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

"I can wait that long," Luca said as he got a deck of cards from an unseen pocket, "Now, who feels like playing poker during the meanwhilst? Five stud, no bets needed."

He shuffled the deck a couple of times and put the deck down for whoever wanted to play.
"I'll take you on easily," Sebastian observed with one of his previous experiences as a gambling dealer returning to him, "You're too honest, see?"
"In that case, count me out," Anna said as she got up and left the table, "I have to keep an eye on Robert. Crane?"
"Yes Ma'am," Crane said as he put what was left of breakfast on a tray and gave it to Anna. She moved out of the room.

As Anna made her exeunt, John poked his head in with a wide smile, "Did I just hear strip poker?"
Luca blinked incredulously, "Err-" He frowned, "Hell no!"
"Aww... fine, have it your way," He poked his head back out.

Luca turned to Zeta, "Don't mind him," He assured, "He's our pilot, and he's had a few too many dates with Rosie Palms."
"I heard that!" John retorted.

Zeta was a little surprised being spoken to. She was still confused with friendly routine on the ship. She looked at John and greeted him with nod.
"Hello I am Zeta!" she said to him. Then she pointed her head to Luca.
"Poker eh? Sounds nice skipper, but I still have some work in garage. One of these off-roads is in horrible shape."

Meanwhile, floating around in space, probably (Hopefully) nearby....

"It's the morning of the third day... Or maybe it's just the night of the fourth." Vince blinked, stirred in his chair, and sat up. He thought to himself, "Maybe it's only the second day, and I just dreamed about drinking a whole bottle of brandy and then taking my gun apart over and over."

His heart sank as his eyes rested on the peices of his Type 29 stretched out on a console in front of him.

"Um, where's the amplifier?", he accusingly asked no one in particular, shuffling through all the peices and trying to find it. After a short amount of time searching, he gave up and did what he did every morning when he got up: try and reach anybody in the world.

He flicked on all of the escape pod's communications systems and did his well-practiced spiel: "This is the former captain of the shuttle, Lady of the Night, to any nearby ships. I, uh, don't have any sensors, so I can't see you if you're there. Anywho, I'm just here in my little escape pod and I'm reeeally lonely out here. If anybody nearby could just pick me up and whip me over to a port or something, I'd be very generous. Not that I have much. After all, I am in an escape pod, but I promise you it's a wise investment! Any takers? Anybody?"

...

"Tough crowd, man."

"All fun and games until we touchdown and someone complains that the car doesn't start, eh?" Arin huffed, seeing the connection between the hardworking Zeta and the rest of the poker playing crew. She got up to stand beside the latter party and the contrast between the two women could be easily seen, but were both opposed to having any fun when there was work to do.

The Representative led Zeta by her cybernetic arm. "It'll be a lot faster if the two of us are at it, let them find some other new person to make a lazy bum out of, eh?" Arin winked.

"Lazy bum reporting," Vincent grunted from the kitchen counter, stowing away the last of his multiple dishes. The hulking ID-Sol shuffled over to the poker table and gave the captain a thumbs up, signalling he was descending into the snake-pit with the rest of the crew. Sure, he had never played poker, but he had seen enough of his crewmen playing poker to take a shot at it.

It was at this point where he picked up a transmission heard over the intercom. He immediately inverted his thumb and shook his head in a 'job to do' fashion, then headed for the bridge and his post. "Lady of the Night Escape Pod Alpha Zed-One, this is ISC Big Bird, bearing two-five Galactic North by nine-four Galactic West at cruise speed, we have you on scanners. Diverting course to pick you up."

Zeta didn't try to stop Arin in having her away. Poker sounded really nice, she knew these rules but she never played before. Could be fun, plus no bets. But well she wanted to dig in that car too.

"It should go nice and steady with two of us on the job," said Zeta, "I am not sure if we will be able to repair it completely since I wouldn't expect some of the missing parts on the ship. We should be able to change electronics. We can let windscreen be it is just cracked. But what really bugs me is the engine. What happened to that car? You get into a firefight or what?"

Vince shot up from his chair, knocking over everything in front of him in an effort to reach the communicator.

"Roger that!" he shouted with estatic suprise, "And I've still got half a bottle of brandy here for the man who made the descision to come and get me!"

After throwing out his response, Vince quickly began to gather his things and throw them into his footlocker. After seeing that he had space left in his footlocker, Vince began looting through the escape pod's storage compartments. Rations, hygene products, a few small things he had shoved into the escape pod when he was cleaning his ship.

