Futuristic Burning Sails [OPEN]

[Doomevil]

Roge gave a tired nod, scratching the back of his neck while Amy told the unfortunate news. "Siblings can be a pain in the ass sometimes, but when you need them the most, they'll be there. One of my brothers, Tumac, biggest piece of shit in the tribe. But when me and mother left the homeworld to find a safer place, Tumac understood our reason for leaving. " Roge explained, sitting down on a nearby bench. "What's your brother's name?"

 

[Breadman]

"Alexander." Amy responded "You may know of him or his business. Runs the fighter show on Duroma now."

 

[Infab]

"Doctors, you're both welcome to accompany me if you want to make sure I don't suffer any unexpected side effects. If you're not busy that is."

"I suppose I could. And you, Easel?"

Easel studied the mech for a brief moment, before nodding. "...Yes. She needs to be under observation for the time being. After recovering from her cryogenic stasis, and with the brain damage she has sustained, she needs to make sure she doesn't strain herself too much too quickly. Otherwise, someone will be cutting her comatose body out of that mech."

Zadra overheard what Easel stated, before pointing to a group of four Reavers watching the mechs nearby. "You four. Get the cutting torches and a field kit. Follow the doctors here, and do whatever they tell you if they need you." The four Reavers, consisting of two Humans, a Khergian, and an Upyri, nodded rapidly before quickly grabbing the required items. And soon enough, Typhon and Easel were following after the tall mech with the small Reaver group in tow.

Meanwhile, as Zadra waited for Olivia to reply to her questions, she turned about to see that Vixaya had arrived in the mech bay and was thoroughly inspecting the Kosokom mech. "Slade, one of the captains, said he had the mech sitting in storage for about five years. Decided to turn it over to us specifically for you to use till we got something better." she said, stepping over next to Vixaya and looking up at the mech. "...If you want, I can give it a tune-up, some fresh paint...Might can find some good weapons to stick on it to beef it up. Just let me know what you want to do with it."

​

Nathalie took another sip before looking at Damien directly. She smiled, waved and winked at him before returning to her drink.

Damien simply raised his glass, tipped towards Nathalie as if he was toasting her, before sipping from it again. If she thought he had been bothered by Shelby running over to him, she was quite wrong. He wanted to make sure he was seen by them. And he had no intention of scurrying away like a rat. He soon turned his attention to Shelby, whom had stepped up and asked a question in their own funny way.

"Hi Mister Damien. Do you like dancing?" He blinked, then frowned. "Uh... I'm not flirting, that's a real question."

"...Well, I like slow dancing." he said, glancing down into his glass. "My sister is more of the clubbing type. Fancy, flashy, fast paced. Aesha is too, since I've seen them dance together." He sipped from his glass, before continuing. "...I'm not a flashy kind of guy."

​

Valk and the other captains looked up, and found themselves watching as a familiar sight darted through the sky before coming to a landing just down the beach from them. Out came Gex, a former IBG Debt Collection agent turned pirate. Magical with numbers, and a real asset when it came to funding the activities of the Reavers through legal and illegal means. "Welcome home, G." said Valk, smiling as he approached.

"Gex bring great news. Investment opportunities found. Business to make, profits to collect." He clicked with excitement. "Start-up corporation look for investors. Very exciting product, Gex foresee great profits. Krogir Federation also look for unmarked ships to make black market delivery. Need good navigators and Gex know Reaver's good with navigating Renegade Quadrant, yes?"

Gex clasped his hands together. "Sounds promising, yes? Profits good in time like this, Gex help mistress."

"Indeed. And we'll need lots of profits for what's coming." she said in response. She smirked, before glancing over to Chang and Slade. "Chang, how are we on the navigation front?" she asked. Chang eyed Gex. "Good. I can spare some good navigators to do the job. I trust Krogir won't turn our boys and girls in after the job is done? Otherwise, I'll be hunting Krogir instead of Sol Navy." stated the captain. Then, Valk shifted her gaze to Slade. "...I can look into the investments. Might pull in Vulkov and Specter for some additional duties on the money and information fronts too. Specter's been itching for something good, and Vulkov's a hell of a businessman. Just like his siblings."

Valk grinned. "Alright, Gex. Fill them in on the details when you get the chance." she said.

 

[Viper Actual]

Oh, he wasn't moving? Nathalie smirked. The challenge just got more interesting.

Motioning towards the bartender Nathalie ordered two more non-alcoholic drinks. Blue, slightly sparkling. Smelled almost like apple-scented air freshener.
She grabbed the drinks and got up from her stool before striding over towards Damien's table with unmatched confidence in her gait.

Seating herself at the table she nodded towards Roku before focusing all her attention on Damien. She passed the drink over to him.
"I think I'm getting rusty," said Nathalie before sipping.
"Been a long while since I had an opponent during a mock-surveillance gig." She winked at Shelby. "Much less a worthy opponent."

