RP: ISC Phoenix [Interlude 4] - A Hard Day's Night

Zeta spend first day of week watching Echelon. She didn't trust the damn thing before and now it occupied an armor that is very hard to destroy which didn't help really. But then it looked like everything is okay. Deadly enemy normally doesn't play pranks on the crew, but slits their throats.

Zeta returned to work on the off-road. She was pretty much finished now. All that was left was the generator and changing the front window. Zeta didn't know how to repair generator and there was no extra front window. Generator will have to be repaired by Arin. At least she talked about it before they landed on Nepleslia Prime.

Zeta finally climbed out of her cave and took a shower. She then maked her hairdo and walked to cockpit. She was gettin curious about flying so she kind of liked watching John doing his job. She leaned on the wall and said. "Say John. Is there any chance you would teach me how to fly. I mean it looks amazing."

A bored-looking, uniformed, young nightwalker abwehran grunt walked toward the newly arrived ship. Walking around the ship till he found the entry, which he promptly knocked upon. He then took a step back adjusting his googles. He never knew what to expect from the aliens. He crossed his upper arms while kept his lower ones close to his pistol and a wooden stick both of which were slung around his waist. "Weltraumflotte Office of Inter-national Trade requesting permission to board, check for illegal cargo, and guide!"

Panther had memorized the ship's layout, and among the gun practice and tending his flowers of hidden danger was somewhat bored. It was a little tough to get into this life style on a star ship since he had before lived a moment to moment kind of life.

He was walking around when he heard a knock on the door and a voice. The Kohanian had overheard something about entering space of a new group of aliens and wanted to see it first hand. Panther activated a com on a wall and said, "Luca, we have a guest."

The ship had docked in a small space station, wherein shortly after docking, it was approached by the Abwehran nightwalker and given a good knock.

"Hold on a second," Luca had decided that it'd be a wise idea to change into something that made him look snappy, rather than rugged. A white shirt with a popped collar without a tie, a black vest, and black pants - but he was still wearing his combat boots. A sort of "Bloody Sophisticated" look emanated from him.

He decided not to take any of his firearms with him.
"Okay guys, we're about to make contact with aliens," Luca cautioned as he stood at the airlock.
"What do they look like?" Sebastian inquired, in a similar dress, "I've heard of Abwehrans, but can't say I've seen 'em."
"Let's find out," John hadn't bothered to get changed.
"What if we're offended?" Hitori asked politely.
"Try not to be!" Luca cautioned with an exaggerated point and a raised voice, "They could take offence to that!"
"Dear me, offence?" Hitori replied flatly.

"Yes. Now will someone open the bloody airlock?" John was quick to get to the point, "We can't resupply unless we actually get out there."
"Fair call," Sebastian said as the airlock equalised pressure with the exterior atmosphere and opened slowly to greet the Nightwalker.

Wow, he has four arms and a tail! Was Luca's background thought, and it showed from the look of wonderment on his face.
Hm, surprising. Sebastian wasn't fased, he'd seen a lot of weird things in his life anyway.
Don't be offended, don't be offended... Hitori was repeating ad nauseam to herself.
I wonder if they have a saying for typing with three hands? John thought smugly, sniggering quietly to himself.

"Hi, we've come to pick up some food for the last leg of our trip," He stepped out, and as he did so... "Can you give us directioOOOOHH!" ...Abwehran Gravity hit him, "Search, the ship, we're just, passing through. Ignore, the guns. Can, explain, if, you." He was having trouble supporting almost four times his own weight on the station, "Really want to know."

The guard smiled as the newcomers literally hit the deck. It never really got old. He offered all four hands to help any and everyone back up. "if you'd like we offer rather stylish hoverchairs for aliens not entirely used to our gravity. And would the captain mind walking with me through the ship?" he flashed a good smile like the charming captain of the grav-ball team he used to be a part of.

"I don't need traction, I can get around just fine." Vincent grunted. His knees were bent and the exposed muscles around his shoulders rippled with the exertion of keeping upright, but even if he fell the mercenary wouldn't accept help - he had too much pride to hold onto.

"Just show me where the guns are at, I'll be fine," He grunted again, placing a hand against the wall's umbilical to force himself upright.

