RP: The Fringe [Chapter 2.0] - Salvage

Derelict - Shuttle Bay

'How weird,' Amelia thought, inspecting the new found weapon, its presence actually only raised more questions than answers. Why was a clearly military grade weapon in an allegedly mining ship? She would've certainly scratched her head in puzzlement if there wasn't the helmet of the suit in the way. Willing herself to shrug the thought aside, her gaze turned back to the little setup she was working on, her captain could choose what to do about the weapon later-

The astrogator's head suddenly shot up upon that. 'Shit, the captain,' she thought, bringing her right wrist up to check on the timer of her PHC, which had been already too short to spare on the first place, but then was being stretched thinner. In her head it would only be a matter of time before Sienna called in the ship for a radio check, if she hadn't already done so, and she could only hope that Crash could do a good job in trying to impersonate her, however creepy that was. Flexing her legs again and propelling herself back to where the shuttle was, she got ready to work as fast as she could, already thinking through her plan as she simply brushed aside the small debris floating inside the bay.

Once she was firmly secured against the deck next to the shuttle with her suit's magnetic pads, and not wanting to waste any more time which prompted her not to bother finding something to make the deed any safer, Amelia decided to improvise. Removing a small length of the grappling cable from her suit, she firmly secured the two thermite canisters that were floating around the faulty clamp, then pulled the torch closer, which also dragged the canister that were connected to it by the hose along with it thanks to the lack of gravity. She wasn't even sure if that would work, or if the thermite would even start since there wasn't an effective method of ignition, but as she pulled the torch closer to the thermite canisters she knew her suit could protect her against extreme temperatures, which she assumed could just give the time to back away from the whole thing once the reaction started. The Dusk-clad woman started the torch, then slowly put the flame against the canister.

Derelict


Six Four watched Oreza fiddle with the control pannel, as it slowly edged towards one of the bodies that was floating near by. Cutting it's Com link once again, this time making sure to turn off the radio as well it was in complete silence.

"Ober station and possible autopsy of presumed dead crew member log start."

Derelict - Shuttle Bay

The torch flame slowly came into contact with the canister, and in less than a couple of seconds, the metallic exterior of the canister began to glow red hot, brightening to an intense white before burning away and revealing the powdery mixture inside. Almost instantly a brilliant blue, white, and purple flash blinded Amelia for a brief moment before her suit's computer automatically flushed her helmet's faceplate with tint, shielding her eyes from the more harmful wavelengths. A fair amount of the reacting metal mixture exploded out of the hole, forming a cloud of brilliantly glowing embers around the suited astrogator before fizzling out as quickly as they had ignited in the extreme cold. The majority of the reaction was contained, however, just long enough for the canister itself to begin to melt and drift outwards in all directions in red-hot, glowing globules. Some of the substance drifted near the shuttle, and one or two of the globules made contact before they cooled to the point that it didn't appear they would do any damage, but it was quite terrifying to watch nonetheless.

The ice formation around the docking clamp subliminated immediately on contact with the searing hot reaction, turning directly into steam and invisible water vapor, vanishing into the nether. The astrogator watched as what would have taken her hours to chip away by hand flash-boiled away in just a few seconds, leaving only a few deposits on either end that now looked brittle enough to kick loose. She could also see that the reaction had partially melted some of the damaged docking rail into slag as well, though not really enough to make a big difference. Either way, she had seen several other canisters of the stuff floating around, plenty to finish tearing away that which anchored the shuttle in place. That is, assuming she took care not to let it damage the shuttle's hull.

Derelict - Passageway

Oreza read the response. "There goes thd salvage" he commented over the radio. "Sienna, there is a survivor in the next compartment" he said, then typed a new note into the panel.

Derelict, Medbay

Dylan read the message. " Bugger!" He said. " Well, I'm busted for sure." He continued. " Perhaps, they are pirates? What then? maybe it's a trap? Ah, no there not pirates. Then they wouldn't have bothered to look for survivors."

