Paradise Regained?

[Basil]

OOC: I'm making this take place a few weeks after Ascension, mostly because Balalaika would have been too ill to lead Sejanus & Co to the Oasis.

"You've had quite a speedy recovery, Blank", said the medic, absently scratching his bearded chin, "not many stalker survive pneumonia."

The stalker formerly known as Balalaika nodded slowly, her white hair now tied into a simple ponytail. She took a deep breath, delighting at the ease with which the air entered her lungs. Only a few weeks ago every breath had been torture.

"I suppose I'm lucky", she said, looking around the medic's "practise". It was a small and unremarkable room. Despite its spartan appearance, it was one of the only places in Jupiter where a stalker could get proper medical treatment. "But anyway, thanks for everything, doctor."

"Don't mention it, Blank...now if you'll excuse me, I have other patients to attend to."

Blank stepped aside to let a tired-looking stalker into the medic's room. She then left, hearing the medic mention "scurvy" before she shut the door behind her.

Yanov Station had a strong frontier feeling to it. Every day wounded, sick or exhausted stalkers would arrive seeking refuge and medical care. Zombies and mutants often showed up right outside the building's doors, and fights sometimes occurred within the station itself. Thankfully, Freedom (and a few Dutiers) were there to keep the peace.

As she made her way back to the main room she was intercepted by an elderly Freedomer sitting on a stool.

"Hey Blank", said Yar in his usual relaxed and amiable manner, "some mercs were looking for you. Said they needed you as a guide."

Blank remembered the mercenaries very well. Karc, Sejanus, Ibrahim...She hadn't known why Karc seemed so familiar at first, but during her recovery she'd been able to remember him. As Balalaika she had assisted him and his team in exploring an underground lab. When they'd neared the prize, a stalker suit with an artefact sewed into it, she'd backstabbed Karc and made off with the loot. She ha probably come close to killing him that time.

Thanking Yar for the information, Blank entered the common room. Loners, Freedomers and Dutiers were drinking vodka and eating whatever food they'd purchased from Hawaiian, the Freedom trader. Blank felt a pang of sadness as she saw the weapon that hung on the wall behind the trader: her SVD Dragunov. Adder, Freedom's Commandant, had sold the rifle to Hawaiian and the trader had quickly set the gun up as a very expensive special item.

In fact, the trader was trying to talk a loner into buying the rifle.

"Y'see that rifle behind me, bro? Well, it used to belong to Balalaika. The Zone Witch, I tell you! Some say it has special powers..."

"Oh yeah?", said the loner, not too keen on the prospect of purchasing the overpriced sniper rifle, "and how much would it be?"

"80 000 rubles", said Hawaiian. The loner snorted and walked away. Blank looked wistfully at the rifle, her rifle. The gun was an heirloom, but also an instrument of murder associated with her past self...she'd never had such complicated feelings for a simple gun.

With a sigh she turned away and departed, trying to focus on the mission the mercs would give her. She already knew what they wanted her to do, and that was to find the unfindable.

For Blank, or rather Balalaika, had already set eyes upon a place no stalker had ever seen: the Oasis.

[Lysander]

After the events of the tower, the group had returned to Yanov station in order to get adequate medical attention for their guide; people had seemed quite surprised to see the woman who called herself blank in the company of mercenaries such as themselves and none more so than bonesetter the station's 'doctor'. Nevertheless he hadn't wanted to argue with the five mercenaries armed to the teeth and covered in blood and bandages so he had kindly tended to her until she was better.

After Sejanus left the doctor, he took his legionnaire and prayed for their dead friends souls - asking Pluto for his mercy and their safe transport to the fields of Elysium - an honour which warriors of their status justly deserved. He then prayed to Apollo, thanking his patron God for sending Karc and his men to assist them with the chimera and asking for his blessing and guidance in finding the heart of the oasis. Finally, he prayed to Vulcan the smith, thanking him for keeping his armour strong and his weapons undamaged and asking him for his continued services.

When he was satisfied with his devotions, he allowed his subordinate to separate from him and do what he wanted and went in search of a drink. A few minutes later, he was sitting alone in a secluded corner of the station with a bottle of vodka and a glass so chipped that he was scared his lips might be lacerated before they even touched the alcohol. After finding a safe area to drink from, he poured a measure of the liquid into the glass and took a sip. He set the glass back down on the table and opened his PDA, looking through the data that he had been equipped with and cursing at its inaccuracy - it was at least a year out of date, saying that locations as far north as Jupiter and Zaton were deserted, unable to be reached on account of something which locals called the 'brain scorcher'. Another thing Sejanus cursed his father for - despite his capabilities as a leader, his pride did not allow him to hire people from outside the organisation. When Sejanus himself came to power, things would be different; he had already been working within the guard to gain himself allies and sympathisers to his cause, and many of his father's commanders blatantly preferred the younger, more capable Sejanus. Those were the true reasons why he had been sent to the zone - his father wanted him gone, he had become too strong, too well liked and too capable of usurping him.

