Futuristic Into the Cosmic Deep

[obscured_light]

"Kingstra," the rat said, extending a claw out. "Kingstra Sleazyrak."

 

[Sky_Breaker_08]

Watching Matias walk away, Ace sighed and followed after him, shortly moving through a crowd. He was slightly frustrated that he had been tricked in front of his superior. Obviously the man was not impressed with him, but Ace felt like he wasn't entirely at fault here. Perhaps he would be able to show his skills later down the road. No need to be discouraged so early on the voyage, there would certainly be other chances to show his skillset. He was confident he could gain the man's respect with some time.

Resolving on this, Ace looked up to find that Matias was gone. He had gotten lost in his thoughts and figured he was following him, but now, he was nowhere to be seen. Ace looked around to see shops everywhere with people milling about. The crowd was only increasing along this row of shops, so Ace headed to a place where he might be able to look over them all and spot Matias.

As he moved along, he passed a door nestled between two shops. It opened suddenly and hands reached out, snatching him and pulling him inside...


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

Gideon frowned as much as a crow's face could frown, and asked with concern in his voice, "This young woman was not meant to leave the ship and Tern allowed her to leave? An interesting decision on the AI's part. Did she have duties to perform before our departure from the station? Or are there health concerns?"

Gideon gasped and his feathers raised slightly, "What if she has been taken by an illicit group? She could be in terrible danger! I will hurry and find her!"

Beginning to rush ahead, Gideon felt his telepathic senses connect with something back inside the ship, a shadowy, hidden presence. For a moment, he heard whispers of fear...and then, dangerous intent. He whirled back around, searching for any sign of the communicator. 'Hello?' his telepathic message echoed through the emptiness of the hallway. The link was gone and he felt nothing but emptiness once more.

Strange, he wondered to himself. A few species utilized telepathy, and he know of a few such as Atuk'Kuta who were part of the crew for the Blackbird's Cry, yet he had never felt a connection such as that before. Perhaps he was imagining things. His dreams and reality were mixing, he needed to get a better hold on his sleep cycle.

His eyes moved over Dr. Haliday staring at him and he quickly felt embarrassed. He certainly didn't want to try and explain what had just happened, she probably wouldn't believe him anyway. No, better to pretend as if nothing happened and seek out this lost crew member.

"I apologize, I got ahead of myself," Gideon bowed his head, quickly trying to hide his small lie. "Please, lead the way, Dr. Haliday!"


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

Circuit began to respond to Rhyssa, "Yes, we are..."

Suddenly, the robot turned to look down the street, off into the distance, discreet lights blinking in the lens that made up its eye.

Then, the lights flicked off and Circuit seemed to act normal once more. Its coat flashed with dancing crabs parading about. It pointed in the direction Rhyssa had come, the direction it had looked before in its strange way. "Let's go to your...ship!" Circuit began to head back, but then stopped at the entrance to an alleyway.

"But first, let's get a...treat! Chalcidians love...treats!"

 

[DarKnight36]

"In here Hopkins," Matias said, pulling him further into the shop. Matias went back to perusing the shop walls, which were lined with row after row of almost every kind of gun imaginable. "Pick one."

***

"Right, Kingstra," Haul nodded. "So what were you doing out here anyway?"

 

[PiePillager]

Amidst the maze of the black market, stalls and booth were frequently setting up shop or closing for the day. There were no permits, no designated times for opening or closing unless you had the credits. For many, it was first come first serve. To be successful, you had to stand out amongst the competition.

And one such case, cutting through the noise and bluster, were the echoes of a melodic tune, emerging from a strummed guitar. A figure, wrapled in a cloak, played the tune as he sat on his mat on the street not too far from the weapons shop. Two Posonid twin sisters danced at his side, each displaying, beautiful red and black color patterns on their fins which both resembled dresses worm by salsa dancers

The guitarist theme too, resembled that of the traditional Earther music. A rare of enough genre among humans, but the sounds were even more unique to the other species that populated the Hive. A small crowd had gathered to hear the guitarist play his tunes. To.watch the twins dance. It made the busy walkways of the Hive's black market even more bustling.

