The Outer Rim [IC]

Prof Tatori

Prof Tatori

New Member
Ok, and so it begins.


For those who are still interested, here is the link to the info thread: http://www.rpnation.com/showthread.php/2120-The-Outer-Rim


and now for the sign up thread: http://www.rpnation.com/showthread.php/2121-The-Outer-Rim-SU


​



Asteroids, lifeless hunks of space junk adrift in the great vacuum. Rocks like this dotted the Karilon system, one of the many asteroid only planets on the outer rim. Most people never bothered with asteroids such as this one, too small to be worth mining, and definitely not colinizable. Federation ships only ever stopped to calculate another jump, and if they saw something, well they might bother if they have the time, but they usually didn't.


Which is exactly why they were there. With no sign of any ships besides their own, the Albadar's Crew could get to work. After all, the goods stored on that rock wouldn't take themselves to market. James Kisner Zarich, his right eye blinking in the light of jump-wake, was feeling good for the first time in weeks. They had actually come ahead of schedule, due to an unexplained disturbance, ending the Federation patrol's sweep of the Gebnar system and allowing them to slip out unnoticed. It was always good to be able to stick it to the fed bastards.


Such was the life of a smuggler. One day your land bound, waiting for the FCED (Federation Civil Enforcement Division) to come searching your ship, and the next something happens and you go for it. And for Jim, well The Albadar was all he had left, his only home. Sure the medium class Calthaxian freighter was old, but it was his, and he loved every bolt and wire in it.


But time was of the essence. Those c-37 combat rifles on that rock needed to be delivered to Gerard, as they needed every cred they could get. So Jim let the moment pass and spoke up, "all right, let’s land on this space dust and get loading those crates. Adsila, bring us in nice and steady". Then he activated the ship comm link and dialed his second, "Hartwin, you all suited up down there? I don't want any surprises waiting for us."
 
Adsila stretched and grinned. She nodded when she heard Jim's voice although she knew that her captain could not see her. She was a bit unhappy to be landing, but she knew that it would not take long to get the things and go.


"Right Captain," she said back over the comm link. Not many women were pilots as Adsila had learned when she attended flight school but Adsila loved it. When she first learned to fly a ship it was everything she imagined when she would daydream as a child. "We will be on the surface in about five minutes," she reported.
 
Syndric changed out his usual suit with the exception being the helmet and quickly put on replacement pieces he had made for himself for use in space. When he was finished, he was wearing a relatively bulky suit of metal with oxygen tanks and everything on the back. He plated the suit like that as a precautionary measure. Without the mechanisms he had built into it however, it would be too heavy for him to move around much while wearing it. He then heads for the airlock and waits for everyone else. He wasn't quite sure how much manpower it would require to get the work done but it never hurt to have someone lend a helping hand.
 
Janus Santangelo was in engineering,on Deck 3. He was looking at a datapad,which was giving readings on an encrypted channel. He brought his finger up to his helmet's ear,and said, "Signal's there. The security we left behind shows no one was here but us." He was referring the the weak signal transmitter they left with the stash. It was so weak,you'd only detect it a few kilometers off,and only if you were watching the right frequency. The "security" was just a scanner,and it didn't pick up anything new. He glanced at the main engineering terminal. "Adsila,we're coming in a little fast. Cut the thrust and drift in." He barked over his shoulder. "Hugo! Get the hover trolleys and crates to the bay. We need to be there and gone in half an hour,at most! I don't want to be here when a Fed ship drops in on it's way somewhere else."


He moved across the hall to the parts room. It was a labyrinth of crates and shelves,stacked up to the ceiling. He moved to the back of that room,every step clanking heavily from his hardsuit,which he never seemed to remove. At the back of the room,he began stacking the crates onto the trolleys,awaiting his subordinate to take the loaded trolleys to the loading bay. He opened his communications again, "Captain,what does it look like out there? I don't want to be caught in another ion storm." In the meantime,Janus checked his Cardamine levels. Half a tank. It should last him a few more hours.
 
Tipping her head as if she needed to to hear the Captain's voice over the comm, and then that of their pilot, Phalon slanted her dark gray gaze to Ruma, struggling to settle the ill-fitted suit across her shoulders. "Better hurry up," she teased, light voice carrying easily from the cat walks of the main hold. "I saw Solotov pass, they may not need you at all."


Clenching his jaw, the look Ruma cast up to Phalon was not so sweet or subtle. "When was the last time you moved crates of combat rifles? It ain't exactly a lockpick job."





With a soft chuckle, Phalon blew him a kiss and turned away, gliding steps carrying her to the upward steps. "That's why I leave it to you, shishidon."