He tapped on the panel again, writing:

Derelict - Shuttle Bay

Amelia quickly jerked back, instinctively covering her visor with her free hand as the reaction started. She quickly backed away, dragging the heavy fuel canister in tow away from the igniting thermite, watching the show she had made with a mix of surprise and amazement, like a kid who just had gotten her hands on some real dandy fireworks; the fact that the thermite expanded in a big red ball only reinforced the feeling. Once the reaction was over and all that was left was the quasi-melted clamp the astrogator quickly set back to work, moving to catch any other canisters and repeat the process of securing them against the faulty docking clamp.

Since she just had seen what the small load of thermite could do, she risked that doubling the load should do the trick. Bringing back the flame from the torch against one of the four canisters.

Derelict - Shuttle Bay

Repeating the process with twice the amount of thermite this time, Amelia was a bit better prepared when the reaction started. However, while it wasn't quite violent enough this time to be called "explosive," it certainly got out of hand in a hurry, sending quivering red globules of molten slag every which way, quickly surrounding Amelia and making short work of liquefying the docking clamp, as well as portions of the now-exposed decking around it, some of the hydraulic cylinders below, and a number of unidentifiable conduits and pipes running throughout. Upon rupturing, one of the cylinders suddenly folded in half as is spewed forth a vicious jet of hydraulic fluid with what appeared to be nearly enough force to cut straight through even the tough rubbery skin of the astrogator's suit, missing her by mere inches. Some of the bits of molten slag adhered to her arms, legs, and stomach like napalm. Even through her suit, the woman could feel the intense heat of the molten metal against her skin.


Derelict - Upper Deck - Starboard Passageway - Forward

Oreza's message to Sienna was met with two or three seconds of static before the reply came. "Then do the heroic thing and rescue the dumb bastard," the captain snapped, still sounding irate. "I'm busy."

Derelict - Shuttle Bay

Yelping in surprise, Amelia let go of the torch and backed away from the giant superheated area, but not before the damage had already been made. She didn't even realize that the slag had hit her at first, but when she actually felt the heat on the spots it was enough to get her moving again; the fact that the surface of her suit was just as cold as the area she was in helped a little, but when the molten slag's heat was felt seeping through her suit she suddenly stopped, if she didn't deal with it it would take too long for the heat from the slag to simply radiate away since there was no way for it to be dissipated by convection.

Her figure turned to the first layer of ice that she could find, which could be found pretty much anywhere in the bay, reaching down and yanking a good sized piece of it. The astrogator pressed the ice against the still hot slag that clung to the surface of her suit, watching as the ice seemingly sublimated in the vacuum due to how fast the reaction happened. When it was all done, Amelia let go of what little was left of the ice, letting it float uselessly in the bay like the many other pieces of junk that were there, and looked over at the shuttle was. She had gotten her satisfaction from the pyrotechnic shows, but she hoped she wouldn't have to do it again, at least not without the right equipment.

"Shrie, try undocking now," Amelia said, giving an almost inaudible grunt afterwards when the spots where the slag hit started to sting. She comforted herself with the knowledge that at least she could feel it, so it had to be a good sign.

Shuttle - Cockpit

Shrie was in the cockpit again, helmet of the EVA suit so she could hear if Amelia wanted to speak. The lorath hoped that the nepleslian girls was fine, wondering how could Amelia get rid of the clamps. Still if the girl was accomplished spacer, she would be able to do something. Shrie sighed, she did not like just sitting and waiting, when there were things to be done. It was bad that there was not any suit that would fit her. So bad. Still after minutes that felt like hours, she heard Amelia in the headset.

"Yes," Shrie simply replied and turned to the console. She leaned in and tried to undock.

Shuttle - Cockpit

Warning tones protested fervently as Shrie powered up the shuttle's engines and applied thrust, the yellow and ochre lights that were gently blinking earlier now flashing an urgent-looking red, still sensing that the docking clamps had not fully released her lifeboat. Although there was no external gravity to give her a point of reference, Shrie could sense the minor change in her moment of inertia as the shuttle attempted to lift off, but rather than hover perpedicularly to the deck, she felt the craft list slight to one side as a low, straining grown rumbled through the shuttle's hull, held fast by the remaining intact docking clamp. Setting the craft back down to relieve the pressure, she kept the engines primed and repeated the maneuver again, setting it back down, and the repeating again.

