Noir Enterprise (Closed)

[RockGod235]

(I might consider others to join this thread eventually. If interested, send me a PM)

The Insectoid monstrosity exploded under a hail of gunfire, blowing its multiple segmented limbs and eyes in several directions with a spatter of green goo. Aiming down the sights of his weapon, the mercenary sighted another Insectoid before pulling the trigger and releasing a small burst of red tracer fire at the abdomen of the chittering creature. The specialised ammunition penetrated the target before detonating a split second later and causing its internal organs to burst.

Sergeant Lucius Loken stood in the clearing of a humid jungle, firing at more of the Insectoids that appeared from the tree-line. Tall and muscular, Loken was a broad shouldered man with skin tanned from many suns from the various planets he had been to. Sweat glistened on his forehead and ran down his tattooed arms, trailing along the black battle suit that was tight enough to show the outlines of his abdominal muscles. He fired more bursts but was soon taking steps backwards when he realised that numbers were against him as more of the Insectoids sprang out of the surrounding vegetation. Loken thought he was done for when one of the creatures leapt straight for him, until he heard a voice.

“Simulation is over Loken, Colonel wants to see you.”

The world around him suddenly stopped as the voice echoed around him, the Insectoid frozen mid-air during its leap. The jungle around him warped and flickered until everything around him turned white. Just like that, Loken found himself back in the simulation room unarmed and wearing his plain old bunk clothes. He looked at his scarred hands, running them through his short black hair to realise he hadn’t been sweating at all but was another conjuration of the training simulator. Looking up at the single window set in the wall, Loken gave a thumbs up to the simulation conductor on the other side.

“On my way.” He replied with a gravelly voice before exiting through a door on the opposite side of the room that slid sideways into the wall as he approached it.

Sergeant Loken made his way through the privately owned ship, passing naval ratings, mercenaries and civilians alike. The corridors were wide and well lit with artificial day-light lamps that were fitted into the ceilings that would mimic the day and night cycle, an expensive system that was only one of the luxuries on board the ship. The ship was was known as The Abyss, and was owned and operated by the private mercenary company known as Noir Enterprise. The company was a multi-billion credit firm and that meant it always had the best staff, equipment and transport that credit could buy which meant The Abyss was one of the best ships around. It was as a sleek craft, its black paint work making it blend in well with the darkness of space which travelled constantly and on board was various training facilities, spacious rooms and even its own bar. Loken especially like the bar.

Working for the company sure does have its perks, he thought to himself with a large grin as he continued his way to the Colonels office, taking a momentary glance at a female naval rating that walked past him in a tight latex like uniform.

 

[Kataclysmic]

Her arms crossed across her chest, Amelia ‘Mel’ Corta sat unwillingly in one of the chairs before the Colonel’s desk, feeling almost under dressed in her black combats, worn boots and thin brown vest against his pressed and polished uniform, her fingertips drumming impatiently on her arm as she sat in silence. She wanted to be out of there, doing something, not sat smarting from a lecture and waiting for yet another pointless introduction. She’d rather hit the ground running, literally if need be.

Although she was only twenty-six Mel had been working on various ships doing whatever work she could get since she was twelve and was used to looking after herself, deciding what she’d do, staying in control. She’d had to work hard to make up what she lost being only 5’7 and slender, against men who were bigger and stronger, by learning as much as she could, her skills ranging from piloting ships to basic engineering. Her brown eyes which matched her dark hair flashed in annoyance at the thought of now being told what to do at every turn.

The last ship Mel had worked on had only had a crew of four, including herself, outwardly a tiny freight company shipping anything they were asked to but it gave them good cover to travel around ‘acquiring’ anything they could get their hands on - the less legal then the more valuable so all the better. Unfortunately she’d been caught breaking, entering and raiding what was supposed to be an empty craft belonging to Noir Enterprises, only thanks to bad information she found eight off-duty soldiers playing cards who weren’t happy to see her. Once they realised how much effort it had taken to get into the ship however she was faced with an unusual decision. Given the choice between being locked up in the local lethal jail for the foreseeable future and a decently-paid job on a Noir Enterprises craft the choice seemed restrictive but simple and so found herself in front of the Colonel of the Abyss, a gorgeous ship which made her almost drool at the thought of being able to use some of the equipment and ‘opportunities’ on board, even if the lowered freedom and strict command structure weren’t quite as enticing.

Hearing the door open Mel turned slightly to see a large muscular man enter, not an unattractive one as it happened but the very last thing she needed was someone else trying to take charge, she got the feeling there’d be enough of that in the coming days. At least until she established her place, found out what use she could make of her new found luck before being able to move on, whether they liked it or not.

“Sergeant Loken, this is Amelia Corta” the Colonel started, Mel’s expression already darkening slightly at hearing her full name used so officiously. “Until I see what she’s capable of and whether she’ll be suitable to serve on the Abyss she’ll be taking orders directly from you - put her through her paces, make sure she makes herself useful.”

Biting her tongue to avoid an angry retort Mel stood, less out of any sense of respect but more to have something, anything, to do finally and looked hard at Loken.

“Pleased to meet you” she said levelly, without a hint of the aforementioned pleasure in her voice.

 

[RockGod235]

This was far from what Loken had expected.