Sejanus was snapped from his reverie by the colloquial tones of a stranger. "Ay brother, mind if I sit down?" An elderly stalker wearing the colours of Freedom was standing in front of him and smiling, he had greying hair, a weak chin and large, googly eyes framed by laugh lines.

"Of course friend." Sejanus said, still looking at the man and now noticing the pistol at his hip.

"My knees aren't what they used to be, know what I'm saying brother?" The man chuckled as he lowered himself onto the stool opposite Sejanus. "They call me uncle Yar - I'm kinda the information man around here, people come to me if they want to know things and they do jobs for me in return, I can also tune up the odd rifle but nitro over in the duty wing is far more handy with everything than me." He helped himself to a bit of Sejanus' vodka. "You're that merc everyone's been talkin' about aren't ya, the one who walked in with that sick girl and them other mercs. What do they call you?"

"Sejanus." The mercenary replied and sensing what the next question would be he added. "I was sent here by the leader of the praetorians to acquire a very special artefact called the heart of the oasis."

"Ahhh, well Sejanus, you ain't gonna have good time trying to find that baby. Every stalker in the northern zone has tried to find it at one point or another and none of 'em has been successful, no-one has even seen that shit. Makes me think it's just a rumour." Yar replied.

"I hope I can find it, it's essential to our operations in Italy. Anyway the woman we rescued seems quite zone-savvy; we're going to call in a favour and use her as a guide."

Yar chuckled once again and smiled knowingly. "She'll be far more useful than you know." Chuckling again he drained his glass and leaned conspiratorially over the table, Sejanus leaned in close as well. "If you want to know more about the possible heart of the oasis, I suggest you go to the Jupiter factory - place used to be the centre of everything here and I'm sure they have a few documents that might shed some light on it." He patted Sejanus on the cheek and got up. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I gotta see a man about a dog. Thanks for the drink by the way, you ain't half as weird as you look." And with that, he walked away.

Confused but pleased with the information he had just received, Sejanus wrote it on his PDA and marked the Jupiter factory on his map, making a mental note to talk to Blank about visiting the Jupiter factory. He rose from the seat and noticing that it was dark went down to the basement to sleep.

Over the next few weeks Sejanus made plans for his journey, talking to the stalkers in the station and making bribes where necessary. During this time, he also polished his weapons so they once again shone and purchased more ammo for his SCAR and 1911, he repaired the tears in his clothing and hood. Last of all, he repaired his gilded armour, carefully re-assembling pieces which came apart and oiling it so he could be agile. On the first day of the third week, he donned his armour, called his legionnaire and went to find Blank. When they opened the faded white door to the doctor's office, Bonesetter was inspecting a stalker's gums; which were an ugly red colour and seemed to be bleeding in several places.

"Can you believe it? Scurvy. In this day and age. People need to look after their lives, even in the zone." The doctor said without looking up. "If you're looking for the girl, she just left, think she was headed for the common room." Sejanus thanked him and took out his PDA to send a message to Karc.

-Bring Ibrahim and meet me in the common room in ten, Blank is recovered. Be ready to head out-

Sejanus walked into the smokey room and cast his gaze around to see if he could find their guide. The common room was the only place in the station where you're faction seemingly didn't matter - Dutiers, Freedomers and Loners all ate, drank and laughed together - an occurrence which, as Sejanus had learned during his three week stay here, was rare in the zone as Freedom and Duty were both at each other's throats over their ideologies. Of the two, Sejanus agreed with duty more - their ideas were not dissimilar to his own, they would make good allies for the faction he planned to start in this gods-forsaken place. At last, he spied his quarry standing against the wall of the room, looking thoughtful. She still wore everything they and found her in, but she looked a lot healthier, less grey and much cleaner than she had been a few weeks ago.

He approached her and, tapping her on the shoulder said. "Blank, we need you to guide us to the oasis, it's my understanding that no-one has ever seen the artefact and no-one has ever found it. You've been here longer than I have so I deem you to be worthy of the task and I have a feeling we may fail if we do not have you. Will you join us?" Sejanus waited for her answer, his golden eyes staring intensely into her cold blue ones.

[Basil]

Blank was listening to the tale of a nearby Freedomer when Sejanus showed up. The Freedomer was a short, bearded man with a particularly grating voice.

"So a few weeks ago I was in Zaton, and some hunters asked me to help them hunt a Chimera! Being the man I am, I agreed...after all, Flint is never afraid of old mutants..."

She started when Sejanus tapped her shoulder, and she looked up at him with wide eyes.

"Bloody hell!", she said, "you scared the shit out of me!"

"Blank", said the mercenary. His strange golden eyes reminded Blank of a wolf. "We need you to guide us to the oasis, it's my understanding that no-one has ever seen the artefact and no-one has ever found it. You've been here longer than I have so I deem you to be worthy of the task and I have a feeling we may fail if we do not have you. Will you join us?"

