RP: The Fringe [Chapter 2.0] - Salvage

Derelict - Outside

"That's right," Amelia said in a mocking tone, as if she was surprised that Sienna had found out about that only then, "not that it would matter anyway since you removed the primary starter for the engine," she added, glancing at the shuttle that then just left the bay.

"Heh, the fact that you checked just makes me glad I did," Sienna's voice replied. "You didn't think I was stupid enough to just leave my ship in the hands of someone I barely knew, did you?" The astrogator heard the captain cluck her tongue pensively, and from the sound of it, almost condescendingly. "Maybe you did."

"Maybe I did," Amelia said, even though it had been Crash who had broken up the news.

Sienna's overly-drawn out, theatrical sigh was the first response. "So," she asked sardonically. "Now the question is, are you as unreliable as Vel?"

"Why, are you gonna space me if I say yes?" came the response from the astrogator.

"Tell me why I shouldn't," the captain replied flatly.

Amelia didn't entertain to answer that, she decided to not go that low, specially for someone who had given her no reason to. "I'm gonna tell you why," she said, her tone much more serious then, "joining up with you was a mistake, and I would rather have to face getting strafed by an aircraft again on Nepleslia than work one more second with you. I would rather have to crawl on the mud again hiding from gangers in Kennewes than work one more second with you. I would rather join up with the survivor I just saved because I know they're somehow more truthsworty than you than work one more second with you. I have grown up in a spaceship and worked in then most of my life, and I can say this with all the certainty in the world: if you don't go down because of your decisions, your crew will put you down, and I hope they're all listening to this, because I also bet your pay would be shit," she said, turning back to the shuttle, her mind already made.

The comm channel was silent for several seconds, leaving a lingering doubt for an instant as to whether or not the transmission had gone through. Finally, Sienna replied. "Ballsy, I'll give you that," the captain answered, her words sounding like they were tight and enunciated through a taut jaw, her accent bleeding through again. "If you think you wanna run off with your new friend there, be my guest. It's your funeral. But I hope y'all got alternate transportation arranged, and weren't relying on that shuttle you were talking about. The one that just came up on the scope." Sienna paused another second. "See, I ain't about to make this a wasted trip after all the headaches I've had so far, so that shuttle, as I see it, is mine. And it's unarmed."

Amelia smirked at that, floating towards the shuttle as she was, "So are you," She said, "Crash, shut down the ship until I'm out of here, please. Otherwise she will kill me," the astrogator added, cutting the comm link as her hands held onto the surface of the shuttle due to the magnetic pads.

Veil computers

Crash had been monitoring the comms as It floated through the digital world of the ship's computer system. the last message from Sienna caused a digital sigh to float from Crash's digital form. 'She just doesn't listen, does she.... oh well...'

Clicking on the comm privately to Sienna Crash synthesized the captain's own voice. "Didn't I tell you not to threaten my pet? ((ooc got this far before last post happened... didn't have to cange anything above )) Jeeze you meatbeings are quite thick headed aren't you..." The voice switched over to the Yammi Princess of Fame, "You know I liked you at first. Hell anyone who worked so damned hard renovating this ship, had the same eye I had when I first bought it."

The voice switched again to a Neplisaian male, "Well i can't let you harm Amelia, she owes me a repaired body, But I do recognize that you own this ship now.... Leaves me in a pinch don't it..." The voice shifted again to a digitalized one, (may have been Crash's last bio/physical voice.) "I think you both need to settle down and stop acting like children. Maybe if you two sat down and talked to each other you will get to an understanding." The voice ceased for a few moments as it ran a few programs in the back ground.

Delerict, Medbay

Dylan looked around after the message from this 'Oreza'. He noticed a small side compartment, propably a isolation room. " Perhaps, we could use that as an airlock. Yes, that could work. Only problem is how to get the air back once it's gone." Dylan said.

He tapped at the console again:

Derelict


Oreza was forced to pause his conversation with the survivor inside when he overheard the growing argument between Sienna and Amelia and now a third unfamiliar voice. When he heard Sienna threaten to space the navigator and the growing tension aned anger and yelling from all sides, the Nepleslian had had enough.

