===== "Iron Ferret" Medical Bay =====
The marked page was titled, "Psychological Analysis".
Written below, "At first glance, Amanozako seems just plain calm, or serious, with a little anti-sociality mixed in. However, with some speculation and observation, I have concluded with a bit more than something so simple.
First, based on her equipment, she's not a Yamatarian Nekovalkyrja, she's NMX. Assumed the equipment she has is her's, and not stolen and bought from the black market or obtained by others means. Likely it is hers, familiarity with the weapon is obvious.
Being NMX, there is a high-probability that her "Don't Touch Me" complex is a result from some punishments endured while under NMX "care". (She would not allow me to make a proper medical examination) Seeing as she is here, and not in NMX territory, it is also likely that she escaped, not captured by Yamatai. I cannot predict how she did so, without asking her directly, which would most likely result in a... problematic situation.
So she is most likely an escaped and abused NMX Trooper, seeking work that she knows best, killing. Mental stability might be in question. I would enjoy finding out more, though based on her, it would be an unlikely event.
Summary - Amanozako is on-guard all the time, deriving from mistreatment under the NMX. She would most likely kill anyone without a second thought, and should be treated with caution. Her mental stability might be in question. Goals unknown. Questioning would help, though co-operation in unlikely.
End Analysis.
Amanozako read the report. Then read it again. first anger welled up deep inside in response to someone putting together a report on her that was actually a lot closer to the truth than she wanted anyone to know. The fact that she WAS an NMX Neko that had deserted made things dangerous for her if that information got out. Then there was everything else in the report. All of it was nearly spot on and it made her rage.
The black haired Neko grabbed up the folder, stuffed it in with her things then searched through everything else to see if there was more about her. She had to find it all and keep it away from the others and destroy it. She shuffled through papers madly, looking for any trace of her name on them.
"Helping with my paperwork? Bit nice of you, not something I'd expect. So what are you doing? Besides fixing yourself up." The voice was William the doctor, leaning on the door frame.
Amanozako's head snapped in the direction of the doctor's voice. Her blood red eyed full of malace. "You..you made a file on me" she hissed, her usually pale cheeks reddening a little as she had yet to dress herself after her self administered treatment and now was only clad in her undergarments.
"I am a doctor, we are supposed to have files on everyone where we are. You are on this ship, I'm supposed to have a file. You make it hard to keep an accurate one." William show any sort of discomfort or interest with Amanozako being clad in little, he was a doctor, and it wasn't the first time he had seen a woman like her. "Is there a problem? Likely, your face says so."
She crossed the distance between them in an instand, grabbing onto his collar with a vice like grip and holding the man in the air by nearly two feet. "Who else has seen this?" she indicated the file folder she clutched in her other hand.
"Medical Records are private. I've seen em, you've seen it. You could have asked to see it earlier. Didn't expect you to." William shrugged uncomfortably. "Worried? Did you not know records are private?"
"You're pirate scum, I don't trust any of your records being held private" she hissed
"If you do not believe me, then why ask first? Waste of time." William took another strained breath, "Do you not want someone to see it? Likely, I have yet to have a crewmate ask for their file to share it." He paused, "Except those pirates filled with too much bravado, they usually leave a little... lesser."
She tossed him roughly into the wall with as much ease as a child throwing a toy doll. Her physical strength, as was natural for her kind, was considerable despite her slim appearence. "No, I do not want anyone seeing these and I do not want you keeping tabs on me. I can take care of myself fine and do not need some pirate doctor keeping a file on me." she snapped as she began gathering up her things.
He rolled his shoulders, "At least I know I am right." He added, "I am not here because I want to be, I am no pirate. I am here because of a... problematic situation I find myself in. Likely to be close in seriousness to yours."
"How could your situation be anything like mine?" Amanozako demanded as she started pulling her black jumpsuit on.
William scratched his chin before replying, "That's privileged information. I cannot risk it, but I do know what it feels like... "hiding" from someone, or a group."
"Heh." she glared at the man. If it were not for the fact she was contained on this small wreck of a ship with a boatload of other bounty hunters she would have immediatly killed him to protect her secret. "I doubt you are in nearly as much danger as you are putting me in." she growled.