"Lucky for my inability to organize things!" he thought, throwing item after item into his footlocker. After some rummaging, he stumbled upon a packet of shaving cream and a razor. With the same feverent rush of someone eating for the first time in weeks he emptied the packet onto his hands and began quickly shaving.

"Okay, I'll fly over there in the Phoenix. Luca, do you want to pick him up with a WIND suit?"
"I can do that, yeah, I'll bring another for him," Luca said as he moved over to the armoury, "Get the shuttle prepared and I'll be over in a second."

Within a couple of minutes, he stripped down to his heart-pattern boxer shorts and singlet, and donned a WIND suit, helmet and all. He kept another one with him in folded up in a backpack. He also donned his HHG, strapping it to his belt.

He moved over to the ISC Phoenix shuttle, got inside and gave John the thumbs up.
"Let's roll."

The little craft left the shuttle bay and begun heading towards the escape pod. John donned a headset.
"Lady of the Night Escape Pod Alpha Zed-One, this is ISC Phoenix," He enunciated, "We're going to pick you up in an odd way. See if your footlocker is pressure sealed and prepare to wear an environmental suit when my friend comes in. We'll scuttle the escape pod. Keep the space end of your airlock open until I say so. Understood?"

The suit clad Luca moved out into the airlock, the shuttle end of the airlock closed behind him.
"Ready?" John asked via intercom. Luca gave a thumbs up and a nod, "Okay, prepare to get spaced."

The airlock of the ISC Phoenix opened up towards space. The Lady of the Night's escape pod was in sight. He stayed where he was until the airlock of the other ship was open.

Some of his gear begun to float around while he was carrying it. His HHG floated on his waist. He wondered about how he'd get from one point to the other without floating into a sun or something.

Meanwhile, back on the Big Bird, Robert was snacking away on some breakfast foods from the comfort of his stretcher.
"How's the leg?" Anna asked as she inspected the cast.
Robert shrugged, "Getting better, I suppose."

Vince quickly finished his shaving job before a quick, "Roger, thanks again pal!" into the communicator. He began pulling off his coat and shirt while stomping down the items in his footlocker to so it could close securely. He leaned into the mic as he unbuttoned his pants to add, "I might also hug you, by the way. Be prepared to be hugged."

Vince slid his pants down so quickly as to trip over himself and fall on his ass. Without even stopping he kept pulling them off and threw them into the footlocker before turning a large handle on it twice. Once to close, again to seal. He adjusted his undershorts as he unlocked the outer airlock on the ships console.

"The outer airlock is now open, Phoenix. Please proceed with, uh, saving me and stuff."

Luca gave a nod as he jumped out towards the vehicle. However, he jumped a little too high and threatened to careen into space. He unholstered his HHG, pointed it upwards with both hands and fired. The resulting recoil sent him back on course, and landed back first into the airlock of the Lady of the Night's escape pod.

"Okay, close the space end of the airlock and let me in," Luca said as he rapped on the shuttle end of the airlock rhythmically and holstered his handcannon, "I've got another environment suit with me in my bag."

The backpack that Luca was wearing was floating around his back, but still strapped on.

The airlock slowly slid shut behind Luca as Vince began the pressurization procedures on his console. Vince closed his hand over his nose to pop his ears before sliding the final lever to level out the air pressure in both chambers. The inner-door of the escape pod slowly split apart, the interior lights still flickering on behind it. Vincienzo almost shed a tear when he saw the suited figure standing before him. Nevertheless, he looked him up and down and mentally appraised his equipiment. Well, mostly mentally.

"Nice stuff," he said affectionately, "I'm suprised to see you in that suit. They're very expensive to people who aren't, yaknow, birds. Unless of course, you get the right person to move 'em for you. But that's neither here nor there. It's cold in here and I'm practically naked and I may still have shaving cream on my face. Either way, the names Vincienzo Bortelli, Vince, Vinny, Enzo, whichever you like!" As he said this last part, he outstretched his hand to shake with a sideways smirk.

Luca nodded in his suit, took off his backpack, which contained the extra WIND armour suit, and gave it to Vince.
"I have a few friends who look out for me to help me do what I do best, after all," He said as he took put his hands on his helmet, de-pressurised the interior of his suit and took it off. He smiled at Vince with his winning grin.

"I'm Luca Pavone. Saviour of Yamatai and Nepleslia from Cain's Virus, Mishhu Splatterer, YSS Goban Survivor, part time Bounty Hunter, Delivery Man and all-around nice guy. Pleased to meet ya, Vince."

