RP: The Wayward New Heights (Ep4)

[Syaoran]

Anbruch

Tanja smiled at the response of the two women, glad that they were not bothered by the lighting. She lead them forward and gave them a short tour of the entire ship, giving them the opportunity to talk as they went along.

Aside from the exercise room in the middle of the ship, most things were relatively standard on the ship, and fortunately for Hana, the sleeping quarters were in the fore of the ship, which was the first direction they went. They did not stay long though, only enough to let them pick their rooms and deposit their luggage for now. Another change worth note were the two modified cargo modules attached to the ship.

One of which was modified into a primary hangar where three Scimitar Star Fighters and a modified Onset shuttle rested, along with everything they needed for maintenance and combat. This was needed because the standard hangar was being used for land vehicles, a GP-ORV that was well taken care of, but still looked like it had seen it's share, and three small frames that no one had ever seen before.

The other cargo module was refitted into a small science lab with its own quarantine area, a necessary addition if they were going to be exploring unknown space.

After a brief moment to make a statement on the intercom for everyone to meet at the Wardroom, the captain took the two new crewmen there.

Anbruch - Wardroom

While Adiel was relaxing in his favorite chair, the message from the captain came on to meet in the Wardroom, it was time to get things on the road. Before the captain could arrive two others did, one Adiel would recognize, the other he did not.

The first was Gabi, a Douryo android with curly vibrant red hair and grey eyes that had been with the ship since the beginning, but as a Geboku model. It was 5 feet 5 inches and and their 'gender' was almost impossible to tell. According to Tanja, the appearance and voice were decided by Gabi themselves, when they moved from being a Geboku to the Douryo. Despite having vastly increased intelligence they were still brief with their speech and difficult to hold a conversation with, but now it was because they seemed shy rather than because they were lacking in programing.

The next individual to come in and sit down was an Abwehran man, it was easy to tell such because of his four arms. Based on his tan skin and light colored hair he was a Surfacer. His name was unknown at the moment but Adiel would recall that a scientific advisor was going to be loaned to the crew since they would be heading into uncharted territory. There were likely a few strings attached with this man's presence, but they would likely come to light as things played out.

 

[SmokeEmpress]

Anbruch - Engine Room

Analiese heard the call to go to the wardroom for a brief meeting before take-off. The small engineer sighed as she looked around at the clean room and nodded. They were ready to go. She looked at TB and said, "Stay here and keep an eye on things. Let me know if anything goes wrong during take-off." With that, she headed out to the wardroom.

Wardroom

Upon arrival, Ana looked around at the others. She smiled a bit at Gobi and waved in their direction before her eyes were drawn to the Abwheran that was, for her, rather intimidating. Lowering her hand, she sidled around towards Adiel and placed herself to where the Elysian was between her and the other in the room. She did manage to squeak out a small, "Hi."

 

[cyborgakadjmoose]

Anbruch

Tanja would have received a text message from Ash.

Sorry, Captain.  I got held up in the markets.
Well...not literally held up by someone.  Not at gunpoint either.
Anyways I am on my way and will be aboard shortly!
Don't let Adiel convince you to take off without me!

Some time later - Anbruch - Wardroom

"Herdtitan dung..." muttered a tall Iromakuanhe as she ran in from the passageway. The tall woman was wearing a dark duster and had a duffle bag slung over one shoulder. Her black boots skidded to a stop and she put her hands on her knees, panting as she tried to catch her breath. She looked up at Tanja.

"Hey Captain! Sorry I'm late...I..." She stopped and glanced over at the unfamiliar faces standing in the room. The Iromakuanhe stood up straight and awkwardly cleared her throat.

"Uh...Hi. I'm Ash. Scavenger extraordinare. Nice to meet you," she said with a small wave to the Nepleslian and the Neko in the room.

A Neko-cat thing? Nekowalrus-something? On the ship? Weird.

She glanced at Adiel and stuck her tongue out at him.

"Thought I left, didn't ya?" She waved at Ana nearby and then looked back at Tanja, her smirk fading a bit.