Nathalie studied Damien with a neutral expression. "Anyone ever tell you that you look like a spook? A bit too handsome, but a spook nonetheless."

* * *
​

Gex clicked happily at the prospect of seeing both opportinities through. He could barely contain himself; while he did have little use of credits as far as personal use went he did enjoy the intricate planning- and sometimes plotting- that came with procuring large sums of credits.
In a way he was a bit of a craftsman, investing time into his trade and skills to produce excellent products.

Which in this case meant making Blackwell's Reavers filthy rich.

Upon being asked about the Krogir Federation Gex made several disgruntled clicks. "Gex know Krogir Federation. Surrounded by pirates and renegades, as well as the Achamenid Kingdom."

"Gex believe they not foolish enough to collect bounty- it would make them even bigger target."

He then nodded towards Valkyrie. "Gex will prepare details as soon as possible. Sound good, yes?"

 

[Doomevil]

"Alexander." Amy responded "You may know of him or his business. Runs the fighter show on Duroma now."

"Can't say I have. Never been to a planet called Duroma unfortunately." Roge shook his head and continued to take a sip of his water bottle. " What's he all about?"

 

[Breadman]

"How do answer I that?" Amy wondered for a second "For starters he was always looking after me growing up with the Divinity Creed. He's the reason we got out of there when we did. So protective is one way to describe him. Not overtly so, mind you. Wouldn't gotten in this line of work if he was, but then again he didn't know at the time until it was too late." She shrugged "He was one of the people at ground zero on Starvis. Whatever happened there changed him. Literally. Made him a bit moody, but he's mostly the same."

 

[Frankafurter]

Katja's mech gives a thumbs up with its one hand and begins marching off towards the clearing in the jungle. She keeps a slow lumbering gait as she goes, not wanting to outpace the techs and the doctors by moving at a more active speed for the mech. Her systems hold true for now, the mech's torso sweeps back and forth occasionally as she takes stock of her surroundings. Though an odd gesture coming from the mech, the hand it has reaches out and brushes the leaves and small branches of the trees as it passes by them. It sort of begs the question to how much sensory input Katja actually has while in the mech, but touch seems a bit beyond the realm of possibility. The hand finishes brushing through the trees for fun it seems and Katja rotates the cannon arm around in a full rotation to make sure the joint actually allows that range of movement.

As they reach the clearing and it opens out into the sort of impromptu test range that Zadra mentioned, Katja pushes the mech forwards into a short jog before working up into a dash. The ground quakes under the heavy footfalls of the mech running, it's quick for its size but still slower compared to smaller more agile modern designs. What's more impressive is the reactive agility of the mech given that the pilot is basically possessing the chassis like a second body. Katja continues to flog the mech's motive system and once she feels satisfied with it, she stops and turns towards the party that had remained a safe distance away. She waves slightly with her hand and gives another thumbs up before taking a knee, her somnolent voice emits, "I'll be down in a minute."

This is where the problem begins, as she goes to break the somatic link so that she can disembark an caution flashes and Katja suddenly grows worried. The mech can't disengage the somatic link due to the safety interlock to prevent a bad severance. It's clear the damage to the implant and her brain is causing the hand-off procedure to be halted. She speaks to those outside, "Alright, problem, my mind is effectively trapped inside the mech, do NOT cut me out, if you start cutting through wiring or electrical systems to get me out, I'll suffer neural feedback through the system and you will probably kill me doing that. Just hang on, there is a procedure to force break the link but it'll likely render me unconscious. I'll need someone to wake me up after if possible."

Katja makes sure the mech is kneeling far enough that the cockpit can be reached without a ladder and she forces the cockpit to open out so she can be taken out once the link is severed. The team can see Katja's inert body inside, held in place by the five point harness. Despite her inert body, the mech speaks again, "Okay, I'm gonna override. The break will be quick and painful for me, but please wait at least five minutes before trying to remove my body from the cockpit, that's the safety delay to make sure everything has fully shut down. Alright, three, two, one..." The Mech goes rigid in place and Katja's body reanimates in a slightly scary manner before going limp again. Hopefully the team waits the full five minutes before trying to peel her out of the seat, if they do wait, it's clear she's just unconscious rather than anything worse than that. They should be able to resuscitate her where she is rather than have to try and get a stretcher and drag her back. The mech would remain there silently, the reactor no longer thrumming and any of the glowing that was present on the cockpit markings and katja's body has long since faded out.

 

[Emperor Sagan]

"Slow... dancing? Isn't that, like, really boring? How do you even stay awake?" Shelby shook his head, bemused. His occasional lounge singer act was, of course, catering to those sort of people. Always melancholy, always swaying slowly. Or sitting in their booths, drinking their spirits with misty eyes. It wasn't bad - but he always had to take a nap after those performances. It sounded like Lauren was more his speed. "Dance together, huh... wait... wait, like, dance together or like... together?" Shelby said, flustered at the realization. "And where is Miss Aesha now, hmm?"

