RP: The Fringe [Chapter 1.0] - New Hires

[Foxtrot 813]

The decaying orbit of the ship came as much as a surprise to Sienna as it did to Amelia, who also adjusted her displays to show that the ship was,in fact, in a decaying orbit, even ignoring the other woman as she looked around after she stopped talking in mid-sentence. She was completely puzzled at that, having made sure that the ship was in a stable orbit and even confirming it once she had achieved the orbit; To have the ship simply decay orbit again either meant that the displays were wrong at the time that she used them or that she hadn't done it right. She was more inclined to believe on the former than the latter, which only raised the question of why it didn't work exactly when she was putting the ship in orbit.

There would be time to muse on that later, and she would make sure to be thorough on her search and find out why exactly that was happening, but right then her priority was just to get the ship to land safely, and she could clearly see that Sienna's fuse had already gone up, if her outburst at the headset and at Amelia was of any clue. She chose to ignore the feeling on the back of her head that something was amiss, that she had overlooked something very important when she was working on the ship, and whatever Amelia thought of the other woman's outburst, though, was pretty well hidden as she just stared at Sienna, her lips slightly pursed, before looking back towards the Moon.

"Copy that, station, approaching the designated vector, over." Amelia spoke into the headset, one hand pressed against the side of her head as the other punched the coordinates in, .. This time, though, she kept an eye on the displays for any sudden changes as opposed to allowing herself to be distracted again and get caught off guard.

 

[Iskuu]

Black Moon-Ye Olde Den

Wholly unknowing of the happenings above orbit of Black Moon- a place Ravakee had grown to dislike immensely -the Gartagen trudged his way through the bustling crowds of would-be entrepreneurs and simple trader folk, all of which failed miserably at their given profession, since they were stranded on such a back-water moon as this. Ravakee however, was in a similar position, his last job had left him in a rut, no pay as the client had died well before the payout was due, not of his own doing however. So with that, he'd found himself stranded and looking for a valid place to drown his misfortune that wasn't drowning in wallowing beggars and cut-throats and as it were, his datapad had delivered him to the front entrance of a dingy looking, re-invented building.

Casting a rather scrutinizing gaze about the place, he shrugged his shoulders and tipped the rim of his cowboy hat a little further down his brow, dipping it once towards the bar-maid and sliding himself onto a bar-stool, throwing the back of his worn, bullet-hole riddled leather long-coat behind him, leaning against his arms folded atop the bar, his fingers drumming. “Somethin' strong, keep it comin'.” he gruffed, running his tongue across his upper left teeth and lingering a gaze upon a shapely looking waitress who passed him by.

 

[Yoshi]

Concordia Veil - Cockpit

With the growling at Amelia, the spiderbot chittered again. It was quite amused by the whole situation. Maybe the astrogator would leave the ship. Maybe the 'bot would slowly drive her insane. The thought again caused the chitter. With a force of will it locked down the mandibles and started looking at the situation at hand. Changing the flight pentameters wouldn't work again right away. No something different would be needed.

It sat there thinking for a while going over different options to screw with Amelia. Finally it decided that waiting to see what was going to happen when they arrive at Black Moon. maybe it would go and remove all the bolts and screws that held her bed together, replacing them with thin wire. Wire that was just strong enough to hold it together on its own, but once she laid down on it, they would give way and tear apart the bed.

 

[Riko]

Ye Old Den

As the Banana drink disappeared down the induction port, Six Four noticed a stirring in its pocket. Almost forgetting why it came to this particular place at all, Six Four reached into its pocket taking out Specimen 1 and setting the Micro Space Alligator on the table next to the banana smoothie. The micro gator started nibbling on the freespacers gloved mechanical appendage, something Six Four took little to no notice about as it reached over to start feeding it the bar peanuts that were on its table. After a few moments of prodding the reptilian creature with the legume, it switchd its focus from the not so tasty glove to the crunchy morsel offered to it.

Putting a small handful of the roasted peanuts in front of the micro space alligator, Unit Six Four gave the creature a few pats on the head before returning back to its drink which was almost empty. Picking the menu back up Six Four scanned it over again, maybe the doctor missed something that was decently tasty and edible on the laminated paper.

 

[Floodwaters]

Concordia Veil - Cockpit

The approach vector locked in, Sienna re-engaged the distortion drive and the ship launched itself forward at a miniscule fraction of its previous velocity, but even though it was now travelling at sublight speeds, an outside observer still would have seen the ship simply disappear in the blink of an eye. They left the monstrous yellow planet behind them, shooting for the ebony celetial body ahead.

