Yoshi
Inactive Member
~~~~~~~~~~
Dawn Station
Three months later
~~~~~~~~~~
There she sat, the Awesome Super Ship: Hyper-Acceler-Turbonine an Ge-Y1-2a - "Henkei" Cargo Runner. It's full name appeared in the registry, though painted across the nose in neon pink was A.S.S:H.A.T. The paint job on the hull looked like a Freespacers wet-dream oozed across its hull in fluorescents and neons. Her registry gave its ownership to a company called ''Arachnic Robotics''. This company was owned by another shell company, followed by another thirty. It was, to a point, that it wasn't clear if there was a real owner, let alone how it was paid for. The Shipyard it was "purchased" from had it filed as a transfer to another lot. For every up-in-up part about it there was something plenty shady about it.
The Henkei Cargo Runner was docked in a slip right close to the Concordia Veil, and was decked out with a stocked kitchen and medlab. She was ready for a cargo run;if only she had a crew.
One crew member of the Concordia Veil had been in the new Henkei, Working on hard wiring a system to control it. That one individual had been making sure it was ready, since Sienna had disappeared a week before. No one was exactly sure where she had went, but Crash knew the crew, who never did any wrong to It, needed pay and a way to survive. It had played with different strains of the data webs of the universal data streams. It had done things, and a ship appeared ready. Crash never asked hard questions on how these things worked. It was better for its health. So after a few days of hard work, when Amelia was asleep, tuckered out from the many flight lessons Crash had been giving her, It was happy that It would be able to fly the H.A.T. from a plug-in system in the coded and locked bridge. The Command chair had been replaced with what looked like a Ship's AI computer core. Though with in it was a simple plug in port and a nest for the Archnid bot.
Once Crash was satisfied with the ship and it's "upgrades", which most would have called them jury-rigged mess, It had spent a bit of time wheeling and dealing with diffrent firms on Dawn. After finally finding someone willing to take a change on the new ship, Crash got a contract to take a shipment of noodles, repair parts, and a single passenger to Leo Star Fortress. It would be a fairly long run, but the contract also had a pick up there to be brought back.
So Crash knew It had to trick the crew in to following Amelia. Her Datajockey vibrated and toned with a hacked jingle. It was obvious to her it was Crash.
Code:
Killerbot 3000 - I need you to come next door... We have a contract and a ship to fly... you also need to convince the rest of the crew to come along. Pick up in in three hours. So do hurry... Bonuses for everyone... If we finish the contract...
A - I'm on my way.
A few minutes later, the airlock to the next hangar hissed and opened, allowing the Nepleslian to step inside. In the past three months, Amelia had changed her looks for what it seemed to be the better; her hair was much shorter, which took away much of the unkempt look that it used to have, and she wasn't wearing the plain and faded clothes from before either. A black and orange jacket replaced the old one, with the sleeves folded above her elbows, while she still wore the same black sweater underneath it, along with the baggy cargo pants and work boots. Her hands were tucked into the pockets of the jacket as she inspected the much larger ship in comparison to the Concordia Veil.
Instead of calling out for the spiderbot, the Nepleslian walked around the hull of the freighter, inspecting the headache-inducing display of painting around it,
Crash sat there in its command tower, watching Amelia on the exterior vidfeeds. It was curious how long it would take her to find the airlock hatch, or the open cargo-bay door. Maybe she developed brain damage from all of those high-G turns and twists.
Code:
Killerbot 3000 - You going to come in? or are you to mesmerized by my awesome paint job?
Amelia looked at the Datajockey once she received the message and sighed, making her way around the spacecraft towards the access ramp. She had to agree, though, in a way, the paint job was interesting to look at because every second she looked she realized how it was impossible to make a crazier paint job than the one that ship currently had.
If Crash had heard that thought It would have thought it a challenge. As Amelia walked in the ship, one thing she would notice was the fact that the living areas of the ship were far nicer then the ones on the Veil, although the cargo areas looked the same. Flipping a digital switch Crash opened the internal ship intercom, "Welcome to the Awesome Super Ship: Hyper-Acceler-Turbonine. It is pretty spanky isn't it?"
"Yeah," Amelia replied as she ran a hand through one of the walls while walking along the first corridor. The recycled and cooled air inside felt and smelled nice, and the ship didn't have the "old-house" vibe that the Veil exhaled, which was a nice thing. Not that it was necessarily a bad thing for the Concordia Veil. "You said something about a job," she added.
