8.04.2011

Welcome to the Ninerverse

          When you come to the "Nines", expect what you'd normally see at a popular watering hole. Crowds expanding towards every doorway, noise buffeting your eardrums, and a cornucopia of smells ranging from the putrid to the musky.
          What you won't expect is the community board, prominently displayed above the main bar. Thanks to the cybernetic implants that let the user maneuver around this particular realm, a steady gaze brings all the gathered info to ones fingertips. For the most part it's a mess. Advertisements, public messages, private ones that someone didn't know how to properly tag, and various announcements. But one corner, only a fourth of the whole board, is very organized. That's the wanted section.
          It's not what you think. It a list of people who've pissed off 2 or more of the larger corporations. I suppose somewhere there's a list of people that Humanity's Governing Body, or whatever it calls itself now, has it in for; but government is always behind on keeping those lists up to date. I once saw a man known as "The Bagdad Bomber". According to a historian I know on the net, that man died before the first settlement wave even took off.
          Currently on the big naughty list you'll find twenty names. Three of them are aliases that the big Co. don't yet know are mine. Five more are in my crew; who each have an alias on the list. The last remaining seven are either rivals or the companies are pretending that I'm not their biggest threat.
          Looking at each name info dump's all the data which the authorities have deemed pertinent to capture of said individuals; along with the reward for bringing them in alive or dead. Course what the authorities deem important, is far more boring that the truth. For instance, I'm wanted for acts of treason against the current Governor of Isle of Van Solaria. I've hacked the link, so that when you gaze upon it, you are redirected. What you see instead is my actual file from the Department of Intelligence. Why all the fuss? Just who am I you wonder.
          I'm The Scarlet Slash, the Killing Shadow of the Yaqui Tribe. You see me sitting front and center, dressed in my signature colors. Red leather pants with black highlighting my thighs, black silk shirt, red silk vest. My red duster hangs by the door, with all the other coats in the joint. Currently my hair is in a 40's do, piled up high and showing off my scar.
          To my right is my first mate, Jean-Pierre de Martin, a tall glass of wound up tension. Even here, where nothing is real and only perceived, he's on guard. To my left if Marla Hendrix, a small well toned woman of fire and brimstone. Throughout the "Nines" are the rest of my crew, getting some R&R, or showing off my newest recruits. Odd girls the three of them are, but that's another story for another day.
          Yes, I know there's a bounty on my head, and of my mates. But you have to catch me physically. For now, let's just have a good time shall we?
          "Barkeep! Another round for me and my crew."

5 comments:

  1. Fantastic intro. I'm so excited to get the Ninerverse going :)

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  2. @theTummy Yeah, already three stories. Hopefully more soon.

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  3. I'm totally jealous about your three stories. I haven't had time for one. Plus, I have to keep my promise to myself to finish "In my mind..." before Christmas.

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  4. @ theTummy Only one of those three are mine. the other two belong to Chad and Mitch.

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