RP: The Silent Horizon Mission 0.0 - Dream Her Wide Awake

Kikyo Sector Grid 2702 - Njord System, Kagami Galaxy
YE - 46.8
Mission 00 - Dream Her Wide Awake
UNN Alyelume

Thanks to the mapping done by Uaeso and the crew of the U.N.N Narsho in YE 45, the Alyelume had a much more controlled Transuniversal breach entry into the Kikyo Sector than previously visiting starships. It was a relief, despite most of the crew having come aboard when they stopped at Solitude it had been a rough exit from the Chrystalis Unvorsum. The U.N.N vessels under Vaelaris Orinas' control hunted them, and pursued every lead they found to try and destroy them. They made it out by the skin of teeth, and without more than superficial damage. The sight of Njord, a friendly port that may end up being the only refuge they had in this new universe was a welcome sight, and so was the U.N.N Aylerion already in orbit, the mighty Yunaesa-Class Dreadnoughs, at least for now they were not completely alone. With this first planned stop, it would be the first opportunity for their new reality to set in. The future ahead of this crew Adrin and Aphelion had brought together has uncertain future ahead of them, a ship without a flag, a people from a broken home - alone on the silent horizon.

Adrin gathered the senior members(all played characters) on the bridge as they made final approach for Njord's orbit. The Mindhive listed information from the scans, "Njord, Iron Company primary base of operations in the Kagami Galaxy, Atmosphere is breathable, dense fauna and flora, with a tropical climate. Primary settlement is Skaditown. Recommended gear for this world: Cooling Undersuit, Nostril-filter modules, Sunscreen. Suggested armament due to giga-fauna presence."

Adrin made a rather disgruntled face as the ship listed the conditions on the surface below. "Sounds like a wonderful place," he said rather sarcastically as he stood in the command position at the operations table as surface topography and mapping clarified in the projection at the center of the table. He studied the scanning profiles more in-depth, before he finally said, "Curunir and Aphelion, you two stay here on the ship, despite this being a friendly port, the Iron Company tends to deploy less advanced equipment than we are accustomed to in this universe, so I am unsure of their defenses. Chances are Uaeso and Naika have left a skeleton crew on the U.N.N Aylerion if anything too interesting happens, I doubt our former comrades from the Imperium would have the balls to attack us here, but then again, Vaelaris is a tool, " he said, relieved he got the insult out he had been waiting to give since the firefight on Noria Citadel.

"We will assemble in the Muck Bay, on the starboard side of the main launch bay, in ten minutes to suit up. Does anyone want to ask anything or give comment, now that we don't have an entire Star Navy on our asses?" he asked as he looked from face-to-face. In that moment, he had a brief feeling of satisfaction of once again leading his people - even if it was just a fraction of them. He was still a little unsure of the ship, its untested equipment, and the lack of space trials. At least they didn't vaporize when they used the transuniversal breach drive. As Adrin spoke, a volumetric projection flickered briefly to the left side of the table. The image was that of a short little man with a white fluffy beard and a walking stick. The image only remained for a fraction of a second, electronic scrambling noises screeched over the speakers before it disappeared. It had been the third time it happened. "Maybe fix whatever that is while we're gone. Probably just a test communication from the shipyard." he said. And there it was, the reason he was unsure of the ship itself, that included to naked pink haired avatar that looked like Ves that he had ignored for most of the journey - he wondered how the Vahallans were going to react to a naked norian tromping through their settlement.

Kikyo Sector Grid 2702 - Njord System, Kagami Galaxy
YE - 46.8
Mission 00 - Dream Her Wide Awake
UNN Alyelume

---

Ilae stood with the other members of the crew, though uncertain of her rank on the ship, her mind was on curiousity of another sort. That of the Iron Company, so when her grandfather asked if they had any questions. Ilae smiled, then said in her usual soft spoken voice. “The iron Company..do they like music?’ she asked and shifted the Zol'Rausir Instrument attached to a strap on her back since she hardly goes anywhere without it. Also on her back though lower, was her dual Aether Blaster Saber. Her mind went to the equipment they’d have to use, namely the Cooling Undersuit, Nostril-filter modules, and Sunscreen. She also wondered if the weapon she carried would be of use here. She figured only time will tell.

UNN Alyelume

Despite knowing the futility of doing so, Atae still found himself fretting. He was an analyst by trade, yet there was truly little in the way of useful data for Atae to work with. With any luck, someone at Njord would be able to provide an information dump that would allow Atae to start understanding the lay of the land here in the Kikyo sector. Oh, sure, there was publicly accessible information he could access but that was a bit like trying to know the contents of a novel by reading the summary on the back cover. But if he was going to be of any use to Adrin and his fellow Norians-in-exile, Atae needed to be able to provide accurate, useful intel. Which likely meant the analyst was going to be spending his foreseeable future developing an entirely new information network, something he was most definitely not qualified or experienced for. It was fortunate that Atae enjoyed a challenge.

