Part of the Ship, Part of the Crew

Demetri Malius

Level 3
Joined
Aug 3, 2018
Messages
51
Awards
3
Essence
€8,123
Coin
₡10,000
Tokens
5
World
Erde Nona
Profile
Click Here
Faction
Thieves Guild
The space-thief gave a good look around his new ship. A nice bunk room, a sturdy kitchen, and best of all, plenty of cargo space. It wasn’t as advanced as the previous ship, but it would at least get them to be able to have a quick escape into intergalactic space in case they got themselves in hot water. His crew had only been with him a few weeks, but Demetri was confident that they could hold their own. He had spent some time participating in the underground ring of swindling and betting in Karim. Given his abilities, it had taken much less time that he anticipated to be able to afford a few recruits and a new ship.

“All the goodies are in the hold Captain! I double checked to make sure!” The little green kobold hobbled over and scribbled on some paper full of numbers and tiny drawings of what was counted. Demetri had his doubts over the kobold’s illiteracy, but it seemed to not hinder him at all. Veeki held a sharp eye for numbers and had a knack for haggling. Luck also seemed to be in their favor, which helped with their incessant gambling.

“Yes, I believe we have enough to work with for at least a short trip, just don’t go digging in there without telling me first, that goes for you too, lizard-boy.” Aslanda was quick to quip, the latest member of the crew. She had a silver tongue that lured many in and caused others to drop their guard, often to be able to reach into their pockets for some quick cash. Though it worked well for her, her figure attracted many unwanted compliments and catcalls. Donations, on the other hand, were quick to award you her favor.

“If you all are done bitching back there, I’d like to leave this dust bowl.”

Girrick. The mercenary that Demetri was able to track down. He wasn’t too hard to find, and it turned out he held far more worth as an ally than the bounty that led to Demetri discovering him. He was an older gentleman, if you could call him that, but his experience as a fighter and a pilot meant he was best fit to round out his recruits.

“Yeah, I think we’re about done here. Though we aren’t heading off the planet just yet. I have somewhere we need to stop by on the way out.”

“I don’t remember that being part of the contract, boss.” The grim merc gave the thief a look.

“Understandable, but I’ll be quick, I promise. Just making a visit is all, nothing that will attract any attention, of course.”

With a grumble, Girrick kicked the ship into liftoff.

“Alright then, where to?”

“Uruk.”

“That little piece of shit that grew out of the devil’s ballsack after a night at the whorehouse?”

“Uh, yeah. That one.” Demetri would have to get used to the metaphors this guy was using.

It wasn’t the best crew, but it was a start.
 

Demetri Malius

Level 3
Joined
Aug 3, 2018
Messages
51
Awards
3
Essence
€8,123
Coin
₡10,000
Tokens
5
World
Erde Nona
Profile
Click Here
Faction
Thieves Guild
Night had already begun to fall as Demetri quickly approached the ship.

“Ya get what you came here for?” The hatch opened and he was greeted by the pilot of his crew.

“Only time will tell, though I am glad to see some things haven’t changed. For now, we head off planet and past orbit, see if we can get a score here and there. Once we get something we can brag about, it’s back to Karim to invest in our futures.”

“You got that right, now buckle in and no more detours, I’ve been itching for a damn fight.”

The four space pirates began their journey to open space, keeping a low profile as they prepped their scanners for valuable cargo. Demetri’s smug grin held firm as he decided to rest for the night. It had been too long since he felt back on the scene, the small time gambling and swindling on Karim was just child’s play in comparison to the bigger payouts. It was no heist, but pirating in the wilds of space as sure to earn them a living.

“Your pockets are lighter.” The kobold stared up at their boss, their wandering eyes separately scanning the thief.

“What’s it to you?” Demetri grumbled, wanting to return to his attempts to slumber.

“You have nothing to show for it, an investment, maybe?”

Demetri continued to be surprised by the sharpness of Veeki’s eyes.