The alarms never ceased to blare in her ears in protest, and every time she tried to break free of the other clamp she heard the gut-wrenching groan of metal grinding against metal, but each time she was able to twist the shuttle a little more before she reached the point she feared to push it any further. After several attempts of "rocking" the trapped shuttle back and forth, there was a loud BANG inside the lifeboat, and it broke free, lurching upwards suddenly, tossing Shrie slightly in her seat.

Immediately the warning tones fell silent, but another ochre message flashed quickly on a display screen in front of her: "HULL INTEGRITY COMPROMISED - BREACH POTENTIAL IN CARGO AREA"

Derelict - Passageway


Oreza frowned at the response he got from Sienna. He was not happy at all where her attitude was going and now he was catching some of the flack. He shook his head. This was why the Navy did not hand ships to green officers to command.

He turned his attention back to the screen as a new message flickered onto it. This one was a bit demanding, wasn't he? Med bay, no space suit, no airlock probably, though there was a possibility of an isolation chamber that could be used as a lock. The issue they would have there, was that restoring air to the compartment would probably be impossible once it was gone.

he typed back and sent the message to the person inside.

Derelict - Shuttle Bay


"Whew," Amelia said, backpedaling for several steps as the shuttle rocked free from the last magnetic clamp. She gave a brief once over at the shuttle, but couldn't see anything wrong from it at least from where she stood, afterwards she just took a brief look at the PHC on her wrist, checking the time that she had more than stretched. "You're good to go, but I have to get back to my ship," She said, and started moving out of the wrecked bay, already jumping for the 'ceiling' to get off of it on the 'top' side.

Derelict - Shuttle Bay

The timing couldn't be any more perfect, or perhaps whatever the unpleasant alternative to "perfect" was. The astrogator had not coasted more than a foot off of the deck before her comm channel crackled again. "Amelia," came the captain's voice curtly, her tone unclear as to whether it was a call for her attention or the beginnings of an unfinished command. It was noticably clearer and free of the static that had plagued their earlier communications as well. "What did your toy find?"

Derelict - Shuttle

Shrie was glad that the shuttle was free again, though now her living space got a lot smaller. Still she had air and the shuttle was free. "Thank you Amelia," said Shrie in the comms. She was no pilot, but this should not be too hard. The auto-pilot should help her a lot. Also now that engines ran, they should be able to get power running again. Still the Lorath had to get out of the hangar first.

Slowly she turned the shuttle around, making sure to watch the sensor screen showing her, where Amelia was. Shrie would hate to hurt the girl that just saved her life. So Shrie turned, very, very slowly. A minute later, shuttle was turned around and Shrie could finally see the scope of the destruction that befell the mining ship. Where there was once shuttle bay door, was giant gaping hole. No wonder vacuum stroke so hard and fast.

With another sigh, Shrie very slowly tried to fly the shuttle out of the derelict. "Amelia," Shrie said into the radio again. "I have more troubl. I am not pilot. Cannot travel from star to star. Can... I go with you on your ship? I can be your help!"

Derelict - Shuttle Bay

Amelia was already on the topside of the Pylon, with the open vastness of space above her and the wrecked and mangled hull beneath her feet. The call from her captain caught her completely by surprise again; it was simply as if Sienna had been watching her the whole time, which even though was something she doubted was still enough to set her on edge. What did set her off, though, was the same condescending tone that Sienna had been using ever since she left the ship, "My toy?" Amelia asked, standing still where she was, "I don't know what you're talking about, but I sure found the survivor in the shuttle, who also wasn't a pirate, by the way." She added, 'unlike you, who wants to pick this ship clean and leave them for dead,' she thought soon afterwards.

She heard the response from Shrie soon afterwards, before anything else could be said between her and Sienna. Figuring that it was better to focus on that particular problem, Amelia switched frequencies to speak with the survivor. "Alright, fly out of there, but I cannot guarantee the captain will let you stay," the astrogator answered the lorath, "hell, I cannot even say if I'll be staying after this," she added.

Slowly moving, the shuttle made its way. Still not out of the derelict, Shrie wanted to play this safe. "I told. I can help. If you leave, I come with." Shrie responded to Amelie and then nodded to herself, not realising that the astrogator could not actually see her. "I can guard. I am strong. Good cook too. Crew here like my burgers. I won't be a bother, I promise." Shrie just wanted to leave here with whoever she could and Amelia seemed like a nice enough person. Not to mention she saved Shrie's life.

