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RP: The Fringe [Chapter 1.0] - New Hires

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Floodwaters

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Halna System - Approaching Halna I

Concordia Veil - Cabin 1

A quiet tone sounded in Sienna's cabin, rousing her from her light sleep. A monotone, heavily digitized voice spoke in a broken, arrhythmic pattern through the tinny-sounding intercom speaker set in the wall by the door, "Approaching set destination. Continuum distortion drive... Will disengage in... Thirty minutes."

Not bothering to stifle her yawn, the young woman sat up in her still-made bottom bunk, still fully clothed and on top of the blankets. She took a moment to look around her for what must have been the hundredth time, smiling to herself in satisfaction yet again. The cabin was small and sparsely decorated, its bare metal and spartan furniture more likened to a miner's berth or even a low-sec prison cell than a domicile, but it was all hers. She had never been able to make that claim, and it felt incredible to be able to now. Swinging her legs to the floor, she rose to her feet and took a few steps away from the bed to the desk on the opposite wall, picking up the PHC which sat on an induction pad atop its surface. She fixed it to her wrist, checked that it was charged, and turned to move to the cabin door.

Scratching the back of her head and ruffling her hair to work away her bed-head, she pushed the blinking light on the intercom panel. "Alert the others," she replied to the computerized voice, holding the button down. "Tell Amelia to meet me in the cockpit, and get Oreza to prep the suits and gather some ammo." Releasing the button, she yanked the hatch's release handle, letting the door whoosh open, and stepped out into the common area. She glanced to her right towards the galley hatch, but after a moment's hesitation, decided she wasn't hungry; there might be time for a meal once they were safely landed on the Black Moon and their business was taken care of. For now, however, there was work to be done.

Walking past the small couch and vidscreen, she opened the door from the crew quarters and headed out into the main corridor, her boots clanking on the metal floor as she made her way to the cockpit.
 
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The quiet humming and vibration from the engine was like a lullaby for Amelia, being in a spaceship made her feel more at home than when she was in the Amatsu-Nova station, and it had been a very long time since she had slept so soundly like she had once all the preparations were done and the ship was on its way. She slowly raised from the top of the bunk, looking around the plain cabin; Already some of her belongings were decorating the room. The raven-haired woman rubbed her eyes, still recovering from the drowsiness, when she noticed the beeping on the room's intercom and jumped off the bunk as she started to remember where they were going and what she was supposed to be doing.

As her mind slowly sprung to motion, gradually going faster, she started to get prepped, putting on her Dusk Suit before getting dressed in her much regular attire. She fished the rest of her gear from the footlocker next to the bed, pulling out a black Styrling Everyday vest and her holstered gun, if anything she had read on the Black Moon was true, that was the least she would need there, and while she wasn't expecting or wanting to shoot anyone. She thought about the coercion of walking armed and protected would keep most of the people from thinking about doing the same to her as she vest on, clasping it in place, feeling the weight from the durandium plates wanting to pull her down once the vest was fit, and then securing the pistol holster to her left leg. Lastly, as if it was something that she just remembered, grabbed the black rigger belt which contained, among other things, her Datajockey, then got out of there.

Ten minutes after the intercom had woken her up, Amelia was on the cockpit, half-leaning past the open door and using her free arm to support herself on against the wall besides it, while the other held a mug of coffee. "What's up?" She asked Sienna casually as she looked into the cockpit, while looking more like a mercenary when compared to the taller woman. If some places were just as bad as Funky City or Kennewes, Black Moon seemed to be like such a place, so every bit of caution counted.
 
Black Moon
The doctor turned on the sink to wash the blood off of its hands,the metallic sheen quickly getting covered with a crimson wash as the water cascaded over the surgeons hands. It was just an average day for Unit 64, the surgeon was merely cleaning its hands after a routine surgery. After being stranded here by the last ship the freespacer was working on Six Four had found her (or as she prefered its) way to one of the local medical offices and was nearly instantly employed, the additional staff was nice especially with the amount of injuries a pirate station usually had.

"I think that's the last one for your shift today." A whispy high pitched voice said behind Six Four, "Your free to go."