“Perhaps, one that I don’t often make. Something about it all makes me want to make sure I keep tabs on a few people over here. Some odd familiarity with them.”

The kobold narrowed his eyes before pulling an apple out of his bag and taking a big chomp out of it.

“No more charity. Veeki doesn’t like to waste resources. We need to keep our pouches full, captain.”

Demetri rolled his eyes as the kobold took another bite and wandered back in the commons, most likely to count the hold supplies again. The thief rolled around in his bunk, the kobolds doubts giving him uncomfortable thoughts. Maybe he could get his mind off it by seeing if Aslanda was in a good mood, though he had little hope for that. Everyone was eager to get the ball rolling on this whole operation, and with any luck, it won’t end as terribly as his other crew. Starving and barely surviving in one of the secret stashes he had installed on that beauty of a ship that the android now owned. Perhaps he would buy it back one day, or even steal it. It all depended on whether or not he wanted to be chased by the giant knochten and the rest of their hot bunch. A part of him was shameless to admit that he did.
 

Demetri Malius

Level 3
Joined
Aug 3, 2018
Messages
51
Awards
3
Essence
€8,123
Coin
₡10,000
Tokens
5
World
Erde Nona
Profile
Click Here
Faction
Thieves Guild
“Our target is close by, should make it a pretty easy, so long as you don’t fuck it up.” Girrick toked a couple times on his cigarette, holding it in before letting out small puffs of smoke.

“I think we can afford a few. It’s a small luxury ship heading out from Karim, security might be a bit tight where it counts but they aren’t scanning IDs or anything.” Demetri secured his light leather armor around his clothes. There wasn’t much room for his chains in here, so he was going to have to rely on his magic.

“I’m not fucking around, these kind of jobs go south real fast. You get caught up out there and I’m fuck right off. Not that this shit is hard to get out the way of, but I don’t trust you enough yet to go dancing around with fucking lasers.” He tapped away the ashes before following with a cough and a few grunts.

“Alright, yeah, I gotcha. Veeki, you coming with? Not sure if you really wanted in on the action.”

“I wish to stay here. Veeki must make room for what treasures the Captain will be taking with us. We will meet when you find a safe place for us to dock.”

“Speaking of, make sure you’re ready, captain. Ship’s leaving port, so we gotta be ready before it hits orbit.”

“Well, wish me luck then. Aslanda, maybe a kiss to make sure I come back?”

“How about you get one for every grand you bring back. You need incentive to come back, not head out. That part you already signed up for.”

The thief entered the expulsion chamber, his heart already pounding from the excitement. “And here I thought I had all the charm.”

Below them, the ship detected their target quickly approaching, reaching the interception point.

“Ready to launch.” Demetri spoke into his comms.

“Launching. Don’t get fucking killed, or you owe me an extra week of pay.”

“Veeki doesn’t remember that being part of -”

Demetri lost the kobold’s words as he felt a rush,propelled out into space on a plotted course to get close to the ship.

“-all I’m saying is that I don’t plan on sticking around if someone isn’t keeping their shit together.”

“Love the faith guys, it’s not like we are on open communication.”

“Just bein’ honest, boss.”

Demetri rolled his eyes as he approached the vessel, disengaging his ejection pod before cursing his momentum to a hatch on the ship’s hull. The underside of the ship was windowless, allowing him to pass unnoticed. However, it was also where most of the machinery was. The loot was on the upper decks, past all the wonderful guests of this luxury cruise. The thief held on to the hatch, bracing as he pulled at the latches to loosen them. At this angle, the sun was in the perfect position to go ahead and cast a shadow over the smallest of gaps in the hatch door. He quickly dissipated into his shadows and seeped into the ship, appearing inside of a small room that housed many dials for the nearby pipes and outlets. A small red light blinked about the air pressure, to which Demetri waited nearby. It wasn’t long before an engineer arrived with what appeared to be security.