Expression mirroring that of his Kalaraes, he listened to the Mindhive's report - so Njord was a hot, bright and pungent world with what sounded like large, and probably aggressive, creatures. It sounded like a nightmare of a world, which probably made it a paradise for the Valhallans of the Iron Company. Collected opinion said that they swapped out common sense at birth for grit and determination. Tetsuya had certainly spoken often about Albert Steiner and his cohorts, keeping them in high esteem. Before his mind could return to his immediate lack-of-data problems, Atae's attention was drawn to Adrin as he laid out his orders. He nodded as the Captain explained his reasoning, although he was unable to restrain the snort of amusement in response to Vaelaris being called a tool. Talk about understatement. And possibly an insult to tools, which usually at least provided some benefit. Atae wasn't certain he would even risk using Vaelaris' mangled corpse for fertiliser, certain that it would somehow spoil any crop. Probably make it poisonous in the process, too.

The analyst kept his peace, offering no questions or comments. There was just too much he didn't know about what he didn't know about. Until he could get a feel for this corner of the Kagami Galaxy, the major players and their modus operandi, there was little in the way of specific questions Atae could know to ask. Once they had visited with the Iron Company and had a chance to assess the U.N.N Aylerion, the analyst was sure he would have an ever-growing list of questions and concerns to raise. But for now, Atae was in what he called his 'observe and assess' mode, which largely meant keeping his mouth shut with his eyes and ears open. Of course his Moraes had no such issues and, naturally, asked something music-related. There were times Ilae seemed to have a one-track mind but the analyst knew that was true for many of the Caeyara/Eitan Ysi, even Atae would acknowledge that he could, upon occasion, get so absorbed with his work that he forgot about distractions like socialising, eating and sleeping until such were forced upon him.

Kikyo Sector Grid 2702 - Njord System, Kagami Galaxy
YE - 46.8
Mission 00 - Dream Her Wide Awake
UNN Alyelume - BRIDGE

Their exit from Chrystalis Unvorsum, much like everything else in Ryllae's life, had gone without the luxury of lubrication. Vaelaris had not even offered to slap her ass before trying to ram his ships up their rear end. Then again, it never ceased to surprise her what a few gilmar credits rubbed in the right places could do to a norian. Her nose wrinkled in disdain as she thought about the disease ridden filth that now hovered around trollop in chief's slimy slit. Ever since she had been drug up out of the depths of her dark cave to serve under Adrin once more she knew it was going to be a wild ride. Here in their new reality, a ship with no flag, a crew with no home, she knew they were quite alone.

Ryllae stood resolutely in the executive officer's position at the forward facing side of the operation table. Her arms crossed just below her chest as much as her armor would allow as she watched the naked pink haired eye candy list information from the scans. As far as mental illnesses went, this one looked the most fuckable. When she heard about the horrendous climate she grimaced a touch, her slender elongated ears twitched a bit in disgust. "Delightful." she said with light sarcasm. Not only would she have to put up with having clothes on, but she would also be playing babysitter in a Valhallan settlement. "Fantastic," she cursed in her thoughts. Her laser focused gaze drifted over surface topography that the projection had mapped out on the table. Her gaze ripped from the surface like a bat out of hell when Adrin spoke to Curunir and Aphelion.

Her violet eyes lingered on Curunir for a split second before going back to the projection. "If there are whiny little midgets running around this ship in about a year, I will make his life hell." she seethed in her thoughts as she mulled over Adrin's briefing. Of course she had zero clue as to whether or not they would even be alive in a year. After her observances of Curunir's behavior on the crossing she had no doubt he would likely try to breed any crew that had a twat between their legs. Ryllae's fingers danced against the black of her armor as she was half tempted to uncross her arms and feel up her pistol in case he decided to try her. When Adrin called Vaelaris a tool she smirked ever so slightly. That skeevy little Orinas' balls had to be in someone's purse, but who's?

After waiting a few moments to let anyone else get their bit in, Ryllae chimed in with a, "Negative." When they got back to the ship later she would have to make it a point to get tits deep with the engineers to get a quick hard rundown of all the ship's dirty little details. It was simply miraculous that they had not vaporized, given the lack of trials it had gone though. Though for Adrin she trudged through the horrors that lay on Ayenee with out question, so what was this in comparison? "What the fuck is that?" she thought as her hand flew to the pulse pistol strapped to her thigh when she saw the little bearded man. Her eyes bore a hole into the spot where it had appeared for a moment before they flicked up to meet Adrin's gaze. "Test comm?" she vespered to him as her head tilted slightly. "Not likely," she thought to herself as she quietly inquired of the Ves appearing mindhive, "Any idea what that was?"

When Ilae's sweet innocent voice asked about music, Ryllae's eyes shifted over to Atae, her hands relaxed just a touch but never a second away from her pistol. That creepy little dwarf could not have been a mere coincidence and if it meant them harm she intended to find a way to kill it. Her eyes blinked a few times, not quite sure how to answer Ilae's question. Valhallans liked alcohol, she knew that much.