Six four said nothing as it finished cycling though the medical instruments that it had used during the last hour, cleaning each one before finally coming back to the standard hand function at the end of its arm. Six Four didn't really like Veronica, she had no real function aside from telling people that they could see a doctor or the occasional form or two of paperwork. Six Four had given her a name, bimbo, but that apparently didn't fly to well with Veronica or the boss who told Six Four that she was here to 'increase business'. Six four didn't really care though, it was illogical and was curious as to how Veronica fit into her nurses outfit without it exploding from the pressure of her frame and, as Six Four called them, Sexual Assets or yet alone breathe.

"Noted, this one will leave momentarily" Six Four said though its medical helmet with a computerized monotone. "Query: Does Six Four receive payment for its services today?"

Veronica flinched as Six Four snapped around as it spoke, she never could get used to the fact that she never saw its face, only her own reflection in the tinted visor that ran vertically across its face. "Y-yes," She managed to stammer out before handing over an envelope filled with handful of bills. "Have fun...doing what ever you do with that."

"Mildly Sarcastic: Oh I will, seeing as this place is full of fun things to do." Six four said as it put on its protective black gloves before grabbing the envelope and tucking it into its lab coat. Out habbit six four grabbed its ingtris flamethrower from the corner of the office, slinging it over its shoulder before exiting the medical facility.

Once outside the freespacer didn't really know what to do with it's self, with the limited number of things that it wanted to participate in, Six four was perplexed. Part of Six Four wanted to just go home and sleep so it could just continue its 77.32 repeating of course percent repeating day. Another part wanted to go to the local bookstore that was on the other end of the station before it was burnt to the ground in a riot or some illogical beings attempt to prove how much testosterone it had. A stirring in Six Fours pocket brought a better course of action to its mind.

"Querry: Specimen One do you require feeding?"

It said to its pocket as a small reptillan head poked out.

"Self Qestioning: Why am I talking to you? You lack the higher thought process of understanding this one. Note: Run diagnostics on Unit Six Four to check for bugs in the system or other brain crazies."

Shaking the notion off of itself, Six Four started to make its way towards the closest eating and drinking establishment, the Ye Olde Den. Specimen One did enjoy the complimentary peanuts that the bar offered and Six Four could get one of its favorite drinks there, not to mention converse with a fellow freespacer.
 
Concordia Veil - Cockpit

Having only just squeezed down into the pilot's chair moments before, Sienna didn't bother to look back when she heard Amelia's voice as she pulled the various swiveling panels and flight controls over her thighs and around her waist. Through the canopy, the shimmering blue veil of the warp field enveloping the ship wavered and fluttered against the black tapestry of space, defying the laws of classical physics as it ripped the ship across the void at unfathomable speeds towards the planetary system dead ahead. Off towards the starboard, nearly obscured by the ship's nose alongside the cockpit, the brilliant white star of the Halna system was visible and slowly but steadily growing in size as they drew closer with each passing moment.

Pulling a pencil-thin headset from the console, she fixed it to her ear and adjusted the tiny microphone along her cheek. "Come down and strap in," she said to Amelia, still keeping her eyes ahead as she flipped switches and tapped on displays, preparing herself to take over control of the ship when the CDD disengaged. "We're in-system now, and I need you to hail the Black Moon colony and see about getting us landing clearance." She wrinkled her nose as a mildly plaintive red indicator flashed slowly on one of the displays, which she dismissed with a flick of her finger. "And see if you can pin down why this damn computer is still throwing a power fault flag."
 
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Concordia Veil - Cockpit

"Again?" Amelia said, seemingly unfazed by the impersonal attitude from Sienna, as she thought the measures she had taken to fix the computer, eventually ruling out that the hardware was just old and that the formatting and re-configurations that she had done were just a temporary measure; It was as if the very computer was fighting against it, as crazy as that sounded. She set the warm mug somewhere near the navigator's seat and eased herself onto the padded surface of her station with a 'thump' when the durandium plate and the rest from her vest and the rest of her gear came down due to the inertia.

The raven-haired woman fished her own headset from the side, putting it on and adjusting the microphone, as she tapped the other screens and displays with her other hand. She switched to an 'open' frequency to hail the Black Moon. "Black Moon, this is the ISS Concordial Veil requesting authorization to land and a landing vector, over." Amelia said, one finger pressed against the headset while she stared at the bright white star of the Halna system.
 