 

[druidquest]

Rhyssa clapped a hand over the robot's- well, where a mouth would be if robots had one. A finger flew to her lips in a shushing gesture, Rhyssa's head on a swivel to make sure no one had heard. "There are no Chalcideans on this station, little guy! What a silly joke you just told me! Hahahahaha!" Rhyssa scooped circuit up under one arm, casting another glance around before disappearing into the alley.

She set it down once she felt confident they were out of eavesdropping distance. "Okay, yes I love treats," Rhyssa conceded with a sigh. "But you don't need to go breakin' my cover in the middle of the road like that. We're incognito, get it?" She stood and crossed her arms, checking down both sides of the alley to try and get a sense for where they were in relation to the rest of the station. "What kind of treats would a robot want, anyway? .........Nuts?"

---

Dr. Haliday examined Gideon's face a moment longer behind unblinking compound lenses, then turned her face away, looking up toward the entrance of the docking bay. She had never been to the Hive before or had any idea of what layout it had, and she told Dr. Corvus as much, but she led the way out into the crowded streets regardless. This station was dirty and noisy, grating on Dr. Haliday's senses, but she had little doubt that girl would have found it intoxicating.

She scanned one end of the roadway, then the other, considering which direction the girl would have been drawn in. Whichever path seemed the most exciting, no doubt. For a moment, Dr. Haliday wished she had reached out to Officer Kingsbury, or one of the other security personnel. They might have known just where to find such a place on this station.

"Tell me, Dr. Corvus," Dr. Haliday said, stepping back to avoid a crowd of Vleeboe pushing a large chain of food carts. "If you were a rambunctious, ill-behaved, foul-tempered girl, which direction would your impulses push you to go in?"

 

[Sky_Breaker_08]

"Did you say you would like some nuts?" a bright masculine voice questioned behind Rhyssa. A vending machine, brightly painted red and yellow, stood up from its resting place in the alleyway. Its legs were like that of a spider and multiple arms sprouting various mechanical functions slid away from its main body: a rectangle with a large square display showing various advertisements for the products it held within. At the end of every short ad was a list of all of the items available, lasting just as long as the advertisements even though it was sped up to blur past at a speed too fast to read.

"Don't be shy now!" the voice chimed on. "What type of nuts would you like? I've got everything you can dream of! I've got...ahdjfkfbsdiciehfbckcosoakxncbeyrifjcvsnakdif..."

The robot listed everything in its stock related to nuts but sped its voice to a high-pitched unintelligible mess of syllables that sounded more like scratched static. Luckily, it only lasted for 1.28598 seconds before the list was done. Circuit and Rhyssa knew this because the robot told them so when it had finished voicing its list.

"What would you like?" it cheerfully asked Rhyssa.

 

[obscured_light]

Kingstra smiled, more to himself than to Haul. He withdrew his hand and raised it instead to indicate their surroundings as he explained, "Doing a little browsing around. I noticed there were a lot of supplies and such on the ship but I was just browsing to see if anything else was needed."

He looked over to see the employee who had a couple things already.

"Plus," he said, turning back to Haul, "It never hurts to familiarize oneself with locals. Are you going back once you've gathered all the parts?"

 

[FireMaiden]

Naomi Hart
Location: The Hive - Just Kind Of Around
Interaction: Open
Mentioned: @Lord Saethos (Eichkern)
This places gave Namoi the geebies. Even with the armor and side arm on, walking around keeping an eye on the members of the Blackbird's cry, she felt exposed. Even though the place was lively, she felt like they stuck out like a sore thumb. The ship certainly did anyway, the one of fanfare that comes with a ship of this class had to have caught someone's attention. Whether or not Naomi was being paranoid or not, we'll see, but she wasn't someone who took this kind of thing lightly. The woman wondered if the man she met earlier, Eichkern, would feel the same way about this place. She hadn't seen him lately, once they had taken off, Naomi had gone to unpack her room and ensure her equipment had made it on board. The guns she could replace, not that she wanted to, but the armor was custom.