Luca accepted the handshake with a grip befitting of his reputation.

Vince barely breathed as he took the WIND suit into his hands and began pulling it over his body. After a little bit of the old up n' down trying to get his legs in, Vince closed all the seals and crooked the helmet under his arm.

Okay, Mister Adventure," he said with fained pointedness, "In order to expidite this process, I'm going to scuttle the pod as we're leaving it. Go ahead and put your helmet on; I'm gonna depressurize the whole thing and then open up the airlock. Since the cab is already depressurized, there won't be any sorta pull when both airlocks slide open. At the same time, it's gonna short out the air scrubber and therefore render the pod useless. It's the quickest way to scuttle this little bug without firing any weapons."

"So, without further ado..." he added, sliding his helmet on. Vince checked to ensure Luca's helmet was on before he opened the outer airlock and hit the "Match Pressure" setting; sucking all the air out of the room and sending it into space through the vents near the door. After the pressure reached zero, Vince slipped his hand across the console turning off certain systems, flushing the remaining thruster fuel, deactivating the deflectors, and opening the rear doors. He and Luca began to float as the false gravity was shut down. Soon, only the lighting systems remained. Vince reached under the console and grabbed a bundle of wires, yanking them with full force. Sparks shot up from the console and bounced off his visor. The controls were locked for all eternity. He gave a quick thumbs up to Luca, clipped a small tether to his footlocker, and headed towards the open airlock where Luca floated.

He keyed his mic: "Let's get the hell outta here. I've been here almost a week as it is and I can tell you, the place is no good."

"Don't worry," Luca said as he raised his HHG, flicked out the cylinder and removed the "White" bullets, stashed them, and replaced them with "Red" bullets stored in one of the compartments of the armour, "These bullets explode, It'll make the scuttle a lot quicker." He flicked the cylinder back into place, gave it a whirl and pulled back the hammer with a grin.

He got his suit radio on, "John, turn around and prepare to pick us up. Airlock open, two men and a suitcase travelling via explosion, like in Corsairs of Sector P-NZ53.. Got it?"
"Yep." John replied, "Awaiting cargo, be quick, too."

"Okay, hold onto your arse," Luca said as he backed off towards the back of the airlock, close to space with Vince and his footlocker next to him. He levelled his hand cannon to the front of the ship and kept a two handed grip, "Escape pod is going bye-bye."

Unfortunately, due to space not having anything to allow sound to travel through it, there was silence as the explosion rocked the shuttle and propelled the two men and the suitcase backwards. Had this not been the case, it would've sounded a bit like this:

KATA-POW! - WHADA-THOOOM!!

"aaAAaaAAaaAAaaAAaaAA!"
On the receiving end of the the two flying men and the suitcase, the ISC Phoenix's airlock welcomed the cargo and closed behind them once they'd fallen in. However, they'd fallen into uncomfortable, if not dignitary compromising positions.

"I wanna do that again," Luca smiled as he kipped-up off of the ground from his chest with his legs over his head and cracked his neck, but a pain from the damaged muscles in his right shoulder shot up and made him recoil a little.

"Bringing you in..." John said over intercom as the shuttle drifted back into the bay. The shuttle side airlock opened again, to reveal the interior of a shuttlebay of a Vampire Class Cruiser, the ISC Big Bird.

"Welcome to the Bird," Luca said as he stepped out, removed his helmet and took Vince's bag as a courtesy.

ShotJon said:

"It should go nice and steady with two of us on the job," said Zeta, "I am not sure if we will be able to repair it completely since I wouldn't expect some of the missing parts on the ship. We should be able to change electronics. We can let windscreen be it is just cracked. But what really bugs me is the engine. What happened to that car? You get into a firefight or what?"

Click to expand...

"Oh, we get into firefights all the time." Arin muses, she gently tapped the NAM Easy Submachine Gun that she had holstered on her right side, on her left was the much larger T-1 Dragonsbreath flamethrower. "You good with a gun? I'm not. Often than not we only have just enough firepower to get things done, it is an uncomfortable margin."

On the way to the cargo bay, the footsteps of the Representative was heavy, it was due to her habit of carrying everything and anything at all times. "Just tell me what is missing, I'll get the part for you." She winked at Zeta. "That's what I'm good at."

Vince stepped out of the shuttle and looked around the hangar bay with slitted eyes, darting from one piece of equipiment to the other. After he finished sizing up his surrounding he said, "Nice place ya got here, Cap'n Pavone."