"Anyways, sorry I was late Captain. Thanks for not flying away without me," she said sheepishly.

 

[SmokeEmpress]

Anbruch - Wardroom

Ana watched as Ash entered and her features broke into a smile. She ran over to the tall woman and gave her a hug. "Ash! I was worried that you wouldn't make it! Have you heard from Quinn?"

 

[cyborgakadjmoose]

Anbruch - Wardroom

Ash was caught unprepared for the sudden rush-hug from Ana. She smiled and returned the small woman's hug.

"Aww, thanks!" she said with a smile. Her smile faded and she shrugged her shoulders. "Sorry, dearie. Haven't heard anything from the man. Haven't heard anything from anyone out on the streets about him either."

 

[SmokeEmpress]

Ana's demeanor deflated like a burnt out candle. Her shoulders slumped as she looked down and said softly, "I haven't either." The Nepleslian's hair was rather lanky due to the oils and such from the engines, and it fell into her face that was also streaked, as usual. She huffed a bit and then shook it off before looking back to Ash and whispering, "Any idea on...on...him...?" She indicated the rather large male that had four arms.

 

[Blizzard]

Wardroom

Lowering her hand, she sidled around towards Adiel and placed herself to where the Elysian was between her and the other in the room. She did manage to squeak out a small, "Hi."

Adiel raised an eyebrow and looked up from his book, taking another sip of his Mazrit brandy while trying to decipher what was happening. When he figured it out, he let out a small chuckle and smiled.

'Adorable.' he thought of the idea of Ana using him as a "social-shield".

"Thought I left, didn't ya?" She waved at Ana nearby and then looked back at Tanja, her smirk fading a bit.

"Anyways, sorry I was late Captain. Thanks for not flying away without me," she said sheepishly.

"Ah, and there's the goat-woman." Adiel muttered humorlessly with a small roll of his eyes. After Ana bolted off with an uncharacteristic exuberance, Adiel sighed and set the book aside, coming to the conclusion that now wasn't a good time for reading. So, the Elysian stood and approached the other man in the room and extended his hand in greeting. It was time to size up the newcomer, get a read on their personality and such.

"Good afternoon, sir. I'm Adiel, the ship's negotiator." he greeted with a light, yet conservative smile.

 

[ArsenicJohn]

Wardroom

Brigid looked at the assembled crew with a broad grin. She was happy for so many reasons that she couldn't identify all of them. The diverse species present meant she would get a chance to learn something about new species. Iromakuanhe weren't very common in the Kikyo sector. This was only the second she had ever seen. Her heart skipped a beat as her eyes met Ash's. The woman's eyes were gorgeous.

She examined the rest. Hmm, another redhead, she thought. The shy one was more her type. Synthetics were boring. Then the Abwehran man. From the attitudes of the veteran crew, she could tell this one was unfamiliar to them. Brigid flashed everyone a smile. "Hello! I'm Doctor Brigid Piper, I'll be taking care of your bodies. After everyone gets settled I would like to see you in the medical bay for examinations. Really just want to learn your medical histories, but if you're up for something more thorough let me know." She said, smile turning into a mischievous smirk.

 

[Syaoran]

Wardroom
Tanja stepped into the Wardroom with a smile when she saw everyone present and made her way to the front of the meeting table. She did not sit down however and instead placed her hands on the table. "Firstly I would like to say that I am pleased and honored to be working with you all on this. WE are going to be in close proximity to each other for a while with this operation, but I feel that with this crew it will be an enjoyable time and we wont have to worry."

"Now there are a few of you that have not been introduced yet." The captain smiled and then began to gesture to the individuals in question as she said their names. "We have Gabi and Astroreth, both crew members from previous jobs. We also have Brigid and Hana, who will be joining us for the first time." She gave a soft nod and then turned to the mystery man sitting at the table. "Can you introduce yourself?"

The man nodded in response and stood up, giving a slight bow to the crew. "I am Stefan Beutel, I'm a scientist hired by the ASE to assist you in your scientific needs for this. It was assumed that finding a scientist with the needed qualifications, just wandering around would be difficult."

