The ISC Phoenix - Volume 2 is the continuation of the ISC Phoenix plot line, following the adventures of the legendary hero Luca Pavone and his loyal team of scientists, soldiers and aliens in a quest to perform impossible tasks, fight audacious enemies and become improbably famous.

In 2012, ISC Phoenix Volume II was awarded the Simulation Cup for Excellence in Readability.

The ISC Phoenix Vol. 2 is currently running on this forum. The plot's main focus is no-holds barred action, with comedic overtones and philosophical undertones about the nature of heroism and the reconstruction of common narrative conventions in Science Fiction and Action.

The Phoenix plot began prior to October 04, 2007; Volume 1 ended on the 5th of November, 2012; and this continuation formally began on the 16th of December, 2012.

The plot's RPG Rating is 323.

The ISC Phoenix is currently in Sargasso, on the Rigs with the Phoenix Service Group and around town, recovering after the previous missions.

HEY! We are looking for people right now!

PM or IRC contact Luca with your character idea, and he OK's it, submit it to the New Character Biographies forum. Once approved, he will figure out how get your character into the action as soon as he can. However, certain missions may not allow new players to join instantly due to remoteness of location or secrecy of mission.

Generally, users are required to post at least once a week. However, this can be ignored if the GM is given notice. If you're having problems IRL, don't be afraid to give him a heads up so you can deal with them without them breathing down your neck.

Characters who are not played or do not contact the GM for more than two weeks otherwise, are reassigned to stay in Sargasso for domestic duties unless given other instructions.

You can contact the GM in this IRC Chatroom, #ISCPhoenixII on Sorcery Net.

These are PC characters whose players have gone inactive, but are still being used as NPC's.

	Name	Rank	Played By	Role	Codename	Theme Music	Assignment
	Ellen Katsuragi?	5-Diamonds	Kai	Vigilante			?
	Lodemucker Five-Four	3-Spades	Primitive Polygon	Demolitons
	Cassandra Cassiopeia	5-Spades	Lunar Rabbit	Mecha Pilot
	Makari Aeron	9-Spades	Phe0n1x	Cowboy		Three Days Grace - The Good Life	Acquiring guns, explosives, and currency
	Shayla McBelle	7-Hearts	Reynolds	Medic, Barbarian
	Redrick 'Red' Callahan	7-Hearts	Born-on-board	Chef
	Rebeka Renata	9-Spades	Osaka/Osakanone	Rebeka	Pudding		Watch Luca
	Vitalia Pavone	3-Hearts	Gallant	Assistant Pavone	Cub		Luca's Daughter
TBD	Noppera	3-Spades	The Real Bames Jond	Infiltrator	-	-	-
	Zeta Five	Jack-Spades	ShotJon	Heavy Hitter	Bulldog	Queen - Another one bites the dust	Worry about Luca
	Vincienzo Bortelli	Jack-Clubs	Lamb	Rogue	Hamster		?
	Sheshren Aisaras Soruk	9-Spades	Shammy	Infiltrator, CQC		AC:Brotherhood Master Assassin	Unknown

These crew members are under the control of the GM.

	Name	Rank	Role	Codename	Theme Music	Assignment
	John Morris	King-Diamonds	Pilot	Buzzard		Fly the Ship(s)
	Melissa Jones	Jack-Spades	Sniper	Swallow		Recon
	Allison Kelly	Jack-Diamonds	Engineer	Gopher		Fix ALL the things
	Echelon	7-Diamonds/Clubs	Hacker, Gadgeteer	Robot		Hack ALL the things

All relevant NPC biographies are here: ISC Phoenix NPCs

These characters have left either through prolonged inactivity on their player's part or by choice.

The Roles and Rank structure of the Phoenix are flexible, and meant mostly to show seniority and their preferred role within the Phoenix's structure, with longer serving members having higher ranks.