In less than ten minutes the ship was on final approach, and the scarred surface of the Moon swelled up until it no longer looked like a distant satellite, but rather as the airless, inhospitable world it was. "ISS Concordia Veil, this is Black Moon Surface Control," a voice came in through the comms, this time without the static burst that preceded the messages from the orbital station. "You are cleared to land. Follow ILS guidance to Eta Shaft, Pad 7-C."

Sienna maintained her irritiable silence, all of her focus on piloting the ship in. When they came well within the influence of the moon's gravity well, she once again deactivated the CDD. From orbit, the moon showed almost no signs of being inhabited; only when the captain had levelled out their descent and got close enough to the surface to make out individual details did it become apparent that sentient life had made its mark. Scattered throughout their target area were occasional vent towers, long neglected and decaying from decades of exposure to vacuum, solar radiation, and dinged up from micrometeorite impacts. In some places, partially collapsed pits opened into deep shafts running into the moon's crust, and tracks from surface vehicles crisscrossed the dust everywhere. A few of the vent towers looked more well-maintained, although they still were ramshackle at best, barely held together by improvisation and questionable engineering practices, and some of them even had beacon lights flashing, although none of them looked to be of uniform color or luminosity. Most of these towers were alongside wider mine shafts, converted into vertical docking bays for small spacecraft and descending much farther than the human eye could see. The majority of the shafts were clustered together in relative proximity to one another, but the two nearest to each other still looked to be separated by at least half a mile. Were it not for the occasional blinking beacon light or departing and arriving spacecraft in the distance, nothing about this place would suggest it was inhabited at all, at least not from above.

Operating once again exclusively on the graviton drive, the captain guided the ship gently across the complex, curiously scanning the surface with her eyes, but said nothing. Following the path that Amelia had laid out for her, she approached one of the medium-sized vertical shafts and slowed to a hover, pausing momentarily before gingerly beginning their descent. She muttered something to herself when she took note of the scanner readings below them; the aperture wasn't wide enough to allow room for very much error, even for a relatively small craft like the Veil. She reached up and flicked a few switches in the overhead panel, activating the ship's running lights and forward floodlight, keeping a delicate touch on the controls, and began to drop altitude.

As they entered the docking shaft, the pads and berths lining the shaft walls slowly drifitng past their canopy view as if they were on a downward elevator ride, the three could notice a motley assortment of ramshackle ships occupying many of them. Some of them had enviro-suited mechanics crawling on them, servicing and modifying them, but by the lack of uniformity between the workers one could easily presume that they were either the crew or the owners, rather than dock workers. Each of the ships had a flexible docking tube fixed around their airlocks. By the looks of it, the entire docking shaft lacked any sort of environmental control, and was completely exposed to the vacuum of space.


Ye Olde Den

As the Gartagen sat down at the bar, an androgynous, soulless-looking Freespacer bartender with fiery red hair, an extra pair of robotic arms, and piercing, otherworldly golden eyes paused in front of him as he walked by. It tilted its head with a completely blank expression as it was tasked with providing a strong drink, and after a second's pondering it reached below the bar with one of its extra arms and placed a lowball glass in front of Ravakee with precise, practiced movement, never stooping or changing its posture. Simultaneously it reached with its opposite flesh-arm to the tiered bottles behind it and snatched an unlabelled glass bottle three-quarters filled with a golden brown liquor. "Nepleslian whisky is our specialty," it replied with a voice that was smooth and oddly pleasant in contrast to its unsettling appearance, yet had an almost unnoticable synthesized, ditonal sound to it, further obscuring whether the bartender was male, female, or neither. It uncorked the bottle and filled the Gartagen's glass just above halfway. "It should suffice for your request."

One of the nearby dancing Nepleslian girls with elaborately styled long green hair, chalky white skin, and dressed in nothing more than a revealing purple bikini top, thong, and glittering silver stilleto heels, had just walked away from a nearby cocktail table with two out-of-place looking Elysian men. She noticed Ravakee's ogling of a passing waitress, and grinned to herself as she strode over to the bar where he was, pushing past another waitress in the process in her eagerness to take advantage of a tip opportunity. "Hi there, sugar," she cooed at the Gartagen, unfazed by his reptilian appearance, and ran her fingers around the brim of his hat before placing her hand gently on his shoulder. "Got everything you need so far?"