Uriel was shortly behind them, and seeing the commander and others brought to their knees, he was wary and prepared. The Patrician remained on his own two legs quite well, even straighter than Vincent, which he remarked upon silently with a hint of pride. The only sign of discomfort was his slightly slower speech, which could also be mistaken for great concern for tact. "Hello, sir." He offered a slight bow of his head, fearing that a full and proper bow would result in a painful faceplant. "I'm Uriel Hisshana." Then he turned to Captain Luca. "I could... fetch the victuals for you... that is, if you like Captain. Just provide me with a proper list."

The guard nodded to Vincent. "I forgot to introduce myself. I am Maat Nevaraon. Maat is the rank. Nevaraon is the name." he offered his upper right hand towards Vincent. "I've got a pair of leg braces if you would prefer."

When Uriel bowed to him. He awkwardly returned the bow, "Good day to you sir. I can escort you to the main trade plaza. Which would probably for the best. A lot of Abwehrans haven't learned Trade as well as I have." he offered his lower right hand towards Uriel.

The angel took a solid step forward and leaned forward to grasp it, as he guessed was the reason for it being proffered. He was a strong one, physically and mentally, and he'd be damned if he let this gravity best him. "I would imagine a native knows best," was his answer.

Nevaraon nodded to Urial. "It's more of my job to guide you around. Keep you out of trouble with locals. I'll take you the low grav side soon enough. Less merchants but less trouble too."

"Leg braces are for cripples, invalids and the elderly, of which I am none." Vincent scowled, standing up completely straight. The exertion of the action was written across his face and torso but he held his head high anyways.

"I. Am. Fine." The mercenary took one long stride forward, which felt like he was moving through treacle, before he began to move out of the umbilical and towards the station.

Uriel smirked inwardly for just a moment. It was slightly amusing to see such a large Nepleslian with the gung-ho soldier mentality forced to struggle. Not that the Patrician was doing much better; he was in genuine pain with the gravity tugging at his wings. Too long and he feared that they would be torn right from his shoulders. He let none of it show, though, other than the occasional grimace. Best just to follow quickly and quietly.

Luca quickly gave the Nightwalker a tour of the ship. Showing off the furniture strewn everywhere, the modifications made for long term living, the engines, and a glimpse of the armoury. While he was doing this, he was explaining the adventures of the crew and the ship, with particular focus on his most recent attacks against him on Nepleslia Prime from weird and woeful assassins.

"...so that's why I've all these guns. Don't worry," Luca said as he walked past one of Vincent's Chainguns, and the Lorath WIND armour suits, "I've got permits for everything, and we're only trigger happy when I say so."

This time, on the way out, Luca was able to keep his feet in the high gravity, since he expected it. "Now," He said between breaths, "Let's, go, shopping."
He was barely able to walk, but he could still get around, just.

"I'll stay here and answer any questions the Guard has," Sebastian sat down, looking out on the loading ramp of the ship, chuckling to himself as he watched the three amigos fumble around with high gravity.
He flicked a folded note to Vincent. It was Crane's shopping list. All of the items seemed pretty easy to come by, and Seb was paying for it.

"Try not to trip over," He waved as he watched the three try to keep their footing in the high gravity.
Fortunately for them, the low gravity trading area wasn't too far away, and it would be conversely funny to watch Abwehrans struggle with lower gravity than what they're used to.

After taking a moment to gather his money, Enzo was headed out the door behind everyone. When his feet hit the ground with such weight as to cause tremors throughout his body, he cringed. The duster on his back felt as if it were made of iron. With a heave, he shuffled back into the ship for a moment to remove the offending article along with his boots, leaving him barefoot. In a final weight combating effort, he threw off his shirt as well, leaving him in nothing but his tank top and cargo pants. He relocated his money cards to his pant pocket and his pistol to a bandoleer before sliding back out the door. With his extra weight removed, Enzo was able to walk up right, his pistol tugging at his shoulder as if it were a rifle. He smirked with regained confidence and mentioned out of the side of his mouth, "This is nothin' compareds to free-running in Funky City with sixty kilograms of weights wrapped around you. In fact, once you gets used to it, yous can pull off the momentum tricks easy."

There was no time for Zeta to hear John's answer. It looked liked he wasn't listening anyway. She will ask again later. She just stopped by armoury and took her easy sub machine pistol. Put it into holster and went by her bed to pick up her jacket.