It had crept in to the ceiling of the cockpit the two were sitting in. The 'bot's visual sensors read the view out the view port, seeing it in colors and spectrum that the human eye just could not perceive. It always awed the core program, even in it's last life. It's feed from the main computer kept it up to date on the power faults. It was a simple matter or the power flow valves, but if the Blond fleshy wanted the Jerk on to deal with it then The 'bot wasn't going to lift a mandible to help it.

It was quite interested in the fact that these being had not only invaded it's home but now kidnapped it and was traveling about. And they never asked It what It wanted out of the deal. Maybe after the Blond settled down for it's recharge cycle the 'bot would skitter into her cabin and speak to her. That or just use the screens again to try to make contact. But then there would be a chance that the Jerk would attack It again.
 
Concordia Veil

Of course Oreza was already awake. He always woke early and had gone to the galley at 0500 ships time to make coffee. It was good to be back aboard a ship and out in the depths of space. He had missed it and could feel the old comfortable feelings come back. Oreza inhaled deeply once his coffee was ready. He fixed himself a mug, the vessel bearing the name and seal of the last ship he had commanded in thee Navy, leaving plenty for any others who might want it. He took a long sip of the strong black drink. He made it navy style, brewed extra strong with a pinch of salt.

So equipped with his caffeinated drink, Oreza made his rounds through the ships spaces, mug in hand, making sure all was well. By the time he was finished with that and had come full circle to the galley again, he refilled his mug, then headed to the cargo bay to carry on with his work from the day before. It was about then Sienna's call came in to prep space suits and ammunition for the upcoming landing. The Nepleslian man smiled. It had been a long time since he had been the one taking orders aboard ship. He had been master of his own ship in one way or another for nearly two decades and it would take some time to get used to not being the one giving the orders. But he would have to, Concordia Veil was not his ship and he was not her captain. How things changed.

"Aye skipper, everything will be set by the time we set down" he replied via a wall mounted intercom box.
 
Concordia Veil - Cockpit

Amelia's hail went unanswered at first as the ship streaked towards the planetary system ahead, the Halna star continuing to very slowly increase in size as they approached. Sienna continued to run diagnostics and monitor the flight control systems, watching the computer readouts like a hawk for any sign of a hiccup in the autopilot. As the navigator continued to try to raise the Black Moon on the open channel, Sienna frowned slightly and looked over at Amelia with a quizzical expression. Other than the thrum of the FTL engines, only silence answered her repeated hails.

Just an instant before Sienna opened her mouth, as if she intended to yell across the blackness of space to get someone's attention, static suddenly erupted over the channel, the sudden blast of sound from their earpieces catching both of them off-guard. The ship's captain jumped visibly, then balled up her fists and swore under her breath.

"ISS Concordia Veil, this is Freethinker Station," a husky, out of breath, but otherwise bored-sounding male voice came back once the static died down, although it was still plagued with interference. "We're tracking you on the far side of the system. Be advised that planetary traffic is heavy. Weapons fire will not be tolerated here, so power down your guns and open your ILS channel. We'll send you approach vectors when we get to it."

There was a staticky click, and then silence. Sienna raised an eyebrow, but still maintained her slight frown on the rest of her face as she glanced Amelia's direction again. "Friendly sort, wasn't he?" she quipped.


Ye Olde Den

The decommissioned energy generator station turned watering hole was old. Ancient, even, by some standards, but it appeared to have aged well, thanks mostly to the regular flow of patrons that frequented it, their purse strings loosened by the dozens of dancing women scattered throughout the place. Most of them were humanoid, Nepleslian or otherwise, although there were a few of various other alien species, all of them dressed in whatever attire that was garishly appealing to the males of their race. The furniture was sleek, polished metal accented with rich wood and brass, starkly contrasting with the obsidian black hewn walls that towered high up to the ceiling. Disused machinery from an industry long since vanished jutted out in places up there, rusted and forgotten. On the floor, lush, bright red carpet stretched from wall to wall, and a massive circular bar sat square in the middle of the place, a terraced rack of various bottles of numerous spirits backlit in red, blue, and gold.

