Just playing along.

Lahiri moved with liquid grace, watching everything with curious eyes. She did keep her fingers to herself, but her eyes however were watching every movement, every action. She listened to all the noises of the ship.

The tech watching the equipment stopped as a report started to print out. He picked up the sheet and started reading it over. He hesitated. "Doc.. This makes no sense. Machine must be out of calibration. I will re-run the sample." He handed the documents to Val. The point his finger was at drew her attention. The sample had shown only the normal decay of a 3 year old. The sample showed normal in most areas but with a few oddities that sometimes crop up. She was not carrying any genetic defects, nor any disease that the crew would be vulnerable to. Her sample showed that she had been given a wide spectrum immunization. The only other oddity was the incompatibility built in. She would not need any sort of preventative measures when it came to children.

The medic read the next sheet with a grin. "Looks like who-ever built her was dead on precise." The second sheet confirmed the first. She was built with a strong immune system. She would be able to shrug off sickness and poisons that would easily kill a normal human. She healed normally, there were evidence of scarring on her feet, normal in agro-worlds, callusing of the hands, again normal in agro-worlds, and an increase of basic muscle tissue, her world was pre-industrial. The scans showed a great deal about her personal history, no abuse type scarring, minor combat scarring, lungs clear of pollutants and showing no signs of extended physical hardship. She came from a very low tech world that probably would not be space-worthy. Her people grew their own food and probably lived simply. "Looks like any other agro-rat we picked up. If it were not for the tweaks to her system, I would swear she was from known space."

"And what did you have in mind for a planet?" Val scratched her chin in thought.
___________________________

Lorenzo moved Lahiri from the med-bay up the one-level gangway that led up a floor to the bunking area. Straight through the bunking area he moved to the armory and forward launch pods/airlock doors, straight to the bridge.

"And here we are. Crown Royal of the Charmer's Luck- the bridge." Lorenzo instructed Lahiri to wait at the door and moved to Vincent's position.

"Here's the life-form we found on the Veil. Thought you'd like to meet her."

"Crown?" She stood watching the events on the bridge, eyes alert. Her interest did not stop long but carried across all the activities on the bridge. She did not watch anything for long just glanced about. Her eyes did stop their darting when she got a look at the front screen. Her eyes sparkled like the stars for a second or two and then moved on. Her inquisitive nature seemed to draw her back to earth when starstruck.

Vincent pried himself out of the captain's chair, his red-irised cybernetic eye glinting in the slight darkness. he extended a hand.

"Lahiri, right? Nice to meet you. Captain Vincent Harrison."

Lahiri saw the sparkle off the fake eye. Her fingers reached up to touch it. "Hurt?" Her fingertips showed small openings to allow her claws to come out from under her normal fingernails.

"You could say that," Vincent said, remembering how he had earned that 'trophy' in the first place with gruesome detail. The iris spun, recalibrating and locking on to Lahiri's finger, occasionally expanding and retracting the pupil for a zoom in/zoom out effect.

Lahiri settled her fingers on the side of the injury examining it. Her catslit eyes glittering with intense curiousity. "Bel tas orin. Tel non as Masters. Var casr dorima a Numarians." She still examined the eye. Her scent of cinnamon and musk carried slightly on the air of the bridge.

"Err... Translation please?" Vincent looked confused by the unknown speech.

Lahiri looked confused.

One of the techs on the bridge looked up. "Unknown language sir. Not one in the data banks either."

Vincent sighed, and then switched over to talking for a change. he spoke slowly.

"Do you speak Ne-ples-li-an?"

Lahiri looked confused still. "Nis wan, Els tor. Numaric speak." Her eyes flickered about the room. She waited a few seconds. "Few words, know I"

"I'll straighten that out later." Vincent said, and told Ruiz to find Lahiri a bunk.

"Follow me." Ruiz gestured at himself before moving off down the hallway.