“Looks like just a leak, nothing serious. We won’t even have to pressurize the system.”

“Patch it up quickly then, the boss is paranoid about these things.”

“Yeah, no problem.”

The engineer took hardly any time to seal the hatch door and reset the sensors, allowing the room to stabilize its air pressure back to normal. Demetri remained unseen as he took on the security officer’s shadow.

The heist had begun.
 

Demetri Malius

Level 3
Joined
Aug 3, 2018
Messages
51
Awards
3
Essence
€8,123
Coin
₡10,000
Tokens
5
World
Erde Nona
Profile
Click Here
Faction
Thieves Guild
The buzzing in the thief’s pocket alerted him as he slinked down another hallway, attempting to make it to the common area. After leaving the lower holds, he had used some illusion magic to match with the guests attire. The screen of his communicator lit up his face as he read the messages from someone he had been expecting. With a few glances to make sure he was not being watched, he responded in turn, moving in further into the crowd.

A smirk spread across his face as he received more notifications. It seemed he had something to look forward to in Uruk after this job. No need to try to entice his quartermaster with this woman in his DMs.

The cocky thief used his device to turn and take a selfie as he grabbed a nearby drink. He gave a seductive look to the camera and snapped the picture. A quick tap and it was sent to his new love interest, followed by a satisfied sigh from Demetri before checking his surroundings. The whole common area bustled with voices and dance, an celebratory occasion, but for what?

Demetri continued to play the part of space-yacht partygoer, taking a few drinks and dancing with a few women. It was an interesting charade, but if he continued, he would be here for days. The next conga line found him shooting finger guns at the nearest drunkard, before he ducked away towards the restrooms. The lack of dancing in the area meant that more guards had their eyes on him, but he paid no mind.

It was nice to be back out like this, completely in enemy lines with no expectations. On one hand, word of his mutiny had disrupted his reputation that he had begun to build, on the other, many had forgotten about the whispers of the thief that would walk in your shadow.

With a simple twirl of his fingers, he feigned a bottle smashing away from the bathroom he approached, allowing himself time to step into the distracted guard’s shadow. They stepped towards the sound, moving closer to another patrol. The sliver of darkness that slipped between them went unnoticed, as with each trade he found himself deeper into this hidden fortress.

This was not a party space-yacht.

The team had known this going in, as regular parties like this held no treasure besides sex and booze. The true treasure here was what was hiding behind all this flamboyant craze. Everything was going as expected, until Demetri noticed a couple of shadows along the deeper rooms that were not like the others.

Gerudos.

He had managed to lay with one in the past, and he would never forget that experience. He imagined that if he ever managed to pry that thick armor from Morene that perhaps it would be similar. The Gerudos had a habit of being quite domineering in the bedroom department. This however, would most likely not end in such steamy adventures. That domineering personality came from a tradition of strength and order. To see some of them guarding this ship means that it was much more than a chest full of jewelry or a closet full of silken robes.

The treasures here would be as deadly to hold on to as they were valuable.

The thief waited as he tucked into a corner and came out of hiding to speak into his communicator. “I didn’t know that the House of Gerudo was involved in this. We need to make sure we up the price of this job. Not that I can’t handle it, but this is definitely more than we are being paid for.”

“Like I said, just don’t get your ass killed.”

Demetri sighed. At least they didn’t doubt his confidence, though it seemed they hardly believed in him either. No matter, he would finish what he came here to do and prove his worth as a Captain.

Unfortunately, where he was now was rather open to anybody that might pass by. The room was brightly lit, and without being able to use the shadows to look around corners, he was at a disadvantage for his namesake. Luckily, a pinch of illusion is all you need. He created a prism at the doorway, masking himself standing in the middle of the hall, yet allowing himself to see the guard approaching. Of course, one of the Gerudos.

