squad 1 approached the back on the convoy with all eyes watching them. As a ranger with much to prove she refused to let her men die without the enemy being covered in a hail of bullets.

(OOC: The region is mainly desert and grasslands.)

*Knight Commander Lewis and his men had already stripped the supplies from the convoy and were just about to radio in a heavy transport to haul away the convoy wreck when one of his camo knights radioed in telling him about the Christana patrol approaching. He ordered two of his men to keep working and brought the other two with him as we casually walked towards the patrol. When they came within sight and visual range he announced his presence.*

Lewis: Hey! Would you hurry the hell up?! The corpses of your fellow soldiers are starting to stink!

"An unknown hostile force," Sampson remarked to his lieutenant besides him. "Are these Christanans really this incompetent? I had my doubts, but they really are as disorganized and anarchic as the Peacekeepers made them out to be."

With that, he sighed, and tapped out a series of communications on his datapad, instructing his forces to raise the level of alert and prepare for the arrival of potentially hostile intruders.

The 10 man squad walked up to the outcasts suspicious and guarded but also offended at their comment. "Well outcast, we will get to that but what I want to know first is what you are doing here, no matter what you are doing, I do believe that there has to be more of you. As it looks right now, you attacked this convoy but I really doubt the mighty knights are strong enough to take out this whole convoy with just 3 men." The squad moved in closer slowly raising their guns.
---

Meanwhile at the Morganite camp, a small bug like parasite crawled through the colony until it reached a guard on the enterence. It was small enough to dig into his ear and settle in, the guard would soon start feeling extreme sickness.

*The Knight Commander took a giant stride towards the female Christana soldier placing himself right in her face. He stood a whole head taller then her and stared at her from behind his faceless black visor before speaking*

Lewis: You better listen real good lady. You're green, I can tell because your clothes look like they just came out of the cleaners, you young soldiers only dress to impress. Because of that I will overlook your little comment about the strength of a former order knight. As for why we are it is because my men have families to feed and we don't have the luxury of organized agriculture and imports because according to your government we're vagrants. As to your men I bet I can answer that. *opens comm to other soldiers salvaging* Bring one of the dead.

*One of the soldiers who has preparing the convoy for salvaging appeared dragging a dead Christana guard one handed behind him. He stopped just short of the Knight Commander*

Lewis: This...

*The Knight Commander grabs the dead soldier roughly by the back of the collar then casually tosses the body face up in front of the Christana patrol*

Lewis: ....is one of your men. As you can see he has no visible bullet wounds which would have been a dead give away because we use ballistic ammo and he shows no sign of strangulation, broken bones, ruptured organs, anything. It was like he died spontaneously. Now does that sound like something my men are capable of with our rugged backworld tech level?

(OOC: She isn't there, she is off on the distance ready to give firing orders to the snipers and speeders.)

OOC: Fixed. Just made the person a faceless female soldier. Next time could you specify whose talking in your post?

The guard, Sapir Alderman, was convulsing with shivers and half about to collapse in his post when his partner shook him awake.

"Dammit Sapir, I don't know what's going on with you, but you need to get to the medbay ASAP. Here" - he extended his arm, and helped Sapir up - "lean on met until we get there. Whatever disease you've caught, it's serious, and I don't think we can take any risks here."

With that, the two slowly inched their way to the trading post's medbay, and without even a moment of delay the on-site medic took Sapir off his partner's back, sensing the urgency of the situation. "We'll get on it immediately, sir."

Sitting Sapir down in the examination room, he went through a brief expert-system aided external examination, and to his bewilderment he found no symptoms that indicated any disease that he or the system was familiar with. It was clearly something that he was entirely unfamiliar with, and he ordered a quarantine of the room, worried that whatever vector the disease had might spread it. Then, however, as he ordered internal scans, he found to his shock and dismay that some kind of small parasite was present in the skull...

"I see, Commander, I think you should take a look at this." One of the squad members radioed in.