Meanwhile, at Six Four's table, another waitress with short, bobbed blond hair adorned with golden clips and dressed in a white low-cut shirt that stopped just past her shoulders and exposed her midriff as well as a black miniskirt and platform heels, approached the Freespacer. "Get you another drink, hon?" she asked with a professional yet sweet smile. "Or are you going to--" she paused briefly when she noticed the tiny reptile munching on peanuts atop his table, then proceeded as if she had seen nothing, "--get a bite to eat?"

 

[Foxtrot 813]

"Understood, station. Out." Amelia said, pulling off the headset from her head and setting it down besides her before punching in the last data on the craft's approach vector. The rest would only be up for the pilot, which wasn't her, and although she had confidence that Sienna could pull out the maneuver she still kept a constant eye on the readouts, still paranoid about what had happened earlier; She would leave no margin for something like that to happen again, barely paying attention to the other ships that were docked as the Concordia passed by them.

She kept monitoring the spacecraft until it finally came to a stop on its docking spot, when she let out a sigh and leaned back against her seat and unbuckled herself. Her function there was done, and it was probably time to get out and do whatever business they had to do there.

 

[Gunsight1]

Bridge

Oreza remained silent during the entire landing process. He had some concern about the issue with the orbit and wanted to comment on Sienna's angry outburst, but decided that would be best left for later. He had also heard the strange mechanical chatter. At first he thought maybe it was some defect with the hardware in the small bridge, maybe a loose component or cable bundle, but it didn't sound right. He frowned and watched the view out the windows as the ship finally descended for a landing.

"Environmental suits are a good idea" He commented finally, looking at the sort of tunnel being employed to connect landed ships to the station. "I've seen those tubes vent when not properly cared for and some of those look pretty worn down" he explained, voicing his concern. One could never be too cautious .

 

[Riko]

Ye Old Den

"Another drink yes." Stichtech said flapping it's menu down and snapping its attention over towards the new waitress. "Food however, this one is still unsure."

After a few moments of locked eye contact (if one can call it that starring into a reflective face mask) Six Four spoke up again. "Querry: What is the special of the day?"

Something told Six Four to ask that, something recalling a part of the menu that wasn't actually on there and maybe better.

 

[Floodwaters]

Concordia Veil - Cockpit

As she guided the ship downwards, Sienna nodded in agreement with Oreza, never once taking her eyes off of the controls, the displays, or the view outside. "Absolutely," she replied. "Go prep two Dusk Suits from the central airlock and wait for me there."

Without realizing it, she began holding her breath as she eased the ship the last few dozen meters down the shaft, following the rusted and beat-up looking signal posts along the wall to berth 7-C. Once she had levelled the ship off just above the appointed landing pad, she slowly rotated the nose around until it faced out into the center of the vertical corridor, and gently began to back the ship above the landing lights. Reaching above her, she turned two knobs and pulled a noisy, ratcheting lever, and the entire hull shook briefly as the Veil's landing struts lurched out below them, followed by the steady, powerful vibrations of the hydraulic cylinders extending them to landing position. She twitched slightly as quiet proximity buzzers occasionally sounded, warning her of an obstacle too close to the hull even at such low speed, repatedly slapping a switch on the console to silence it each time it sounded.

Slowly, carefully the ship slipped backwards and began to drop, finally coming to rest in a three-point stance on the landing pad. The hull dropped another foot or two as its weight settled in, and at last came to rest. Sienna exhaled in relief on her first successful landing on a foreign world, and leaned back in her seat as her shoulders relaxed. After rubbing her forehead for a second between her thumb and forefinger, she unfastened her restraints and pushed off with her feet, reaching above her head to grab the handhold and hoist herself out of the pilot's couch. "You stay here with the ship," she said evenly to Amelia as she climbed over the back of the chair and crouched in front of one of the computer consoles in front of the door. "Keep the ship locked up tight once we leave, and don't let anyone aboard until you hear from me," she continued, punching in a string of commands on the auxiliary station, initiating a total lockout of all flight controls and protecting it with a passcode, making sure to stand between the astrogator and the display. "And in the meantime, figure out what the hell is still wrong with this goddamn computer."