"Yeah come up to the bridge and I'll tell you about it." Crash spoke once again over the intercomm. "I know she's not as cool at the Veil, but she will do until Sienna shows back up..." Crash still wasn't sure where she had gotten off to, but It had kept an eye on the crime and body count lists for the station. Nothing fitting the cranky Captain's description appeared. Without a word, the Nepleslian walked down the length of the ship, going up to the upper deck and towards the bridge. She didn't stop to look at the areas of the ship, but did notice that the cabins -unlike the Veil- were individual. At least she would have more privacy.
Amelia pressed the side panel next to the bridge's airlock, watching as it slid open and stepped inside the also -unsurprisingly- bigger bridge.
"That'll be locked when we have the others aboard." Crash spoke with out the intercom as it crawled out of the command tower it had built. "What do you think, will it do for now?"
"Yeah, where did you get your hands on this ship?" She asked, walking inside the command bridge until she turned to face the command tower. "Why will it be locked, though?" She asked, interlacing her fingers behind her back as she inspected the bridge.
"It was donated." Crash responded not really wanting to explain how It had screwed with shipping files and what not to have the ship delivered here. "As for why lock the doors. I don't trust them... As it is I'm going to show myself to them as 'Captain Big Pants.' You will convince them I over a pretty good pay rate and that they should work for me temporarily." The bot paused for a moment before continuing, "There are locks on the Vail. Ones I can't disable, we need funds to keep it in port, and well I'm starting to scratch the barrel of what I'm worth, keeping it in the slip."
The Nepleslian stopped looking around the bridge and turned to face the bot with a neutral expression; it was very hard for her to mask the disapproval of that. "They're gonna wonder what kind of captain never shows up to the crew, while only I am the person with access to the bridge," she said, looking at the bot. "Besides, It's not right to convince them on a lie," she added.
"you missed me saying I was going to introduce them to me..." the bot leaned forward and looked at her closely, prompting her to lean back from the sudden approach. "You don't look like you bumped your head." the bot chittered. "I have the Guard bot body with those clothes to hide my spider body on its back. As for why you only have access.. you are the navigator, they are not. None of them were need on the bridge before. Why should that change?"
A simple "Hm" was all that the Nepleslian answered, turning around to run her hand along the surfaces near the consoles of the bridge. It was much roomier, meaning that she didn't need to hoist and twist herself to get on her seat, and the leather of her seat seemed to be new and well kept. "I guess I will message them and let them know to show up. Just one thing, though. What's the job?" She asked, turning back towards the bot's perch.
"Cargo run to the Leo Star Fortress... And one passenger. The other reason the Bridge will be locked, along with everything behind the medlab bulkhead to the internal cargo bay. The crew can access everything back there... But I don't think the passenger needs access to the engine room or the shuttle bay." The bot chirped as it thought, "Oh and there is in the contract a bonus for cargo picked up there and brought back. If we do this quickly enough we'll be back in time for me to pay the bills for the Veil again..."
The bot turned to head to the cabin it had set aside for Amelia, and vis a vis Itself, "Oh one thing I want you to think about... At Leo there is a guy that can hook me up with a life like droid body... If you want me to get it..." The bot shrugged it's arachnid shrug and started off to the cabin to get "changed" to meet with the rest of the crew.
"Hey, what do you mean 'if I want to'?" The astrogator asked as the bot started to make its way out.
"Well I know it is hard for you to date and be with a bot..." The bot in questions paused but didn't turn back, "Something about physical needs or something..." it was a true war with in it not to chitter about what it had just said, like a 10 year old hearing the word boobies.
"Oh shut up," She replied, turning around as she reached for her Datajockey again. Amelia started to type out a message for the Veil crew, but in reality, she had turned around to keep her flustered expression from showing.
"You asked me..." Crash chittered and went of to go and put on it's new persona.
"Yeah, whatever," Amelia replied, finishing up the message. She pressed the button to send
Code:
From: Amelia Stroud
To: All Crew-members of the Concordia Veil
Guys, I've met a captain who needs a crew for his ship, no strings attached. The hangar location is annexed to this message, so feel free to drop by if you're interested in the job, but don't too long because the spots might get filled.
PS: He's a Freespacer, so beware.
Last edited: