14197/Xandar: Bounty Handoff

Xandar: Bounty Handoff
Date of Scene:	20 February 2023
Location:	Xandar
Synopsis:	Gamora drops off a load of bounties on Xandar; Rich Rider collects them and cashes her out.
Cast of Characters:	Richard Rider, Gamora

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Richard Rider has posed:
There's a policy on Xandar that 'undesireables' can still make landing in certain parts of the planet. Trade is very limited, and fuel prices are outrageous, but there are times when someone not on the planetary landing list needs to deliver something to the government or make some kind of statement without being arrested on sight.

When Gamora's craft comes in, she's vectored to a military landing pad and brought in under the watchful eyes of the Xandar Space Defense Force. A Nova Corps enlistee does a flyby of her ship while she is on final approach, but when the ship touches down, he zips off abruptly to have a flying conversation with another Nova Corps officer.

By the time Gamora's ready to debark, said officer has landed outside her gangplank and waits with arms folded loosely over his chest. "We keep meeting in the weirdest places," Richard informs Gamora with a wry humor.

Gamora has posed:
Gamora is not in any ship registered to her, but she announces herself by name upon entry into Xandar space. What on account of the ship belonging to a group of pretty dangerous and highly valued raiders who have been harrassing trade-lanes for the better part of the month. THey aren't any big organization, but they're big enough to be a problem for shipping companies.

Less a problem for her.

When the ship settles down, she passes through the small galley where all of the group are bound together with electro-cords and pats one on the head as she passes. "You'll be fine, stop whining." There may be tears.

There's tears.

Heading down the ramp where she comes face-e-face with Nova Prime himself. With her hands on her hips and smirk on her face, "If we weren't on Xandar, I'd say you were following me. At least this time I come baring gifts... ones that aren't so bity."

Richard Rider has posed:
"Oh, so you didn't bring the rabbit?" Rich leans sideways to look past Gamora into the hold. It's meant to be a comedic aside but he does a literal double-take at the bounties tied up in the hold.

"No way," he says immediately, and starts walking up the ramp a few steps so he can start scanning the identicards of the rogues facing his way. "I didn't figure you for a brag, but..." He seems a bit dumbfounded as his helmet monitor flickers over his face, relaying names, crimes and arrest status for every one of the ne'er-do-wells.

"Hey, I know this guy," Richard says, and walks up the ramp a little more. He kicks a foot out of his way and leans down to grab the offender by a skull horn and look at his face. "Tarlan Quod, 'Tarlan the Terrible'," he says. "Most idiotic alias I've ever heard."

"Galloping bilgesnipes, its' the gorram Nova Prime," one of them says in a quavering voice.

"I don't care if it's the Lantern Corps,' someone else snaps, and lifts his manacled hands up towards Rich. "Anything's better than another day in the hold with that-- that WOMAN!"

Nova turns to look at Gamora and one can see the bemused expression on his face just in the way his helmet tilts.

Gamora has posed:
"He is on a play-date with the tree." Gamora says with a sardonic smirk and a glance over her shoulder at the moment Nova peers up into the hold. She's matching comedic energy here, but it's clear this has not been a very joyous ride for anyone tied up in that hold.

"Tarlan the Terrible, wasn't." She murmurs, joining Nova as they both glid up nearer to the group all lassoed together like a package. "Oh stop your whining.. I was pretty amiccable considering you threw a plasma grenade at me." Said down at the manacled goon with the accusatory tone.

"You almost cut my head off!" He shouts back up at her, causing her to sigh deeply and aside to Rich. "He's exagerating, if I'd wanted to cut his head off, he'd be holding it in his lap."

Let it never be said she's above altruism.. especially where it involves credits. "So, how much for the whole lot? And the ship. There's stolen goods in the smuggler holds... and weapons. Can I keep the weapons?"

Richard Rider has posed:
"It's true," Rider confirms for the guy. "She's got a reputation for taking heads, you know. I'd shut up before you do something that really pisses her off." He kicks the miscreant's ankles out of his way and goes furthur into the ship to inspect it.