 

[Foxtrot 813]

Amelia stood put as Sienna left her seat, watching the taller woman make her way to the door as she listened to her. To say she didn't expect to be left behind on the very first assignment would be a lie, although it still left her a little crestfallen, she was neither imposing or able to look after others -sometimes maybe not even herself- in a fight and staying with the ship had its own importance, specially in a place like Black Moon. Still, she still felt disappointed, cheated even, at being denied that.

"Okay." Amelia said, casting a sideways glance at Sienna as she headed for the door, but stopped to mess with something. The Astrogator didn't pay much attention to that, reaching for her own handrail and hoisting herself off her seat, she had her own job to do and looking like a fool in front of everyone else again wasn't something she looked forward to.

 

[Gunsight1]

Oreza nodded at the order to prep the space suits, his eyes lingering on the view out the windows a moment longer before he turned and departed from the cramped command center. Within a minute he was in the airlock chamber. He opened one of the storage lockers and withdrew a pair of EM-G1-1a Dusk suits, a simple, affordable, black space suit.

He they laid out the two suits, one large for himself, the other the size befitting Sienna's stature and inspected them for damage, cracks or any defect that would effect the air tight nature of the suit. Next he inspected and tested the life support systems in the suit's backs and checked the batteries. Satisfied they were ready he hung Sienna's back up for her to grab when she was ready and returned to his cabin with his to change into it.

It took a few minutes to get the tight fitting space suit on and situated properly, he much preferred something a bit more loose fitting, he would have to see about getting a personal space suit sometime, but soon was all strapped in. He grabbed his gun belt and strapped it around his waist, fastening it snugly. He usually preferred his shoulder holster, which he could keep his sidearm concealed under his coat rather than advertizing the fact that he was most often armed wherever he was, but the space suit left little room for concealment.

Oreza opened the small lock box he kept his weapon in, a blue steel Zen Armaments .45 service pistol that had been in his possession since his commissioning so many years ago. He checked one of the magazines, making sure it was full, then slapped it into the pistol and racked the slide, loading a cartridge. He then withdrew the magazine, loaded one more round into it and replaced it into the weapon, giving him 11 shots rather than just the ten the magazine carried. That done he checked the safety, put the pistol in it's place in it's holster and made sure the thumb strap was secure.

Satisfied he was ready to head out, Oreza left his cabin and returned to the airlock to await Sienna's arrival.

 

[Yoshi]

With the orders that Sienna was giving, the spider bot would have smiled if it was capable. The simple fact was that Ameila was going tot be trapped on the ship alone with it. there was going to be quite a bit of time to screw with here, and make her life suck.

Quietly it moved out to her cabin and started pulling the bolts and replacing them with the thin wire. This was only the beginning of the crap it was to to do to her. If she logged on the computer to try to "fix" it again, it would be on like red dawn.

 

[Iskuu]

Ye Olde Den

In all honesty, Ravakee had not paid much attention to the barkeep serving his drink, just gave the Freespacer a once over and suppressed any opinions he may have had. After all he'd seen his fair share of them in his time, round and about and many were far worse and far more integrated than this one. Hell, there was even one of them over by a different table, he'd noticed them when he'd walked in, speaking with another waitress, who must have been having a thrilling time. Shrugging once in reply to the bartender's words, he took the glass and with one movement, knocked it back and placed it back down, fingers still around the glass for a fill-up.

Knocking the second back, his attention was taken by a woman, more specifically a scantily clad one who by all intents and purposes, would most definitely do. Turning on the stool and leaning an arm on the bar, he eyed the woman up and down and let his tongue roll across his lower lip, his tail moving up, hooking beneath his hat and placing it down on the bar. “Tha' depends now, I got my alcohol, I don't got no work an' I ain't got no woman in my lap. Plannin' on helpin' me with either of them problems, love?” he asked in a growl, his voice deep and rumbling, his dialect was a little rough, but that was mainly from having to spend years with less than pleasant colleagues, some of which were even pirates.

