Story Area

Welcome to Legends of Karma: Unsung Heroes!
While most of the stories follow the generals of the Karma, this story follows a different group; a squad known as Delta-5. Their small beginnings will work towards a grand adventure, which eventually leads them up to one of the most important parts of the war, and hopefully in that, find hope to win. If you're here to read along, feel free to enjoy. If you've come to play, message me and feel free to ask any questions you'd like. Lore of the world will be updated and posted here: PUT LINK HERE LATER.

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The galaxy has been in war for a few years now. For whichever reason in your personal background, you have enlisted to join the Karma Alliance. You were drafted as a replacement squadron known as “Delta-5” on the main flagship of the entire fleet, The Karma itself. You stand in a group of other Privates, all standing in a group, waiting for someone to arrive. Finally, after standing around for what seems like hours, a door slides open, and in walks two humans in officer uniforms. One appears to be a captain and the other appears to be wearing a regular, white-collar worker suit. The captain enters with poise and gives a distinguished tone, while the other walks in with a smile and a friendlier aura. The group stand up straighter as the captain approaches. He finally barks out, “Alright soldiers, line up!” You and the group scramble together to form a straight line, which the captain begins to pace in front of. He looks at each of you and begins to talk while he paces, inspecting your group.

“I am Captain Gleeson. When I ask for a response, I want to hear nothing but ‘Yes, Captain’. Is that understood?”

“Yes, Captain!” the group replies.

“You have all enlisted in the greatest army the galaxy has ever assembled, and now we need to find out if you have what it takes to keep it that way. I’m your final say. If you don’t appear to be Delta-5 material, you’ll be shipped back home. Is that understood?”

“Yes, Captain!”

Captain Gleeson begins at the end of the line, and asks each soldier a series of general questions, asking who they are, why they’re here, etc. Eventually he works his way down the line to you.

“And what about you?” The captain asks, looking straight into your eyes. You feel a great presence come from him as you open your mouth to reply.

OOC, general character questions:

-What is your character’s name?
-What is your race, gender, physical appearance, etc.? Human, robot, or any alien race you want to invent
-Where does your character come from? What is their story?
-What drives your character? What keeps them going when others get him down?
-Why has your character chosen to join the Karma Alliance?
-Who does your character look up to? Do they have Heroes of inspiration?
-Any other important details you would like to add!

Captain Gleeson’s questions:

-“What is your name?”
-“Why do you want to join the Karma Alliance’s Grand Army?”
-“What skills do you bring to make this army greater?”

-What is your character’s name?
Laeron Callax.

-What is your race, gender, physical appearance, etc.?
Male - generational Legend. One of Laeron’s ancestors was once fortunate enough to come across a rare liquid capsule, and from it, gained the ability to heal rapidly. The gene was passed down through his lineage, however it was watered down and his DNA was at points influenced by other alien and human genes. Laeron’s body retains the unnatural healing ability on a smaller scale, and he is able to heal flesh wounds in hours rather than days. However a severe wound will kill him as easily as any other being, the healing process being too slow to prevent bleeding out. He cannot regrow limbs, and is just as vulnerable to illnesses that do not attack cells as any other being.
Originally human generation’s back, Laeron’s race is officially recorded as ‘mixed’ to do exterior influences. Thus his skin is pale, and his eyes a startling blue. This is not often noticed however as his pupils are usually dilated.

-Where does your character come from? What is their story?
Laeron was born on Earth, and grew up among humans and some other Legends, rare as they were. He was always jealous of his Legend friends’ developed abilities. His own were useless and nowhere near powerful in comparison. Looking so different, he was not totally welcome among humans either. As such he turned to other forms of entertainment. As he could heal quickly, he had no issue surviving fights, and his jealousy sometimes erupted into violence. By a young age, he was a capable fighter.