MUCK BAY

Immediately after the briefing wrapped up Ryllae secured the requested materials for herself then sped to the muck bay. Not knowing what the hell they were going to encounter out there she had ensured to bring extra munitions for her rifle and pistol. In addition to those firearms she had a few daggers secret about her person. She hated the fact that she had to put the cooling undersuit on underneath her armor, but more clothes was better than suffering in that tropical hell hole. A light breath wisped past her lips as she waited for the rest of the crew. She was grateful for the blessing that was nostril filters, which would so faithfully defend her senses from whatever sweaty onslaught of mixed scents that would await them outside. Unscented sunscreen was her go to for this excursion, she was not trying to attract any of the man meat that was on the Alyelume let alone whatever creatures lay in wait on Njord.

Skalditown-Njord

("Got a contact on radar!") A yeoman shouted-the command center, nestled deep underground beneath what one would describe as a 'junkyard meets a settlement'-what seemed to be a medium-sized cargo ship that had been practically piledriven into the ground with various cargo containers being repurposed as buildings, walls and defensive fortifications, though a good chunk of it was also located beneath the surface. ("Got an ID?") The knight-captain on duty asked. ("Working...") A pause as the Heimdall system worked to get a return on it, followed by a ping, ("Uh...Norian...vessel class...unknown-size and displacement indicative of a capitol class vessel; Armorment Unknown, elements of Leviathan technology have been detected-do we hail them?") The knight-captain took a moment to digest this information before he gave his orders. ("Go ahead, though have the Stalwart and Defiance on standby in the event hostilities.")

The yeoman nodded and as he sent out the orders he opened up a comm and sent a single, shortburst radio transmission. "Unidentified Norian Vessel this is Skalditown Ground Control, identify yourself and state your intent, over."

Meanwhile, the two Garrison-Class Frigates-boxy and menacing looking-maneuvered around to give their nuke-guns a clear line of fire in the event of trouble; their crews zeroing their sights in...

Sephielle stood in the back listening in on the briefing but she kept quiet.She wasn't sure what her role in all of this would be at this point. Her main concern was Adrin but she wasn't sure what he was to her at this point. She knew that she felt a connection but what that connect was is still to be seen.As she listened she realized that being in this system was going to be a challenge for her to handle but she didn't let it bother her. Once the briefing was done she walked over to one of the windows trying to get her thoughts together.She felt torn since their departure, She worried greatly for her sister but she had a feeling that things would not be as easy as they seemed. She took the time to mentally take stock of possibly what she could do while she was here but she kept turning up blank.

Adrin just shook his head as he departed the bridge, "No idea, whatever it was it needs to stop happening." Curunir and Aphelion departed a few minutes later which left Ves alone on the bridge of the ship. The pink haired naked mindhive avatar would have to follow later, she accessed the communication systems and proceeded to respond to the incoming transmission from the surface, "Ground Control, this is the former U.N.N vessel Alyelume, we are here by the invitation of your grandmaster. Our command crew are on their way to the surface shortly, they will contact you on route." When the transmission ceased Ves had just stepped down from the Ops table, the doors to the lift opened again with a woosh.

The young norian woman with blue hair and eyes that was revealed when the doors to the lift open was unknown to Ves, but they had taken on a lot of crew members at Solitude. "Welcome to the bridge, may I assist --" Ves shut up rather quickly as the girl walked toward her and interrupted.

"Avatar, scan for biometric confirmation and security clearance. ID Haeun Eitan, override." the young woman said as she moved so that she was face to face with the avatar. She wore a completed custom hard suit armor with stylized niranium pauldrons and had construct blade sheathed on her back along with a black U.N.N issued battle rifle that had obviously been altered, a bright teal design of a vederhawk painted over the former military logo.

Ves did as requested, the strange reflections rippled across the glossy black surface of her eyes. Ves jerked back slightly as the flood of information passed between her forms, "ID confirmed, Imperial Authorization Confirmed, Contingency Structure encoded. Welcome to the Alyelume, Jol'Volaer how may I be of assistance to you? We are currently in the staging area in the Njord System, previous briefing can be repeated if you require it," she said.

"I am fine without your help, you are dismissed. Do whatever it is that you were going to do before I got here. You're an avatar, if I need your services I can handle the mindhive interface. Keep your briefings to yourself, save it for someone who cares," Haeun stated as she walked to the command throne. She sat it, then swiveled her legs up over the right armrest of the chair, and leaned back in the opposite corner of it.

Ves hesitated briefly, she had other ways to keep an eye on things and let the mindhive take command. She opened her mouth to speak and the young woman immediately lifted her right and pointed at the doors to the lift that she had emerged from just moments before in a dismissive manner. Ves did as instructed, it was obvious that the importance of this girl had been encoded in the mindhive's memory during it's creation.

