Black Friday is over, who was open in Paradise?

[CRIXDA]

Against All Better Judgement, everything inside me screaming for me not to do it....
I homed into the co-ords that Shadow and the Gang sent me and turned of the hard-pack toward the waypoint to meet them all.
Everything that my Tribe taught me about "Protect Your Own" and "Honor and Tradition". None of what We had planned to do had ANYTHING to do with any of it. (Well, maybe the "Protect My Own" part might)
Turning loose that drammed Beast again, I have been wondering why.
I pulled over a hill in my Duni and saw Shadow, Poppa, Bentu, Kendillin and a few others standing around and waiting. I got out and walked over to my people.
"Got Ammo; Spikes, Stims and some Frags, Crix?" Shadow asked. I nodded solemnly.
Shadow smiled in his coy manner, He lives for "edge of the blade" adventure and feeds on adrenaline. He also excels at getting us into lots of trouble in Paradise but Our wits and trigger-fingers usually get us out none the worse for wear.
Pop pulled out his Z-Bar and cleaned his fingernails, Ken kicked the dust and finally Bentu asked what We were waiting for.
"A big hull is in a deep decay.....and We are going to Jekkin' pull It down in just a few minutes." Shadow said.
"Let's check Our mags and clean Our optics, this could get messy" I grumbled and everyone started going through a few pre-fight checks.
I passed out a fews extra clusters to the guys who liked 'em better than I do and Shadow held his hand up and looked at the Sun's angle and then tapped his commsys unit and chatted with someone that I couldn't hear well on the other end about Parabolas and Appogetic Fall-in.
Pop slugged Bentu in the shoulder and the big Irath turned. "Hey Bentu, Who would have ever took Shadow for such an Egg-head?"
"Maybe someone who spoke proper English." Bentu quipped.
Nice, so He is feeling kind of antsy too. Kendillin just snickered and walked over as Shadow waved us toward a flat and open area.
"Who has an Ark-Spike or Four?"
I had two and showed Shadow the deuces sign. We mustered up four between all of us and Shadow's EGO talked him through how to lay them out properly and how to turn them on at just the correct time. The Frakked EGO started saying something about cheese and the palm-tree until Shadow muted It. We all slowly looked at him questioningly and He shrugged his shoulders : " I got so ripped the other night and ended up in one of those shipping container trailers behind The Crater, having a lovely time with some Irathi Hellcat and I was so chupped outta my mind I didn't even know who she was. She reminded me of Cass a little bit, though. My EGO has been acting wonky ever since."
Knowing that Cass hasn't been seen with Ken or Bentu lately and that Warhorse had reported that she "tore-up some victim" I am suspect.
Back to the matter at hand.
We activated the Ark-Spikes and the beams reported "tractorized and locked-on". I had a fair Idea of what to do next.....
"Haul It! Clear the Area!"
It took around 31 seconds before We saw lights and debris start to burn in and make planet-fall.
The Hull was huge and looked to have several decks from what the outside revealed. Secondary pieces had smashed down all around It in the impact zone. The Ground-Tremor, Sonic-Blast and Shock-Wave would be an alarm to anyone in the area to "Wake Up! Salvage is here! Ding Ding Ding!" It didn't take long before the first smoke-belching helo came hovering over the wreckage and muties came dropping out of It.
We had an "investment" in It now, We aren't handing It over to the Dumbs.
Shadow gave me his best "Devil-May-Care" smile and whispered " Run and Gun time, Bro." And released the safety on his weapon.
Yup.

[Old School Pop]

Oh sure, bring up the proper english quip, as a former Texas Ranger I am 'murican' and that is what I speak. Bentu did his time with MI6 and does have skills, why I remember once when a Warmaster arrived at an arcfall in a strech challanger limo and Bentu (he actually prefers Ben2) jumped into the drivers seat and started crashing into the Warmasters minions. The WM finally got him out of the driver's seat and started driving the limo with Ben2 in the back, only he would cruise around an arcfall with a warmaster as a chafuer, we did finaly stop the fallderal, but no oranges were in the trunk. Good times!

[Bentu]

Oh sure, bring up the proper english quip, as a former Texas Ranger I am 'murican' and that is what I speak. Bentu did his time with MI6 and does have skills, why I remember once when a Warmaster arrived at an arcfall in a strech challanger limo and Bentu (he actually prefers Ben2) jumped into the drivers seat and started crashing into the Warmasters minions. The WM finally got him out of the driver's seat and started driving the limo with Ben2 in the back, only he would cruise around an arcfall with a warmaster as a chafuer, we did finaly stop the fallderal, but no oranges were in the trunk. Good times!

@ Old School Poop. It's BENTU! the rest us true of course lol

[Warhorse500]

SCENE: The Crater Bar


The door swings open to reveal a tall younger-looking male. He enters…and heads for the bar.

UNK MALE: Excuse me…are you Crixda?


CRIXDA raises up from his drink and eyeballs the stranger warily.

CRIXDA: Depends. Who’s asking?


UNK MALE: Torc sent me. Said I should give you this. (hands Crixda a set of keys. They are well-worn, but the faded letters D-O-D-G-E are still visible. Crixda turns the key fob over…the initials “CJ” are roughly engraved on the back.)

CRIXDA (hand moves to his sidearm) : Stranger, I don’t think these belong to you.


UNK MALE: According to Torc, they do now. He said…he said they used to belong to my dad. He’s been disappeared for a while now. Torc told me to “get this jekkin’ thing outta my shop” and that now it belonged to me.