As he grew older, searching for purpose, he fell into substance abuse, both alien and human. Due to his healing, he found that his body could take far more punishment than others’. He began chasing plateau after plateau, going to lengths that others could not survive. It became a game. He eventually found himself making a living doing contract work - anything goes. He even spent some time as a bounty hunter, which served as an excellent source of stimulus and finance, as well as combat training. He uses handguns, sometimes one in each hand, for the personal aspect of the kill.
His mind became obsessed with heightened experiences - physical, emotional, spiritual. The drugs meant very little anymore. He only needed stimulation, and he searched for euphoria and pain and human experience at every turn. Each sensation, colors, feelings, touch, emotion, are now unraveling in his mind and forming into a clump of nerves tied to dopemine. Wires have become crossed, and danger, fear and pain are in the mix also. He is however ruled by instinct, like all creatures, and will find it difficult to fight the urge to survive and the fight or flight response. Death is the final experience, and it is not yet time.

-What drives your character? What keeps them going when others get him down?
Thirst for experiences. For this reason he will rarely be dissuaded from anything.

-Why has your character chosen to join the Karma Alliance?
Laeron has joined the Karma Alliance to experience the joys of the Art of War. The (presumed?) salary could finance his unhinged and fluctuating lifestyle.

-Who does your character look up to? Do they have Heroes of inspiration?
He has no need for anyone who won’t personally interact with him, causing stimulus.

-Any other important details you would like to add!
Inspiration of the “obsession with experience” idea is the Chaos God of Indulgence Slannesh from WH40K.

Captain Gleeson’s questions:

-“What is your name?”
The new recruit rapidly blinks, cocking his head. Seemingly realising that it was he being addressed, he answered much louder then needed: "Laeron! Laeron Callax! Sir!”. He leans into the recruit beside him and whispers, “This is fun!”

-“Why do you want to join the Karma Alliance’s Grand Army?”
He snaps back to attention when addressed again, but becomes distracted just as quickly. Raising a hand, he studies it. It appears to be shaking slightly. “Oh, I think there’s some fighting to be had? Am I in the right place?”

-“What skills do you bring to make this army greater?”
Laeron suddenly looks the General in the eyes. “If you want something done, and I think it’s interesting, I’ll do it. Oh, they say I kill well, too. What’s your policy on, er, medical substances? Actually, don’t answer that...”

The captain's face twitches a bit as he stiffened up to give a response.

"If I give you an order to do something, Private Callax, I expect you to do it whether you find it 'interesting' or not!" Gleeson says, looking straight into Laeron's eyes. "I won't tolerate anyone taking this war as a joke. So straighten out!" With his immediate concerns conveyed and his pride at least momentarily satisfied, Gleeson moves down the line.

Reply to:

"Oh, interesting... A temper! Ooh, and a commanding officer, that is new too. I like this place..." Laeron muses to an imaginary audience. If any of his fellow recruits hear him, Laeron doesn't care to notice. His eyes begin to wander, taking in every detail in the room, but he did his best not to draw too much attention. He had enough undertanding of human nature to know that attention may lead to problems, and that there are not meant to be problems in forces like this one. Problems would be dealt with in nasty fashions. "Just like back home..."

OOC, general character questions:

-What is your character’s name?
"Indie (N.D.)" Nicholas Dun
-What is your race, gender, physical appearance, etc.? Human, robot, or any alien race you want to invent
Human male, 5 foot, 11 inches. Curly blond hair
-Where does your character come from? What is their story?
ND grew up in the shadow of the tide of new space age technology. His natural charisma put him at the head of his own youthful gang which was based in a spaceship junkyard collecting mountains of damaged and rusting ships - mostly wrecked Gyrtek Auroras, the modern equivalent of the model-T. It wasn't long before he wanted to get behind the controls of one himself. He stole his first spaceship at the age of 13, a classic Aurora. He's been stealing ships ever since. Until now, he took on a score too big. Tired of flying Civilian ships he wanted to get his hands on an armed ship. His getting away skills didn't quite match up with his hijacking skills. His extensive records finally caught up to him and now he is set to serve many years behind bars. Not even a month into his sentence a unique opportunity arises: He trades his remaining sentence for enlistment in the Karma Alliance. Get out alive and he is a free man.

-What drives your character? What keeps them going when others get him down?
He is a spaceship enthusiast, a poor man chasing a rich man's hobby. Nothing gets his blood pumping more than the thrill of flying. Even better when it's not his.

-Why has your character chosen to join the Karma Alliance?
Serve the Alliance, get your freedom. That's the deal.