Muttering uncomplimentarily under his breath, Ruma hitched his shoulders again and twisted his neck uselessly before snatching up the helmet and stalking through to the forward hold, seeing Syndric was indeed at the airlock. Now grinding his teeth in irritation, Ruma said nothing as he approached the fully suited engineer, swallowing envy to have one that actually fit.
 
Hartwin was all suited up alright, it just happened that the man wasn’t anywhere near the airlock at the moment. Instead the man was looking for the crates that they were supposed to be filling in the cargo hold. At least he was on the right deck when his friends voice sounded over the com “Ay, suited up….need to make m’way to the lock” he noted back. With one final glance around the cargo bay he was in, Hartwin made his way to the airlock, readjusting his helmet back on his head. The tubes seemed to be lined up correctly enough, and the suit fit him fine enough, all that was left was the actual job.


When he entered the airlock both Ruma and Syndrick were there and he greeted them, “Well look’it this, they’re all here without me!” Then making sure the lock was closed, he turned towards his companions before speaking into the com again. “In place, Cap’n… just I reccomen’ yee check the crates status?” he wondered idly, “Wouldn’t wan nothin’ to do out there! ” he joked, giving his comrades a nice slap on their backs.
 
Syndric waved a greeting to Ruma as he saw him, keeping silent as always. He did the same when Hartwin approached, only greeting or communicating in gestures for now. He noticed that Ruma's suit did not fit him well but it seemed to be of better quality materials in his opinion. Syndric's suit may be fitted but it was made of salvaged material and as a result, wasn't exactly pleasing to look at. He tried cleaning it and polishing it to get the rust and such off but he never could get it close to looking like what he had hoped to build when he drew up the blueprints for it. That's the cost one pays when they make their own equipment out of salvaged material and end up having to improvise certain parts. Comfortable was the farthest thing away from what is was designed for as well. He pointed to Ruma and said softly "Your suit...it looks a bit...off. If you want...I could make you one that fits better. I just need the materials for it." He was hoping he could help Ruma get a better fitting suit and it would serve his own purpose which was to make him feel useful. He may have failed to help his people back on Noctus but he planned to help the ship's crew. They were the closest things to friends he had right now and friends were something he wanted to make.
 
Bearing his teeth briefly on instinct, Ruma turned his face away so Hartwin did not see and braced his weight so the sudden blow to his back didn't make him shift an inch. The man's general friendliness reminded him too much of people he was better off forgetting so it was hard to appreciate the comradeship he offered. He was so caught up in his aggravated thoughts that he didn't immediately realize Syndric was talking to him, and then glanced over speculatively, not immediately replying.


"It's fine," he finally answered stiffly before the silence dragged on too awkwardly. "I have more important things to worry about." Fiercely he swore to work on building his shoulder muscles more so maybe the damn thing would set right, and never mind the fact that it was designed for someone three inches taller than he was. "What's wrong with the crates?" he directed a bit more harshly than he meant in Hartwin's direction but he couldn't find it in himself to be politer just then.


Climbing from the deck 1 to deck 4 took a minute, but Phalon was in no hurry, humming idly to herself and adjusting her jacket carelessly as she passed the rec room and strolled down the corridor to the heart of the ship. She paused for a heartbeat outside the kitchen, but went a few steps further and knocked lightly on the open door frame to life support. "Anyone home, doc?" she called in a mellow voice.


 
Adsila nodded again despite no one being around her. She was usually alone in the cockpit area which suited her fine enough. Sometimes a crew member would come up to it while they were traveling through space and chat. Adsila had spent weeks in solitude in the forests of her planet, so it did not bother her for being alone in the cockpit for time to time.


She slowed down the ship and smiled as it landed. "We are grounded! I'll be down soon to help," she called.
 
Syndric nodded in response to Ruma's reply. He then looked at the two before looking down at the floor. To him, Ruma seemed a bit hostile and irritated. Maybe it was a personal mater he did not wish to speak about but either way, Syndric felt that it was better he left Ruma alone. To help pass the time, he reached inside a compartment in his suit and retrieved a pencil and a notepad. Some might think it a bit primitive in this day and age but it worked and it didn't need any batteries to run either. He then started drawing some blueprints that had just popped into his head. This one was of a rifle. He had not yet decided whether to design an assault, sniper or canister rifle but the basics of the design were the same. He would work out the specifics later on. When he heard Adsila's call a few minutes later, he placed his pencil back inside its compartment in the suit with his notepad.
 