• Spade - People in the Spades Suit are usually thrown facefirst into combat (with their own legs), and usually come out unscathed. Spades also overlap with leadership roles when other suits are involved.
• Diamonds - Those in the Diamond Suit are responsible for making sure supplies are bought, managed and maintained. They also have an overlap with the mechanical aspects of the ship, such as keeping it running and inventing gadgetry.
• Hearts - The Hearts suit is required to be able to look out for your fellow crewman. This is usually done by keeping them fed, watered, patched up and happy.
• Clubs - Unfittingly, the Clubs' job is to put a good face on the Phoenix brand, manage information and intel. They are also responsible for representing Luca when he cannot properly represent himself. (A mercifully rare occurrence.)

Promotions are earned by participation, or by exceptional stunts.

• Sargasso (Planetside Base of Operations on Nepleslia Prime)
• The ISC Big Bird (Vampire Class Cruiser)
• The Crimson Kestrel (Modified Courier 2A)
• The Base (Former Base of Operations in Nepleslia)

The History of the ISC Phoenix is split into 'Seasons' for ease of reading.

• Season 1 - The Privateer Begins (Blue Jacket)
• Season 2 - The Hero Rises (Brown Jacket)
• Season 3 - The Legend Continues (Orange Pointy Shades)

We are currently in Season 4 - The Myth Fell. (Grapple Stunner)

For the month and a half following the Delsauria Incident, Luca Pavone was assumed to be dead. It was not the case - he was hiding in the shadows and striking at criminal elements with unseen brutality and away from the rest of the world. The only person there to comfort him in his isolation was his daughter, Vitalia Pavone, daughter of the deceased Naoko Aihara. After having the crap beaten out of him by Aerin Tatst, Luca Pavone was set straight - realising that he'd lost his way, and had to learn how to feel fear and to feel a challenge again. He felt ready to face the world again, now knowing all of the consequences that his actions would have.

Using a Kessaku OS computer he'd lifted off of some Nekovalkyrja, he sent a global message out to anyone who'd heed him - he was coming back and he was looking for people to come along on his journey to fight alongside him. Faces old and new came back to greet him and answer his summons - but the old guard are wary of him. All the while, Vitalia's identity remains in the dark, and her parentage uncertain to the crew at large.

During this stage, Dr. Aiesu Kalopsia (Ayetseu Karoupshea) L'manel¹⁾ of the Lazarus Consortium came into contact with him and offered a solution to his problems and offered to become a sponsor, autonomy valued and intact so long as he keeps doing what he does best. She made a discovery about Luca though - he was dying slowly, rotting from the inside out from his injuries sustained on Delsauria.

Their first mission was delivered to them by a man who lived in a town called Handler's Reach. He explained to the Phoenix Team that everyone town looked like they'd lost their minds and their memories, becoming passive and mindless. Luca agreed to take the job - for the sole reason that it'd be a way for him to 'stretch his legs' and settle back into what he did best.

Scott Smith and Panther stayed behind to monitor the man and see if the virus had done him any harm while the others went ahead to start doing on-site investigation. What they saw confirmed what the miner had told them - the people had indeed lost their minds. They found a mysterious woman walking the town seemingly unaffected and when confronted for questioning - disappeared into a mess of polygons and triangles.

Pressing on with their investigation after a search for the woman proved inconclusive, Scott and Panther reported that they had results, and were flown over. While that was happening, Allison and Echelon discovered that the town's water filtration plant was disconnected from the grid - and yet it was still pumping water independent of having any power connected to the grid. They also discovered the location of her base - and after being confronted, the woman turned out to be a Nekovalkyrja by the name of Aoi, whose goals are trying to discover the cause and cure for the chemical that's come over the town. Seiren discovered that there were teenagers around the docks district

As the investigations came to a head, night fell over the town, and a portion of the people in it begun to wake up. Luca had promised not to harm too many of the innocents affected by the chemical, but his and his team's hands were forced. Meanwhile Zeta, Ellen, Panther and Enzo made their way to the water filtration plant to figure out what was wrong and discovered that the root of the problem was there. Seiren, Bronzi and Makari were conscripted by Aoi to guide her down the street and to a dockside warehouse, containing a gang that she'd bought with her initially, thinking that the entire town's strange behaviour was cause to start a teenage spree of looting and loitering - they had partially lost their memories and their minds to the chemical, and were under Aoi's care.