As Unit Six-Four entered the establishment, a dark-skinned Nepleslian girl with dreadlocked hair, barefoot, in skin tight black pants and looking like she was about to pop out over the top of a shiny gold tube top near the door wiggled her hips as she strode over to greet it. As she approached, however, the inviting yet somehow hollow smile on her face faded a little when she got a better look at it, and some of her enthusiasm evaporated. "Welcome back to Ye Olde Den," she said in halfhearted, rehearsed greeting. "Is it just you tonight, or are you expecting company?"
 
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Amelia shrugged once her ears stopped ringing from the loud burst of static, raising an eyebrow inquisitively as she flicked a switch and toggled the ship's ILS, then was back on being fully immersed on her function, performing the processes with a methodical familiarity and watched as the display on the canopy changed as it waited for the station's landing vector. Truth be said, she had been about to give up on hailing the station, thinking that the operator either wasn't there or that they simply chose to ignore them; It wouldn't be uncommon, but going back empty handed would still be a let-down.

"I guess." She replied to Sienna's somewhat rhetorical question as her right hand hovered towards the other controls, powering down the ship's weapons but not not the shields, never the shields, as to not leave the ship completely defenseless if something really went awry. She shifted uncomfortably on her seat as she waited for the reply from the station, she had more than enough experience to know better than to leave anything to chance.
 
Ye Old Den

Unit Six Four said nothing for a moment, merely staring at the dancing girl from behind the reflective black sheen of her visor.

"This one will be by itself tonight." Six Four finally said, "This one also requests an area that isn't to loud if that is possible."

Doing a quick pan of the room, Six Four reasoned that its request would pry be a long shot. Upon further inspection six four noted that she, like bimbo that it worked with, seemed to have a pension for clothes that don't quite fit. Also the shoes, or more so the lack there of. Judging from the amount of people in the facility and general amount of daily traffic, Six Four thought that shoes would be a good idea, more so almost an necessity.
 
Concordia Veil - Cockpit

As the ship drew nearer to the planet, the silence coming in through the comm channels began to get uncomfortable, and eventually unnerving. A bright yellow speck in the center of the canopy's field of view gradually grew brighter than the other whitish dots smattered about the black tapestry of space, framed by the shimmering, wavering blue warp bubble. The Halna star vanished behind the nose projection of the ship, although the shadow it cast was still visible on some of the exterior parts of the hull. And still no further messages came.

A scanner contact appeared on Amelia's scopes, a fair distance away, approaching the planet from a different vector. Then another contact appeared, and another, and yet another. It wasn't long before her scanner scope was abuzz with blips and dots indicating traffic entering and leaving the vicinity of the planet in all directions, showing ship profiles that were mostly small to moderately sized, although some of the contacts that showed up earlier were clearly massive. Even though none of them were close enough to see with the naked eye, the computer's readouts made the system ahead look like nothing short of a traffic jam.

Soon the yellowish speck ahead swelled to a small circle, enlarging steadily into a massive planet shrouded in sickly yellow cloud bands streaked with gray and brown, brilliantly reflecting the light of its nearby star. A shadowy crescent enveloped the portion of the planet facing away from the center of the system, and contrasted sharply with the eerie haze of its pale atmospheric halo that gave the enormous world the subtle appearance of Death itself.

And still the comms were silent.

The digitized, tinny, unnatural voice of the computer buzzed from a small speaker in the console. "Continuum distortion drive... disengaging in... thirty... seconds."

Sienna's frown creased a bit deeper and she cast a sidelong glance at Amelia, concerned, before placing her hands on the ship's controls in preparation. "You don't think they forgot about us, do you?" she asked.


Ye Olde Den

The dark-skinned girl grinned at Six Four as if it were joking. "Uh huh," she replied chidingly. "I'll put you somewhere off to the side if you want, honey, but unless the right person's expecting you, I'm afraid you'll just have to deal with the noise." Putting on her best fake smile, she nodded for the visored Freespacer to follow her, leading it to a small square table with two chairs off to the left side of the bar, on a section of floor that was elevated a bit less than a foot from the rest of the establishment and encircled it in a horseshoe shape on three sides along the outer walls.

"Start ya off with something?" the girl asked in half-interest, clearly in a hurry to work on a patron that would be more likely to throw more copious amounts of money at her.
 