Inside of the life support room, Lillian was found focused on several screens, one of them being and atmospheric read. She looked up as Phalon walked in and announced her presence. She gave her a small grin, more of a salutary grin than of genuine friendliness. Though she has been present in the ship for sevral months, she was only close to Captain Jim, which is stating very little. She figured now would be a good time to make herself known.


"Just looking at the oxygen levels on the suits. I decided to go the extra mile." Lillian replied, pulling a lock of her hair back. "Everything seems adequate so far." The atmospheric read soon followed. It was normal as well, which was no surprise. She doubts even the Federation knows about this place. She walked around the tables separating her from the incoming guest. "I assumed no one else was allowed here other than medical personnel or if an injury occurred" Lillian said in a casual tone. Her eyes, however, read differently.


Lillian mostly preferred working alone, and would rather not have guests intrude into her duties unless they needed treatment. The captain was the only exception, since it was his ship, after all. Since Phalon was here already, she pulled out a seat for her to get comfortable.
 
Phalon smiled easily, watching the other woman’s motions, but unlike Lillian her relaxed body and pleasant expression gave away nothing of her thoughts. Her dark gray eyes flicked easily from the medic’s tense shoulders and forward motion—territorial—to her watchful dark eyes, letting the unhappy voice settle on her ears. She folded her arms loosely and leaned against the door frame, keeping herself just outside the boundaries of Lillian’s accepted space but not retreating.


“I assumed on one was interested in coming here as it usually means they’re injured if they do so,” she replied, mellifluent tones dropping comfortably into the tension of the air. “I will not stay if you do not wish it, but there is little for me to do on a job such as this.” A delicate motion of her soft hand encompassed the parameters of what they were doing on the asteroid. “Being that no injuries are expected from such a simple pick up—although with shishidon involved, you never know—my thought was you might be equally at loose ends.”


Phalon dipped her blonde head slightly without looking away from Lillian’s pale face. “Please forgive the misconception.”


 
"Oh, no, it's not like that at all." Lillian quickly replied, her tone suddenly becoming looser. "I just prefer to be focused on my work, without any intrusions."


Removing what resembled a lab coat, she walked to the front entrance. Right beside it was a hook for the coat. "And your thought is, in fact, correct. There isn't much for me to do here right now." She said, hanging up the coat. She turned to Phalon. "One last thing, maybe you should give Ruma a bit more credit. Maybe he can actually take care of himself. Or, if not now, he will eventually."
 
As everyone checked in, Jim started suiting up. owing to almost fourteen years of living on The albadar, his suit was probably the best on the ship.Sadly, that didn't say much, other than that it was fully functional and that he had enough spare parts to fix key components. Then Hartwin mentioned a problem with the crates in the cargo bay. He keyed up hartwin on the comm and replied "it's alright Hartwin, i told Janus to get 'em ready for loading, he said he'd send hugo over with them. I'll be down in a few to help." Then he climbed into one ot the transport tube's "glass coffins", named so because of a fear of getting stuck between acceses and running out of oxygen.


Jim liked to help with loading the cargo, it was the only part of the job that stayed the same, even as weaponry increased and federal policy changed. You always had to move the goods. It also made him feel more connected with the crew, his 'family'. After all, they were all he had. after a few seconds of recollection, the 'coffin' arrived on the lowest deck. Climbing out, Jim headed straight towards the airlock.
 
Her laugh was soft and brief, the corners of her eyes crinkling slightly in genuine humor as Lillian approached and defended Phalon’s wayward sibling. “Apologies, I think I gave you the wrong impression,” she said with a slight wave of her hand "Ruma can take care of himself as well as any young man, I know it better than any. I also know that shishidon can be careless when he’s trying to prove something, which he desperately is.”


The smile faded although the amusement still lingered on her pretty face. “I know I have been rather…reclusive these short months since I joined the crew, and that is not my usual manner.” She bowed a little more deeply this time, clasping her hands with guileless eagerness. “What do you do to entertain yourself on the Albader, doc?”


 
Syndric looked around, wondering when Adsila would get there so they could start. Seems there was more time to kill before any work would really begin. It also seemed he might need to wind his gearbox back up if things didn't get started soon. He took his pencil and notepad back out and continues his drawing but he had also pulled out what looked like a wind-up key. Though some might associate a wind-up key with toys, Syndric's spacesuit had a gearbox on the back which contained a series of gears which he needed to wind up every now and then. The use of gears was partially because he liked things that operated using gears and because they didn't break down easily. The simpler the components and the less components used, the easier it should be to fix if anything goes wrong and the lower the chance of something going wrong.
 