The team at the water filtration plant discovered that it had been spiked with a chemical delivered via an algae culture that spiked the water, and they also discovered a watcher on site. They gave chase and pinned him down. It was a lorath male who claimed to be a bagman and an observer. Enzo was the first to interrogate him, but it was clear that he was buying time, however didn't agree with this and shot him in the face at point blank. They then came back to town to deliver the samples of the contaminated water and the corpse of the bagman. A fire sparked at the plant created a black cloud of of the chemical. The fire was put out by Ellen. Luca feared it'd turn into a rainstorm of the currently unidentified chemical and called everyone back.

Once the samples were delivered, Luca got into in contact with Aiesu to figure out what the chemical is, streaming biological data to her, as well as photos and other evidence to her. She determined that it was a heavily modified version of Motiva, a behaviour modification drug. They dubbed the fake Motiva as 'D-Motiva'. Her solution was to look for as much normal Motiva and use it to create Motiva Negative, a negation drug that cancels the effects of Motiva. The main problem was, how do you take a small amount of it scattered around town and distribute it? Simple - with a bomb. Aiesu also observed that the weather patterns meant that the raincloud cloud of D-Motiva was going to get larger and larger and spread out across the planet of Nepleslia Prime. Even though the fire at the Water Plant was put out, preventing the cloud from getting bigger - but it was still spreading…

The problem multiplied when the black cloud started getting bigger, and it started raining over Handler's Reach. The rain made the already aggressive townsfolk even worse. It was also starting to coax the wildlife out of the sewers. The team was attacked by mutated crocodiles at the dockside warehouse. They were charged by Aoi to protect her wards and fend them back while Scott and Luca delivered a bomb full of Motiva Negative and flew above the city to drop it on top of the cloud and blow it up within.

They blew it up. They blew up a cloud. The Motiva Negative had a strange reaction to the D-Motiva. It absorbed it and begun to multiply, drowning out and replacing the D-Motiva and rendering the chemical harmless. Aiesu was aghast, expecting the worse outcome to occur. The team regrouped and took inventory of what was happening as the rain of Motiva Negative was slowly making people return to their senses. They noticed that the rainstorm over the town had now gained the taste of urine, and it was spreading across the planet whilst simultaneously destroying the D-Motiva. That gave everyone reason to be aghast, and the weathermen had a field day.

Aiesu said that it was intentional. Luca and company were not amused.

On the way back to Sargasso, it was raining, just as Aiesu had predicted. Nobody was amused. There in Sargasso, waiting for Luca at Lina's bar was Tani Mako. She got the call, and was interested to see what this job would do for her - she claimed to be on shore leave from the Yamataian Star Army indefinitely - and had to bring a Mindy with her too. Luca found nothing wrong with this but was wondering what her angle on all this was.

In addition, the mousey Phoenix Reeves wanted to join too. Luca accepted them both into the crew and got Allison and Echelon to show them around while Luca went to move House with Vitalia and move the contents of his apartment back into the Crimson Kestrel. However, there was an unexpected guest waiting in the Crimson Kestrel - the enigmatic alien Rebeka Renata sent by Lazarus to 'Watch Luca'.

While Luca was moving the contents of his apartment back into his Captain's Quarters, he discovered a note from Ellen. She'd left to seek help for her problem with Aerin. In addition, he suffered a flashback about Naoko Aihara when he saw her possessions where they were left on that fateful day. Allison and Echelon devised a plan to calm him down, using Zeta's help.

Rebeka and Seiren had bonded over the latter's candymaking skills and LEAF frame. Rebeka took a shine to the pint-sized inventor's stature and hobbies, as well as smelling like sugar most of the time. Their strange connection was very strange to the casual observer, the inventor being four foot nine, and Rebeka being almost seven feet tall and alien of proportions.

Meanwhile, Luca contacted Aiesu and told her to get to Sargasso - they were going to crack the construct they'd found wide open and interrogate it. Bronzi had his reservations about whose construct it was and if there'd be any blowback. They extracted the modem and talked to the mostly-intact head of the Construct - codenamed Zedd. However, hollow threats and circular discussions lead Luca and Aiesu to grow tired of its gibes after he got what he wanted out of it, and told Rebeka to eat Zedd's construct's head.

