NationStates Jolt Archive


Of Pawns and Flowers (FT Closed)

The Blastit Empire
19-02-2008, 05:59
SEED OF WAR

OOC: This RP is closed.

The golden age of humanity started so suddenly, with the invention of one technology...FTL travel.

Humanity was soon able to supply their Mars colonies within hours and explore the far reaches of the solar system with manned voyages. But this did not satisfy the curiosity of humanity as soon they began to look at colonizing other worlds, expanding to other nearby solar systems and efficiently building a galactic empire. With the realization of the new human empire and the collective effort of the remaining nations of Earth, a new empire was brought forth along with a new name: The Earth Collective. The empire expanded at incredible rate, testing out the limits of their new technology and building upon the design for faster and more convenient space travel.

As Earth boomed from the increased materials constantly being imported in, the fringe colonies began to feel neglected. Their people had no say in political affairs, the worlds were harsh, and pirates constantly made their businesses and homes on these planets. These worlds needed to show the Collective that they were as important as closer planets. This is when the mysterious Nathan Zaeffer appeared almost magically. A very persuasive individual managed to take hold of the government in these fringe worlds and began reforming how things were done. One of the most surprising things he did was persuade several of the smaller pirate gangs to become the new law enforcers of the regions. With their agreement, they set upon fighting the rampant criminals in the sector, eventually gaining more numbers as citizens and pirates alike found a new force in which they would be aligned with rather than beaten by. He called this emerging union the World Coalition. As order was restored to the fringe colonies under the banner of the WC, the people once again set their eyes on Earth, believing now is the time for their voices to be heard.

Only when Earth failed to receive its exports did it begin to pay attention to the fringe colonies…and not in a good way…

***

Meanwhile, Earth was beginning to fall apart. Nations quarreled with other nations over property rights, people, boundaries, power, amongst other things. Negotiations were tense and rarely were agreements reached. The Earth Collective was splitting apart according to the politicians. Planets began to choose their favored nation and war was inevitable.

Then, a message from a new figure arrived at the Collective headquarters. The new governor of the fringe worlds warned that Earth shall receive no more supplies until all planets had equal say in politics. Immediately after the transmission, the leaders separated and war was called. Families were filled with turmoil as their own members turned on them. Brothers killed fathers, fathers killed sons, Mothers killed daughters, and so on. Nations that still possessed spacecraft used them to bombard their enemies from orbit.

The Collective fell apart in a matter of minutes.

Two terrible years passed before armies were exhausted and the few minerals that were left were too few to support a war and the people. Planets were abandoning the remaining Collective nations and joining up with the World’s Coalition. The Earth Collective was near-death until an artist named Saul Dualfir stepped forth. His speeches captivated audiences as he sought peace amongst the remaining factions. The people began to abandon the war and its supporters in favor of Dualfir’s.

The remaining leaders of the EC realized they needed to deal with this new threat and hastily built up a temporary alliance to destroy the artist and his followers.

Dualfir, noticing the dire need to protect himself, called upon the people to cooperate with him and follow his every decision. Desiring an immediate end to the fight, the people did so, weary and depressed. Soldiers that had taken Dualfir’s side found themselves scrambling to defend against those they once called brothers in arms.

The war looked grim at first, Dualfir’s forces getting defeated at every minute by the more numerous EC fleets, but as they neared Saul’s capital on the planet Gaia, they encountered heavy defenses as every person young and old kept whittling away at the EC’s fleet through guerilla tactics and planetary defenses. As the EC finally arrived at Gaia, they were brutally defeated by the largest space battle in human history. Once their Flagship, Earth was destroyed, the remaining EC fleet surrendered.

As the imminent threat was taken care of, Dualfir claimed that to keep order, he needed to give a helping hand through the government to keep humanity alive. The people were disheartened and just wanted an end to the fighting and accepted with little resistance. Dualfir’s closest political allies and military commanders were given leadership positions across the former EC’s territories, which were now renamed the Star Union.

A few prosperous months later, the people happily accepted Dualfir as emperor. But the fatal transmission of the WC was not forgotten. Dualfir immediately sent a small patrol to find out if the people of the colonies still survived, only to find out that not only did they survive, the were now united in an empire just as powerful, if not moreso than the newly formed Star Union. The WC refused to be enveloped in another empire again, untrusting of any other government then their own. With both nations refusing to join the other in distrust, humanity was forced to choose between the two sides.
********

Ten years have passed with tensions mounting. Both Zaeffer and Dualfir drive their people to work as hard as ever to attempt to get some sort of advance over the other. Despite this, the people have grown very patriotic and devoted to their leader as the hard work has given them a good deal of benefits to make their own lives easier.

However, not all planets have devoted themselves to a side. From one of these planets came a scientist, a Doctor Melcor. Melcor, a prominent researcher and inventor, moved out of the Human systems to try to improve the lives of other races who are having trouble surviving or living peacefully.

He arrived to a planet called Dielus, home to the war-ravaged Dieludians.

The Dieludians average about 6 feet tall and tend to be on the skinny side. Not known for their ability to stand against a full brawl against many other races, including humans, they are known more for their atrocious habit of warring. They tend to dislike having a full on clash between forces and would rather send in assassins, bombing raids, and the occasional missile.

The Dieludians are a race that have split into two factions and have been fighting for over a century now in a civil war caused over several resource disputes and insults thrown around. These people have been unwilling to share with each other for so long until a human scientist decided to visit and build up in a small patch of an uninhabited area in a forgotten wasteland. With a small band of mercenaries, Doctor Eidolphus somewhat forced his small area to be recognized as shared cease-fire space where none could open fire on the other.

Fearing retribution from one of the human empires, the Dieludians worked with Eidolphus, each trying to contribute more than the other to get a name for themselves. However, Eidolphus only accepted equal amounts of aid from both sides until he finally completed his new invention. He struck a deal with the Dieludians stating that he would give them the invention as long as there was peace amongst the two factions, promising the machine will aid them both in their resource deficit.

Both factions hastily agreed and the two leaders have met with each other in a meeting with Eidolphus to power up this new device that has been promised to give energy to the entire planet…

Little do they know that this itself is planting a seed of war…

****

Dr. Melcor Eidolphus scanned the two massive turbines that occupied the majority of the lab as they glowed with an intense orange while they hummed patiently, awaiting the flip of the switch. This was going to be one of the most important events seen on this world, the joining of two nations that have been warring for half of their written history. After many years of work his masterpiece was finally complete.

“Are we ready to commence the ceremony, sirs?” The small doctor asked to the two larger Dieludians, tall blue colored humanoids with small cat-like ears.

“Yes…yes, I feel it is time to end this conflict,” a dark blue colored dieludian, leader of the Eastern Provinces said with a sad sigh.

“This will be a new beginning so that our children may live in peace. I am all for it,” the other said, a lighter blue dieludian with black pupils. He was the leader of the United Western Territories.

“Then let us commence with the ceremony,” Dr. Eidolphus said with a sly grin. He led the two leaders out to a balcony overlooking a massive courtyard where thousands of citizens stood, awaiting the final word from their respected leaders. The doctor stopped in between two large levers, in which the two leaders took their places adjacent to.

“People of Dielus! For too long you have lost your beloved— brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers— All of them. Your people have lost your lives, your homes, your land. Resources are in short supply while demoralized soldiers fight with tired faces. I have looked at the facts and I have seen that about a quarter of your world is without power, due to war and the high costs of it. I have come in hopes to help you people. I have come in hopes to act as a uniter! Not as your leader, but as your friend! I have come to help ease the burden on all of your shoulders! And I believe I have done it. With the help of your two leaders, a consensus has been made. Peace has come at last as the formation of a planetary government is being made as we speak. Your world will see progress again and perhaps discover space travel in the very near future. But my aid is not in that, but in your very lives. As a sign of peace, your leaders have shut off all excess power supplies and will shut down the remaining ones. But do not panic, this is a gesture of peace as they will plant the seed of peace by bringing about the Planetary Power source!” The doctor said, in a voice that belied his age. “Mattius and Fralon, will you please?”

The two leaders nodded, waved to the crowd, and placed their hands on their respective levers before nodding to each other and pulling hard.

“Let there be light!” Eidolphus’ voice boomed across the courtyard. Within the lab, incredible noise erupted like a fighter jet’s turbines starting up. Soon it was joined by many other turbines before they began to quiet. Lights dimmed slowly before they shined even brighter than before.

Across the globe, like a wave of energy, lights turned off suddenly before they turned back on. Every light, every appliance, every machine, all powered by the large machines in Eidolphus’ lab.

“It is done,” he said with a smile as he walked back a few steps, let the leaders give each other a shake of the hand before he gently pushed them in front to address the people and wave to them.

“This is time for new beginnings,” he smiled happily.

***

On the Planet Dekon Prime, the government buildings that dominated the megatropolices were bustling with surprise and worry. Rumors were thrown around sprouting other ideas. At the capital of the World’s Coalition, the government officials instantly called an emergency meeting.

Most officials arrived unshaven, unwashed, and in unbuttoned suits. Arguments were already being thrown about as the military and the politicians were nearly about to throw punches.

Suddenly, the door slid open with a hiss as neatly polished boots clacked into the meeting room. The dark red cape of Emperor Zaeffer fluttered as he walked to the head of the table, instantly silencing the others. The enigmatic emperor stood their silent as he was scanning, perhaps, the rest of the table. No one could know for sure, as the man wore a helmet reminiscent of the ancient Egyptian burial masks, however this was solid black.

“I hear reports of an energy signature. Is that true?” He asked sternly. His head turned slightly to the side as if to show he was talking to the Fleet Admiral, a large, intimidating man who rarely cracks a smile.

“The reports are correct sir. I had a small patrol pass by a few minutes ago and they reported no warships. The energy reading was clear as day, however,” he said, never flinching from the emperor’s gaze.

“What could it be?” Zaeffer asked aloud, finally taking a seat, the other officials following suite.

“It could be some sort of Union trick,” an official growled. “They may be putting up a trap.”

“Or maybe it was a bomb! A weapon of mass destruction!” Shouted another, inciting the others around the table.

“Silence!” Zaeffer bellowed, bringing the table to order. “No weapon can be powerful enough to leave an energy reading for this long. Admiral Durkin is still getting a strong, clear energy reading.”

“Sir, I assure you, from our perspective, we see no destruction, we see nothing disturbed except for the massive amount of energy we are reading, the majority of it within one spot. Considering we are seeing nothing from space and nothing has shot my men down from the planet, it is nothing we need to worry about. It poses no threat to us,” the Fleet Admiral replied, shuffling through several papers within a manila folder. Before passing them to the person to his left, a wide-eyed scientist who’s head of the military development team for the nation.

“Any attempts to contact them?”

“Several, however they use older, outdated communication waves, making it hard for them to hear us or understand.”

“Sirs, this is definitely nothing to worry about yet,” chuckled the old wide-eyed scientist. “This matches readings for several of our new power plants but…it’s better…” he grinned almost maniacally as the possibilities of this new device. “It could power at least three fully inhabited worlds with one plant and the technology to transfer power across worlds. It could power warships and lead them to move even faster, fire more weapons…endless…”

“This will give our military the edge we need to overpower the Star Union. Sir, I suggest we make a move for it and secure it as soon as possible.”

“If we don’t you know Dualfir will try to get his hands on this as fast as he can. Then we’ll probably find ourselves with our backs against the wall and his warships ravaging the other planets,” another official growled angrily.

The Emperor seemed to look down for a few moments before shaking his head. “We need that technology not so much as because we want it but as we need to keep it away from the Star Union.”

“I’ll get our best pilots,” Fleet Admiral Durkin replied with nod while the general sitting next to him nodded, adding his own “I’ll prepare a group of commandos.”

“No,” Zaeffer replied, surprising the table. He slowly lifted his head until he was looking up at the two officers. “Dualfir could take that as a sign of aggression. He could claim it was a task force to destroy that planet or something like that. We need to recruit other people not tied with our nation.”

“Sir, that isn’t wise. Anyone can be his spy,” the general countered.

“No. He has no ties to certain peoples. I want you to search far and wide, picking out aliens, low-rate criminals, give me their profiles, and I will accept them based on my thoughts and the intelligence committee, who, to keep this group together and disciplined, will bring one of their best. Agreed?”

Reluctantly and with a few disagreeable looks, the group replied with an “Agreed.”

**********

“Power source?” a tall man said quietly, almost to himself. His gold pauldrons glistened in the afternoon son as he looked over the construction of a new battleship design. His dark purple cape flapped in the light breeze before he turned to face his committee, revealing a neatly trimmed white moustache and beard and a rather plain, but expensive purple uniform with a white sash running down from his right shoulder to his left waist, covered in ribbons and medals.

“Aye, my Emperor. Located some distance away, past a few Coalition planets, neutral planets, asteroid fields, and a few other random things,” replied the man on his immediate right— a short dark man with a black suit on. He was the head of intelligence for the Star Union, one of he most powerful human nations. “Powered up the entire planet and has not faltered yet.”

“Any signs of the Worlds Coalition?” the Emperor Dualfir asked.

“As soon as our spy-ship snapped the images, a patrol of fighters made a fly by several times. Our ship made a get away before they could see it.”

“We are even receiving reports from some of our closer colonies of this power reading. It’s off the chart!”

“No doubt Zaeffer shall want to attempt to take it for his own uses. His sneaky tactics could result in our future doom should he get to it before us.”

“Let me go, sir. I shall ensure no passage for anything with the WC’s insignia,” a general commented.

“Grazden, how do you feel?” Dualfir asked a massive creature next to him.

The giant stood at least fifteen feet tall. Although he had a skull like a human, his lower mouth was divided into four pairs- two halves seeming to jut from below his ear hole and extending a few inches in front and below the chin. The next set of jaws would be about an inch above the ear-jaws, partially covering the main set of jaws, which resemble the human mouth minus lips. Each of these jaws carries sharp teeth.

The black, plate-like skin of the monster wrinkled nearer the ears as the mandibles seemed to spread apart as the inner jaw formed into a smile. “I feel like I can take that source of power for you.”

“Yes, and kill anything in the way. General-” Dualfir began.

“Warchief, I do what is necessary. I assure you I won’t kill more then I need to,” Grazden replied.

“Proctus, what do you think?” Dualfir asked, still staring into the giant’s eyes.

“I believe Grazden has a near perfect chance of accomplishing the goal of extracting the device and or the scientist crew that worked on this machine without being sidetracked...if I am with him. His race, the Baktralin are very much into their war games,” came a robotic reply from a large robot speaker in the shape of a humanoid body.

Proctus was from the Synthec empire, an empire comprised of mostly robotic creatures of different shapes and sizes, depending on the purpose of the individual’s purpose. Proctus himself was design for multiple purposes, the most evident being an assassin. His humanoid frame was covered by a dark green trench coat, while his unclothed head was a dark gray frame with a cross-like hole in the center front of the head. A dark orange light swung from left to right within the hole as Proctus turned to face Grazden. “I can keep him on track.” Without a sound. a wicked looking blade sprung from his sleeve, pointed towards Grazden, who didn’t even blink.

“I doubt you could even pierce my skin with that blade,” Grazden rumbled, a slow grin forming on his face as his outer mandibles clicked the inner mandibles’ teeth, sending off a few clicks. “But I can tolerate the synth on my journey should I need to.”

“Aye, I believe you both would need to go. You may need Proctus to gather information. Grazden would be needed to ensure that we do get this device whatever it is and be the brute force should diplomacy not work,” Dualfir said with a smile as he stared back out at the skeletal battleship. “Just make sure killing is the last step. We don’t want a war on our hands…not yet.”

With a nod, Grazden bowed his head and added “It shall be done, Warchief,” before he bent under the doorway to walk down to the communications hall to ready his men.

Proctus watched before turning to face the emperor and his human generals. “And if we meet your friends?” he asked as his blade silently retracted beneath the trench coat.

“Do not engage. I cannot have war with Zaeffer. Our people cannot…we’ve suffered too much war with each other.”

“And if they are carrying away your ‘source’?”

“Do what you’ve been programmed to do, Proctus. Assassinate and sabotage.”

“Affirmative,” the assassin droid said as he clanked out of the factory.

“Sir, why trust aliens to handle what is rightfully ours?” one of the human generals asked when Proctus’ clanking feet could barely be heard down the halls.

“Why not? It means we aren’t the ones risking our lives. The Baktralins are a strange and foreign culture. They believe the best way to strengthen an alliance is to trade a high ranking officer. With your trade, you use them for a high-stakes mission or dangerous mission to show your trust. Grazden is one of the Baktralin’s most important figures. Should he fail, which I doubt, the Baktralin will be furious, not with us, but with Grazden’s killers.”

“The Synths, on the other hand, know a good deal when they see one. In their processors, they see an alliance with us humans as beneficial, especially when we have worlds like Tricon and Edulymus— metal rich worlds that are the staple to Synthic Life, that which we have plenty to trade. This is a relationship they are willing to protect.”

“Yes, I trust them both to get the job done. If either dies, another will be sent in their place. Or, if it does escalate into war, a whole fleet will be sent in their place,” Dualfir replied with a sinister smile.
********

“This is what we’ve come up with?” growled Bain Grathen, a tall, muscular man with light brown hair and bright blue eyes. He was wearing a business suit with a black tie. “You must have scraped the bottom of the barrel for these— these—dregs of society!”

“I assure you Grathen, the emperor knows what he’s doing. He coordinated this with your agency. Besides, I see little wrong with the choices,” High Admiral Byron replied calmly, walking alongside the intelligence agent down the highly crowded terminal as they walked to Dock 52, where they were to meet the new recruits. He wore his Naval uniform, dark blue with black pauldrons with gold stripes. Along his chest, were ribbons, medals, and other symbols of his high ranking. “They all have their specific talents that were looked highly upon by both parties in question. Although I made my own fuss, I have come to accept the fact that these people may be what we need to get the job done.”

“Look here, an Intrekin that shamed his own race? No less, a drunkard, an ex-pirate, a—”

“Mr. LiRoy has an impeccable flying record. You should ask him for personal details, but I believe there is a detail that states his wide variety of connections and a few flying missions, including a warp through a fleet of Nitreen Battle squads, resulting in a thwarted Nitreen Invasion. Not to mention his sister—“

“If you wanted his sister, you should have sent for her instead!” growled Bain as he shuffled through the portfolio again, pulling out the file on “Elven”. “His robot co-pilot is fishy too. Was originally sent to some crime lord. Now why would an Elven droid be sent to a crime lord? What makes it special?”

“Don’t get paranoid, Bain. Not yet at least. Elven is noted to be LiRoy’s most trusted companion. The only one he would ever fly a ship with and the only one to trust his ship with. Besides, Elven droids are programmed with the 3 Rules, I’m sure you know.”

“Still doesn’t quell any suspicion. How about this Sarnell fellow. He’s angered some powerful people out there and we don’t want that interfering with our goals. Not to mention he’s an Ibarian. Those scaleys are not to be trusted with any technology— they’ll just copy it from underneath our noses.”

“Sarnell is an educated and intelligent young Ibarian who works for the law tracking down those powerful people and taking in their bounty. I have little fear about him. Next,” Byron said, the barest hint on his face as his flustered friend turned slightly red with frustration.

“Xelloneeth. For all we know he will infest the rest of his crew and make them into more of infernal race.”

“Now now, Bain. The Xenoja are capable fighters, Xenoleeth being one of the best. He can keep our people safe and I believe he’s the most trustworthy of the bunch. Keep close to him and you’re butt will be saved more than you think.”

“Tooth the squidman. Not only can he not speak naturally to us but what’s to stop him from hacking through our systems and programs or finding some sort of information we don’t want him to find?”

“From my knowledge, Tooth’s race are known for their lack of betrayal. I’m sure Tooth will do as you say if you speak nicely. And he can speak with a machine, his profile says. I’m sure that means communication will be little problem.”