When Ves left the bridge, Haeun lounged in the command throne and had the mindhive bring up the visual record of every member of the crew that had boarded the ship, the images and dossier profiles flickered one after another in rapid concession as she began to filter for the result she wanted. While she was sure that her grandfather had already done it, but she was not going to take a chance on the elder's ability to decipher who would be loyal and who would not.

Muck Bay​

Adrin undressed quickly, rather than just adorning a cooling under layer, he slipped into a Cholegam Hardsuit, the lightly armored combat suit had a full ASIEP insert much like their Krysis Crixa power armors. It would handle the cooling as well as any other biological needs, plus provide him with a layer of protection. In the brief moments he was nude, the deep scars on his back were visible, obvious battle wounds from his days of conquest on Ayenee. It was likely he never removed the scars during IDE transfer, rather each one had a story attached to it. From his days of running with Silin, Lucifer and Limdul all the way to the end of his bloody reign he had carved a path of conquest and subjugation through the native kingdoms and empires on that world. He considered it tight height of his rule as Emperor, along with the Soth Wars, the up and down relations with the Darkbane and the Chaos Hive War. Even the upward facing crescents of the cult's mark still were etched into the flesh of his right side.

He didn't waste time, once he was in the combat suit, he clipped the helmet to his hip and then proceeded to stuff the small nasal filters into each of his nostrils, it was a luxury for him, he had put up with the stench of other humanoids for years before such a thing was invented. He applied a thin layer of the sunscreen protection and then carefully put his light-reactive contacts into his eyes. "Everyone ready in ten!" he said as he continued to prepare for what had been described as a tropical hell. Of anyone on the ship, he was probably a little more adapted to the temperatures - again this was all just luxury to him. He clipped the battle rifle and godsmourn, one of the legendary blades onto his back, then slid a QPP into the side holster.

As the crew would prepare, the shuttle was brought up from the maintenance bay and prepared for launch. The norian leader didn't seem like he had much to say, which was unusual. The death of his son still felt like a weight pressed down upon him. He stuffed his regular uniform into the locker and slammed it shut. A projected interface on the other side of the room, showed the status of the shuttle and the current schedule for the deck crew in which he took a moment to look over as he waited for the rest of his crew to be ready.

Ilae thought that if she asked about Music, she could learn the kinds of music they liked, and maybe try and introduce her own, who knows maybe they’d like it, and it will help things. But thus far, the responses she’d gotten from her crew was silence. Ilae frowned a little as she gently brushed some errand strands of hair from her silver eyes. As everyone left, she began making her way out as well, since she hadnt been told otherwise she knew that her orders were to get her equipment and meet in the MUCK Bay.
As she walked she saw Ves, the ship’s avatar, who was familiar with her. Unlike her crew however, what she had her own feelings about her father’s obsession with the subject that Ves was created from. Ilae decided not to be rude. “Good Day, Ves” she said to the other. “I am going on my first away mission, meeting the Iron Company, and learning if they like music, then I am going to show the Zol’rausir, pretty exciting!” Ilae said seemingly excited about this.

Muck Bay
Soon Ilae found herself in the Muck Bay, and she began stripping down to her skin, before she put on the Cooling Undersuit, and grimmaced as she puts in the Nostril-filter modules, and finally after completely dressing appropriately, she added Sunscreen.

As the crew changed into the appropriate gear, the faint sound of music could be heard coming from the Launch Bay once the deck team had cleared out. The music was just barely within the auditory frequency that it could be heard. There was an electrical thump heard as the bay's lights were turned off leaving only the shuttle's exterior illumination and the embedded deck lighting providing light. The faint sound of an unknown language whispered strangely with the music, the voice was soft and feminine, yet there was an unnatural flow to the way the melody and voice sounded, almost as if there was some kind of interference over the internal communication's system of the ship. At first the words resembled Nira'las, but none of them made sense or were words of their language.

In front of the raise elevator where the shuttle sat, the deck lighting would change and flicker. The flicker was not in the electrical sense, rather a distorted incomplete projects of forms that appeared to be darting from one place to another, twirling and switching positions in an almost rhythmic fashion. At first glance it perhaps appeared paranormal, save for the fact the music obvious came from the internal comm, and the poorly formed distorted figures were obvious projections of the volumetric systems.

"Sse fozeh sin nobe gsam gse noom ah ig dsihkebh go gse hum,
Sonegineh wbeanh abe mog wbeanh ag aff, quhg a berfexgiom or dobfwh.
By gse bizeb seb fire xsamtew robezeb, seb wehibe go seaf yexane a wehibe go foze.

He fozeh seb nobe gsam gse dimw gsag buhgfeh gsbouts gse robehg,
Sonegineh dihseh abe mog emouts, ezemguaffy foze rimwh ig'h day.
By gse bizeb sih fire xsamtew robezeb, sih enkgimehh go seaf rbon a fozimt gouxs."