The ex Navy captain switched his radio back on to the channel with the others. "Sienna! Amelia!" His voice boomed over the channel, cutting off anyone who might be attempting to speak. He did not yell, but the tone of voice commanded obedience. "You will all stop this pointless bickering immediatly. There are stranded survivord on this wreck who will die if we do not assist them now. Get your priorities in order. This is not a salvage operation anymore, this is now a rescue operation and if you people do not start acting like adults immediatly I will clap you both in irons and lock you in your cabins."

By this time Oreza was back to the airlock, having traversed the surface of the wreck's hull in long rapid steps. "Six Four, there is a man, Dylan, trapped in the ships medical bay, the space is pressurized but he has no suit and there is no airlock, I need you to talk to him and think of a way to get him out if there." He began issuing orders, not letting Sienna or anyone else have a chance to interject. "Amelia, assist the survivor in the shuttlecraft if you pleas" he said next, then, "You in the computer, whoever you are, we will sort out your situation shortly, but I would greatly appreciate if you did not lock down the ship systems, we may need to leave in a hurry if there is an emergency" he said to Crash, then finally, "Sienna, we need to talk. On the ship. Now" It was not a request. The big Nepleslian went right to the airlock and reboarded the ship.

Concordia Veil - Cockpit

Confusion and alarm was all over Sienna's face as her hands flew over the controls and computer consoles before her in the pilot's couch with increasingly frustrated ferocity as one by one the systems started to either shut down or lock out her controls. "No, no, no, what the frack!?" she exclaimed frantically as she tried in vain to stop whatever process the damnable astrogator had started. If she hadn't been angry before, she was positively furious now. She didn't know how she'd done it, but she knew it had to have something to do with that robot she'd locked in the cabin moments earlier, which now was apparently speaking to her through the ship's computer itself. In a way, she was almost as angry with herself for not fully realizing the threat that the automaton posed as she was with Amelia, but at the moment she wasn't nursing fantasies of breaking every bone in her own body with her bare hands.

She was about to launch into a venomous tirade against both Amelia and this entity called Crash when Oreza's voice suddenly thundered over the comms, and although it was marred with static and interference, his unmistakably clear message instantly gave her pause. Involuntarily her jaw clamped shut and clenched as she listened to her first mate berate her, her eyes widening indignantly with every word. By the time the ex-soldier threatened to imprison her on her own ship, she was quaking and tight-fisted once again. Several times she tried to interject, and every time, Oreza cut her off, authoritatively wresting command of the entire operation from her hands. Who the hell does that asshole think he is!? she thought as she bristled, but was neither able nor given the slightest chance to form a coherent defense.

The young captain couldn't possibly imagine herself being any more angry or insulted. She wanted to scream, wanted to break every single thing she was physically capable of destroying within arm's reach. Not only had she almost totally lost control over her own crew and operation in a such a short timespan, but she now was but a few steps away from being a prisoner on her own ship. This... this was precisely why she hated people so much. Not one of them was worth her time or trust.

She never should have bothered with hiring a crew. She had been so much better off on her own.

Space - Outside the Derelict Shuttle Bay

Milimeter by milemeter, the shuttle crawled its way out of the shuttle. There were few bumps along the road, but hopefully not much else then scratched surface. At least there was no warning about damaged hull. So either the thing that should tell Shrie was is broken does not work or nothing is broken. The tall lorath was okay with that. At least she did not noticed anything wrong. If she would start to slowly loose air, she would just fall asleep and then die. That would not be such a terrible death, but still it seemed that the shuttle was fine. At least its cockpit was fine and that was what mattered.

The shuttle was free, back in the space, leaving the belly of its dead mothership. Shrie could finally see what happened and she could not wrap her head around it. What could tear ship almost in two piece like this? Shrie saw what a ship looks like after it was hit by a weapons fire or explosives. This looked similiar. Shrie imagined some kind of torpedo got in and exploded, tearing the ship apart. Or someone smuggles large explosive inside the ship.

"Amelia," Shrie called her friend. "This thing. It was no accident. I think. This was cause by big explosion. Maybe torpedo. The one of that energy... ether or something. I think... danger here. Where is your ship?"