“Niri Asari, the demon-race. I sense immaturity abound…”

“Aww can’t handle a darling little energetic girl, Bain?” Bryon laughed, passing by a group of small, chubby creatures that resemble gnomes of medieval lore. “Besides, she fights with an ‘unholy’ fervor, pardon the play on your words.”

“Jack? What little we have of him says nothing we need. He’s little more than a petty thief.”

“Ah, he also has a way with words. I’m sure you can look to him to get you out of sticky situations.”

“If he doesn’t start them himself…” Bain replied as he flipped through the last profiles. “Archie…somewhat reliable. Regen Corp…good company when not working directly with you. He’ll probably try to get as much from the generator as we will…except we’re supporting it.”

“Dr. Archimedes Jeffries, well respected scientist. Perhaps you have something needed to be fixed or improved, he’s your man. When you see him, make sure to examine his arm. It’s an interesting piece of work. Functional too, so I hear.”

“Finally, the mysterious Alex. We don’t know anything about her,” grumbled Bain as they entered the large Departing room, where they would meet Tellen LiRoy, the pilot.

“The Emperor knows some things and will send what he learns to your computer. As far as I know, she’s a decent pilot, good engineer, and commander of sorts. I’m sure she’ll help you in keeping the discipline. I’d say you have a good team going for you, Grathen. You should be proud with the ‘dregs of society’ we scraped up for you.”

“Alright. So if I should be proud, where are they?” Bain asked somewhat annoyed, turning a full 360 degrees for any sign of the crew.

“Just wait…any minute now,” High Admiral Byron said as he took a seat in the well-worn office chair at the head of the long table and gently leaned back. Bain sighed as he glanced at passing aliens before taking a seat on the nearby brown seat and traced the red and grey zig-zag carpeting of the floor with his eyes.
Kitab Al-Ibar
20-02-2008, 23:45
Sarnel had done his best with his meager resources to dress decentely for the occasion wearing a smart deep blue shirt and a pair of black trousers. Having arrived early he had been stalking the corridors near dock 52 for some time and was returning from a cafe with a hot drink in his hand when he saw a well dressed man and a highly decorated and obviously important officer entering the departure lounge where they were to meet.

Keeping an eye on the two he weaved his way through the crowded corridor, pausing momentarily to shoo away an inquisitive young child that had pulled his tail and entered the room unhurriedly, giving the two men a chance to notice him as he approached the table and gave them a small bow of greeting, showing his respect.

"Sarnel at your service. Pilot, inventor, bounty hunter." He stated in a respectful tone by way of an introduction, "may i take a seat?" At each S - apart from his name - there was a soft echoing hiss, common to his species, though his was far less pronounced than most. After he was seated and had carefully placed his hot drink on the table, he cast a glance around at the number of empty chairs, trying to guage how many other might be involved in this 'enterprise' and how long he would have to wait before they might get past the idle greetings and get down to what they were actually doing. "Are we expecting many people?"
Regenius
21-02-2008, 00:51
Archimedes Jeffries checked his watch as he stepped off the OtG Shuttle. That infernal wreck is going to make me late, he thought angrily to himself as he glanced back at the outdated vessel that had carried him from the orbital starport to the spaceport on the ground.

He walked with the deliberate speed of someone who is sure of their destiny and knows how to meet it, his briefcase swaying at his side with every step. The Regenian bull leather case contained the contract that the Regen Legal Department had drawn up to defray any liability from the Corporation itself in the event of a catastrophic mission failure. He hoped that the mission would not come to that.

Entering the non-descript building where the meeting was to be held, he hastily made his way to the conference room set aside for their group. He breathed a sigh of relief when he noticed that he was not the last to arrive, and entered. He walked towards the men already in the room and shook their hands, introducing himself as Archie Jeffries, before taking a seat at the table across from the Ibarian.
Luporum
21-02-2008, 05:48
"You sure this is all we can get from that damn thing?"

"Hey, if that's all we could salvage, then so be it. We dump him off, have his commission transferred to us, and get out of dodge before anyone notices."

"Fine, why is this thing getting paid anyway? It just stood there when we took over his ship and threw the crew out the airlock. Damn thing is retarded if ya ask me."

"Just shuttle it down to the dock and get back here."

"A squid on a mission, heh, who knew?"

The door hissed open as a fat one eyed man entered the room. Tooth stretched out to look under his eye patch but was quickly shoved away.

"Stupid fish, just get down to the shuttle before I turn ya' into calamari!" He growled adjusting his eye piece.

Tooth stared blankly at the man before emmiting a soft: "kay." It was difficult to keep his suckers retracted when walking, but the two legs seemed annoyed by the constant sounds echoing through the hull. His tentacles arched over the dead bodies strewn around the ship; he couldn't figure out why they attacked each other. The two legs were all his allies, so why did they go to such exhaustive lengths to terminate one another. Tooth put it to the back of his mind as he slid into the cramped shuttle.

"Remember have them transfer the money to our account." The one eyed man said before throwing the shuttle door shut.

"I am going to be late." His voice box cried as Tooth slid into a corner. He always marveled at the electronics coming to life when he got close to a major hub. As the door slid open he stepped out unsure of what to do, or where to go. They promised they'd send an escort with him, but then the other two legs came and started fighting.

He walked his way over to the nearest two leg and chirped: "Mission. Where is the mission?"
Theao
22-02-2008, 02:54
Niri was in a bit of a scowly mood as she'd been running out of interesting things to do recently. There'd been that wrestling match with something a grizzly that had been really fun but really hadn't lasted long enough. Opui had said that these people were full of fun and he'd had many adventures among them, but he had to have been teasing her for which he'd have to pay. The only thing worthwhile she'd found as yet was the vast amounts of music they liked. The two best types were things called heavy metal and reggae, which always made her giggle. In her native tongue it was a mildly obscene term, sort of like boobie to a human adolescent male.

Deciding to go get some more music hopping down the street and using whatever she landed on as a springboard, this being luckless people more often than not. They all tended to start yelling for some reason, it wasn't like she was heavy or even landed heavy and she was in a hurry, they weren't or else they wouldn't be walking.

She was just about at a store for music when she noticed the time. A group of people had asked her to be part of an adventure and of course she'd said yes, though it seemed about time for the adventure to start and off she headed. If this turned about to be a disappointment, she'd have to track down whatever yob was keeping these people boring and make him stop. Realizing that she was later than when they wanted her there and worried that she was going to miss the adventure sent her off at full speed, were she was literally bouncing off the walls, signs and anything in her path.
Free Eagles
22-02-2008, 19:56
Alex hated spaceports. They were too big, too noisy and had far more aliens than even she could comfortably cope with. She didn’t mind humans so much; if she didn’t look too hard, she could almost pretend they were matrai, but some of the other species she encountered just made her skin crawl. And her xenophobia was mild for an Indoan. It was the numbers that she couldn’t ignore; the sheer volume of beings in spaceports made it impossible to ignore her prejudices.

The other thing she hated about spaceports was the chaos and complexity that seemed inherent to them. As far as she could tell, humans were incapable of running a sensible system for organising spaceport traffic. Everything was so complicated here. She’d been here for only six months, but already she had spotted at least three ways in which they could speed things up and help avoid delays. That was the thing that really annoyed her. The damn humans couldn’t keep to a schedule, even if nothing went wrong. Her flight in had been delayed by nearly an hour for no apparent reason, and now she was late.

She pulled her terminal from her pocket, looked at the screen for the details of the meeting location, then glanced around to see if she could spot anything to guide her in the right direction. She was dressed in her usual combination of practical and comfortable clothing; her old combat boots, dark cargo trousers and a worn pilot’s jacket made from what humans would probably call leather. Her large military kitbag lay at her feet, her pistol sat in it’s holster on her right leg and a small black mask covered her nose and mouth. Eventually, she slid the terminal back into her pocket, shouldered the kitbag and walked in the direction she had chosen.

It took her another fifteen minutes to find the right place for the meeting, for which she blamed the confusing design of the spaceport. She stopped just inside the room, taking a good look at those already present. One of the humans was clearly military by his uniform, and probably a high-ranking officer based on the excessive decoration on his chest. She decided that he and the other human sat near him were probably the ones organising this venture. She looked at the other two; another human and a reptilian that reminded her vaguely of a raishuv from back home. Though she didn’t know how many were going to be involved in this, she guessed there were still a few to arrive.

“Alex Lin,” she told them, “My apologies for being late, but my flight was delayed.” Though her words were clear, even through the filter mask she wore, her accent was unusual, with an almost sing-song lilt creeping in on a few words. Without waiting for a reply, she moved to take a seat at the opposite end of the table to the military officer, dumping her kitbag roughly to the ground next to it, before collapsing into a relaxed posture on the seat. She pulled her hair back from one side of her face, looping it behind her ear, revealing a small tattoo of a stylised arrow with a bar through the shaft on the back of her left hand. A human astrologer would probably interpret it as the symbol for Sagittarius, but this meaning was unknown to the Indoan.
Rhinara
26-02-2008, 20:56
"In hindsight, perhaps taking a shortcut through the asteroid belt was not a good idea," Elven said to Tellen in its standard, almost cheery tone. The robot's voice box allowed it to mimic a variety of new and different sounds, though the male voice it was currently using was factory-made. It sounded quite natural, but keen ears would still notice a slight synthetic timbre.

Leaving the ship and entering the space port, Elven followed its internal map of the facilities to the designated meeting area. The silver and white robot was naked as far as humans went, but that was perfectly normal for most robots, and so no one in the massive throng of people at the port paid any attention to that fact. The padded soles of the ELV-3N models, however, did help to soften the usual, loud thunks that resulted when heavy, mechanical feet contacted hard surfaces.

A little boy was running through the concourse not far from Elven when he tripped and was about to plant his face into the floor. Elven's servos were in action at the first indication of the tripping that the positronic processing core received from the sensor feeds, and the robot deftly bounded the few meters separating them to catch the boy before any harm came to him. "Are you injured?" Elven asked, just in case.

The boy looked up at the almost-human face of Elven and said, "Hi!" Getting back on his two feet, he ran back in the direction that he came from, where his mother promptly grabbed onto his wrist and began scolding him for running off like that. No more attention was paid to the robot. After all, it was expected of the 3 Laws robots to do those kind of things, and people only paid attention when such a robot would not do it.

Upon rejoining Tellen and reaching the congregation area where the meeting was to take place, Elven slowed just a little to allow the captain to make his entrance.
DMG
08-03-2008, 23:13
Arriving on a transport for which he had no ticket and had paid no fee, Jack stepped off quietly and slid into the never-ending steam of bodies that moved in a slipstream through the spaceport. It was the kind of place where you could hide for eons without ever being noticed as all of the others around you were busy waiting and worrying about their transit.

On his leisurely walk through the port, more than a few credits ended up in his pocket that had not been there originally. Slight of hand, it was only useful for magicians and thieves, though some saw no difference between the two. Jack, for his own part, was a little of both, but mostly neither. On the off chance that a clever gentleman noticed that his wallet was missing just after it had been plucked from his wallet, Jack used his charming accent and silver tongue to wiggle his way out, convincing the poor soul that he had merely been returning it from the floor or a pickpocket he had caught. Rare as occasion it was in a situation like this, the art of diplomacy and manipulation was a very useful one to have up one's sleeve.

Eventually, Jack meandered into the room set aside for the "group's" special purpose, whatever it was. Hopefully, he worried nonchalantly, it wouldn't be a trap. Needless to say, he had a few enemies, and the lure of a mysterious job was something they could use to take their revenge on him. However, as he wandered in, it seemed unlikely. There was a military stiff and some other characters there, some less savory than others. With all due deftness and skill, the Jack - as he referred to himself sometimes - got his hands on a datapad and began reading the stored information.
The Blastit Empire
10-03-2008, 07:22
Sarnel had done his best with his meager resources to dress decentely for the occasion wearing a smart deep blue shirt and a pair of black trousers. Having arrived early he had been stalking the corridors near dock 52 for some time and was returning from a cafe with a hot drink in his hand when he saw a well dressed man and a highly decorated and obviously important officer entering the departure lounge where they were to meet.

Keeping an eye on the two he weaved his way through the crowded corridor, pausing momentarily to shoo away an inquisitive young child that had pulled his tail and entered the room unhurriedly, giving the two men a chance to notice him as he approached the table and gave them a small bow of greeting, showing his respect.

"Sarnel at your service. Pilot, inventor, bounty hunter." He stated in a respectful tone by way of an introduction, "may i take a seat?" At each S - apart from his name - there was a soft echoing hiss, common to his species, though his was far less pronounced than most. After he was seated and had carefully placed his hot drink on the table, he cast a glance around at the number of empty chairs, trying to guage how many other might be involved in this 'enterprise' and how long he would have to wait before they might get past the idle greetings and get down to what they were actually doing. "Are we expecting many people?"



Archimedes Jeffries checked his watch as he stepped off the OtG Shuttle. That infernal wreck is going to make me late, he thought angrily to himself as he glanced back at the outdated vessel that had carried him from the orbital starport to the spaceport on the ground.

He walked with the deliberate speed of someone who is sure of their destiny and knows how to meet it, his briefcase swaying at his side with every step. The Regenian bull leather case contained the contract that the Regen Legal Department had drawn up to defray any liability from the Corporation itself in the event of a catastrophic mission failure. He hoped that the mission would not come to that.

Entering the non-descript building where the meeting was to be held, he hastily made his way to the conference room set aside for their group. He breathed a sigh of relief when he noticed that he was not the last to arrive, and entered. He walked towards the men already in the room and shook their hands, introducing himself as Archie Jeffries, before taking a seat at the table across from the Ibarian.

Niri was in a bit of a scowly mood as she'd been running out of interesting things to do recently. There'd been that wrestling match with something a grizzly that had been really fun but really hadn't lasted long enough. Opui had said that these people were full of fun and he'd had many adventures among them, but he had to have been teasing her for which he'd have to pay. The only thing worthwhile she'd found as yet was the vast amounts of music they liked. The two best types were things called heavy metal and reggae, which always made her giggle. In her native tongue it was a mildly obscene term, sort of like boobie to a human adolescent male.

Deciding to go get some more music hopping down the street and using whatever she landed on as a springboard, this being luckless people more often than not. They all tended to start yelling for some reason, it wasn't like she was heavy or even landed heavy and she was in a hurry, they weren't or else they wouldn't be walking.

She was just about at a store for music when she noticed the time. A group of people had asked her to be part of an adventure and of course she'd said yes, though it seemed about time for the adventure to start and off she headed. If this turned about to be a disappointment, she'd have to track down whatever yob was keeping these people boring and make him stop. Realizing that she was later than when they wanted her there and worried that she was going to miss the adventure sent her off at full speed, were she was literally bouncing off the walls, signs and anything in her path.

She was dressed in her usual combination of practical and comfortable clothing; her old combat boots, dark cargo trousers and a worn pilot’s jacket made from what humans would probably call leather. Her large military kitbag lay at her feet, her pistol sat in it’s holster on her right leg and a small black mask covered her nose and mouth.

It took her another fifteen minutes to find the right place for the meeting, for which she blamed the confusing design of the spaceport. She stopped just inside the room, taking a good look at those already present. One of the humans was clearly military by his uniform, and probably a high-ranking officer based on the excessive decoration on his chest. She decided that he and the other human sat near him were probably the ones organising this venture.

“Alex Lin,” she told them, “My apologies for being late, but my flight was delayed.” Though her words were clear, even through the filter mask she wore, her accent was unusual, with an almost sing-song lilt creeping in on a few words. Without waiting for a reply, she moved to take a seat at the opposite end of the table to the military officer, dumping her kitbag roughly to the ground next to it, before collapsing into a relaxed posture on the seat. She pulled her hair back from one side of her face, looping it behind her ear, revealing a small tattoo of a stylised arrow with a bar through the shaft on the back of her left hand. A human astrologer would probably interpret it as the symbol for Sagittarius, but this meaning was unknown to the Indoan.

Eventually, Jack meandered into the room set aside for the "group's" special purpose, whatever it was. Hopefully, he worried nonchalantly, it wouldn't be a trap. Needless to say, he had a few enemies, and the lure of a mysterious job was something they could use to take their revenge on him. However, as he wandered in, it seemed unlikely. There was a military stiff and some other characters there, some less savory than others. With all due deftness and skill, the Jack - as he referred to himself sometimes - got his hands on a datapad and began reading the stored information.

.

He walked his way over to the nearest two leg and chirped: "Mission. Where is the mission?"

As members walked into the room, Byron and Bain nodded respectfully to each or shook hands depending on what the others did, responding to each inquiry with a quick “All in time.” If asked to take a seat, Byron casually waved his hand to an available seat and nodded with a smile.

As the warriors took their seats or stood, Bain quickly checked for any signs of weaknesses, signs of weapons, and any other points of interest from a studious glance.
******

The child Tooth had first asked glanced up at the giant squid for a moment before emitting a high pitched scream and running off for her parents.

The scream attracted the attention of a few nearby security guards and the ever watchful Bain. The intelligence officer looked out of the building and glanced about the terminal before his eyes rested on a child being carried away by a mother trying to hush the child up. Bain’s bright blue eyes jumped a short distance away to a towering figure surrounded by security guards, weapons sheathed, bombarding the squid-man with questions. With a sigh, Bain made his way to the group, quietly grumbling about how he had gotten stuck with an inefficient and inexperienced team. As he approached the guards, he tapped what he observed as the ranking officer of the bunch.

“I’m terribly sorry for the disturbance and confusion. But ‘Tooth’ is with me, aren’t you?” Bain said coolly, the last query meant for the towering alien. The guards gave a nod at the duo and set off to continue their rounds.

“Come, Tooth, I am Bain, your commander for this expedition. I’m assuming you are here for a mission concerning a possible power source?” he asked quietly, as he walked back into the room. “Speak quietly, you never know who may be spying.”

Bain opened the door and motioned Tooth to move into the room. After the squid-person did so, Bain followed him indoors and as all members had taken a seat, Bain stood up next to Byron who, in turn, stood up as well.

“We’re missing two people. Or rather, a robot and a man,” Byron said quietly to Bain, his eyes scanning the small audience, notably, his longer glance at the unceremonious Alex.

“No matter, they are the most informed anyways. We need to get off this station and into space. I don’t trust this place, too many people. Space ports are too easy for spies to do their job. Let’s get this over with and I’ll inform our friend Tellen as we set off.”

Byron looked at the clock over head and nodded. “Ladies and gentlemen, let me first tell you how the World’s Coalition thanks you earnestly for answering our call. We apologize for the short notice but it seems you all arrived within a reasonable time.”

“Now for the important stuff,” Byron said with little humor. “According to the note sent out to each of you, you have come in answer to our request for aid in seeking some sort of energy source.”

“What we didn’t tell you is that this is no civilian quest, as you could guess from my attire. The emperor himself hand picked you for your talents, claiming you were some of the best in the universe.”

“This mission is not only to seek this power source, but also to bring us the source and its creator, a Dr. Melcor Eidolphus. Although the doctor is harmless and relatively pacifistic, his invention is unknown. It could be a very devastating weapon or it could be a simple power source. In any case we must ensure that it does not end up in the wrong hands. Our rivals of Earth, the Star Union, are probably sending their own task force to take this object in hopes of gaining the upper hand in our Galactic Stalemate.”

“An important sidenote is to make sure no one knows you are working for the WC. Right now, we are scheduled as a small meeting of alien ambassadors squabbling over a patrol within alien territory. If anyone notices, you will guarantee your death and a possibly start a war of devastating proportions.” Byron finished before looking at Bain. “This is Bain, the commander for this mission, having experience from many a mercenary battlefield.”

Bain bowed his head in respect for the others. “Although we’re told to avoid fighting, It’s strange that I will lead it,” he chuckled, giving off a friendly demeanor. “But in all seriousness, I will do my best to keep us from fighting, with all of your help.”

“As of now, we know that Dr. Eidolphus has moved from the planet of his mechanism and bounced around the Somorn System and neighboring worlds, eluding our people as best as he can. Last we heard, he had hidden himself within the god-king’s mansion of Krytex with a host of native guards and his own mercenaries. Although the doctor will speak with reason, the god-kings have a history of violent temper and cruel methods of torture. Although it is dangerous, with your talents, you will do fine and I’m sure we shall find our machine in quick fashion and before the SU.”

