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RP: The Fringe [Chapter 2.1a] - Licking Their Wounds

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Concordia Veil - Captain's Cabin

Sienna downloaded the system coordinates and pulled them up: the Neue Jaspis star system. It was a fair jump from where they were, but not prohibitively far, provided they could make the trip profitable enough to offset the fuel and supply costs. Brushing the information to one corner of the display, she keyed one more message to Tam.

We'll contact you again when we arrive. Till then, sit tight.

She left her own name out intentionally; if he was half as good with network systems as she suspected, he probably already knew it anyway. She saved the data page on Tam's star system on her PHC for later reference; she would have a fair amount of research to do, but for now, she needed a hot shower. She was starting to feel unsteady and twitchy.

Deactivating the PHC display, she shoved back from her desk and stood up, raising her arms high over her head and arched her back in a stretch, then ran both sets of fingers through her hair before running them down her face. Blinking hard, still trying to get her eyelids to stop quivering, she walked over to gather up the clothes, toiletries, and towel she'd laid out on her bed, and went to the door. It opened with a metallic whoosh and grind, and she stepped through.
 
After attending to Sienna, Oreza had departed from the ship. He had errands to attend to. He spent a good few hours tracking down some old contacts of his, one an old engineer who had flown with him for some years before Oreza had been obligated to sell the remains of his old ship for scrap.

The man, once located, had suggested a possobility of a replacement gun turret to be had for a decent cost and put him in contact with a parts supplier of decent reputation. The old engineer had also put in more than a few good words in edge wise to the supplier, since he owed Oreza a favor or two, garnering some credit and allowing for Oreza to purchase the turret and gun system along with some other assorted spare parts of use, with the remaining little funds Oreza had left.

The retired captain then visited the storage bay he retained with a few odds and ends left over from his old ship. None of the components would work on the Veik, they were entirely different ships and incompatable to eachother. So he sold the lot to the storage facility, save for a builders plack off his old boats keel and spent the funds entirely on hiring the best yard dogs he knew and trusted on Black Moon to do this sort of work.

Some hours now after having left the Veil, he returned in a flatbed lorry with the gun turret, boxed, strapped down and tarped over on its flat bed and a dizen hands to cut away the damaged mount and install it.

Parking in the hold thatballowed access to the shaft in which the Veil was docked, the yard dogs already out and suiting up for zero g, vacuum work even before Oreza was able to exit himself.

"Thanks chaps" he said to them and let them get to work. He took out his pipe and lit it as he climbed his way to the Veil's tunnel and airlock, then boarded the ship. He made his way to the lounge, a thin trail of pipe smoke in his wake.

"Good day" he greeted Sienna as he spotted her, armfull of clothing and all. "I trust you are feeling better?" he asked, shifting his pipe to the side of his mouth so he could speak easier ans went on talking before she could say anything.

"I have delt with the situation with the destroyed turret" he said. "A crew of yard hands I trust is installing the new one at this moment, we should be ship shape in a few short hours"
 
Concordia Veil - Lounge

Sienna answered the first mate's first query with a mere nod and unintelligible murmur as she closed the door to her cabin behind her and keyed the lock. When he mentioned that he had "handled" the repairs already, however, she stopped and turned to look at him with an annoyed frown.

"You 'dealt with' it?" she repeated in a half-question, half-bemused statement. "What do you mean 'dealt with it?' I don't want a bunch of yahoos turning wrenches on my ship! This is the Black Moon, you dolt. Did you forget what happened the last time we had 'dock workers' aboard? How do you know you can trust them, Bear?"

The young captain released her armful of clothes onto the couch at her side, her shoes, bra, and toiletry kit falling over onto the floor, and started a determined, purposeful march for the door to the main hallway. "I'm going out there right now and telling 'em to frack off. God damn it, Oreza," she grumbled irritably.
 
Concordia Veil - Lounge

Resting one hand on top of each other on top of the helmet, which in turn rested on top of her lap, Amelia leaned her head back against the wall. The simple gesture had been almost enough to almost make her sleep right then and there, still inside that suit, but when the door to the lounge slid open again she quickly brought her head forward, watching Oreza, and then Sienna come out from their respective doors. The astrogator watched them intently, becoming one with the couch as she further pretended to not be there, even more so when the captain put her set of clothes right besides her, making her press her back against the piece of furniture harder as the faux-leather squeaked under the pressure.
 
