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

Vincent's thoughts didn't process for a second, as Enzo turned to him. The first bit had gone quickly, but not too quickly. Vincent's mind searched for the next lyrics and, in the spread of a second, he had the next part.

The merc's speaking voice may have been gruff and grumbly, but his singing voice was a moderate improvement. His mid-range vocal capabilities were well formed, which was good - the Marine had often been portrayed as gruff and simple, and Vincent's own speaking was gruff and simple.

"On the middle hour of a sunny day,
The great Marine Chief Riley Mackay
Went to the market to find some wine
And instead found something much more fine!

"He noticed the girl with the fine buxom chest
Leaving the market to take up a rest,
when the opportunity presented itself,
he said, "Hello ma'am, glad you ain't an elf."

The last bit would only make sense to anyone who was privy to military lingo or civilian sayings. "Glad you ain't an elf" was obviously referring to the members of the pointy-eared Nekovalkyrja race. Vincent grinned, hoping Naoko had caught that last bit, at the same time realizing Hitori was still on board.

Robert caught the bottle and knife with one hand and continued to juggle the other objects in just one hand. He added the bottle to his juggling objects. While the knife was opened and spun around his pointer finger. "Now I'm a little drunk but I'm fairly sure I can still do this." he said as he aimed at a spot on the wall slightly higher than Vincent's head. "Now stay very, very still Vincent. I don't want hurt you."

"Sisters of Mercy," Sebastian hiccuped as he sprawled out on the couch with Anna by his side, "I remember that song, lovely ditty - great for when things go wrong. 'Course, I got my sister of mercy right next to me." He put his arm around Anna, who giggled and pecked him on the cheek in response.
"You cheeky brute!" She smiled.

Luca came back in and knocked back a beer quickly, "Honest drinks, honest people, and hopefully Drift will have some interesting drinks," Something struck a note in his mind as he looked towards the Super-Demon possessing Freespacer.
"Hey Echelon," He asked, "What do Freespacers drink?"

Echelon paused for a moment, then appeared to go red faced, "No data available, since we do not need alcohol to survive," She then made a reconsideration, "However, Freespacer bodies are able to break industrial chemicals down into beneficial materials, and we produce our own nutrients and have a limited oxygen production."

"So if you had a body, you could drink radiator fluid, paint or oil?" Luca replied, curious.
"Yes," Echelon replied, "Your bodies cannot drink industrial chemicals, due to organ failure, toxicity and radiological illness. And our bodies cannot tolerate an environment without dangerous amounts of ambient radiation."

"Actually, I knew me this one fella who drank drain cleaner on a dare," Melissa piped in, holding a beer aloft, "Wosn't the same afterwards. Was all sickly-like. Didn't die though, 'cos no true Delsaurian is gonna succumb t' piss poisoning!"

"Your friend is a fool," Echelon replied.

"That's..." Luca was positively enraptured with the thought of an alien race being so different, yet so approachable, "Interesting."

Drift was getting closer, and the Big Bird had crossed into the United Outer Colonies, still following the space lines close. Many other ships were breaking off of the formation to make their way to other systems such as Lor, Koukotsu and Shugosha, but the Big Bird was headed towards Jiyuu.

((There was a minor miscalculation, Drift is further away than I anticipated, but we can overlook that in the name of moving things along.))

A message popped into John's field of view.
"ISC Big Bird, this is Drift Control tower. Do you copy?" A voice on the other end of the speaker said.
John took up his headset, "Drift Control tower, this is ISC Big Bird, what is your query?"

"We are requesting your presence,"
"How come?" John scratched his head, "Special occasion? Party? Hotel deal?"
"Governor Vanatosk is requesting your presence," The voice on the other end of the line was frank, "Apparently our Founder and Governor has some history with your captain, and would like to re-acquaint in person."

"I had a feeling Luca planned this," John grumbled aside from the headset - but this was also the place to deliver that little package the Freespacer gave the crew back on Nepleslia Prime, "Alright, what does this mean?"
"Hotels, food, drink, security, and a heroes' welcome for the crew who saved Yamatai and Nepleslia."

John was mumbling to himself, but if this meant a heroes' welcome and guarded hotel rooms, he wasn't complaining, "Alright, give me a docking vector."
A vector of approach was given to the ship's computer, "Thanks, we'll be there shortly."