Aiesu and Luca were unperturbed and the Llmanel's next job was to crack the modem and bring back as much information as she could within the next week or so.

It starts with a catapulting nightmare. Luca waking up screaming and sweating in his bed with Zeta trying to calm him down frantically. Others were woken up during the middle of the night, but the rest of the evening proceeded without incident. Upon waking up, Luca called a meeting, looking decidedly restless - whether for lack of sleep or for some action.

Once everyone arrived for the meeting, he begun poring through the evidence with the Construct's input noted, Luca decided to make a move on Lagrange, and he figured the best place for it would be on Yamatai (Planet), and told his crew to prepare accordingly. In addition, he informed the crew of his desire to make a body change with the assistance of his former Medic, Jimothi Trakk.

Echelon and Allison bought themselves a Mimicom body so Echelon could blend in with the Yamataian populace. Nostrovia of the IPG materialised near Luca to offer him 'advice and support' for the upcoming mission - mostly that a lot was riding on this and if he screwed up, it could be war between Nepleslia, Lor and Yamatai.

Just as quickly as she appeared, she disappeared. Luca gave the order to start moving and set course for Yamatai Prime. It wasn't difficult to get a parking space thanks to the Phoenix's celebrity status, but going through customs was still something everyone had to do - no matter how big or small you were. The only members to stay aboard the Phoenix were the original instance of Echelon (A Mimicom took her place groundside), John, Melissa and Vita.

While the team was getting checked out by customs officers, Luca discovered Sheshren Aisaras Soruk and the large number of weapons that were being lifted off of his person. Attracted to this quality immediately, Luca started striking up a conversation with the assassin.

Once everyone was through customs, they found a hotel called the Ishimura Heights Hotel and called a taxi to it. Luca was aiming for keeping things low profile, but the Penthouse suite was rented out for the foreseeable duration of the mission. Echelon started searching for any weaknesses in Lagrange's security by searching through its Freespacer members and discovered that one of them would be having lunch in an upscale cafe in the Kyoto Central Business District.

From this, a plan was formulated to try and con the Freespacer, with Enzo and Reeves as the two conmen while Allison and Echelon acted as lookout close to Enzo, while Makari and Soruk acted as damage control if things got out of hand. Seiren and Rebeka stayed back at the hotel to keep watch there and tinker with a cigarette-flavoured distraction.

On the way out from the lobby and towards the marked Cafe, the team ran into Shayla McBelle, her gargantuan frame immediately getting the attention of Luca. The two struck up a brief conversation and went their separate ways - Luca's team to commence the mission, and McBelle to go find some lunch for the afternoon.

The team took a leisurely stroll through the Yamataian cityscape, taking in the sights and sounds before finding the Cafe and getting into position at the Upscale Cafe. By coincidence, Shayla was eating there too, and not necessarily factored into the plan but just there. The Freespacer was spotted heading into the Cafe and Enzo, having donned the guise of businessman Glenn Stapleton, flagging down the Freespacer and starting a thread of conversation about computer security.

While this happened, Makari and Soruk noticed a decidedly unruly looking Nekovalkyrja flanked by a pair of ursine-aspected Llmanel. Flagging a problem, Luca and Makari gave the team some warning of their approach. When they entered the cafe, all hell broke lose and the situation went from a simple con to a hostage extraction. Shayla proved to be an ace in the hole as she assisted the Phoenix team, recognising them from earlier and assisting them by smashing one of the Llmanel apart.

Police descended on the scene as the Freespacer was extracted in Enzo's getaway. Luca ordered for everyone to scatter and regroup at the hotel as he followed Enzo's getaway and found himself chased by a pair of Nekovalkyrja police officers - or so he thought. While he engaged in hi-tailing action with them and a fistfight on the hull of Enzo's Lady of the Night, he was on the phone to SAINT - who confirmed that those two officers were acting above their orders, and were impostors who'd swooped in on the chaos to try and snatch the Freespacer for themselves. Luca dealt with them by using a building.