Lahiri looked at the flickering lights of the bridge and then at the glittering stars beyond. She mentally decided to see what was out there. She slowly followed after the big man and watched the movements of the ship. She kept up, with ease as her standard pace was faster than this. She followed along till there was an area to look around in. She was pointed to a bunk and realized they were allowing her a place. She did not settle into it quickly. She looked about for the showers, a wonder in and of itself, and the head. She dealt with her needs and returned to the one called 'Lore Enzo'.

Patrol vessel:

The Captain looked at his prize. "Send a crew of techs over to see if we can salvage the computer core. With that we can do some damage to the Pirates in this sector. Yes, Yes, I know professor. We will take the core and send a communication to base telling them about this wreck and continue on. Since we found it we will be able to claim salvage rights to it. Taking the core makes sure of that. I have reports of an alien life form aboard. If you want to examine it.... Marko where did he go?"

The Exec just grinned, "Looked to me like he was heading for the docking collar. Need to send over a few techs to see what all is salvagable on that thing."

Lorenzo found an empty bunk and deposited Lahiri in it. Then he went back to the bridge.

"Cap, what do you suggest we do now?"

"Use her. She learns fast; maybe we can get her a spot in engineering."

"Sounds good."

"Cap, I think we got another problem. The Veil fell into enemy hands. No telling if the core was wiped or not. If that core was still good, we are in deep." The first mate looked at the footage of the rescue.

"Then I hate to do this." Vincent ordered the crew to turn and reveal the Charmer's Luck's portside batteries to the Veil. When the craft had swung into position, he gave the order.

"Fire." Almost instantaneously after he gave the order, ten jets of jade-green plasma accelarated to the speed of light flashed across space and lanced into the side of the Silver Veil. Seconds later, something explosded inside the veil, and the whole construct exploded in a nexus of fire and debris.

Meanwhile...

Lorenzo returned to Lahiri with a few loose pieces of literature that had been scattered around the ship- a few magazines, several dime novels and a handbook for engine repair.

"You want to learn Nepleslian? Read these."

Meanwhile, what looked like a large chunk of space debris drifted towards the scene, seemingly with a purpose. It was pock marked with rust and damage, although it looked rather like collision damage, rather than combat. This particular piece of junk hurtled through space unguided, save for its occupant. She wouldn't be missed, she thought to herself, and for the better because she would never return. Watching the scene unfold on a minimally powered screen, undetectable on nearly all scanners, she was able to see that things weren't going well for the patrol boat. She didn't much care either way, but after the wreck exploded, things just weren't as fun.

On the pirate ship, subprocesses started to shut down very very subtly. No one noticed that certain drivers for the sensors went missing, nor that the controls for space travel were inverted. Nor even that doors would not lock when they were told to....yet. A message was hidden in the pilot's computer; on the screen next to the status of the ship itself was the symbol: XD. Things would be fun, she thought, so long as I am nearby.

Lahiri looked at the paper then held them to her chest as if they were treasured items. A second passed, she glanced at the papers again with a bit of a puzzled look. The light of realization clicked into her eyes. She settled into a small corner of her bunk, like a cat curling down to sleep and took the first step towards learning to read.

ON> Charmer's Luck- Bridge

Being a pirate ship, however, Charmer's Luck's bridge crew wasn't one to take invasions into their systems lightly (however small). One of the tech sentries on the bridge turned in his chair and faced Vincent. "Cap, we have an invasion of our systems. Ship controls have been inverted, firing controls on portside batteries 3 and 8 have been disabled, and some drivers are down for the sensors."

Vincent looked at the tech sentry with something short of astonishment. "Lock down the system and hold here. Stay near the wreckage, the debris can cover us from the patrol cruiser and whatever else is out there."

Charmer's Luck began drifting into the debris field...

ON> Charmer's Luck- Bunking Area- Compartment 5C (Lorenzo's Bunk)

Lorenzo continued rifling through his belongings, mostly spare ammunition, guns, knives, more guns, cleaning kits, loose beer tankards, and the like, before finally coming up with a gun repair manual for light-calibre pistols. He moved towards Lahiri's bunk and plopped the thick paperback down in front of the bunk.