Drift itself, on physical inspection looked like a titanic freespacer vessel which'd been retrofitted to accommodate Freespacers, and humans alike. Symbols of various cultures, Yamataian, Nepleslian, Outer Colonist, Lorath, Freespacer - even Abwehran had been painted or otherwised embossed onto the hull.

A small amount of ships were floating around outside the station, either sitting by idly or watching things go by. The docking bays were wide, and open, and there was a special spot with the Big Bird's name on it.

Next part was on Zeta and she was quite ready. Meeteing of marine and first sister was her favourite part. So she took a deep breath and took it from there.

The woman turned to the marine
"Hello my name is Eileen
and I am not the elf kind
and glad am I that you aren't blind."

That's what she said,
with smile on her face.
"What could be name
of soldier that brave?"

She winked to Vince to continue.

Arin looked outside her viewport "Whow!" she audibly exclaimed like a child seeing a spaceship for the first time. Nevermind the Nepleslian and Abhweran stations, and especially the Yamataian ones! Places like these had no luxury of having entire sections mass produced in a large foundry somewhere into streamlined shapes. Every bump, every crevice and protrusion here is a story of improvisation, ingenuity and hard work!

The Representative looked forward to exploring the station. Not because it was poorly documented by the Nepleslian authorities (In fact, the Democratic Imperium is closest diplomatically to the Freespacers out of all the rest!) But rather in awe and respect to the product of jury-rigging proponents such as herself.

Since Luca left and the little one might save her meal for later, Panther stood up and turned to leave, "Stay out of trouble," he mumbled as he walked back to the party with the plate in hand.

The small NH stayed standing on the sheaf of wires for a little while, deciding apathetically what her next move was going to be, but not overly inclined to take any immediate action.

Nobody was trying to kill her in the immediate vicinity, and an animal-looking alien was being nice to her. She had almost been smashed to death by the butt of a pistol, but on the other hand, Naoko was lightyears away from where she had started her sojourn. Here was much preferable to there - but where was here, exactly?

Nimbly, she jumped from the sheaf of wires halfway up the one bulkhead to the ledge right beneath one of the Vampire's viewports, which showed an impressive view of space and allowed the inspection of the surrounding stars and planets.

And that station.

The station looked like hallitosis with an axe on a bad hair day. Going anywhere -near- it would give any biological being some sort of tetinus.

She touched the pane with the tips of her fingers, tracing the jagged and unorganized outline with the juice from the unidentified, cooked meat she was holding.

"Does it even have atmosphere?" she found herself wondering aloud.

"Well, seems like we're here," Jimmy observed towards Nyezeh, taking a look at an image of Drift, "I've never heard of the place myself, but isn't this a bit close to your homeworld?" Jimmy was a bit curious as to the Lorath in general, and hoped to learn more.

"Preliminary reports suggest that Drift is rather 'laid back'," Echelon recited after finding a few stray reports, "Due to neutrality, location, and legitimate trade that comes through frequently. Reports also suggest that polysentience is active here, as is a Freespacer community and synthetic intelligence."
Luca frowned somewhat upon hearing 'laid back', since this conflicted with 'interesting things will happen' from that Abwehran lady.
"With any luck, yes," He feigned a smile. He took a mental note to holster his HHG on the way out.

"That means you can get yourself a body for a while in a safe environment," John chipped in as Drift was getting closer, as was the docking bay. He was bringing it in smoothly, "If this place was freespacer made and repurposed for humans, I'd think that there'd be some extra space for true freespacers to operate proper. But, must concentrate,"

John's voice perked up on intercom, "Alright guys, this might be a bumpy landing, so hold on tight."
The large dock was more suited to trader vessels, and the ones that were there were brimming with numerous goodies, including food, weapons, ammo, arts, crafts, literature, games, electronics and more chemicals than you could shake a stick at.

The landing of the Big Bird was quiet, and only slightly bumpy. The ramp came down and nearby, there were a few people waiting outside. This included some armed Freespacer automations, Jiyuuians to accompany them and a certain, Scandinavian featured Yamataian.

Sebastian and Anna were first down the ramp, they took a look around, "Hm, seems like the environment is human safe," Sebastian breathed as he noticed the dignitaries nearby, specifically the Automata, "Who're you s'pose to be?"

