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Post by Insano-Man on Sept 20, 2018 2:26:20 GMT -5
RAKI'SAKAZZAH
Aliases: The Fishbowl, Sevex, Jasrai nes Korzat, Kazi'Jadon nes'ara Drassa, Longfinger, Marco Sadruba, Raki'Sakazzah nes'ara Messer-Bannon
Affiliation: Mercenary, Jimmy
Species: Redworlder, Cyborg (Male)
Birthplace: LCV Messer-Bannon, Low Orbit
Birthdate: January 8th, 1261 (OSC)
Height: 7'3" (2.2m)
Weight: 320-380lb (145kg - 172kg)
SUMMARY
Raki'Sakazzah was the founder and supreme leader of the Kalav'Lees. Officially, he died in 1309 when it broke apart. In truth, he didn't even flinch - the Fishbowl still walks the Erf. He's a redworlder that's refused death at every turn. He's a cyborg so augmented it's not entirely clear if he was technically alive in the first place. He's a cunning, ruthless, wily spacer who's survived the worst of Cloneston and the spite of the Space Loonies. He might not have the Fair Hand at his back anymore, but he's all the wiser for the loss - and he's just as ambitious as ever.
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Post by Insano-Man on Sept 20, 2018 12:23:07 GMT -5
APPEARANCE
Raki'Sakazzah is - supposedly - a grey-skinned redworlder, coming in at about 49 years old and a jaw-dropping 7'3". Most of his height is exaggerated by his replacement parts. He's genuinely more machine than man, with a cybernetic prosthetic for each limb. His torso's a polymer envelope of organ analogues and a few essentials he can't get rid of. It all makes for a slender look that isn't like a redworlder at all. Some people have even mistaken him for a paleworlder.
All that's really left is his face. It's a gaunt visage about right for his species. Even then, his right eye is permanently covered in a cybernetic eyepatch. An overpowering glow comes from his natural left, swallowing up most of its black surface in a light that'ss painful to look at. Most redworlders claim he has a burgundy or violet aura to it. Most humans usually say they're just looking at it too long. Cables trace down along the sides of his neck to the slim patch of skin along his collar. The back of his head is just gone; a tangle of cables, wires, and more cables twisted out from a slab-backed cybernetics port that leads straight into his skull.
Most of the time, none of this is visible. On everything but doctor visits and tune-ups, Raki wears a helmet that's earned him the nickname of "Fishbowl". It's typical of Space Looney engineers; a tall, teal, rounded visor stretching from ear to ear and chin to scalp. On most days, interfaces and information plaster its inner surface. His scarred cheeks are usually covered up in a skin-tight face mask, pulled up from his jet black pressure suit. It's probably for the best that no one's ever seen him smile; his teeth are straight from a horror movie.
His pressure suit is a featureless ensemble that'd been integrated into his cybernetics. In a way, it's his second skin, something so much a part of him that there isn't much of a difference. Over top is usually a light vest of stripped-down, gunmetal-grey Cloneston riot armor. The plates are accented with his old gang colors; tiny lines of deep purples and reds, usually along the collar and outer sides. A Space Looney-issue harness of shield emitters and sensors hangs around his sides on every day of the week.
Even some of Raki's closest companions would tell you they'd never seen him out of his suit before. As a born-and-bred Space Looney, it's not much of a surprise. One touch from another person is a life-threatening emergency. A shared breath is a calamity waiting to happen. Just a stray glance from another redworlder is enough to give him a nasty cough. His nickname isn't just a jab at his wardrobe; outside his bowl, Raki's a fish out of water. Most of his internal cybernetics are dedicated to protecting him from just that; get rid of all the flesh and there's not much to get sick.
Some peculiar details about Sakazzah are the cybernetics themselves. They aren't just there to make him taller, skinnier, or a little less sickly. Quite the opposite on the first two; as need be, he can shrink down and inflate himself to look a bit less strange. His hands have five fingers and his feet have five toes. He doesn't much look like a redworlder until you look him in the eye - and even that could be covered up with an adjustment to his helmet. Whenever he wants to, Raki can pass for human. Most of the time, he does.