“Now all we need to do here is wait for our last two members, who happen to be, our pilot and autopilot…”
*****

"In hindsight, perhaps taking a shortcut through the asteroid belt was not a good idea," Elven said to Tellen in its standard, almost cheery tone. The robot's voice box allowed it to mimic a variety of new and different sounds, though the male voice it was currently using was factory-made. It sounded quite natural, but keen ears would still notice a slight synthetic timbre.

A little boy was running through the concourse not far from Elven when he tripped and was about to plant his face into the floor. Elven's servos were in action at the first indication of the tripping that the positronic processing core received from the sensor feeds, and the robot deftly bounded the few meters separating them to catch the boy before any harm came to him. "Are you injured?" Elven asked, just in case.

The boy looked up at the almost-human face of Elven and said, "Hi!" Getting back on his two feet, he ran back in the direction that he came from, where his mother promptly grabbed onto his wrist and began scolding him for running off like that. No more attention was paid to the robot.
Upon rejoining Tellen and reaching the congregation area where the meeting was to take place, Elven slowed just a little to allow the captain to make his entrance.

“I’ve driven through that belt enough to know all the tricks of it. We lived through it, did we not?” growled Tellen as he walked through the space port alongside his co-pilot and, some would say, only friend. “How was I supposed to know a Gralion Wurm moved in? I didn’t even know those lived in space…”

Tellen diverted his frustration to buttoning up his worn, faded Intrekin Captain jacket but stopped as his careless, somewhat shakey, hands popped a button off the suit. Muttering a short string of curses, Tellen nearly ended up tripping over the child that Elven had saved moments before.

“Get out of here you rotten, snot-nosed, infernal spat of nikin dung!” he shouted angrily as his skin turned from a dull black to a violent shade of red, a trait inherent in all intrekin.

“You should have let the terrible bugger fall. It’s not like he’d die anyways. Humans are not that weak…” he growled, attempting to insult the mother by flipping her off but ending up pointing at the sky with his index finger rather than giving her his middle.

“That bugger couldn’t have been there a moment ago,” he snarled to himself, leaving it open to discussion whether he was still talking about the Space Wurm or the child.

As he walked to the door, Elven stepped to the side, a gentle grin on his face, or perhaps a mocking smile, Tellen returned with his own mocking grin before shaking his head. “Quit being so cheery,” he growled before stepping in and surveying the room.

“Mornin’ you sad sack bunch of bumbling no-wits!” he said aloud. “Nice to see such cheery faces and-” His eyes turned to Alex, his eyes following her legs, lingering on her chest, before ending up staring at her eyes. He gave a slight smile and plopped down next to her. “Except for you, love. You’ll be my 1st mate,” he chuckled and gave her a wink as he made to put an arm around her.

“This is Tellen LiRoy, our…pilot,” Bain said, annoyance creeping into his voice. He turned to Byron who responded by taking a step back, giving a nod, and looking away.

“You guys should get going,” he said quietly.

“If anyone has any last minute things they must take care of, get it done. Otherwise, let’s get out of here,” Bain replied as he walked towards the door, tempted to land a punch right into Tellen’s face as he passed.
Theao
10-03-2008, 12:27
Shortly after Niri arrived at the meeting/conference room and found out that people were still late, she curled up in a decidedly felinic manner on top of the table. As was her nature, even sleeping on a table, she looked like she was laying on a vibrating bed cranked to the max. A couple minutes later she began to snore, a sound that sounded like a band saw hitting a nail at several thousand RPMs. Any attempts to poke, prod or otherwise wake her was met with a light slap with no appearent action on her part.

She remained in the position, her noisy snoring starting and stopping at random, however as soon as Elven stepped in, Niri was already half-way across the room. She tackled the robot in what could only be called a full force glomp. "Shiny robot." She squealed as she gave it a very tight, bone-crushing, for a human, hug.


Glomp — A hug in the manner of a small child, similar to a bearhug but often including one or both legs as well as arms. Also a hug in which the hugger jumps and catches the victim by surprise or off-guard. Basically, it's a violent hug with a running start.
Luporum
10-03-2008, 19:14
Sitting down was always an ordeal for Tooth, resting his beak directly on the surface was rather painful, and he had cut his legs numerous times trying to cushion his razor sharp mouth. Through some impressive flexing he had curled his legs into a spring underneath himself. However he was now incredibly top heavy and constantly leaning back and forth only kept from falling by slapping his arms down to the floor for support.

"Robot." He whispered aloud, bouncing with anticipation. The two legs wouldn't let him take other bipedals apart, apparently surgery isn't as social with them as it is with Tooth's species. Robots, on the other hand, were constantly being handed to him for repairs and optimization. So much to take apart, so much to see, Tooth leaned forward staring intensely at the pilot.
Free Eagles
10-03-2008, 23:21
Alex had given only cursory glances to each individual that had arrived after she had, but she wasn’t too interested in trying to profile anyone just yet. Besides, appearances couldn’t tell you everything, if they told you anything accurate at all. There was plenty of time to figure out each of these people later; the only people that got a detailed examination were the military officer and his companion, who was probably either intelligence or a mercenary. She also noticed the fact that when the mercenary looked over each of them, he spent more time looking at her than any other.

Right and wrong is a point of view, observed Alex to herself, as the military officer explained the task. This is about what I expected though. You don’t hire out for a simple pick up or research operation. If the situation between these two powers is as delicate as it sounds, it’s no surprise they’d rather keep this quiet. And death threats, now there’s a great start to a relationship. Despite her thoughts, she was still going to join this mission; it was paying well enough, and she was a little curious about the nature of the new energy source.

When the pilot eventually turned up, Alex wasn’t impressed. Arrogant, obnoxious and loud, she immediately took a dislike to him. She was even less impressed when he decided to thrust his affections on her. As he made to put his arm around her, she moved extremely quickly, almost before he did. Her left hand held his arm in a surprisingly strong vice-tight grip, and her right pressed the muzzle of her pistol into his neck. She met his gaze, her hard brown eyes seeming to bore holes into his head.

“Don’t do that again,” she told him firmly, the words as clear as before, despite the mask. She released his arm, pushing it roughly away from her, then lowered and holstered the pistol. Without looking at the pilot again, she stood up, picked up her kitbag, slung it over her shoulder and began to head for the door. She stopped however, as a blur shot past her and collided with the robot that had arrived with the pilot. She looked more closely, and realised it was the girl who seemed to be constantly vibrating. “What are you doing?”
Regenius
11-03-2008, 02:21
Archimedes looked quizzically at Tellen, and then turned to Bain. "Surely you don't intend for this arrogant idiot to be our pilot?", he asked with genuine concern in his voice. He was beginning to worry that the liability waiver was going to be necessary.

After hearing the disappointing reply from the mission's leader, he excused himself to pick up his equipment which had arrived separately by Regen Courier. Several minutes later he returned with a large duffel bag of personal effects and clothing, and an even larger secure metal case which contained his research equipment.
Theao
11-03-2008, 12:19
At being addressed Niri scrambled her way to the top of Elven, twisting until she was sitting on its shoulders (http://www.dhhs.state.nh.us/NR/rdonlyres/epm4a6cicjilucjcwnxy72v2rgdeenw7y75aa6w72kgpmhuz5ci5fjln2vg4wzxcilkkxbcpg6icphks5gjg425ljzb/Vol061-150-067.jpg) and looked at the one who'd addressed her.

"Was giving Shiny a hug, want one?" She asked as she rested her chin on her hands with Elven's head supporting her elbows.
Kitab Al-Ibar
11-03-2008, 23:21
Sarnel had drunk his drink while waiting for the others to turn up and watched curiously as each one filtered in offering a greeting and making sure to keep out of the way of the one that curled up and slept on the table. His initial impression of some of the members left him feeling more than a little dismayed, though he felt pleased to be apparently counted amongst some of the best, even if the best seemed to be hiding it well at the moment. At least with such an eventful meeting it would certainly be an interesting journey, that is if their pilot could actually fly, Sarnel certainly wasn't impressed by the mans attitude.

At the mention of leaving as soon as possible he nodded, indicated that he would return in a moment and strode purposefully out into the corridor and after a few corners came to a storage area where he had left his pack and quickly checked nothing was missing before picking it up and returning to the room and stood patiently waiting for the others.
The Blastit Empire
12-03-2008, 01:11
As he made to put his arm around her, she moved extremely quickly, almost before he did. Her left hand held his arm in a surprisingly strong vice-tight grip, and her right pressed the muzzle of her pistol into his neck. She met his gaze, her hard brown eyes seeming to bore holes into his head.

“Don’t do that again,” she told him firmly, the words as clear as before, despite the mask. She released his arm, pushing it roughly away from her, then lowered and holstered the pistol. Without looking at the pilot again, she stood up, picked up her kitbag, slung it over her shoulder and began to head for the door.

Tellen winced slightly, from surprise rather than pain and eyed her weapon pushing against his neck before her fire-filled eyes met with his passive, uncaring ones.

"Fiery. I love that in a woman," he chuckled as she made for the door, rubbing his wrist as he flexed his fingers. Yet as he began to get up, it seemed the interest was turned to his co-pilot.

He glared at the dog-eared woman leaping over Elven and then at the tall squid-creature. Always one vying for attention, Tellen couldn't have this.

"Get away from my robot, dog-ear," he growled to Niri, while eyeing the tentacles of the squid-man.
*****

Archimedes looked quizzically at Tellen, and then turned to Bain. "Surely you don't intend for this arrogant idiot to be our pilot?", he asked with genuine concern in his voice. He was beginning to worry that the liability waiver was going to be necessary.

After hearing the disappointing reply from the mission's leader, he excused himself to pick up his equipment which had arrived separately by Regen Courier. Several minutes later he returned with a large duffel bag of personal effects and clothing, and an even larger secure metal case which contained his research equipment.

Bain wistled loudly to get the attention from the room. "Come, people, we have lots of work to do." As he walked out the door, he picked up a large metal suitcase and left the room behind.

"The best of luck to you all. I look forward to seeing you all in one piece. I will try to keep you guys updated through communications with Bain. Fly safely," Byron said with a gentle wave as the squad left him alone in the room. As the last one left, he took his former seat at the head of the table and leaned back with a tired sigh. "I hope this works out..."

**********
Tellen walked out of the door behind Archimedes giving out a quiet, almost inaudible chuckle. "Nice bottle-opener," he said, motioning towards Archimede's hand.

But as soon as he said that, Bain pushed him towards the center of the terminal corridor. "Keep walking," he growled.

"Hey, I'm the one that should be in a foul mood. You almost ended up without a pilot or ship. Humans fail to keep vermin out of their asteroid belts or at home. I almost punted one of your children as I was coming here. Not to mention-"

"Stop babbling. I don't care what happened. You were later than you should have been. You should have been the first one here. That's probably why you ended up going through an asteroid belt," Bain replied, growing more annoyed as he followed Tellen through the terminal to where his ship was stationed. "For all we know, you were drinking booze while having sex with a woman."

"Three, in fact. Two Trithians and a Morvin. Sexy, passionate...delicious," Tellen remarked, slowing down to reminisce for a moment. "Yes, three of the best."

"Look, Mr. LiRoy. Don't be an idiot. Don't jeopardize our mission. And don't get on the bad side of our teammates. We need to be cooperative here. Follow my orders as best as you can. You life may depend on it." Bain gave a heavy pat on the pilot's back, making him stumble through the large heavy door to the docking bay.

Tellen LiRoy, ex-pirate, ex-officer, and an extraordinary pilot needed an extraodinary ship. The Perennial Adventure was a converted Iquimean Frigate. The frigate was a sleek design, looking vaguely like a wedge. It sported two thick wings that together, resembled a U shape with the tips of the wings just barely extended further than the nose of the ship. Throughout the body, several turrets extended outwards, with a few torpedo bays situated under the wing. Under the body, was a large ballistic turret. On either side of the body, were two two-barreled turrets for small caliber ballistics. However, the ship itself seemed to be missing several weapons as it looked as though they were hastily removed or poorly covered with discolored metal, most likely to give more space for cargo.

“Ah, my first and only love,” Tellen smiled as he spun around to face the others. “Behold, the Perennial Adventure!” He pointed at the Blocky, faded writing under the side cockpit windows. “The best ship in space…with the best pilot behind the wheel that is. Can hold its own against a Borthean cruiser, even shake off, dare I say it, three Baktralin fighters. I’d know, I’ve encountered it when I had-”

“Load up, people, we want to get out of here as soon as possible,” Bain said as he walked through the catwalk to the side ramp up to the entrance to the ship. The tall door slid open, giving a gentle hiss before he walked into the decontamination hold. After the others shuffled into the cramped space, several beams of light shined upon them, scanning them from all sides before a computer voice finally cleared them as decontaminated. The inner door opened, barely tall enough to allow Tooth to enter comfortably. Soon, Tooth would realize it was much the same throughout the whole ship.

The ship itself was fairly homely. The door lead to a small room styled similarly to the airplanes of the 20th earth century with a burgandy red carpet and light purple walls. 15 seats were arranged in 5 rows of 3 seats on either side of the middle walkway. On the walls, a 15 inch flat view screen were hooked up to a long arm so it could swivel in front of the passenger in the seat. The cockpit was to their immediate left. The open door revealed large, long, button-filled panels in a fairly square room, about 15 feet tall (declining as one approached the front), 17 feet wide, and 13 feet long. The five chairs were a leathery texture, two at the head of the ship, most likely where Tellen and Elven performed their duties, while two others were on either side of the cockpit. The last chair was a few feet behind the pilot and co-pilot, almost in the center of the room. Most likely, it served as the commander’s seat for its previous owner.

Past the row of seats, was a hallway of empty, bland, sleep pods for cryogenic sleep for long journeys. Each side of the hallway had 10 cryogenic tubes hooked up to a rack that could revolve to show 10 other tubes or one large tube for the larger species, such as Tooth. These larger tubes were probably recently bought, considering they looked cleaner and newer than the smaller ones.

Beyond this hallway, were six rooms, big enough to fit a generic, brown twin sized bed, a dresser/closet/cabinet fixture, and a desk, along with a small walk space in the middle of the room. Past these rooms, were a row of bathrooms, 4 in total, with a mirror, a sink, a strange, an all-species toilet, and a shower/bathtub hybrid.

Beyond that was one more room on the side closed. This was Tellen’s room, where he never let a male enter (except Elven, if he could be counted) and only the females who want more than a ride to their destination. Next to the door were two large black crevasses, where robots could slide into and get charged, should they require it.

After the chargers, was a ramp leading downwards where one could take a left or right. Either way would lead to the lower levels if another ramp down was taken, holding mostly cargo and weapons systems (and a few bombs, should they need to be dropped), or they could lead to the wings, which held the engines, torpedoes, weapons systems, and even the smaller bits of cargo.

How Tellen got such a massive, beautiful (sometimes gaudy) ship, was a story only Tellen could tell.

As soon as Tellen walked in, he showed the way to the lower cargo hold, nothing else, and told them to set their things here unless they requested something to keep with them immediately. Then, he went to the cock-pit and announced “Take your seats, deadbeats. Master wants us out, so let’s get ourselves out of here.” As soon as he turned off the intercom he began the process of confirming the departure time with the traffic control tower. Suddenly, he flipped the intercom switch again. “Elven, you are required up here in the cockpit.”


***

Following Tellen, Bain took mental note of the rooms, the cargo, and the weapon systems down in the cargo hold. Deciding not to put his silver suitcase down in the hold, he brought it back up with him and chose a seat near the back, placing his suit case in the empty chair to the right of him.

As the engine’s started up, a low hum vibrated the floor of the ship, making Bain begin to wonder how old the ship was. He put the thought to the back of his mind as he rested his head in the head rest and switched on his view screen, changing it to the channel of the outside view, revealing the dark hangar brightening up as the hangar doors opened up. He could only hope everything happened as planned…
Theao
12-03-2008, 01:48
"Silly spiky head, Shiny is Shiny's, not Spiky's." Niri commented with a giggle as she briefly examined the Interkin before turning back to Elven. As far as she was concerned a shiny robot was far more fun and interesting than a space geko, especially such a limited one.

Bending over so that she was looking into the android's face upside down she asked, "What's a dog, is it fun?"

ooc: It's dog-esq ears not hair.
Refering to his 'obsession' with females.
Rhinara
12-03-2008, 18:39
When Alex pulled the gun on Tellen, Elven began moving to intervene. From the biometric readings on the woman, the robot could tell that she was annoyed, but the chances of her actually committing murder was fairly low. Nonetheless, he was obligated to protect the life of the pilot.

But then something fast was quickly closing in on him, and he positioned himself just in time to absorb the momentum with minimum injury to either parties. Looking down to see Niri holding him in a tight embrace, Elven silently cocked his head. "Why, hello there."

As Niri busied herself with climbing up him, Elven swiveled his head to look at Tooth, then at Archimedes, and said, "Please do not be affronted by Captain LiRoy's appearances. I believe that the human adage goes: 'do not judge a book by its cover.' Captain LiRoy is quite the competent pilot."

Due to his human-mimicking subroutines, the robot tilted his head upwards just a bit to look at Niri, though all it really did was shift the little creature's center of gravity. "A dog is a mammalian species native to Earth, though similar canine specimens have been found on other worlds as well. They range in size from-" He paused as he saw the look on Niri's face. "Yes, they are small, furry, and quite fun."

He then followed after Tellen to the ship, not bothering to remove Niri from sitting on top of him, but instead giving her tidbits on the cute and cuddly aspects of puppies. Once aboard the vessel, he helped the passengers to store their belongings and getting them settled in. When the intercom came to life and Tellen ordered him to the bridge, Elven gently lifted Niri off of him and placed her in one of the seats. "I am afraid that this ride has ended, but the next one will be starting shortly. Buckle up!"

With that, the robot went to the bridge and took his seat. "Running prelight checks," he said as he scanned over several readings coming up on the consoles near him and began flipping switches and pressing buttons.

Elven then leaned over towards Tellen and placed a hand near his lips as if he were telling the captain a secret that he did not want overheard, although there was no one else in the cockpit. In a lowered volume, he said, "I think you might have a shot at that woman. I can bring up her profile for you if you would like." Giving Tellen a single wink, the robot went back to his preflight checks.
DMG
13-03-2008, 02:05
As a "professional Jack" (as Jack calls himself, which secretly means a con-man, pirate, privateer, soldier of fortune, marauder, thief, brigand, picaroon, corsair, scammer, shark, fleecer, deceiver, double speaker, swindler, cozener, conniver, fraud, fake, cheat, sham, scam artist, buccaneer, plunderer, trickster, and knave), Jack continued to read the datapad he had lifted with all due diligence and focus, seemingly oblivious to the world outside his narrow vision, and yet he heard and saw everything that was going on. None would be the wiser - in fact, when he walked right between the men squaring off over the hyperactive one, they might've thought he was bound to walk into a wall. Even once out in the crowded halls of the spaceport, he somehow managed to navigate his way through the crowds, continually adding to his purse, while reading the information contained within the storage device, despite the many thousands of people walking in herd-like formation.

When they arrived at the docking area for the ship they would be cruising on, Jack stopped for a moment and looked up. "Nice flying tin can," he mocked in jest, sort of. It was a random comment mostly, but it would be interesting to see the pilot's reaction. Then he went back to the datapad to glean more information.