UNN Alyelume - BRIDGE

TENEA

The purple haired surgeon had wandered up to the bridge after getting medical supplies settled in their final places with Iare, who had remained behind. She spotted Sephielle over by the viewport and immediately became concerned. Quietly the surgeon approached to Sephielle's left side and looked out the viewport as well. "Are you alright?" she asked tenderly looking at the woman for a moment to see if Sephielle would respond.

Muck Bay​

RYLLAE

Ryllae's eyes lingered briefly on Adrin as he stripped down to change. She muttered a string of Nira'las curses silently to herself. At least she had a good show to watch while changing, she thought as Adrin's bare form graced their eyeballs. Unlike him, she had opted not to keep scars when her IDE had been transferred. It was purposefully done so that people would not visibly see what she had been through, what she survived. Quickly she stripped down to her birthday suit and slipped into a Cholegam Hardsuit just like her Captain had. "Oh this is nice," she thought as she tested out a few different movements in it. Out of habit she checked to make sure her nasal filters were in place before slipping in her own set of light reactive contacts.

"Thank fuck for these," she thought as she slipped the contacts in. They were immensely more manageable than whatever she had used before. After inserting her contacts she liberally applied sunscreen to all exposed areas. Without wasting time she clipped her helmet to her hip. "Aye," she responded as she rearmed herself with the rifle, pistol and ammo that she had brought. Ryllae looked over to Ilae, "Don't forget to put armor on." she nudged to Ilae via vesper. If it had been anyone other than Adrin's granddaughter she would not have said a thing.

Her violet eyes suspiciously looked around when she heard barely audible music. "This place is haunted, fantastic." she thought. While they waited for the shuttle her ears twitched uncomfortable as she listened to the music. When the images started to flicker, Ryllae's hand lovingly caressed that pulse pistol once more. "Gimme a reason, just one reason" she whispered quietly as she set the settings to stun. The only thing holding her back was that she was fairly certain it was from something within the ship and not enemy oriented. Though she never ventured on the side of being to careful, so she was ready just in case. "Ol girl what is wrong with you?" she whispered to the ship.

She looked around for the other missing participants. Ryllae was not sure how she felt about Sephielle and Atae, other than she was loyal purely because they bore the Eitan name. Sephielle seemed to be more focused with hopping in Adrin's lap than anything else. Despite this, Sephielle seemed fairly capable as a crew member and that was all that mattered to Ryllae. Anything else was not her problem unless Sephielle made it so. Atae on the other hand, Ryllae knew next to nothing about as she had not seen much, if anything of him outside of the briefing. Yes, their quarters were in the same area. No, she had not seen him as she traversed about her area and about the facilities of the "Command/Ysi" quarters. It made her a little uncomfortable that she knew nothing of him. Nevertheless, he was pleasant to look at and seemed to not be trying to jump down everyone's pants. "Small blessings," she thought.

MUCK BAY

Arriving after several of the others had already begun changing, having delayed himself by taking a minute en route to stop and enter a light meditative trance - to recall anything useful he knew about the Valhallans and the Iron Company - Atae wasted no time in shucking himself free of his robes and underclothes. Caring not one whit about his nudity, he retrieved his clothing and carried it over to the changing area. Nodding to the rest of the away team, Atae quickly folded his clothing and placed it in a storage bin along with his footwear.

Seeing his sister almost finished, Atae stopped preparing the Cholegam Hardsuit he had been about to don and crossed over to her. //"Hold still, Moraes, can't have you getting burned."// Atae sent via vesper to Ilae, along with feelings of fondness and concern. He then carefully inspected his sister, ensuring that every exposed piece of skin was properly coated in sunscreen. In theory he could also check on the others as well but, unlike them, Ilae wasn't a veteran who could do this on muscle memory alone. Well that and he wasn't their big brother with a divine mandate of care and concern for them.

With his grandfather putting them on a ten minute timer, Atae returned to getting himself ready. He was curious what armaments his sister would choose to take with her, if anything other than what she had been wearing earlier on the bridge. The analyst intended on taking a full complement of weaponry for himself - a Quintessance Pulse Pistol and Planetary Marine Rifle for ranged threats, with a single-edged sword and a pair of curved single-edged knives for close-up work. Atae was considering what else to suggest his sister take, but was distracted by the unusual activity of the ship's systems.

The analyst found himself frowning as he catalogued the sequence of events and did his best to memorise the details. As a new and almost completely untested ship, it would be truly bizarre if there were no random faults. The problem with random faults though was that they were random. Not like this, which was sufficiently ordered and patterned so as to indicate the involvement of a bad actor. It also fell suspiciously close upon the tail of that earlier occurrence on the Bridge that Adrin had ordered the crew to look into. Atae shook his head at the mystery of it all, resolving to look into it upon returning from the tropical hell that awaited the away team.