Back at the Hotel, Seiren and Rebeka had finished constructing 'the distraction' and gave Luca a call to see what was going on. Some distinctly odd behaviour came from the Sourcian, who seemed jubilant in Seiren's presence. Incredulous, he gave Aiesu a call and reported the situation as it unfolded to him. Aiesu seemed surprised by the behaviour, and told Luca about Rebeka's previous ward, Dico, who was very similar in physical proportions and role to Seiren. They were small, and they made decisions. Shrugging the similarity as a coincidence, he didn't worry too hard about Seiren's safety.

While he was in that phone call, Allison spoke to the Freespacer they'd extracted. Only yesterday, the Freespacer was 'just doing their job' when they'd noticed an anomaly in the paper trails that day. They showed their coworker, who reported it to their superiors, who got the reply to 'keep it under their hat'. Today, they found their coworker missing. Attempts to contact them failed, they'd dropped off the grid. While they went for lunch, they contacted anyone on the Polysentience for help, and Echelon was the first responder.

Soon, the team touched down back at the hotel in some way or form. Instead of calling a meeting immediately, Luca called for some downtime for the team to consolidate their assets and rest.

Downtime was had in luxury at the penthouse of the Ishimura Heights Hotel. Luca and his crew were free to unwind without fear of reprisal with the freespacer. Shortly into the evening, a Maid appeared - or at least the IPG Agent Nostrovia dressed as a maid appeared. For such a predatory woman, it was an unfitting attire. She explained that she was now a part of DATASS, and the Phoenix is now under their scrutiny. She focussed on the positives, like the additional resources wherever the Phoenix goes, but Luca mentioned the additional oversight and possibly red tape he'd have to deal with.

She also requested that the Freespacer the Phoenix rescued to be handed over. Luca and Echelon were hesitant on the idea, but agreed on the condition they get updates from them. Aiesu Kalopsia, or her construct also showed up too to observe the behaviour between Seiren and Rebeka. During which, Aiesu told Luca that Seiren lent his likeliness to the Lazarus Consortium to use for ROM Constructs after seeing an episode of Phoenix Man! which eerily mirrored the arrangements, with hundreds of Seirens running loose.

The rest of the evening passed without incident, and Zeta had gotten Luca's body transfer and John's pickup ready. Luca was the last one to get ready and leave while everyone else was waiting for him. The rest of the team went through the Spaceport and waited for John, and waited for Luca to return with his new NH-31 Minkan body, graciously donated by Jimothii Trakk. While they were waiting, a Freespacer by the name of Lodemucker Five-four 54-0506-2301 introduced themselves to the crew, looking for some action as a bomb lobbing piece of crazy machinery - and a singer turned LEAF Pilot by the name of Cassandra Cassiopeia also ducked in, willing to lend their frame to the cause of the Phoenix.

Luca eventually met back with the team, introduced himself to the new arrivals and they went back to the Crimson Kestrel to head back to Sargasso to wait for word from DATASS over the events of Choke.

On the way home, the Crimson Kestrel heard an SOS signal. Luca decided to investigate it and discovered that it was none other than the Fruna Ruica, currently being used as a convention space for deviants of all walks of life to discuss various 'lifestyles'. Embarrassed to hell, Luca tried to keep the specifics of the ship they were rescuing vague to the crew, but Echelon let it slip for the hell of it.

Confirming a plan of attack to take the ship back from the pirates who boarded it, the team set out on the Big Bird and touched down, charging in and giving the Landing Pad. A couple of crewmembers decided to take the stealthy option and see if they could do more damage moving through elevator maintenance passages, through emergency airlocks and slipping through the confusion of battle to get further into the ship. Echelon looked at the insignia of the pirates, and found that they were known as the Galactic Armament Organisation. Being a relatively new outfit, she didn't have much information on them other than 'attack!'.

Inside the ship's main convention floor, Sesshoseki Tamamo and Redrick 'Red' Callahan were hostages amongst the hundreds of Con-Goers who had other plans instead of staying still and staying face down on the floor. Once they heard the fighting come to a stop and distracting the occupying pirates, they made a strike of opportunity, trying to get the room under control.