As he entered the main cabin, he non-chalantly took a seat next to the squirmy "never-stop" girl, leaving the seat across the aisle empty.
Theao
16-03-2008, 12:00
"Bye bye Shiny, and don't let Spiky tell you what to do." Niri commented as she let her self get put into one of the chairs. Of course she didn't bother to do up the seatbelt as it would prevent her from exploring the ship later. When the one who'd had his nose in the book took a seat next to her, Niri looked him over briefly, gave him a tooth filled smile and then promptly seemed to forget he was even there as she looked about the room.
King Arthur the Great
16-03-2008, 15:04
Primus Hallyol Throfinus stopped for a minute, taking in the view of the spaceport as he stepped out of one of the many corridors that led to the walkways that circled the area. He set his bag down, shifting it with his foot to keep the wense of weight on his shin, and took out a small communication device. By going into his messaging service, he found a message that gave him a link to message his prospective employer directly. Quickly tapping out a message, he put it through the cipher that he had been told to use, and sent it. It read as follows:

Admiral Byron

The Collegium has pulled me from my duty cycle. As per your office's request, I am available for the job that was initially offered. Please contact me immediately, either to identify your office's contact, or to confirm that my services are no longer needed.

Lyol Thorfinus, Examiner of the Collegium.

After sending the message, Lyol shouldered his bag, dropped his communicator into an accessible pocket, and started walking to a stairway that led down to the main floor where all the traffic was taking place. Lyol didn't have any of the flashier psionic abilities that his people were known for. Still, even without ESP, he still had a gut feeling that this job would turn out to be more than he bargained for.
Free Eagles
16-03-2008, 22:13
“Do you think you could have found something a little more conspicuous?” asked Alex acerbically, on seeing the vessel they would be flying in. “I thought the whole point of this job was to remain unnoticed by others.” The vessel’s apparent age and general state of repair also caught her attention. I doubt this thing could hold off a corvette, let alone a cruiser. Hell, a couple of X-5s could probably take it out without much effort. Even though nothing she could see would convince her otherwise, she found herself hoping that she was wrong. She had a nasty feeling they might need some of this vessel’s supposed capabilities before long.

Somewhat reluctantly, she followed the others on board, casting a suspicious eye on the decontamination equipment as it scanned them, but remaining silent. As they moved through the ship’s interior, Alex was careful to make note of as much of their surroundings as possible. They might be spending some time on this ship, she reasoned, so the sooner she knew roughly where everything was, the better. The choice of interior decoration didn’t appeal to her much though. “What a ghastly colour…” she muttered under her breath.

She left her kit bag down in the hold with the other cargo, but retrieved something from inside first, which she pocketed, then spent a while fiddling with something that she carefully shielded from view. When she was finished, she headed back up to the passenger cabin, and chose a seat on the back row, away from the aisle, to collapse into. After inspecting and fastening the harness, Alex closed her eyes. Even though she’d only been support personnel in the military, she knew the importance of getting sleep whenever you could.
Regenius
17-03-2008, 01:11
The ship gave Archimedes the impression of experience as he looked over its hull, noticing scorching in some places. He hoped that that experience would count for something as he was sure that many of the new model Regen Corp. ships could shoot this one from the sky, and some of Regen's customers weren't too friendly to Zaeffer.

After boarding, he stowed his research equipment in the cargo hold, and returned and took a seat in the cabin. He began to read some of the recent research reports from Regen Labs on his datapad to pass the time until launch.
King Arthur the Great
17-03-2008, 16:40
Admiral Byron was surprised to hear the beeping indicating the new message, but was slightly pleased once he had read it. Ah, the Collegium's Examiner. Good, his diplomatic experience will probably prove useful, considering the pilot. He quickly typed up two messages, one to Primus Hallyol Throfinus, the other to Bain, before sending them simultaneously.

Examiner Thorfinus

I am pleased that the Collegium has made you available. I have reviewed your file, and I trust that you will be able to find a way into the party. They are travelling on the craft Perennial Adventure, a former Iquimean frigate. Control tells me that they are starting pre-boarding procedures, I would suggest that you hurry, lest your ride leave you. Enclosed are photos of your companions for this job.

Admiral Byron, World Coalition Naval Fleet.

The other, to Bain, was shorter, with a full dossier on Thorfinus.

Bain

We have received word from another contact about to join this mission. I have enclosed his full intelligence dossier, and he should join you shortly. Continue with launch, he is quite capable of boarding without disrupting launch procedure. I should stress two things. First, he is primarily a liaison, and thus will be quite useful in any type of diplomatic negotiations. Second, his particular ability is somewhat rare and unobtrusive, and would best remain private until either of you believe it necessary to inform the others. Expect him somewhere in the lower holds, likely near the landing gear.

Admiral Byron.

********************

Lyol read through the admiral's message, noting his teammates. He had seen the cephalopod, Tooth, as well as the droid and the dog eared being, which he figured to be Elven and Niri, respectively. Given the time passed, he figured that they were already on the ship, and so he made his way to the docking station indicated by the admiral's message. He made it over before the fuel crew returned, and ducking around to the side, he found himself near an access panel for the landing gear. It was a good as method as any, considering that the ramp was sealed.

Lyol threw his bag up into a nook, before pulling himself up after it. Slinging it across his back, and tightening the straps to secure it, he paused as the hangar doors opened. Just in time, he thought to himself, clambering up the cavity before pushing himself through the inside panel, used for repairs from inside the ship. He knew that he had tripped at least one sensor, since only a fool didn't secure his ship, but he was in, the seal had been closed, and he was on. He paused to smell the air, noting the musty scent, but pleased since it meant the lubrication on the machinery was kept well enough.

Lyol dropped his bag, and then sat. Somebody would probably come down to investigate, and he wanted to make his first impression as positive as it could have been. It was troublesome that he had been delayed, but few things ever worked out perfectly. He was reminded of that as he rubbed his beard, feeling the ridge from a rather nasty series of punches from many years ago.
The Blastit Empire
18-03-2008, 16:22
With that, the robot went to the bridge and took his seat. "Running prelight checks," he said as he scanned over several readings coming up on the consoles near him and began flipping switches and pressing buttons.

Elven then leaned over towards Tellen and placed a hand near his lips as if he were telling the captain a secret that he did not want overheard, although there was no one else in the cockpit. In a lowered volume, he said, "I think you might have a shot at that woman. I can bring up her profile for you if you would like." Giving Tellen a single wink, the robot went back to his preflight checks.

Tellen raised an eyebrow at Elven and paused as if thinking to himself. "You know I would never do anything to a client," he said in a scolding tone of voice. However, his grin undermined his statement, as Elven had already seen Tellen escape to his bedroom with many a female client before.

"Perennial Adventure, your flight as been confirmed. You are a go," the control tower chimed in through the speakers. "You are late."

A new voice chimed in announcing "Intruder Alert, Cargo Bay."

Tellen frowned and looked at Elven. "Can you find the stowaway and...I don't know...your equivalent of getting rid of it?" he said as he began to guide the ship out of the hangar. He chose Elven because although Tellen had great balance, despite what others may think, the robot was even better.

"Not my fault we're late," he grumbled as he flipped a few more switches. The entire ship began to vibrate somewhat heavily as it slowly inched forward and eased its way out of the hangar.




Bain

We have received word from another contact about to join this mission. I have enclosed his full intelligence dossier, and he should join you shortly. Continue with launch, he is quite capable of boarding without disrupting launch procedure. I should stress two things. First, he is primarily a liaison, and thus will be quite useful in any type of diplomatic negotiations. Second, his particular ability is somewhat rare and unobtrusive, and would best remain private until either of you believe it necessary to inform the others. Expect him somewhere in the lower holds, likely near the landing gear.

Admiral Byron.


Lyol dropped his bag, and then sat. Somebody would probably come down to investigate, and he wanted to make his first impression as positive as it could have been. It was troublesome that he had been delayed, but few things ever worked out perfectly. He was reminded of that as he rubbed his beard, feeling the ridge from a rather nasty series of punches from many years ago.


Bain frowned as his datapad vibrated within his pants pocket. What now? he thought with annoyance. He pulled the small, sleek device from his pocket and skimmed through the message. "Lyol. Sounds good enough," he mumbled to himself.

"Crew, sounds like our last one has made it," he announced with a smile as he unbuckled himself from the back and walked towards the cock-pit to the chatting Elven and Tellen, just as they were talking about a stowaway.

"He's ours. I would suggest not dumping him out or killing him. He was a bit later than we expected. Elven, instead of killing him or whatever, might you bring him up here? I'll send someone down with you in case he is worried you're a sentinel triggered by the alarm.

He scanned the faily tired-looking crew (except for the energetic one, whose eyes were bouncing all over the place) until his eyes rested on Jack, the one with his nose in the datapad.

"Jack," Bain said loudly, awaiting to see if he got the name right. "Can you check the cargo hold? Our new arrival awaits there. Treat him nicely," he said as he made his way back to his seat. As he passed by the bulk of the others he stopped again.

"So, is everyone tired? Get to know each other, we're going to be together for a very long time," he announced with a smile as he returned to his seat and sat down.
***

Tellen shook his head as the ship was set to autopilot and followed a short line of ships moving towards the launch pad. Although fairly orderly and much safer than many other spaceports, this one seemed to believe Spaceships and airplanes require the same lift off space.

However, the autopilot left Tellen to think about what was currently happening and the biting words from several crew members about his ship. While offending him, he chose not to say anything considering Bain was right next to him.

"I'll show them what my baby can do..." he growled as he looked out the currently open door and quickly glanced at the ones who had made comments.
Kitab Al-Ibar
18-03-2008, 19:15
Sarnel had remained quiet as they approached the vessel, he was quite surprised at the size of it for what appeared to be just a man and his robot. Examining its shape he noted that it appeared to once have been of quite sleek design, but showed signs of some modification and wear. It did however seem decentely armed, though he wasn't sure how accurate the pilots boasts were.

Following the others through the ship he surveyed everything he passed, deciding that most of it seemed relatively superfluous to the actualy running of the ship, but might be useful on an extended voyage. He dropped off his pack in an empty space against a wall in the cargo hold before returned to the seating area and taking an empty seat towards the front which offered him a partial view into the cockpit in order to satisfy at least some of his proffesional interest in how this ship worked.

His thoughts echoed some of the concerns voiced by some of the other passangers, but he was willing to wait a see. Being able to feel the vibrations of the engine caught him slightly by surprise, his race was naturally sensitive to vibrations and he had often relied on the minor vibrations from his own ships engine to reflect how well it was running. He was not familiar with this class of ship, but it was either old or the engines had been modified, regardless he found it interesting and the feel was refreshing, until it became more violent, which was mildly annoying, but would not bother him unless it continued for some time.

At the sound of an intruder alert he perked up a little and glanced at Bain and the man he had called Jack who was going to investigate before leaning back in a relaxed posture to watch what was happening.
Rhinara
21-03-2008, 02:04
Elven began getting up from his seat when Bain came from behind and made his announcement.

"Why, I would never do such a thing," the robot said in his usual cheerful voice in reference to the killing. "And yes, I shall endeavor to seek out our tardy passenger."

Pausing to wait for Jack, the automaton led the way to the cargo bay. As way of making conversation, he said, "I see that you are quite absorbed in that datapad. Is it a novel or some other reading material? I have read many books myself, although I would certainly be interested in expanding my library."

The cargo bay's light automatically came up as the two stepped through the thick, sliding doors. By patching into the ship's internal sensor systems, he knew to head directly to one of the maintenance hatches along one of the cargo bay walls.

Jeffries tubes, some people called these. They were cramped and required one to crawl through them, but they allowed access to various areas of the ship without taking up more space than necessary. Elven tapped several keys on the console next to the hatch and it hissed open, revealing a dark tunnel.

The lights within the crawl space slowly came to life to illuminate the tunnel of machinery and the sole person that was sitting down near one of the landing struts. Bending over and looking down into the tunnel, Elven's eyes focused onto Lyol and he said, "Hello."
King Arthur the Great
21-03-2008, 02:45
By the time the small hatch opened at the end of the tunnel, Lyol's eyes had adjusted to the darkness, and he couldn't quite see the one that greeted him. By the sound of the voice, though, he figured it was either a droid or some form of communicator that was being employed. Either way, it was a greeting, and deserved to be met in turn.

"Salve," said Lyol. "I am Hallyol Thorfinus, and if you'll give me a moment, I'll be right out to properly introduce myself. I apologize for my delay, but it was unavoidable." So saying, Lyol rocked forwards, since the tunnel opened up where he sat to allow one to stand while performing maintenance. Keeping the bag under his body, he began crawling towards the light, finally being helped by a metallic hand. Lyol was right, it was a droid. Accompanying him was another figure, this one a man slightly shorter than Lyol, with long hair and a strange look.

"Again, my apologies for my tardiness. Most people call me Lyol. What may I call each of you?"
DMG
22-03-2008, 07:34
Always aware of his surroundings - the intruder alarm, the robot walking past the rows of chairs, the sound of his name - Jack looked up from the datapad, which he had just finished reading thoroughly. "Aye, I'll do that," he replied to Bain, adding, "but if anyone takes my seat..." His eyes slipped down to the scabbard on his left hip that would be the instrument of his unspoken threat. However, his eyes drifted from the black casing to the fidgety girl next to him, the odd one that was incredibly hyperactive and childlike. On second thought, maybe I should hope someone takes my seat. He held his stare on the girl slightly too long as he thought about switching seats before her "personality" became annoying.

Stepping from his seat into the aisle behind the robot, Jack stood out pretty sorely from the others. Even in a galaxy filled with hundreds of cultures on distant planets with various alienoid species, Jack still was pretty uniquely dressed. It was literally straight out of a book he had seen when he was younger, the same book that had led him to his current "occupation" and lifestyle. There was a colored picture in a book called Treasure Island from which he modeled the basics of his attire, though admittedly he had taken it a bit farther. All that remained was a ship and a weapon, and he had stepped into his dream of being a sky pirate... a space pirate. The life of a pirate: no rules, no monotony, nobody else but a pirate. That's the way he liked it. So why had he joined in this expedition. Treasure.

As he walked through the five rows of chairs, glancing momentarily at the faces he had just been reading about, his sword-in-scabbard clanged metallically against each passing chair. It had taken him quite a while to find such a beauty of a sword. Carved directly from brilliant-metal, etched with mysterious symbols along the blade, and able to cut through many a foe, the rapier was as deadly and intimidating a weapon as any - even the Titani heavy blaster he wore on the opposite hip. The rapier would've cost him a lifetime's fortune to buy should he have acquired it along honest means, but the nice thing about being who he was is that he could just take it. After all, its previous owner couldn't have much use for it in the vast vacuum of space. The ship too, it came with the sword after the owner had been ejected through the air seal. He wasn't entirely without morals though, the owner, he was sure, had not been a very good guy, probably gaining the sword through even less savory means than Jack had. Even as a pirate he had some form of a conscience... which is why he wouldn't run the new guy through for sneaking aboard late.

"Nah, I'm done," Jack said as he tossed the rectangular datapad to the robot ahead of him. "It's just the files the Admiral had on all of us. I was curious about everyone, what they would hide, what they possessed... ya know, just info. Plus I couldn't keep from taking a peak at what they had on me," Jack added as he rested his left hand on the hilt of his blade. "For some reason, it doesn't seem like the Admiral really trusts me."

Not willing or wanting to go any further down the road of information he had just begun to discuss freely, Jack was glad to see they had arrived at their destination: a small crawl space where the unlucky fellow would have to squeeze out of. Hope he isn't a fatty... Jack thought as he waited for the robot to make contact. Would be a bother to have to grease him out. As they waited, he leaned slightly forward, shifting much of his upper body weight to the hilt that hung from his belt, causing a downward force on his pants. It was a slightly odd position and certainly didn't help much in terms of lifting the load from one's feet, but Jack found it comfortable, even inviting. It helped that it gave him quick access to his blade and made it clear to everyone that he was armed and capable.

A moment later, a man crawled out with his bag and stood up slowly before the pair. Jack eyed him up and down as the newcomer apparently did the same. "Primus Hallyol Thorfinus, I assume," Jack commented, recalling information from the datapad he had committed to memory. "Would you mind very much if I called you Primus?" Why would anyone call him "Lyol"? Primus is so much quicker and easier to pronounce.

"Our pleasure to make your acquaintance. You may call me Jack," the pirate said in his refined tone of elegance and disarmament, making sure - as always - to pronounce his name 'Zhahk'.
King Arthur the Great
22-03-2008, 17:03
Would you mind very much if I called you Primus?

"As a matter of fact, yes," replied Lyol. "Where I come from, the first name is used only by blood kin. I have always believed that the tradition is archaic, but I must ask that you not use the name, or I will be forced to meet you when the robot is otherwise occupied. If you feel that you can pronounce Hallyol, feel free to do so. I simply use Lyol as a concession to the difficulty of my Scadterrenian name. I take it that you are Jack Niesswa, the self-described negotiator and soldier of fortune? An absolute pleasure to meet you."

Lyol held his hand out in the traditional common gesture of salutation. He had learned long ago that his name was rather hard on the tongue, but he could not undo what his parents had wrought. It was simply easier to politely explain the reason, and it generally made group work much easier. He could already see what exactly Jack was. Lyol was silently reminded of the corsairs from his studies on earth history, though Jack looked to be more out of the fictional tales that had been told, as opposed to resembling an actual buccaneer.
DMG
22-03-2008, 21:07
As a matter of fact, yes...

"Well then," Jack responded with a grin on his face, "You can consider me a brother and I can call you Primus. You know, brothers in the archaic sense. Brothers in arms. But then a brother would never threaten another brother, so I suppose then we are not brothers and you shall thus be Hallyol." Without breaking for more than the briefest breaths, Jack continued his rambling. "Though you being Hallyol and I not wishing to put forth the effort to pronounce even the conceded Lyol, let alone Hallyol, I suppose our interaction will be brief and rare. Unless of course we become true blood brothers and you permit me the privilege in private of pronouncing Primus."

"Unless there is another Jack aboard - though I would not put it past another such as you - I would be the Jack Niesswa, negotiator extraordinaire. More a fortunate solider than a soldier of fortune. Fortunate in the sense that despite all of the laser blasts that have flown past my head, I have encountered the statistical improbability that none yet have existed in the same space as my face, which would render me a much unfortunate soldier."

After the little give and take, the original smirk remained on his face as he extended a gloved hand to meet Lyol's in turn. Even in the peaceful act of shaking hands, long ago used to show that one greeted not with a sword but with a hand of peace, Jack's left hand never left the hilt of his blade. He did not expect conflict, it was just a comfortable habit to lean on his blade and it came in handy when dealing with other backstabbing pirates.

"This here is the tin man," he said pointing to the robot.
King Arthur the Great
23-03-2008, 05:06
Unless of course we become true blood brothers and you permit me the privilege in private of pronouncing Primus.

"That's a simple fix. Marry my sister honorably, and sire me a nephew. Alternatively, when you understand the true meaning of brotherhood, that sacred trust that would let you put your life into mine hands, and mine into yours, then we shall be brothers. Till that shall pass, I shall keep your blade in mind, and I would advise that you watch for me." Lyol held up his left arm, released the handshake, and pulled his sleeve down to reveal the wrist mounted blaster which had hitherto been pointed at Jack as Lyol had offered his right hand.

Returning the sleeve to it original position, Lyol stepped back and shouldered his bag. "So, fortunate soldier and negotiator extraordinaire, eh? I would call you pirate, con-man, swindler, thief and murderer, but I expect this to be the beginning of a beautiful friendship, and I do not use such terms for my friends. No, you would be a navigator of dangerous territory, an expert of acquisitions, an eliminator of persons objectionable and of course, an assistant," Lyol said, smiling at this one, "Of those seeking God through poverty. So, shall we meet the rest of the crew?"
DMG
23-03-2008, 08:26
Marry my sister honorably... So, shall we meet the rest of the crew?

"Oh, I doubt you'd want that. Introduce me to your sister and she'll never be the same again," Jack said with all the dirty and lustful intention he could imply as his thoughts turned to one of a pirate's two loves and the source of a pirate's greatest debate - Which he wanted more: Treasury or Booty. "Nor do I think you would wish to put your life in my hands, because if I am as you say, I am liable to steal it away. Aye, I am a part of a brotherhood, but if I were a betting man I'd say you'd enjoy meeting my brethren as little as I." Pirates, even when working together for some greater purpose, were notorious for their backstabbing and side hopping. Help a pirate in danger of foe and then help yourself to his treasure, that's the pirate code - all pirates together against the galaxy, all-alone against one another.

