RP: The Fringe [Chapter 2.0] - Salvage

Cockpit - Concordia Veil

The astrogator turned her head around, watching the massive Nepleslian squeeze himself into the cockpit, and instantly flipped the Datajockey upside down, concealing the screen. "I don't know yet, I don't want to scan the ship actively because they might find out about us if we do," Amelia answered, biting one of her thumbs in apprehension as she shut down the low-priority systems with the other to further reduce the chance of the Veil being detected, making the lights dim and even the temperature inside the ship drop further to avoid them being picked up by any sweeps from the other ship. She hoped that unless they had some really cutting edge thing or they got eyeballs on them, the Veil would be just as part of the wreck as anything else, considering how close they were to it.

She also mused for a while how, if the other ship was indeed some honest crew, what they were doing was just outright suspicious, but quickly brushed that aside. Better safe than sorry.

Cockpit

Oreza frowned. "Well let's see" the retired Navy officer said as he knelt down next to Amelia. "We can pick up their IFF transponder beacon passively if they are broadcasting as they should be" he commented. "Ours is already off, I assume?" If it was not they would need to shut it down asap.

The Nepleslian scrutinized the blip on the scanners. "Friendly or not, we are stuck here 'till the Doc get's back with the other survivor" he mused. "If they hail us, I will do the talking"

Cockpit - Concordia Veil

Amelia caught herself staring at Oreza for a few seconds, unsure of what to say, 'you just told me to keep the ship quiet, of course it is," she thought, staring at the Veil's first mate over her shoulder. "Yeah, it's off, but all I'm getting from them is that they're actively scanning every thing around the wreck," she retorted, turning back around to the displays. She reached to the side for the pilot's seat, then fished out the other headset from there and offered it to the Nepleslian.

Concordia Veil - Cockpit

The pair of Nepleslians monitored the sensors closely for well over a minute, watching the various passive scanner bands go berzerk with the amount of noise the newcomer was spamming the wreck with. Whoever they were, they were making absolutely no effort to stay hidden. By all appearances, however, they didn't seem to notice the Veil's presence either, as no detectable scans seemed to focus on their area, nor did any hail from the unknown vessel come.

It was still much too far away to have any hope of visual contact, and without actively scanning it, it would take time to try to match the ship's signature with a known design in the ship's database. One thing was certain, however, it was approaching their position and gradually slowing its speed. Aside from that, all that the two could tell was that they were not alone in their interest in the destroyed mining ship. It appeared that Vel's "secret" knowledge hadn't been as closely guarded as he thought.

Cockpit

Oreza took the offered headset and slipped it on. He listened to the sounds. If they were not broadcasting an IFF beacon, then they were not military or police forces or any other government operated ship, but more importantly, they were then probably not friendly and not out there to lend assistance to anyone.

"How fast can you have us out of this wreckage field and into FTL?" he asked Amelia.

Cockpit

Amelia shrugged, raising both of her hands with uncertainty. She could most likely plot the best course for the ship, but it would still take her a good time to point the ship in the right direction as well as maneuver through the wreck. She figured that she could at least put the wreck between her and the other ship if push really came to shove, but someone like Crash would simply be way better in the job than her. Assuming the other ship really didn't have any good intentions in mind, of course.

Cockpit

"Alright, get working on an exit course in the navicomputer" Oreza ordered, then flicked on his communicator with Six Four. "Doc, retrieve that survivor quick. We have visitors inbound."

Computer

Just As the ol' man spoke of the ext vectors and what not, Crash popped a full plight plan with full evasion protocols up in front of Amelia.

Cockpit - Concordia Veil

"Already on it," Amelia said, bringing up a new volumetric display to her station. Her brow creased as she concentrated on the task, only to fizzle out when the flight path suddenly appeared in front of her. She didn't have to pick up the Datajockey to know that it was Crash, since the bot would be the only being in the ship actually capable of doing it. She looked over her shoulder at Oreza, waiting expectantly for what he would say next.

Concordia Veil - Cockpit

A few seconds after Amelia presented the flight path projection to the first mate, a change in the passive scanners' readouts in her peripheral vision caught her attention. While the unknown contact had not been particularly subtle in scanning the wreck, she noticed that several short-wave scans had become even more significantly intense. Since the Veil was only listening to what was going on around her, it was safe to assume that whoever was out there had taken a particular interest in something they had spotted in their location. An assumption which appeared to be validated when the unknown contact altered its course, making a wide arc around the outer perimeter of the debris cloud towards them.

It was still over a hundred thousand kilometers away, but even with its slowing velocity, it would be on top of them very soon.

Shrie moved a bit aside, letting Oreza get into the cockpit, but she kept her silent watch on him. The strange suited person that drugged the captain left for the derelict. Shrie was happy, when she heard about another survivor. Not that she knew who could that be, since she did know about five people on the ship and all of those died in the hangar. It was good that someone else made it though. Whoever it was.

Now there was a situation with other ship though, whoever they were.Could be anything from salvagers, other miners or pirates. There was also some other thing on Shrie's mind. She turned to Oreza. "Maybe," she started, her brow frowning. "Torpedoes on ship. Captain sells. They," Shrie pointed her finger at the icon of the other ship. "They buy maybe. There still danger."