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Post by Insano-Man on Sept 20, 2018 12:23:24 GMT -5
BEHAVIOR
Raki wasn't cut out for life with the Space Loonies. It's a miracle he's ever been able to pass for a redworlder. Cooperation, community, discipline - throw all those ideas out the window. Sakazzah is a man of opportunity with a sense of ambition he can never keep in his pants. Selfish doesn't accurately describe him, but to say that he's ready to let someone else lead the pack may as well be an insult. One way or another, people fall in behind him or fall out of his life.
In better circumstances, he might've wound up the admiral of a fleet. He's a skilled leader, has an eye for odds no one could top, and has all the skills and training to back it up. He knows how to handle money, how to keep things quiet, and how to get his hands dirty. Even on his own, he's an impressive sight - he ran solo and team operations for years before founding the Fair Hand. He broke into AI-controlled systems with an audience around him at every turn. He's seized clones right out from under Jimmy and thrown Chuikov's mercenary teams for a loop in every fight. Not many people come away thinking any differently; there's a shark hiding in that bowl.
Shooting and all the other trades of direct fighting aren't Raki's best areas, but he does fine. He's had enough marksmanship practice to handle an assault rifle. He has enough cybernetics to punch someone's jaw off, just not the finesse for anything more. He has the tactical cunning to be a cheeky pain in the keister in any kind of shootout, but Raki's always preferred to let his clones handle the grunt stuff. He even passed some of that on to his partners. If there's real work to be done, he calls his people to the objective and puts Pedro in their place. Argue, and he'll have his henchmen politely remove you to a better position.
Sakazzah has a strong grasp of the common tongues of Cloneston. English is his specialty, thanks especially to his heritage. Chinese and Russian are just a dictionary away. His native tongue matches his species; a subtle dialect of Qashanish with full fluency and an accent to match. Even long after he'd integrated into Cloneston, there are still some of the cultural quirks of a Space Looney hiding inside him. Most married themselves to Cloneston customs during his mercenary career.
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Post by Insano-Man on Sept 20, 2018 12:23:45 GMT -5
GOALS- A spot back at the top. Raki made a stir when he came back, but talk doesn't win you back a career's worth of respect and money.
- Money, power, fame, fortune - all that good stuff in a mercenary's life. When you get right down to it, Sakazzah's a simple man with simple needs. What he's going to do with it all - that isn't quite so simple.
- Security for his new crew. Safety for his family - or what's left of it. No one's ever questioned who Raki really is; he's a redworlder with all those classic cultural quirks. He's never said it outright, but he's ready to die for the people he cared about. He's just not all that great at dying.
- A pet project Raki has is to figure out just what in God's name the Dough Man is. He's never found any leads. Ezimat's tried to help, bless his heart, but it's not going anywhere.
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Post by Insano-Man on Sept 20, 2018 12:24:05 GMT -5
RELATIONSHIPS- Raki's relatives are plenty. The Sakazzah clan was immense in his time. His father was Kanim'Mannis, his mother Lano'Sakazzah. Both are still kicking; Kanim aboard the LIV Ruby Mastidon, Lano somewhere on Unity Station. Neither of them know what their son's been up to. Aunts, uncles, and cousins were Raki's best source of employees when the Fair Hand was big. Ves'Narun and Amin'Solah are two prime examples - and about the only two who are still alive.
- The Loonies would hate Sakazzah on principle, but none of them have ever met him. He's an alien and an ex-Space Looney, but his name's never come up for any of the bunkers on Set. Not even the handful of bunkers in the Cloneston Wasteland have heard about him. Raki doesn't much care about the Loonies; sure, his upbringing obliges a quiet disdain, but he's never let anything slip to suggest it.