Nathalie moved over to join them, and Shelby turned his nose up again at the creepy woman's antics. Something about a fake surveillance gig. Her wink sent a brief shiver through his core, reminding him all too much of the flower-shirted men who followed him around everywhere, pretending to read tablets behind their mirrored sunglasses, but with their eyes always on him. Some of them weren't too bad. They bought him treats and were generally polite. Others liked to corner him, especially when others weren't around or watching.

Mulling over the spy's words, Shelby leaned in next to Damien and whispered in his ear. "But I think she is flirting."

 

[Doomevil]

"How do answer I that?" Amy wondered for a second "For starters he was always looking after me growing up with the Divinity Creed. He's the reason we got out of there when we did. So protective is one way to describe him. Not overtly so, mind you. Wouldn't gotten in this line of work if he was, but then again he didn't know at the time until it was too late." She shrugged "He was one of the people at ground zero on Starvis. Whatever happened there changed him. Literally. Made him a bit moody, but he's mostly the same."

Roge did remember the Divinity Creed at least, packs of fanatics razing towns and being xenophobic as shit. If you weren’t a Human, you didn’t fit in with their club. He certainly appreciated Amy for telling all of this, must have been hard for living through that.

“Those white hats? Ah, glad you got out of that mess. Leave it to Sol leaving their trash in the gutter alleys of space. At least you’re not with them anymore. They’re a bitch to deal with because they never gave up back then. Anyways I gotta go do some brisk cardio. I’ll catch you later Red.” Roge got up from the bench and went over to the treadmills.

 

[ANIMAL MOTHER]

Whatever envy Typhon had for Katja's 'neural-interfacing tattoos' goes away very quickly as the caution lights flash and she gives her warning about the somatic link. The look of intrigue he has on his face turns into an unamused grimace as he watches the cockpit open, revealing her limp body hanging there. He looks over to Easel for a second and is about to say something, but the sudden jolt and twitch from Katja's body surprises him. Steadily, he turns to his side and holds his hand in front of his face, just in case if this technology was based on what the Artisynth have... and thankfully nothing happens. Katja goes back limp, and heeding her warning, he pulls out a watch and starts a timer of five minutes. To pass the time, he keeps smoking his cigarette and holds the carton to Easel and the other Reavers around.

 

[Infab]

Easel simply folded her arms, shaking her head when offered a cigarette from Typhon. The two human Reavers standing there, however, took one and lit them using the end of their cutting torch. And the wait began, time ticking by as they waited the five minutes that Katja stated. Patiently waiting for whatever was happening to finish. Not much else they could do beyond that.

The minutes passed, and eventually time was up. "Alright. Time to wake her." stated Easel, before looking to one of the Reavers standing nearby. "Hand me the kit." The Upyri Reaver did as he was told, stepping over and handing the field kit to Easel. She set it down, unzipping the large olive colored bag, and digging through its contents till she found what she needed. "I'll wake her up, and bring her down out of the mech." she stated, as she straightened up and strolled to the side of the mech.

A simple hop, and she was inside the cockpit. And within a minute, Katja was awake. "There we are." said Easel, satisfied with the results. She then spun about and jumped back out of the mech, strolling back over to where Typhon and the four Reavers were standing.

​

"Slow... dancing? Isn't that, like, really boring? How do you even stay awake?"

"Rather easily." he responded, setting his now empty glass to the side on the table. "Its never boring. At least for me." He watched as Nathalie motioned to the bartender, ordering more drinks. "I'm guessing you're into the high energy stuff. Starpop, EDM, stuff like that."

"Dance together, huh... wait... wait, like, dance together or like... together?" Shelby said, flustered at the realization. "And where is Miss Aesha now, hmm?"

"As in they hit clubs together and dance. Lauren usually never goes anywhere alone unless she's just going to get drunk." responded Damien. "Aesha was down on the beach last time I saw her. Can't miss her." Aesha was often what drew a lot of the newbies in the group. "If you're intending to get her to dance with you, bring her a bottle of high-proof whiskey. She also likes singing too, but I'll let you figure out how to draw that out of her."

He noticed Nathalie had moved now, approaching rather confidently before sitting down at the table with two drinks. One of which she slid over to Damien. He listened as she spoke, glancing to Shelby as Nathalie winked at them.

"Anyone ever tell you that you look like a spook? A bit too handsome, but a spook nonetheless."

"Once." he said, glancing to the drink before him. Fruity. Smells like apples. He then took a sip from it, then continued. "A particularly paranoid Sol naval officer on an extended vacation thought I was an SSOID agent sent to spy on him. It became quite apparent that I wasn't when he was bound and gagged about five minutes later, slung over Drav's shoulder." He tilted his head. "...I imagine you've been told several things about how you look."