A three pronged attack was launched by the Phoenix on the fly - one team was heading for the bridge to rescue the captain and get the ship back under control, another team was coming in via a giant slide in the centre of the room, and another was stomping in on mechs at the balconies. The attack swept the remaining pirates away, but a counterattack by the pirates was mounted with the aid of a hammer wielding Fyunnen, and a Delsaurian with combat armour and a gatling shotgun. Some people begun to wonder if Luca was just fighting the Fyunnen (known as Breaker) or flirting with them. The Delsaurian meanwhile was blown apart by Makari Aeron.

The fight was a blur in the convention room, with lead and blood and glass flying everywhere. Meanwhile in the bridge, things were more surgical as Phoenix Reeves, Zeta Five and Sheshren Aisaras Soruk took on the ringleader for the attack, a vengeful Freespacer by the name of Wire Head. Soruk found out that Freespacers and EMP go together like crude oil a naked flame, disabling them. Reeves meanwhile slipped in via a vent to fight against those holding the captain, and Zeta took out the pirates guarding the door. The captain was very thankful for their contributions as they forced Wire Head to unlock the Taskbar he'd locked.

During the commotion, Aiesu was crushed by a friendly mech, and was forced to use a waitress robot shaped a bit like a bunny to get around. She didn't appreciate it one bit, but Echelon found it hilarious. With the ship secure, the team retreated back to the relative comfort of the Crimson Kestrel with Tamamo and Redrick in tow, recruited to the Phoenix cause.

The crew and the Fruna Ruica landed in Sargasso, letting the crew spend some time relaxing, restocking and getting to know the enigmatic new member of the Phoenix they'd acquired: Tamamo. Amidst the downtime, there were many events and things going on, including bulk-purchases at Sargasso's Ori-Mart for the Phoenix team, getting familiar with how to manipulate data in a 3D space, a moped beatdown involving Luca's irresponsible daughter, a mental breakdown, flight lessons, a candy factory opening, nightmares, and the voice of the legion.

After six weeks of relaxation and tribulation, Luca had gotten word from DATA regarding Handler's Reach, and quietly, he was hoping to get back in business and begin taking names again. He didn't want to stay idle for long…

The Phoenix had to cut its downtime short when the paper trail from the Freespacer in [Mission 2] - Choke went through lead to a couple of places. Luca called a meeting with Nostrovia, and they outlined a pair of operations and targets. The first was a Lagrange manufacturing facility in the Kennewes rainforest, and a resort on the system of Albini for the time and attention of two Yamataian senators: Yotsuyuki Kuu and A. Winsbury²⁾.

Luca examined the size of his team, and elected to split into two groups to tackle both objectives at once, given how far away they were. He devised two teams and let his crew pick what they felt more suited to doing.

• Loud Team - Going to Kennewes to destroy the Lagrange Production facility, where D-Motiva was alleged to have been produced.
  • T1A1 “Havoc” Main Battle Tank
    • Luca - Havoc Captain, Squad Control
    • Zeta - Havoc Driver
    • Makari - Havoc Gunner
  • T1 "Norris" Tank
    • Allison - Norris Driver
    • Echelon (Mimicom) - Norris Gunner
  • Rebeka - Rebeka Custom WINTER II Mecha
  • Seiren - Seiren Custom LEAF Frame
  • Tamamo - Fire Support in Moonsong Ki-V1 Custom Aircraft
  • Aiesu - Intel
  • Echelon (Prime) - Mission Control, Control of the Crimson Kestrel
• Quiet Team - Going to Albini to extract the senators Yotsuyuki Kuu and A. Winsbury from a resort town where they are having dinner together.
  • Nostrovia - Mission Control, Squad Control
  • John - Pilot
  • Melissa - Overwatch
  • Redrick - The Chef
  • Enzo - The Sous-Chef
  • Shayla - The Security
  • Soruk - The VIP

The Loud team and their vehicles landed in a more solid part of Kennewes upon a sodden battlefield, rolling out and flying towards the Lagrange-controlled production facility. The team's task was simple: Blow the hell out of the facility with everything, and top it off with a bomb of spice dust to render everything inside the facility useless. Automated defences struck at the team, but the simple attack didn't last long when a hellish foe arose from the facility.