"I don't know any NMX, nor have I shared that record, as I stated before. Your reactions as of late have only confirmed what I have guessed, meaning you actually solidified what I was relatively sure about. However..." William tapped the wall rhythmically, "Have no clue who I am, most likely. If you did... problematic."
"And you think the NMX are the only ones who would kill me if they found out who I was?" she responded. "And as it is I should kill you now" she added as she zipped up her jumpsuit.
"Ah yes, don't forget Yamatai, maybe some private organizations. But I have no love for either, I prefer being where people don't ask questions." William kept his rhythm, "You are welcome to try, ask your engineer friend, Desmond. But as a doctor, I'd like to keep things clean as possible."
"He's not my friend" she replied as she pulled her boots on, then got up and strapped on her gun belt with its twin drop holsters and HHG's. She did not put her armor back on for now, instead stuffed it into her backpack as well as it would fit.
"Sorry, I forgot, that wouldn't be like you to call someone, "friend". Perhaps... co-worker, comrade, accquaintence are more acceptable?" He added, "Maybe you should consider friends, they are helpful and enjoyable if you find the right ones."
"I don't think so. Social interactions do nothing more than get in the way." she said and pulled her gauntlets on.
"Whatever you say, unlikely I could change your mind." He went to one of the cabinets next to him, and started sorting the contents, which were mostly pain killers. "What do you plan to do?"
"What's it matter to you?" Amanozako asked. "Planning on telling the authorities, getting yourself a nice little prize for turning in an enemy soldier?"
William laughed, "I wouldn't dare talk to any authorities, they'd come running." He shrugged, "Curiosity, I like having information, answers, means less questions... later." He moved to the next cabinet, moving closer to the left corner of the room.
"Well all you're gonna have with me is questions." she glared "No more information, no more answers!" her eyes were fixed on him as he moved. she did not trust him one bit. "And you can stay away from that cabinet too" shw added, her hands resting on the handles of her twin HHGs
"I believe I retain rights to my space, as you to yours." William stated flatly. "I'm taking stock, I trust there isn't many of you? I hope so, I might need to replenish some meds." He kept Amanozako in his peripheral vision, moving to the last cabinet, close to one of the beds, at the end of the triangle. Though the triangle had its "tips" cut, a triangle corner was hardly useful. The cabinet utilized the small flat wall due to this.
"There will be one less once I can get off this rust bucket." she responded and quickly finished packing up the last of her things.
"Leaving so soon? I was starting to like you." He paused, "You know, wolves hunt better in packs, right?" William offered.
"Not this one" Amanizako replied. "And I doubt you like having me around"
"Read a study, showed that wolves that hunted alone died almost everytime when faced with any predator they couldn't hunt. Pack usually won." William opened the bottom part of the cabinet, sticking his head inside, his voice was somewhat muffled, "How would you know? I like talking, and you are listening."
"I am not a wolf" she stated. "I work better alone than with others. they only get in the way." she picked up her impaler rifle, slinging it over her shoulder "And for someone who says they like to talk you don't say much."
"I am talking more now, than when I was alone, and..." William's voice trailed off. A moment later, he disappeared into the cabinet without much noise.
If Amanozako checked, she would find nothing unusual, as if William just disappeared.
"What in the nine hells...!" the Neko cursed and carefully advanced, unshouldering her rifle and aiming. "I don't know what game you're up to but you better knock it off!"
She crouched by the opening, peering in, the muzzel of her rifle aimed into it in case the doctor tried something funny
For a while, nothing was heard, said, and it was generally quiet. After a minute, a series of clicks started about the room. It lasted briefly, and a voice piped up, from the other side of the room. "Oh, did I scare you? Not likely, probable you did not expect it."
William had discarded his previous attire, and was now clothed in a set of Styrling Muur Armor, Black with a dark maroon trim. He didn't have the helmet on, but the armor looked it had some custom stuff done to it. It had a lot of pouches, on the chest, legs, waist, and even a small one on the right upper arm. There was additional armor on the arms, legs, and chest.
The waist had two handgun holsters, which were occupied by his usual pistols, the same Desmond had seen, Zen Armaments .45. A crossed holster on his back were empty, and the two Styrling Ripshots that it held were in his hands, pointed down, in a non-threatening manner.
"How do you like it? I took it with me when I "left" my place of work."