"Some of these are private bounties, but they're registered through the XDF, so we've got that money in escrow. We can transfer it to any bank in the Xandarian network where you've got an account."

He looks up to the bridge, down in the hold, then looks back at Gamora. "The weapons will be confiscated and processed. We'll let you keep anything that you had on hand when you captured the ship. As for the ship..." he looks around, head tilting this way and that as he does the math in his head.

"Overjuiced light freighter with missing tags, an illegal powerplant, and shaky radiation shielding. This is more of a salvage job than a recovery," he remarks. "I don't know that it's gonna be worth anything more than the weight of the metal."

Gamora has posed:
Gamora flinches forward at one of them when Nova speaks of her reputation and they reel back away, grin spreading on her red lips. "Dumb ass." At least it shuts up their whining so she can pick through the busted up ship behind Rich. Ducking beneath hanging wiring and duct-work. Reality is this thing is held together by hopes and dreams... with not much hope left at all.

"Fine. Fine." The units really don't matter much to her, as much as the act of 'getting' units. "I'll wire one of my bank accounts before the Milano comes to pick me up... wait, there's no outstanding bounties on us are there? You can't lie, that'd be entrapment."

All playful banter aside, she huffs and shrugs indifferently at the relative worthlessness of the ship. "So long as it's not out there causing a fuss, I feel like I've done my good dead for the cycle." Altruism or something.

Richard Rider has posed:
"Entrapment is when I compel you to commit a crime by threatening to arrest you for another crime," Rider points out urbanely. "I can lie to your face all I want. Lots of you criminals turn out to be total suckers."

Two of the bandits look at each other. "Is that really true?"

"I wanna know who he's calling sucker!" snarls a lizardlike anthropomorph.

Richard ignores them both and heads down the ramp, hailing the security forces over his comms net. "Need a twenty-body detail, we've got... six for the cryo-vaults and five for immediate processing," he informs them.

With that, Rider's helmet disintegrates back into his uniform and he turns to look at Gamora. "Even for you, that's a pretty decent haul," he informs her. "Did you get a group rate or just scrape them all off the underside of some couch at a vaporbar?"

Gamora has posed:
"Okay, well don't lie to me, it'll make me sad." Gamora counters even though it is entirely unlikely she would be saddened by a lie. Turning to peer back at the group all lashed to one another, "Shut up, the adults are talking."

It has the desired effect of compliance.

Eyes back on Nova, "I caught them docking up and hit them while they were trying to offload. Regretably, two of them lost limbs, but I'm pretty sure they grow back... I'll try not to lose sleep. Apparently the local crime boss there had some debts of their own on those guys, didn't require them to be entirely whole, so I figured the damaged goods would be fine..."

She motions up at Nova, "You guys generally want them breathing and with all their body parts attached. Which, I have to say, makes hauling a group full of heavily armed bandits in very difficult. You should consider changing that policy."

As for the haul, she shrugs, "It's all really easy when they're stupid."

Richard Rider has posed:
Richard wiggles a finger in his ear as if checking for an obstruction. "Hmm? What? Policy? Gosh, that sounds like a 'you' problem," he tells her with a glib tone. "If it was safe and easy, I'd assign some bodies to a cruiser and park it at Knowhere. If you want a steady paycheck, you're welcome to apply for enlistment in the Nova Corps."

The detention unit arrives in good order on the back of floating skids and Nova nods at the squad leader. "Eleven total, it's a little cramped in there so I'd recommend going by the numbers and pulling them out one at a time."

The sergeant salutes Nova and starts directing his people to the task at hand. Richard looks back at Gamora. "So where's the rest of those reprobates anyway? You finally wise up and decided to fly solo??"

Gamora has posed:
Gamora flappantly jerks her wrist and shakes her head, "Yeah, sure. I'm not overly concerned with the particulars of the thing, just that it's easier if I don't have to pull my punches." The fact there was a plasma grenade and she looks completely fine, aside. She earned her moniker.

"You should put that on a poster.. Join the Nova Corps, get a steady paycheck." With the same jerked hand waving across like a marque. "Meanwhile, I'll keep sifting through the cracks looking for spare change without having to put on one of those silly helmets. Messes with my peripheral vision." Pantomiming swinging side to side.

"Honestly, I don't understand how you can stand it."

Walking along behind him with her thumbs hooked her belt loops right at the buckle. "Following leads on our other problem. We ran out of seed units, so I'm doing my part to keep the chains moving." The other problem being one of a Bug nature.

"You know, it'd be a lot easier if you'd just 'help' us, right? Pays not as good, you have to listen to Rocket gripe, Drax eat, Mantis be weird, Nebula hate everything, and the Tree speaking one sentence, which I swear I'm starting to understand, but at least you wouldn't have to wear that helmet."

Quieter, "Peripheral vision."

Richard Rider has posed:
"You-- You /do/ understand that the helmet isn't just a literal bucket with an eye visor, right?" Richard asks, lifting a brow. "I don't cover these good looks up just for the sake of protecting my noggin. If-- BIG if-- you ever hooked up as a Corpsman, you'd learn a lot about how the uniform helps keep you safe."

"As for the Br--" he interrupts himself and takes a half-step furthur from the troops and the prisoners. "As for the other problem, what makes you think we're *not* helping you?" he asks, brows rising. "There's a reason raider patrols and salvagers have cut way back in that region. Once we started enforcing the quarantine, only greedy idiots and guys with a deathwise--" he gestures at Gamora as if she's representing her whole crew-- "bother to go in there anymore."

Gamora has posed:
"I'm not saying I've ever taken one off a Corpsman-" She has, when in service to her father, but Gamora doesn't say it, "-but I know how the bucket works." Tapping the side of her nose with her right index finger. "I gave up wearing a uniform after I left the last cult I was in."

A wry grin and a single shoulder shrug.

She follows instep a few feet away from the soldiers starting to off load the prisoners, arms now laid loosely across her chest. "I wouldn't call it a deathwish, persay. Nor would I say it's OUR fault that it's happening, but I am willing to accept a moderate amount of responsibility in seeing to it that the worst those flarking things can do is destroy a few raider ships."

She juts a nod towards the goons being offloaded. "They were based out beyond the quarantine, taking advantage of your blockade. Far as I can tell, none of them are infected, but Nova Corps has a far better understanding of the physiology of our problem. Which is why they're here. I couldn't kill them without being sure... but I couldn't risk it either."

Richard Rider has posed:
"You need a full ensuite medical scanner system calibrated for that species," Rider says, and shrugs slightly. "It's not something most spacers have in their medbay. The Brood use the host's own DNA and muscle tissues when they're binding with the nervous system. It just comes back with garbage data or at best, a possible tumescent growth."

"That's why it's dangerous to even be around them. There are stories of sapients getting infested and not even knowing it. They just wake up with a headache and a sore spine. Then a few weeks later they drive the host into a cocoon and what pops out is a Broodling. Thank the Worldmind, no one's seen a Queen in years, but I'm not totally convinced there isn't one out there somewhere. Hell, for all I know, the Brood might figure out how to evolve and adapt to create one. They're known for rapid evolution."

Gamora has posed:
"My father..." Gamora presses her lips into a fine line and cants her head as if calling 'him' that causes her actual pain for a half second, ".. Thanos. He use to say the Brood would be almost as successful as he would be at leveling the scales of the Universe. I think he admired them... I also know he was deathly afraid there would be another infestations." Yellow eyes cut over towards the individuals being pulled out for prossessing.

"Perhaps there is. Perhaps the one we stumbled on was a Queen. It would explain why the Skrull had it... It also explains why I'm going well out of my way to make sure every last one of them is found. If they're able to evolve, as you said. If a hive of those things sets up on a populated world with hundreds of vessels?"

Air sucks across her teeth, tongue flicking the roof of her mouth.