- The Space Loonies are quietly displeased with the fact that Raki was one of them. He'd been ejected after a string of insubordination offenses, but then he came up in Cloneston as a top-tier mercenary. They'd gotten rid of someone that, in the right place, could've been useful. Sakazzah doesn't care much for his old fleet or faction. Cloneston was enough of a replacement to tide over whatever frustration he'd built in the past.
- Sakazzah's never seen the Cult of Meat for himself, but he knows what they are. They're the biggest disgrace to his species and the biggest threat to the planet. They'd kill him if the city wasn't ahead of them in line. Suffice it to say, his opinion is not flattering. The Cult, on the other hand, might just value him as sacred - up until they realize he doesn't have much blood left to give.
- Species bias is tame for Raki. He prefers his own kind, much to nobody's surprise. He's able to get along well with humans - again, to nobody's surprise. Unionites and paleworlders never do well by him, but the man's open just as much as any other Space Looney. A few special cases in his past make that very clear. Sentient clones don't get the same treatment - a clone was a clone, as far as the Fishbowl is concerned.
- Raki's never been a major celebrity to Cloneston, but enough people know his name to fear and respect him. He's an alien cyber-warrior who can break into just about any system he wants to. He's had clones, cash, and a contingent of other aliens at his disposal. Most redworlders have heard about him. For the ones who are in Cloneston to stay, the opinion's a little mixed. Some still see the old Fishbowl, the mercenary superstar of the Drassa Enclave. Others wish he'd died with his own instead of faking his death.
- For people outside Cloneston, Raki does not exist. He's too small a name in the city for anyone outside to have ever heard of him. Not even the spacers who dealt with his old fleet have heard about him. Sakazzah isn't terribly interested in nurturing a reputation outside the city, either. He's bent on staying, even if it kills him - and it's been doing a good job so far.
- Jimmy was the man who found, saved, and hired Raki at the climax of the Siege of TransUrban Tower. He's Raki's savior and paycheck all in one. Even after he lost his grip on the city and earned a multi-million dollar bounty for Sakazzah's head, he's still hellbent on keeping him. For Raki, it's as if the Fair Hand is still going. If he can ever find a deal better than Jimmy, he'll be gone.
- Not many people can say they've got nine figures of Beth money on their head. Raki is one of those people. He's one of the city's most wanted, right up there with Vincent Le DuBuon and his cousin Amin'Solah. No one really knows why. He did something terrible in the Restricted Residence Zone, but that's all the public knows. As far as Sakazzah's concerned, it's all par for the course with Cloneston. He's just got to figure out how he can keep it from turning into another Kalav'Lees.
- VANDAL and Raki aren't on great terms. Raki hates VANDAL for the Red Bonfire. It's a split he's made clear is never going to heal. VANDAL wants Raki for the details on his escape from the Tombstone Plate and the hard facts on the RRZ heist. Whether it's coming from the Fishbowl himself or salvaged from his cybernetics isn't a question VANDAL's all that fussed over.
- If you can't hear Gregor Chuikov screaming from where you're sitting, you're not in Cloneston. There is no man in the city that Chuikov wants to kill more than Raki'Sakazzah. He was supposed to be dead. He was supposed to be greasy stain down at the bottom of the city. He's not - and he's been slapping S&C's goons ever since. As far as Raki's concerned, either Gregor's going to finish the job or the Fishbowl's going to finish him. He's not going to be comfortable with anything else.
- Damsel Center wants Raki. Raki doesn't want Damsel Center. Cybernetics make the reasons as anatomically confusing as they are concerning.
- If there's one relationship that hasn't been muddied up by the RIP Smokeout, it's the one Raki shares with Ezimat nes Zak. Ezimat still loves the guy. Raki's still trying to figure out if it's intrigued disgust or brotherly love he's feeling when he sees the monster. The two aren't together these days, but they're still best buds in spirit.
