Part 1: Once A Mercenary...

It's early in the afternoon, Nathan is currently held up in one of the three CDF sectors (Specifically sector two) resting in his private quarters until someone knocks on the door. "Nathan?" a voice asks. The voice belongs to a woman he's familiar with, her name is kitman. "Come in Kit!" Nathan yells. Kitman opens the door and walks into the room. She looks at Nathan and smiles.
"I'm glad to see you've come back from whatever hellhole you were sent to." Kitman says. "Yeeea, general pepper really has us running the clock these past few weeks, what about you? Where did you end up?" Nathan says while proceeding to sit up in his bed.
Kitman sits down at the end of his bed and sighs. "I was sent to Zephyre city, was more action in the ship ride than actually bein' there"
"Heh, I didn't think you were the action craving type." Nathan says. Kitman proceeds to get comfortable and rest her legs on Nathans then letting off an annoyed grunt. "Doing any scout OP with team 4 will have you picking up new habits." Kitmin says. "To think that I actually wanted to be a part of that group when I first got here is crazy..."
"Y'know kit, I never asked...why didn't you join them at first? That's all you ever talked about back in basic training.." Nathan says. Kitman is silent for a second, then she starts to quietly laugh. "Thaaats something I feel I cant answer for specific re-" A loud melody is heard from every intercom In the base, that melody meant it was time for squad briefing in 10 minutes amongst all personnel in different groups.
"You've gotta be kidding me..." Nathan says in an annoyed tone. "Dooont you dare complain." Kitman says. "Atleast you had a few hours to yourself, I just got back from an OP. Let's go loose legs".
Kitman gets up from the bed and walks out the room. "That nickname better not have left this room kitman..." Nathan says as he follows suite.
Nathan walks along side Kitman to the briefing room, it is right at that moment he hears a voice from behind him. "Well look who the hell it is!"
Nathan turns around to see his other long time friend, A Bear named Gandriv who is from CDF sector three
"Gandriv? Hoooly shit I haven't seen you in ages!" Nathan says excitingly.
"Yeea It's been awhile, but it's good to see you're doing well and didn't get you're legs blown off er some shit. Kitmans luck must be really carrying you." Gandriv says. "That sure as hell putting it lightly.." Kitman responds in a playful way.
"So what's up with you in this sector Gandriv? Is our next mission a joint OP er..?" Nathan questions. "Nah, this is just a quick visit. Troops from my section are preparing to shift to the planet Macbeth, So we have a little free time to do as we please." Grandriv explains. "Macbeth? What beef do we have ther-"
Both Nathan and Gandriv are interrupted by a loud intercom further down the hall. The voice of commander pepper comes through.
"All personnel, squad briefing is now in session. I trust none of you had anything important to do. Make you're way to you're designated briefing room immediately".
"Ah shit that's us, hey Gandriv that's our cue. We'll catch up after yea?" Nathan says. "Yea yea I gotcha, come find me when you both are done." Gandriv says as he walks the opposite direction and waves. Nathan and Kitman enter the briefing room a couple of minutes after, a large group of Marines are already there. Nathan notices one in particular who's not wearing any CDF gear.
"Hey Kit, check em out. He sure as hell ain't one of ours" Nathan says. Kitman develops an annoyed expression
"Nope..thats Risso, leader of the Fleet43rd. Asshole has no real respect for the CDF though, if hes here then that means whatever we're about to do ain't gonna be possible without his help. Fuckin Mercs, always seem to have something we dont nowadays." She says as she rolls her eyes.
The Briefing begins and Pepper begins to speak via hologram. "Now that you're all settled, I have very important information for you all. Our space forces have made contact with another force that are currently operating around the planet Titania, to our knowledge they are known as the Turric imperialists." As he is speaking, a map of the area is shown. "It appears that the Turric have made contact with many different factions. Some of which you are aware of such as the Usari, the Sulphyts, the Xi Hive and others."
A CDF marine raises his hand and says "Do we know what they're planning sir?". Pepper shakes his head "That is something we're still trying to determine, but whatever it may be we might have an opportunity to stop it before anything drastic happens." Pepper continues "I will of course keep you all updated on the situation, but in the meantime; I want you all to be prepared just incase."