Concordia Veil - Main Corridor - Some time earlier...

The dull mechanical ka-thunk of the ventral loading ramp closing echoed through the modestly lit circular corridor of the Veil, seconds before the airlock hatch hissed open, revealing Sienna's skin-tight Dusk Suit and helmet. The captain was already stepping purposefully over the threshold before the hatch was even fully open, her irate gait almost suggesting she would have smashed directly through it if it hadn't yielded to her in time. No sooner than she had stepped inside the controlled atmosphere of the ship, she had twisted her helmet off and made a beeline for the cockpit.

Angry fire flashed in young woman's eyes when the cockpit hatch whisked open, revealing no astrogator present. With a furious curse, she threw the helmet down to the floor, hard. It bounced off the floor and hit the base of the nearby computer console before clattering to rest behind the pilot's couch. "Amelia!" she shouted in unchecked fury, spinning on her heels and looking back out into the ship. "Where the FRACK are you!?"

Using the best Amelia voice in which the robot would allow Crash spoke up, "I am located right here. How may I direct your call..." Crash really didn't know what to do, if It had its spiderbot then it would have been simple: clitter clatter up the wall into a crawl space and hide. This damned big body was such a waste. The voice he had heard was quite easily identified, it had screeched through out the ship many a time.

Sienna's head whipped back around when she heard the voice, her short hair whirling and slapping against her brow, and her eyes darted this way and that, searching for the source of the voice for a moment before her eyes came to rest on the humanoid, skeletal-looking android sitting in the pilot's couch. A mixture of alarm, confusion, and the lingering anger crossed her face, and her hand clasped the handle of the pistol on her thigh. "Who the frack are you?" she demanded sharply.

"I am the Astrogator Amelia, Can you not tell from my voice? Are you feeling alright Ship Owner Sienna?" Crash asked with mild concern but also hoping to distract her from the obvious fact that Crash was not Amelia. What was taking Its pet, Crash did not know, but there will be no treat with dinner now.

The captain's lips parted slowly, eyes locked firmly on the android for a moment as she appeared to take in this turn of events. Gradually her chin tilted up and turned a few degrees to one side, and a slow, ever-so-slightly crazed smirk pulled up the corners of her open mouth. "...Ah," Sienna replied tersely, giving a sardonic nod. "I see. You're this little pet project she's been working on."

"She is my pet not the other... ER.. No i'm Amelia, I am most likely having feminine problems, they do cause bloating and change of voice sequences." Crash nodded hopeing Sienna would just accept the lie and move on. It was scared soild wasteless that the cranky woman would airlock It.

The amused grin on Sienna's face would have been exceptionally off-putting to an organic, given how obvious it was from the look in her eyes and the white-knuckled grip on her weapon that the young woman was one wrong word away from completely going berzerk. "Either she sucks at covering her tracks, or she really must not think much of me, if that's the best excuse you're programmed to give me," she replied coolly. "I'm only gonna ask one more time. Where's Amelia?" The clasp on the pistol unfastened with an audible click, and the stun baton on her belt came off with a single motion of her left hand, the sound of an electric spark buzzing as she activated it and stood there, waiting for her answer.

Dropping back into Crash's standard voice It shook it's head. "You know you are being a cranky poopy head, 'specially with me monitoring all of the ship's system, keeping the engines balanced, and the power core purring. And here you are growling at me for keeping up with what Amelia told me to do when she went to go and rescue that damned fleshbag in the shuttle." Another digital sigh came out as Crash turned back to the controls to check on the sensors and the ship's attachment to the ship.

By the time Crash finished his explanation, Sienna was shaking, her eyes wide and wild. Her grip on her pistol and stun baton at that point could nearly crush a boulder. This was the second time in less than an hour that Amelia had directly disobeyed her order to stay put, and after the matter of dealing with Six Four's ramblings, her patience was now depleted. "When. Did. She leave," Sienna intoned in a flat, emotionless voice.