Vince looked back at Luca before continuing, "I do have a few questions for ya though. First off, do you have a workshop on this ship somewhere? I lost the amplifier for my cute little Type 29 and I was wanting to put together a new one with some of the stuff I found in my escape pod. Something I've been meaning to do for a long time, as it were. Just never been forced to do it. Also, what exactly did you want in return for rescuing me? I've got folks in Nepleslia who could give you a great deal on some used merch. With, of course, my input they could give you and even better deal. I could also do some favors for you around the ship. No offense, but this shuttle bay could be spacier-- lower the floor panels a bit, rearrange the parking; maybe raise the floor panels and have some 'special' storage space, eh? And I guess my final question: the most important one, too. Where were you headed exactly, how close is it, and what do you plan to do when you get there? I kinda got lost in that escape pod. I was going after the closest star when my thrusters stopped working. So, I have no idea where I am exactly." After he finished his long-winded interrogation, Vince had to take a deep breath before he could add, "Boy, I forgot how good it feels to talk to someone other than the footlocker for once."

Zeta looked over weapons at Arins belt. She knew NAM, but the other gun was new to her. Arin is probably part of ship security if she don't have to put her guns into the armoury.
"Well I must say, it's been few years since I last fired a gun but I was pretty good shot then. I don't have fancy gun like you do, but my laser pistol is enough for me."

As they walked into garage, Zeta instinctively looked around for threats even if she knew that they won't be there. For some people it is a habit. Zeta has it coded in her. She looked at damaged off-road. Her jacket lied on the seats.
"Well, like I said most things are pretty easy to repair but the engine. Repairing electric motor shouldn't be hard but the Aether Generator is in bad shape. I am not sure if we can repair it, maybe it is time to get a new one. But let's have a look at it first."

"Mmm, mmm." Arin nodded along to Zeta's statement, but inside she thought that the Yamataian-esque ODM SEP Laser Pistol was the more fancier weapon. She also noted the other woman's cautious entry into the room. Popping the hood of the vehicle, she made a few observations.

"From my experience, Aether Generators are powerful but complex and fragile. The bulk of what you see here is just the armoured casing." She patted the battered generator lightly. "If this thing still works, then the damage is merely superficial." She produced a wielding mask from one of her side pockets and warmed up her T-1 to Oxy-Torch mode. "I'll patch it up first, you start on the rest?"

"I remember putting the workbench down in the Armoury we set up in the Cargo hold..." Luca thought aloud to Vince, snapping his fingers in comprehension, "Oh, yeah - Did I mention we were moving our base, too? Everything's in a bit of a mess, 'cept for the kitchen and the infirmary."

Luca lead Vince through the shuttlebay, weaving past various bits and pieces of furniture, ranging from the humble Brown Couch, to the Televisor 12000 and its huge stack of Video Discs set up in the ship's lounge. The workshop and the armoury area were mostly intact too.
"Just don't try to nick anything,"

Meanwhile, John had resumed his post at the controls of the ship, he was getting the hang of it all pretty quickly, and smiled at what he saw on the scanners.
Nepleslia Prime was very close, now. About half an hour to get there, including entering atmosphere and landing.

John picked up his headset and broadcast this message through the ship, "Guys, I'd recommend you buckle up, we're about to get to Nepleslia Prime," He warned, "I'll try and make this all as smooth as possible, but be prepared if a jolt happens."

He then got an incoming message, "ISC Big Bird, this is Nepleslia Prime space control tower, your purpose of this visit, please?"
"Control Tower, this is Big Bird, the purpose of this visit is for holidaying purposes," John replied.
"Hold on a moment, we'll just have to run a quick contraband scan of your ship, then you're clear to land."

A small shuttle sized craft zoomed along nearby and begun scanning the ship, flying close to it and stopping sometimes.

"Nothing too risky detected, you may proceed." The man in the shuttle replied happily. He was willing to overlook the massive amount of weapons on the ship thanks to Luca's celebrity, "Have a nice trip."

John was then filled in on the landing vectors and codes, and found a nice landing pad for the ship.

"Hang on," He cautioned as he begun to enter atmosphere.

Arin will take care of the engine, huh? And that gun is also torch? Nice!
Okay onto the electronics, then. Most of the wiring was fried, so it needed replacing. Then she heard John's message over the intercom.

Zeta got into her work a little since she didn't want to go somewhere to buckle up. Instead, she would just hold onto something nearby.
The good thing about a prosthetic arm is that if you catch onto something, you won't let go until you want to! She thought to herself.

But she watched Arin to see how she'd react.