"Well, that's not threatening to damage my calm." He commented mildly. "Anyone recognise the language?" While waiting to hear the thoughts of those present, Atae finished sealing the Cholegam Hardsuit and, after affixing the helmet to his hip, applying his own nasal filters, sunscreen and light-reactive contact lenses. He then crossed to the weapon racks and began completing his loadout: generic combat sword and battle rifle stowed on the rear of the hardsuit; QPP holstered at his waist; and finally the daggers sheathed and attached either side at the rear of his waist. Stepping towards the waiting Adrin, Atae vespered to his grandfather //"Are we sure there aren't any stowaway malefactors aboard?"//

Ryllae side eyed Atae who had just felt up his own sister without ensuring she put armor on. "Genius, want to make sure she puts armor on before we go? Would hate for you to have wasted all that effort feeling her up just for her to wind up dead." she vespered to Atae in the most deadpan tone possible with no emotions whatsoever. When he spoke verbally Ryllae's ears twitched before speaking aloud, "Nope, never heard it before."

Atae felt his thoughts come to a crashing halt with Ryllae's vespered comment. Surely he hadn't missed that. He turned to look and any protest died on his lips as he felt his face flush with embarrassment. Yes, he really had ignored the fact that his sister almost went into the field with little to protect her body than the equivalent of stamping feet and harsh language. Well then, he had better quickly correct that. If it ever got back to Katara's ears that he'd let his sister leave the ship without adequate protection, the punishment didn't bear thinking about. Just considering it made him want to break out in shivers.

He quickly walked back to the changing area, pulling Ilae with him. "Okay, sister mine. That cooling suit isn't going to cut it - you need something tougher to reduce the chance of penetration or blunt force trauma. Take it off." Atae turned from his sister and retrieved a Cholegam Hardsuit. "In case you didn't know, this is a Cholegam Hardsuit and you'll come to love it." He began instructing her in it's use. "The Activated Self-Sustaining Infusion Environment insert in this is just like the one in the Krysis Crixa armour and will be your new best friend in the field. It keeps the internal atmosphere fresh and cool, get's rid of sweat and a big plus, it removes biological waste so if you need to go, you can."

MUCK BAY
Ilae blinked as she felt her brother’s vesper communicating with her. She felt his fondness but his concern caused her to worry she was doing something wrong. But he was only concerned over her ability to apply the sun screen. Though she was certain he could have waited for her to get the armor on. The armor being put on was something she thought she should do, based on how everyone was thus far getting armored.

“thank you dear Shyraes, for making sure I am safe,” She said in her usually soft tone of voice. But a thought nagged on her, did they have armor for her, that was what worried her. But before she could think to ask. She like everyone started hearing music which were causing a reaction to the others. “not sure either,” she said.

But before she could comment, on either the source of the noise, or the question about the armor, Atae was back by her side. She judged from the look Ryllae had on her face, when looking at him, their superior had vespered something to him. Though exactly what she didn’t know. “ooh” She commented as she began to follow Atae’s orders to remove the cooling suit.

Her silver eyes widened with interest as he retrieved a Cholegam Hardsuit, and through his help and instruction, she put it on, and learned about it. Her normally pale cheeks gained some color as she blushed at the mention of biological waste. “that’s.. neat” she said and soon she was suited, and what she’d brought with were soon reattached at her back.

("Got a confirmation, it's some ship called the Alyelume,") The yeoman at the comms reported, to which the Knight-Captain nodded. ("Alright, let em' know, transmit a safe flight path, and send word to the Grandmaster that we have more Norian guests.") The yeoman nodded, and turned back to the comm. "Alyelume, this Skalditown Ground Control, welcome to Njord-the Grandmaster has been notified of your arrival; transmitting the designated flight path; do not deviate as this is for your own safety-if you go down due to violation of these instructions we likely won't be able to find what's left of you for at least six months. Enjoy your stay." A snicker. ("What, it's true!") The knight-captain sighed at his response. ("Doesn't mean you have to phrase it like that.")

----

Steiner was in the process of preparing the Warden for maintenance; he'd hardly had a moment's peace since Sandraker to do so when a junior came in, his gait hurried. ("Yes, what is it?") His synthesized voice, harsh and grating, echoed through his personal gantry, ("There's another ship, the Alyelume-got more Norians arriving.") He nodded at the man. ("Inform them that at the moment I am undergoing maintenance, though inform Aiden that I am willing to speak with him if need be.") The yeoman nodded and hurried out, the gantry door sealing behind him. 'Son of a bitch.' The old mechanoid thought to himself as he began powering up the drones, 'They picked the worst possible time to show up...' That and Tacho would likely make herself known. Actually, just to be on the safe side of things... "Tacho, report to the Grandmaster's Gantry Immediately!" Get this one out of the way as soon as possible...