Amanozako frowned heavily. "Planning on trying to take the ship back?" she said, her rifle aimed. "I thought we were having a nice talk, then you have to go get armor and guns"
"Oh, no no. I gave that up. I thought you'd like to see it, appeal to your fighting side. I used to fight, now I don't. I keep this as a memento." William rolled his shoulders, "Heavier than I remember."
"And this is supposed to impress me?" she replied flatly. "All I see is a fool who has to hide behind his toys since he can't BS his way around things" sighed.
William shrugged, "You don't seem impressed, interested, or remotely caring of anything that happens. Ah well, I guess I'll put it back." He didn't move though, he wouldn't be suprised if Amanozako shot him in the back as soon as he turned his back, "Going to lower the gun? It's problematic for me."
"You going and getting into armor and packing guns is problematic for me." Amanozako replied. "gun stays up" she was more than tempted to shoot him in the front let alone waiting for him to turn around.
William frowned, and then shook his head, "Understandable." He kinda shifted foot to foot, "So... why are you still here? Growing to enjoy my company? Unlikely. Waiting to shoot me? Probable. Still worried about me giving up secrets? Most likely." Willam eyed Amanozako critically, "Why worry?"
"Someone needs to keep an eye on you now that you've gone and got your armor and guns. Last thing I need is for you to go around shooting at people"
"Why do you care if I shoot anyone but you?" William stated plainly.
"I don't want you coming around and shooting at me" Amanozako grumbled.
"But let's say I never shot a bullet in your direction, and killed everyone else, even kill Lucky Luke and Sam, our engineer." William replied.
"Then you would be as guilty a criminal as everyone else I dispatched from this pirate crew." she said. "And I'm sure I could find someone to pay for your head"
"Ah, but aren't you the one who fought for the NMX for a time? We are both guilty of things worth our heads, I need to do no more." William shrugged, "See where we stand?"
"I was not given a choice!" Amanokazo snapped, her voice full of sudden venom. "You were not created in a test tube as a tool and forced to do the bidding of hidious Mishhu scum!" she spat out the name of her creator race. "You have no idea, not the slightest what its like to be controlled by those monsters!" she nearly screamed all of this. This is who she really hated, hated with every fiber of her being. The sudden force of rage that emminated from the ex-soldier was frightening.
William's eyebrows rose, it seemed they would rise right off his face. He was surprised at the sudden rage, but not frightened by it, more so frightened of the gun she wielded in her rage.
"I do not, but I do know what it feels like to be controlled, and have no choice."
Amanozako sagged against the medical bed behind her. The outburst of rage seemed to take its time. She shook visibly and her eyes were distant, as if she were reliving horrors she had seen during her life as an NMX soldier.
William cautiously walked over, and tapped Amanozako on the arm, "Wake up, past is past, present is present."
She lashed out as he touched her, snarling as her gauntleted claws slammed into his face. Amanozako, shoved him down and pinned him onto the floor. She clutched onto his collar and roughly slammed him into the ground a few times.
William grunted, he half-expected the reaction, but not the speed. He was breathing heavily after she stopped slamming him, and he had quite the headache. Probably some bruising, but he couldn't tell yet.
"Ow..." He groaned.
Her blood red eyes glared into his, they would have burned right through him and the deck below had they been lasers. The neko breathed hard, her clutch on his collar did not loosen one bit, though she no longer tried to beat him into the deck anymore.
He groaned, turning his head side to side, trying to shake his headache, at least slightly. Until returning his eyes to Amanozako. So full of hate that one cannot see. He considered his options, I could probably shove her off, and if I did, likely I would win, ending in her death, which would likely result in her compatriots seeking me out. I could reason, unlikely for success, she's beyond comprehension of speech. Not much else I can do...
Suddenly he acted without thinking, planning. As best as he could in his position, he raised his head, and kissed the enraged Neko. Fire does not fight fire. Water fights Fire.
She had not expected that. The feeling of his lips pressed to hers cut through her rage more effectively than any knife could. She froze for a mere moment, her eyes bulged. She had never been kissed by a man before. Sure the physical pleasures and contact between her fellow neko's during the dull periods between battles had been one thing. This was different and she was suddenly unsure what to do next.
That thought aside, she did not break off. In the haze of her utter rage, her body acted with little convent or higher command from her mind. So instead she kissed him back, almost forcefully, intensely as she crouched over the pinned doctor.