He had assumed that the Colonel had contract work for him, something that would have finally put an end to the boredom of being in constant space travel for the past two weeks. It was true that Loken did not exactly need the money, having stockpiled plenty of credit during his life in the military and Noir Enterprise but he had never done it for the money in the first place. Loken loved combat and the thought of going on a new mission had excited him during his walk to the Colonels office, but now it seemed that he was called in just to play baby sitter.

Loken glanced at Corta who was still sat on her chair, giving her a quick looking over but paying most attention to her female attributes. He noticed the displeasure in her voice as she greeted him and he smirked. Yeah, well I'm not too happy about this situation either bitch he thought to himself before turning his attention back to the Colonel without bothering to return a greeting to Corta.

“With all due respect Sir...” he begun, but a steely eyed look from the Colonel soon shut him up. It probably wouldn’t go in his favour to bite the hand that fed him. “Right.” He continued, making a point of sighing with annoyance as he looked down at Corta and motion for her to follow him. “Lets go then.”.

“Just show her around along with the ropes Sergeant. Play nicely.” the Colonel said with a subtle grin as he watched them both exit through the automatic door, with Loken grumbling under his breath.

 

[Kataclysmic]

“You look just as happy as I feel” Mel commented dryly to Loken as she followed him into the corridor, watching the uniformed figures walk past, all of them looking conscientious as they went about their business, as if butter wouldn’t melt. Compared to some of the shifty characters she was used to it only made her feel less welcome here, more determined to use this job for all she could get out of it.

“I can save you a few days of pointless time wasting now” she added, already determined to establish herself, including her own personality. “I’m as fit and healthy as any of these women, I can think straight without wasting years of training and I’ll need to get used to the equipment here but I can pilot, fight, repair machinery, whatever you need around here - all I need to know is where I sleep, where I work, what’ll get me fired and where to get a decent drink.” she finished cockily.

 

[RockGod235]

Loken had ignored Mel at first, not bothering to spare her a glance when she mentioned how he looked. He didn't like be given the job to show her around and he hated the small talk even more. But when Mel mentioned her skills, he couldn't help but raise an eyebrow in curiosity. So you have experience in piloting and engineering huh? , Loken thought to himself as a small grin crept across his mouth. Loken had heard about the recent break in attempt aboard The Abyss and the ship had not made planet-fall for a couple of days now so Mel Corta couldn't have been recruited that way.

“Sounds like you know your stuff, Corta.” he said, putting the pieces together as he realised she was the scavenger that had been caught. News spread fast on a ship like this, especially since Noir Enterprise was pretty relaxed with gossip compared to other military regimes.

“Your work will vary, especially since you are so...multi-talented.” he continued as they walked past various naval ratings and civilians who were paying great amounts of money to travel on the ship. “The ship always needs repairing. Especially since The Abyss looks quite fragile, we get attacked by pirates and the odd scavengers more often then I would like. Vultures, all of them.” he said with a sneer at the last part.

“As for piloting and fighting, that’s always useful to. We are a private military company at the end of the day. But when no one is fighting, we always have this place to come and drown our sorrows. You mentioned a decent drink?” Loken grinned as they came to a set off double doors that slid open automatically to reveal the bar area. It was quite spacious, neon lights casting a vivid blue over the plexi-glass bar counter, where civilians and off-duty arms men alike sat drinking various coloured beverages. Noir Enterprise sure did like to spend money.

 

[Kataclysmic]

Mel partly expected Loken to react affronted when she was honest about her skills and expectations so was pleasantly surprised when he actually gave the appearance of taking her seriously. Varied work alone sounded good, beat doing the same thing day in day out. It sounded like there was a lot of work going spare too, with the aforementioned ‘pirates and scavengers’. Mel almost wanted to reveal she was one of the ‘vultures’ he talked about, see his reaction, but kept her mouth shut - if she was impressing him so far then why spoil that.

Instead she kept quiet, listening to what he said, making sure she locked in every detail in case it was needed later, until a couple of doors in front of them slid open to reveal a very welcoming bar. Then a wide smile spread across her lips, yes, she could definitely enjoy this, and someone who showed her to the bar before anything else had the smallest chance in hell of getting on with her at least, she had to admit that.

“Perfect” she grinned. “This is one of the perks of the job here? I could get used to this. What do you drink?” she finished, asking the barman to bring her whatever he recommended. “So, what else is good about this ship?” she asked.

 

[RockGod235]

“We drink the best that credit can buy.” Loken replied as he propped up against the bar, taking note of the small group of civilians standing by a large plexi-glass frame where they looked out at the vast darkness of space which was dotted with stars. Turning his attention back to the barman and holding up two fingers, Loken watched the barman reach under the counter to produce two already made light-alcoholic drinks which were a vivid blue colour, enhanced even more by the neon lighting.

“Of course though, we have to watch just how much we drink.” he continued, before taking the short glass from the barman. “You never know when we get called in for a job.”

Loken raised the glass to his lips and took a small sip, just enough to feel the spiced alcohol tingle on his tongue. “As for what’s good on the ship, we have rooms that would make planetary governors jealous and enough weapons in the armoury to take out a continent. Then there’s our simulation room for training, some kind of prototype that is exclusive to us. I think it was too realistic for the real military to use.” he grinned, knowing that not everyone that used it did so for combat training. Hell, you could do anything in that simulation from visiting your home planet to engaging in an orgy.