Adrin heard the music too, he even headed out into the dim light of the launch bay. "There are no such thing as hauntings, at least not that has been proven," he said to Ryllae after she spoke. The red-haired Eitan watched the two unformed figures as they seemed to dance around each other, "Probably more of what we seen on the bridge earlier, the ship never got its shakedown there is bound to be little glitches in the system." The more he attempted to explain these strange occurrences, the more he inwardly questioned what exactly it was that they had witnessed. It was obvious that the music and the images were not paranormal in themselves, it was obviously the internal communication system and the ship's volumetric projection systems. "It is strange though...won't deny that," he added.

"The language just sounds like jibberish to me, though I am no linguist. New ships have kinks and we have to work them out, rather Curunir and Aphelion do," he then signaled the mindhive through his symbiote, having the full bay lights restored. When the lights flickered back on, the projection and music stopped. Adrin shook his head, //"Unless we count Curunir, we were pretty selective at Solitude. Your mother's team screened all the one's we selected."// Sure they had brought on a few dozen crew members, a fraction of what the normal crew of a cruiser that size would be. The ship was very empty, which probably made things seem even more creepy.

The Ves avatar came out of the Muck Bay and into the launch bay, "Something wrong with the shuttle? You're all standing there gawking at it?" She was still in the nude, Adrin looked toward her tempted to make a comment. //"Ryllae, can we get her a suit? I know she don't need it but having an entire settlement of burly mercenaries and a naked woman don't sound like a very wise mix."// he said through Vesper to the one he had already selected as second-in-command.

"We need to get a move on it," Adrin said. "Who has pilot cert?" he questioned, it was not like he had UNN files to pull the information from.

Skaditown, Njord​

Tacho muttered to herself, then opened the comm channel back, "Yeah, I'll head down to his Gantry. I suppose I'm in for a talking to about being on my best behavior." She didn't wait for the yeoman to answer, she just cut the communication.

When she arrived at the Grandmaster's gantry she couldn't help but wonder what form he would be in, she was one of a very few who knew the secrets. She pulled a canteen from her left-side of her belt and unscrewed the lid and took a rather healthy drink of water. "Steiner?" she asked aloud, in her mind though she used his other name. She wore her short-sleeved duty uniform, a rarity. She generally was just in a sleeveless shirt, what little she was out of her armor. She was slowly trying to build an acclimation toward Njord's hellish climate. She had not interacted with those who arrived first, she did however have one of the yeoman take Uaeso, Naika and their son into one of the 'buildings' that had a good environmental system. She had nearly bit one soldier's head off for suggesting she allow them to bunk in her ship.

She looked over the mess of tools and other items, her new cybernetic eye zooming in and out as she scanned over things. She eventually found what she wanted, a bottle of Slayer's Mead. She unscrewed the top, dumped out a tin cup that held a bunch bolts onto the table and poured herself a couple of swigs. A drink was at least something she could do with all other norians around, she had already had made a part-time job of adjusting to Nara being around. At least these norians were not on the up and up with the navy, despite the three messages over the past year she had not checked in, or answered the requests to return home for debriefing. She had no intention of going, not then, not ever.

"That is a fine way to wind up with lockjaw." Came Steiner's mechanical voice; his interior was exposed as various drones fluttered about-swaping out damaged and degraded components for fresh ones; a series of cables led to an auxiliary reactor that was powering his life support system while the Wardern's own was being worked on and revealing the ruined form within which was suspended in its fluid mixture, "And if you are seeking the drone it is still with the cohort in the Kouske Sector." He watched her for a moment, before sighing. "I suppose you are expecting a lecture on being on your best behavior." It wasn't a question. "I know you do not care for your kinsmen, but I do ask that you treat them with some degree of courtesy; at least as long as they show you the same." The grandmaster knew how she felt about her fellow Norians.

"Now, on another note-how is your eye holding up?" It was another concern of his; the eye was a piece of his finest work-hand crafted after her mishap on Sandraker-he still wasn't sure how well here physiology was taking to it; he knew from experience that a new cybernetic could occasionally give one trouble, if not outright be rejected by the body...he shuddered to think of what would've happened had his body not taken. Probably be another nameless casualty on the Company's old homeworld.

----

The man gave the lizard-like creature a gentle pat as he fed it bits of meat and fruit; you had to take the time to imprint on them-otherwise a Thurok would just as readily devor you as it would its own meal. ("Oi, Balruc!") He turned and shot an annoyed look at his fellow, ("We've got more Norian's showing up-heard they're gonna get a batch of roughriders attached to em'.") The yeoman shrugged before going back to his work of tending the little beast he was feeding.

A simple joy, easier than dealing with people...

Muck Bay/Launch Bay, Alyelume

Given the response from his grandfather, Atae mentally shifted worrying about the glitches and possible bad actors into his 'check up on later and review' folder. As his Captain had ordered, they were the problems of those staying behind. The analyst instead would focus on the more immediate problem, namely travelling to a hellish world populated by the rowdy and intense Valhallans. There were too many possibilities to consider there though, so Atae vowed instead to just keep his head on a swivel to try and spot trouble before it could reach them.