-Who does your character look up to? Do they have Heroes of inspiration?
As a Kid, he was inspired by the racers who piloted their ships in the dangerous Luna Race. Space racing has been a thing of the past for more than a decade now- these days he is his own hero. Though he still gets nostalgic when he finds himself behind the controls of a classic ship.

-Any other important details you would like to add!
Notably, he has done a good deed at least once. He put his skills to use to steal back a prized ship, the first Luna Race championship racer. Upon returning this valuable ship back to the owner, a retired mechanic who worked on that very ship in his glory days, he was rewarded with the very grapple hook he uses to break the law today. He has become rather good at using the grappling hook in all manners of his life and almost always has the heavy contraption draped over his shoulder.
Captain Gleeson’s questions:

-“What is your name?”

A few more seconds of lip-smacking occur as savors his bubble gum. "Indie", he says, as if he has rehearsed it a thousand times.

-“Why do you want to join the Karma Alliance’s Grand Army?”

"So long as the deal still stands, I fancy my freedom.", he flicks away his bangs from in front of his eyes.

-“What skills do you bring to make this army greater?”

A loud pop echoes through the hall followed by indie pulling the chewing gum back into his mouth. This might've been mistaken for his answer had any more time had passed, but he breaks the silence just in time, "I can fly a ship, if you'd let me". He follows this answer up with a conniving smile.

Gleeson stiffens his whole body as if it were the first time he were offended in this lineup, and takes a leather-gloved from his pocket to put on his hand. In a quick motion, he reaches out and snatches the gum from Indies mouth.

"Perhaps your walk of life hasn't taught you proper military doctrine, but you can guarantee that I will." Gleeson says, handing the gum off to Bondy, who looks confused as to what to do with it. "I'll be keeping a special eye on you, Private." He gives another glare and turns to walk away. Behind his back, Bondy slides the Private a fresh stick of gum from his pocket and gives him a wink before catching up to keep pace.

The rest of the captain's inspection goes by without major incident, despite some of the rather colorful characters assembled in this gathering. Half of the group seems to be regular, well-organized soldiers while the other half consisted of the opposite; people and creatures one wouldn't normally associate with a proper military. Among those outliers stand rough-looking alien races, a giant war-machine with more guns than seems necessary, even a small kid, who the captain wasn't sure was even in the right place at first, but apparently all of them were where they were assigned to. The captain moves back to the center of the group to address the line.

"Delta-5! You've all been brought here for a reason!" Gleeson begins, engaging everyone in eye contact at least once. "The Karma is the pinnacle ship of the Alliance, and so I expect you to know her well. Maps of the ships layout have been sent to your datapad. Get to know the facilities she has to offer in your time here." He takes a few steps over toward his compatriot. "Bondy will be assigning you your bunk and locker in the barracks in room D5. See him before you leave. You have until tomorrow, and then I expect you in this hangar at 0-600 for our first field exercise. Dismissed!" Gleeson turns and marches to the exit of the hangar. Bondy flips a few pages on his clipboard and straightens up with a smile.

"Okay, Delta-5!" Bondy pipes up. "Line up and give me your name so I can assign your bunk and locker number! Then you can enjoy the day on the best ship in the Alliance!"

The fevered-minded private stared at each recruit in turn as they were, as far as he could tell, cleansed of sin by the Captain. The scene became all the more entertaining when certain individuals, clearly not militarised, were brave enough to talk back. From his own confrontation, he had gathered that this sort of carry on may result negatively, and he filed the information away for later use. He had never quiet seen anything like it, and as a result, his excitement was beginning to get the better of him. As people around him moved for some unknow reason, Laeron fishes around in his pocket for a sedative, finds one in pill form, and swallows it quickly as he falls into place behind his new brothers in arms.
In the line he spots a male, humanoid if nor human, with long, sandy hair. As the seditive begins to take effect, he becomes mesmerised by the way in which the hair bobs and flows with the humanoids movement. “Oohhh...!”
A thought occurs: “That pill was most definitely, not sedative...”
From sidelong glances around him, he realises that he may have thought the last thought with his mouth, not his mind.
All of a sudden, Laeron is top of the line.
“Uh, hi. Laeron is me. I mean... yeah. Sir.”