The thief held his breath as they came closer, using the light above him to stretch just to the edge of his illusion, allowing her nose to just pass the illusion before he dove into her shadow. Though he hoped otherwise, his ruse had been sniffed out.

The Gerudo unhooked the spear from her back and scanned the hall from inside the box, before suddenly striking out at the illusion. It fizzled before it faded away, betraying its existence to the warrior. She quickly spoke into her wrist, a communication device sparking up to her voice.

“We have an intruder. Be on your guard. We cannot risk unveiling our cover.”

Detected, but not discovered. This is where the challenge truly begins.
 

Demetri Malius

Level 3
Joined
Aug 3, 2018
Messages
51
Awards
3
Essence
€8,123
Coin
₡10,000
Tokens
5
World
Erde Nona
Profile
Click Here
Faction
Thieves Guild
The Gerudo's steps were muffled by the thick rugs beneath her, she took her time to peek around the corners and waited for two guards to come down the hall and greet her.

“Did you have a location?”

“No, but it is clear they have magic. Do not trust your eyes. Check everyone twice and then once more. Nothing gets by without a search. Check that area where we had the leak earlier, there might be clues.”

The two guards nodded before heading back, relaying the information for what posts to change while the Gerudo woman headed back down the hall. She pulled out a key and unlocked one of the doors and headed inside. The room seemed to be a small area with a variety of weapons mounted on racks.

She was quick to lock the door before backing up and instinctively swinging her spear around and throwing it into the locked door.

“Wherever you are, show yourself.”

The thief stuck to the shadow of the Gerudo. She stood still for a moment, listening and scanning the room. The silence hung for a long time before she finally relaxed.

Demetri was no stranger to the invisible opponent test. Simple invisibility was always weak to a sudden attack if their target was especially aware of their surroundings, feigning a sense of security in the invisible intruder before they would catch them in their confidence. The thief’s shadowstep held no such weakness.

The warrior simply grabbed a glaive and left the spear in the door while she unlocked the door and left again, this time heading to somewhere that seemed much more important. It wasn’t long before they saw another Gerudo.

“How is she doing? Has anyone seen her?” The first seemed concerned.

“No, I heard of the intruder, where did you find the illusion?” They met with the same tone.

“Next to the barracks, there were no other signs.”

“This only brings trouble. We can’t let them get any closer than they already have.”

“What if they already know, they could be on the way out by now. We cannot let that happen.”

“Hush now.” The second silenced the other. “Then it would not matter. Once we reach the outer limits, there will be no need for secrecy. So long as she stays with us, there is no other objective.”

A nod came from the first, and they began to part ways. Demetri took this as his cue to take to the other Gerudo. They were silent as they returned to their own post, though they didn’t seem as paranoid as the other one.

As they walked, Demetri plotted about the secrets they had spoken about. Clearly there was a VIP on this ship that wasn’t in the manifest. Who could it be? This was a Gerudo controlled ship, a solar lap that the richer citizens liked to brag about, as if the journey around the sun gave them a year of wisdom as they partied until they were passed out. Then again, Demetri wasn’t one to pass up any excuse for a good time, so he could hardly blame them.

They continued down the corridor to another locked room, though this one much more secure than the last. It seemed off as the Gerudo entered a pin into a keypad, only to have their biometrics taken as well.

The door slid open, revealing a rather comfortable room. In it, a single woman sat at a desk, head turning to see who had entered. Her dark skin and braided hair flicked as she swiveled in her seat. Her outfit was embellished with technology that kept her comfortable along with a communications device fashioned to her wrist. A Wakandan. She gave a sigh of relief as she saw the Gerudo.

“Thank goodness, I heard we had an alert. I hope my life is not forfeit just yet.”

“Of course not, we will protect you and get you out of that damned place. They did not deserve you, nor you them.”

They appeared to hug, and Demetri slid underneath the nearby bed, continuing to listen.

“We are only an hour out from being able to relax, everything is prepared for your escape to Opealon. They will accept you there.”