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"We're gonna find out soon enough," Amelia replied to Sienna, reaching overhead to flip a switch, so focused on the task to notice the apprehension from the other woman, "it might take a while for them to process us though, considering the traffic." She added, opting for a better choice of words as she shot a quick glance towards Sienna, but then set her eyes back on the screens and displays in front of her just as quickly, tapping a finger on the surface of a screen as she waited for the ship's CDD to disengage.

Looking down towards the planet, Amelia still couldn't get rid of that strange feeling on the back of her head that there was something off, even though she kept telling herself that it was just her own paranoia and that the most possible reason for the quiet comm channels was simply that the station operators were too busy to handle everyone at the same time. No, she had to get off that train of thought, for good or worse they'd find out soon enough.
 
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Ye Old Den

"Smoothie, Banana no booze please." Six four said taking its seat after a quick dust off of the seat. As Six Four sat down it flapped its coat tails over the seat and placed its hands in front of it, drumming the gloved fingertips together as the free spacer waited for the serving girl to return.

Figuring that it might as well fit in, or at least try, Six Four grabbed a menu and flipped though the pages looking for something potentially edible that wasn't deep fried or came from unknown sub sector of the galaxy.

"Tis an ill cook that cannot lick his own fingers" Six Four said as it flipped the page over and wiped the projected filth from its hand on the lower part of its coat. By the time Six Four had decided on nothing in the menu the free spacers drink had arrived, complete with little umbrella and strange look and fake smile from the serving girl.

"Thank You," Six Four said accepting the drink and setting it squarely down in front of itself. "Query: Why do you lack shoes? The floor hygiene alone calls for feet coverings."

As it talked, stairring straight ahead at the server her face reflecting on the dark mirrored surface, a small hatch popped open near the front left center of the helmet. After a few seconds a three inch long straw like proboscis extended out from it, to which Six Four inserted the Banana smoothie straw. The silence and worried look from the server prompted Six Four to speak up again.

"Emergency Induction Port" The freespacer said as the yellow liquid quickly flew up the straw and into the helmet.
 
Concordia Veil - Cockpit

"Maybe so," Sienna concurred, although her wary tone gave away her doubt. "Keep an eye on the traffic around here either way, and make sure we give everyone a wide berth. I don't want things to get crowded any quicker'n they have to."

The gigantic yellow-shrouded planet loomed above them now as the ship corrected its orientation, the eerie glow now dominating their field of view. It was growing much more rapidly now, and although both of the women knew that it was still at least a few hundred thousand miles away, the speed at which they were approaching made it seem as if they might slam into it before they even had the chance to burn up in the thick, noxious-looking atmosphere. Sienna's frown returned and she became somewhat tense, watching the planet swell. It was clear she was doubting the accuracy of the computer's course; even with the astronomically low odds of accidentally exiting a CDD jump too close to a planet, the possibility was still there.

The computerized voice droned again with finality. "Continuum distortion drive... disengaging in... three... two... one."

A distant, metallic grinding sound erupted from behind them, starting as a grating whine and quickly dropped in pitch in a constant repeating crescendo-decrescendoing pattern, like an enormous flywheel slowing to a stop. At the same instant, a dull "thump" of such low frequency that they felt it in their chests more than they heard it rang out, and the shimmering blue warp field around the ship dissipated. The cockpit now provided the women with a clear, unobstructed view of the planet hanging ominously above them, its horizons stretching far beyond the limits of the canopy. There was no sign of the Black Moon, however. Perhaps it was on the far side of the planet at the time.

Sienna exhaled a long breath, and shook her head as she took over the flight controls, punching in a few calculations as she adjusted the ship's trajectory to maintain a high orbit. "Next time, you're plotting the FTL jumps," she said to Amelia. "This is too damn close for my tastes. Goddamn computer..."

Almost as if on cue, another staticky burst rang out in their earpieces, startling them once again and causing Sienna to jump and grit her teeth in frustration. "Freethinker Station to ISS Concordia Veil," the same bored male voice said. "Establish high orbit above the planet and maintain orbital velocity. We'll have an approach vector for the Moon by the time you make visual contact."


Ye Olde Den

The dark-skinned girl stifled a grin at the Freespacer's order, but went off to retrieve it anyway. In a few minutes she returned with a tall glass filled with a thick yellowish-white smoothie and adorned with a parasol. She was about to leave when Six Four began to consume the beverage in its own unique way, but the serving girl didn't seem bothered. She had to have seen many a strange sight during her work hours.