Signa walked up to the Paladin and looked at the corpse crouching down. The body seemed normal but then she looked at his eyes, slight green puss. She quickly jolted back up and began to speak quickly. "Look I don't care what you think of me or Christana, you don't even have to listen to me but I advise that you do strongly. I can only explain this much for now. We got reports of an unknown alien force, it is most likely a parasite, which means that they may have nested in your settlement already. We have to get everyone quarantined and treated in a maximum security zone or your people will likely die. I can split my force in half to assist you but I must also help the Morganites."

---
Sapir's eyes started to puss as he screamed in bloody pain. His finger nails started to form into claws as he banged around demanding someone to kill him. On the outside 2 more guards began to vomit.

Lewis: I don't have any real opinion of you or Christana really. Two things you need to know out here ma'am. One, its all about survival out here, if I seem like I have a chip on my shoulder then I'm sorry but thats just how I am, two I'm not stupid enough to attack a convoy owned by you guys. I don't have the manpower or will to fight a war with the established government. My only interest is in my own people. So I did not take kindly to being accused of attacking a convoy, thats just rude.

*Lewis gives a cold glance to the soldier who earlier accused him*

Lewis: As to a parasite infestation its possible for my people but doubtful. Many of our soldiers take contracts all the time for other settlements, traders, scavengers, you name it. So most of my men are scattered all over the planet. The families stay inside the old colony ship that we call "Hollenloch." Even though the ship is a wreck, the areas the families stay in are still intact and the families keep them sealed with the old bulkheads that kept atmosphere in and vacuum out. Those bulkheads are designed to withstand the pressure difference between atmosphere and vacuum. I doubt a parasite could get in. I'll tell you what. You keep the bodies, we take the wreck as payment, and we'll help you out however you want. Its a great deal and I'll prove it to you.

*Lewis mutters something over his mike and the five camo knights that were hidden the whole time broke cover. Two of them ambushed the Christana snipers and the others appeared seemingly out of nowhere behind the Signa's group.*

Lewis: We are the best quality mercs you can find and gaining our allegiance for a wreck is well in your favor. Before you ask why I'm offering my services for so cheap, what can I say? You are at least trying to be civil which is a big plus out here where manners are practically nonexistent and you have a pretty face. Both factors gain you some of my trust.

Sampson sighed at his post, as the reports of infection filed in. "Dammit, why does this have to happen on my watch. On my orders this base is to be locked down, with no one entering or exiting without my express permission - especially the guards. Put them into quarantine rooms on sight, and see if we can't get about eliminating these parasites. Do you copy my orders, Lieutenant?"

"Yes sir."

Signa attempted to hide her flattered smile but failed. "Well Paladin, after this perhaps we may discuss your rewards in... private. In the meantime if you are going to help, you better follow me to the trading post." She quickly ran back to the speeder and throwing Lewis a Christanan radio so they could communicate.

As they took off she started talking to the Paladin. "As I'm sure you know, Signa, the question is what is your name Paladin, if you have any questions you best ask them now."

---

For the most part the mutants still resembled humans however they had razor sharp claws, blackened eyes dripping with puss, sharp teeth. They were extremely violent banging on the quarantine doors attempting to break free.

One mutant however was during out differently, Sapir turned into this huge monstrosity that looked as if a mole was combined with a bear. He constantly laughed which made most unsettled, as he laughed acid would pour from his mouth slowly rotting the floor away.

"What'll we do, sir? It looks like the acid that Sapir producing is starting to melt away the chamber. I don't think we have the resources to contain him in a backwater like this. We barely have secured quarantine cells, let alone a high-powered enough punishment sphere!"

Rubbing his forehead, and considering his options, Sampson replied, "I doubt that we have the appropriate resources necessary to contain them further, let alone treat them. Whatever they are, they aren't the men we knew now - they are barely sentient, let alone sapient. Our only choice is to terminate them, and cleanse whatever we can find thoroughly. If we cordon off the surrounding portions of the complex and get the ground troops into full environmental gear, we should be able destroy the infected and cover every surface with plasma if that's what it'll take to get rid of those damn parasites. While you're at it, I'll give instructions for the base to enter into full lockdown. We can't afford to waste more time here, we must act quickly and decisively."