"Aye, keep my blade in mind and remind your sister to do the same else I thrust at her," Jack commented with a growing grin and a thrust of his hips revealing the obvious play on words equating his sword with his nether region. As he glanced to the side, he saw Lyol pulling down his shirt's cuff that hid a blaster. "What? Don't trust me? And here I thought we were getting somewhere. I was going to ask you to be my best man, no?"

After the gun disappeared back into the shirt's sleeve, Jack replied, "See, now that's why I do what I do. It's all about the superlatives, the titles, the pseudonyms, and the epithets. There is nothing better than being able to roll off a good list of epithets, wouldn't you say? For most people it's hard to even get one, but for someone like me, it seems every new person I meet as one to add to my résumé."

Grabbing Lyol from the side by both shoulders, Jack guided him forward towards where the rest of the crew lay all but slumbering. "Yes, we shall new friend. Yes we shall." The grin that had begun as a smirk now graced his face from ear to ear.
Theao
23-03-2008, 11:45
Niri had removed herself from where she'd been put by Elven, shortly after the robot and Jack had headed to seek out someone. She wasn't really the sort to wait around when nothing of interest was happening. Instead of following after the greeting party or visiting the pilot, she decided it might be fun to explore the bowels of the ship. Maybe there were games or toys or even a gym, somewhere hidden away from her. Gyms were very fun as they were both a game and a toy in one. Spiky seemed the type to hide toys on her on purpose so she'd have to be sure search very well.

With those thoughts in her head, Niri headed out and began poking her head into every cubboard, closet, corridor, room and anyother crevice where things might be hidden. While not really intending as such, Niri was about to give the ship the same level of inspection as a contraband inspector might.
King Arthur the Great
24-03-2008, 14:12
Yes, we shall new friend. Yes we shall.

As Lyol returned the gesture to the shorter man, now essentially locked shoulder to shoulder with Jack, he remarked as they started heading upwards. "I think you're right, tis better if you don't meet my sister. I once saw her get angry, and now I try to keep away whenever she's on the irate part of her cycle. Trust me, she'd send you running for the farthest stars screaming your head off. That is, if your head was still on your shoulders after those first few minutes."

Lyol shook his head as Jack explained the reasons for his work. So many used words interchangeably when they failed to understand the importance of the difference in the definitions. "You should know, pseudonyms are false names attached to artistic and literary works, often to separate an author's public life from the private one. They function much like stage names that those in the theatrical profession will use. Also, superlatives are parts of speech used to indicate the instance wherein the qualities under evaluation are held to exist in the most extreme state."

"You may have titles and epithets, my friend, but superlatives are best used by others when talking about you, and in your field, a pseudonym is useless."
Free Eagles
25-03-2008, 00:36
Alex half opened one eye when the mercenary – Bain… she recalled – loudly instructed someone to go down to the hold and retrieve someone. Another? I thought they said we weren’t missing anyone. And how did they get aboard? She was assuming, fairly logically in her view, that except for the main hatch and the cargo bay doors, if there were any, there was no other way into the interior of the ship. A direct link between the landing gear and the interior was a fairly major safety concern in Indoan ship design. The vibration from the engines also worried her a little; that was something normally only felt in very small craft fitted with comparatively very large engines as far as she knew.

I’m not tired, she grumbled silently, after Bain remarked on the state of affairs in the cabin. In fact, I’m wide awake. But I don’t know when I’ll get the chance to catch up on sleep again, so I’m taking the opportunity now. Her half-open eye went the rest of the way, and she quietly glanced around the cabin at the other three remaining occupants. The raishuv-alike, the fish-thing and the human who wasn’t dressed like a bad actor.

“If we’re going to be together for a long time, then there’s plenty of time to get to know people later. So we don’t have to do it now,” she murmured quietly, before closing her eye again. She knew the chances of her actually going to sleep were fairly slim, but that wasn’t going to stop her from trying. Besides, she thought, nobody else seems too bothered, and I’m not the most sociable person in the galaxy, she admitted to herself.
The Blastit Empire
01-04-2008, 04:13
Tellen continued to guide his ship out of the hangar, occasionally glancing at the side windows or the video screen giving him different angles of ship. Finally out of the hangar, Tellen smoothly guided his ship to the lift off point, grumbling about stowaways and late arrivals.

He flipped a switch with a faded label stating "Intercom" over it and with a cool he didn't have a moment ago, reclined in his chair, placing his booted feet on the console, being sure not to hit.

"Hope everyone is situated, cause we got launch in a few minutes," he said with mock cheerfulness. "That includes our stowaway who kindly invited himself aboard my beautiful ship and rudely missed the tour."

About ten minutes later, Tellen was given the confirmation to lift and without warning the others turned on his lift engines with a grin on his face.

The ship rocketed upwards, the engines humming even louder almost to a deafening roar.

Outside the windows the blue atmosphere quickly plummeted below as they escaped into the darkness of space, yet they were parallel to several other lines of launching spacecraft.

The planetary space was just as busy as it was in the spaceport with space craft darting to and fro to wait into more lines to the massive InterGalactic SpaceWarp, the expressway of space. The massive station oversaw about two billion or more spacecraft in 1 day, galactic standard time. It certainly made crygenic sleep a rare need however it does not eliminate long, boring voyages so many spacecraft come equipped with such sleeping machines.

The comm systems were also cluttered with chatter except for the military station (which, no matter how loud one spoke in the communicator, it would not be heard on any other speaker, minus a few very special, very illegal communication arrays), and the law enforcement stations, where, depending on your comm channel, you could either speak one on one with a traffic controller or enforcement agent, or hear traffic reports, danger reports, route status, lane closings, etc.

Tellen ignored them all except for briefly listening to the traffic reports before grumbling a few alien curses and standing up to take a peak out of the cockpit. He flipped the autopilot switch as the ship took position within one of the massive lines attempting to make it to making sure everyone was still alive.

"Everyone alright?" Tellen said with a cocky grin. "I couldn't patch anyone up, except for maybe the women." He gave a chuckle, stealing a glance at the masked woman- what's-her-name, before striding down and seating himself next to her.

"We have about three or four hours before we are going to blast out of this area so why don't I figure out who my clients are."

He faced the masked woman and with surprising gentleness, poked at her mask. "So who and what are you? Why do you wear the mask? What do you do, how old are you...what do you do for fun? "

Bain glanced at her with a grin that gave the look of an "I told you so". Bain looked around at the doctor "Archie" and gave a friendly smile. "So, what do you plan on doing during our free time?" he asked.
King Arthur the Great
01-04-2008, 18:44
As they had made their up to the main deck, Lyol had taken the opportunity to stow his bag in a properly secured fastening. It was bulky, but years of carrying it around had made him used to it. The sudden acceleration was anticipated, and Lyol had adjusted accordingly the moment he felt the g-forces kicking in, relaxing against a corner until they had stopped the rapid climb.

"Captain seems like a charming fellow, doesn't he?" Lyol remarked in an offhand manner as they continued. Lyol thought he had seen a fleeting shape shoot around a far corner, but he ignored it. He had other things to do, namely, making sure the pilot and owner of the ship didn't decide to take an unusual disliking for Lyol.

Coming up behind the robot to where the others were sitting, he took a moment to look around. "So," he said, "This is the rest of the crew? Interesting." Absentmindedly, he shifted shoulder, mindful of a crudely repaired stitch that was sticking inwards, just above the insignia of the Collegium on his left pectoral.
Rhinara
01-04-2008, 19:38
"This here is the tin man," he said pointing to the robot.

"Though you may call me Elven," said the robot in his friendly manner.

The silver/white automaton led the way back to the main seating area. The ship was not so big that one would easily get lost in it, but Elven could never be too sure about the capabilities of a biological creature such as Jack to memorize the layout of a vessel design that he may not have been acquainted with before.

Upon reaching the seating area, Elven approached Bain and said, "May I introduce Lyol." With a gesture of his hand, he indicated the new guy.

After the pleasantries were underway, the robot quietly said, "Excuse me, but there are duties that I must attend to in the rear of the ship, after which I will be in the recharging alcove should anyone require me."

With that, Elven walked out the back of the room and disappeared.
Regenius
01-04-2008, 20:29
Bain glanced at her with a grin that gave the look of an "I told you so". Bain looked around at the doctor "Archie" and gave a friendly smile. "So, what do you plan on doing during our free time?" he asked.

Archie eyed the captain with suspicion as he began shamelessly hitting on the only grown woman in the "crew". Could he be more obvious?, he thought to himself.

Turning to Bain and lifting his datpad a giving it a little shake, he sighed. "With any luck, I can catch up on some back logged research reports," he said wearliy, implying that there was a lot of work waiting on him. "Although, I suppose it might be better to get to know the rest of the team a little better," he continued, a little cheer creeping into his voice.
Free Eagles
02-04-2008, 01:04
Alex visibly flinched at the noise when they launched, and brought one hand up to her face, almost as though in pain. She lowered the hand again after several seconds, but grimaced as she closed her eyes again. The acceleration had also been a rather unpleasant surprise, but it was the noise that bothered her more. Probably too cheap to pay for inertial dampeners and decent noise insulation, she thought irritably.

Several minutes later, she heard the pilot address them, then felt someone sit down next to her. Slowly, she opened her eyes, hoping it wasn’t who she thought it was. Even before her eyes had fully opened though, he had spoken again, and confirmed her fear. She sighed at this realisation; apparently he was the type of person who didn’t understand what ‘no’ meant. Anger flared again when he poked at her filter mask, and she swiftly batted the hand away.

“I wear the mask because it’s difficult for me to breath,” she told him tersely, So there’s no chance of you getting it off. Now will you leave me alone? she added silently. “Is your ship always this noisy?” she asked, deliberately changing the subject, since she didn’t want to answer his questions. She caught the grin Bain gave her out of the corner of one eye, and glared briefly at him in response.

She glanced back at the door when the synth returned, vaguely interested to see the person that had managed to get on board the ship after it had been sealed. Another human – Probably… she corrected herself – and one that didn’t stand out much as far as she was concerned. Briefly, she wondered who he was, but figured she would find out sooner or later. The only other thing that struck her was the unusual name the synth introduced him as. She hadn’t quite caught it properly, so at least she had something to say to him later.
King Arthur the Great
04-04-2008, 17:25
The back row of seats was pretty much taken up when Lyol met the rest of the crew. The presence of the squid-like entity still surprised him, but most of the others were humanoid, or at least bipedal. To his right, the man that could only be Bain sat, to which Lyol gave the universal manly acknowledgment known only as the slight nod. His positioning made it obvious, Bain did not want anybody sitting too close to him. On the other side, two of the three seats were occupied, one by a blue-skinned species, the other by a humanoid with a facial mask, likely a breathing apparatus of some form. She appeared entirely disinterested in the tendrilled creature, and Lyol knew better than to involve himself. When the blue boy got hurt, Lyol wanted to be well out of the way.

Instead, he chose the seat in the row that put him directly in front of the empty aisle seat. Experience had taught him that the seat offering quick access to another part of the ship was always better. As he sat, he checked the parameters of the seating, settling in so that even if comfortable, he could still be up and out at a moment's notice. They were going out the way Lyol had come in, which meant about three hours until they hit the warp gate. He took out a small vial, popping a pill that would deaden his abilities. His clothes, which were specially made to facilitate his power usage, unfortunately drew in any form of quantum energy. This meant that warp jumps always left him giddy and energized, to the point that he had gotten a prescription for suppressants just to counter the damned effects.
The Blastit Empire
04-04-2008, 18:46
"Well, it wasn't always this noisy," Tellen replied to the girl's question. "One of my shipments was carrying a whole lot of Krabithian Wardaliers. In other words, I was carrying a whole lot of sentient plant things. Needed a lot of light. Very efficient at colonization efforts and terraforming. Unfortunately, we weren't told we'd need to prune them on board. The darn things started entangling themselves with my ship's engines and vital systems. Elven had to busy himself rewiring the engines while I had to get into a whole lot of crawlspaces, burning and cutting up the vines that clogged everything."

"We were able to take care of the vegetables, but they seriously crippled out engines. We had to make an emergency stop on the planet Gorbenstar-some-number and get us a few parts. Unfortunately, as many people in that system know, Gorbenstar is a wealthy planet because they rip everyone off. Had to sell my noise cancellation devices in order to get any sort of decent parts, some which even made the engines louder."

Tellen sighed as he looked up at the cockpit entrance, absently twiddling his thumbs. "But, little did we know that one of the plants replanted themselves on the volcanic world. The Gorbens that live, or lived there, breathed in the toxic fumes spewed out by the volcanoes there. That one plant made the entire continent a paradise for most oxygen breathing civilizations but obliterated the Gorben population. Good for it, I say, ripping everyone off," Tellen laughed as he glanced at the masked girl, noticing her looking towards the newcomer.

"That must be our stowaway," Tellen said loudly as he got up and walked over to Lyol, noticing the pills being stashed away. "Those for motion sickness?" he asked with a smile on his face. "Because you'll probably need them. I tend to fine my own ways through crowds. Or make them. "So who are you?"
***

Meanwhile, Bain shrugged at Archie's comment about getting to know the others. "It would be a good thing at some point in this expedition to get to know the others you will be working with but I can't keep you from catching up."

"May I ask what research you have worked on currently or is that confidential?" Bain asked with a smile and a look of curiosity.
Regenius
04-04-2008, 19:28
Meanwhile, Bain shrugged at Archie's comment about getting to know the others. "It would be a good thing at some point in this expedition to get to know the others you will be working with but I can't keep you from catching up."

"May I ask what research you have worked on currently or is that confidential?" Bain asked with a smile and a look of curiosity.

Archie looked at Bain seriously for a moment, "Where would a company be if it didn't protect its trade secrets?" Then his face warmed a little and he smiled, "However, you may have seen some of our more recent products. Like the new Positron Phase Harmonizer we put out a few weeks ago, it uses targeted sound waves to force energy into an object at the molecular level exciting them to the point where phase change occurs, which generally causes the target to liquify. It's exceptionally light and perfect for outfitting ground troops as it's effective against armored and unarmoured targets alike, even targets with energy shielding." He sighed, "There's nothing quite like a good directed energy weapon."
King Arthur the Great
04-04-2008, 20:09
Those for motion sickness? Because you'll probably need them. So, who are you?

Lyol stood, offering his hand to the blue, which he now recognized as the pilot's voice. Making this creature that had ineptly killed off the Gorben population the pilot. This would make things interesting. "Hallyol Thorfinus. Though you can call me Lyol for short. Sorry about the hasty boarding, but the ramp was sealed, and unfortunately, Collegium business had detained me."

Lyol had gotten a pretty good idea of their pilot by now, and based on the story, it meant that the others would have to watch out for this man's carelessness. Still, he trusted Admiral Byron, had worked for that man in the past, and with Bain present, things couldn't get too bad.

"The pills are stasis-field depressants. Like alcohol, but far more potent. These clothes are para-conductors. If I don't take the pills, then when we hit the warp gate, any of the basic energy fields that I even come close to jump into me. The pills disperse single-use nanites, which set up a stasis field that counters the effects that FTL travel has on psionics like myself." This explanation was true in most parts, with the exception of the type of pills that Lyol had. Most psions would have to take the nanite dosage, and would be fine if they were wearing Lyol's clothes. Lyol's pills were concentrated ethanol dosages. Essentially, the induced mental fatigue, thereby creating a vacuum which quantum jumps would fill. Psions weren't the empowered demi-gods some thought they were. Nowhere close, and Lyol was no exception to their mortality.
Free Eagles
04-04-2008, 23:29
Alex frowned as the pilot gave an account of some events she wasn’t interested in after answering her question in the affirmative. She was only half listening, waiting for him to pause long enough for her to excuse herself, but she knew he was essentially making excuses for the noise level, trying to defend his ship. She almost sympathised with him; she wouldn’t be too happy with people making disparaging comments about her ship either, had she owned one. She caught herself, and the frown deepened, angry at herself for managing to find any common ground at all with this obnoxious xeno. Finally he stopped, then moved to talk to their late arrival, giving her the opportunity she wanted.

“Excuse me, I need to get something from my kitbag,” she told them quietly, releasing her harness and rising up out of her seat in one smooth motion. She slid along the row of seats, the ducked quickly through the doorway, retracing the route they had entered by back to the hold where she had left her bag. She knelt down by the bag and opened it, a process which seemed to take her quite a long time. One arm slid inside the bag, reaching blindly for the object she sought, as she muttered to herself in her own language. “If that blue bastard doesn’t lay off trying to win my affections soon, I’ll wind up ending him long before we even arrive at our destination, let alone finish the job.”

The hand finally found the object, and closed around it, drawing it carefully out of the bag. She then hooked the pair of headphones around her neck, and slid the small device on the end of a long wire leading from one ear-piece into a pocket on her jacket. Then she hunched over the bag again, closing it up, though again, this process seemed to take her a remarkably long time considering the task involved. With the lock eventually secured, she pushed the bag back out of the way and stood up, ready to return to the main cabin.
Kitab Al-Ibar
05-04-2008, 00:04
Sarnel had given a slight wince as the engines had roared even louder and though he was aware of the new arrival entering the cabin and the pilot coming back from the cockpit and immediatelly devoting his attention to the masked woman. It took a moment or two for the ringing to clear from his ears and he waited until it was gone before assesing the situation, most people seemed to have paired off and started talking already, though he did pay attention to what was being said and had caught the newcomes name.

He noticed the robot and the bouncy girl was absent, he also saw the masked woman walk out and couldn't blame her in all fairness. Glancing back towards the cockpit he took the chance to move towards it and see what it looked like, he was far more accustomed to smaller ships, especially his own and the control panels appeared far more crowded than his own.
Theao
05-04-2008, 12:09
Niri had found one room that was well secured which meant that normally it'd get opened, or at least a very intensive try at being opened, but the ship's engines were being annoying. The same kind of annoying that you get when a tv or radio is left running in the background, just loud enough to be heard and occasionally understood but not loud enough to actually be listened to.

Finding the room from which the buzz was coming out worse, she began pushing buttons on a nearby panel to open the door. Soon the door would open and then she'd be able to get to work. Of course that'd mean she mean she'd be working on the still running engine which would virtually guarantee that any number of very loud and instant alarms would be going off very shortly as she attempted to bypass any security locks on the door.
The Blastit Empire
09-04-2008, 03:49
"Ah terrifying weapons but incredibly effective indeed," Bain replied to Archie in reference to the PPH. "I'm sure Emperor Zaefer would be very interested in these devices. That is, if he hasn't already begun to purchase a few."

************

"A Collegium boy, eh? Weird stuff they do. Almost makes you think they're reading your minds, eh?" Tellen replied stretching his fingers and waving them around over Lyol's head as though doing some sort of magic spell. However, he really had no idea what the Collegium was.

"Pills? I'd stick with the alcohol, thank you very much," Tellen chortled as he peered around the passenger area. "Ever try the Notungleigh? A very very powerful beverage. Banned in many worlds due to the risk of dissolving your innards. Good stuff though. The women of Notun love anyone who can drink it. And they are just as fiery and delicious as the beer. Tasty in a non-edible way of course. Not my cup of tea, no it isn't."

Tellen paused as he glanced around the area again. "Where's dog-ear?" he asked with a raised eyebrow, not necessarily directed to Lyol but not really that quiet.

"As long as you don't make landing gear entries a habit. It gets to be a pain when you have pirates boarding from down there and you ignore the warnings. Reminds me of..." His voice trailed off as he watched Sarnel wander up to the cockpit. "'Loyol', 'twas a plez."

"Hey Scaley. Rex, what do you think you are doing?" Tellen growled as he walked up to Sarnel.