A deep burgundy set of body armor made to order for her exact measurements. She didn't have her helmet on now, it didn't seem necessary, but every other piece was nice and comfortable. She has her hair tied up as well, the scarred green cross on the back of the chest piece fully visible to those around her. It was a badge of honor, but also a target. The woman took a few deep breaths. This place didn't have the best reputation this side of the cosmos, maybe that's why she was so on edge. But she'd also been in active warzones, a glorified mall shouldn't make her nervous. Maybe Naomi just hates shopping that much.

She weaves through the crowd, taking a head count of anyone nearby she could notice. Most of her crewmates were scattered though, taking care of their own business. She sighed, reaching up to rub the back of her neck. Was there anything she needed to grab? All of her equipment was on board, her tools for her weapons were fine. Her pistol maybe needed some cleaning, she was running low on that. And what was the harm of taking a look at some rifle mods? Naomi chewed the inside of her cheek for a few moments. She was also hungry and could faintly smell the scent of grilled meat, maybe that meant a small food court? "Oh fuck it," Naomi mumbled to herself, her shoulders falling as she forced herself to relax, heading off further in the crowd to take a look at what this station has to offer.

Don't worry though, she was still keeping an eye on her crew.

 

[DarKnight36]

"Of course," Haul said, almost sounding offended that Kingstra had even asked. "I don't understand how anyone finds anything in this place. Half the shops don't have what's advertised, quite a bit of stuff is broken junk, and everyone wants to rip you off."

Haul huffed. "I'm no lowlife that enjoys the game that a place like this plays. I just like machines."

 

[obscured_light]

"Machines also enable you to play games but I can certainly see where you're coming from," Kingstra said with a small chuckle. "Half the fun is finding it, like a hunt. From what I've heard, people are trying to get by. There's been quite a bit of trouble throughout the different worlds and of course, that would make some of them desperate. I can see your dislike for it."

He shrugged and tilted his head, "Have you always had a preference for machines?"

 

[DarKnight36]

"Yes, I'm a Zumolkan," Haul said, as if that explained everything. The shopkeeper approached with the rest of the goods and Haul paid for the lot, grumbling to himself.

 

[druidquest]

Rhyssa jumped as the machine revealed itself, several drones appearing from within her clothes to flit around defensively. The vending machine overwhelmed her with light and noise, assaulting Rhyssa with information so quickly that only another machine could hope to keep up. A few of her bolder drones landed on the vending machine's body, trying to bite and sting and its sheer metal exterior in an effort to silence it and protect their hive from its capitalist offense.

The vending machine finally paused long enough to give Rhyssa a chance to answer, letting her process what was happening. She glanced at Circuit, then back at the machine, and with a clear of her throat her drones disappeared back inside the folds of her clothing.

"I'm... still thinking about it," Rhyssa replied, straightening out the front of her uniform. "What about you, uh..." It occurred to her that the robot hadn't introduced itself. "...Pal?"

 

[Wing06]

Tristan found himself drawn to the music played by a man in a cloak. The way the dancers spun around one another was slightly mesmerizing. A small crowd had gathered to watch and listen, a few tossing some credits to show their appreciation for the entertainment. He'd been here a week and rarely had a moment of peace like this. He felt his anxieties fade as he closed his eyes and let himself get lost in the music, swaying side to side with the beat.


***

"I told you this ship is the property of Alfen Expansion Empire, and I do not care that you "purchased" it! The Alfen you gave your credits to swindled you as this was not his to sell!" Saronia shouted. The walking fauna stood its ground, pointing to the small craft aggressively, "Then you owe me," His voice boomed through the translation device in her ear. "I owe you nothing; you were a fool to give someone credits for a stolen ship." She crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head. The Bushman growled and raised his wooden limb. Before he could swing on the Alfen agent, he was lit up by security forces stun rods. "You are under arrest for violence toward an honored emissary and the purchase of stolen government property." The android's monotone voice rang out as a few restrained the Bushman.