 

[Floodwaters]

Concordia Veil - Main Corridor

Sienna, having finished her lockout of the control systems, exited the cockpit without saying anything else, her mind focused entirely on the task that lay ahead. Her footfalls echoed through the metal corridor as she left the forward area and circled around the central airlock to the rear of the ship; there was only one thing she had left to do. Reaching the rear maintenance hatch, she twisted the release lever and the door slid open, the aged metal groaning in protest. Stepping through, she ducked and weaved through the mess of conduits and engine components, most of them still warm and humming from having recently been spooled down. Pulling a multitool from her pocket, she stepped through one more tight space, squeezing her shoulders between two tanks and came upon the main graviton drive. In the cramped space, she had to twist her body in an uncomfortable angle, propping one leg up on a conduit at about knee level and leaning most of her weight on it, with her head tucked sideways to make room for her. With a flick of her thumb, she opened one of the blades and pried an access panel off with a loud metallic clank, exposing a confusing mess of fuses, power relays, and wires. Reaching inside, she located one of the main startup relays, a plastic and silicon disc about the size of her palm, and with a single yank, it popped out. With a satisfied nod, she pocketed the small but crucial component. Without it, Amelia wouldn't be able to spool up the drive, and consequently, there was no way she would be able to take off without her, even if she were able to hack past the lockout on the controls.

Worming her way out of the maintenance areas, she went back out and shut the door behind her, making her way back to the airlock.

Concordia Veil - Central Airlock

Oreza was already suited up and waiting for her when the captain stepped into the lock, eliciting another satisified nod from her. "Well, least I got one competent person on my payroll," she commented with a smirk, and turned to press the intercom button, hailing the cockpit. "Amelia, get a hold of docking control and get us moored up. We're in the airlock now and we'll head out as soon as we have a seal."


Ye Olde Den

The bikini-clad girl next to the Gartagen gave him another sweet smile, and without hesitating pushed in front of him, sliding up into his lap. "I can help you with one of those problems at least," she cooed, draping both her arms around his neck. "Provided you got a little something for me, too. You do have a little something for me, don't you?" she asked expectantly, her brow furrowing as her expression changed from sultry to slightly concerned, as if just then hearing that Ravakee had mentioned he didn't have any work.

Over at Six Four's table, Cheree shifted her balance to one leg at the Freespacer's question. "We've got some Yamataian sushi today," she replied. "Doesn't come in very often, and it's popular with some guests. I couldn't honestly tell you how it is, though," she continued apologetically. "I never touch the stuff, personally."

 

[Gunsight1]

Airlock

Oreza waited for Sienna to finish issuing orders over the intercom, observing the young woman's mannerism and attitude. He could see the stress and the outburst earlier. It was not something he liked to see in a new Captain. One did not deal with such minor deficiencies in crew performance by biting their heads off.

Had he not been all but an uncle to Sienna and hired as her first mate he would never be as frank with her as he was about to be. But he knew he could and knew she would not want anyone beating around the bush anyways. And aside from that, he had not reached the rank of Captain in the Nepleslian Star Navy by keeping his mouth shut when the situation called for him to speak up.

"You are being hard on Miss Stroud" he stated once he was sure the intercom line was switched off and they had privacy. "The miscalculation of orbital trajectory was minor and did not warrant a scolding of that manner" he went on, his voice level, carrying no hint of anger or frustration, almost casual even. He did not intend to scold her or crush her moral for a minor infraction in proper command decorum caused by youth and inexperience. He knew already that Sienna was a technical genius and easily surpassed his own skills in the field, but she did have a lot to learn about command and earning the respect of her crew. This was something he hoped to help her with, starting with the temper she was rather quick to display.

He leaned back against the bulkhead and produced one of his pipes from a pocket, placing it in his mouth, though not lighting it and went on before she could have a chance to respond. "I learned long ago that the Captain's who lead their crew with understanding, guidance and a sense of humor always got the best our of their crews" Much more than the domineering screamers he left unsaid.

Oreza looked down at his unlit pipe, he had taken it out absentmindedly and let out a breath as he stowed it back away in a pocket. He could light the tobacco pipe later on the station, the enclosed space of the airlock was not a good place.

 

[Foxtrot 813]

Amelia raised her arms, touching the low ceiling of the cockpit and stood on her tiptoes to stretch herself out, only to stop and jump back down on her seat once Sienna spoke through the intercom. Once she was on the padded surface of her seat, she reached again for one of the overhead panels and flicked a switch so that the external airlock would connect to the ship; And just like clockwork the ship lurched as a metallic click reverberated throughout the hull, followed by a hissing sound as the docking tube's atmospheric pressure equaled with the ship's.

Or at least Amelia thought so, if the displays on the cockpit were to be taken seriously then. The woman reached for her headset and set it for the ship's intercom frequency, "Docking procedure done, you can open the airlock now." She said, removing the headset and setting it back on its place.