Indie takes the offering and has a bubble blowing nearly as soon as he gets it in his mouth. When his turn comes up in line he says his last name, "Dun.". He notices one of the other recruits acting weirdly but brushes it off. He doesn't relate to any of this military buffs and he never wants to.

Bondy flips through a couple pages on his clipboard, looking for names. His eyes squint as he gets close.

"Laeron, Laeron...Here we are! Bunk and locker 121! Here's the key." He hands Laeron a small silvery key. "You're free to check out the rest of the Karma. Hope to see you around!"

...

Bondy flips through a few pages and speaks to Indie as he does so.

"Hey, don't worry much about Gleeson." He starts. "Well, I mean, DO, but don't worry too much. He knows why you're here but he doesn't hate you or anything." He squinted at the paper. "Bunk and locker 49. Don't start any trouble!" He delivers the key and last remark with his usual smile.

With the key in hand, Indie slides away and begins exploring the Karma. In the time that he's been waiting he's hatched a plan to make the most of his time in enlisted life: While he is a pretty good hijacker, the rest of his skills need improved. He has never held a gun and he can count at least two different times during his last hijacking where it would have helped him. With this in mind he begins seeking out the Armory and gun range, if they have one. Time permitting, he will then try to see the arsenal of ships that the Karma keeps on it, and with any luck get familiar with the operation of an armed ship.

It isn't too long before Indie finds him self heading towards the right direction.

Following the appropriately labeled signs, Indie navigates through the hallways of the massive flagship. Several times he passes by soldiers and officers either relaxed or on what looked like important business. Nobody gave him a second glance though; everybody there assumed he'd belonged because he had a uniform. A nice change of pace to have the authority turn him a blind eye without so much as a suspicious look, he thought.

Finally he had arrived at his first destination, and headed in the doorway. A woman stood behind the desk, acting a little nervously, which seemed appropriate if she as new to this job as Indie was to his.

"Hello," the woman waved. "Welcome to the Armory." Her greeting hadn't sounded well-rehearsed. She widened her eyes and bore a grin that seemed determined. "What can I do for you?"

Indie speaks up in the least embarrassing way possible, what he chirps out might be the most uncool thing he's said since he stepped out of his cell back on earth. "I need weapon training please." He can't remember the last time he asked for something, his philosophy has always been to take, or borrow. Already he can tell military life is going to be annoying.

"Oh." The woman takes a breath and then almost sighs in relief. "Well im not the one who trains you, but I can certainly supply your training tool. There's always someone in the firing range willing to teach the new recruits." She looked surprised as the words left her lips. "Oh! YOU'RE a new recruit! One second."

She spins around and signs a few papers. "Well welcome aboard! I hope you find the Karma to your liking. Uhmm..." She searches on the gun racks for a moment and then with a light slap to her forehead she spins back around. "Right, duh. Hand scan there." She points to a terminal on the desktop. "And then what kind of weapon you want? Rifle? Pistol? Oh, and Kinetic or Energy?"

Indie lets on a smile, "Well, I can't imagine I could wield a rifle with one hand", He glances to his heavy grappling hook machine equipped to his left arm. 'I suppose a pistol then, and it's a toss-up for the type. I haven't a clue which is better." After a few quick moments of pondering, hardly careful by any measure, he decides to select the kinetic-based pistol and denotes this selection with a point of a finger.

The woman looks at the grappling hook device and makes an interested and acknowledging noise.

She takes a deep breath like she's about to give a long-winded speech, then quickly deflates after Indie points to the pistol.

"Right." She says. She grabs a pistol from on the rack, then double checks it along a set of guidelines. She places it along with a box of ammunition on the desk. "Okay! This is your standard 10mm semi-automatic pistol! Heres the safety, keep it holstered while onboard the ship, and never point it at anybody but the enemy. The rest of the teaching will be up to the instructor at the range. Just follow the signs." She smiles and nods to the man in front of her. "Got that?"