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Oreza grumbled and in two steps impised himself between Sienna and the hatch, firmly blocking the way.

"You listen here" he started, "I know these chaps and hired them before, some even served with me on my ship and back in the navy. They are the most trustworthy and skilled yard hands you are luckily to find out here, let alone back on Nepleslia" he stated. "I think I have a bit more experience in these matters than you give me credit, Sienna Shelton"

"You will not go out there and insult a good crew and send them off. They have been hired and paid and will do their jobs properly" by the tone of Oreza's voice, this was not a suggestion.
 
Concordia Veil - Lounge

Sienna skidded to a halt when the big man stepped in front of her, very nearly running into him. Gritting her teeth, she tried to go around and even shove past him while he reprimanded her, but he blocked her every time. Glowering slightly, she glared up at the towering big man from beneath her scowling brow, her face reddening with both anger and embarrassment, or perhaps anger because of her embarrassment.

She had half a mind to teach the old man a thing or two about talking down to her. A quick knee to the groin would humble the big aging soldier for certain. But instead, she simply ground her jaw harder. She simply wasn't in the mood, and was too tired to argue.

"Fine," she replied in an even, deliberately inflected voice, lifting her chin. "You win. Like I said before Needle Happy jabbed me, you wanna run this outfit, it's yours. You're the experienced one. But let me clear somethin' up for you," she continued, leaning up towards his face. "This is still my ship. I don't give a flying frack if you got more flight hours than me. You ask me the next time you even wanna look in the goddamn gas tank." Even with her exhausted appearance, the look of deadly seriousness on her face and her grim tone made it clear she wasn't about to be bullied any further, even by Oreza. "You want your goons to do this job, you pay them."

She stared him down for another few seconds before turning on her heels to go collect her clothes and toiletries, and blanched when she saw Amelia sitting there, apparently having seen the whole thing. Her throat double-clutched on her, and she started to bristle. With a sneer that was directed at no one in particular, she snatched up her belongings from the seat and floor next to the astrogator, doing her best to hide her utter humiliation. "Hi Amelia," she snapped with mock cheeriness as she stood back up and forced a tight, unpleasant smile, saying nothing about the unfamiliar-looking suit that the dark-haired girl now wore.

Turning back to face Oreza, the disgruntled and weary captain's feigned smile vanished. Saying nothing further, she merely raised her free hand, held it in midair for a second, and flicked it twice to the side in a terse, wordless demand that he step aside. As he did, she walked out of the lounge and clomped off to the lavatory.
 
Veil's Lavatory...

Crash Had given up on trying to stay out of the way, there were to many things to try with It's new body. One was it's new watertight abilities. So after sending a message to Amelia that It was going to be busy for a while and that It had loved the afternoon spent together, and maybe another date should be arranged soon. It crept into the lavatory via ventilation shafts and wire runs ducts.

A basic shower sounded like a good start to the trials. So as It walked it worked out a process to test in increments. First a leg... then a mandible... then a quick hop through the falling water... then a few seconds in it... then a full minute. Each time stopping to check systems and run damage control sensors.
 
Lounge

Oreza stood there, watching as Sienna left. Once she was gone he sighed, rubbing his face with the palm of his hand. "I swear that woman is going to drive me te an early grave" he muttered and slid into a chair. He had, of course, paid for the replacement parts and labor with the last of his money, for the good of the ship. He was sure he should be regretting it now and shook his head, puffing at his pipe. Sienna had no clue what she was doing, no concept of how to deal with her crew, let alone understand people might be trying to help and that not everyone was out there to rip her off or cheat her in one fashion or another.
 
Concordia Veil - Lavatory

Sienna closed the door to the ship's only bathroom behind her with a grinding whoosh, and yanked the locking lever angrily with much more force than was necessary, causing a moderately loud, metallic bang to echo briefly through the corridor and within the tiny room. She turned and stepped over to the locker, heedlessly throwing her clean garments, towel, and toiletries onto one shelf, then sat down on the edge of the toilet and started to unlace her boots.