"But I think she is flirting."

"Maybe." Probably not. Classic covert tactics.

​

"Gex will prepare details as soon as possible. Sound good, yes?"

"Very good." said Valkyrie, nodding. She had never really interacted with the Krogir Federation. A bit too far north, and near the Kingdom. "Keep me posted on things." she said, looking between Gex, Slade, and Chang. Slade and Chang nodded. Soon enough, she noticed Eve had moved. Heading down the beach from the bunker towards them. She must be coming to update her on how things were going. She turned to face the android, the smile fading from her face as Eve neared. "How's it going?" she said.

"Progressing slowly. I might have some information within an hour or two regarding some possible leads regarding the ONI operative working with Anora. A perfect target to eliminate first, yes?" stated Eve. "Damn straight." said Valkyrie, folding her arms.

 

[Viper Actual]

Nathalie listened to Damien's story regarding the Sol navy officer. She smiled briefly. "Charming, I hope you're not trying to scare me?"

"...I imagine you've been told several things about how you look."

"You could say that, there are a few words that come to mind." Said Nathalie, neutral expression on her face. "Aside from having my looks complimented I've been told that I'm good at what I do."

She leaned in. "Damn good, if I may say so myself. Unlike your sister who seems to be ratherimpulsive and your mother- my new boss- whom is focused on far greater things than myself I think you're the person I need to speak with."

Nathalie continued. "I'm good at intelligence work. That's where I shine." She nodded towards Damien. "My guts tell me same things apply to you."

"Resting at a beachside village is nice, sure, but after three days it starts to get a bit boring. Valkyrie is looking far and wide for Anora yet two of her potentially greatest intelligence assets remain here, on the sidelines. Don't get me wrong; I trust her judgement but I'm just pointing out that- if you let me- I could very useful for the Reavers."

Nathalie shrugged and smirked. "If now's not the time though, I suppose there's other ways to make time pass. Maybe we could teach eachother a thing or two?"

She glanced at Shelby. "Or maybe I could make Shelby here more paranoid than she already is."

"I'm great at slow-dancing by the way, just wanted to add that for future reference."

 

[Emperor Sagan]

Shelby's eyes lit up at the mention of starpop. "Well... you could say that," he giggled. "I know everything about starpop." Not like I pioneered the genre into the modern age and am, naturally, the best starpop idol in the whole galaxy still alive. But he couldn't say that part out loud, as much as his tongue wished to say the secret. Shelby sobered up for a moment, considering Damien's words again. Aesha and Lauren weren't together together, and Aesha was currently down at the beach. Now that was nifty. On the other hand... she needed alcohol, which he knew little about. "Strong whiskey, huh? Bartender!" He called, turning towards the counter. "One bottle of really strong whiskey, please. Price doesn't matter. Er... unless its, like, really expensive," he added, remembering that it was better to save his money for emergencies. Wasn't like he could spend as he pleased any more. The frugal lifestlye was getting a bit stale, but he was determined to see it through. For now.

She glanced at Shelby. "Or maybe I could make Shelby here more paranoid than she already is."

A flustered pout crossed his face. What was this woman getting at? Were all Sol agents so weird? Shelby turned back to look at Damien. "And this lady is creeping on me and, like, I don't even know her!"

 

[Infab]

"Well... you could say that," he giggled. "I know everything about starpop."

Damien glanced to Shelby. "I figured." he replied, eyeing Shelby's outfit and appearance a bit. As Shelby called for the high-proof whiskey, he waved a hand at the bartender. "Top shelf. Put it on my tab." he stated. The bartender gave both of them a nod, and strolled around to where the good stuff was stored. A moment later, he placed the bottle of whiskey on the counter for Shelby retrieve.

"Charming, I hope you're not trying to scare me?"

"No. I imagine it'd take a lot more to scare you." responded Damien, a hint of a smirk appearing on his face as he returned his attention to Nathalie. Afterwards, he listened in as Nathalie spoke.

"You could say that, there are a few words that come to mind." Said Nathalie, neutral expression on her face. "Aside from having my looks complimented I've been told that I'm good at what I do. Damn good, if I may say so myself. Unlike your sister who seems to be rather impulsive and your mother- my new boss- whom is focused on far greater things than myself, I think you're the person I need to speak with."

"Lauren has always been impulsive. It just got worse after our father left." he stated, sipping from the drink afterwards. "And mother has a death wish. But you have my attention." She continued on, practically selling herself. Currently, Slade and Eve had things covered in regards to intelligence, but Slade was always his mother's first choice. Eve was allowed because of her ties. And of course, Valk set Damien on the sidelines when it came to these things. She had always done it.

What was the point of learning from his father, as well as Slade, if his skills were never going to be utilized to help the Reavers?

"If now's not the time though, I suppose there's other ways to make time pass. Maybe we could teach each other a thing or two? Or maybe I could make Shelby here more paranoid than she already is."