"Ten point three five six minutes ago. I would also like to talk to you about getting a better networking system aboard. These are unacceptable work conditions at this point." Crash finished the monitoring part of duty for a few moments, "You know that this ship is looking a bit better now, though when I first bought it I had it painted pink, though this color is fine now..." Crash made a rasping chittery sound of a chuckle. "You know if you just relaxed and kicked back things wouldn't look so terrible at this point."

"Get up," Sienna commanded the android. "This is my ship. Not yours. Stand up, right now, or I'll fry you and drag you out myself."

"I never said it was my ship now... I'm sure you have a semi-legal deed to it. As for getting up I can but then all that would be keeping this ship in place is the maglocks... I'm not sure one should trust them alone." Crash gave a machanical shrug, "But it's your call I guess." Crash punched in a few last moment commands to help keep the ship stable. "I guess I'll just go and sit in my cornor until Amelia can get around to fixing me. Guess the savior of the ship will go now." Crash reached up and pulled himself out of the control seat.

"You just let me worry about that," Sienna hissed, keeping a wary eye on the robot as it hoisted itself up and out of the seat. She stepped to the side, her hands still on each of her weapons, the stun baton crackling softly with the electric arc still active. With a flick of the baton, she waved the robot to walk ahead of her, and marched him out of the cockpit. She led him down the steps and around the corridor into the living area, passing through the lounge and Oreza's cabin, before nudging him brusquely into Cabin 3. "Now sit in there with the rest of Amelia's toys like a good robot. If I catch you outside again, you're dust."

"You do know I'm a sentiant being... right, Miss Grumpy Pants?" Crash said as It slid down into the cornor It has spent so many hours in.

Sienna was about to close the door when Crash's response came. For a second she ignored it, but her jaw slid to one side after a pause, and she groaned softly. "You're a what, now?" she asked irritably.

"A killer robot with a heart?" Crash snarked off as It sat there thinking over what Amelia was going to say to him when she got back.

"Really, now," Sienna replied, glaring at the robot. "Does that heart of yours believe what I said about frying you if you cross me?"

"Where did you ever get the idea I would cross you? I protected the ship from those hi-jackers, rescued Amelia from them, and got my spider bot damaged when I attacked and stopped the older one. I've gotten this ship manuvered through all that debris to this safe location. If you noticed there is a cargo bay hatch lined up pretty close to our cargo bay door... I have mantained the ship through out this whole adventure you have started on since you first bought it." Crash crossed it's arms with a metal screech. "Your pretty pessimistic if you think I'm going to cross you now after all of that hard work."

Sienna's jaw went slack again and the same open-mouthed smirk of realization returned. "Oh, that's clever," she said, chuckling slightly. "I mean, that's good. She soaked up all the credit for that, and I bought it hook, line, and sinker." The captain shook her head and hung the stun baton back on her belt. "God damn. So now what? I suppose you'll be thinking you're entitlted to Amelia's share of the loot here, huh?"

"First I told her to, I didn't want anybody knowing about me, hell i would like to ask you not to tell the rest of them... As for shares I believe I should be entitled to 50% of everything, This is my ship... well it was before someone stole it while I was napping...." Crash stood back up and attempted to look intimidating, but was failing a bit, "Don't you dare yell at my pet for protecting me! Grrrrr!" The growl ended up sounding more like a purr from the damned cheap audio card in the 'bot.

Unexpectedly, Sienna burst into laughter at that. Not an amused little chuckle, but an uproarious belly laugh, to the point of making the young woman's eyes water slightly. It was several seconds before she composed herself enough to be able to string together a sentence in reply. "Fifty percent, he says!" she replied, still laughing. "Stole his ship, he says. And now you're worried I'm gonna yell at your owner, or pet, or whatever!" The captain continued laughing for another several seconds before finally calming down. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, shaking her head before she levelled her gaze back at the robot. "Damn, it must be nice out there in that little fantasy land of yours. But let's dial it back a bit, and lemme set the record straight so nobody's feelings get hurt by expecting the wrong thing." She cleared her throat, fighting off another titter of laughter. "This ship?" she continued, motioning in the air around her. "It's mine. M-I-N-E. I don't much give a shit what claim you think you got to it. And Amelia? Y'all both should consider yourselves lucky if yell at her is all I do to her now.