Upon being questioned, she looked down at her feet quizzically, then back up at the faceplate of the Freespacer sitting before her. "The carpet feels nice on my feet," she said with artificial sweetness. "I like to be comfortable whlie I'm working. And speaking of," she added with a touch of finality, "I've got to get back to it. Cheree will be taking care of you, and she'll be over shortly. Enjoy your drink." The girl then turned to leave.

At a nearby table, two grizzled-looking Nepleslians and an alien with an anteater-like snout and compound eyes took note of the serving girl. One of the older looking Nepleslians, with a thick head of graying hair and a five o'clock shadow made a cat call to her, and beckoned her over. The dark-skinned girl gave the table of men a seductive smile, and made her way to them, running her hand along the shoulders of the man who summoned her before draping her arm around his neck and pulling his head next to her bosom. Their conversation was lost in the noise, but it was fairly apparent she felt that that table had better financial propsects than the Freespacer.
 
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Although it had been a while since she had worked in a spaceship again, the experience was still there, so when the Spaceship lurched and made all sorts of sounds Amelia only flinched slightly, going on about her work as soon as the ship disengaged its CDD. She didn't doubt the computer, and although the jump might have been slightly miscalculated she assumed it was more of a matter of bad input than failure from the computer. "Not sure why'd you have a navigator after all, otherwise." She said to Sienna, looking through the canopy towards the planet below.

The burst of static also caught Amelia off-guard, making her wince as the operator addressed them again, "Copy that, Freethinker Station, maintaining a stable orbit, over." She said, one hand reaching over one of the headset's sides to lower the volume, twice was enough already. She then set up about putting the small ship on orbit, watching on the displays for all the information that she needed and adding enough speed so that the ship would still be 'falling' due to the gravity, but due to its speed it would be falling at the same rate that the curve of the planet would be falling away from it.
 
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Oreza poked his head into the small bridge just in time to see the transition back to sub light. He Grinned as he watched space change and the big planet fill the windows. He knew where they were just by the sight if the yellow planet now ahead if them even before the station contacted them. It was good to be back in space.

"Everything is set" he announcee. He could have called that fact in over the intercom, but he wanted to see the view out of the bridge windows as they arrived in system.
 
Concordia Veil - Cockpit

Sienna responded to Amelia with an odd kind of reverse nod in agreement, still visibly annoyed by the startling eruptions of static. It wasn't clear to her whether the distant station's comms were faulty or if it was an equipment problem on their own end, but either way, it was already getting old.

The women rode out the orbital trajectory, the ship coasting along with only the minor thruster adjustments recommended by Amelia to maintain their flight path, held on course by little else than the planet's gravity alone. Sienna glanced over her shoulder when she heard Oreza enter, and nodded simply to him. "Good deal," she replied. "I got no idea how long we're gonna be up here waiting, but don't get too involved in anything. I'm hoping it won't be long."

The ship's captain wasn't particularly talkative for the next long while, busying herself with watching the flight control readouts and various instruments, occasionally looking up to stare at the pale yellow world hanging above them. The comms stayed quiet, except for the occasional hiss or crackle of another channel bleeding over, and the faint buzz of other ships' beacons pinging the little Jinsoku as an automated courtesy. Once in a while the silhouette of another spacefaring vessel eclipsed against the brilliant yellow backdrop of the planet, drifting lazily through space hundreds of miles away from them. The light from the system's star at other times would glint off of the metallic surfaces of other ships, making them sparkle for an instant before fading back into the inky blackness around them.

The minutes ticked by, turning to hours, and still nothing. Eventually, ahead of them, a deep black sphere began to rise over Halna I's horizon, far in the distance, the sun's light casting long, menacing shadows over its marred and cratered surface. Owing both to the great distance and to its size relative to its massive parent planet, the moon was unremarkably small by comparison, and aside from the distribution of impact craters and curious gray-black coloring, it was relatively featureless. Still, however, bathed in the reflected deathly light of Halna I, it had an ominous aura about it, difficult to identify, but it was almost tangible.

"There it is," Sienna finally said to Amelia, pointing over the console through the canopy. "Visual contact. Try them again."
 