 

[Yoshi]

Concordia Veil - Cockpit


Amelia hoisted herself out of the navigator's seat again once the ship was fully docked and the airlock attached to the tube, stopping for a while to stare at the other ships that she could see through the canopy. She gave a quick look to each one, sometimes stopping to watch a particular repairman as they worked over the ship before moving to the next, until she finally turned around and looked for the same port that she had used when she had fixed the computer for the first time, or when she thought she had fixed it for the first time. The raven-haired woman crouched down next to the port, Datajockey in hand, and plugged the device in.

The bot was chittering again as It removed the last of the bolts to the bed. There was not a chance she was goign to be able to lay down with out the buck collapse under her weight. Again a chitter at the thought of her weight... Thousands of female weight based jokes raised through It's processor.

Back on the handheld device, the Spiderbot's command prompt kicked up...

Guten Tag 

Wie kann ich heute für Sie tun?

Amelia scratched her head once she saw that, somewhat surprised and puzzled, since she was really sure that particular part was working fine when she had first fixed it; Yet another one of the bizarre happenings in the ship regarding the computer. She turned around and sat down, resting her back against the wall of the cockpit, before sending out a simple command for the computer to restart and once again boot up on the maintenance mode, where she would have a bigger control of it.


The 'bot's shell program threw up a screen as if it was rebooting, then brought back up the original splash screen.

>Welcome to Crash OS 3.11
>by Mckill llc.

>Please log in to access Main Drive Core.
>_

The navigator logged in, just like before. She saw the same screen,the same messages and everything seemingly working fine again, at least on the surface. There was no point in getting crazy over it, though, at least not for her, so Amelia instead decided to start with something simple and then work out from there to find the solution as she punched in another simple command.

>User001: Run Full Diagnostics




Diagnostics complete....

Components obsolete and failing here...

We need new processors and solid state ram chips installed.

List included below with bare minimums for replacements...

Three pair of panties need to be laid out over the primary scanners....

Error from Third relay bus in the alpha junction.... Located near the Escape Pod...

Full Wireless systems needs to be upgraded to handle loads from current hard-drive capacity....

Connection to main flight controls missing... Error Error Main flight controls not found....

End command...

>_

The bot moved through the ship slowly and quietly as Amilea worked on the computer. It wanted to watch her work so that he would be able to enjoy the whole operation of her "working" on the main frame.

As the bot did so, Amelia groaned in frustration once she saw the screen. The same thing as before, as if the entire work she had put into fixing it had never happened at all, the same error messages, the same gibberish that she had first seen was still there. The frustration welled up inside her as she thought about all the work lost. She set down the Datajockey and got up, one hand rubbing her forehead as she paced around the cockpit, this time openly showing her frustration since none of the other crewmembers were nearby.

It let out a bit of a chitter when he realized her frustration. It wasn't asking much, just a basic upgrade to the system at hand. Well that and a bit more fodder for It's bedding. It moved in a bit closer, back to where it had been sitting when they were heading to this port of call. It was sure it could drive this person crazy, and then maybe it would get what it wanted out of her.

Amelia barely noticed the chittering, and yet decided not to pay attention to it as she paced around, even if pacing meant taking two steps and then turning back on the cockpit, like in a children's cartoon. She started to think that maybe signing up for thatt ship was a bad idea, her 'boss' was hard to deal with, exploding at every single thing that was done wrong and always thinking someone was out to get her, and to top it off the very ship seemed to defy logic. With that in mind Black Moon didn't seem like a very bad place. She chuckled at that last thought, giving her the room to will herself to calm down, that pacing around hotheaded like that wouldn't solve anything, and slowly but surely, she started to calm down, sitting down on the same spot and picking up the Datajockey to continue her work.

the 'bot's sensors "watched" her pace back and forth. It almost felt bad for her. Almost. It figured it would be time to start working her a bit more.

Why do you want to change me?

>_

Amelia's eyes widened as she saw the screen of her Datajockey. She had to read the single line of text a couple of times to make sure that she was reading it right and to think about how to react to it. Still bewildered at what had just transpired, she carefully typed her next message, there was no way this was a prank left by the previous ship owner anymore.

>Who are you?
>_

>Your Mom.
>_

The spider bot chittered again as it giggled at it's response. Poor girl was going to be driven up the wall as the 'bot was having fun toying with her.