- The city of Cloneston thinks Ves'Narun is dead. Raki stands by that claim. He'll speak a few words of post-mortem respect for the White Hunter, but that's as far as he'll go. He's moved on - whether he's covering for her or not. Ves has done the same. She's not exactly signed on with the best of gigs, but she's out of the city. If she has her way, she'll never see Raki again.
- After the Red Bonfire, Amin'Solah claimed that Raki had survived. She was adamant about it. She said it to everyone who'd listen; if she ever found him, she was going to slap Raki's face off for all the years he was gone. She was right the whole time - and she almost made good on her word. Raki and Amin have split hard since the Fishbowl came back up for air. Solah wants nothing to do with the man. For Sakazzah, he's content enough to know that she's out of Damsel's sight.
- The cast of the Cross-Cloneston Rampage crew pulled Raki out of the fire at TransUrban, but that's as far as Raki'll acknowledge. The only people in the gang that he knew longer than a few days were Amin and Ezimat. The only person he's seen since the siege is Commissioner Ironbrains - and that's a relationship that's as complicated as it gets.
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Post by Insano-Man on Sept 20, 2018 12:24:46 GMT -5
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Post by Insano-Man on Sept 20, 2018 12:25:04 GMT -5
BROKEN HOME
The Fishbowl was born as Raki'Sakazzah nes'ara Messer-Bannon, child of Kanim'Mannis and Lano'Sakazzah. He took his first breaths in orbit, on January 8th, 1261 OSC, aboard the ship in his old name. The LCV Messer-Bannon was a supply cruiser packed full of redworlders and the occasional human. His early life wasn't a whole lot different from most Space Loonies. He grew up in a big clique of his own kind and mingled with the spider-handed freaks just enough to know they weren't all out to kill him. He had aunts and uncles just about everywhere.
Raki's parents were where the first troubles started. Being on a spaceship, they couldn't exactly avoid eachother, but it was hard to call them a couple. Screaming, cursing, some awkward custody battles - last one was hard to explain to the captain, given the ship's crew were doing more to raise Raki than they were. All the while, from about age 4 to age 14, the little Sakazzah was the mediator and the one to settle things. He was never really a good middleman, so most of what he got done was by going around his mom and dad.
In 1275, late in October, it'd finally gotten so bad that Kanim and Lano were about ready to kill eachother. They were caught in a scuffle by a few off-duty marines. Before it could go much further, the grunts knuckled the pair down and had them hauled off. Off in a corner somewhere was the point of contention; Raki - not much surprised, not much pleased. The same could've been said of the rest of the crew. When Kanim and Lano were processed, Kanim was sent off to another ship, the LIV Ruby Mastidon. Raki's mother Lano stayed onboard, but her son's custody went to the community.
At the ripe old age of 14, Raki went to the engineering team. For any other kid, he might've just been sent off to a happier redworlder couple to live a few happier years before his first real assignment. It didn't work like that for Raki. Things moved fast in his life. His talents followed suit; by 14, he had more skills as an electrician and programmer than half the ship put together. Another year went by and he was already qualified to handle long-range sensor sweeps by himself. By 18, he was on the list of crew that were allowed to remotely override the helm in the event of an emergency. At 20, his mother was one of his subordinates.
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Post by Insano-Man on Sept 20, 2018 12:25:20 GMT -5
BREAK THE RULES
That was about where Raki's rise cut short. It plateaued when he was put in charge of the Messer-Bannon's sensors, internal and external. That was as far as anyone was willing to let him go. Just like he'd done with his parents, the younger Sakazzah had a certain skill for going around people. The ship's command crew wasn't exactly pleased with how regularly he applied it. That was where he stayed for most of his life. He bounced around across the navigations and communications teams, wherever his skills were needed most - or wherever people weren't tired of him.
It was during this time that Raki's forward-thinking side started to pick up on his reputation. People hated him. For about fifteen years, from age 22 to 37, he racked up more and more citations for misconduct. Whenever he was shuffled off to another part of the ship, people greeted him as that guy, back to cause trouble and ignore his betters. He knew he wasn't long for his fleet. He knew he wasn't going to last off it, either; he'd spent his whole life in a pressure suit. His closest friends were recycled air and a few heart attacks' worth of waiting allergies.
Raki wasn't alone, either. The Messer-Bannon had an old family feud that'd been brewing for a long time. Raki's problems were personal, but the Sakazzahs were stirring up trouble as a whole. A few of them had even been ejected before Raki had come of age. They had some kind of row with the Nasam family, something no one could figure out - even Raki had no idea himself. It was an incomprehensible slew of infidelities, parenting responsibilities, and catastrophic system failures in environmental. They were all related, somehow. Not many people were brave enough to ask how the first and the last were connected.
The young Sakazzah knew he had to be ready for when it finally blew up - figuratively, so most people were hoping. He wasn't popular, but he was a useful asset to the fleet. He'd racked up earnings like nobody's business. Whenever he was sent off to another ship, he got high marks on everything. He'd even gone to other fleets in short stints. The Messer-Bannon's officers knew well enough to reel him back home before he could cause trouble. By the time the cash flow stopped, he'd been paid in just about every kind of Space Looney currency imaginable. He even had baldybucks to his name before he first set foot in Cloneston.
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Post by Insano-Man on Sept 20, 2018 12:25:40 GMT -5
SHAPE UP AND SHIP OUT
With all he'd stashed away, he put his money to hard investments; cybernetics. Blood filters, organ replacements, even a few armored skin grafts for good measure. If he could weasel it into his body, he'd take it. He wasn't above going third-party, either. If he could get an operation done on Unity Station, he'd do it. If he could get it done on another Space Looney fleet, he'd do it. If he could have it done on some ratty barge down in low orbit, he'd do it. By the time he was 34, he'd grown from his natural 6'7" to 7' even. The spree of cyber-fetishism didn't do much to win back his reputation, but he didn't have to worry about getting the boot. He'd already plated his hind quarters for just that occasion.
Finally, his 37th year of life came around. It was August 8th of 1298. It was the moment everyone had been waiting for. Raki had been found guilty of a string of insubordinations. He'd been falsifying sensor reports for his own gain. He'd been running a small hacking service for other members of the Sakazzah family. Most of them were calculated offenses; nothing that'd ever hurt the ship, but certainly enough to be a headache for the chain of command. There were just so many, it was hard to count them all up.
At first, it seemed like Raki was going to be dumped off on another ship. Plenty had talked about sending him off to a human-run ship - he certainly fit in better there. Didn't take long before that plan changed. Something terrible happened. The day after, a child of the Sakazzah family turned up dead in a ventilation shaft on the ship. No one knew how he got in there. Neglect, murder, suicide - no one had the patience left to ask questions. Things had gotten out of hand. Between the big spat with the Nasams and the constant problems inside the Sakazzah clan, it was too much. The whole family was getting the boot.
They were given a choice. Get dumped off on Unity Station a few months later, or ship out with the LRV Dengele right away and land in Cloneston. Most chose Unity Station. Cloneston was a human-infested hellhole with its biggest problem right in the name. They'd be lucky if they weren't caught in a shootout right off the ship. Surviving mankind - and all the health complications to go with them - was another story altogether. They gathered their things, made their preparations, and shuffled their posts around. To no one's surprise, the Nasams claimed most of the old Sakazzah jobs.
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Post by Insano-Man on Sept 20, 2018 12:26:07 GMT -5
ODD MAN OUT
Raki and a few others took their chances with Cloneston. Redworlders didn't get much of a five-star treatment on Unity Station. Cloneston, on the other hand, hated everyone equally. To top it off, most onboard knew Cloneston well enough; it was a lawless place where you made your own future. The odds were pretty terrible and things could get pretty miserable if you didn't make the cut, but it had opportunity Unity didn't. They left without a single goodbye and boarded the tiny Dengele for the surface.
Most of the Sakazzahs flunked out and ran for the Drassa Enclave as soon as they hit the surface. Going from a Space Looney ship in orbit to the mean streets of the city of clones didn't do them very well. The Space Loonies behind them put an effort in. They provided for their own, even if they were kicking them to the curb - they'd bargained them off as recommended hires to Jimmy. Sent them along with all the money and credentials they needed. They still managed to clam up before their first gig.
Not Raki. He hit the ground running. He had the skills, savvy, and attitude to make it in the city. He took Jimmy by the hand and went straight to work on mercenary ops. He knew he needed a tutor and the champion of chaos was there for him. He got the hang of hijacking clones, sabotaging trams, and doing anything and everything to tie up the competition. He was even sent for a schooling on a few sting jobs, just so he could get caught and hack his way out of prison. Raki earned a quick reputation for reliable, stellar work on everything he touched. The same fast learner in the Space Loonies took Cloneston all the same. He shed his home name, birth name, and took to the streets as a new man. It was the start of something magical.
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Post by Insano-Man on Sept 20, 2018 12:26:38 GMT -5
SEVEN EIGHT SIX
Just not with Jimmy. About two years later, after Raki had been properly introduced to the gangs and clones of the city, he broke things off. He got a better deal from VANDAL. The city's chief arsonist paid him to flop a Jimmy job. By the time the new century rolled in, he was the closest thing VANDAL had to a genuine full-time employee. He went by the personal alias of "Sevex" - kept people guessing that he was a unionite when word got out that he wasn't human. All Jimmy could do was silently wring his fist. VANDAL was keeping too close an eye on Raki to take him out directly.
Getting someone to do it for him - now, that was something Jimmy could do. As luck had it, VANDAL had been throwing Sevex at Gregor Chuikov - the AI branded the "Red Menace" by private security all across the city. Jimmy and Chuikov were always at eachother's throats, but Gregor knew the saying pretty well; "the enemy of my enemy is somebody else to kill". The right intel on the right job was all he needed to junk Sevex. Fighting VANDAL for insider information wasn't easy, but Jimmy was nothing if not persistent.
An opportunity presented itself on September 26th of 1302. Raki was put together with a few southern mercenaries for a high-profile heist on a corporate lab. One of them was even his cousin - Ves'Narun nes'ara Drassa, called up for just the occasion. It was a pretty typical job for VANDAL. Steal some cybernetics prototypes, raid the office servers, and flood the whole building with a caustic nerve agent. A major backstab at a big profit. If all went to plan, nobody would ever know VANDAL was behind the hit - even Raki's name would've stayed off the radar.
Thanks to Jimmy, that didn't happen. It was a lab owned by a Sheffield & Chuikov subsidiary - and they were waiting for them. Not two steps inside, they were hit by waves of S&C clones and goons. The fight went on for hours, backed the gang right into the lab they were supposed to hit. Two wound up dead, Ves ended up with a bullet in each shoulder. If all went went to Jimmy's plan, Raki's legend would've died before he'd even completed his first big score.
Things just got more and more complicated by the time Ves and Raki pulled back. Chuikov had been expecting Sakazzah's team the whole time, and he got them. What he didn't see coming was another set of heisters a few hours ahead of schedule. Already in the lab was the crew of Vincent Le DuBuon, prototypes in hand, readying to make their exit. Didn't take the two teams long to realize they needed eachother to break out. They punched through Chuikov's net, disappeared into the streets, and left the labs seeping with toxic gas. It wasn't exactly a flawless execution, but it got the job done. VANDAL's pay went both ways, Ves went another. Raki got through without a scratch.
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Post by Insano-Man on Sept 20, 2018 12:26:55 GMT -5
BIG DUBS
Most people say DuBuon had his own angle in the set-up. The story goes that he knew Sakazzah was walking into an ambush. He went ahead with his own side of the heist and waited for his chance to jump in and pull Sevex out. Nobody's ever gotten a straight answer on it, but Raki didn't much care. He was still alive. From then on, the two were long-distance partners. Sakazzah kept up his own string of solo contracts and VANDAL jobs. Every once in a while, Vincent's name was on his paycheck instead.