He glanced to Shelby, raising an eyebrow as Shelby reacted to her statement.

"And this lady is creeping on me and, like, I don't even know her!"

"She's just fucking with you. Run along, if you're going to talk to Aesha. And don't forget the whiskey." he said in response, before looking over to Roku. He was still in his holotablet, reading. "Roku." he said, grabbing the Ayr's attention. Roku twitched, looking up towards him. "Y-Yes, boss?"

Damien motioned towards the entrance to the bar. "See if you can go find Lauren. I don't hear her shouting or shooting, so make sure she hasn't drank herself into a coma." he ordered. Roku nodded, getting up quickly and stuffing his tablet into his coat pocket. "Aye, boss." he said, before quickly turning about and darting outside. Damien had yet to figure that Ayr out, even after him being with them for a year now. Too skittish. Hiding something, obviously. No other Ayr I've met has ever acted like that.

He then looked back to Nathalie, as she spoke again.

"I'm great at slow-dancing by the way, just wanted to add that for future reference."

Good ears. And she's really trying to get on my good side. He smirked, drinking from the drink once more.

"...Give me some time to think on it. In the meantime, what do you have in mind?" he asked, as he finally set the drink aside.

​

Roku made his way over to the firing range, glancing about as he searched for the younger of the two Blackwell children. She apparently wasn't around, as only newbies were still at the range. Talking with a Kercan whom was showing them what damage they had done to their targets. He paused near them, looking between them as he spoke. "Any of you know where Lauren went?" They shrugged, but one of them soon pointed behind Roku. And a moment later, a very drunken Lauren wrapped an arm around Roku's neck. "Heeeey there, Rackem. How are ya?" she said, grinning as she clutched a near empty bottle of rum.

"I w-was just looking for you! Your brother sent m-me to check on you...and uhm...my name is Roku." he said, carefully trying to ease her arm from around his neck. She simply tightened her grip. "Thaaaat grouch? Tch. Has his head too far up his own ass ta give a single FUCK about me." she said in response, a frown appearing on her face. She attempted to drink from the bottle again, but it never made it to her lips. Instead, the last remaining bit poured out on the ground. She simply looked down at it, then at the bottle, before slinging the bottle down the firing range. "But you! I like talkin' to you! Yer fun to mess with!" she then said, giving Roku a grin again.

"T-Thanks." he said in response, as he attempted once more to move her arm. And just as he pulled it over his head, she clamped back down. "C'mon, Ricka! Let's head...Let's head back to the bar! I need another bottle!" she said, before dragging Roku along with her. He struggled to get free, but every time, she'd just grab back onto him.

 

[Frankafurter]

Katja awakens inside the cockpit with a rather sudden start, her head hurts and it feels like her nerves and brain are on fire. She writhes a moment and gets the five point harness to unbuckle, awkwardly pulling herself out of the cockpit and landing on the ground on all fours with a thud. Her whole body tenses and she empties whatever little contents were in her stomach onto the ground in front of her. She pants a bit as the horrific side effects of being forcibly ejected from the somatic link starts to subside if only a little. She rolls over onto her side and lies next to the puddle of vomit, "O-okay... ju- just give me a min-mi-minute..."

She's had to do this procedure before as part of the training, but it was never this much of an ordeal. She can only assume that the training drills severely dampened the effects for the sake of safety. In her burning mind, she just hears constant echoes of disembodied voices around her, like all of her memories suddenly replaying in unison and overlapping each other, the cacophony is deafening and even as the sensation of burning alive subsides, her head pounds in agony. She can't help but curl up a bit to try and comfort herself, laying there for a fair few minutes until she feels some semblance of capability return to her. She rolls over and sits up, clutching her head and feeling a wet dampness around her nose, she checks with her fingers and finds that she's had a nosebleed going. It's a very slow ooze but it's still deeply concerning. She sits there trying to staunch the nosebleed while closing her eyes to push any remaining aftereffects out.

 

[Viper Actual]

"No. I imagine it'd take a lot more to scare you."

Nathalie smirked and nodded slowly. She remained silent as Damien seemingly dismissed Roku and Shelby from the table. When he finally asked his question Nathalie smirked and leaned in further.
"Let's gather intelligence. Not by spending hours on end at a terminal filtering through data but through the old-fashioned way; human intelligence. It's risky- we'd be exposed- but at the same time it could also net you and indirectly Valkyrie something useful and something actionable."

Leaning back, Nathalie continued. "Half if not everyone you hired on the station are really under-stimulated at this point. Myself included. I've seen the other Reavers too. Everyone's itching for something to do. Your robot spook might be able to find something, sure, but the more clues the better, right?"

"Despite my 'status' with the SSOID I still have contacts and sources. Good sources. People we can work and leverage for intel, people that more often than not are at the right place at the right time."