"I am Police Sergeant Warcase-654-2AE-22F. 65 in shorthand," The Automata stated flatly, without inflection, "Whilst there is a commitment to freedom above all, there are some simple laws. Do not kill, do not steal, do not harm the station."
"Are these laws succinct?" The Jiyuuian standing next to him asked.
"Indeed," Anna replied, turning to the Scandinavian, "And who are you?"

Luca was coming down the ramp with the small box of Freespacer stuff under his arm, although he had a frown on his face, he noticed the Freespacer automations, gave them a wave, and then noticed the Yamataian. There was an awkward silence.

"I think you should let Luca do the explaining," the Yamataian replied as his face broke into a wide smile upon seeing his comrade in arms.
"GALAR!" Luca dropped the package and leapt forward to tacklehug the Governor of Drift, "Who'da thunk it that you'd be all the way out here after the Goban?"

"Pleased - to see you - too!" Galar was a little out of breath, winded by Luca's reaction. The automata were slightly alarmed when they noticed that Luca had a pistol, let alone a HHG by his side. Noticing this, Galar calmed them down, "Don't worry, he's safe."

John then moved off the ship, picking the package back up and leaning back near the loading ramp, watching the reunion.
"Well ain't this happy? Can I go to a hotel and not get shot at now?"

"Look like we have to finish it later mates," said Zeta as they started with landing manuevers. When they landed she quicly drank a full glass of water to weaken effects of alcohol in her blood stream. She only had two or three shots, so it should be okay. She should be able to work as a human shield.

She then took her knife and standard enrgy pistols. Because bullets flying in space station aren't good idea. She they quickly run to catch up on Luca. Running down the ramp and seeing her captain hugging some man. Looks like old friends. Let's hope it is not old friend who wants some money. Luca maybe too trusty and who know how persuasive can people who want him dead. Many people betrayed other for less then thousands of KS.

But she is going to let Luca catch up. Let her worry and full of paranoia. He can by joyful and happy meanwhile. And boy Zeta hoped betrayal is not on today list. Or on any other list related to Luca.

Robert flicked the knife closed, tossed it back to it's owner, then started catching the items he was juggling and set them on the table one by one . He followed Zeta out onto to docking ramp sheathing his knife.

He didn't make much of Luca knowing someone here. The boss's friends, and enemies for that matter, were so varied that he didn't care that much anymore. Instead he looked around the port. It was one of the most amazing places he'd seen yet. "This place is pretty cool." he remarked to Zeta.

As the celebrations wore down, Uriel rose and gave thanks to them for the alcohol and entertainment. "It was wonderful."

He was making his way down a corridor when John warned all passengers of possible turbulence. The Elysian steadied himself in the doorway to the makeshift rooms in the cargo hold, but it hadn't been a necessary precaution. His Tiger's Tears was right where he'd left it (on his bed), and was quickly belted before Hisshana made his way off the ship.

The angel made his way slowly down the ramp, examining all those present fastidiously. Leaving home hadn't been as easy as Uriel had expected, and all these aliens made him uncomfortable, despite his efforts to the contrary. Joining Luca's crew had only made him more edgy.

The Patrician came to a halt beside Robert, and asked in a quiet voice, "What is the predominant race on Drift, do you know?"

Despite the abrupt ending to the festivities, Enzo was still in a relatively good mood. He gathered his weapons and stowed his guitar in the cargo bay. As he left the ship, Enzo arranged his various weapons on his person, the snub-nosed pistol at his waist, the large revolver under his left arm and his knife clipped to his left pant pocket. He also took the liberty of filling up each of his cargo pockets with shells: .45's on the right and .357's on the left. By the time he joined Luca and the others on the dock, he was ready for anything. And by the looks of their reception, anything was right. Despite the fact that Luca already knew the Governor, it seemed strange that he would appear in public to greet them upon arrival. Enzo rummaged through the area with his eyes. He had been there before, to hide from Yamataian authorities, and it wasn't an unpleasant stay.

Enzo was quite fond of the place in all actuality, but the presence of the Yamataian authority figure made him uneasy. He pondered as to whether or not he was still a wanted man in Yamataian space as he stood silently behind Luca, a cigarette dangling helplessly from his mouth. Without so much as a grunt, he slid his pistol around to the front of his thigh and lit the ***; causing a puff of smoke to emanate from his general vicinity.