As she reached down, she hesitated and looked at her hands suddenly. For a moment, she temporarily forgot that she was upset at all when she noticed that they were shaking slightly, and she was unable to steady them. She rubbed her open palms vigorously on her pants, opened and closed her fists, and tried to shake them out, but each time she tested for results by trying to hold them still, they still quivered ever so little. Something wasn't right with her, and she suspected there was more to it than just feeling tired and mentally beaten down.

She drew a sharp breath quickly through her nose and made a couple of fists, squeezing her fingers tightly together as she closed her eyes to compose herself. You're just exhausted, she thought at herself. Just get in the shower, relax. Everything's going to be fine.

Nodding, as if answering her own thoughts, she resolutely went back to unlacing her boots, and pulled them off one by one. Nudging them against the wall with her foot, she pulled off her socks, then undid her belt and started to undress the rest of the way. She had just pulled her tank top over her head and off when she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. Dark grey circles were under her greenish brown eyes, and her hair was a mess. Even her skin looked just a touch pale. She had looked worse before, but she did indeed look like she needed some rest. And she had only undertaken one mission. Maybe Oreza was right - perhaps she didn't have any business in this sort of profession after all.

She tore her eyes away from her reflection and reached inside the narrow shower, turning the valve to start the water flowing as she made a mental note to herself to check the ship's water reserves before she even thought about taking off. Stripping off the rest of her clothing, she threw her dirty garments in the corner and stepped into the cascading water. She winced at first at the heat, but after a few adjustments to the temperature, she eased her way in and let the refreshing cone of water cascade over her skin as she closed her eyes and tried not to focus on everything that was going so very, very wrong.
 
Lounge - Concordia Veil

Amelia gave the captain a quick wave of her hand, out of words and watching as the other woman left the lounge before turning her gaze back to Oreza. She didn't say a word then, not wanting to break the deadly silence that set on the room after the argument. Instead, the astrogator bit her lower lip as she fished her Datajockey from one of the pouches in her belt and started to to idly fumble with it, trying to do something that would keep her distracted. Seeing the message from Crash, she wrote a quickly reply to give the bot a head's up on the situation.

Code:
 > The captain just threw a fit in the lounge.
 
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Lounge

Six Four walked into the lounge, wiping its hands off on a towel from where and for what reason would spark another Six Four explanation. As it put on its gloves it wondered what had just occurred, though judging from the atmosphere and the looks from everyone something not good.

"Curious: Did this one miss something important?" It said taking a spot on the lounger next to Amelia and fished out its own data pad incase notes were needed.
 
~~Shower Vent~~

Pausing Crash read and responded to Amelia's message
Code:
 Oh? why's that? you pee in her space cereal?

Crash continued on opening the now steaming hatch to the shower. the thought did cross it's head why would there be steam, but Crash shrugged it off. Clattering into the stall with Sienna,It looked Down at her. "Oh hai! I didn't realize you would be here... May i test my new body's watertightness?" Crash spoke as it continued down the wall to the edge of the shower stall. it grabbed a bottle of body wash with it's new forelegs and tried to hand it out to Sienna.
 
Concordia Veil - Lounge

"No, not really..." Amelia trailed off as she lowered the Datajockey, staring at the doctor. She turned back around to her datapad once the freespacer took a seat besides her, but lowered it again to look at the doctor once more, "I always thought most of the freespacers were radioactive or something," she commented to Six-four, genuinely curious.
 
Concordia Veil - Shower

A familiar voice suddenly speaking to Sienna made her jump slighly and look around, but her initial surprise was nothing compared to the sudden surge of adrenalin that shot through her system when she looked up and spotted the big metallic spider crawling vertically down the shower wall.

Her eyes instantly went as wide as they were physically capable of bulging as a startled shriek belted forth from her lungs. The young woman involuntarily jerked backwards, away from the intruder, slamming her back hard against the far wall of the tiny little shower stall. Barely a blink of an eye slower than if she had bounced off of the plastic surface like a rubber ball, Sienna had shouldered through the curtain and out into the lavatory, stark naked and dripping wet, making a pool on the floor around her bare feet.