Raki's personal work paid the bills, but it was DuBuon's jobs that really groomed his reputation. Vincent had a liking for big hits and bigger scores. He was infamous for it - and for all the right reasons. When Raki joined the team, it just got bigger. People started talking; in Drassa, it was about the half-machine, half-redworlder who was taking the city by storm. Elsewhere, it was about DuBuon topping himself every other weekend. The two had their reputations mixed together. Distant or not, Sakazzah was part of Vincent's crew, so far as anyone else was concerned. As each year went by, the two worked closer and closer. The closer they got, the crazier their contracts got.
Heist after heist after big-name heist went by between the two. Every so often, Raki's cousin Ves got wrapped up in it again. Vincent's crew was untouchable before Sakazzah came into the picture. When Raki hit the team, they were unstoppable. Mercenary headquarters, AI cores, corporate labs - think up something other people would've thought twice about and they'd knocked three of them over. It was during that time that Raki picked up the nickname of Fishbowl and ditched his old alias of Sevex. Took him a while to warm to it, but he hung onto it for the rest of his life.
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Post by Insano-Man on Sept 20, 2018 12:27:18 GMT -5
PROJECT AVALANCHE
It was around March of 1303 that DuBuon finally found something that looked dicey even for his crew. It was the score of the century - even if it was only four years old. He'd come into intelligence on an off-the-books lab hidden underneath the southern headquarters of the AVALON Security & Logistics corporation. No one knew what was inside, but the title of "Project AVALANCHE" was enough to catch his interest. It wasn't just a lab, either; the AVALON HQ had ties to a major bank closer to the center of Cloneston. All the security keys and system backdoors DuBuon could ever need to get inside.
Things went even deeper. The bank was Argent Crossing Finance, a three-century-old establishment that'd never once been broken into. It was something of a legend for career heisters - the one place no one had ever been able to make a withdrawal from. Plenty of failures and dead crooks to its name. Vincent took one look at the legend and laughed. He had everything he needed. He had the muscle, the savvy, and the smarts to crack it. He didn't even need to sell it to the Fishbowl - the name alone was enough to get him on the job.
Modus operandi for Vincent's crew was to go in quiet and come out loud. AVALON Security had other plans. Not two feet in the door, they were caught in a rolling gunbattle that drew in the whole facility's worth of mercenaries. Clone cops started hitting the scene before the first hour was over. News headlines lit up right away. Most people didn't even know there was an AVALON compound there. Yet, there it was, guns, gear, and all, and it was four heisters up against the whole city.
For any other team, it might've been the end right there; the city's sledgehammer coming down on AVALON's anvil. DuBuon and the Fishbowl didn't even blink. For every two clones the team killed, Raki hacked and stole another. For every two mercs killed, the Fishbowl had four running in circles with a one-man net-war. By the time they were even halfway to their objective, Raki had an army of clones at his fingertips. It wasn't a heist or a raid anymore. It was a full-blown invasion, with DuBuon and Sakazzah leading the charge.
Project AVALANCHE was a funny kind of bust. On the one hand, the team couldn't sell it; hot merchandise no one could ever find a use for. On the other hand, it was something dangerously interesting - interesting enough that DuBuon and the Fishbowl never let slip what it was. They stole it, kept it for themselves, and made off like the bandits they were. By the time they were that deep into the secret lab, grabbing the intelligence on Argent Crossing wasn't even a challenge. They'd torn the heart out of that place. If it wasn't for the gushing dam-burst of clones, they could've crowned themselves kings of the castle.
