• Nobles of Null is a forum based roleplay site where sci-fi and magic collide. Here, Earth remains fractured and divided despite humanity reaching out to the stars. Worse still, the trans-human slaves of one major power have escaped, only to establish their own Empire, seething with resentment at abuses of the past. Even the discovery of aliens, though medieval in development, has failed to rally these squabbling children of Earth together with its far darker implications. Worse still, is the discovery of the impossible - magic. Practiced by the alien locals, nearly depleted and therefore rare, its reality warping abilities remains abstract and distant to the general populace. All the while, unseen in the darkness of space, forces from without threaten to press in. For those with eyes opened by insight, it is clear that an era is about to end, and that a new age will dawn.

Character Prologue: Caleb Gellar

Ray of Meep

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February, 2321,

Sol System, Luna, Lancelot High Security Prison

Luna was a convenient spot to put prisons. Large enough traffic for easy logistics and movement of security detail, but isolated enough that prisoners had an effectively zero chance of escaping through any conventional manner. Lancelot was typical, a GDW owned concrete bunker buried beneath a dozen feet of regolith, located at the equator of the moon far from any infrastructure, with sensors and turrets on the surface that shot any unauthorized personnel leaving or entering the area. There was a single pad that supported aerial shuttles.

"I don't like this." Ulrike remarked, her husband besides her.

"Me neither, but they pay our bills. This request is frankly easier to accept than others." Eberhard replied with a shrug as the couple walked through the corridor together. They were escorted by two guards, both wearing stripped down IVAS', but they kept their faceplates on nonetheless to hide away their humanity, denying any exploitation.

"We're getting asked to bring a criminal on board, one who killed," Ulrike growled, "Everyone else we recruited have been upstanding members of society."

Eberhard snorted. "Seriously? Beatrix alone has killed more people in the past year than some marines do in their entire career, and she's the sweet bubbly medic of the team."

"We were dealing with terrorists, insurgents, and pirates." His wife frowned.

"All of whom had lives and families mind you." Eberhard reminded her. "I'm not saying that what we did was necessarily wrong, but blood is a bad way to gauge morality by our standards."

"Fine. How about this." Ulrike reached for her datapad, suddenly reminded that all her electronics were confiscated. She looked to Eberhard, who held up a suitcase with a teasing smile. "Ugh. Anyways," She explained with her hands animatedly. "What about all the goods he smuggled and pirated? His motivations were clearly selfish at best, malicious at worst."

"There is that..." Eberhard admitted with Ulrike nodding in victory, "... but he did give up a lot of connections that could potentially reduce piracy in the long run."

"I hate you." Ulrike frowned again.

"Love you too, honey." Eberhard winked.

The couple eventually stopped in front of a transparent, ballistic resistant wall. Behind the wall was a white room lit from all directions. Pores were snuggled into the ceiling corners that could release sleeping agents. Inside was a single man in a simple, orange jumpsuit with no metal on it. His hands were bound by a metal zip tie, and an electronics device was strapped to his left arm that tracked his position and could inject paralyzing drugs into his system, if necessary.

"So..." Ulrike took the briefcase from Eberhard, pretending to read through one of the packets. "Caleb Gellar. Union Space Command, but was caught smuggling in Commonwealth space. Ten runs in six years. Four merchant marines dead under your steel. You should be rotting in here for the rest of your life." She looked up at him.

Caleb looked up from his hands as they approached, boredom had finally set in, and being confined to a small room with nothing to do did not suit him, but he put up with it, as hopefully, assuming this went well enough, it would be temporary. He scratched at a few more days of unkempt beard than he would normally keep, but realising his options were clean shaven and grizzled nomad, decided he looked better with facial hair. "I gave you the names of my suppliers, and everyone involved in the smuggling operation. Those under me, and over me. Even if i did get out of here, there is no way i have any sort of life in that line of work any longer. They find me? Dead. They see me on the street? Dead. What else do you want? And so we are clear, when i killed those men, I was just doing my job. I was a soldier, My commanding officer said Jump, I said "How High". Jumping this time was just filling a man with bullet holes. I didn't like it, but orders are orders" Caleb stretched out his legs, feeling cramped, suddenly jealous of those standing behind the glass. A sudden wave of guilt overcoming him, along with the realisation that he might not make it out of the prison, not for a long time, and honestly, he felt that was Just. Caleb looked over the people outside for the first time, and for a moment, a feeling of Deja vu overcame him, as he looked at the guard on the left side. He looked more closely at him "Do i know you from somewhere?"

"Maybe." The woman who looked to be in her forties by 24th century standards, wearing a hair of brown, shrugged. "We've arrested a lot of your kind, shot down many too, so I wouldn't remember either. Perhaps you slipped through the cracks once, somehow. Not many places to hide in one of your pirate ships after it gets vented." She commented flatly. "What she means is hello." The man of similar age wearing blonde hair chimed in. "Yes. Hello." The woman snorted.
 

Ray of Meep

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Caleb looked away from the guard on the left, though he kept his eyes on him, something didn't feel right. He leaned back in his chair and let a long exasperated sigh. "I would shake your hand but..." Caleb held up the metal zip ties and gestures around the room. "Look, I'm not a pirate, smuggler, sure, but most of what i did was provide certain items that the military frowned upon and banned, and got them to my men. In return for the contraband, I would hide things on my person, and in my bunk and in hidden compartments and get them through security checkpoints. I'm not saying what I did was right, but I was trying to help my brothers-in-arms. I'm no saint, but I'm not a monster"

"Pirate, smuggler, all the same." The woman frowned, crossing her arms. "You fueled a trade that costs real, innocent lives. Not only that, but you also did so under an oath of service." The man coughed. The woman responded by grunting, then stepping back a couple of feet. "... And we're here to give you a chance at redemption. Have you heard of the Grau Lancers? We were on the local Silbern news feeds roughly a year ago."

Caleb perked up at the mention of redemption. That sounded good to him. A chance to redeem himself, and to do some good. Hopefully. "I've heard the name from somewhere, a mercenary company of some sort? I only heard the name in passing"

The man nodded. "A government contractor, to be sure. Some higher ups deemed your skills too much of an asset to keep in a prison cell, but they don't want a smuggler remaining in their ranks, so they're giving you to us. Given your past behavioral problems, you'll retain that band on your arm---" He pointed to the drug injector, "--- but in due time we'll take it off."

He looked down at the injector on his arm, and thought that was a fair price to pay for the chance at freedom and redemption. Caleb stood up, and saluted. ""Caution is the better part of Valour" or at least that's what my father always said, so I can appreciate your wariness. I hope I am up to the challenge, and will prove that I can be trusted" Caleb looked down at his orange jumpsuit. "I just hope that I can get my old clothes back. Orange just looks so much worse than black on me."

The man smirked. "I hope you can settled with grey." He then nodded through the transparent wall. "Eberhard Grau. This is my wife and my boss, Ulrike Grau." The woman reluctantly nodded. Eberhard looked at his wife and smirked, then back at Caleb. "Of course, you will be given full compensation for your services."

Caleb smirked back, and looked around the room. "Caleb Gellar, but you already know that. But, Grey is fine by me, I'll be glad to leave this place, and the zip ties behind"
 
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