 

[Sky_Breaker_08]

Ace examined many of the weapons on display. There were many types of pistols, shotguns, and rifles of all kinds, for physical ammunition and energized projectiles. There were even some that were designated as less-lethal, if you were on the kinder side of self-defense. Farther down, weapons based on melee combat and shields were placed.

None of these really caught Ace's interest, however. He already had a rifle, pistol, combat dagger, as well as several types of homemade grenades. He even had a sword, though it wasn't his favorite. What interested him the most were the extra robotic arms, or XRA, designed with a weapon mount, capable of utilizing a firearm like a personal turret. Looking at the different styles and options, Ace considered an arm mount that would raise a grenade launcher over his shoulder. It would integrate with his helmet, allowing him to give it specific commands while not needing to physically aim and fire the weapon. The "hand" of the XRA could be swapped for other tools with different functions, such as a grappling hook. He could take a few as a package deal, according to the nearby screen displaying information on the XRA model.

Ace nodded and called out to Matias, "I'll take this one."

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

Gideon shook his head, "I would not claim to know but perhaps, she went that way?" He hesitantly pointed to the more colorful and chaotic route.

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

Circuit's voice chirped, "I do not go by...Pal. My name is...Circuit. You may call me...Circuit."

"And my name is PrimeSupply Technologies' SnackBot 3486295!" The vending machine interrupted excitedly. "Don't hesitate! Buy a snack! NOW!" A strange sound of laughing came from the robot and its arms raised menacingly.

Shifts of movement came from the shadows as more vending machines stirred and lit up. None were of the same company or selling the same products but at a glance, Rhyssa and Circuit could tell they were different from SnackBot. Where SnackBot was clean and fully functioning, these others were mangled, dirty and broken. Arms were limp and half-torn, broken screens and glass from their displays gave off a few sparks or simply refused to light once again, legs were twisted so badly the machines could barely hobble or slide over to the pair. There were about a dozen of them, slowly making their way to surround them.

 

[DarKnight36]

"Great choice," Matias said. "It's only..." He checked the price tag. "3,000,000. I assume you can cover the fees?" Matias smiled tightly, but his eyes did seem to hold a bit of humorous light in them. "Let me ask you a question, Hopkins. Would you consider yourself... a good shot?"

 

[druidquest]

"Nice to meet you, Circuit," Rhyssa replied, extending a hand to greet the little robot properly while the vending machine grew increasingly intent on forcing a transaction.

Her hand twitched, and she cast her eyes back down the alley as about a dozen other vending machines suddenly lit up, stirring back to life at the sound of a possible sale being made. They limped and dragged their way toward the trio like zombies, driven by the dying sparks of programming which still urged them to seek out customers. "Friends of yours?" Rhyssa asked Snackbot 3486295, eyeing the undead machines with honest curiosity.

Rhyssa stuffed the hand not extended toward Circuit into her pocket, fingering a wrinkled twenty venera bill¹. Some of these machines looked even less likely to accept a negative response than the Snackbot. "What currencies do you accept, again?"

---

Dr. Haliday's wings shivered irritably. "Yes, that does sound like her."

She tilted her head, making a nearly inaudible clicking noise as she thought. Her desire to keep things quiet aside, it seemed, in the clarity of the moment, that two academics wandering one of the seedier stations in the known universe unattended might meet with foreseeable consequences. She considered reaching out to another member of the crew - not the security staff, no - but someone suitable to act as chaperone should something unpleasant occur. Chief Engineer Jordan, perhaps? It would, if nothing else, afford her the opportunity for a preliminary visual inspection of his physical health, and his position of authority within the crew could offer a mask of credibility to the girl's outing.

Well, if she could find him, that is. To her knowledge, no one on the ship had been issued a commlink just yet, which now seemed a bit of an oversight. Perhaps it would be worth mentioning to the captain later. Regardless, she had no means to contact Mr. Jordan directly, or know where he was, returning her to the same dilemma she was already in. She indulged herself in mimicking a human sigh.

"Well, we will get nowhere just standing here," she remarked to Dr. Corvus, before leading the way into the crowd.

The street Dr. Corvus had indicated was as dirty, noisy, and crowded as it seemed possible for any occupied space to be. He was right - if the girl had gone in any direction, it would have been this one. Dr. Haliday's wings jittered semi-erratically, the hyper-stimulation of her environment putting her on edge to the point she found herself constantly having to recall her drones to stop them from taking defensive flight paths around the two members of the Blackbird's crew. Dr. Haliday tilted her head slightly over her shoulder, checking to make sure Dr. Corvus hadn't gotten lost in the crowd; Warbhu and "Ensindijee" were both uncommon sights on this station, if the looks that had been following them from the docking bay were any indication, and she wasn't foolish enough to assume they were all just curious glances.

They had both been walking several minutes when the din of the crowds and machine hum of the station seemed to fall quieter, fading into the background in favor of a rhythmic buzzing vibration Dr. Haliday recognized. Buskers were everywhere in Vinalia Urbana, so ubiquitous in the district of her clinic especially that she had learned to tune them out almost completely. The sound was so unexpected here, however, that Dr. Haliday couldn't help but stop, standing next to an Alfen man as she watched the splendenid² dancers step and spin in tune with the sound of the guitar. Dr. Haliday inclined her head at the cloaked musician, curious at what might have brought him to this far-flung corner of the known universe, momentarily forgetting the task she was meant to be attending to.

---

¹_{about 201,590.53 Indonesian rupiah}
²_{a Posonid race known for long, colorful gill covers which hang around the waist. Famed as dancers and as particularly visceral pit fighters. For more information on Posonid races and cultures, or to see videos of last week's underwater cage matches, go to worldswrestlingentertainment.cos/smashimi}

 

[PiePillager]

Hector was walking through, heading to another upper level of the hive when he heard a loud chorus of robotic voices coming from around the corner. Once there, he saw a swarm of vending machines attempting to aggressively hustle some girl and...Circuit into buying something. This was most definitely not his problem. She's seemed to have gotten the relentless machines to stop...by asking them what type of currency they accept?

Hector sighed, approaching the duo against his better judgement, interrupting the conversation with the snackbots as he said, "Nah, don't do that. Buy one lil thing and they just gonna ask you if you want somethin' else to go along with that," he went on, gently swiping away the hand that held out the twenty venera.

"We got a full crew and we gonna dock here for a couple days," Hector lied. "I'll be sure to tell 'em about this place, but for now we gotta go," he continued, moving his hand forward to signal Rhyssa and Circuit to follow him.

***

The musicians song was nearing it's finale, the two dancers next to him, dancing without a so much as a trace of exhaustion. As the final notes wrte plucked upon the strings, the gathered audience couldn't help but break out in applause or whatever other showerings of praise oft used by their respective species.

"¡Gracias!" The singer bowed from his seat upon the ground., his voice resonating with a mechanical reverb. "¡Muchos gracias! Mi hermanas and I thank you from the bottom of our hearts!" He said as his sisters in qurstion did what amounted to a curtsy and bith smiled widely with an array of tiny sharp teeth. "From the bottom of our hearts, we hope you all enjoyed the show!"

As he spoke a small device next to him began to beep. An armored Crimson hand picked up the device and the figure's head turned. Haliday and Corvus could've sweared that he was looking at them for a second, even though the glance lasted but a moment. The musician then stood up, picking up his things. Nodding to his sisters, he whispered to them for a moment, before all three began to make their way past the crowd, headed for their next destination.

 

[Sky_Breaker_08]

Ace shrugged, "I may not be the brightest star, but one thing I'm most certainly good at is shootin' guns and blowin' things up. It's too bad a gun can only point one way, though, if you know what I mean."