Nathalie frowned slightly and tilted her head. "Unfortunately for me whatever means of contact I once had will most likely be heavily monitored because of the heat we all have on us. That's where you come in. Pirates always have back channels. Hell, your backchannels have backchannels of their own. I know that you have ways of reaching out to people without getting made because you and other pirate groups have been doing it for years under the nose of the galaxy's toughest intelligence agencies."

"Enticing enough for you?" Asked Nathalie, slightly smirking.

 

[Breadman]

"Have fun, Roge." Amy waved him off. "Now how about the other one." She walked calmly to Vance, while he was still busy trying to clean up. "Hey big guy, mind in helping me with something?" She leaned in a bit "My hand to hand is getting rusty and I need some practice against bigger opponents. Usually I'd ask my brother, but that can't happen now for obvious reasons, so you interested?"
---
"How much longer are we gonna stay here?" His co-pilot moaned. "Been here for hours, man."

"It's been exactly one hour." The pilot said with an annoyed tone as he turned over a new page. He didn't bother looking at his colleague. Just moved one foot over the other while he read. "I told you when you started this gig to find yourself a hobby of some kind."

"Hey I do."

"Abusing yourself to dirty images you find on the net isn't a hobby." This time he turned his head with a mocking smile on his face "Oh don't look surprised motherfucker, your addiction is already well known." The pilot continued while pointing to the man in the other seat. "Why do you think I make you wash your hands so much before you touch the controls."

"Go fuck yourself!"

"You going to show me how, fucker?" Before the exchange of ideas could continue a signal was coming in from one of the crew working outside. "This is Zach from the Starving buzzard, what do you need?"

"Specter, we someone didn't do their job and we're a few ammo crates short. They're doing a round of testing with the mechs and we kinda need the ammo. Bring it over."

"Yeah, sure." He got up from his seat and picked up the helm that was resting nearby "Come on Sweatpalms. You're with me."

"I have a name."

"So do I, but you guys insist on calling me Specter, so we compromise." Zack put on his jacket and checked if everything was where he put it. Gun, check. Old Death vigil insignia, check. Plasma saber, check. "Come on. The sooner we do this, the sooner we're off this rock." The two loaded up the ammo crates on the grav cart and got off the ship. Zach was trailing behind his co-pilot by a few steps.

It was mostly for show. Much like the armor under the jacket. It was all for show. One of the few common languages he could speak with pirates. If you look tough, you could pass by most of them. Unless it was people like Slade or Valk. The former he respected and even admired to an extend, the latter he had to get used to. He still wondered if the universe decided to piss on his life over it. After Starvis he wanted to get away from it. But just a few years later, he's working for the woman that he was told multiple times to kill. Well, not personally, but he was the transport for those who would do it. He sometimes wondered if she knew. Probably not or didn't care. He would be dead if the opposite was true.

After a while, they arrived at their location and it looked like they were behind since tests were already going on.

"Alright sticky, get the others and have them do their jobs."

"I fucking hate you, I swear." His co-pilot muttered angrily.

"You have no one else to blame but yourself, Sticky." Zach smirked. He looked around to see what there was to do, but for now he'd just oversee this small job.

 

[ANIMAL MOTHER]

A small bundle of bandage strips comes out of Typhon’s jacket, and he unrolls a fair bit of it before cutting it with his teeth. He cleans up the blood leaking out of Katja’s nose before tilting her head back with his hand before stuffing them in her nostrils. Seems like this bleeding is related to the brain damage she sustained due to being in cryostasis for too long. He sighs to himself, thinking that they really should’ve performed some sort of physical and perhaps even cognitive therapy first before having her try to pilot her mech.

“You’re still not well.” he concludes while shaking his head. He then looks over to Easel and the other Reavers, snapping one of his fingers at Katja. “Med-bay. Now.”

 

[Frankafurter]

Katja sits there for a moment before getting up to be lead back to the med-bay, her head is still pounding and she sniffs slightly as she pokes at the bandages in her nostrils to make sure they stay seated where they are. She looks back at the mech that remains inert behind her, oddly the cockpit and her tattoos seem to flicker at each other and the mech's cockpit closes back up. The mech remains inert but some sort of haunting sound of anguish emits from the external speakers. Given the nature of the somatic link and it's rather improper severance, could part of Katja's psyche still be trapped in the control buffer for the mech? Once Katja is far enough away, the anguished pains the mech emits fade into nothing. It's a very spooky sort of anomaly and it takes the techs that were witness to it a few moments to get the nerve to approach the mech and get a support crew out to move it back to the repair bay.



When the techs get diagnostics equipment hooked up to it, there's nothing in the control buffer for the pilot system and there's no other glitches in the programming for any of the other systems, it's baffling and creepy. There's no "ghosts" in the machine and even though the mech hasn't made any sounds since being brought back from the clearing, it's being given a wide berth in the repair bay. Now Zadra has to deal with some rumblings of the mech being cursed and haunted by the souls of the dead colonists and that Katja is some sort of bad omen due to being the sole survivor of that ship and also the only one compatible with the mech's neural interfacing system.