Derelict - Outside

Amelia listened to the lecture from Oreza in silence; she had come to terms that the universe was not a fair place long ago, so there was no sense in arguing the point further after saying what she said. Although, couldn't he realize that assisting the survivors had been what she had been doing this whole time? The astrogator groaned at that thought, her feet clattering agaist the top of the shuttle as she took careful steps towards the rear of the smaller spacecraft as it inched its way further and switching to the other channel as she did so, "whatever, I don't think I'm part of a crew anymore, anyway. Open up the airlock," she said once, stopping and waiting for the clamshell doors to open.

Shrie nodded to herself again and opened the clamshell door again. After all she did not bother to pressurize the cargo part of the shuttle again. Now Amelia jsut had to get in. Shrie also cut the thrust and tried to stop the shuttle as much as possible. "Gate is open." Shrie said to Amelia. "I think back of the... shuttle damaged. When clamp go off. Computer says possible, hull damage. Got to check that, before I try to put air there."

Shuttle - Cargo Area

Amelia reached for the open clamshell doors, grabbing onto them firmly before swinging herself back down. The small burns that she had taken were starting to hurt again, while the tender spot in her forehead seemingly wanted to join in the fun as well, throbbing in a dull-ache as the magnetic pads on her feet locked her against the deck of the shuttle. "Copy, I'll look around" the astrogator said, stepping into the small spacecraft and turning words into action as she moved around the small cargo area and looked for anything that looked like it might have compromised the airtight hull, either from the thermite or from the collisions that the shuttle sustaining flying out of the derelict.

Shuttle - Cargo Area

After a thorough check of the interior hull, Amelia could confirm that it was more or less intact, at least as far as she could see. If the damage done to the shuttle so far had compromised its ability to hold an atmosphere, it wasn't readily apparent, and she could be fairly confident that pressurizing the cabin would be safe, provided that they were cautious about it. If it was done too fast, and there was the possibility of a breach somewhere, the sudden increase in pressure could cause the weakened structure to fail and blow the atmosphere into space.

Shuttle - Cargo Area

"It's okay, just do it slowly," Amelia said after doing the quick check on the hull, "and let me know if anything happens while it's repressurising the area," she added, one hand reaching over to rub the other arm as she waited for the process to start. The astrogator let out an inaudible sigh, looking around the area; at least she had her most expensive belongings on her, if she really wasn't going back to the Veil.

Shrie did not respond, she simply shut the clamshell gate again and started slowly pressurizing the cargo again. She had her eyes on the gauge to see if she was actually loosing the pressure or not. "Hope this works," Shrie said to Amelie. The lorath watched her instruments and hoped for the best. It would be nice to get off this shuttle as soon as possible. Shower would be nice as well.

Concordia Veil - Airlock

Now back inside the ship, Oreza sealed the airlock and cycled the system before pulling his helmet off before moving into the ship proper. He took a deep breath as he started his way through the ship. He knew Sienna was going to be livid, but she had gone too far and needed to be set right.

He entered the cockpit, shutting the hatch behind him and locking it, then reached over the main control consol and flipped several switches, disabling the microphone pickups in the small command center.

Oreza crossed his arms as he stood blocking any chance of getting to the door. "Explain yourself" was all he said.

Derelict

Six Four looked over its shoulder, the frozen corpse in front of it shirtless and a whirring (though silent from the lack of sound in space) in place of its hand.

There was an audible sigh on the coms when Oreza told it to take care of the person in the medical bay. "This one understands, switching priorities."

The medical saw clicked back into place before Six Four replaced the medical gauntlet over its hand and made its way towards the screen. Flipping though the messages, reading each one at an accelerated pace the doctor began to reply.


closing the pad for the moment, Six Four made a beeline after Oreza and followed him back towards the ship.

Concordia Veil


It took a few moments for Six Four to get back inside, nearly missing the opportunity to dip into the ship with Oreza and had to wait its turn to use the airlock. Once inside however it made its way towards the lockers where the spare dusk suits were kept. It paused however when it heard the large nepleslian's voice from the cockpit.