"Well I don't need to tell you. As fractured as this Galaxy is? No magical space god to come along and destroy them all this time."

Richard Rider has posed:
Richard snorts. "Between the Brood and the Phoenix? That's a tough tossup," he concedes. "There are a lot of Brood but you *can* kill 'em. We would isolate them on a planetoid and then irradiate the terrain until the rocks glowed. Hard to survive that kind of pogrom. The Phoenix, though..." He trails off, sucking his teeth.

"I mean, what do you *do* with that kind of entity? I remember seeing Brood lifesigns vanishing from planets like the computer glitched and deleted them. I've gone rounds with some pretty powerful sapients, even got into it with a Green Lantern once, but... I always had this sorta feeling that if the Phoenix spared us, it wasn't because of anything we did, or could do," he says, and shivers a little.

Gamora has posed:
Gamora's heard stories of the Phoenix as well. Thanos was very interested in anything that could cause death on that grand a scale... her yellow eyes cast down to her boots, head jerking to one side in a tick. "He told me stories. Said it was a wave of fire that raged across the black of space for a dozen light years killing anything that even smelled like the Brood."

Her tongue clicks against the back of her teeth audibly.

"I have no interest in seeing if it's coming back for seconds. So long as those who could do something about it have it under observation and I'm three or four thousand light years from wherever it decides to destroy next?" A clipped nod, "I may be dangerous, but I'm not stupid."

"Soon as that thing becomes the Galaxy's problem, I'm going somewhere else."

Richard Rider has posed:
"If you figure out where it is, let me know," Richard says with another roguish grin. "I'm pretty sure it's something those Guardians of the Universe came up with. Or the Vega system, or even here on Xandar. Hell, you've been to Terra, right? At this point I wouldn't be surprised to find out it's been living there in disguise all this time."

The last of the prisoners are offloaded, and once they're processed, Richard brings up a wrist display and looks at numbers on the screen. "All right. We've got them processed in and we've got payment for the ship and cargo." One of his soldiers brings over a credit chit and Richard authorizes the payment, then hands it to Gamora. "There. Should be available from any Xandar-linked bank in the next eighteen hours or so. Try not to spend it all in one place, yeah?"

Gamora has posed:
"As little as possible." Gamora says of going to Terra, "You know there's so many heroes on that planet they have groups dedicated to them? Little cults full of self important, self righteous gibesnipes." She shakes her head, rolling her eyes in the same motion. "If I was a world destroying entity, that's probably where I'd go. If only because that actually seems to be the center of the goram universe."

She takes the offered payment authorization and wiggles it between thumb and index finger. "I'm going to see a man about a lead. When I find them.. and I will find them... I'll reach out." She peers side to side, "Try not to bring the whole Nova Corps, hm? You wear the helmet better than most of these jack asses."

Richard Rider has posed:
"Quit trying to flatter me," Richard says-- but he grins anyway. "I suppose as far as criminals go, you're OK, too. Just remember where the line is, all right?" He makes a comic eye-pointing gesture at her. "And keep that boyfriend of yours and those other reprobates off my planet as much as possible," he says, making it half order and half request as he backs up a few steps and levitates six feet into the air. His helmet reassembles itself around his neck and brow, until the black lenses obscures his eyes entirely. "Last thing I need is to find that guy Drax trying to clear out a bar single-handedly. I've heard he's a handful in a fight, but a real pain in the ass when he's drunk."

Gamora has posed:
"I'm certain most of them think there's bounties on their heads, so I doubt they'll come anywhere near Xandar." Gamora smirks, since she is just as likely to have had one on hers and here she is. "I'll do my very best to keep them from causing problems.. all of them except Rocket. He's just as likely to come because I told him not to."

With that said and commentary of Drax behind them, Gamora touches two green fingers to her brow, "I'll get out of your hair. I'm sure there's tons of paperwork you've got to get finished. Make sure you keep getting that 'steady paycheck'." Then she spins on her heels.

"Tell 'The Terrible' I said he hits like a girl."