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Post by Insano-Man on Sept 20, 2018 12:27:31 GMT -5
FAMILY MATTERS
It took about a month for the heat to die down. At least, enough that Vincent's crew wouldn't have been jumped the moment they came up for air. In late April, they came back to find their names etched in history. Mercenaries all across the city were stunned and impressed. It took until only a few days post-heist for the city to remember it as the South AVALON Rampage. Argent Crossing was hit three times in the same week by four different crews. Each score on the bank sent a big cut back to DuBuon's accounts. By the time the Fishbowl came up for air, the whole team was rich.
The Rampage did something to Sakazzah. Having that many clones, that much power, that much money in the end - he wanted it all back. He'd always been ambitious. People always joked that him and DuBuon were working together because their supermassive egos had pulled eachother into a binary orbit. By mid-1304, he finally seized on it. He threw a wave to Vincent and made for the Drassa Enclave. He didn't just want a crew anymore. He wanted an army. Drassa was the best place to start; for all the redworlder mercs and thugs there, he might as well have been royalty.
Raki didn't have to look long for volunteers. By the time he brought it up, people were practically hurling themselves at him for a shot at his crew. He even had family stepping up to the plate - Sakazzahs by name, Sakazzahs by blood, and Sakazzahs by marriage. Amin'Solah was one of them, hardly even 16 and clamoring to work with one of the top hackers in the city. She didn't get in - cousin or not, she was still a kid by everyone's standards. What she got instead was an apprenticeship. Raki agreed to help train and discipline her as a cyberwarfare expert for two years straight.
Amin wasn't much out of the ordinary. The Fishbowl did the same for others. What most didn't realize was that every tutoring session was really an audition. Raki needed people he could count on, trust, and keep together if times got rough. Plenty quietly flunked out after a few tips and tricks to help them out. Plenty more needed extended observation. It took him nearly two years to find the right candidates for his scheme, most of it spent on small-time gigs and training exercises. When he came out the other side, most were people he was related to in one way or another. Even Ves'Narun slunk back in, ready to give the Fishbowl another shot.
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Post by Insano-Man on Sept 20, 2018 12:27:54 GMT -5
THE FAIR HAND
In 1306, June 1st, the Kalav'Lees announced itself to the world with a highway heist. Their first hit was a solo operation on the Samedi Commercial Plate, up against the Lamellar Transit Services mercenary company. They split up and had four crews simultaneously lock down an armored convoy each. Some knocked out transports with explosives, others hacked access gates and split the motorcades down the middle. Guards and clones hit back hard at every turn. It was a bit of a rough start; two dead, eight wounded, on a job with no more than fifteen people on the ground.
Even then, blood didn't come without money. In this case, it was hardware - guns, ammo, and armor that hit dealers only a week after. Some went back to the Fair Hand's armory. All put together, it was a tidy profit for the gang. A few more heists and hackings later, their name was up on the map. Raki's legend made it big news. To most folks in the city, it might've sounded like a big joke; the Fishbowl was back, leading a crew of cousins, nephews, aunts, and in-laws. Nobody was laughing whenever they saw the Fair Hand hit the news with another score.
Things took a turn for the strange by the Fair Hand's sixth job, in November. They'd hit stability, but they were still negotiating for a sponsor from one of the city's big names. It was a hard split on Jimmy, VANDAL, and a dozen or more up-and-coming AIs. Jimmy was the top pick for most of the Fair Hand. He'd given Raki a pass after the backstab back in the day, even held the contract on some of his DuBuon heists. He just needed something special to get him all-in with the Kalav'Lees.
He found something, as usual. It was a major hit on an AI core - as luck had it, one of the same upstarts jockeying for the Fishbowl's services. The facility was deep at the bottom of the city, tucked behind a few defensive rings of clones and sentry guns. Raki took charge of the job personally. He led fourteen people down in two teams, one he led by himself, another centered around the newly-enlisted Amin'Solah. For Amin, it looked like an easy debut. For Raki, it looked like an easy primer for Jimmy. It was a straightforward job right up their alley - shut down a few turrets, hijack a few clones, kill an AI.
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