It turned out that in addition to the deadly substance that tore Handler's Reach apart, an experimental, bipedal, anti-Sourcian weapon platform was there: OUREX. It did not take any quarter against the Phoenix team, turning the planet into a hellscape with nuclear fire. A furious Echelon confronted Aiesu about the thing and got the instructions on how to destroy the thing to Luca, as well as some serious leverage on the Lmanel scientist. The team managed to destroy it by preventing it from drinking the planet's moisture, tearing its legs apart by shots to the heat sinks. But it didn't stand by idly before going down; Everyone on the team was wounded and their vehicles severely damaged, and it outright destroyed Rebeka Renata and her frame, and seriously wounded Luca. Evacuation was swift.

The Quiet team made it to Albini, formulating a plan after getting the senator's dinner arrangements. They were in a resort town on one of the three of Albini's islands, staying at the prestigious Aoi Hana-bi Resort Hotel. Nostrovia, having acquired gear and favours to help the Phoenix team infiltrate the hotel, Redrick and Enzo would pose as chef and sous-chef, while Shayla took the guise of a security temp, and Soruk pretended to be a Guest of Honour.

Once the team had gotten close enough to the senators to grasp them, something went horribly awry. What appeared to be a meteor fell from the sky and deposited a rocky, otherworldly horrors, hell bent on killing the senators and anyone in their way - but from who, or why? The event threw the possibility of a quiet kidnapping out of the window. Literally. The proximity of the away team allowed them to make a grab for the senators and keep the beings at bay. Granted, a more quiet extraction was desired, but they had to deal with what fate had given them.

With the team coming back together wounded, and Rebeka Renata in a comatose state, the team's spirit was tested. Not long into Luca's recovery, John approached him and proposed a radical idea that'd shift the paradigm of the ISC Phoenix group. He proposed creating a paramilitary unit to supplement the ISC Phoenix, as a wholesale support.

He cited that the ISC Phoenix couldn't always be reliant on the resources of the client, and for the sorts of foes they faced on Kennewes and Albini, it was time to give the Phoenix an ace in the hole. Luca agreed on the condition that on deployed mercenary work, they work in a primarily defensive and teaching capacity.

Midway through his recovery and after getting his thoughts and body back to a workable state, he knew he had to dump Aiesu, or find some way to render her impotent, as he and Echelon had gotten sick of the games Lazarus and Lagrange were playing. Luca spoke directly to the ROM-Construct Aiesu was using, rather than talking to Aiesu herself by way of using a notepad, and offered the Construct a possible escape route: Freedom.

In two months later, after clever trading, leverage of the merchandise, and getting all the paperwork done, John had put together a mercenary force as promised. The Phoenix Service Group was finally assembled and housed on The Rigs of Sargasso. Luca, in an albeit groggy state, made his maiden speech to the group.

Unbeknownst to Tamamo, her jaunt with Echelon to retrieve her standard issue gear by spoofing the Yamataian defence measures and logistics systems had some consequences. She was being watched by SAINT.

Agents Hirasawa Yuna³⁾ and Sakamoto Hina were assigned to watch over the member of the ISC Phoenix and examine her motives. Something, however, wasn't quite adding up right after eight months of observation: They couldn't discern Tamamo's motives, as they weren't hostile towards Yamatai, or anyone, in any way. There was no warlording, no reselling of the retrieved/stolen equipment, no craziness, and she was still working for Luca. The inscrutability of Tamamo had them considering just walking up and asking her themselves.

Someone unconnected to the operation, thinking they'd be the next Yui forced the agent's hands. A bounty of 500,00 KS was placed on Echelon, and one of 100,000 KS on Tamamo. The two SAINTS started making a beeline for the station after detecting a large movement of aircraft towards the Phoenix Service Group's home base on The Rigs. Meanwhile, Luca had noticed the large excursion coming towards his base and ordered his soldiers into a fighting configuration, identifying the gunships and troop transports of the Sunburnt Warrior PMC as a rival to PSG's operations about a hundred kilometres north of the Service Group.

As the commotion was winding up, Tamamo came out to play, and the SAINT agents arrived via airbikes in the midst of the fighting on the platforms, assisting the Servicemen with thinning enemy numbers. Echelon noticed their presence on the rigs while Sakamoto contacted Tamamo directly. Luca wasn't picky with getting help, but he couldn't help but wonder what two strangers were doing on his base suddenly.