She ran to catch up with captain and others. Not knowing about gravity change she ran into corridor and the surprising change threw on the ground. "Bloody hell," was she said as she was standing up again. "Ouch," she added. It was hard to stand here, but she went anyway. Feeling very sorry for that heavy military boots she was wearing. Well at least this will be some good exercise.

She walked slowly and caught up with others. "Damn this. I would like to be an ID-sol for next few hours," she said walking behind a captain and looking for anything that would like to harm him. Is bounty hunting legal in Abwheran space? Zeta didn't know and wasn't very eager to find out.

Nevaraon inspected everything that was shown to him with mostly a bored glance. He however listened to Luca's stories with much more interest. Asking a question here and there but mostly listening with rapt attention. He almost seemed sad to be done inspecting if just to hear the stories. "If you don't mind. I would like to take the liberty of showing you around. I know the low gravity side pretty well." he offered to the crew.

"Learning to fly with passengers probably ain't a good idea," John replied to Zeta, eventually, "Could teach you how to fly a shuttle, but it'll take time."

"If that's the case, lead the way." Luca said as he walked back out into high gravity. Eventually the ground crew was able to stop putting all of their attention onto walking as they crossed into the low gravity area.

Looking at the abwehran wares and items and listening to some of their musical tastes in the interim, was an exotic experience. Luca even stopped to start rocking out to the tunes due to its 'rocking-ness'. He purchased some of it. However, shopping for food was probably the most interesting part, even taking the free samples proved interesting in itself.

Since the Abwerhan digestive system was still similar to that of a human, everything was familiar to the crew, except for one small detail: The increased gravity had a positive effect on the food, making it denser, stronger and most importantly, more nutritious, possibly.
Some of the Abwehran traders who spoke the language didn't seem to notice this since they were accustomed to it, they did say that they got this reaction frequently.

"Looks like we can survive for longer on less from here," Sebastian observed as Luca radioed this discovery to him, "What do you think of buying twice as much so we can go for longer?"
"Where do we put it?"
"Buy another fridge, or an icebox, surely," He replied before cutting the line politely.
"Enzo, find an extra item to store the food proper," Luca directed as he started filling out the forms for a mass-order, "Vince, I'm going to need a way to transport all of this back on ship, preferably not lifting it together."

"Sir," The Abwehran trader inquired as he looked at the amount Luca had requested on sheet, "Why so much? You feeding an army?"
Luca blinked, "Sort of."
The trader leaned forward, putting all four hands on the counter in interest, a smile on his face, "Are you some kind of bounty hunter crew?"
"One of the nicer ones," He nodded knowingly, "'Course, we're not pushovers either."

Enzo made no reply other than a simple nod. He turned to Vincent with challenging eyes and a wicked smile-- the fore-fathers of friendly competition. With a nod towards the center of the market place, he set forth sliding around a nearby corner in an easy jog. Within a few minutes, he was back; shoving his way through a small crowd of people. He turned and shook his fist at the Abwehrans and shouted a few choice words in their language, his thick Nepleslian accent almost overridden for a moment. "Was ist der große anung, ya four-armed dickheads?"

When he was done shouting at the Abbie's, Enzo made for the captain with a short list. "These three guys gots freezers around here, Cap'n Pavone." he began, running his finger down a small piece of paper, "This one's not cheap; but its the only brand new one. The other two guys says they're willing to takes theirs to the ship, but only after they'se gets paid. I don't trust 'em. No cash on delivery, no delivery. You want I should keep lookin'?"

Nevaraon laughed as he heard the announcement from the short little man. "You don't have to worry about getting short changed here. I think that's the right expression. Anyway, you can trust them to deliver. We Abwehrans are honest. Especially on this station, I make sure of that. As long as you make sure to pay. They don't like being cheated and usually charge extra if they have to take their stuff back."

"Heh, with Enzo's haggling skills, they are lucky to get paid at all," Said Zeta with a smile. Along the way she bought herself a pack of cigarettes. Not the poisonous pipes Enzo smoked, but more quality stuff. Especially since they were supposed to not leave that bad stench normal pipes left.

Zeta took out a *** and lit it with a lighter she got with it. She inhaled and enjoyed a taste of tobacco. Then she let the smoke leave her lungs. They tasted good and they weren't even half as smelly as Enzo's.
Well, they were worth the price, which wasn't exactly low. I have to buy more of this stuff on a way back to ship.