*********

The doors to the engine were fairly well secured with several passworded doors and a few safety locks. However, the persistant Niri was able to bypass the easy passwords within an hour at most and was left with a few locks requiring a long digit code along with voice recognition. These were harder to deal with however with enough banging and pulling of wires, a very loud alarm whined its way through the air, nearly making Tellen jump.

His brows furrowing, he peered at one of his console monitors revealing a problem near one of the engine rooms and an attempt to break in.

He sped to his intercom and called out into it. "Whoever is beating on my engines, stop now. Anyone who is not busy, apprehend the saboteur and I shall eject them from my ship myself!"
King Arthur the Great
09-04-2008, 04:53
Anyone who is not busy, apprehend the saboteur and I shall eject them from my ship myself!

Lyol rolled his eyes at that remark, stood, and put his pills back into his cloak. "Engine room, right? Dog ears, I assume you refer to Niri's audio receptors? I might as well get to know her." Without waiting for anything else, Lyol stalked out, mindful of the way he came. He would have simply gotten to the ramp if he could, but traveling from Urdolainn had been delayed after a recently admitted pupil's parents had gotten last minute sorrow. Lyol understood, since it was hard for parents to part with their kids, but young Havren had done the convincing. He had gotten angry - no, upset - with his mother's irrational antics, and had accidentally blown up his chair. While the surprise of eliminating your own seat, and the obligatory fall, had some amusement, it had shut Havren's mother up long enough to realize that her son needed some formal instruction, if only to prevent something worse from happening.

As he was headed to the engine room, he saw the woman coming up, headed back to the cabin. He put his hand up, both to stop her and by means of a greeting. "Alex, yes? Sorry to be hasty about this, but it appears the one known as Niri has managed to get herself into the engine bay, and who knows what might happen. Based on your facial expression about the reason behind the ship's noise factor, I can tell you know something of the mechanics. Also, we are dealing with a mischievous - and probably immature - female, and you being the only other female present, well, I think it'd be easier if you were there. I'd rather not give our 'beloved' captain reason to jettison her, and we'll need to make sure that she didn't do anything more than just piss off Mr. LiRoy. Care to help?"
Regenius
09-04-2008, 06:15
"...These clothes are para-conductors. If I don't take the pills, then when we hit the warp gate, any of the basic energy fields that I even come close to jump into me. The pills disperse single-use nanites, which set up a stasis field that counters the effects that FTL travel has on psionics like myself." This explanation was true in most parts, with the exception of the type of pills that Lyol had. Most psions would have to take the nanite dosage, and would be fine if they were wearing Lyol's clothes. Lyol's pills were concentrated ethanol dosages. Essentially, the induced mental fatigue, thereby creating a vacuum which quantum jumps would fill. Psions weren't the empowered demi-gods some thought they were. Nowhere close, and Lyol was no exception to their mortality.

Archie looked over momentarily, the engineer in him speaking, "Couldn't you just change clothes?"
Kitab Al-Ibar
09-04-2008, 17:19
Sarnel was half expecting Tellen to notice him and was not surprised by the mans reaction, Tellen did not seem the type who liked to share. Sarnel gave a sheepish grin, or as close to a sheepish grin his species could get, which was quite unusual: "Merely professional interest, and my name is Sarnel, not Rex. I'm a pilot" His face clouded slightly as he said with an obvious hint of annoyance. "Though currently one without a ship."

When the alarms went off he was caught unaware and almost immediately stated that he hand't touched anything. He hesitated for a moment after Tellen said those not busy were to go and stop whatever was causing the problem, then made to follow Lyol.
Theao
09-04-2008, 20:49
Niri had just about decided to start using her extra arms to reach through the door to see about opening it that way so she could get to fixing of the engine when the alarms went off. Pulling back in a bit of shock at the alarms, she listened to Spiky's message about someone trying to break the engines.

Putting one and one together, she realized that whatever had been causing the annoying engine noise had increased and started doing more damage. As she wasn't really busy and was right near the engine, then she knew she had a great opportunity to maybe put Spiky in a better mood. Focusing on forcing the door open will using her vectors to brace and give her extra strength, the door began getting wrenched open as she prepared to brain the baddie that was attempting to ruin her adventure by making the ship not work.
Regenius
12-04-2008, 17:44
Sighing at the unprofessional nature of all this, Archie put down his datapad and stood. As Lyol headed out of the room, he followed, thinking that in all likelihood he'd need to fix whatever the sabateur had broken. Maybe I'll even be able to decrease the engine noise, he thought to himself.
DMG
13-04-2008, 02:42
Jack, having returned with Lyol to the main cabin, decided to rest a little. Luckily, he had the unique ability, albeit one he rarely got to use considering his line of work, to be able to fall asleep in pretty much any moving vehicle. More so, even the loudest noise such as that coming from the stripped down engines, as long as it was constant, further helped him sleep. The consistency of movement or noise put him at ease for some reason, like it was massaging his mind into a lower state of use so that it could shut down.

He squeezed past the others that were conversing and laid down on the front row of chairs on the starboard side of the ship. Putting his hands behind his head, he dropped into the vacant seats and spread his body across so that his right foot was just barely hanging over into the aisle. Drifting off to sleep was no problem, though without careful study it may not appear so as his eyes remained open and occasionally rolled about, changing position - a talent he learned as a pirate and could not turn off, unlike his constant grip on his pistol, which he had decided to lay off for the time being.

The alarm blaring from someone messing around with the engine room's secured doors stirred Jack from his brief respite, but he did not react. When he heard the captain call out for non-busy souls to get down there, he responded, "No thanks, I think I've done my share of the fetching for one trip." Plus, sleeping definitely equated with busy in his mind. "And remember to close the door behind you... don't want any of that cold space air getting in."

Once again he drifted off to sleep, eyes wide open, but this time he added a new variable. As he slept, he began singing quietly, albeit audibly, a few of the songs he knew - some pirate songs, some not. Surprisingly, despite his scruffy look, he had quite a nice voice and knack for singing.
Free Eagles
13-04-2008, 23:05
When she saw the other person approach her with the obvious intent of talking, Alex obligingly stopped walking to allow the conversation. She frowned when she was addressed by her name, wondering how the other knew it, but she listened to what he said anyway. Her features softened slightly when the other gave his opinion of their pilot; a slight smile hidden behind the mask. It was nice to know that it wasn’t just her that couldn’t stand the arrogant blue git.

“You have me at a disadvantage,” she remarked, when he finished speaking. “You know my name, but I don’t know yours.” She had heard the synth introduce him, but not clearly, and didn’t want to make a vague guess at his name and get it wrong. “And which one is Niri? We didn’t really get to making introductions yet.” She brought her left hand up and brushed a lock of hair away from her eyes, then frowned again when she realised the question had already been answered. “Oh, the hyperactive girl. Well, I’ll do my best,” she told him, gesturing for him to lead the way.

“You’re right though, I do know something of spacecraft design,” she admitted, as she began following him to the engine room. “I used to work for an aerospace company. Though I doubt I’ll be terribly familiar with whatever engines this thing has. Everything I ever worked on had the same type of engine, and I haven’t seen anything quite the same anywhere else.” She shrugged, “Maybe we can quiet the thing down while we’re there,” she said, though her voice didn’t hold much hope.
Regenius
14-04-2008, 00:42
“You’re right though, I do know something of spacecraft design,” she admitted, as she began following him to the engine room. “I used to work for an aerospace company. Though I doubt I’ll be terribly familiar with whatever engines this thing has. Everything I ever worked on had the same type of engine, and I haven’t seen anything quite the same anywhere else.” She shrugged, “Maybe we can quiet the thing down while we’re there,” she said, though her voice didn’t hold much hope.

Archie approached Alex and Lyol from the crew cabin loudly enough to keep from startling them when he said, "Perhaps I can be of service. I've become quite familiar with modern engine designs through my work at the Corporation."

As an after thought, he extended his hand for a handshake, not knowing that Indoans had no use for the gesture, and added, "I forgot to introduce myself earlier, Archimedes Jeffries is the name, although you can call me Archi. I'm head of Regen Incorporated APRD, and one of our largest markets is engines."

As the group neared the engine room, he whistled through his teeth as he saw the damage that had been done to the door. He didn't see scorch marks of any kind, so deduced that someone or something had forced the door using only physical strength.

His surprise was evident when he looked in to see the small hyperactive demonoid girl wreaking havoc through out the engine compartment. He rushed in quickly, shouting, "Wait! Stop! You're hurting the ship!" Reaching the girl, he attemted to pick her up and move her out of the room.
Theao
14-04-2008, 00:59
"No, helping ship." Niri replied as she fended off Archi.

"Finding saboteur." She added as she looked under and in another compartment for the saboteur.

Of couse not being completely fluent in the common language and believing that a saboteur was a type of creature that ate or effected engines as well as not being more than sub-mildly mechanically inclined meant that anything that wasn't completely bolted down and imovable was being considered a saboteur.

This meant that anything that she could take off, unscrew or otherwise move was being shaken, scowled at, and then thrown ungently into a heap on the premise that if it were alive it would respond so she could bash it until it stopped damaging the ship.
King Arthur the Great
14-04-2008, 02:51
You know my name, but I don’t know yours.

Archimedes Jeffries is the name, although you can call me Archi.

"Ah, yes, well the admiral sent me a list of names along with the pictures to go with it. Hallyol Thorfinus, of the Collegium. Though you may both call me Lyol." He shook Achie's hand, but quickly set off with the two to witness the "saboteur" in action, forgoing the formality of shaking hands with Alex. He'd have to ask about the mask later.

Even as the girl threw off the good doctor, Lyol saw just what she had done. He had noted the twisted nature of the doors, and that meant that she had some form of energy projection, though seeing her shove the machinery gave him a better idea. She could obviously shove things with some form of telekinetic manipulation, which meant that she could be stopped.

Grabbing her, he got his hand around her arm, his fingers holding her wrist. He felt the pushing effort against him, but it simply slid around and dissipated as her ability lost its effect. "Please little one, I think you are the saboteur. These machines make the ship run, and when you throw them, the ship becomes broken." He knelt down, looking into her eyes, seeing vast amounts of curiosity, and smiled.

"Please," he said, still smiling at her, "I can tell that you are special. You forced your way past those doors, yes? I am called Lyol, and I believe you are called Niri, yes? Come, I have never met somebody like you, and if you will tell me about your home, then I will tell you about mine." He looked around at the engine room. It didn't seem to be too major, but Archie would know the extent of the damage. "How bad?" he asked, standing, still holding Niri's hand to prevent her from 'looking' further for the saboteur. "And I don't suppose that we can make it quieter while we're here?" he asked jokingly, mindful of the noise complaint.
Regenius
14-04-2008, 04:38
Archi frowned as he surveyed the damage. Some pressure couplings had been torn loose, he was glad that the captain hadn't sold the failsafe valves on the pressure system, or they'd be swimming in rapidly expanding hydraulic oil by now. There was some damage to the electrical system, but it seemed limited to nonessential functions. Most of the damage was superficial.

"Nothing that can't be fixed with a screw driver and some electrical tape, but it'll take some time to put everything back together. The work will go faster with an extra set of hands," he turned to the woman who had suggested that she had mechanical experience, "Would you mind helping?"
Free Eagles
14-04-2008, 12:13
The voice behind them made Alex stop and turn back again, allowing the other human to catch up to her. When he introduced himself, she glanced down at the extended hand, then pointedly put her hands together in front of her waist and bowed her head slightly. She took careful note of the name he gave; she found it particularly annoying not to be able to remember someone’s name after being told it.

“Alex Lin,” she told him in return, then hurried to catch up to the other, silently tried to sound the name he had given in her head, but ran into difficulties. “I’m afraid that’s quite difficult for me to pronounce,” she admitted to him. “Would it cause you offence if I were to call you ‘Hal’ instead?” She left the other questions she had – those regarding what this ‘Collegium’ was, and why he had been given information on the rest of them – for a later date; they did have a task to attend to, after all.

When they reached the engine room, she paused at the entrance, looking at the ruined door with interest, briefly running one hand along the sheared surface before crossing the threshold and entering the room. Another grimace at the noise level flashed across her features, even though she had expected it to be louder in the engine room itself. She glanced around the interior of the room, taking in all the parts that Niri had seemingly removed.

“Well, it’s certainly a mess in here,” she observed. “I guess it must look worse than it is,” she added after Archie told them the damage was minimal. “Not at all,” she agreed, when he requested her help. “You’ll have to tell me what to do though. I don’t recognise almost anything in here.”
Kitab Al-Ibar
14-04-2008, 16:41
Sarnel eventually caught up with the others in the engine room and saw the situation seemed to be relatively under control, though he was surprised by the damage to door and the mess that had been made of much of the engine room. "It seems you have resolved the situation..." he said quietly, clearly thinking about other things as he looked around the room. He knelt and picked up one of the many components that had bounced off of the pile and examined it momentarily before casting his eyes against the wall. He could imagine where it went, but lacking any way of reattaching it he shrugged and put it on top of the pile, that and the vibrations this close to the engine were beginning to get on his nerves.

Seeing that the man called Archie and the woman seemed to be planning to start reattaching bits he offered in friendly terms: "Shall we escort this little miscreant out of your way?" After all he didn't want to annoy anyone who could do that much damage to the doors behind him.
Theao
15-04-2008, 01:26
As the stranger grabbed her, Niri's vectors instinctively reacted to repel him. When he wasn't sent flying away from him at rapid speeds she attempted to intentionally send him away, figuring he might have some sort of vector of his own which could've protected him from her 'passive' defence.

When this failed however she began to panic, knowing of no reason that her vectors would cease when they never had before against him. Panic generated rage as she hauled back and straight up slugged him in the gut as she squirmed out and away from him while making mewling-like noises of extreme distress.

Rapidly exiting the room and into the hallway, she yanked a large section of doorway and put it between her and Lyol while continually backing up to try and get as far away from him as possible.
King Arthur the Great
15-04-2008, 04:23
Would it cause you offence if I were to call you ‘Hal’ instead?

As Lyol momentarily bent over from the punch, more of surprise than of any damage, he failed to suppress a laugh at the situation. "Please, feel free, Hal will be fine if you have trouble with Lyol, though if you will excuse me," he said, chuckling slightly as he went after Niri.

"Niri, please, I am sorry. I didn't mean to startle you, oh," for Lyol had come upon the slowly retreating door. He stopped where the passage widened out, giving him a place to dodge in case the door came flying at him. "Niri, I'm sorry. I should have warned you, your ability can't work on me. Will you please talk to me?" He reached into his pocket, thankful that he still had some of the cookies he had whipped up according to his grandmother's recipe. They were tasty, and unfortunately, sweet enough to probably send the small one bouncing off the walls, but he needed her trust.

"I have something for you. Cookies, my grandmother's recipe. I make them myself for whenever I get startled. Would you like one? You'll probably enjoy it." He held them out, stepping to the side to try to let Niri see them in his outstretched hand.
Rhinara
15-04-2008, 18:47
With steps and servos that were inaudible to those who were remotely in the vicinity of the loud engines, the freshly recharge Elven walked up behind Niri. "What appears to be the problem, little one?"

The robot tilted his head to the side to try and see what was on the other side of the mangled door that used to seal the engine room off from the rest of the ship. Seeing Lyol on the other side with some cookies, he remarked in an almost dry manner, "It appears that I have missed some fun while I was recharging."
Theao
16-04-2008, 16:12
"Shiny." Niri exclaimed as she moved closer to Elven. "He's bad." She added as she gestured with the door. "Much bad."
King Arthur the Great
17-04-2008, 15:46
Lyol leaned his head to the side to be able to see Elven. He was happy to see that Niri liked the android. This meant that the shole situation could be diffused without Niri destroying any more of the ship.

"Elven, the girl got into the engine room. She has some form of telekinetic momentum inducers, and I think she was surprised my me. When I'm in contact with her, I can shut her powers down, and I don't think she took too kindly to that. Dr. Archimedes and Alex are in the main engine room, trying to fix what Niri damaged. Archie says that it isn't too bad, but we still need a way to keep Niri from accidentally destroying the ship."
Rhinara
17-04-2008, 22:22
"Telekinetics, you say?" remarked Elven.

Searching the cargo registry, the robot checked the section that contained the boxed blankets, pillows, freeze-dried foods - basically things that could be thrown about and bashed up without Tellen getting too upset about it.

Looking at Niri, he said, "Would you care to show me these abilities? I would very much like to see them in action, and I know of the perfect place to set up a target for you. I am sure that Lyol here will stop bothering you then."

He glanced to the side of the broken metal door to look at the stowaway in an expectant manner.
Theao
18-04-2008, 12:20
Giving Elven an odd look as vectors didn't register on any visual spectrum, she decided to follow, if only to get away from the bad man. As she headed toward where the robot indicated, she tossed the door toward Lyol, not hard enough that it would actually hit him but would probably startle him enough that he'd keep his distance in future.
King Arthur the Great
18-04-2008, 21:19
As the two left, Hallyol repressed a small smile. He sidestepped as the door came at him, too slow for it to be intentionally aimed to hurt him. As it passed, he reached out and grabbed the handle, swinging it around to release the rest of the momentum. He hauled to the approximate place of where it was supposed to go, then returned to Sarnel, Archie, and Alex.

"Well, Archie, you appear to be the senior resident starship engineer, so where should we begin? Mr. LiRoy said that we'll be hitting SpaceWarp in about three hours, so the question is whether or not we can fix everything by then. Archie, what say ye?"
Regenius
18-04-2008, 22:42
Archie looked over the mess once more. "Three hours should be enough to make the essential repairs. The more cosmetic ones will take more time, but we'll be able to make the warp."

He was thinking about how to assign jobs, and turned to Lyol and Sarnel. "You could start by sorting through those torn wires and arrange the like colors so that I can solder them back together. Be carefull, they're likely still live." He looked at Alex, "We can start on the pressure couplings. I'll weld them back in place," He raised his bionic hand to reveal that the fingers could open to reveal a variety of tools and smiled, "With my swiss army hand."
Free Eagles
19-04-2008, 19:14
When the synth finally persuaded Niri to go somewhere else, and break something that wasn’t a vital part of the ship, Alex breathed a sigh of relief. She hadn’t been convinced with how Hal had chosen to go about trying to achieve the same end; Niri’s reaction had been pretty much what Alex would have predicted had she known what Hal would do. Still, it was dealt with now, so she turned her attention back to the damaged engines in front of her. Alex gave Archie a quizzical look when he used the phrase ‘Swiss army hand’, as the joke was lost on her, but she chuckled briefly when she saw the tools built into his replacement hand.

“That’s a neat trick,” she remarked, “I’ve never seen anything like that before.” Indoan replacement body parts usually did little more than what the original body part had been capable of, although there were usually slight increases to it’s capabilities. She looked at the engine for a while, doing her best to work out what it was and which parts served which function, then did the same for the parts lying around the room.

“That would be these, right?” she asked, pointing her right index finger at what she thought the pressure coupling was. “I assume you want me to hold things in place while you weld them then?” she added. She ran over what he had said again, making sure it had been translated correctly and that she had understood it properly. If he’s going to weld them, we’ll need some protective equipment, she noted. “What about protection? I don’t know about you, but I’ve no desire to go blind or burn myself.”
Regenius
19-04-2008, 19:32
“That’s a neat trick,” she remarked, “I’ve never seen anything like that before.”

Archie smiled, "I find that it comes in handy." Realizing the terrible pun, he chuckled and lowered his head in mock embarassment.

Looking back up, Archie considered their options and then relayed his plan. Archie indicated the hoses that were strewn limply across the ground. "Grab the hose and hold the coupling onto the receptor from the hose. That way your hands should be safely insulated from heat conduction. Turn away and close your eyes to protect them. As for protecting my own eyes..." He looked around momentarily and found a piece of scrap metal that had once been a piece of the wall. He used one of his fingers to cut a small slit in it and then held it up several inches in front of his face. "The slot serves to diffract the light. I should be alright, but just in case, I'll close my eyes right before each weld."
King Arthur the Great
20-04-2008, 19:10
With my Swiss Army hand.