Concordia Veil - Cockpit

The faint glow from the displays reflected off her face as Amelia thought about what to do. She gave a quick glance over her shoulder at Oreza again once Shrie had spoken, but otherwise didn't bother to try to pick up her Datajockey while the Nepleslian was right next to her, it would not only be suspicious but he could also read the conversation between her and Crash right off the bat. She just idly hoped that the bot would also be able to pick up the trouble like she was and do the necessary things when they did happen.

Cockpit

"Sounds reasonable enough" Oreza replied to Shrie's suggestion as to the other ships reason for being there. "Where were the torpedoes?" he asked, "Have half a mind to rig one for timed detonation to keep them out of hands they should not be in" the Nepleslian frowned.

"Good work on the exit vector, Amelia" he said as the plots began lighting up on the volumetric window. "Keep on it, we may not have much time to get out of here" he added. They needed the Doc to hurry up with that other survivor.

Concordia Veil - Cockpit

"Thanks," Amelia muttered, once again caught off-guard, but funnily enough by having someone actually compliment her on her work. She then started to work on a few more tweaks for the exit vector that Crash had uploaded, making it more efficient as well as swinging by a second one in case the first was compromised for one reason or another. Letting go of the controls, her gaze fell down on the other Nepleslian again, mulling over what he had said.

"They're in the cargo bay," the astrogator said. Was rigging the torpedoes really the best course of action? It wasn't exactly their problem, and doing that might make some people really mad at them, and she really didn't want to get on the sights of someone who had been looking for one such thing in the first place. She would very much rather that the torpedo ''procured" herself, that thing would make a killing for profit. Figuratively.

Delerict, Medbay

Dylan putted on the depleted suit. He saw that while the tank was empty, the radio systems were still operational. He tried to activate it and said carefully:
"Dylan Bjarkmar here. I'm in a suit now. Can anyone hear me? Six Four? Oreza?"

With no response whatsoever, Dylan assumed the radio did not work. He got back to the console and tapped:

Derelict, Outside the Med bay.

Six Four looked at the datapad for a moment, reading the text in front of it before typing back a response.


After sending the message Six Four began to scan the door for any sign of weakness to open it, but it also glanced at the small data pad, tempted to try and open it that way. After a moment or two of blankly starring the doctor went back towards the data pad.

Concordia Veil - Cockpit

While Oreza and Amelia discussed their plan of action, with Shrie standing in the doorway, not having bothered to cram her large frame into the comparatively tiny command platform, a tone sounded from the communications console. It appeared that the relays were picking up a broadcast.

Amelia was quick to identify the frequency and lock in to listen. Once she did, a hiss of static crackled into the astrogator and first mate's headsets. It was mostly just noise at first, unintelligible and indistinct. Just as she was starting to wonder whether or not the transmisison detection was another of Crash's "computer errors," a voice started to come through. It was difficult to understand what it was saying, but it was obviously speaking in Trade.

"...unidentified... adrift in..." Here and there words could be made out, enveloped in hisses, crackles, and popping interference. "...argo runner... dangerou... ienna Shelton..."

Concordia Veil - Cockpit

Amelia pressed one side of the headset harder against her ear, narrowing her eyes until the radio broacast was clear enough to understand. Once she did though, she got instantly alarmed at the situation; All thoughts that there could be any good from the situation instantly vanished as several red flags rose inside her head, making her feel the all-too-familiar cold hand tightening itself in her gut. Not only did the not broadcast their IFF signal, they also somehow knew who their captain was, so they either identified them as they approached or they were specifically looking for the Veil, and she was too smart to not assume that they were stupid enough to actually make such a rookie mistake.

Turning her head around again and raising an eyebrow, the astrogator stared at Oreza, waiting for what he would say next as her hands quickly reached forward and grasped the controls for the ship.

Cockpit

Oreza bent in as the garbled message came in on the headset. He pressed the earcups on on his head and closed his eyes as he tried to make out what ead being said. That ship was looking for them for sure, mentioning Sienna by name.

"Can you clean that up any?" He asked Amelia.

Concordia Veil - Cockpit

Amelia fiddled with the frequency band, trying to better narrow down the signal and filter out the interference. The voice on the other end started to get clearer as she did so, making it gradually easier to pick out what he was saying, although it was far from completely intelligible. There was simply too much static and noise in the trasmission to be able to tell. However, the more they could make out, the more familiar the voice started to become.

The more distressing revelation came to her when she realized that the transmission was not coming from the unknown contact, nor was it coming from inside the derelict. It was coming from somewhere else, a weak signal source that was very, very slowly drifting away from them, somewhere off near the other side of the derelict. She started to notice that the interference was not only improving due to her work, but also due to the wreck's rotation.

"Repeat, this is... ling the unidentified vessel approaching th..." the voice was saying. "...am adrift in space with no m... request rescue. Hostile ship is currently pr... scavenging what's l... ewed by captain Sienna Shelton and Oreza Dakkar. Consider them armed an... know the layout of... can assist with disposal."

That voice... it was Vel.