The Crash[]
Today, I learned something I won't forget. I learned, that should I not supply this team with gas masks, I will end up carrying them. Somehow, Krios Delvia, and Rex Darby had breathed in the fumes of the hallucinogen bomb the woman tossed. This left both of them muttering something about 'being dead', and on the ground lying almost completely still. As for the armored woman herself, she became weak after losing a good portion of her blood in this last fight we had, forcing her to lie down for the rest of the trip.
Axel, and I loaded all three up in Fayte's jeep, and waited for the explorator to finish repairs on the water main. We wondering if there was another type of transport around, but the soldiers said that the only other thing out here were a pack of wild giant horses. Horses that were the prey of the dragon we saw earlier.
After Fayte finished up, we discussed what we were going to do to get the trade in our favor. It was agreed that we should find out what this place had to offer in terms of goods. The soldiers said that a mining facility just north of here had a catalog of this planet's metals, so we drove there.
Things were going well, until a pack of giant beasts ran across us in a stampede in front of us. Red Ded was able to drive his ork jeep flawlessly straight through the steeds' path, but unfortunately for Fayte, and I, she wasn't as experienced, and ended up crashing into one of them in an explosion of metal, and gore. (Fortunately no flames, thank the God Emperor this isn't an action movie.)
The next part was a little hazy for me. I didn't sustain any serious wounds, but I was shaken up. I slowly stepped out of the vehicle, and collapsed on the ground. The others checked on Fayte, who was far worse, but conscious.
Red Ded, set to work on orkifying our jeep in order to get it running again. He even combined it with with his own ork jeep, making a monstrosity of a,..... well, let's call it a 'bus'.
While he was putting the finishing touches, one of the soldiers stated, "That's odd, usually those horses don't run like that unless something is chasing them". With memories of my experiences in my home world rushing through my mind, I jumped on the 'bus' and looked in the direction the beasts were running from with my long-laz. In the distance was a lizard dragon, running at full speed.
"EVERYONE GET IN THE BUS!!" I yelled. Red Ded got in the driver seat, everyone else got in the bus, and I took the gunner seat on top of the bus. The ork drove to the mine at full speed, leaving the dragon to continue its chase unhindered.
Rage In The Northern Mine[]
I'll be honest with you Log, I was not pleased one bit by our journey. Hunting an unnecessary target, dealing with comrades that would crash their vehicle into our objective, and into an incoming animal, as well as being chased by an over-sized lizard was not putting me in a happy mode.
When we reached the mine, we descended down the shaft in an elevator. And just to add to my frustrations, the ork pressed all the buttons in order to get to the lowest level. . . . . . . . We were in there for twenty minutes.
At the end though, we saw an amazing view. We were surrounded by the very minerals, that these miners were after! From the walls, to the floor and ceiling, the precious rock was everywhere. Red Ded left a gasp of admonishment. (If I were in a better mood, I'd chuckle at this reaction, but now was not the time.)
We went up to the end of the hall, were a man sitting behind a desk greeted us. "HEY!! What the Hell, do you losers want!?" For some reason, my allies seemed to be hesitant about addressing the man, so I stepped forward. "We came here to take a look at this planet's catalog." I stated plainly. "HUH!? Why would you want to see that freak? You don't need to see it! Get outta here!
My rage reached a tipping point. I grabbed the man by his shirt, and lifted him closer to my face. "LISTEN YOU!! I HAVE HAD A RATHER BOTHERSOME TIME ON THIS PLANET!! I'VE BEEN DOWN A COLLAPSED MINE ON A POINTLESS ENDEAVOR; I HAVE BEEN DEALING WITH INCOMPETENT ALLIES, CHASED BY A DRAGON, AND BEEN IN A CRASH!!! SO WHEN I SAY TO GIVE ME A CATALOG, YOU DO IT!!! AND IF YOU DON'T, I'll PERSONALLY MAKE IT MY MISSION TO TURN YOU INTO SCRAP!!!" (I don't know why I said scrap, but at the time, I was not really thinking.)
The man himself, did not react how normal people would after being threatened by a mutant. He seemed far more annoyed then afraid that I was yelling in his face. "OKAY, O-Kay!! I'll get ya the damn catalog, fleabag. Just let go of me!" I release him. "Better. *Huff* Geez, you really outta brush your teeth more, and get shave while you're at it! You got more hair on your face than Lenny's mom has on her back. HEY, LENNY! Come and check this guy out!"