*Knight Commander Lewis caught the radio one handed and nodded as Signa and her troops moved out. He walked back to the wreck which was just being hooked onto one of the vehicles that came to take it away. They began to set off when one of his knights confronted him.*

Knight Jones: Sir, what the hell are you thinking? You are an embarrassment to our species flirting with those aliens.

Lewis: If I recall Jones we are technically the aliens here. Secondly, its called a compliment. I'm guessing you were taught about those being raised among the Black Order. Third, we are out here to survive. Past loyalties in the Ordenreich have no place here so drop it or kindly get off my vehicle.

*He was about to settle in for a quick nap as the vehicles returned to Hollenloch when Signa called him over the radio which he linked to his helmet comm*

Lewis: Names Knight Commander Lewis Richards ma'am. I am the unofficial Knight Commander in charge of Hollenloch. I say unofficial as I never actually made that rank when I served in the Ordenreich. I used to be an Order Lieutenant who fought in the ground campaign at Praos before the Ordenreich erased that planet from the galaxy. Thats why I left. You can call me just Lewis by the way. I'm not actually a Paladin anymore. The only questions I have are how much firepower you need and where do you need it. I have former Paladins, Knights, trained militia, even a few former Centurions though they don't have their fancy armor and weapons. We all range from snipers to CQC specialists to heavy weapons. In terms of firepower we have almost every type of Ordenreich ordinance save for the real fancy stuff the Black Hole uses. I have a few scavenged light attack vehicles and some Makos but their main cannons don't work properly. I'm working on getting some of the falcons that our colony ship carried operational and I know we have one that works but it has a cracked fuel tank and no functioning weapons. We even acquired some Centauri tachyon rifles from the Morganites. Don't ask how.

"Well to be completely honest Lewis, we need help with many things, the more you help the more I will help you, want Christanan military supplies to come your way including food? Well help me and you can have it. Want to become citizens? Help me and you can have it. As of right now we need to deal with the parasites, after that we can always use help with outlaws." Signa then flicked the speaker back off.

They had reached the Morganite colony in full force. The Rangers left their speeders armed and ran to the entrance behind Signa. "Alright, we are here to assist."

---
In the medbay the floor of Sapir's camber collapsed finally and he jumped down disappearing. It was as if a signal for the others as they broke down their doors are began swarming the guards. The guards in the bay fired in panic with many of them getting their throats slit.

(OOC: You know, technically you're not supposed to declare losses for me, or the actions of my characters. That's considered godmoding, and each person is supposed to declare their own losses. I'm usually pretty lenient with using my characters as well as its for minor things and makes the plot go faster, though. Of course, not choosing to take any losses is a form of godmoding in and of itself, and you should call people out on that if it becomes an issue, but that's not too relevant in this case.)

Sampson sighed as he monitored the reports, as his troops took serious losses. Still, it seemed that the Christanans were sending in their own men, and he certainly wouldn't mind having more bodies on the ground, especially with the losses he was taking. If nothing else, even if they couldn't cleanse the infestation, at least they could pass the casualties over to the foreigners. "Cleared for entrance. A map of the base, with the relevant location marked, should be incoming shortly."

***

On the ground the situation was far more difficult. With many of the infested being guards themselves, the handful of uninfected guards were grossly outnumbered, that much was true. Still, for all of the bad reputations Morganite soldiers had acquired in the past, these were trained soldiers, well-armored in full silksteel weave environmental suits and plasma shards designed for maximum effectiveness at close range. Though initially caught by surprise, with some killed before they could even react, the same could not be said for the surviving guards. Without any hesitation they began to unleash torrents of plasma onto the symbiotes, their objective nothing less than a hundred percent obliteration of the threat.

(OOC: Yeah I'm being vague about the loses on purpose, I'm just killing killing random people to move the plot forward since this is pretty much the intro.)

(OOC: Alright, just making sure you're aware )

*Knight Commander Lewis arrived back in Hollenloch where he back organizing.*

Lewis: Listen up lords and ladies, we got hired. Anyone who wants in on the action head to grand central.