Being a heterosexual male, and an avid appreciator of the feminine form, Atae's eyes were naturally drawn to the mindhive's avatar when she appeared naked amongst them. Of course, being a Norian and thus no stranger to seeing such a sight, his eyes moved on just as quickly after taking said appreciative look. The analyst catalogued her comment though, wondering if that meant that the mindhive had been unable to experience the glitches they had encountered. If so, that might be a valuable piece of information. Could there be something or someone acting from inside the mindhive, like a hidden personality the active portion couldn't perceive?

Atae tilted his head at Adrin's query. "I got certified for small craft back in Basic and have kept my license current. Wouldn't rate myself as anything beyond adequate though." There was no false modesty in his words - indeed, a younger Atae had consistently placed in the middle of his training cadre when it came to scoring for his piloting. He supposed that with their currently non-existent support system, it might just prove worthwhile to revisit some of his old training and improve upon it. Atae had a sneaking suspicion that they would all be wearing many varied, and unexpected, hats throughout their journey together.

MUCK BAY

Ryllae's ears twitched with relief that Atae had begun thinking with his top brain. Though that blush almost made her vomit from the sheer level of cuteness the two exuded. It made her sick to even think about. She kept a careful ear out to ensure that Atae and Ilae did not get too distracted in their preparations. A sense of relief washed over her when she saw that Ilae had rearmed herself after Atae had helped her with the suit. With an affirmative nod she was mostly satisfied with their preparedness.

The norian woman's vibrant purple eyes dared a split second side eye at her captain, but she otherwise held her tongue. "As you wish, I do plan to look into it upon our return unless forbidden to do so. In addition to whatever else you would have me do" she vespered to Adrin. Her gaze flicked towards the light source as things seemed to settle. "Interesting." she thought, it definitely needed looking into at the very least. The Ves avatar's voice drew her attention. Ah, the avatar that had evaded her questioning earlier. Surely there had been a reason for it, add that to a list of things to deal with later.

What a treasure befell her eyes as it seemed that their Ves avatar had yet to find clothing. The hottest mental illness she had ever seen had a quick tongue as well as a great pair of tits. Ryllae looked around at the other crew members before she received Adrin's vesper. "Of course, if I have to wear one to go amongst them its only fair that she does as well. I mean, on it right away." she vespered to Adrin. Quickly she acquired a suit for the avatar, "I hate this as much as you do," she thought quietly while helping the pink haired woman get suited up. Ryllae straightened herself up and walked around the avatar making sure that everything was on before clipping the helmet to Ves avatar's suit.

"I am certified and current." she responded in a short professional tone while returning to the group. "If things get to dicey, I can always take over for Atae." she said in a no-nonsense tone as she walked towards the shuttle.

BRIDGE

Tenea grew more concerned as Sephielle did not respond. Though she knew the woman was likely in mourning. Tenea sighed softly and looked at the woman next to her. "If you need anything, a space to get away, something to quiet your worries." she trailed off. "My sister Iare and I will be in medical if you wish for company or assistance." she said softly before turning to depart.

"Iare, you have anything to help someone in mourning? You are much better than I at dealing with mental health." Tenea vespered to her sister.

Nola's Lab

Nola had stayed quiet at the staff meeting, and though she returned to her lab she had realized that she wasn't on the list of people staying with the Leviathan, this was before she could get back into her work fully and she let out an annoyed sigh as she realized she was likely expected at the Muck bay, with what seemed like supreme effort she got up and made her way out of what she had designated as her lab and was on her way to the Muck Bay grumbling all the while.

Muck Bay

Everyone was basically done changing and getting ready so her late arrival was rather obvious. Looking around instead of going to the changing area she instead spotted the captain and walked over to him, stopping off to the side of him as she looked to the taller male "Figure I should address the issue with you before I change.. But is there any reason to take a specialist like me to the surface? Diplomacy isn't really a requirement of my job description, and from what happened on the bridge I think I would be better here to figure things out..." she said in that tired drawl as she looked to their leader Adrin before blinking a moment and seemingly remembering at least some manners "...Sir..." she added after that long pause.

Truth be told she had no desire to leave the ship if at all possible, she just wanted to focus on her research and with the odd things happening on the Leviathan she figured it was a good excuse to stay behind, granted she would also look into that strangeness since it was something strange happening and there was a bit of curiosity on what was causing it. "As a specialist in the field... I feel I would have knowledge better for dealing with the ship then some basic medics... granted this could also be an engineering issue depending on what is actually causing these disturbances, but I figure the more informed people the better to deal with the situation, last thing you might want is to have the engineer look at it and find out that it's a Issue that a specialist needs to look at.. whom you just so happened to take off the ship for some diplomatic reason that doesn't have anything to do with her training... Sir" this time she actually remembered to end her sentence properly though also a bit late as she looked up at him. that disinterested look on her face as always.