"I see, well I'm glad to have you Stefan, we'll get along just fine." The captain then activated a display that showed a space station with a large structure attached to it. "To get right to the matter at hand, what I'm about to tell you doesn't leave this crew, it's classified information." She then hits a button and the image changes slightly, the large structure has 'opened' revealing some kind of ring, with a distortion inside it. "We are going to be heading through the gate of the Cloud Harbor, I'll put the complicated details on the ship's network to access but in short we will head through a fold in space that will put us in a distant uncharted sector of space.” With the push of a button the display changed once more to show what looked like pictures of the inside of a rather dense nebula.

“The ASE has created beacons that we’ll be dropping that allow us to communicate back to the station with data and only a minor delay. We will also be followed by a ship designed for fabrications, but their resources are limited, and take time to produce, so don’t rely on it.” The captain then switched to one last final picture back to the station with the strange gate.

“Departure is in half an hour, dismissed”


30 Minutes Later

The crew had gathered to the bridge as the Anbruch made it’s way to a station not marked on normal maps. It looked just like the station in the image, and the shell could be seen opening as they approached.

“Gabi.”

“All security codes confirmed, we have permission. The Support Vessel will be entering one hour after us.”

“Good, advance us through the gate at combat alert.”

“Combat alert initiated, weapons systems arming up…..slow acceleration into the gate.”

The brief exchange of orders and response between Tanja and Gabi proceeded a gentle acceleration towards the empty ring. Before they reached it however space began to distort inside it and a white rift opened up. Neither the helmsman nor the captain seemed too surprised by this however and allowed the ship to proceed.

As they passed through the portal, everything was white for several seconds before they could all at once see space around them again. However it was not the clear expanse like it was in ASE-006, there were signs of ionized gases around them, and in the distance possibly asteroids. They were in an uncharted nebula by the looks of it.

“Welcome to the Sea of Clouds everyone.” Tanja smiled a bit proudly after her words.

 

[cyborgakadjmoose]

Wardroon

Ash raised an eyebrow in surprise and grinned.

"Uncharted space? Fantastic! Who knows what we could find out there?" she remarked.
She listened attentively during the Captain's briefing, noting the scientist guy with the four arms was named Stefan Beutel. After being dismissed she quickly headed to her quarters, accessing the ship's network with her neural implant.

"Might as well learn as much as I can about this place we're going," she thought.

Cabin A-6

It took Ash hardly any time at all stow her things. She had since moved her room to the upper level, feeling more comfortable with the crew now, and especially Adiel. But she still preferred the end room; her own little corner of the ship. She hung up her duster and removed her pistol belt and shoulder holster and hung them up on the corner post of the bed. She dithered about her cabin, placing her few possessions in their places. Glancing at the display from her Watch Communicator, she quickly left her cabin and then headed towards the bridge.

Bridge

Ash stood in the back of the bridge, out of the way from Tanja and Gabi doing their jobs. She did take the time to plug in a cord from one of the neural ports at the base of her neck to a small 'earpiece' that wrapped around her right horn. The earpiece had a small volumetric HUD that could be projected before her right eye. She managed to interface the earpiece with her Watch Communicator so that she could record audio and video from the earpiece in whatever direction she was facing.

Which was exactly what Ash wanted at this moment. Entering uncharted space. She was definitely going to record this for posterity.

After the ship passed through the portal, Ash could not help but take a few steps forward, her mouth slightly agape at the nebula they were now looking at.

"Stars....Uncharted space. This is...this is...soooo awesome!" She said with a grin.

 

[Blizzard]

Bridge

Adiel had spent the last few hours cooped up in the wardroom, having continued reading and drinking. He shrugged a little at Ash's enthusiasm.

"Hm. Not bad." he muttered in a bored tone. Seen one star, seen them all, in his opinion. He took a few moments to examine the fact that she'd plugged in a cord to her neck.

"Does this mean that we'll have Nep-flix out here when we get bored?" he asked, raising an eyebrow in genuine surprise.