*Knight Commander went to grand central which was the nickname for the old hanger that once serviced Ordenreich pelicans and other transports. Now with its proximity to the surface of the planet due to the crash it now served as the rally point for all major contracts for Hollenloch knights. Lewis stepped out of the elevator and saw 10 knights, 3 paladins, and 1 centurion waiting to head out. The paladins were equipped with power armor, the knights with normal full body cover armor, and the centurion had the same armor as the knights but it had been modified to be covered in ultra heavy plating to simulate the centurion power armor he used to wear. Not as good as the power armor but an effective cheap replacement.*

Lewis: Listen up! The local Christana government has hired us to clean up a mess as the Morganite offices. We are dealing with some kind of alien infestation or parasite. That means we need close quarters and simple quarantine measures. We will need shotguns, flame throwers, and incendiary grenades. Be ready to move out in five.

*In five minutes the contracted Hollenloch knights rolled out of the settlement. They left in three troop warthogs two carrying five men and a third carrying the last four including the centurion. All except three were equipped with Ordenreich shotguns and locally made incendiary grenades. The last three were equipped with flamethrowers which would have looked like the ones used in Earth's World War 2 as the Hollenloch knights didn't have mass effect based flamethrowers. Lewis got on the horn shortly after leaving.*

Lewis: Commander Signa this is Lewis. We are en route to the Morganite settlement. We are equipped with shotguns, flamethrowers, and incendiary grenades. I managed to cobble together a force of 10 knights, 3 paladins, and even a centurion equipped in heavy plate. Clear a route for us into the Morganite base. You are going to have to talk to the Morganite administrator as he will probably think we are here to raid. You get us into those labs and we'll take care of the trash. Lewis out.

Signa started speaking with the Morganites at the gate. "We have friendly mercs coming to help with the situation, in the mean time I will take my men and move into the quarantined zone."

With that Signa grabbed a rifle and moved with her men in a circle to the quarantine zone. As the zombies attempted to attack they were moved down. The circle had every other man fire and then the men who restrained from firing would fire as the others reloaded.

The force moved into the medbay, next thing they knew they were surronded. Among the gun fire Signa was yelling. "There is not this many people in the colony, they have to be coming from somewhere!"

"Damned if I know!", shouted the leader of the Morganite security guards on the ground. "They've been coming for about an hour now, and there's no stop to them. You ionize a score of 'em and they come back with more - probably from down below, now that I think about it."

*The three warthogs rolled into the settlement completely ignoring any Morganite security at the gates and charging straight to the entrance to the medical bay. The quickly got off the warthogs and Lewis made some quick hand gestures and led his knights inside. They neared the source of the gun fire and Lewis held up his hand stopping his men. He was about to give orders when one of the infected quickly came around the corner and grabbed Lewis, screaming in his face as he did so. Lewis quickly put a shotgun round through his head causing it to explode and covering his power armor in blood and guts.*

Lewis: Fuck it! Knights move in!

*Lewis's men marched in spraying the room with shotgun fire downing the infected in droves. As soon as they got to the Morganites and Christana position the Knights began laying down supression fire while the Paladins got in front seeing as their power armor could take more hits than the Knight's normal armor. When the circle they established with the Christana and Morganites started to take shape Lewis ordered his flamethrower soldiers forward who began setting the infected on fire. In a brief moment in the fighting Lewis kneeled beside the lead Morganite security officer and Commander Signa. By this point his entire armor looked like it just came out of a horror movie being covered in blood.

Lewis: Commander, ma'am. You're hired help is here and waiting on your word just tell us...

*Lewis trailed off as what seemed like a tidal wave of infected was coming down one of the hallways. Lewis tapped his centurion on the shoulder.*

Lewis: Show them why Centurions are feared.

Centurion: With pleasure...

*The Centurion pulled out a flamethrower of his own. He stepped out in front of the circle of fire, ignoring the few infected that tried to get him but couldn't because his heavy armor was simply too thick. As soon as the infected were close enough he opened up with his flamethrower turning the hallway into an inferno*