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

"Owner and New Owner, we gotta...go!" Circuit shouted happily. "Let's take the gang leader to our...ship! We can give everyone...snacks! Everyone loves...snacks!"

The little robot reached its arms out and took hold of the SnackBot machine. To the sharp eye, some may have noticed a series of electric bursts traveling through the arms into the vending machine, overloading it till it was unable to resist. A second later and Circuit had lifted the unconscious vending machine precariously above its head, ready to follow after Hector with its newly acquired possession.

 

[DarKnight36]

"Well, if you're that confident," Matias said as he smiled again, "there's a shooting range under this shop. Why don't we have a little competition? You win, I'll buy you this weapon. I win, you owe me a favor. How's that sound?"

 

[FireMaiden]

Naomi Hart
Location: The Hive - Stopped For The Music Man
Interaction: druidquest (Dr. Haliday) Sky_Breaker_08 (Corvus)
Mentioned: Tristan ( Wing06 ) PiePillager
The Hive had everything you could think of in terms of supplies, both optional and non-optional. Naomi lost count of the random merchants peddling skin care, snacks, cheap throw away weapons and mods, hell she had even spotted someone selling fake and real plants, and small gerbil type creatures. She judged the merchant the entire time she was purchasing a small bonsai tree, these real plants had a severe lack of care instructions. Her cabin in the human navy ship she transferred from had a couple plants. Not that she was an expert on keeping them alive. In fact, she was pretty bad at it but the bonsai tree her dad has gotten her was still kicking. Some scientists back on earth discovered that humans go a little crazy after not seeing any plants for a while. The Blackbird's hydroponic system would have been enough, but Namoi preferred on closer to her.

The next merchant she stopped at was some heavy fragranced place, selling a lot of powers, sticks, and perfumes. She wasn't buying anything, but she never did pass up the opportunity to sniff away. She has brought some of her perfumes with her, tucked away in her socks, wrapped like they were the most precious things in the world. They weren't, but it was one of the few things that made her feel feminine. Growing up surrounded by men and women hardened by war...girly things don't fly as easily. Even now, she tore herself away from the perfume oils with the goal of finding someone selling weapons mods.

She found one not too far away, though her brows furrowed some. A lot of these mods they had in stock were human navy. The kinda of mods you're not supposed to see outside of their officially quartermasters. She picked up a long range scope to take a closer look, before she sighed a bit and relaxed. They were fakes. The Navy symbols and classifiers were all crudely pained on, these were all stock models. Naomi was sure if you asked the right question, the guy in charge would have some of the real deal, but that wasn't her concern right now. She'd either find a public terminal or wait until they were back on board to report the suspicious booth, but Naomi wasn't worried about it now. In all honesty, she'd probably forget to report it at all.

So off she went, in search of a different merchant selling rifle mods. Her rifle, a prototype hybrid of an assault rifle and a long range plasma sniper, needed a better scope. The one she had did the job, but it fell a little short aiming for the plasma rounds. She had to remember to compensate for it, which wasn't hard but in the middle of combat, you don't always have a few second to spare. Naomi's attention was grabbed though by some music nearby. She didn't often stop for street performers, but there was something about this...the universe was telling her to check it out. More importantly, it was music she almost recognized.

Naomi squeezed into the crowd to watch what was apparently the end of the show, her form settling into the crowd behind an alfen man, and surprising, one of the Blackbird's Cry crew, Dr. Haliday. And...the bird guy, what, Corvus? Wasn't that a little on the nose? Anyway, the preformers disappeared, off to wherever they were going next, Naomi had to chuckle. "That almost sounded like some music we have on earth. The dancers too," She spoke, more to herself than the three in front of her. It was now she pushed her was a little more in front, on the other side of the Alfen than the two crew members were. "Dr. Haliday, Corvus, aren't y'all easy to find in a crowd. Is there anything you two need help with? I'm a little restless just walking around."