Another CDF Marine speaks and says "Are we taking the fight to the Turric or are we waiting for them to make a move?". Pepper looks around at everyone and rebuttals "We will be making the first move once the starfox team comes back with more information on the matter. In the mean time, Risso and his team will provide safe passage to Titania for our elite operatives to blend in behind enemy lines until further orders". The marine nods in return.
"Now, for the elite operatives...Whatever the outcome may be, I pray that you all make it back in one piece. And remember, stick by you're brothers sisters in arms. Do that...and nothing is impossible, At ease everyone" Pepper says as he salutes and the hologram turns off. The marines begin to chatter amongst themselves about the newly briefed information. Before kitman and Nathan can vocalize their thoughts, they hear Risso speak from behind them
"Well I'll be dammed, Looks like kitman found herself a new poster boy" He says in a very direct way. "Try again risso, I've known him since basic training. Dont even bother asking for a further introduction either." Kitman says angrily. "Hmph, No need for it. Now that I'm up close I remember him all too well" Risso says with a smug expression. Nathan crosses his arms and gives risso and unamused look.
"Funny, cause I don't know a single godamn thing about you" Nathan says. "You were apart of the Felkan War. Seconded in command of the 7th squadron, heard half of yer boys got their asses handed to em. Shiit The CDF had their hands full will that cluster fuck. Surprised you guys ended up comming out on top" Risso says.
"How the hell do you kno-" Nathan says before getting cut off by risso. "You remember your first in command yea? Mcbrine? He never would shut up about his squadron, so I basically knew all about you at the time. Bastard Nearly got me killed a few times with some jobs he payed me for under the CDF's radar too, and now I'm fixin to do the same damn thing...only difference is I get too see kitman in action yet again.
"Again?" Nathan says confused. Kitman says nothing and gives risso a piercing stare. "Damn kitman, didn't even tell your buddy here either huh? I didn't think you wanted to forget about me that badly" risso says. "I'd love to go into more detail, but I have to get back to my ship. You two take care...see ya in a week." Risso says as he turns around and walks out the briefing room.
"Kitman?" Nathan says waiting for a response, "I...use to dabble in mercenary work, and it wasnt by choice either. We have a long history...let's just leave it at that for now." Kitman says in a frustrated tone as she walks out the room. Nathan has a look of concern before following behind her.
[ONE WEEK LATER]
The week passes, and as promised; Risso arrives with a small task force of five transport ships. They land on the sectors main LZ, Fleet43rd mercs all disembark and stand by their ships while waiting for further orders from Risso. While Risso goes over the plan with general pepper near the LZ, Nathan is standing by with kitman and the many other CDF soilders in the area who are waiting to receive orders as well.
"Im just a little...shocked as all ya know?Never really saw you as the type of person to do mercenary work, let alone be one" Nathan says while looking at Risso and general pepper talk. "Like I told you, I pretty much didn't have a choice. It was either run with that asshole or stay in the orphanage get a new bruise for everytime I didnt clean fast enough.." Kitman says.
"And they just let him take you?" Nathan responded. "Not exactly. They tried to stand their ground for their "property", but when Risso wants something...he gets it. So I'm sure you can guess how that turned out. And would you look at that...speak of the devil" Kitman sayswhile noticing Risso approach both her and Nathan. "I trust you both have made arrangements with the crew?" Risso says while looking back.
"Why would we? The elite operatives are the ones being transported." Kitman says. Risso shakes his head and chuckles, "Mcbrine told me You two were overdue on that promotion ya know, turned it down muuultiple times. Now quite frankly, I could give a shit less why ya did. All I know is I need hard hitters for this plan, people that know what they're doing. The more of you I can yank out from this shit show you call a military, the better this plan will go." Risso says.
He turns to one of the ships nearby and shouts "Sebastian, cmere!". The tall snow leopard then proceeds to jog to meet with him. "These two will be your cargo along with a few others, the rest will go with the other ships. Poster boy this is sebastian, the only mechanic I trust to go anywhere near my ship. Him kitman already met, hence the permanent burn mark on his face."