After 'Lenny' agreed that I had more hair on me than his mother, I got the data-slate containing the catalog. I handed it to Fayte, since she would make the most sense of it. I call Admiral Zachary on the phone. (I tried to call earlier, but only hear ping pong balls being bounced in the distance. My guess is that he was busy.)
I get a groggy response from the Admiral. I inform him of the situation and hand over my micro bead to Fayte. She let him know that this place has had shady dealings with non Imperial forces. Upon hearing this, he made her check to see if there was record of a certain individual making deals with the mining world's captain. She found the individual, and let the Admiral know about it. With the conversation over, she handed me back my micro bead, and recorded the information into her own data banks.
(Off to the side, I see Red Ded returning to us, with several ore rocks in his arms. Seems like he was busy getting his shiny bits)
Raider Negotiations[]
No sooner had we finished our business, the elevator door opens and a man runs straight out stating that the local bandits had kidnapped some of the miners. Seeing an opportunity, my crew decides to set out to rescue the miners.
Rather soon, we find ourselves in front of the kidnappers' lair. It was a modest, but run down, small building surrounded by a wall. We were pondering on how to proceed, when Red Ded just decided to strut on ahead, to the front of the gate that was the only visible entrance to the building. While Fayte and Axel followed the ork, I went around the place and searched for a second entrance.
I wasn't very successful. The only other entrance I could find was a small hole. I could possibly fit myself through it if I wanted to, but I didn't like the idea of getting stuck, and then being discovered and fired upon.
As for the main group, they managed to get inside to discuss the hostage negotiations. I heard their conversation through my micro-bead. It appears that these rogues were only doing this for survival, since they could not get any water without resorting to this extreme.
Red Ded tried to convince them to stop running around doing this shit, and join all the other pinkies, so that they may be stronger. A good thought, but the leader of raiders clearly stated that they wanted nothing to do with a bunch of cheating scum that didn't pay their workers what they were owed.
Fayte had another idea. She convinced the people that she could make a pump that would get water from an underground source. All she would need, was a large amount of scrap metal, and a location, and they would be able to get water for free, so long as they released the hostages after she was done. The leader agreed, and told her that there was such a source right below the rundown facility.
Seeing that I wasn't needed, I returned to the ork bus, and took a nap while Fayte and Red Ded worked on the water pump.
Finishing Business[]
Twelve hours later, the group returned to the bus, tired, but with hostages in tow. We left the ruin, and returned back to the main camp.
Admiral Zachary was waiting for us when we returned. We went into our transport ship, not to leave, but to scheme. Zachary had us tell him how we all contributed to the goal, in which we informed him of our activities. When we finished, he spoke up.
"Well now.... It seems, that there is but one thing left to do. Now I'm going to be gracious and let you volunteer for this; Who wants to kill the dragons!?"
No one wanted to go to the lair directly with the exception of Axel. (He believes they have treasure in their caves like in a fairy tail, what a moron!) I told him that It be one thing if we could make the creatures bleed, but as it stands, our weapons won't do much.
However, we did come up with a simple plan to kill the monsters. Hit them with a Lance from our main ship. Zachary informed the Mining world Captain our plans, and then took the controls to the transport ship to take us close enough to see our ship destroy the dragon's hive.
All I saw, was a projectile strike the ground like lightning. It was a beautiful sight..... until I lost mine. In hindsight, I should have put shades on. Then I would see the mass mineral deposit that was left of the dragon's lair. According to everyone else, it was like witnessing liquid gold.
(Axel gave me some grief for when I scoffed at his notion of dragons having treasure. Well I suppose the joke is on me.)
We returned to the camp one last time. Admiral Zachary discussed the details of the trade with the Captain, who didn't take very well to being black-mailed by the information that Fayte had on him. When the deal was almost over, we ordered out while the Admiral stayed inside.... He came out later with a black eye and a smile on his face. "Ladies and gentlemen, our work here is done."
Logs and Links
Greaves Log: The Borderlands, Part 2
Greaves Log: Hive World Business
Greaves Log: Jurassic Planet 2
Greaves Log: Jurassic Planet 3
Greaves Log: Jurassic Planet 4
Greaves Log: Homecoming Part 2
Greaves Log: Homecoming Part 2.5??
Greaves Log: Homecoming Part 3