Hallyol laughed as he set to work separating the wires according to the coloring of the insulation. "I find it rare to see somebody recall the catch-phrases of Terran Earth. Doctor, that reference, I believe it refers to the historic multi-tool used by military forces of an old culture called Switzerland, or am I mistaken?" Hallyol pulled his hand back as one of the wires shocked him, flexing it to overcome the stinging sensation. He had replaced his gloves with ones lined with an elastic insulating polymer, but the wire had touched the exposed skin of the wrist.

Noting the crude method that Archie planned to use to perform the welding, Hallyol rummaged around in one of his inner pockets, pulling out a pair of polarized and EM-shielded goggles. "Doc, try these. You'll have to adjust them for your head, but I imagine that it would work much better than that crude piece of metal you plan to use."
Kitab Al-Ibar
20-04-2008, 19:56
He had remained out of the corridor while the situation was being resolved in order to leave Lyol room to move and gave a sigh. He hd alredy begun to sort through the pile of bits and bobs, having very little else to do in the room by the time Archie suggested he and Lyol start sorting it.

Regardless he gave a nod and settled more comfortably on the floor and began sorting out what was rubbish and what wasn't from the pile of components Niri had left on the floor. His careful but deft movements showed he had experience with this sort of thing as he worked quickly. He was paying attention to what the others were saying, though it seemed nothing more than idle chatter, pausing momentarily to cast an appreaciative glance at Archies arm, he wouldn't want one himself, all the extra functions just meant more that could wrong.
Free Eagles
21-04-2008, 23:39
“Ah, I see. Thank you,” Alex acknowledged Hal’s explanation, “I’m afraid such references are rather wasted on me. My knowledge of Terra, past or present, is fairly minimal,” she admitted with a chuckle, as she poked through the debris to extract one of the connecting hoses. When she had done so, she inspected the ends briefly to check them for visible damage. When she was satisfied that there was none, she began to set it in place.

“That’s more like it,” she noted, when she saw the goggles Hal retrieved from one of his pockets and gave to Archie. “A significant improvement over a diffraction grating.” She paused briefly, then continued, “What do you use those for, if you don’t mind me asking? Since I assume it’s not welding.” She had some glasses of her own that could perform a similar task, among others, if required, but she knew they were right at the bottom of her kitbag, and therefore not easily got at. If no other solution had presented itself, she would have gone and got them, but Archie had seemed happy with using a simple diffraction grating.

As she had spoken, she had lined up the coupling with the mount, and now proceeded to hold it in place while she transferred her grip half a metre along the hose length. They were lucky that the hose was fairly sturdy, and didn’t flex much under the force, else they would have had to find some other way of holding the coupling in place. When she was satisfied that the coupling wasn’t going to shift position, she looked away, closed her eyes and placed her other hand across them for good measure. “Okay, whenever you’re ready,” she told him.
King Arthur the Great
22-04-2008, 02:28
What do you use those for, if you don’t mind me asking? Since I assume it’s not welding.

"General protection, as well as recording and playback, when hooked up to a relay station. My work with the Collegium is involved mostly in admissions, as I have, well, a knack for recognizing potential students. You'd be surprised, but most psions can't identify those with little experience in utilizing their abilities. Standard admission protocols require imaging of the physical structure of the brain while a telepath makes surface contact." Hallyol paused, carefully reaching around a cradling chassis to unhook a wire that had latched itself to the bar during Niri's 'search.'

"When not hooked up to the proper equipment, those are your basic solar filters with glare reduction and radiation shielding. When connected, they work in a manner similar to some of the more sophisticated medical imaging technologies available, keeping a recording of the session that can then be transferred and attached for final approval, though at that point it's more of a formality then anything. And yes, I don't do much welding," Hallyol said, smiling.
The Blastit Empire
22-04-2008, 04:11
Bain watched the others set off to find Niri and was thinking of going to help as well, to get to know more of the crew, but something of much more urgency came to mind.

Tellen glared at the reptillic man as he walked down the hall, before catching Bain's glances. "What?"

"We have something to discuss. About your payment," Bain said as he got up from his chair and passed by the seemingly-awake Jack to the cockpit. "We have spotted her-"

Immediately Tellen's eyes went wide. "Did you tell her? What's-"

"But, we haven't been able to speak with her. She is busy with other business. She visited one of the human colonies that were struck with a new disease and helped immunize the populace there. Then she left. Apparantly she is back to her colonies for the moment, possibly a while."

Tellen frowned and took a seat on the closest chair. "Well then, why don't you talk to the Intrekin Ambassador or something?"

"Patience, Mr. LiRoy, it is only a matter of time before we'll be done with this and you will be reunited," Bain replied as he looked at the slowly moving line of starships.

LiRoy frowned before standing up and leaving Bain in the cockpit. He paused to stare at Jack before concluding that the man was asleep and walked on down the corridor towards the engine room. He took a peak into the room where Niri was demonstrating to Elven, frowning slightly at the targets they were using. "Don't beat on those Intrekin Boxes of Fruit. I don't get to eat those often!" He frowned as he continued down to the mess of wires, pieces, a door, and the four working on it.

"Come on people! Hurry it up! You lot fix slower than the Ryon Sloths! I'm planning on cutting this three-hour wait to thirty minutes!"
Kitab Al-Ibar
25-04-2008, 12:58
Sarnel gave a sigh like hiss and tossed a piece that needed to be reattched up at Tellen expecting him to catch it. "If we had more than one set of tools..." he gave a wave towards Archies hand "We might be able to do this quicker."

He had sorted a significant part of the mess on the floor into scrap parts, things that should still work and other useful knick knacks that should go somewhere. He stood and stretched his arms, casting an appraising eye over the bits on the floor and where they might belong on the wall.
King Arthur the Great
25-04-2008, 21:47
Come on people! Hurry it up! You lot fix slower than the Ryon Sloths! I'm planning on cutting this three-hour wait to thirty minutes!

Lyol paused, as he heard the pilot's plan. That could cause problems. Looking over, he was happy to see a look of annoyance flash across Alex's face, as she reached for something. "Alex, would you be so kind as to explain our options to Mr. LiRoy. I've got my hands tied up finishing the separation on the last of these cables."
Regenius
25-04-2008, 23:13
Archie thanked Lyol as he accepted the glasses, and quickly set to work welding the fixtures. As he worked, he told Lyol why he knew Terran history. "The Corporation was founded on Terra actually, not far from Switzerland either. It was forced to move off world thanks to the increasing pollution and massive overpopulation that eventually made the planet uninhabitable. Our history is tied to Terra's, and we've maintained a few of their idiomatic expressions in the lexicon."

By the time he was done explaining, he had finished the first weld. He turned to Alex and said, "One down," he looked at the other hoses, "Seven to go."
DMG
26-04-2008, 20:34
Amazing, the uses of pretending to be asleep when really awake and pretending to be awake when really asleep. But then if someone knew you well enough to know that you pretended to be awake while sleeping, you'd have to pretend to be pretending to be awake while being asleep. In other words, acting awake when you really were awake. It became one hell of a mind game and yet in the end you were just pretending to do exactly what you were doing. And then, you could always drift in and out of sleep while pretending to be awake or asleep the whole time.

One song asleep. One song awake. That's how Jack had been sleeping for past twenty minutes, and it had garnered him some information, though how valuable it was could not yet be determined, especially considering he only took in about half of the conversation. Having taken place around the door in the cockpit, it was hard to pick up many details, just something about a girl...

Having regained some much needed rest and energy that had been depleted with all-night boozefest the night before, Jack stretched his arms straight up into the air as he truly came awake. It was quieter now. Looking about, he noticed most of the other group-members had abandoned the cabin area for elsewhere. "Boring..." he commented to nobody before walking into the nearby door that led to the cockpit. "What's going on?" he asked casually as he leaned forward on the pilot and copilot seats and glanced into vastness of space.
Free Eagles
28-04-2008, 00:28
The hand held up by Alex’s face twitched meaningfully when she heard the pilot’s voice, but she managed to keep it in place until Archie told her the weld was finished. At that point, one hand dropped to her belt, two fingers resting on the holster strapped to her leg below it, and the other picked up another connecting hose. She looked round at the pilot and, as she inspected the hose for damage, carried through with Hal’s suggestion.

“Well, with our current situation, there’s one basic problem,” she told him disdainfully, “If we do this as fast as possible, there’s a fairly significant chance we might miss some damage or fail to properly repair it. If that happens, I would guess that we explode and die.” The odd intonation in her voice was becoming more pronounced with her rising exasperation. “Then, after we’ve finished this, we need to carefully check the rest of the engine to make sure Niri didn’t damage anything else. If we’re rushing, we might miss something. If that happens, I imagine we’ll probably explode and die. Lastly, there’s the lack of tools he mentioned,” she nodded in the direction of the reptilian.

“Because of that, we’re having to make it up as we’re going along. Even on a good day, there’s a fairly good chance something could go wrong with that. If that happens, and we don’t notice it, then guess what? I imagine we all explode and die. Now, I don’t know about you, but I don’t particularly feel like exploding or dying today. For that, I’m quite willing to suffer a little delay.”

Her point well and truly made, she finished her examination of the section of hose, then carefully set the coupling in place and moved her grip some distance up the hose. After once again making sure it wasn’t likely to shift, she looked away, closed her eyes and brought her hand up to shield them again. “Okay,” she told Archie.
Regenius
28-04-2008, 02:02
Her point well and truly made, she finished her examination of the section of hose, then carefully set the coupling in place and moved her grip some distance up the hose. After once again making sure it wasn’t likely to shift, she looked away, closed her eyes and brought her hand up to shield them again. “Okay,” she told Archie.

Archie made an effort of keeping a straight face as Alex rebuked the captain, but was grinning on the inside. He hoped that she had managed to dent Tellen's obviously titanic ego.

"She's right," Archie said to the captain. "This is literally rocket science, and shouldn't be rushed. Thank you for your lame attempt at motivation, but we'll probably work faster with out you standing there doing nothing. So, would you kindly leave and let us finish, or make a meaningful contribution by helping, or maybe you could show Sarnel where you keep the tools."

Dismissing the captain by turning back to the work, Archie welded the hose to the connector, and then removed his goggles to inspect the job. He nodded to himself as he saw that it was sound. "Alright," he said to Alex, "We're ready for the next one."
Rhinara
28-04-2008, 04:49
The target practice went on for only a short time before the crates that could be destroyed were already destroyed. Elven did not know very much about Niri's species, but from what he has seen of her, he knew that he would have to continue to keep her busy and away from the engine room with Lyol. At least, for the next few hours.

To Niri, the robot said, "How does playing in the game room sound?"
Theao
29-04-2008, 12:01
Niri had made sure to abuse the fruits that Spiky had mentioned, just enough to bruise them but not render them inedible. She was still annoyed with him and felt it a fitting punishment so he would get forgiven. She'd finished juggling boxes, bouncing items and generally goofing off with the stuff in the storeroom when Shiny mentioned the games room.

As she'd had her back to him at the time, what she did would seem decidedly unnatural to a human. Her torso twisted till it was mostly facing backward while her legs remained mostly frontward, and at whiplash speeds.

"Why didn't you say so? Yes, we go now, PLEASE!" Niri said in a very excited voice as her body straightened and she dashed forward to begin tugging on Elven's arm to try to get him to take her there now, or sooner.
The Blastit Empire
29-04-2008, 16:41
Tellen raised an eyebrow at the lot of them, a frown on his thin lips before erupting in a mischievous grin.

"Well, number one, your mask is on too tight," he replied to Alex, his finger outstretched to her face before spinning abruptly to Archie. "Your hand is screwed on to tight." He turned to Lyol, his finger still outstretched, "You're just screwey," and finally he tapped Sarnel with his single finger. "And you're screwed. You get to traverse my dungeon-esque wing to find the tools. With me."

"Number two, Along my travails I have learned the most risky maneuvers are the most rewarding."

"Number three, I am the ships captain. I know my ship more then the Iquemian! We have a bond like father and son...without the hatred...most of the time."

"And four, if we wait any longer, we'll go extinct!" With that, Tellen motioned for Sarnel to follow as he walked out the engine room and made for the left wing. "Always good for the captain to know his passengers and I think we've gotten to a good start. Tell me my cold-blooded friend, what brings you on this journey of peril and adventure?" he asked, assuming Sarnel was following close behind.

**********************************************************

Bain stepped from the side of the doorway, a half-smile on his face as he noticed Jack up from his sleeping, singing, and sitting, in any or either order.

"Nothing much is going on at the moment. Most of the others went down to deal with Niri while Tellen went soon after to deal with the others, I'd assume. Meanwhile, we are slowly moving towards the gateway, and from this distance, it looks as if we still have 2 and a half hours remaining before we are off to Mefrontho, our stepping stone to where we suspect the good doctor to be."
Kitab Al-Ibar
29-04-2008, 21:13
Sarnel gave a slightly vexed smile at Tellens attitude, gave the others a shrug and quickly caught upto the captain. He paused before replying to the question, somewhat out of surprise that the captain could string together a sentance that wasn't at least vaguely insulting and partly out of wonder at quite what Tellens definition of a 'good start' was.

"For the simplest of reasons, I need a fair sum of money and this was quickest and most interesting way to get it." He said with a shrug, omitting what he needed the money for, "You don't seem like the type to usually do this sort of work, i'm sure you have your reasons though." He left it open for a response, but didn't really expect one.
The Blastit Empire
30-04-2008, 19:47
"The Simplest reason is for the simplest mind. Of course everyone here is for the money, boyo. Why do you need the money? Why retrieving an old git for the benefit of humanity? Why not...Find more rocks for your people to sleep under during the summer? Something like that to benefit the lizards of your planets?" Tellen asked as he beelined through several piles of boxes with unknown contents."

"IN actuality, I do tend to ferry people around. But nothing as diverse as this. I needed to buy a whole set of new equipment just to be qualifed for this. Sure, the humans paid for it but I went through all the trouble. And then I have to deal with everyone and it all takes off from there. The usual job for me is to ferry things, whether they be illegal in some areas or not, as long as I am paid well. And it certainly pays to be the only one of my race to be in exile- you get a lot of publicity when it first happens."
Kitab Al-Ibar
30-04-2008, 20:44
Ignoring the small insults, Sarnel followed Tellen through the haphazard collection of boxes "Heh, I work for my own benefit. Unfortunately I ran afoul of a coalition of pirates i'd annoyed, they almost destroyed my ship and left me floating, salvagers were quick to pounce on it." He gave a hiss, obviously still annoyed that it had happened. "At least they had the decency not to kill me when they stole my ship, i need the money to buy it back off of them." He was hardly going to mention that if he could get a good enough look at the power source or whatever it was the 'old git' had made then he could make a fortune copying it.

So hes an exile... might explain the attitude he thought with a slight smile wondering for a second if that attitude might be one of the reasons he was exiled. "My race has been slow to leave our territories and merely ignores those of us who go 'adventuring'. My possesions have probably been seized by a cousin or somesuch." He said it without any hint of annoyance, when he had left it was a forgone conclusion and he didn't have much intention of returning home anytime soon, not that he would be welcomed by those who had profited from his absense.

"I take it your exile is something more serious." He was beginning to think that the captain might actually have a little depth to him after all.
The Blastit Empire
30-04-2008, 22:16
"Ah, pirates too? We have some commonalities, I see," Tellen replied as he leapt over a three foot high tube, most likely a replacement tube for either the large cryo-tubes or some larger engine piece. "Why don't you find yourself a better ship. The humans are tossing a lot of money at us, you could probably buy a fairly newer personal ship. But who knows, if you captained your ship, you sometimes feel like you just can't let go."

Upon being asked about his exile, Tellen shrugged, his blue skin turned a slight shade darker. His voice didn't help distinguish if the color change was from annoyance or embarrassment. "My race value some things more then others. One may call my exile serious but I don't, not anymore," he replied calmly, pulling out two large duffel bags and handing one, the lighter one, to Sarnel.

"I was sent a few memos about who my passengers would be but I didn't read them. Well, maybe just skimmed through. I don't remember anyones names though. How do you identify yourself, Reptillian?" He asked after a long moment of silence. His darker blue slowly returned back to his usual lighter blue as he began walking back to the engine section the others were working on.
King Arthur the Great
30-04-2008, 22:30
You're just screwy.

Lyol didn't even bother replying, a small look of satisfaction spreading across his face as Tellen finally left, taking the unfortunate Sarnel with him. "That is, without a doubt, one of the most bothersome setients that I have ever had the misfortune to encounter. Remind me to figure out a way to induce a urine control destabilization during our return trip. It should limit his ability to be a bother."

Hallyol, finished sorting the first few sets of tangled wires, paused to wipe away the sweat from the electrical heat before going back. "I hope that Tellen at least knows where his toolkit is. Considering how big his ego is, though, it might be very hard for him to find anything through it."
Kitab Al-Ibar
30-04-2008, 22:56
"I designed and built that ship, its a damn sight better than most of the junk flying around space, but the odds were far from in my favour." He said as he nimbly leapt over the tube after Tellen, noticing the hypocrisy Tellen had, some would make the same argument about the ship they were in now. Sarnel noticed a change in Tellens colour and half expected some form of rebuke, but none was forthcoming and he fell silent.

He took the bag offered to him and slung it over his shoulder, watching Tellen revert to his normal shade while following him back through the ship. "Call me Sarnel." He repeated, having already mentioned his name earlier just before the alarms went off, "As for the others, you probably know as much or more about them than i do.
Rhinara
01-05-2008, 23:57
Elven cocked his head slightly, mostly due to his human mimicking subroutines, as the sensors in his eyes focused in on the torso twisting of Niri. But although it was a most unusual trait for humanoid species, robots tended not to get surprised very easily, so he made little of it.

Bending over so that his shoulders were closer to the floor, he said, "Well then, hop on!"

When the child-like creature settled on his shoulders, he bolted out of the cargo hold, with the automatic sliding doors parting in front of him just in time to avoid collision.

"Excuse me!" the robot alerted as he zipped past Tellen and Sarnel before reaching the game room. The room itself was moderately spacious. There were the standard section of bean bag chairs in front of the gaming consoles and an assortment of physical board games and table games. It was a completely different world from the engine room that the girl tore apart not too long ago.

Using both hands to lift Niri off him and placing her back on the ground, the robot approached a bin and grabbed a soft and lightweight ball.

"Care for some dodge ball, partner?" Elven said, altering his voice to resemble those of the ancient Earth cowboys stored in the video/audio entertainment database. "Cause I'm known as the fastest ball slinger in the West."
Theao
03-05-2008, 11:55
Niri enjoyed the ride with a fair amount of laughing at Tellen and Sarnel as they both seemed to hop back to avoid the speeding android. When they arrived in the game room and she got put on the ground, Niri began spinning in a circle as she tried to decide what to do first.

"How do you play dodge ball? And why is your voice all funny Shiny?" She asked as a western accent was so far beyond her experiance that it was incomprehensible.
DMG
04-05-2008, 03:58
Bain stepped from the side of the doorway, a half-smile on his face as he noticed Jack up from his sleeping, singing, and sitting, in any or either order.

"Nothing much is going on at the moment. Most of the others went down to deal with Niri while Tellen went soon after to deal with the others, I'd assume. Meanwhile, we are slowly moving towards the gateway, and from this distance, it looks as if we still have 2 and a half hours remaining before we are off to Mefrontho, our stepping stone to where we suspect the good doctor to be."

"I didn't realize how boring it would be when I signed up," Jack responded with a sigh. "My trips are generally a bit more... adventurous." Being chased across the galaxy will keep your occupied... I suppose I could always rustle up some trouble to make it more interesting. The pirate began thinking of those in the area that held grudges against him and how he could kill two birds with a single stone: entertain himself and use these others to help him deal with a problem.