“Are you sure, but what of the history between our houses?”

“They do not see things as we do. There is a reason they chose to leave. Trust me. Do not leave this room under any circumstance. Understand?”

With a nod the woman reclined in her chair, anxious of the developing situation. The Gerudo guard nodded back before exiting the door, letting it slide shut behind her and lock again.

The woman sat in silence for a short while as she glanced at the screen projected from her table, a series of lines that seemed to indicate some type of ledger. She heard a creak behind her and began to react, snapping her hand to her side where her gun was holstered and erecting herself from her chair. It slid against the floor and toppled over as she held the gun in front of her, scanning the room. An arm snaked behind hers and drove a dagger between her wrist and her communications device, prying the holographic projector from its crevice and snapping it dead.

“You know, lovely ladies like you shouldn’t be cooped up in a place like this. There’s a whole party going on outside.” The woman elbowed the thief before kicking off of him and breaking free of his hold, pressing the gun up against his neck.

“Shut the hell up before I make those your last words. You don’t even understand what it was like there. Freedom was just a word told in children’s stories for me.”

Demetri grinned. Finally, a heist with some background. He had to admit, these were his favorite, they always held something interesting at the end. So long as he played his cards right.

“Blast me away then, you have nothing to lose. I have nobody else on this ship, and by the time my crew knows that I am gone, you will already be in Opealon.” He held his hands up and shrugged before looking down at the lines of the ledger.

The woman shook her head. “Don’t. I do not want to cause any war. I just want to leave. You need to leave as well. There is nothing for you here.”

Demetri glanced at her before grabbing the data device on the table.

“Why did you bring it then?”

Silence fell across the room.

“You think I do not know what kind of ledger this is?”

“If you know, then you know why I cannot let you have it.”

“And the Gerudo House will just let you keep it? You know as much as I do that they will let you go and keep this with them. There is more here than just what you make of it.”

“So I just let the others be while I run away? Do you know what I had to do in order to get here?” She pressed the barrel of the gun further into his neck and pressed him against the table.

“No, I do not, as you do with me. Now you can go ahead and try to see if you can go through this list and help everyone but we both know that for every weed you try to pull out of Karim, two more will sprout in its place. Leave the weeds where they belong, and they will take care of themselves.”

She stared into his eyes and searched for an answer to her questions.

“I can at least promise that I have no plans for this to fall back to the Wakandan House, but I won’t be giving it to the Gerudo House either.”

She took a deep breath before finally speaking.

“I don’t think I can trust you.”

“You don’t need to. Your trust isn’t needed for this transaction.”

“Then you are more of a fool than I thought.”

Her finger pulled the trigger of the gun, her resolve for her goal proving that she was more than capable of ending Demetri’s life for the data. However, no shot rang from the weapon.

“Oh, I completely forgot, you are going to need one of these.” He tossed the weapon’s firing pin to her, watching as it simply bounced off of her clothes and onto the floor, rolling to a stop as she continued to stare at him.

“You think this means that you win?”

The door suddenly shifted open as the two Gerudos bolted into the room. The two guards shot forward as Demetri barely managed to dodge the glaive, as well as the sword that attempted to catch him after. He sucked his gut in and managed to get by with just a scrape.

“Not quite. But this is the point where I say goodbye!”

The thief threw his knife over and hit the light in the ceiling, providing just enough darkness in the room for him to disappear into it, slipping into the nearby vent and barreling through with the data on his person.

“Everyone on alert! Intruder detected. Do not let him reach the common area! We can’t let him escape!”
 

Demetri Malius

Level 3
Joined
Aug 3, 2018
Messages
51
Awards
3
Essence
€8,123
Coin
₡10,000
Tokens
5
World
Erde Nona
Profile
Click Here
Faction
Thieves Guild
The narrow vents almost gave the thief a sense of claustrophobia as he popped out into a nearby hallway. Loud thumps rumbled under his feet as guards rushed on the opposite side of the wall. Demetri glanced around and recognized where he managed to find himself, and approached one of the doors in the hall.

