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Description
Background/exposition: This story takes place in the world of an RPG I'm in being headed by D3-Damage . Chloe Ortellius is my character, and the other players are kaisai134 (Character: Jessilyn "Jess" Excellia), TAmazingRandom (Character: Catherine Visscheiron), and Nodegama-art (Character: Xiff). The game takes place in the Warhammer 40k universe, wherein we're all members of a mission which aims to explore unknown sectors of the galaxy and find a way to profit off of them. This particular story takes place in a potential future within the framework of that game.

"Sensors indicate two planets. One appears completely barren. The other is teeming over with life, but seems to have no sign of civilization."
Chloe paused for a moment as she peered over the Red Venom's sensory output display. Her over two-meter-tall frame looked somewhat comical hunched over the ship's console, as she muttered something in what her crewmates had come to learn was the machine language all tech-priests like herself used. Removing her usually-omnipresent goggles, she stared inquisitively at the screen before turning to the rest of the bridge.

"Anything worth our time?"
Xiff, the ship's captain and rogue trader, was lounging in her chair, acting typically non-chalant about the situation.

"Very. There's ancylitum deposits on the second planet - several smaller veins, and one rather sizable lode."

Xiff merely shrugged. "What's that? Is it worth money?"

"Indeed it is. Ancylitum it a very rare and extremely valuable metal. Establishing mines would be highly advisable. We should take some precautions however, there's a high probability of the world housing rather inhospitable fauna, given the sheer density of life."

Jess stood straight from where she was leaning against a doorframe in the back of the room, filling a good portion of it with her heavily muscled body. "Precaution? Sounds more like fun to me," she said, bouncing her rifle on her shoulder. "Papa Roberto and I used to hunt feral grox for sport. This should be a breeze."

"Excellent," Chloe stated, steepling her fingers. "I assume no one is opposed to forming a scouting crew and landing planetside, then?"

Catherine was sitting with her hands folded on her lap. Though she would normally be preoccupied navigating the ship the the warp, she had come into the bridge since the Red Venom entered back into realspace. "I believe Jess and the rest of you will be able to make it safe for our crew," she said, bowing slightly.

"Hm? I thought you might accompany us. You do say often how you would like to become tougher," Chloe inquired. Indeed, though she kept some of her timid mannerisms, Catherine was a great deal more robust than the petite, fragile girl she was at the start of her journey.

"Yeah Cat, come with us. I'll cover your back," Jess said with a smile and a wink.