"How long is the trip net? And what are we supposed to do this whole time? Hardly enough females here and the one I noticed seemed a bit... put-offish."
Free Eagles
06-05-2008, 20:14
“Conceited bastard,” muttered Alex, after the pilot had left the engine room. She lowered her hand and opened her eyes again, glancing briefly at the weld Archie had just made. “The gods help me, at this rate I will end up killing him before we even get anywhere,” she observed in exasperation. “If we ever get anywhere,” she added, “Even without it’s current situation, my confidence in this ship is about level with that of it’s pilot.”

At least her current companions seemed like decent enough people, and it looked like they shared her general opinion of the captain as well. Maybe the trip wouldn’t be so bad, after all, as long as she could keep suitable distance between her and the pilot. She had also decided that, regardless of what the condition of the air was, she was keep her mask on whenever she wasn’t alone or sleeping, even if that caused her a little discomfort.

As she selected the next section of hose and examined it for damage, she countered the pilot’s parting statement in her head. Risks generally get you killed, nothing more, she thought, parent and child don’t usually hate each other. Being captain is nothing unless you actually have skill. And though I know he was exaggerating, I would much rather die of old age than in a fireball on a crap freighter. She set the hose in place as before, then closed her eyes once more and told Archie she was ready.
Regenius
06-05-2008, 21:20
“Conceited bastard,” muttered Alex, after the pilot had left the engine room. She lowered her hand and opened her eyes again, glancing briefly at the weld Archie had just made. “The gods help me, at this rate I will end up killing him before we even get anywhere,” she observed in exasperation. “If we ever get anywhere,” she added, “Even without it’s current situation, my confidence in this ship is about level with that of it’s pilot.”

Archie chuckled and joked, "You might be doing us all a favor if you did. To be fair though, not taking the damage into account, the ship is relatively robust. If we end up dying out here, it'll more likely be user error than an equipment malfunction."

He turned to the work and made the weld. "Okay, that one's finished," he said after inspecting the weld. "At this rate, we'll be done in no time."
The Blastit Empire
19-05-2008, 06:10
"I designed and built that ship, its a damn sight better than most of the junk flying around space, but the odds were far from in my favour." He said as he nimbly leapt over the tube after Tellen, noticing the hypocrisy Tellen had, some would make the same argument about the ship they were in now.

He took the bag offered to him and slung it over his shoulder, watching Tellen revert to his normal shade while following him back through the ship. "Call me Sarnel." He repeated, having already mentioned his name earlier just before the alarms went off, "As for the others, you probably know as much or more about them than i do.

"Ah...that's right. You were spying around my cockpit," Tellen replied as he heard Sarnel's name, the reptile's name clicking within his mind. "How can I forget things that happened a while ago." He paused, a half smile approaching his face as he turned slowly, turning his head to face the reptillian humanoid. "What were you looking for?" Without waiting for an answer, he turned around, just in time to avoid Elven and the dog-earred girl bounding into the game room.

"Don't break anything!" Tellen shouted after them, his skin color turning even darker, almost purple. With a snort, he continued his way to the engine room where the others were still chatting.

He stepped in, just hearing Archie finish his sentence of "Finished in no time".

"In no time, eh? I won't believe it because you were all so insistent in getting it finished in a few years. So I brought all the equipment you will all need for now. Sarnel, if you would," he motioned to the others. When Sarnel opens his duffle bag, the others will find not the tools they were looking for, but rather bulky headsets with microphones attached to one of the earphones, reaching to the mouth area. The headsets were all a variety of colors from black to white to orange to green, from polka dots to stripes and everything in between.

"Now, you all must give a headset to the rest of the passengers, except Elven. Don't forget the hyper one in the game room. Off you all go. I will fix the remainder of the ship," Tellen said as he stood in the middle of the engine room, motioning for the others to get out the room by waving his hands in the direction of the door.

"I didn't realize how boring it would be when I signed up," Jack responded with a sigh. "My trips are generally a bit more... adventurous." Being chased across the galaxy will keep your occupied... I suppose I could always rustle up some trouble to make it more interesting. The pirate began thinking of those in the area that held grudges against him and how he could kill two birds with a single stone: entertain himself and use these others to help him deal with a problem.

"How long is the trip net? And what are we supposed to do this whole time? Hardly enough females here and the one I noticed seemed a bit... put-offish."

'Well, Jack, most government flights try to remain less adventurous when attempting a retrieval. I am hoping it will remain that way but I'm sure you will have your share of fun on this trip."

"However, I must ask that if you look for trouble, do keep it to yourself and don't pick a fight you can't finish on your own. I don't want to have half the galaxy know where we are and hunting us down."

"The trip will take as long as it takes. Give at least a week for a few stops for rest, recovery, and ship maintenance. Traffic such as this may give us a day or two total of waiting about doing nothing. Without traffic, the trip to where we last saw the doctor would take half a week."

"As for what one can do with all this free time? Why, I'd kill for this much free time at home. I know this ship has a game room or entertainment room and I'm sure the others have plenty of stories to tell, as I'm sure you have a collection of your own. The girls here are not here for anyones pleasure but to help us in our mission. That's something Tellen needs to realize before he gets himself hurt. When we touch down on planets I'm sure you and Tellen along with anyone else who would want to can go looking for a fun time planetside for a change from what you can do here."
Kitab Al-Ibar
19-05-2008, 21:34
He had seen the two bounding down the corridor just before Tellen and dodged them with a little more grace and noticed Tellens reactionm it was something he would have to watch in future. "Purely professional interest, a vague idea of how it might fly if needed somewhere down the line." He gave a shrug.

Before long they made it back to the engine room and he opened the dufflebag as asked, similarly surprised to the others to find it full of headset type objects. Glancing at the others as Tellen dismissed them he grabbed a teal coloured headset and gingerly put it on. "And yourself, are you taking one for yourself?"

Looking at the headsets in the bag and the other people, "Who wants the honours of dishing these out?" IT would be easier for one person to take the bag to the cockpit, then the games room than to mess about.
DMG
23-05-2008, 03:57
'Well, Jack, most government flights try to remain less adventurous when attempting a retrieval. I am hoping it will remain that way but I'm sure you will have your share of fun on this trip."

"However, I must ask that if you look for trouble, do keep it to yourself and don't pick a fight you can't finish on your own. I don't want to have half the galaxy know where we are and hunting us down."

"The trip will take as long as it takes. Give at least a week for a few stops for rest, recovery, and ship maintenance. Traffic such as this may give us a day or two total of waiting about doing nothing. Without traffic, the trip to where we last saw the doctor would take half a week."

"As for what one can do with all this free time? Why, I'd kill for this much free time at home. I know this ship has a game room or entertainment room and I'm sure the others have plenty of stories to tell, as I'm sure you have a collection of your own. The girls here are not here for anyones pleasure but to help us in our mission. That's something Tellen needs to realize before he gets himself hurt. When we touch down on planets I'm sure you and Tellen along with anyone else who would want to can go looking for a fun time planetside for a change from what you can do here."

"Well I better have some fun or at least something to occupy my interest," Jack replied to his first comment. "You don't want to be around when I get deathly bored... it doesn't stay such for long," he added ominously. Where there was no fun to be had, the pirate king was sure to make some quickly and it didn't matter at whose expense. Life was an adventure - that was the way he saw things - and "free time" as Bain called it was more like a waste of time. If you weren't doing something, you were doing nothing.

"Hey, I'm insulted," Jack said in fake-hurt tone. "That I would bring on trouble alone is a horrible accusation." But then a wide and knowing grin stretched across his face, "Besides, I'm alive and well aren't I? It would seem I can always handle my fights." Handle... in one way or another, he added mentally. He always survived in the end, that much was obvious, but that didn't mean he always won and it certainly didn't mean he always finished his fights as evidenced by his numerous enemies across the known and unknown galaxy.

"The trip will take as long as it takes..." he echoed in mockery. What a stupid sentiment. "You're telling me we're taking twice as long to get there because of some traffic?" he added in disbelief. "This can has guns doesn't it? Well fire them up, get on the accelerator and I'll plow a route through. We can be there and back in under a week..." Though he knew that Bain wouldn't accept the idea, he did say it in at least half seriousness. So what if people knew they were there? Acting like that, they would more likely be thought to be criminals than working for the government. This whole secrecy bit only made them more suspicious.

"Well, I dooo have a few stories, but then I save those for wooing..." The ladies, especially those found in the, shall we say, 'shadier establishments' were all over him when the stories of adventure and bravery came out. Romantic notions of females were almost universal. "Well then, it seems this ship wasn't stocked properly. I say we set down on the nearest planet and load up on some galactic tail... Believe me, you won't regret it."
Rhinara
28-05-2008, 00:14
"That's how everyone used to speak in the 'Wild West'," said Elven in his normal voice. "Those people used to play dodge ball a lot, except they didn't have these balls back then so they used other stuff instead. Catch."

He tossed the ball to Niri and grabbed another one for himself. "To play, you would try to throw the ball at me and hit me with it before I do the same to you. Whoever hits the other first wins that round. But I must warn you, I have never been beaten before!"

Despite the fact that his construction made him superior to many biological creatures, the statement was not true in the sense that he was always the winner in previous games in dodge ball, but rather because he had never actually played it, as Tellen was not exactly into playing dodge ball with Elven.
Theao
30-05-2008, 12:22
"Earth has wierd history." Niri commented as the ball stopped about a foot before her head, having made no attempt to dodge or catch it. As the ball settled into her hand, she made a consious decision to limit herself to purely physical strength and reflexes as she knew from the mass and density of the ball, she could deal quite a bit of damage if she didn't hold back with her other arms.

"Ready, Set, Go." She said with a second interval between the words before launching the ball at Elven, with just a hint of spin, at Go.
King Arthur the Great
03-06-2008, 04:53
Who wants the honours of dishing these out?

"I'll do it," said Lyol, handing out a few headsets before heading off, then stopping. "Actually, could one of you take one to the game room? I doubt that Niri is in any mood to see me right now. I'll take the rest to the cockpit."

Throwing one back into the midst of the group, Lyol headed to the cockpit, where he found Jack pontificating about the urgent need to load up on comfort-females. Rolling his eyes, he opened the satchel and set it down on an empty seat. "Gifts from our illustrious and rather sleazy captain. He wants everybody to use one of these headsets, mostly I believe because that Niri girl managed to sever the main line to the ship's internal voice chat system. The damage should be fixed soon, though we might want to look into getting another set of spare parts at the most opportune time. Oh, and some heavy duty tranquilizers for the kid," said Lyol, adding in the last part as an afterthought.
The Blastit Empire
03-06-2008, 20:22
ooc: Ahh life...



Before long they made it back to the engine room and he opened the dufflebag as asked, similarly surprised to the others to find it full of headset type objects. Glancing at the others as Tellen dismissed them he grabbed a teal coloured headset and gingerly put it on. "And yourself, are you taking one for yourself?"

Looking at the headsets in the bag and the other people, "Who wants the honours of dishing these out?" IT would be easier for one person to take the bag to the cockpit, then the games room than to mess about.

Tellen looked up at Sarnel with a thoughtful look before shaking his head. "Nah, I have this one," he replied, pulling a small headset out of his own bag that contained all the tools. With no one else addressing him, he immediately set to work tying wires and rummaging through his bag. Before he began to weld things together, he put on a black pair of goggles that, when looked at from a certain angle, show holographic cartoonish eyes within the lenses. After about ten more minutes, the room looked no better however Tellen seemed finished working as he took off his goggle-eyed glasses and put on his headset.

The headset itself was not only to help him communicate better with the others, but to keep the passengers from complaining of the coming trip, considering his repair job was a little known trick with many engines that most engineers or mechanics would frown upon. However, it was a trick that would get them through the some of the upcoming journey, however the engine itself will be louder, almost deafening. The trade off was a possible engine blow out becomes more likely the longer one flies without an actual repair.

Wiping his hands on his pants, he walked out of the room and towards the cockpit.

"Well I better have some fun or at least something to occupy my interest," Jack replied to his first comment. "You don't want to be around when I get deathly bored... it doesn't stay such for long," he added ominously.

"Hey, I'm insulted," Jack said in fake-hurt tone. "That I would bring on trouble alone is a horrible accusation." But then a wide and knowing grin stretched across his face, "Besides, I'm alive and well aren't I? It would seem I can always handle my fights."

"The trip will take as long as it takes..." he echoed in mockery. What a stupid sentiment. "You're telling me we're taking twice as long to get there because of some traffic?" he added in disbelief. "This can has guns doesn't it? Well fire them up, get on the accelerator and I'll plow a route through. We can be there and back in under a week..." Though he knew that Bain wouldn't accept the idea, he did say it in at least half seriousness.

"Well, I dooo have a few stories, but then I save those for wooing..." The ladies, especially those found in the, shall we say, 'shadier establishments' were all over him when the stories of adventure and bravery came out. Romantic notions of females were almost universal. "Well then, it seems this ship wasn't stocked properly. I say we set down on the nearest planet and load up on some galactic tail... Believe me, you won't regret it."

"I assure you, Jack, you'll find your fun soon enough," Bain replied to Jacks ominous statement. "And you being alive and well does not mean your enemies are dead or have stopped looking for you. And if they are committed enough, they will get to you even if they have to get through us. And if that is the case, in order to keep the mission successful, we may give you to your enemies. So it may be best to keep yourself low for a while."

"If we make ourselves as criminals, we will be hunted as criminals. No, if we go, guns blazing, not only will your enemies be after us, law enforcement will be after us and we will be on wanted posters all over the galaxy. I'll take laying low over suicide any day."




Throwing one back into the midst of the group, Lyol headed to the cockpit, where he found Jack pontificating about the urgent need to load up on comfort-females. Rolling his eyes, he opened the satchel and set it down on an empty seat. "Gifts from our illustrious and rather sleazy captain. He wants everybody to use one of these headsets, mostly I believe because that Niri girl managed to hit sever the main line to the ship's internal voice chat system. The damage should be fixed soon, though we might want to look into getting another set of spare parts at the most opportune time. Oh, and some heavy duty tranquilizers for the kid," said Lyol, adding in the las part as an afterthought.

Bain ignored the request to bring aboard prostitutes as Lyol came into the room. Bain gave a slight smile to Lyol as he randomly picked a light blue headset. "I wonder why Tellen chose these colors for headsets," the commander mused. "When we go planetside, we'll pick up whatever spare parts we'll need and I'll try to see what Niri needs to calm her down a bit."

"And how is the rest of the crew back there?" Bain asked Lyol as he examined his headset.
King Arthur the Great
04-06-2008, 05:32
And how is the rest of the crew back there?

"Well enough. I asked if one of them could deliver a headset to Niri, since Elven seems to have taken her to an entertainment room. You've got my file, but what we didn't seem to expect was the fact that she took an instant disliking to me. Understandable, given the fact that as long as I am in contact with her she loses her ability. Based on the damage, as well as residue energy lines that I scanned with my Collegium Lenses, I'd say that she possesses some form of telekinetic projection. It's useful, and strong, but for all intents and purposes she's an untrained child with a bad attitude. You'll have to keep an eye on her.

"As for the rest, they appear to be useful in what they do. I have identified a few things of note. First, Dr. Archimedes might as well be a technopath, and I'd suggest we listen to him about any replacement parts within our means. Captain LiRoy might need some supervision from Archie when we hit planetside after Jump. Sarnel's decent enough, at least from first impressions. That leaves Alex."

Lyol turned, making sure that Alex was not nearby, nor coming into the cabin before lowering his voice and taking off his headpiece to prevent any unwanted broadcast, as well as moving the satchel of headsets further away. "She's not human, at least not descended from any Terran species. We're likely talking convergent evolution, but she definitely originates from another system. Even for some of the farther reaches of either the WC or the Star Union, humans have at least some knowledge of Terran Earth. She lacks that entirely. Also, pretty much every language originating with a Terran race can be learned by another Terran with enough practice. Yet she has trouble pronouncing anything more than moderately difficult words, pointing to a physiological difference. Add to that her odd complexion, and definitive breathing complexities, and the evidence points to convergent evolution. If you are aware of this, I'll keep my mouth shut from the rest of the crew, but if you aren't, I thought that you most of all should know. She definitely has a different physiology, and any medical attention that she gets should reflect that."
DMG
04-06-2008, 09:18
"I assure you, Jack, you'll find your fun soon enough," Bain replied to Jacks ominous statement. "And you being alive and well does not mean your enemies are dead or have stopped looking for you. And if they are committed enough, they will get to you even if they have to get through us. And if that is the case, in order to keep the mission successful, we may give you to your enemies. So it may be best to keep yourself low for a while."

"If we make ourselves as criminals, we will be hunted as criminals. No, if we go, guns blazing, not only will your enemies be after us, law enforcement will be after us and we will be on wanted posters all over the galaxy. I'll take laying low over suicide any day."

"You keep saying that and yet I'm still here, debating with you rather than having fun..." Jack grumbled quietly as he noticed a third member of the excursion join them in the cockpit.

"Gifts from our illustrious and rather sleazy captain. He wants everybody to use one of these headsets..."

"Great, one more thing wrong with the ship. I'm telling you, at the rate we're going, we'll be lucky to even make it to the galactic bridge..." Jack mocked as he took the headset and stuck it in one of his inner pockets. He wasn't going to be caught wearing a little microphone on his head at all times just in case someone needed him so urgently that they couldn't walk a few feet around the ship to find him. It's not as if they'd be getting much more natural exercise than walking around to find people, so why cut even that off by using the headsets. At least make the best out of what the Niri creature had done.

"Touché," Jack replied as Bain saw through his rhetoric. "Aye, but they don't know I'm here, do they now? And they won't so long as I don't get all ornery, and I won't get all ornery if I have some luscious babe to cozy up to, will I? Thus, bringing on some lovely ladies may just save our collective butt." Ooh, low blow. Turn me over to my kin will ya? Some kind of threat...?

"And If we go in guns blazing, my enemies will have no reason to be after us. Plus, even if they did know it was me, they'd be just as happy to leave us alone if it meant that the law enforcement was out of their hair for the moment," Jack said, applying his pirate-logic wherever he could. "But see, it doesn't matter if we're hunted or not. Hell, I've been hunted for the past twenty years and yet..." He presented himself with his hands, showing a full body. "Not suicide at all. We'll be fine. And when we get back, the big man can just pardon us..." He wiped his hands together, brushing off imaginary dust and smiled as if he had just finished a brilliant argument.

"Or maybe... I got on the wrong ship. I thought this was the one with balls..."
Free Eagles
07-07-2008, 22:04
Alex raised an eyebrow when Archie told her the ship was ‘relatively robust’ to signify her disbelief in the statement, but he did appear to know what he was talking about and he seemed at least vaguely familiar with the design, so she accepted that there was probably some truth in it. When the pilot eventually returned, she was somewhat annoyed when he revealed he had not brought them tools to work with, but that thought was tempered when he told them that he would fix the ship instead. Not because he would get it done better or faster, but because it meant that she didn’t have to do it anymore.

She took one of the headsets without really looking at them, ending up with a rather horrific lime green one. She didn’t care though, as she didn’t intend on wearing it. If it became necessary for her to have a comms device with her at all times, she would adjust one of the two comm devices in her bag to work on the correct frequency and use that instead. When Hal asked one of them to take a headset over to Niri, she took a second headset, again without paying attention to the colour, and walked out of the engine room to deliver it.

She followed the faint sound of voices to the games room, and entered just in time to see Niri throw the ball toward the synth.
“Sorry to interrupt,” she began, “The idiot says we have to wear these,” she relayed, before tossing one of the two headsets she held to Niri. Without further comment, or waiting for any response she turned and left the room again. As she headed back to the passenger cabin, she lifted her own headphones over her ears and reached into the pocket to press a couple of buttons on the device they were connected to. The active noise cancelling kicked in just before the music started played, and Alex smiled; she felt a lot better now she couldn’t hear the noise from the engines.

She noticed Hal, Bain and the other human in conversation as she re-entered the passenger cabin, but paid them little attention and her headphones cancelled out their voices as well. She slid back into the seat she had occupied before, folding her arms across her chest and closing her eyes once more. She still wasn’t really tired, but now that the engine noise wasn’t bothering her, there was a chance she might go to sleep anyway.