____________________________________________________________

In Sielia's bar, a rather rugged yet somewhat unkempt human male arrives with a group of others who all look like hard manual laborers, most of them khergians mixed with some wirey built Upyri and some stout humans. They all gather up between two tables and the lead man asks them what they want. The group grunts and just say together, "The usual, Cap'n." The "Captain" heads to the bar and gets some pitchers of beer and enough glasses to go around before arriving back at the table. Damien might recognize him from one of the fleet meetings as Captain Aldous McKenna, the captain that is in charge of one of the non-combat ships in the Reaver fleet. Sometimes the Reavers aren't always able to reach service docks or return home to Sielia which is where Captain McKenna comes in. His ship, Hephaestus' Anvil, is a yardship, designed to function as a mobile shipyard that can repair most of the capital and subcapital ships available in the Reavers' fleet. While not large enough to house super capitals like the Guillotine in its repair bay, it still carries enough supplies and crew to perform space walks to do minor repairs to the exterior hull. Damien also likely knows that McKenna is a very hands on fellow and often aids in the duties of his crew, hence his rough and dirty appearance that would easily disguise him as just another crewmember under his command.

As he seats with his subordinates, he shares the pitchers of beer around and glasses and once everyone has poured themselve a healthy pint, he raises his glass in a toast, "May the solar winds be at our back, the stars remain bright, and to another safe voyage ahead." The crew around him raise their glasses and give a warm cheer before they all start pounding down the pints given to them. After the toast everyone loosens up and begin conversing amongst themselves casually, sometimes a bout of laughter emerges from the general din of conversation but they never get disorderly or out of hand.

 

[Infab]

"Enticing enough for you?"

"In a way." replied Damien. "But, trust is the primary issue here. You're former SSOID, and we all know how they are. I'm sure you don't trust me either... or really anyone around here, save for Vance. Even if we all have a massive bounty on our heads. And you know how this job works. I'm not just going to give you access to our back channels." He looked down to his drink, which was now nearly empty. "...You fill me in on some things, and I'll do the same with you. We build that mutual trust up. Sound good?" he said, glancing back to Nathalie.

He drank what was left of the drink, before setting it aside and standing. "Let's take a walk." he said, motioning for Nathalie to follow.

He glanced over briefly to a nearby table, noticing that Captain McKenna was here, drinking with some of his crew. Pretty useful man, he was. His repair ship handling deep space repairs when nobody could get back to Sielia or to one of the pirate havens or stations. He gave the captain a brief wave, before returning his attention to Nathalie.

​

Easel was quick to move, gliding over and scooping Katja up with her arms. With the potential state she was in, she didn't need to be walking anywhere. She could pass out, or potentially worse. Two of the Reavers followed after them, carrying the field kit, while the other two (after listening to the strange and frankly spooky noises coming from the mech) moved back to the mech shop with the cutting torches. There, they'd gather up a team to bring the mech back to the shop.

 

[Viper Actual]

Nathalie nodded in agreement. "Trust is a precious and very delicate thing. It needs to be earned."
She looked Damien in the eyes. "I understand perfectly- wouldn't expect anything less actually."

As Damien got up from his seat Nathalie followed, glancing briefly towards the crew which Damien acknowledged with a wave.

Nathalie studied the crew. They reminded her of simpler days, of covert assignments in areas not riddled with war and piracy. Days where she crossed paths with ordinary men and women just going about their thing in their own bubbles of the galaxy.

She refocused herself and looked at Damien, nodding. "Where to?"

 

[ANIMAL MOTHER]

"Easel." Typhon tries getting her attention with a tap on her shoulder. "Prepare the patient for a physical assessment and have a CT done too; cranial in particular." he says. Normally his scanner would give him adequate results, but considering the cybernetics embedded into Katja and her generally fragile state after what just happened, a more detailed and powerful tool is required just so he could learn the intricacies of them better. He'd also be able to study these tattoos as well, and if he's lucky, apply what he'll learn from them to his own research. For now though, there's a smaller pressing issue he wants to resolve first other than some sickly popsicle; there's no more cigarettes in his carton. The Reavers he had offered them to had taken the last ones. He'll have to buy, find, or steal another somewhere here. Hopefully this won't take long and Easel will have Katja fully prepared by then. Maybe even for surgery too if Easel sees the results and thinks it'll be necessary.

"We will proceed further when I return, or should you do both yourself, we will instead go over the results together."

Then he takes off, walking away from them to go on the hunt for some decent-quality cigarettes wherever they may be.