She pressed herself against the far wall, eyeing the spiderbot for a second before realization slowly kicked in, and the look of horror on her face slowly changed into anger yet again. "God damn it, it's you again!" she barked, then looked over at the locker next to her and snatched her towel from the shelf, and whipped it open to quickly cover herself from chest to thighs, still pressed firmly against the wall. "Get out! Get the hell out, ya goddamn pervert!" she shouted.
 
~~Shower~~

Crash watched the Captain dance about the room in hysterics... "Hey lady relax.. I'm not recording or anything... I just needed time in the shower...Nothing meant by it. And I'm not a pervert. I'm a Sentient program that happens to reside in both this 'bot and the ship's mainframe." Crash spoke as it moved up onto the toilet, then the counter sink.

"i really don't care about your fleshy nudity, I just wanted to find out if I'm water tight like the manufacturer said I was..." It chittered for a moment then continued. "I figured you would have appreciated the fact that i happened by right now... we can share the water that is being wasted right now, and you can wash and i can test my systems... I see no problem here. Especially with the price of water on this moon..."
 
Concordia Veil - Lavatory

"NO, ya creepy-ass metal psycho!" Sienna exclaimed loudly, cluthing the towel to her breast and pressing her knees together. "Test your systems in the frackin' toilet or somethin', just get the hell out of my shower!"
 
~~~Sink of the Lav~~~

"Well, as you can see i am not in your shower, I am on this sink..." Crash paused for a moment. If you would like I can go for a stroll..." Crash crawled down the sink and put the body wash down just in front of the Captain, "You know... things could be worst right?"
 
Concordia Veil - Lavatory

Sienna's scowl at the skittering spiderbot stayed for a second, regarding the robot as if it were a dangerous insect. After a moment's hesitation, she reached forward at snatched the bottle of bluish soap gel and immediately backed off, still holding the towel tightly against her body and never taking her eyes off of the Freespacer.

"Hmph," she snorted, hugging the wall as she sidestepped back towards the stall of cascading water and set the bottle inside. Maneuvering in such a way that maintained her modesty, she stepped back into the shower, discarding the towel only once she was hidden from view and drew the curtain quickly. "I don't see how," she responded with a grumble.
 
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Concordia Veil - Lavatory

"You don't see how? Would you like an itemized list? Or would just a few off the top of my processors work?" Crash chittered as It climbed back up on top the sink. Slowly it turned on a tap and started dipping a leg into the water. It would have been frigid to any biological, but Crash was just amused to be touching water without shorting out.

"No, I don't want any damn suggestions on how you can make me more miserable," Sienna snapped from inside the shower. "Ain't the lot of you done enough already?"

"As far as I can tell, no one has attempted to make you miserable... well maybe that bastard that tried to hack me... But the rest of the crew is trying to be what you need... not what you want." There were splashing sounds coming from the sink as Crash started filling the sink and playing about.

"God, what is it with y'all Freespacers and your frackin' psychoanalysis attempts?" the captain groaned around the sound of running and splashing water behind the curtain. "All right, fine. Everyone else is keen on tellin' me how to run this goddamn ship, so why not you? So let's hear it. Just what is it you think I need, then?"

"Well what do you need. that is a good question. I would have to say that what you need most is a good night's sleep and maybe a few drinks beforehand. Though as a crew. You need people who would make decisions based on the good of the ship first, without needing you to be right behind them giving them the right answers. You need a crew that thinks for themselves and not just mindless automatons. You need the crew you have. No one aboard at this time has attempted to destroy you or your ship, nor have they done anything to risk lives without cause."

There was a large splash from the sink, Crash had slipped into the water and started clattering about in it. Like a duck.

"Sure you want people who will take your orders and jump, you want people to bend over backwards and only look at the problems from your point of view. You want them all to be you, just with their different occupations and skills."

Sienna didn't respond immediately, only continued to wash herself for a few moments. She could be heard clearing her throat a few times and snorting as she cleared her nasal passages, then in a very unladylike fashion hack up a big wad of phlegm and spit it at the shower drain with the sound of a small pneumatic potato gun. "So Oreza's been talking to you about me too, huh?" she commented tersely.