Adsila had made her way down so that she could help. She smiled at her fellow crew members but did not say anything. She stretched since she had been sitting for quite some time. If they were on a long trip, Adsila would sometimes walk around the cockpit or even visit someone, but this time she was in there, either flying the ship or thinking.


 
Syndric waved a greeting to Adsila as she approached. After a few minutes, he was finished with the blueprints he was drawing for now. He decided to finish work on them later and placed them inside the compartment in his suit. He then tried reaching for the gearbox on the back of his suit and with a great deal of difficulty, managed to slide off the protective case covering it and placed the wind-up key in its slot. He proceeded to wind the gears back up and when finished, he removed the key and placed the cover back on the gearbox. Finally, he placed the key back inside its compartment.
 
Lillian seemed slightly intimidated by the woman's large size, as is she were talking to a giant, almost. However, the more she contemplated Phalon's stature, the more she was fascinated by it. She was almost curious to know about her life before becoming a crewmember of the Albadar, but quickly assumed it wasn't an appropriate conversation, and Lillian didn't care to share her story, either. She almost didn't recollect the question she was given.


"Uhmm...." Lillian murmured as she thought. Though she was much more reclusive inside the life support room, she still usually kept to herself outside of work as well, be it reading, writing or doodling, or on rare occasions, roaming around the deck. In fact, she hasn't left the Albadar since she found her way on it. She also considered not having a set hobby, and simply just do what she feels comfortable doing at the moment. She nearly blushed at the idea of telling someone what a boring life she has. "Actually, there isn't one thing in particular that entertains me." She answered in a hesitant manner. She looked slightly away from Phalon and drew her attention to the piece of hair that found its way to free itself from her bun.
 
Syndric only gave Hartwin a wave in response to his greeting but the man supposed it was better than Ruma actually turning away from him. They would have to wait for a few more crew members to make it down to the lock so Hartwin took the time to actually heck his air hoses. It was lucky, as the tubes once again seemed to be out of line, something they always did; it was the result of the worse-for-wear equipment that most of them had.


Syndric’s was probably the worst looking, as Ruma’s wouldn’t be too bad if it actually fit the guy…or whatever he exactly was. With the thought he shook his head to himself and was almost surprise when the person barked a question at him. With a slight twitch of the mouth, “Uh…they’re missing” he noted, losing his normal jovial accent; that is if you could even called it an accent. It was a little bit annoying for the man to jump on him so quick, but Hartwin tried to brush it off.


As if the captain knew of the awkwardness of the conversation, his friend’s voice sounded in his ear and confirmed the crates. Hugo was apparently bringing them over and Jim would be heading down soon too; just like him to help with any job he could. Slightly stretching out, he gave Ruma a pointed stare, “That suit y’fancy?” he noted. Tightening his lips after the comment, he realized how rude it was but didn’t bother apologizing. Adsila entering almost added to the thick atmosphere in the room, almost, but Hartwin kept face, "Ey there, girly...Thanks for the Smooth landin'!" he noted in greeting after Syndric got his wave in.
 
Syndric turned his gaze to the floor and began to think about some of his attempted inventions which filled a crate in the storage hold as well as a stack of crates he kept hidden to the back of the hold where he kept all the scrap and things he collected. Some day he had to go through the contents of those crates and catalogue them or something. It would probably result in him finding some parts he needed for his incomplete pieces of work. He looked around at everyone present before saying "So...who or what else are we waiting for?"
 
"Gunax lbh," Adsila replied to Hartwin. She waved back at Syndric. She had talked to Syndric a couple time more than the others, though Jim was still the one she talked to the most, mostly when she had just joined the ship as the pilot. "I mean, thank you Hartwin. It is not easy landing on asteriods. You see in order not to either slide off it or..." Adsila stopped before she started to talk about how to land. She didn't think anyone really cared.


"Anyways are we going to begin soon?"
 
Syndric does the gesture for "I don't know" in response to Adsila's question. He had assumed Adsila was the only one they were waiting on. Apparently, either the captain, Janus or maybe both might be coming along as well. He says "You can continue if you want. I find it interesting." Syndric liked to listen to others and if anyone ever had problems, they could confide in him. Thing is however that not many members of the crew talked to him at all. Maybe it was because of the amount of silence coming from him and his tendency to communicate in gestures whenever possible. Then again, he was known for being paranoid. Whatever the reason, he wasn't quite sure why and regardless, a conversation would help pass the time. ([MENTION=1872]Legendless[/MENTION] Syndric for this one. Zekeziel is the character in the bounty hunter rp.)
 
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