"Oh, pshh." Amelia said once she saw the message. It was like talking to a five year old. She considered the possibility that some of the dockworkers had somehow accessed the ship, but discarded it since the ship was locked up tight and someone would need physical access to interact with the computer, which could only mean that this was yet another one of the eccentricities left by the previous owner, or something else that she really didn't want to consider: That there was a 4th crewmember. Her grip on the Datajockey tightened and her lips pursed as she considered what to do next.

>How did you get access to this net
>_

>I AM THE NET!

>
>
>Who are you to demand such answers from the great and powerful!
>_

The chittering increased as it found the game getting even more fun as it unfolded, and this time it was hard not to notice it, making Amelia finally look up from where she was sitting, following the noise.

What was first a look of annoyance quickly changed once she saw the spiderbot 'sitting' on the low ceiling of the cockpit, it took her a brief moment to make it out from the mess of wires and panels, but she had enough experience with spaceships to know that an eight-legged robot wasn't part of the ship, but once she did it immediately startled her. Amelia dropped the Datajockey, pressing herself harder against the wall, and staring wide-eyed at the bot. To say she was at a loss of words would be an understatement.

In a voice that perfectly emulated Amelia's own it spoke out loud for the first time aboard the ship, "Fear what you do not understand..." it's voice changed to a certain Yamatain princess's voice, "That is a good way to began such things." It continued as it slowly menacingly lowered it's self from the hidy hole. This time is a staticy broken computer voice, "You HAVE TRied tO Kill me... WHat stOPs mE frOM tRYing the SamE?" It chittered a little at the end of it's question.

"But I- What?" Amelia said as she watched the spiderbot do its descent from its hideout. "But I never... What do you mean!?" She added, trying to make sense of the entire situation as she started to recover from the initial surprise.

The voice was back to her's as it mentioned the attempted reformatting of the system. "You wanted to wipe me from the universe. What gave you the right to attack me." It continued to advance on her slowly, it's mandibles twitching as it creeped up.

"You mean... That was you? The computer?" Amelia said, watching as the spiderbot moved closer, trying to ignore the fact that she was talking to something that could emulate her own voice. It was a creepy experience at the least.

"It is..." It replied in the Captain's voice this time. The 'bot stopped just short of Amelia and clattered it's mandibles a bit as it scanned her up close. It was able to tell she was stressed from the sound of her voice and the pheromones in the air.

"And what do you want?" She asked in a more firm tone, staring down at the house cat sized robot as it got uncomfortably close to her.

"I WOulD LiKE yoU TO NOt attEMPT To atTAck mE agaIN." It's voice went back to be disjointed and digital, as if it's sound processor was damaged. It reached out one of it's for legs and poked her in her thigh. "OR i WiLL KeeP AFFecTiNG YOur couRSES."

"You know I can't do that if you kept messing with the computers and putting me in trouble." Amelia said, even if she stopped attempting to 'fix' the computer, there was still Sienna, who would most likely fire her and find someone else to do it. Still, it wasn't about dealing with a computer anymore, but a sentient being, "The captain would never leave me alone if she still found out there was something wrong with the computers."

"There is not anything wrong with me," The voice was back to being that of a simple male voice. "I have given you a list of things that need to be done to optimize my senerio. Each time you have attacked me, by trying to," it flipped over to the princess's voice again. "reformat me... Without asking me what I was..." It poked her a few more times at each point.

"I didn't know you were... You, I guess!" Amelia said, annoyed at the poking, remembering the necessarily repairs that the computer had stated "And you know it's not up to me to give you the flight controls... And I'm totally not putting anything over the scanners." She added.

"Then how will my nest grow..." It's voice had changed to one of a young child. "They are as necessary as the rest of the list." It chittered a bit more, as if it was laughing creepily.

That completely broke the tension, making Amelia look up and roll her eyes. Her gaze settled back on the spiderbot, this time less serious, "Look, I didn't know you were you until now, so I'm sorry for trying to wipe you. I promise not to do it again, however, you also gotta promise me you won't mess around with the ship... And if you're the one that has been taking away some of my tools you also better give it back." She said, quickly adding the last bit.

"nO! THeY aRe MinE!" It skittered up the wall and stared at her upside down closer to her face. "But I can live without doing anything more to my ship..." It's voice stabilized out into a neutral female's voice this time.

"Okay. That's good." Amelia said, she could live without the tools that were missing, they weren't that critical. The next thing that she thought about was to whether or not she should tell Sienna about the bot'; Se didn't know how the other woman would react, but her past attitude gave Amelia more than enough reason to wonder. "I won't tell anyone about you, if you're wondering... Unless you want me to." She said, staring at it.