"Annoyed: This one was correct in its hypothesis. The captain is as mad as a monkey on a trike, restraining protocols activated."

Removing its glove once again, Six Four cycled its hand over for an injection of Nolern, putting its hand behind its back as it made its way to the cockpit. Approching the locked door, Six Four knocked with its 'free' hand waiting patently to solve some problems.

Shuttle

The displays in the cockpit slowly started to register the shift in atmosphere, gradually changing across the board to green as slowly as Shrie made the adjustments. Close to the end of the pressurization process, there was a sudden, unexpected bang, and then nothing. The status board showed full cabin pressure thoughout the shuttle, although the computer maintained its warning that the hull was potentially compromised. Perhaps it was just a precaution, an early warning of some kind that maintenance would be required, or perhaps it was an indicator of a more serious problem just waiting for the chance to explode into something far worse.

In the cargo bay, Amelia heard the bang even louder, although she couldn't locate exactly where it had come from, and could see no visual indication that there was any problem.


Concordia Veil - Outside the Cockpit

No one answered Six Four's knock at the cockpit hatch, and on the other side, she could hear a fair amount of angry shouting both from Oreza and Sienna. Looking through the tiny window in the hatch only offered a view of the back side of Oreza's massive, broad shoulders, making it impossible to see exactly what was going on. But from the sound of it, it wasn't pretty.

Shuttle

Quickly spinning around on her heels, Amelia frantically looked out for what could be the cause of the noise, and for a moment she thought that the Veil had actually opened up on the shuttle. Upon seeing that nothing was actually exposed to space, she eventually relaxed, sitting down and pressing her back against the wall of the cargo compartment. Maybe the structure of the hull had been compromised but only on the outer layers, which would explain the fact that the craft still was able to maintain an atmosphere, although she was pretty sure that risking any more stunts would probably change that.

With a hiss, the helmet from her Dusk suit unlocked, allowing her to remove it, and the astrogator set the piece of headgear between her legs as she waited to see what would come out of the situation. Maybe Oreza would be able to defuse it somehow, but she highly doubted it after her outburst; People were remarkably good in forgetting the good things but remembering the worst, and the captain of the Concordia seemed to be the kind of person who wouldn't let that slide anyway. So it would most likely end with her having to bug out of there before they got control of the weapons back.

Shrie looked at her console, waiting and worrying. All the sounds and anxiety mixed made her feel bad. She almost whispered a prayer to Goddess, but realised that it would not help anyway. Not when she did not believe anymore. It was just a very old custom, something she used to do in path and what crawled back into her head. Shrie hated it. Praying to a god, one does not believe in was a blasphemy on its own. Finally the cargo cabin pressurised and Shrie sighed in relief. Quickly, she unlocked the cockpit.

Standing up, she opened the cocpit door and finally could see Amelia without her helmet. A young girl indeed. Shrie did her best to make honest and natural smile. That was not easy with face she had.

"Better come in." Shrie said to the girl. "Cargo. Danger. Maybe."

Derelict, Medbay

Dylan read the message. " An android? A Freespacer? Oh well, if he's a doctor that's fine with me. And he wants medical supplies." He said. He looked around quickly, and saw a small emergency kit. "Well, it's better than nothing. It's all I got." He grabbed it. There where only a few bandages left, some tube with ointment, and some adhesive plasters." Wow, it's even better than I thought." He said sarcastic to himself.

He got back to the console, and tapped in:

Shuttle

"I'm alright here. I got this," Amelia said, tapping the helmet that was resting between her crossed legs. She wanted to be able to get out in a hurry if she had to, so staying away from the cockpit was a good idea. Besides, she still didn't fully trust the lorath, not to mention that the other woman's massive size more than discouraged her to stay in a small room with her. Taking a deept breath, the astrogator scratched her head and simply waited.

Shrie looked at the girl, then in the cockpit. She was not sure, why the girl wanted to be in potentially dangerous place. Shrie hugged herself with her arms in a bit nervous gesture. "There chairs," Shrie said turned her head back to cockpit, then smiled nervously. "More comfort? Not safe in cargo. Please can we go to your ship? This shuttle bad. I can protect."