Hey, y'all! New chapter of Into the Rift here. This time, it's a brief introduction to one of our four protagonists, Josiah Eldritch. Don't have much to say, so on with the show!

The heavy glass hit the bar counter with a resounding thunk. "Another." Came the gruff voice of the person holding it, his left hand gently gasping the shot glass as he looked up to the barkeep. First one down for the night, now the rest can take their time… With a smirk, the barkeeper filled his glass once more, letting the man lean back and look over the seedy place. The Last Stand bar on Macbeth, in the Lylat System, one of the few hangouts and meeting places for mercenaries and Rift Runners that wasn't under a heavily watchful eye by the Cornerian military. Granted, it also made it a bit of a nasty place for common travelers, but he wasn't worried.

If there was one thing Josiah Eldritch wasn't, it was a common traveler.

He flexed the three claw-like fingers of his cybernetic right arm; it was a heavy robotic, built to take a beating both in combat and in everyday life. He appreciated its bulk; it allowed him to add in some very unofficial modifications that had on several occasions saved his life. His left 'eye' – could hardly be called an eye; another cybernetic that was actually covering half that side of his face beneath a layer of synthflesh with a single optical visor, glowing a cool blue at the moment – scanned through the place, syncing the patrons up with a bit of facial recognition software. If he so chose, he could enable a remote sync to all local and galactic ship registrations, filing through them until he had a positive match. If that didn't turn up anything, he could remotely access the records of the Dimensional Alliance and shuffle through them, reality by reality, until he found out exactly who he was looking at.

All of this was highly illegal, however it had saved his life on several occasions and had managed to get him a healthy paycheck to boot; his recognition software also accessed the Interdimensional Bounty Hunter's Association to see if there was anything worth the credits within. And, as he looked over the crowd, he was not surprised to see most faces registering bounties of some amount. Nothing worth his trouble, however.

Then again, that could change in an instant… And looks like it's about to. Sure enough, in walked three tough looking paramilitary guys, all dressed in the same black armor with green highlights. His eye flicked over to them, the cybernetic immediately beginning to scan through the records looking for a match while his good eye took it in; black and green, and with a dark green planet as the unit patch… These guys were pretty clearly members of Viper's Venom, one of the more ruthless mercenary teams in Lylat. Meanwhile, the three of them came up to the bar, the de facto leader slamming his fist down.

"OY! Ya got anything with some actual kick in here?!" He yelled. Josiah looked at them with a bored expression; the arctic wolf was the first one to speak; according to his sleeves, he had the rank of Sergeant in the Vipers, and two Corporals; one an orange and black tiger, and the other was a rather nasty looking crocodile. They all looked fairly bulky and tough, but Josiah shrugged; he wasn't interested in getting into a brawl unless they started it. And I kinda hope they do…

Sure enough, the barkeep apparently took too long to bring them a set of drinks, and the wolf grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him half over the bar. "Took ya blasted long enough. Maybe I should stick your hand in my chum's mouth over here, that'll make ya remember what happens when you take too long." They laughed, and Josiah rolled his eyes before turning his attention over to them, his long coat swaying slightly.

"Gentlemen, I highly suggest you put the bartender down before I take this drink-" He hoisted his own glass- "And toss it in your eye." They stared at him for a moment, before laughing.

"Look at this guy! Big bad human thinks he's cool stuff because he was able to get a ride through the Rift." The wolf laughed, before nodding; the crocodile grabbed Josiah by his coat and snarled. "If ye don' keep yer yap shut an' sit yerself down, we're gonna have a problem, boyo…" Josiah met the crocodile's stare evenly, just as the recognition software pinged. He smirked as he saw the heavy bounty on all three of them, the smirk turning into a grin as he saw the words 'Dead or Alive' scroll across.

Josiah rested his good hand on the croc's arm and smiled. "Seems like you're the first through the grinder…" The croc tilted his head… And from Josiah's arm, a noise like hellfire came out as he activated one of his nastier tricks. The three 'fingers' of his claw-like hand came together into one, and began a swift, deadly spin. He punched forwards, the makeshift drill punching through armor, thick hide, and into the crocodile's body before spreading open and firing off several plasma blasts that flash-boiled his insides. The croc coughed up smoke, and the smell of charred meat filled the air for a moment before he fell to the side, not moving.

To their credit, the other two were quick to respond, pulling blasters out as fast as they could and already starting to open fire, attempting to burn Josiah where he stood. With a sigh, he dodged to the side and altered his arm again; a port just above his wrist opened, and out popped a pair of energy cannons. His eye's auto-targeting engaged, and he squeezed off twin blasts of green-white energy, instantly burning through the tiger's skull and dropping him where he stood.

The wolf seemed less than amused by this and attempted to pounce into him, teeth bared in a feral snarl as he attempted to drive his fangs into Josiah's throat. He caught the berserker charge, throwing the wolf over his shoulder onto an empty table. It broke under the impact, and as the wolf attempted to recover his composure, Josiah finished the fight. With a sharp 'SNICT' a two foot ceramite blade was revealed, and shortly afterwards found itself buried in his adversary's neck, stabbing through his spinal cord and instantly killing him.

Josiah retracted the blade with that same SNICT sound, before taking his glass and finishing off his drink. With a nod, he slid a fairly heavy number of credits over to the astonished barkeep. "Sorry about the mess." With a nod, Josiah left the bar, a bit of blood still dripping from his cybernetic arm.

Once he was outside, Josiah took a deep breath and lit a cigarette, checking the bounties with the HUD available through his cybernetic eye. He smiled slightly as he saw the bounties for all three mercenaries ticking off; the pay would be in his account within the day. Satisfied, he took a slow drag from his cigarette… And froze, hearing someone shifting in the alley near where he was. Quickly activating his wrist blasters, he eyed the alleyway cautiously before slowly moving down it. With a blink, his 'eye' flipped into the IR spectrum, lighting up the darkness with relative ease.

It was because of this brief advantage that Josiah survived the next ten seconds as someone came barreling out from behind a dumpster, swinging what looked to be an energized machete towards his throat. He dodged back, immediately starting to fire his wrist blaster blindly towards where his assailant had come from. The figure jumped back, holding its arm, giving Josiah a perfect chance to pounce forward, the three claws of his arm wrapping around the assailant's neck. "You have exactly five seconds to explain why you tried to kill me." He growled, his grip tightening.

The assailant wheezed, flailed his arms for a moment, and finally managed to squeak out… "…job… test…" This caught Josiah's attention enough to loosen his grasp, letting the guy – who appeared to be a middle-aged human – speak.

"I… *cough* I know who you are, Mr. Eldritch. You're one of the most well-known Lone-Wolf mercenaries in the Rift, and you have the track record to match." Josiah tilted his head, but allowed him to continue. "I sent those three Vipers in to test your skills in a public setting, and just now was a test of your reflexes in an ambush situation. Both of these will be required for what I'm about to offer you… If you'll put me down, I'll tell you the third skill."

Josiah shrugged and nonchalantly let go, allowing the strange man to land very unceremoniously on the ground, before picking himself up and dusting himself off. "Talk."

"Ah yes, man of few words… Anyway, the third skill is simple. Working with a small team."

Josiah blanched at this; just the idea of working with any kind of team gave him a nauseated feeling… "I work alone. There's a reason for that."

The strange man nodded. "I understand that, Mr. Eldritch. However, the scale of this particular mission requires a four-man team, each with their own individual skillsets. You were chosen for your tactical knowledge and ability to react to strange situations in creative ways."

Josiah raised an eyebrow and started to speak, before being cut off again. "We're offering a healthy amount of pay, as well as a capital ship that the four of you can use as your own. Should you choose to stick together afterwards, you can keep the ship; it's a Cornerian Mk. II Dreadnaught, if that interests you…"

Josiah's eyes widened at this. A Mk. II? That was the same class of ship the Star Fox Team used… He'd always wanted a cap ship of his own, and this seemed like the perfect chance. Plus, with the amount of money that would go into something of this extreme…

Wait. There's only one job that could offer this kind of payoff.

"You're a Rift Runner, aren't you?" He was straightforward, blank-faced. He knew judging based on it would make him a hypocrite, so all he did was ask. "I don't do Runs."

The man looked uncomfortable for a long moment, before speaking. "It's a simple Run, Mr. Eldritch. No run-ins with officials, the worst you'll have on the space side of things is fighting off a few pirates."

He raised an eyebrow. "The space side. And what about the ground side?"

The man looked even more uncomfortable. "Mr. Eldritch, I can't disclose anything further unless I have your word that you will take this mission."

A deep, annoyed sigh came from the cybernetic mercenary, before he finally nodded. "This paycheck had better be worth it."

The man seemed to let out a sigh of relief, before speaking once more. "Excellent. Now, Mr. Eldritch, with regards to your team… We're assembling three highly skilled mercenaries from throughout the rift for this operation, each with their own specific field of expertise; a stealth and infiltration expert, a master at long range combat and reconnaissance, and a heavy weapons expert. Each of you will have your own part to play in this operation, and you all must play it to your best efforts if it is to succeed."

Josiah stared for a moment, before leaning against the wall. "You still haven't told me the job. I'm guessing it has something to do with an Artifact, probably in a Blocked Universe."

The man stared, stammering for a moment, before responding. "You… Are correct. There is a Rift Artifact that my superiors wish to reacquire, and it is currently located within a Blocked Universe. However, there is one other point that must be mentioned."

Josiah leaned forwards slightly, beckoning him to go on.

"The artifact in question is being held by a dangerous terrorist organization, and we are hiring the four of you to break into their home base and steal it for us. Suffice to say, Mr. Eldritch... You will be robbing a terrorist-held Artifact bank."

So the basic plotline begins to reveal itself...

Read and review, and I'll see you next week with Myst's introduction!