"Careful pretty boy, she can do alot worse than just a little scratch like this" sebastian says to Nathan while tapping on his facial scar. Kitman rolls her eyes then looks the other way. Risso lights a cigarette and jolts his head to let sebastian know to get the ship ready. "Your rides gonna be leavin' soon so I wouldn't waist anymore time. Oh and...Peppers orders" Risso says as he mockingly salutes Natahan and Kitman then proceeds to walk to another ship of his crew.
Kitman sighs and shakes her head, "You seem to have a uh...well known reputation huh?" Nathan says jokingly. "Definitely not one I want to keep being reminded of.." kitman says while staring at risso walk away. "Well like you said, once a mercenary..." Nathan says before Kitman grabs her rifle and walks towards sebastian's ship.
[A FEW HOURS LATER]
Nathan and kitman are on their way to the planet Titania in sebastian's cargo ship. The ship is mixed with Risso's crew as well as a few elite CDF operative's, which definitely isn't a good mix in the slightest. Sebastian puts his ship on auto pilot and walks over to Nathan and Kitman in the back, "Havin' second thoughts?" Sebastian says
"What makes you say that?" Nathan responds. Sebastian smiles and looks at kitman, "Tellin' by her face when we were prepping the ship, she didn't seem to happy" He says. "Yeah well, being in a ship with a bunch of mercs aint exactly what I had in mind for things to do" Kitman says. "Ooor...maybe it's just the fact that after all this time,
you ended up working riiiight along side Risso like he said you would, sooner or later" Sebastian says while slightly leaning foward.
"How about you focus on getting us where we need to be before you get another scar to match?" Kitman says while she also leans forward. Some of sebastian's crew look over to see how he's going to respond, he looks down and grins before looking at her again. "Glad to see even after all this time, you still have that murderous inte-".
A Melodic tone is heard from the cockpit, Sebastian rushes over to the sound and notices that its Risso trying to contact him. He presses a few buttons and audio comes through, however; everyone is too far back to hear the full conversation on both sides which results in only sebastian being heard. "Riss...? What do you me-...jesus christ all of them? Well then what the hell are we suppose to do? There isnt...a-alright then you got it, just keep me posted" Sebastian says before Risso hangs up as the melodic tone plays again.
"Fuck...Everyone listen up! Jump drivin' to Titania ain't gonna happen just yet. Apparently the Turric knows we're comming, in terms of how the fuck they managed to know? Not a single clue there. But because of that, we lost two of our ships...bastards Lit em both up to hell without even a warning, So I advise you all to rest up...it'll be a while before we get there". Sebastian says.
"Well what the hell is stopping them from picking us off here!? We should bail until we know we wont end up likethe others!" One merc says. "I could've sworn this was supposed to be a quick transport run, nobody said anything about bumpin heads with assholes we've never even seen before!" Another merc says as she stands up.
A frenzy of voices increase in volume amongst sebastian's crew, some agreeing/disagreeing with eachothers statement's. The CDF elites stare at eachother, not sure what to do or if they should do anything at all. "ENOUGH!" Sebastian yells, the ship gets quiet almost instantly. "We aren't doing shit unless Risso gives us an order too, not only that; this payout is too big to back out on."
"The least we should know is who we're dealing with, the payout wont mean a damn thing if we're all dead" One mercenary says. "We'll find out eventually I'm sure, but for now we just have to wait...like it or not" Sebastian says as he sits in the cockpit chair and tries to process the situation properly.
Kitman looks at Nathan, more confused than anything. "What? None of this makes any sense, the way this was set up...theres no way in hell they'd know" she says. "You sure Risso didn't accidentally tip someone off?" Nathan responds. "No...no Risso is never sloppy when it comes to shit like this, which makes me think..." kitman says while looking at the CDF elites sitting across from her.
Nathan looks where kitman is looking before turning to her, "You think one of our own could've done this?" Nathan says in a low tone of voice. "That's the only possible angle I can see from this situation but...actually, forget i said anything. For all I know the Turric were probably ten steps ahead of us to begin with" kitman says. She then crosses her arms and closes her eyes, attempting to get any amount of rest she could.
Nathan gives his fellow CDF marines one last look. "Yea...probably" he says before looking out one of the ships windows and letting his thoughts drift before eventually resting as well.