 

[SmokeEmpress]

Wardroom

Analiese listened to the briefing. She kept silent and to herself, making mental notes to be sure the engines wouldn't be too strained. Though she knew that the ship could handle just about anything, inevitably something could go wrong during the jump itself. As the crew broke off to do their own thing before needing to go back to the bridge, Ana glanced over at Adiel and started to approach him, but seeing that he was going back to his reading she shook her head and turned to the Engine Room.

Engine Room

Ana hooked up TB to the systems and did the routine diagnostics needed before setting up monitors to let her know if anything went amiss. Once that was done, she headed back to the bridge to watch as they made the jump. Her expression wasn't one of joy or excitement. Hers was one of relief. To her, it felt as if a great weight was lifted off her shoulders. Though she knew that anywhere she could easily be taken hostage for any number of reasons, that didn't worry her. She went to one of the windows that looked out over the vastness of space and spoke very softly, more to herself than to anyone else.

"This is the farthest I've ever been from Nepleslia. And yet...I don't feel as if I am far from home at all."

 

[Ametheliana]

Cabin A-5

Hana had left the wardroom with excitement in her eyes. She wanted to go set up her room. She put everything in its right place. Dresses hanging, stockings and socks folded, shoes lined up and, most importantly, figurines set on a shelf for easy viewing. Once Yui had been placed on her spot nearest Hana's bed, the now-Neko flopped onto the bed with an inertia controlled spin mid-air.

She sighed out and looked at the ceiling, then rested her eyes. Traveling here to be in this cabin had taken it out of little Hana and she took the time to regain her energy.

Many minutes later, she moved out of the stateroom arcing in the front of the upper deck and went into the bridge, then seeing ionized gases in the space around them and possibly distant asteroids brought a surprised look from the blue-haired Hana.

"Wow!" Saku Hana went on to add, "Why hasn't anyone come here before? It's so pretty."

 

[ArsenicJohn]

Wardroom

Brigid listened to the short briefing, dropping the aloof attitude. She was curious about the science guy, that short explanation seemed suspicious. It felt more like he was here to keep an eye on them. That didn't bother her any. She enjoyed being the center of attention.

The ring-like structure was something she had never seen before. From the description, she assumed it must have been some sort of wormhole stabilizer or perhaps something built to defend this side of the fold. She had no idea how such things were possible, and the math involved made her brain hurt but she understood the basic theory. When they were dismissed she hopped up and marched to the cabins.

Cabin A-2

The redhead found the only cabin that was unclaimed and filed in. It didn't take her very long to store her clothes and get everything in its place. Everything was neatly organized and easy to access. She double checked everything and left her cabin.

Instead of relaxing, Brigid spent her free time familiarizing herself with the layout of the ship. She checked the supplies in the medbay to make sure everything was in order. Once she was done it was time to head to the bridge.

Bridge

Brigid stood at the back of the bridge not far from Ashtoreth. She watched the view turn white and then when it cleared, they were somewhere else. Her response was more muted, but she did have to admit it was pretty awesome. Not Phalanx Philip riding a missile into space level awesome. Then again, not much could compare to that level of awesome.

"That might be the second most amazing thing I've ever seen. Just how far did we travel, ma'am?" She asked curiously.

 

[Syaoran]

Bridge

There was a moment of silence form Tanja after everyone asked their questions, and the first one to speak up was actually Gabi, after typing away at the console for a moment. “Sensors do not show any likely hostiles within practical firing range, standing down from combat alert.”

The captain let out a soft sigh at the Douryo android’s words and then sat back in her chair. “Okay well it looks like we’re safe for the moment. So about your questions. We are likely over one thousand light years away from where we started. However due to the density of the particles here and unfamiliar stars, we can’t accurately chart our location yet.” She drummed her fingers against the armrest. “We don’t know however if anyone is here, so we’ll have to be pretty careful.”

Stefan was the next to speak up from one of the stations on the bridge. “Captain, there is a location nearby that is suitable for the first beacon in the Cloud Array.” His voice voice was strong and carried well, sounding a bit too loud for the confines of the bridge.