Blank nodded. "You'd be right on all counts, merc. The Oasis is little more than a legend to most people..."

She stopped speaking and glanced furtively around her. Anyone could be listening. "But I must warn you; my recollection of the place is hazy at best. What I do remember is that it was somewhere in the Jupiter area and that it seemed to be protected by a very large spatial anomaly. Needless to say, access was very, very difficult."

Blank closed her eyes and remembered. She remembered the running water, the green plants, the tree...she also remembered rounded concrete walls and some kind of structure in the centre, but nothing more. Evidently, Blank wasn't the one who'd seen all this. Balalaika had been the Oasis' finder, and Blank would have to be very careful about the information she gave Sejanus.

"I'm afraid my equipment isn't as good as yours", she said, eyeing Sejanus' gear. Her own AKS-74U looked incredibly shabby in comparison. "But it'll have to do..."

She couldn't help herself eyeing the SVD in Hawaiian's shop. Perhaps if she saved up enough she'd be able to get it back.

[Karcentric]

Sitting cross legged reading an old crumbled book and twirling a shabby, rolled cigarette between his fingers, Karc had been taking it easy over the past few weeks, doing as little as possible work wise, tinkering with his gear and unwinding. His PDA lit up the darkened basement slightly startling him, checking he saw it was a message from Sejanus which read.

-Bring Ibrahim and meet me in the common room in ten, Blank is recovered. Be ready to head out-

Sending a reply confirming he'd be there, he stood up and stretched. Flicking the cigarette butt away and tossing the book back on the pile of old books that had been left there by an unknown stalker in the past.

Looking around the basement was void of anyone else, wondering where Ibrahim had gotten to as he picked up his gear wandered up the stairs. He was typing a message out to Ibrahim informing him of their new plans.

-Ibrahim, meet in the common room at the station, stat, moving out in ten.-

With the message sent, he went into the common room and glanced around, spying Sejanus and Blank. Some of Sejanus’ mercs were present too; they were hard to miss with their unique armour.

Stopping at the table he looked around, nodding to each merc. “Feeling better?” Karc asked Blank, though it was more out courtesy since he knew full well about her recovery, having visited several times over the last three weeks.

“Ibrahim should be with us shortly.” He commented, taking a quick drink and something to eat as he waited and listened to the sounds of the other inhabitants of the station. Noting that Blank was looking over at the station's shop he looked too, noticing the SVD on the wall.

"Heh, that guy will never sell it, especially at the price he's selling it." He said.

[milch]

A few calm weeks were just what Ibrahim was looking for. Whilst the team was preparing for the hunt and Blank was curing her pneumonia Ibrahim had quite a while to analyze the latest happenings. Yorik and his niece were gone along with Shade and their whole company, Lisbeth was still out of reach of the mercs' vengeful grasp, Karc gave Ibrahim half the money from the artifact hunt as promised, which was 19.200 rubles , and the existence of the Oasis was still doubtful in the Chechen's eyes. On top of all that Ibrahim's Galil has proven itself impractical in close combat during the "Mutant onslaught". The Merc needed something more compact and close ranged and he found just what he was looking for one day when he was stocking up on supplies with Hawaiian.

"Look man" said the trader showing off a black shiny Mossberg 88 "this baby's whatcha lookin' for. Detachable stock, 8-round, 20 inch barrel"

"Perhaps it is..." Ibrahim said considering. Shotgun was undoubtedly deadly at close range and the Galil would always be there should things get out of range.

After a moments silence the talkative loud trader could wait no longer.
"So, my friend, you buyin' this pretty little-"

"Yes, fine, I'm buying" Ibrahim interrupted the rant. He never was the man for long talks.

"That's what I wanted to hear!" said Hawaiian placing the shotgun on the counter next to the food and medication.

Ibrahim packed the food and meds away in his bag and thanked the trader for his assistance. Hawaiian immediately discarded the Merc and moved on to attracting another customer to his shop. Ibrahim turned the corner of the station's main hall and went through Duty territory to the local technician all the while being eyed by the faction guardsmen. Ibrahim entered a small cluttered room with one single Dutyer fiddling with a pistol mechanism. When he looked up the Merc immediately said: "I'm looking for Nitro, I guess that is you".

When ,in a few days time, the shotgun was fitted out with a barrel extension and active counterweights and the suit had been upgraded to near perfection in Ibrahim's mind with night-vision, synthetic alternatives, a gas mask, constane electroisolation liner and fiberglass thermal insulation, Ibrahim transferred 27,500 rubles to Nitro, leaving only 1900 rubles in his pocket he still felt the money were well spent.

At that point Ibrahim received a message on his PDA from his commander telling him to get to the common room, thankfully it was just next door. When Ibrahim arrived everyone had already gathered and were seemingly ready to move out. Ibrahim passed Sejanus giving him a pat on the shoulder, nodded to Sejanus' merc and to the sniper and then moved over to shake hands with Karc. When that was done Ibrahim stood in silence, as always, to listen to the plan.

CHECK