Amelia visibly relaxed once the ship was in orbit, sliding further down from her padded seat to a more comfortable and slouched position, fingers idly toying with the straps on the sides of her vests. No further comment had come from Sienna, who decided to just keep quiet, and that was fine with her. the raven-haired woman knew that it was just a matter of time, waiting around and letting the gravity do its job of spinning the ship around the planet, so she decided to simply content herself with stargazing, something that she deeply enjoyed for as long as she could remember, taking every second just to catch the tiny flashes from the hull of a random ship reflecting light that was hundreds, if not thousands, of miles away or just admiring the stars in general.

Time flew by so fast for her that it seemed just like seconds, and only when Sienna talked again did Amelia snap out of it, sitting more upright as one of her hands pressed against the headset once more. She hadn't even noticed that Oreza had entered the cockpit. "Freethinker Station, this is the Concordia Veil, we have visual contact on the Moon, requesting a landing vector, over." She said, looking over towards the ship captain as she did so and hoping that they wouldn't make them wait for the ship to orbit around the planet again. Not that she wouldn't mind, though, but her 'boss' just seemed to be in a hurry.
 
The spiderbot's control on the computer systems put it in the perfect position to screw with the Fleshy Jerk. Quickly it's digital brain started fiddling with the numbers in the navigation systems. screwing with the orbit perimeters and causing the orbit to decay. Not so quickly that it would put the ship and crew in danger. No just enough that over the next hour it would become drastic and make Ameila look a bit sloppy in her calculations and flight control.

In the next few minutes it would start being evident that the ship wasn't in a good orbit. With out though the bot's mandibles chittered. It took a full three seconds before it realized what it was doing. Hopefully the noise would just be written off as the ship's random sounds.
 
Concordia Veil - Cockpit

Once again Amelia's hail went unanswered as the planet slowly rolled by above them, the dark moon continuing to rise ahead. The minutes ticked by as the ship coasted through its gravity slingshot ever closer to the moon, and the comms stayed silent. Sienna impatiently flopped her shoulders back into her seat and buzzed her lips in mild exasperation, shaking her head. After a time, a quiet warning tone sounded from her console and a yellow light began to pulse slowly. The captain leaned forward again to see what the trouble was. "What the hell?" she muttered under her breath, punching up a few quick displays, and a small, crude represenation of their orbital trajectory holographically appeared on the center console, showing the ship's projected course - spiralling slowly down into the planet's atmosphere. "Oh, for frak's sake," Sienna sighed in annoyance, and took hold of the flight controls, pitching the ship downward away from the planet slightly and engaged the graviton engines for a touch of forward thrust. She continued speaking obliquely to Amelia as she adjusted their course, her eyes still straight ahead. "I thought you plugged our--"

An indistinct chittering sound caused her words to trail off. A puzzled frown crossed her face as she looked around, down between the mess of controls surrounding her, and up at the ceiling, then over at Amelia and over her shoulder to Oreza. She didn't say anything, but the look on her face clearly was asking either of them for some kind of confirmation that she wasn't hearing things. She wasn't sure exactly what she'd heard, but she knew it wasn't something normal. It stopped the moment she truly started to listen intently for it, and never repeated itself. Silence fell over them again for another long several seconds.

The quiet was interrupted again by yet another blast of static in her headset, causing Sienna, already on edge from being ignored for so long by landing control, the stress of her patched-together ship's first true interstellar voyage, and the apparent incompetence of her newly-hired astrogator, to nearly jump out of her seat and squawk in surprise. She hadn't adjusted her headset's volume like Amelia had. "God damn it!" she barked, ripping the ear piece from her head and throwing it into the canopy.

"ISS Concordia Veil, Freethinker Station," a different voice came through the comms. "The pattern is clear. We're uploading an approach trajectory to your ILS and giving your guidance to the Moon. Break orbit and contact Surface Control at two-five-zero-zero-zero kilometers for landing clearance."

The channel was cut and a stream of data began to come in through Amelia's console, detailing the serpentine route that the ship was cleared to follow, swinging between the gravity wells of the Black Moon and its parent planet. Sienna, now visibly angry, took note of the new data, and snatched the flight controls brusquely with her right hand, and pointed accusingly at Amelia with her left. "If that's the approach vectors, get them punched in," she commanded her. "And frakking do it right this time."
 
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