CRIXDA (in shock): You’re Casey’s kid??? Didn’t realize he had one.


CASEY JONES II: Yeah. He probably didn’t realize either. Mom and I got separated from him when San Fran fell…I’ve was hiding out with Mom on the outskirts of old L.A. Mom passed a few years back. I was just making my way, doing odd jobs for folks…I got a message from Torc last week. Said Dad had disappeared and it looked bad…told me I should get down here. So here I am. I picked up Dad’s old hoopty from the shop, and while I was there Torc told me I should look you up. So this is me…looking you up.


CRIXDA: Huh. I guess that old ‘Soth’s fulla secrets. Well kid…(takes a drink, raises his glass)…here’s to yer old man. Helluva guy. When I heard that he was heading to Murder Island alone, I figured somethin’ bad was gonna happen. Place is so overrun with grazbi-heads and raider types…only dumb move yer pops ever made, going in there alone. So whatcha need?


CASEY JONES II: Nothin’ much. Just figured I should say hi. See you around the B-lands. (He turns and exits.)

CRIXDA: I’ll be jekked…(turns back to his drink). Well, boys, it looks like ol’ Casey’s gonna live on…

[BIEBERyoloSWAG]

I also heard that Von Bach was the only one open but that hackers got everyones credit card information that shopped there

[CRIXDA]

Silliness, that's all it is.
Poppa and Bentu trying to fight off the pre-Fight nerves before the needlers shoot and the blasters start cookin' flesh.

I can't describe how it plays out, I can see it but I don't have the words for it.
In my "Arkhunter Training", they showed us how to fire autos without melting the barrel and ruining the gun.
Hold down the trigger long enough to say "diemuthachuppadie" and then let off.
That ought to do, You can heat up the bad guys without burning down Your XAR. Good advice.
Well, it was hot as frak in here.

Shadow and that gard-dram grin of his. Why does he love shooting stuff so much? Sight, aquire, fire. Sight, aquire, fire. Breathe.
I don't remember them saying "laugh like a banshee and insulting the bad guy's lineage" during the process. Shadow is a special case.
Poppa and Bentu over there, back to back - doing a deadly dance and hosing anything that moves except for the good guys. It is something wonderful to behold, yet scary to see because something has to die. My new friend "Little CJ" and his favorite toys flipping from one sop to the next, first here and then there - blurring so quick that the eye gets confused between reality and fantasy, smashing a Volge Trooper in the face with some Gulanite-reinforced 'nucks. At the speed he is movin', it HAS to hurt. And sweet little Pink, the diminutive assassin.
So cute and sugary. Now spattered with Volge blood and twirling through the air like a dervish of pain, shooting her Wolfhound between her legs as she jumps over targets and under her armpits to get the drones popping up behind her back.
All of this feverish mayhem going on inside a starship that just smashed to the ground a few moments ago, one that We called
Down ourselves.
"Clear!"
"clear", "clear!" "All clear!" And one "all good!" Gave the indication that the current battle was over.
Luckily, Pink kicked a body off of what looked like an ammo crate and We were all able to replenish our stockpiles, while Bentu and a few other dead-checked the bad guys.
A somber and nasty business; dead-checking, But honorable. Bentu always has been a very honorable Irathi and pays respect to fallen enemies.
Find one still alive, roll him face down and put two rounds in the back of the brain-pan.
"Send them on their way to their warrior-halls. Die with honor." Good Warrior, Bentu.

Re-loaded and ready for whatever was next, We noticed a control panel in the center of the chamber and
Pop walked over and joking asked Pink what her "favorite color is".
Pink looked sidelong at him and said "honestly? You have to ask?" What a crowd We are. "No, I suppose not but since there is no Pink on here and red means STOP and that seems to be bad, let's go with GREEN instead." Pop said and stabbed his finger at a green-illumed button on control panel. At that moment, giant venting-tiles opened huge ports in the floor of the chamber and shafts of light came up the ports as well as a steady breeze.

Everyone looked over at Pop. Somewhere around 46 eyes focussed in on him and He sheepishly shrugged his shoulders and said: "uh....what?"
It fell nearly silent except for our footfalls and the sounds of steady-rushing air as all of us moved to the edges of the vents and looked down in.
Some Arkhunters looked around fearfully, waiting on Dawn Patrol to make the first move.
I cocked and locked my rifle, smiled at everyone and quietly said: " Dawn Forever. " and stepped off the edge.

[Old School Pop]

If'n they didn't want you to push em, they wouldn't have put buttons there. How was I to know what would happen, it coulda delivered cheese burgers for all us, it might still, there might be a great big bar-b-quer right through this big hole in the floor, I think caution is over-rated.

[Old School Pop]

OK, some explanation is needed, as I am being cast as some kinda mind numb gun-loving maniac: In my defence I thought the button said 'lunch' and was hungry. The 'a' was very small and there was blood spatter everywhere, I blame whoever invented the word 'launch', bad idea making it so close in spelling to one of the all-time favorite words 'LUNCH'. What's next naming things like other my favorites; breakfist, dinnar, b-ear, and snacks. If I find out who is behind this look out.

[CRIXDA]

*facepalm*
Ugh.
See?
Never a dull moment in the Dawn Patrol.
Pop! Here is Your Scooby-Snack! Good Boy!


(these keep him occupied for hours. Ssshhhhhhhhh!!!)

[Old School Pop]

Snacks are nice, but I will not be so easily distracted, I'm a trained finely tuned arc-hunting machine, and all maggie has to do is......oh look squirrel...