When the Sunburnt Warriors were wiped from the platform and their gunships and transports in a watery grave, Luca faced his two mutual allies. However, he realised something was fishy immediately and pieced it all together when he was surprised by an invisible Sakamoto. SAINT were on his platform, but why? They usually had the decency to knock first. Tamamo dissuaded Luca and Echelon from violence, and the SAINTs were nothing, if not forthright about what happened regarding the bounties, which Echelon brought up.

It helped that they'd assisted in defending Luca's property and soldiers, which smoothed the proceedings. Everything was on rails once the bounties were repealed. SAINT explained that they needed Tamamo for a private talk regarding what she did and the motivations, and for Echelon to explain how she did her hack. Luca allowed it, letting Echelon send her puppet Mimicom on the condition that the bounty posted was paid to the Phoenix as compensation for damages caused by the Sunburns.

Some Yuletide celebrations were had. Tamamo got a shiny new rifle and many gifts were exchanged including books, documents, rings, candy, beer, and the gift of togetherness in trying times. An incredibly flamboyant robot came by to speak to Tamamo too.

Enzo revealed that he'd bought about six hundred acres of hunting property on a greener part of Delsauria for Melissa to retire on one day. She clipped him around the ear and showed him the greatest Yuletide 'movie' marathon ever.

Over the next six months following the conclusion of Mission 4, Luca's group had been doing small jobs here and there, rather than any great leaps to consolidate their holdings and ease themselves back into a grander adventure or riskier contract. Mostly colony work out in the sticks, dealing with gangs or pirates, or rolling small fry up. During the meanwhilst, Kuzman Nadev and his VANDR crash landed in Sargasso's spaceport after falling through a hole in spacetime. Reeves was asked by residents of Sargasso to investigate.

Meanwhile at the Rigs, a languages and linguistics lesson was going on between the members of the Service Group at Delta Platform. The team was sharing the big three: Yamatai-Go, Trade, and Ly'thir. Noppera, masquerading as Jeanne Lock was present in the library, a standout member who was on fast track to be one of PSG's first elite infiltrators, even if she was nursing a very dark secret regarding her past. In addition, the strange cyborg writer Calico Monoceros was teaching new entrants.

The arrival of the VANDR created a slight security ripple regarding Aiesu Kalopsia. Tamamo knew that the Lazarus Consortium was keeping an eye out for Iromakuanhe-related materials and equipment, and steps were taken by Echelon to ensure Aiesu did not know of the presence of the Iromakuanhe on the platform. To this end, Luca had to distract her, in the process discovering that progress on Rebeka's status hadn't gotten far from when they'd found her destroyed, despite a specialist team from the LSDF being dispatched, Luca was finding more trouble involving one of their doctors, La'al "Lalah" Ioru L'manel and a secondary Maesus the team had bought along for concurrent research and study.

A representative from the Nepleslian Government reached out to the ISC Phoenix and Phoenix Service Group to undertake a contract in policing the Nepleslian Colonial Expance system of little_star. The Democratic Imperium figured the small Security group would be able to effectively police the relatively low-key star system effectively, and to gauge possible future contracts.

Especially with Luca Pavone's reputation on the line, and the first real test of PSG's capabilities instead of spot-work, little fixes and training office staff.

With the contract on little_star secure and a steady stream of work coming in, a problem beyond the Phoenix Service Group arose when the tourist railway of Remo, Little Rock went completely missing. The ISC Phoenix were dispatched to look for the train, find out who stole it, and take it back.

This area is for requested items such as gun modifications, ammunition, strange mechanics, candies, etc. Please fill in the table below for such things.

To get a feel for the plot. Also because Luca likes these songs and shows.

If you're looking for a laugh, and wish to contribute some tropes from the TVtropes website, do so on this nifty little page. It needs an overhaul.

Feel free to write your character's Relationship to others in a word with this handy little Relationship Matrix.

ISC Phoenix Relationship Matrix

Its dry stuff, but it keeps the GM honest.