Indie was sure he said 'yeah sure', or at the very least gave an acknowledging nod, but the distasteful look on the woman's face made him think for a moment that perhaps he didn't. As far as he knows she maybe didn't even have a distasteful look, he was already turning around before she finished speaking. Maybe he is just assuming. He looks up and finds he is in the range, which is lucky really because he isn't sure how long he has been walking around minding his thoughts.

After a while of absent-minded walking, the range didn't feel like it was that far at all. Probably wasn't.

The range was filled with recruits and veterans side-by-side all engaged in training or mentoring. An officer approaches Indie from a stand, dressed in his uniform that demonstrated a similar ranking to Gleeson.

"Good afternoon!" The officer called over the sound of the different types of gunfire. "You here to shoot?"

Laeron walked for what felt like hours. Somehow he did not seem to be getting anywhere. Each step was like dragging tree trucks, and he swore that he would label his cemicals from now on. He spotted an officer in uniform across the room - somehow he was still in the same room that the Captain had addressed the recruits from earlier. Maybe he could help him find his way around. Realisation hit him: "I gotta be walking in circles...?"
After some time, he noticed something strange. All his fellow recruits seemed to be in the same room as earlier, just like him. Why had nobody left?
Curiosity growing, he attempted again to move towards the man in uniform. He was no closer. "What is..." -
He looked down. His foot seemed to be stuck in some sort of sticky stubstance. Was that...?
"Chewing gum?", he muttered. Reaching down, Laeron forcable lifted his boot from the floor, and placed it forward. Aha! He had not, in fact, been moving at all! Intriguing...
He glanced at a time telling device on his datapad. Five minutes had passed since his convesation with that nice man... Bodie? Blondie?. "Could've sworn it was longer then that..."

The next stretch of time, however long it may have been, was a maze of corridors, uniforms and secruity clearance checks. Each passage and room appeared the same. Everything seemed to have an similar colour-scheme. Finally, Laeron found himself in a larger room. This one had a person, sitting at a desk - something new at last? A sign on the wall read 'Armoury'. He moved towards them - no, she; a woman.

The woman, finishing up what look like paper work, calls for the recruit to enter. As Laeron steps up to the desk, the woman smiles.

"Hello!" She says cheerfully. "Welcome to the Armory! What can I do for you?"

"Uh, hullo. Yes."
The woman seemed to speak again, but Laeron could not hear her. He looked down at his datapad, and tried to raise the volume on it. The woman was as inaudiable as ever. Typcial technology... Always letting you down when you needed it most...
He settled instead for watching her lips move until they stopped. When they did, he presumed, it would be his social cue.
She stopped and seemed to be awaiting input from him. He stood, hesitent, for a second, then just said, "Yes".
It must have worked, because the woman was now pointing towards various types of weaponary. Laeron eagarly searched for something he had never tried before. Oh!
"Is that a flamethrower?"
Laeron stopped to ponder that decision. A flamethrower in this state was not a good idea.
"Can I have a pistol on second thoughts? I might try the Flamethrower later..."

Indie steps out of the shooting range with a bright smile on his face, he feels that he made a perfect choice choosing this weapon. The recoil felt perfect, and even though he wasn't a perfect shot, shooting came naturally to him. With a bit more shooting he might even become pretty good. He's really anxious to shoot some targets while using his grappling hook, that would surely give him an edge. For now though, he proudly struts through the halls with his new pistol holstered to his side.

The woman sets an energy-based laser pistol in front of Laeron hesitantly before hanging up a few of the other weapons sitting on the desk.

"So this pistol should be good enough for what you need." She says. "If you want to practice with it at all, we have the shooting range nearby. Just follow the signs in the hallway if you get lost."

---

Walking aimlessly down the halls, Indie passes one of the series of signs that he used to find his destinations. If he kept walking straight, he'd pass by the Mess Hall and Barracks. He could also turn left to go by Engineering. A few other key destinations like Generals Quarters and the Bridge were listed with a few arrows to designate multiple turns.

Having sobered up a little, Laeron smileed a little too widely at the woman and took the weapon, before wobbling in the direction that she had indicated. His first target practice was a combination of near misses and flukes, however he found that he liked the energy pistol. He presumed that it might be a little lighter than an kinetic one, and would likely have a faster reload time. He wasn't sure, so he attempted to ask a nearby officer.