"O-Of course!" Cat jumped to her feet as she spoke, bouncing slightly as she did.

~~~~~~~~(After landing)

"How much further until we reach the andalite?" the captain asked as the quartet trudged through what appeared to be incredibly thick jungle, with alien plant life choking the landscape. The place was filled with a constant cacophony of noises and cries from unknown animals, which made it a somewhat unnerving experience.

"Ancylitum," Chloe corrected, "and about twenty-eight kilometers. That was the only landing site clear enough to touch down that we found even after hours of searching."

"I don't much care for what it's called, as long as it's valuable."

At that moment, there was a rustling in the foliage less than five meters from where the group stood - and whatever was making it was at least man-sized. The women barely had enough time to snap to alert before they heard something whirring through the air; Jess grasped her shoulder suddenly as a stone-tipped spear lodged itself into a nearby tree with a resounding 'thwock,' trailing blood. She barely had time to curse through her teeth before several more creatures sprang to motion surrounding the group, and as they closed in and became visible, a singular war cry drowned out the jungle life:

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"

Shit. Feral Orkz. Chloe's mind immediately cursed itself for being unprepared; the savage tribal creatures wouldn't have made enough of a mark on the planet to register as civilized life. Even as she made that connection, she read the movements of one of the pelt-clad creatures as it beelined towards her. She drew her power-axe and bore down on her foe in a single motion, the energy field surrounding her blade disintegrating the crude tomahawk meant to parry her attack, and carrying on through the green humanoid's shoulder and into his ribcage. Though she heard weapons discharging and the sound of blade-on-bone behind her, she was knocked to the ground before she could so much as glance behind her. An Ork much, much larger than the first loomed over her, wearing a headdress of various bones and feathers that probably indicated leadership.

"OI, YOU IZ GONNA SMUSH ROIGHT TA A FOINE MESS YA IZ!" it bellowed, before swinging down an enormous club studded with some kind of teeth. Barely managing to roll to the side, a bit of her loose outer clothing was pinned to an underlying log. Tearing herself free revealed an array of mechanical implants given to her as a tech-priest, but also the surprisingly impressive physique underneath them.

"Eh wot? Why 'az you got shiny bitz in ya- OOUARGH!!" The chief's momentary bedazzlement was swiftly punished as a bloody hole lanced through the side of his neck, courtesy of Jess's rifle. Despite what should have a been a crippling or even fatal injury, he seemed little more than peeved as he turned his attention her way and barreled forward.

Chloe had problems of her own, however, quickly being forced into melee with another apparently female ork grunt. With her power-axe still on the ground several feet away, she was forced to fight hand-to-hand. Dodging a wild swing, she planted a kick to her foe's torso hard enough to lift it off the ground for a moment, yet the ork seemed hardly even phased. Intercepting her foe's forearm during another attack, she locked out the greenskin's elbow, forcing it to loosen its grip enough so that she could wrench away its stone axe with her other hand. With the advantage firmly in her favor, Chloe made a strong blow with the stolen weapon; though the ork blocked with its wrist, the flesh was shorn halfway through.

A cry of pain boomed through the area, but it didn't belong to the orkish girl. There was an enormous 'thwump' as the chieftain's massive corpse hit the ground. Judging from the bodies strewing the ground and the total lack of movement, every other ork was apparently dead already as well - the ambush had ended as fast as it began. "O-oi...Boss..." the ork-girl stammered for a moment, before trying to run off. Chloe quickly tackled her and held her to the ground by planting a knee in the center of her back.

"I...I did it," Catherine said in amazement, still holding a smoking laspistol in her hands, with a corresponding wound in the large ork's skull - along with several other accumulated injuries.

"Hey, good job," Xiff said, patting her on the back. She glanced to where Chloe held the pinned ork. "Oop, missed one." She leveled her gun's sight on the creature.

"DO NOT!" Chloe shouted with uncharacteristic force. Though her foe was still writhing under her, she shifted her body to interpose herself in the path of the weapon.

"Eh, why not? It's xenos, and no worth to me either," the captain replied, raising an eyebrow. Jess and Cat looked on curiously as well.

Collecting herself, Chloe explained: "I have a plan for her. I would like to take her back to the ship, actually."

"OI YOU WOT?!?" her unwilling prisoner exclaimed, and with the rest of the crew equally confused.

"I still think we should kill it," Xiff said flatly. "I hope you know what you're doing."

"I do too," Chloe thought. "I do too."

Description
Background/exposition: This story takes place in the world of an RPG I'm in being headed by D3-Damage . Chloe Ortellius is my character, and the other players are kaisai134 (Character: Jessilyn "Jess" Excellia), TAmazingRandom (Character: Catherine Visscheiron), and Nodegama-art (Character: Xiff). The game takes place in the Warhammer 40k universe, wherein we're all members of a mission which aims to explore unknown sectors of the galaxy and find a way to profit off of them. This particular story takes place in a potential future within the framework of that game.

"Sensors indicate two planets. One appears completely barren. The other is teeming over with life, but seems to have no sign of civilization."
Chloe paused for a moment as she peered over the Red Venom's sensory output display. Her over two-meter-tall frame looked somewhat comical hunched over the ship's console, as she muttered something in what her crewmates had come to learn was the machine language all tech-priests like herself used. Removing her usually-omnipresent goggles, she stared inquisitively at the screen before turning to the rest of the bridge.

"Anything worth our time?"
Xiff, the ship's captain and rogue trader, was lounging in her chair, acting typically non-chalant about the situation.

"Very. There's ancylitum deposits on the second planet - several smaller veins, and one rather sizable lode."

Xiff merely shrugged. "What's that? Is it worth money?"

"Indeed it is. Ancylitum it a very rare and extremely valuable metal. Establishing mines would be highly advisable. We should take some precautions however, there's a high probability of the world housing rather inhospitable fauna, given the sheer density of life."

Jess stood straight from where she was leaning against a doorframe in the back of the room, filling a good portion of it with her heavily muscled body. "Precaution? Sounds more like fun to me," she said, bouncing her rifle on her shoulder. "Papa Roberto and I used to hunt feral grox for sport. This should be a breeze."

"Excellent," Chloe stated, steepling her fingers. "I assume no one is opposed to forming a scouting crew and landing planetside, then?"

Catherine was sitting with her hands folded on her lap. Though she would normally be preoccupied navigating the ship the the warp, she had come into the bridge since the Red Venom entered back into realspace. "I believe Jess and the rest of you will be able to make it safe for our crew," she said, bowing slightly.

"Hm? I thought you might accompany us. You do say often how you would like to become tougher," Chloe inquired. Indeed, though she kept some of her timid mannerisms, Catherine was a great deal more robust than the petite, fragile girl she was at the start of her journey.

"Yeah Cat, come with us. I'll cover your back," Jess said with a smile and a wink.

"O-Of course!" Cat jumped to her feet as she spoke, bouncing slightly as she did.