"Oh yeah. About the hijackers. I suppose that was you who sent me the messages warning me of them? And when Vel hacked the computer?" she inquired.

"Yes I did, but he hacked me... When he attempted to... bastard... Can kill him and use his bones for replacements for part on my spiderbot?" Crash said as he sat back down. "But yeah, I sent you those messages, not that you heeded them... Ever..."

Sienna grinned again, raising an eyebrow. "Not very observant, are you?" she asked rhetorically. "I came back the moment I saw the message about the hijackers, thinking it was Amelia. I was locked out, and by the time she let me in she...you had already dealt with them. As for Vel?" she continued with a smug tone. "Let's just say he'll be enjoying the sights around here for a long time." She rested a hand on the stun baton again, taking a step forwards. "So in light of that, I won't space you. But I am going to shut you down for now, so if you cooperate, you and I can have a little dialogue about what we're gonna do with you after we get back to port."

With a shrug Crash "powered down" shutting off all external devices and starting a slow upload to the ship's computer core to activae his other "body." After a few moments the 'bot's body become silent and Crash awoke in the computer core. 'Bit more power here, hehe. Well, she's going to be pissed when I start toying with her from here. TEEHEE!'

Derelict - Shuttle Bay

"Good," Sienna's voice replied to Amelia, crystal clear now. "Maybe she'll be better at following simple directions than you." There was a pause. "You must really think I'm an idiot, programming that 'bot of yours to impersonate you."

Not far from Amelia, the shuttle wobbled and weaved slightly as Shrie gingerly tried to pilot it out of the remains of the destroyed shuttle bay. The various floating obstacles drifting about bounced harmlessly off of the hull, and up until she approached the gaping maw that was all that remained of the outer doors, she did a fair job of keeping a relatively true course and left herself with plenty of room between her and the outer hull. The twisted wreckage that opened into space was a bit trickier, however, as jagged edges of metal pointed in several directions, forcing her to reorient the shuttle several times, inching forward very, very cautiously to avoid a collision. At one point a proximity alert beeped on her console, followed by a loud scraping sound that reverberated throughout the cockpit, and the way the stars and asteroids outside moved across her field of vision as the entire wreck tumbled was disorienting to her when contrasted with the relatively stationary shuttle bay. The scraping got louder as she tried to correct it, and was followed soon after by a louder, more urgent-sounding alarm.

Several heart-pounding seconds and a lot of grating metal-on-metal screeching later, the alarms stopped and Shrie finally managed to maneuver the shuttle out of the wreck and into open space, the lifeboat craft a little worse for the wear, but at least in one piece. It was then that she got her first glimpse of how truly bad the damage to the once colossal mining ship was. The entire bow section - the material collection system, separator drums, bridge... - were completely gone. Whatever had happened, it had cleaved the ship completely in two, utterly obliterating more than half of it. Seemingly all that remained of the missing parts of the ship now tumbled and rolled in a chaotic cloud of pulverized debris around her. They were still in the same asteroid field she remembered noticing the last time she'd been privileged with a glimpse outside, the nearby star looming like a fiery giant just out of her field of view, causing her to squint hard after days of sitting in near total darkness. Shrie soon realized that not only would navigating the cloud of hazardous-looking debris around her be more than a daunting task for her, she knew that docking with whatever rescue ship was out there waiting for her would be next to impossible without proper training.

Derelict - Shuttle Bay

Amelia kept looking in the direction of the broken cargo/shuttle bay that she had emerged from, and for the second time in that day she felt the same, heart-wrenching sensation of a sudden surprise hit her right in the chest, making her hand brush the holstered weapon in her leg instinctively. "I think it's safe to assume you also spaced him, like the other?" She asked, not even stammering and her tone surprisingly calm and level. wondering if the rest of the crew could hear her on that channel, no longer caring once the cards had been shown.

Derelict - Shuttle Bay

"No, he's still safe and sound aboard," the captain's reply came back, equally level, but her intense displeasure was still evident to Amelia even beneath the calm facade. "Vel didn't have an 'off' switch. Your little toy does. And I can't fault a machine for doing what you told him to do." Another pointed pause. "Besides, from what I gathered from it, you weren't the one that stopped the hijackers after all." The unspoken threat in the transmission was unmistakable.