Panther arrived as the rest began to leave, he picked up a bottle that had a little bit of drink left. He shrugged a little then drank whatever was left thinking that he would need whatever he could to get by whatever came at them next, then set off to his room to change cloths.

A little later he came wearing a black long sleeved sweater, grey pants, a and a sports cap. He wasn't attempting to hide his race as he was trying to hid the number of knives hidden under his clothing, and that was worth looking a little odd.

Upon arrival he was a bit lost to what was happening other than things seemed to be working just fine. The Kohanian assassin could care less and instead looked around, taking in what ugliness that can only be made by fleshskins.

Zeta's train of thougths was de-railed by Roberts sudden question. She looked at him before returning to look around carefully.
"It's okay," she replied. "As long as nobody will try to assassinate the Captain today, any place is really cool," she added to that.

Robert shrugged at Uriel's question. "I've never been here before but since it's a freespacer ship I'd imagine that freespacers would be. But who knows for sure?" He shook his head. "Dont really matter that much to me." He turned towards Panther, "Isn't this place cool? I've never seen much."

Arin decided to go with the non-combat loadout, the automata security seems paranoid enough and the welcome was warm. This meant the basic uniform, Datapad, multitools, camera, Fabricator and the TF-1 Dragonsbreath for utility purposes. As she stepped on the exit ramp however she noticed Echelon still in the M1 Demon, that thing would severely restrict its movement around the station and draw unwanted attention. Since the rest of the crew had accepted the AI, Arin felt that it was best if she let her misgivings go.

"Hey Echelon." The Rep walked up to the M1. "My Datapad has wireless capability and a tad more power than the Demon. If you would download yourself into it, we could explore the station together and find a proper housing for you." Arin brought out her customized PDA. "I promise I won't delete you."

"Close is a relative term," Jolokia responded, giving her shoulder another test and feeling the tightness in her wing muscles, eying the cup of medicine. "I've been on a Freespacer ship before, and let me tell you, if this Drift place is anything like that, we're all gonna have to watch our hands, wings, and any other fiddly parts we've got waving about."

The Lorath woman picked up the cup and sloshed it around, looking at Jimmy, "It's like the worst parts of an assembly line, furnace, reactor and brewery all rolled into one." Tilting her head back, she downed the mixture like it was a shot. Scrunching her nose and sticking out her tongue at the taste, Nyezeh's dramatic display was a short one. "And with none of the booze."

"Maybe a light painkiller," she asked, a sheepish tone and pointedly not looking directly at the doctor. "The boss might need me to drive and I don't want to end up asleep at the wheel."

Vincent stepped down off the Big Bird's exit ramp. One hand was loosely wrapped around the grip of his iconic Hand Cannon, the rough-hewn grip easily visible beneath the edge of his hand. It was fairly obvious that he was prepared to pull security duty - even though the hand was relaxed, his thumb hovered dangerously close to the hammer, and the ID-Sol's eyes darted left and right every second.

Once Luca tackle-hugged the apparent authority figure, though, Vincent returned his Hand Cannon to its holster. He crossed his arms and looked around the hangar. The place looked haphazardly built, gantries and support struts jutting from the upper parts of the wall and cieling at random angles, and comically large bolts secured what were obviously scavenged deck-plates. Vincent couldn't help but admire the Freespacer's tenacity and courage - living on a death-trap like this, held together by rust and bolts, with the possibility of a Yamataian genocide looming overhead any minute... It was definitely the kind of life to get the adrenaline built up.

Vincent immediately stomped off towards the merchant's quarter. Maybe he'd finally be able to get a hold of a Finagle's Revenge - it was fairly obvious that, since this was a vessel of Freespacer origin, it would have a Freespacer gun on it.

Not one who would appreciate the Freespacer art of clobbering a bunch of metal together, Panther's reply to Robert was, "I guess."

Panther noticed that there was plenty of hand holds if he needed to climb due to the random nature of the structure. He wondered if the challenge would be worth doing if the area wasn't so crowded at the moment.

Uriel frowned briefly at Robert's response- or rather the uncertainty of his answer. The idea of meeting Freespacers was absolutely delightful. He just wondered if there'd ever be a chance for him to actually engage one in conversation- hopefully more than one.

But of course, it was unlikely, and the Patrician wasn't going to get his hopes up just to come crashing down. Pavone's crew moved quickly and things were ever changing. It was unlikely things would calm down long enough to have a worthwhile conversation.