~~~~~~~~(After landing)

"How much further until we reach the andalite?" the captain asked as the quartet trudged through what appeared to be incredibly thick jungle, with alien plant life choking the landscape. The place was filled with a constant cacophony of noises and cries from unknown animals, which made it a somewhat unnerving experience.

"Ancylitum," Chloe corrected, "and about twenty-eight kilometers. That was the only landing site clear enough to touch down that we found even after hours of searching."

"I don't much care for what it's called, as long as it's valuable."

At that moment, there was a rustling in the foliage less than five meters from where the group stood - and whatever was making it was at least man-sized. The women barely had enough time to snap to alert before they heard something whirring through the air; Jess grasped her shoulder suddenly as a stone-tipped spear lodged itself into a nearby tree with a resounding 'thwock,' trailing blood. She barely had time to curse through her teeth before several more creatures sprang to motion surrounding the group, and as they closed in and became visible, a singular war cry drowned out the jungle life:

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"

Shit. Feral Orkz. Chloe's mind immediately cursed itself for being unprepared; the savage tribal creatures wouldn't have made enough of a mark on the planet to register as civilized life. Even as she made that connection, she read the movements of one of the pelt-clad creatures as it beelined towards her. She drew her power-axe and bore down on her foe in a single motion, the energy field surrounding her blade disintegrating the crude tomahawk meant to parry her attack, and carrying on through the green humanoid's shoulder and into his ribcage. Though she heard weapons discharging and the sound of blade-on-bone behind her, she was knocked to the ground before she could so much as glance behind her. An Ork much, much larger than the first loomed over her, wearing a headdress of various bones and feathers that probably indicated leadership.

"OI, YOU IZ GONNA SMUSH ROIGHT TA A FOINE MESS YA IZ!" it bellowed, before swinging down an enormous club studded with some kind of teeth. Barely managing to roll to the side, a bit of her loose outer clothing was pinned to an underlying log. Tearing herself free revealed an array of mechanical implants given to her as a tech-priest, but also the surprisingly impressive physique underneath them.

"Eh wot? Why 'az you got shiny bitz in ya- OOUARGH!!" The chief's momentary bedazzlement was swiftly punished as a bloody hole lanced through the side of his neck, courtesy of Jess's rifle. Despite what should have a been a crippling or even fatal injury, he seemed little more than peeved as he turned his attention her way and barreled forward.

Chloe had problems of her own, however, quickly being forced into melee with another apparently female ork grunt. With her power-axe still on the ground several feet away, she was forced to fight hand-to-hand. Dodging a wild swing, she planted a kick to her foe's torso hard enough to lift it off the ground for a moment, yet the ork seemed hardly even phased. Intercepting her foe's forearm during another attack, she locked out the greenskin's elbow, forcing it to loosen its grip enough so that she could wrench away its stone axe with her other hand. With the advantage firmly in her favor, Chloe made a strong blow with the stolen weapon; though the ork blocked with its wrist, the flesh was shorn halfway through.

A cry of pain boomed through the area, but it didn't belong to the orkish girl. There was an enormous 'thwump' as the chieftain's massive corpse hit the ground. Judging from the bodies strewing the ground and the total lack of movement, every other ork was apparently dead already as well - the ambush had ended as fast as it began. "O-oi...Boss..." the ork-girl stammered for a moment, before trying to run off. Chloe quickly tackled her and held her to the ground by planting a knee in the center of her back.

"I...I did it," Catherine said in amazement, still holding a smoking laspistol in her hands, with a corresponding wound in the large ork's skull - along with several other accumulated injuries.

"Hey, good job," Xiff said, patting her on the back. She glanced to where Chloe held the pinned ork. "Oop, missed one." She leveled her gun's sight on the creature.

"DO NOT!" Chloe shouted with uncharacteristic force. Though her foe was still writhing under her, she shifted her body to interpose herself in the path of the weapon.

"Eh, why not? It's xenos, and no worth to me either," the captain replied, raising an eyebrow. Jess and Cat looked on curiously as well.

Collecting herself, Chloe explained: "I have a plan for her. I would like to take her back to the ship, actually."

"OI YOU WOT?!?" her unwilling prisoner exclaimed, and with the rest of the crew equally confused.

"I still think we should kill it," Xiff said flatly. "I hope you know what you're doing."

"I do too," Chloe thought. "I do too."