He pulled out a thin piece of metal with a hooked end, and began to fiddle with the lock. After all, what good thief would ever forget to bring a lockpick to a heist? It didn’t take long for the click to send a wave of pride through him before swinging the door open.

The barracks was just as he remembered, though this time he approached the wall of firearms. He pocketed a few handguns and swiped up a rapier. It had been a while since he had held one, but fencing was like riding a bike, it always came back to you.

Behind him, another stomp of boots called his attention.

“I knew that I was not alone when I had come here. This is where your journey ends, thief.”

“You’re actually quite right, but how about we delay the inevitable for just a bit. I have a bit of rust I need to shake off.” The cocky grin that the dark-haired man gave to the Gerudo only heated the blood in their veins.

With a quick thrust, the glaive lurched towards Demetri, threatening to pierce his shoulder before he deflected it with his rapier, careful to lean in and out of the strike to maximize his control of the blade, driving it into the wall behind him. The thief twisted and countered with a strike from his own dagger, only for the gerudo to reach up with their arm and allow a shield to swivel out of their bracer and block the attack.

The Gerudo kicked their foot forward, forcing Demetri to brace his forearms to prevent taking it to his chest. The impact sent Demetri against the wall as the glaive was pulled out from above him, twirling into another attack. He narrowly ducked under its swing and managed to drive his dagger into the Gerudos leg as he dashed underneath and rolled away, standing up again behind her. She grunted before retaliating once more, this time pushing with her shield and pressuring Demetri into a corner.

The thief thought on his feet and in fact, lifted off of them as he pressed the rapier into the ground and kicked off of the armor stand beside him, using it to propel himself over the shield charge and narrowly avoiding her weapon. His newly acquired rapier simply snapped as he managed to make it over his opponent, who had already turned to face him. She then noticed her own damaged blade, a fractured scrap of metal that clung to the end of its handle.

“Missed the gunshot? I didn’t hear it either when my blade broke. Unfortunately, it looks like my time is up. It was a lot of fun, I promise, but I have to lay low for a while, and my ride is probably waiting for me!” The thief bowed, pistol in hand as he heard the voice from the door.

“You aren’t going to get away again.”

The other Gerudo was here now. Not exactly the type of threesome he was looking for.


“Drop your weapons and hand over the data.” The demand came from the Gerudo at the door who held a shotgun to his back.

“Well, I hadn’t thought it would come to this, ladies.”

The Gerudo pressed the barrel further into the thief’s back. “You have three seconds.”

Demetri smirked as he suddenly became as black as night. Both of the warriors froze in place as the darkness spread across the floor and pulled them into the ground, as if some nightmarish quicksand.

“Now, I’ve got to be going, but you should be honored to have sparred with the Shadow.”

They fell deeper into the muck, struggling as they tried to pull themselves out, watching in contempt while the thief walked out of the room. He seemed content to leave them to die.

“I can’t-!” One of them succumbed to the nightmarish tar and fell under, and it wasn’t long before the other followed suit, both gasping for air while they struggled to pull their heads out of the substance.

It was only the next ring of a fired bullet that brought them out of their trance.

“Hey! Where did he go? What did he do to you?”

The two Gerudos glanced around, realizing that they had been standing in place all along.

“He’s gone. We were being swallowed by darkness and suffocated in the void...” They both seemed shaken by the experience.

"Luckily for us, it seems that it was just a ruse." They were thankful for that fact, but seconds ago they truly thought themselves at death’s door.

The two warriors returned to their quarters as the rest of the guards searched the ship, but they could not find anything. It was said the rumors of a dark shadow loomed over that cruise until they returned to Karim, but none other than the guards could say that anything might have happened on that ship, unless they wished to invite unwanted questions about what the shadow may have been after.
 
Top