Tanja gave a nod and lightly clasped her hands together. “Okay this is going to be a little bit of a surprise for you all. But we’re going to have our first little space walk. I know setting up something like this beacon isn’t exactly in most of your skill sets, but this is going to be a long journey, I want to have everyone learn as much as they can that’s relevant to our task. That’ll include operating at least one of the combat pieces we have on ship.”

On the view screen was an image of the apparent location, it was a large asteroid, that had a relatively smooth surface, for an asteroid at least.

Further insight came from Stefan as to why they would pick such a location. “The beacon can float in space on it’s own, but since this one will tether the rest to the other side, it’s best if we hide it.”

Tanja smiled at this. “Gabi, make an approach, get us within 50 kilometers.”

“Yes Captain.” was the only response from the android as it slowly accelerated the ship towards the location.

“Okay everyone we have suits on the locker on the lower deck. Once you’re suited up head to the hangar and get in the Onset shuttle, unless you want to test fly some of the other equipment. This will be everyone’s first ‘lesson’.”

At the captain’s words Stefan stood from his seat and made his way out of the bridge to get suited up.

"Oh make sure you're armed, as a general policy arm yourselves when you go on a space walk." Tanja spoke quickly to make sure Stefan and the others heard the last bit she forgot before they got out of the bridge.

 

[SmokeEmpress]

Bridge

Ana turned towards Tanja and the others when Gabi reported that, for now, all was safe. She listened as the captain explained what was going to happen and what was expected of the crew. At the mention of the fact that all of them were expected to learn how to use the new equipment of the power armor or fighter, she blanched a bit.

Tentative, she bit her lip before taking a breath and going over to Tanja to speak to her softly. She wasn't concerned that the others would hear, but she didn't want to make too much fuss. "Tanja...do I...do I have to?" She looked at the woman she had come to respect pleadingly, hoping the other would understand. She was fine wearing armor that would protect her, but none that would also be offensive.

 

[Blizzard]

Bridge

Meanwhile, Adiel was visibly excited for a change. Not "bouncing off the walls" per say, but noticeably... energized.

"Dibs on one of the Swordbreakers." the Elysian called as he turned on his heel and strolled out of the bridge. He'd always wanted to learn how to pilot a small craft, but he'd never had the time. Now, he was getting paid to do so! No longer would he have to rely on Flynn to act as his chauffeur. He could go where he wished without being slobbered on by that repulsive mutt that the smuggler liked to drag everywhere!

Hangar

After changing into a void suit, Adiel made his way to the hangar, where he stepped slowly around one of the fighters, hands clasped behind his back as he inspected every nook and cranny. Every so often, his feathers bristled with anticipation.

 

[cyborgakadjmoose]

Bridge

Ash smiled at Tanja. "Oh please, I could space walk in my sleep. I'll give ya a hand with the beacon," she said with a confident nod. "Plus, it probably wouldn't hurt for me to get used to flying the shuttle," she said with a shrug. With that, she filed out of the bridge with the others to get ready.

Later in the Hangar

Ash entered the hangar clad in a black and grey environment suit, holding her helmet under the crook of one arm. Her laiz pistol was comfortably strapped to her left thigh should any trouble arise. She made her way over to the Shuttle and began to inspect it, checking the thrusters for obstructions or for anything out of the ordinary.

 

[Syaoran]

Bridge

Tanja turned her attention to Analiese and gave her a warm smile. "Don't worry, right now you can just help with the beacon. Don't you want to get a chance to see how it works? I do want you to learn some of the other things, but it's just in case okay? I wont expect you to go out regularly and fight with others." She reaches out to Ana and gave her a soft pat on the shoulder. "This is just about being able to do things in an emergency, not about making you fight frequently."

 

[Ametheliana]

Hangar

Suited up, Hana looked to the others near or in the Onset and smiled at each one, face going slack and looking adrift in between smiles.

She was ready but hesitant at the same time. Now, in the face of a space walk, she worried. Worried about her body. Her prize. Her whole self revolved around her body existing. Even if she died out there, what would become of her body, she wondered. She looked back around to those there a moment after being all smiles with a look of trepidation.