Trigger Control

[Peterson]

The prone soldier wasn’t about to sheath his dagger, despite the fact that the Mycabri disappeared. No, it could come back at any moment, and the human didn’t feel like getting caught unarmed again. He also didn’t dare move, dare make a sound, in case the blasted native heard him. No, he would just wait for the smoke to clea…


The grenade bounced lightly off the wall and rolled to a stop with a soft clink against the prone CMC trooper’s armor. He barely had time to register what it was when it exploded.


Shrapnel – hot, high velocity shrapnel – flew in every direction. The prone CMC soldier was torn into, perforated. He died instantly. The three remaining troopers, having some cover due to the hallway’s crossway, managed to get out of the way of most of the fragments. All three were hurt, their armor probably the only thing that saved them from instant death.


Mont never realized he was still within the burst radius of the deadly fragmentation grenade. He swore as burning metal tore through his armor, penetrating his flesh.


Dhran was moving off to the side of the doorway, already inside the apartment, when the grenade went off. Most of the fragments buried themselves into the door and doorframe, but more than a few sliced deep into Dhran, causing him to stagger slightly.


The three seriously injured soldiers retreated into the emergency stairwell, two of them dragging their deceased brethren. Dhran could hear this, despite the ringing in his ears, and he could also – easily – hear the metal jingle of spurs, approaching from down the hall. Well, it worked for Mont, he thought to himself as he removed his fragmentation grenade from his combat webbing, maybe I’ll get lucky too. He pulled the pin and tossed it toward the sound of the advancing Commerce Alliance agents – the Regulators. Smartly, Dhran also closed the door after throwing the explosive device.

 

[Peterson]

Session #2: Grenades…when you care to send only the best.

”Well, first off, you should know something about the Commerce Alliance. Its powerful. Immensely so. What started as a joint business venture between two (of the four) R'll Clans, has grown into a superpower that spans the 'verse. For the longest time - and still, but to a lesser point, thanks to the Sica Corporation - anything you had to pay creds for while in the native sector could be traced back to the Commerce Alliance. They had their fingers into everything - from starship cargo runs, to off-planet travel, to local garbage collectors.
The Commerce Alliance grew so big that it eventually bought out the R'll homeworld's various governments - establishing themselves as the species' government. They withdrew from the Volan-N’Ra Ko (loosely translates into the Vic’Tarian-Mycabri Group, the sector’s military force) and for the longest time employed various mercenary groups to provide where protection was needed, and troubleshooting was required.”

“Okay, so where do the Regulators fit in?”

“Getting there. With time, however, the "peoples" of the Mycab Sector grew dissatisfied with the way the Commerce Alliance ran nearly every type of trade. Riots, walk-outs, strikes, and worst was brought to bear against the enormous corporation/government. The Commerce Alliance was losing people, property, and worse...profits at an unsustainable rate. The Commerce Alliance needed a police force, a group they could use to keep customers in line. They decided drastic measures were needed.
Measures that were easily implemented, since the Commerce Alliance bank-rolled the majority of the penal colonies scattered around the Mycab Sector....”

“Felgato. Convicts?”

“Exactly. When the first Regulators were used, it was in secret. However, a force that destructive...that violent..... it couldn’t be contained. It started out as merely conspiracies, then rumors...but those rumors grew.
They grew into what is down the hall from you now.
Death-row prisoners that have been given another lease on life - even if that new life is the complete servitude to the Commerce Alliance.”
-Recorded conversation between Adar “Bryce” Allens, black market arms dealer, and Jovanni Tist, Collective Marine Corps deserter, currently serving as a Commerce Alliance Regulator, moments before Adar was killed resisting arrest.


The grenade blast rocked them, that was for sure. Both Regulators laid sprawled out in the hallway, their armored longcoats damaged. The slightly taller Regulator began to stir first, groaning slightly before pulling himself up to his knees. He glanced over to his partner, saw he was in worse shape. The slightly taller Regulator reached into his longcoat and withdrew a small black bag. Inside, two advanced medi-jects sat in a protective cushion. The Regulator removed one of them before putting the black bag back inside his longcoat, and moved over to where his partner laid.

The advanced medi-ject was – technically speaking – a black-market only item, since it was only manufactured within the Collective and possession of such an item, unless you worked for the Collective government, was strictly prohibited. However, the slightly taller Regulator could’ve really cared less about rules and regulations – especially those that applied to people outside of the Commerce Alliance. He knew it was his handler that gave him the medi-jects, and he knew that his handler was fully aware that the Regulators were above the law. Hell, they were the law. He jabbed the self-contained syringe hard into his partner’s leg, knowing that in mere seconds the medical nano-bots injected would begin to repair the damage that gorram grenade did.

Once it did, once his partner was conscious, the Regulators were going to finish the job.

 

[kroh]

It was just like Fourth of July in that hallway... Hopefully the Regulators enjoyed the show...
Regards,
Walt

 

[kroh]

Any shot of the next installment coming to light (in other words...how long before the next session?)