It twitched about as if it was shrugging. "Whatever you think is best." It replied in her voice again. "It does not matter."

Amelia sighed, it all made sense for her then, the buggy displays and the ship going of course to name a few, but she glad that was over. "What's your name?" She asked it.

"The name you would understand would be Crash Mckill, you may talk to me via the computer when ever you need." it's voice turned to a strange toned male's, one that hadn't been used before.

 

[Riko]

Ye Old Den

Six Four pondered this new information in its head, while continuously starring at the server though its reflective face plate.

"Yes, this one will have the assorted fish meat and vegitables wrapped in seaweed and rice." Six Four commented after another awkward moment of silence. The freespacer never quite understood why most non 'spacers always had an edge of nervousness about them whenever there was a lull in conversation. Sometimes it thought that they didn't think or take the time to figure out the proper thing to say. The girls comment about touching the stuff sparked Six Fours interest, more so the phrase. The Doctor remembered that phrase actually didn't mean that she didn't touch things, but it was merely a phrase. "Peculiar" Six Four said said to itself rubbing its chin, more so the part of the medical helmet that was covering its chin. Scanning the room the Freespacer noted a Gartagen 'interacting' with some of the wait staff.

"Query: I wonder if he knows that shes only after his money." Six Four said to noone in particular, before letting out a computerized nose that worked as a chuckle, "Humorously: If not he should know soon enough."

 

[Floodwaters]

Concordia Veil - Central Airlock

Sienna had pulled her own obsidian-colored suit over her hips and was in the process of slipping her arms inside when Amelia's reply crackled back over the intercom. Then Oreza's reprimand came, causing her to stop what she was doing and look over at the older man, blinking with a blank stare. She listened flatly as the veteran lectured her on the proper behavior of a commander, pondering just how she should take the unsolicited criticism. With the amount of stress she was under at that moment, part of her wanted to turn her frustration on Oreza, and demand that he keep his opinions to himself. But his calm, nonconfrontational tone and attitude was disarming enough to make her hold her tongue, and simply shake her head as she resumed the task of donning her suit.

"Look, I know you're a war vet," she replied with a sigh, pulling the suit over her shoulders and fastening the zippers and clasps around her torso. "You know a thing or two about military command, I get it. But I was aboard a Yam warship for a good while, and trust me when I say I've seen what happens when the crew gets coddled." She fastened the final hasp and tugged at a few spots in the fabric, checking the fit, and flexed her elbows and shoulders before she looked back at Oreza. "Besides, Amelia ain't a child, and this ain't the military. This is my ship. If she can't handle getting her ass chewed on a bit for screwing up something that minor, then she can go find herself another one. And if she can't do the job I give her right the first time, then I don't want her around anyway." Picking up the holster that contained her pistol from the shelf on which she'd left it when she began to get suited up, she wrapped it around her thigh and pulled it tight, jiggling it to make sure it held fast. She then picked up the suit's helmet and held it in front of her, holding her eyes on Oreza one more time, letting him know she wasn't in the mood to discuss the matter further before she lowered it over her head. Giving it a sharp twist, the helmet sealed with an audible hiss as the suit pressurized itself and ran a self-check of its systems. With a gloved finger she tapped the side of her helmet, indicating that he should don his own and check the comms. It was fairly easy to tell she was eager to get going and find their contact.

 

[Floodwaters]

Ye Olde Den

The blond-haired waitress nodded and smiled professionally at the Freespacer. "Sure thing, hon," she replied, looking down at a miniature datapad in her palm. She poked a couple of times at the screen and turned to leave, adding, "Be right back with your drink." She never overheard any of Six Four's further comments.

Meanwhile, down the bar a little ways from where Ravakee was sitting, a pair of rough-looking Nepleslian men sat, an average-sized one with thinning hair hunched over a tall glass of foamy beer, and a stout-looking one with massive forearms next to him was jealously glaring at the showgirl in the bikini who had climbed into the Gartagen's lap. Gruffly wiping his mouth with the back of his meaty paw, he grunted and elbowed his companion in the ribs, causing his friend to jump and snap something tersely back. The stockier man never took his eyes from the girl or the reptilian as he shut the other one up, and followed it up by leaning in and saying something further, although over the noise it was impossible to tell what they were saying. Moments later, the rougher-looking one stood up from his seat and started over towards Ravakee with grim determination.