 

[Frankafurter]

Captain McKenna notices Damien wave to him and raises his glass in salute to him but doesn't do much more to avoid interrupting whatever business Damien had with the woman. He continues to socialize with his fellow crewmembers as they drink and unwind from a long haul.
_________________________________________________________

Katja is scooped up by Easel and carried off to the medbay, she's thankful for this because her head is still a jumble and honestly, she probably wasn't gonna make it far on her own power. She fades in and out of consciousness as the sort of pep-up of whatever Easel used to initially wake her begins to wear off.

 

[K0mori]

"...If you want, I can give it a tune-up, some fresh paint...Might can find some good weapons to stick on it to beef it up. Just let me know what you want to do with it."

Vixaya listened to the translation, then nodded. She pulled her tablet out of her coat and began to swipe at it. "[I don't know much about what needs to be done, but I have a hologram of what weapons I used during the war.]" A moment later, Zadra's own tablet chimed, and she projected the image Vixaya had sent into the air. Vixaya pointed toward the heavy machine gun mounted on the right shoulder of the craft. "[Mine was called X-070. It was older than this one, 'C-355.' I don't know what this new gun is, but the old one took OBN-standard at 800 rounds per minute. It was referred to as a VG-396. There are two rocket pods on the craft and they look exactly like the type I used. They take OBSKK-A and B-type rockets. There are a lot of different types of these, you'll see anything from 391A to 416A, or 396B to 400B...]"

She trailed off for a moment, looking at the ground as she spoke, as if picturing past events in her head. "[I've seen lots of variants and we basically loaded anything we could get into the pods, when we could get them. I don't know the difference between the numbers, but Type A is a laser-guided RPG, and Type B is a laser-guided mortar. We can fit 4 of Type A and 6 of Type B. I'll take whatever you can give me, but if you could figure out the best versions and make sure none of them are duds, it would be nice...]"

Vixaya finally looked back up at Zadra. "[I understand if I can't have it just like the X-070, but I think I'd be more useful if my weapons were familiar to me. I'll understand if I have to adjust, though. As for the paint, please just strip it to bare metal and re-treat it so that it doesn't rust on us. And... a little red star, on that flat section just over the optics package. I would like that.]"

Just like that, the prescience in her eyes disappeared as Vixaya seemed to fade to gray. There was no excitement, nor fear, in her demeanor, but rather a sense of bland acceptance.

 

[Infab]

"Where to?"

Once they had stepped outside of the bar, standing amongst the other pirates moving to and fro, he motioned up the path towards the back of Diamond Cove. The path continued on, through the trees and vines of the jungle behind the settlement. "I want to check out how the work on the settlement expansion is going. We can walk and talk on the way." he said, "Its not too far. There's another clearing on the other side of the trees."

A moment later, he started walking. "Now...since I imagine you've sized up everyone since VOC-1, I'm sure you've made your personal judgements with the info you have or picked up." he said, glancing over to Nathalie. "...What are your thoughts on everyone? And I mean everyone. My mother and sister included."

​

Once Easel made it to the medical bay inside the bunker, preparations were quickly made for a proper CT scan. They rarely had to use the one here on Sielia, thanks to the Guillotine's expansive medical facility, but it'd surprisingly see use today. "Katja, if you can still hear and understand me, I am going to give you a quick physical assessment. Then, I will conduct a CT scan. Shouldn't take long." she stated, before getting to work. Nearby, the Reavers that followed stood by quietly, observing as Easel worked.

​

As Vixaya listed off the information about the weapons and such of her former mech, Zadra made sure to jot them all down in her tablet. It wouldn't be hard to find older munitions and weaponry. Outdated equipment was always available. The newer stuff they'd have to hunt down and buy. The question would be identifying everything, which may not be that hard thanks to the number of kanads in the Reavers. Someone likely knew what everything was named and which was better.

"Alright. I'll see what I can find. As for your paint job, we can do that. Bare metal, new anti-rust coat, and a red star over the optics." replied Zadra. Once she finished, she glanced over. Noticing that Vixaya had lost that particular look in her eyes. She seemed indifferent to everything now. Zadra raised an eyebrow. "...Are you alright?" she asked, lowering her tablet a bit.

Suddenly, Lauren's voice could be heard on the other end of the mech shop. "WHERE'S THE BOOZE?!" she shouted. Roku looked about, as nearly everyone's attention snapped to them. "Lauren...t-this is the mech shop."

Lauren froze for a moment, a blank look on her face as her brain attempted to process things. Then, she released Roku. "Well fuck." she muttered. Her attention then shifted a bit, looking around as Roku quickly moved away from her. Then, she saw Zadra.

"ZADDY!" she said loudly, quickly strolling through the mech shop towards Zadra. Roku, meanwhile, slipped back outside. He wasn't planning on getting dragged around again. As Lauren neared, she noticed Vixaya standing there as well. "Heeeeey, kid! How are ya? Still eating all that sugary stuff?"