There was the far off sound as if Crash was speaking underwater. Which he was, popping back up it repeated itself. "The old man.. no... You and my pet Amelia are the only two aboard that know about me. Though I fear the other 'Spacer might have a hunch..." Crash spashed about for a few moments ducking under the faucet before continuing. "Why?"

"Because that's exactly the same lecture he gave me," Sienna replied flatly, and started to rinse the soap off of her. At last it sounded as if she was starting to relax a little bit, only slightly less on guard about sharing her shower space with the insectoid robot, but she still sounded less than thrilled to be discussing this matter at all. "You don't gotta worry about that anymore anyway. He's running this circus now. I'm done."

The splashing stopped suddenly. "What? You're quitting, just like that?" Crash pulled up out of the sink and chittered thinking. "So because you don't have them being servants to you, you're going to go off with a tantrum? HA! That is grand... Can you sign the ship back over to me first?"

"Frack you," Sienna answered bluntly and without emotion, shutting off the water.

"Well that is what you just said." Crash said killing its own water supply, "You gave up, you ran away." It turned about so that it's main vid receptors were facing the wall away from Sienna.

Sienna actually laughed a little. "Oh ho, that's rich," she replied, peeking out from around the curtain, her soaking wet hair dripping and slicked back against her head, as if she half expected to see someone else inside the little lavatory by now, checking out her surroundings before nabbing the towel and pulling it inside the shower and closing the curtain again. "I'm getting lectured about cowardice by a robot that spend God knows how long hiding from the Yammies in a beat-up old ship on the edge of space. Tou-frackin-che."

Crash skittered along the wall, up and over the curtain, until It was Eye level with Sienna. "I Ran For My Life, YOU Are Running Because Of Your Ego..." Crash fell silent and stared into her face.

The slender young woman tensed once more when the spiderbot invaded her space again, and gritted her teeth as she quickly covered her body with the towel again, meeting the beady little stare evenly with her own eyes. "I move because it's what keeps me alive," she hissed. "Don't act like you know the first frackin' thing about me, ya worthless piece of scrap."

Crash hung there frozen, and for a moment Sienna's intense stare morphed into one of perplexion, wondering if the robot had somehow malfunctioned. It took almost thirty seconds before a Volumetric body formed just next to her, there was a faint glow of light coming from Crash as the Nepliesian Male grew in form. An average height, brown haired man stood there glaring at her, dressed in a simple spacesuit of purple and black.

Sienna's surprise was difficult to miss when the holographic man materialized so close to her, and the fact that "he" was nothing more than an image didn't make her feel any less awkward standing there in nothing but a towel. She tried to back up, but as little room in the small shower stall as there was, she only made it a couple of inches before she hit the wall, and merely pressed up against it, clutching her towel with one hand and held her other palm against the wall as if trying to push open a door that wasn't there.

After it became almost completly there, just shy of having any real effect on solid objects he spoke. Crash's true voice came out clear, "I would never assume crap about you... I have watched you since you first took over the ship, I have watched how you treat the ones around you, and how you have treated yourself. I Ran after I watched my wife killed and every chance to rescue my family from the attack vaporized. I ran because if I could only stay alive, then the memory of them would go on..." the male disappeared in a faint flash of light before the spiderbot turned and started for the vent, pausing at the vent door. "Running is one thing, quitting is another..."

The captain said nothing, only able to stare speechlessly at the spiderbot as it crawled away, her mouth hanging open slightly. A single, small, almost silent croak came from inside of her throat before her shoulders slumped down a touch. "I..." she said quietly. "I'm sorry, Crash."

"For what?" Crash turned and glared at her with It's beady Vid receptors.

Sienna started to answer, but instead, simply closed her mouth and looked away, and shook her head. "I'm... I'm just gonna go lie down," she said.

"A night's rest might be best for you... I'll be in the core... working on finding a connection to the net and you a next job." The 'bot didn't even wait for a response, Crash just climbed up out of the shower through the vent, leaving a little wake of clatter as it's legs clicked on the vent metal.

Sienna watched the robot skitter out of sight, and placed her free hand over her eyes with a deep sigh. What a mess she was in.

She noticed that her hands were quaking again, and with startled, mild horror she shook them hard. Even her heartbeat felt irregular now, and she could feel it pounding in her face. Clearing her throat deliberately, she cracked her jaw and stepped out of the stall to finish drying herself, and get dressed.
 
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