Willaim held until Amanozako broke off. If she breaks, then she has regained thought at the least.
She did not break off, not for some while at least and when she finally did, she still clutched at his collar, but her red eyes smouldered as they pierced into his. She breathed hard, catching up on the breathing she had not been doing over the last minute or two.
Upon breaking, William inhaled heavily, returning her glare with his amber eyes. What will she do now...?
And that was something even she did not know at the moment. She just stared down into his eyes for a long while in silence. Their breathing the only sound in the medical bay beyond the quiet hum of the life support system.
"Why did you do that?" she finally broke the silence, recovering some sense of control over herself.
"I... don't know. I just... did." William replied uncertainly. He attempted to stretch his muscles as best he could.
Taking a deep breath, her spine tingling. Amanozako was torn, she so wanted to put her fists through him and rip his organs out just a minute ago and still did in a way. But, she decided, this was better than fighting. Anyways, she could still kill him later if she needed to.
So instead of speaking any more, she let his collar go as she leaned down and pressed her lips back to his in a deep kiss.
William was surprised, he had expected a bit more... fighting, up to and including his demise. Instead of recieving death, he had recieved... another kiss. Much better than death... hopefully she doesn't regret later and attempt to kill me, that would be... problematic. So although he was surprised, he returned her kiss, adding equal force.
A small part of him believed that the Neko was still trying to trick him, so he played along for that piece of him, and the other majority, which believed she was being geniuine... for now.
Amanozako seemed fully intent to carry things on to their logical conclusion at this point. Physically anyways, showing less and less signs of restraint as each moment passed. She did not seem to be troubled by any of the thoughts the doctor had been mulling over, rather, she just let herself go and put everything outside of what was at hand out of her mind.
William followed suit, and whilst he did so, he tapped a button in his right glove. Soon after, a blank wall of metal slid over the "doorway".
----- Fade to Black -----
== "Iron Ferret" ==
Haures had waited for Desmond around the bridge for him to come back, but after a while, the lizard got "worried" for his owner, so he went looking. He couldn't leave the bridge until Helric and Jacob opened it, so he left and smelled the air for his new owner. The giant lizard immediatley rushed over to the door to Engineering and headbutted it. When Desmond opened the door, Haures would thump his tail on the deck.
William and Sam would be surprised, with Sam staring at the lizard with wide-eyes, while Willam simply commented, "Big Lizard, is he yours? He looks happy to see you. Is he trained? They don't normally do that."
"Yes. No, he's very dangerous" Desmond replied to William as they made their way towards the bridge. Right then, turning these two up to the new captain didn't feel like a priority, and the engineer had a feeling in the back of his head to check the engines instead, specially after seeing the state it was in.
William frowned, "Not trained? Doubtful."
Sam shook off the suprise, reached down and rubbed Haures on the head. The tail thumped once more on the deck.
"So, where are we going? Time is money, and all that." Sam asked Desmond, while continuing to rub Haures's head, who seemed to enjoy it.
"I was going to take you both to the new captain, but after seeing the state of this ship I need to take a look at the engine room again." Desmond replied. "You go ahead, since you're a doctor. The mechanic comes with me." He said, gesturing towards William and then Sam.
William nodded, "Yes, should go through that paperwork better." He walked off quickly, mumbling about Haures not being trained.
Sam waited until William left until looking up at Desmond, "He's trained isn't he?" It was more of a statement than a question.
"Yes, but don't go telling that to everyone." He said. Last thing he wanted was that Haures turned into some sort of mascot for the ship.
The bounty hunter got inisde the engineering deck once again, and started inspecting the damage. He could number a couple of catastrophic failures and some less than critical failures in startships that resulted from poor or negligent maintenance. He didn't want to be near either of those.
"Yeah, sure." Sam followed Desmond back into engineering, commenting, "I know stuff is in bad shape, but we really need to find some place to get some replacement parts and such." She watched Desmond look around the cramped room.
"Yeah, I'll bring that up. Let's see what we can jury rig so this ship's engine doesn't causes a chain reaction and roast us. Or the life support doesn't fail and we end up without air", Desmond said. The bounty hunter lit another cigarette, first things first after all, and then proceeded to check the equipment.
He stopped shot to where a bundle of duct tape was wrapped around a fuel pipe, possibly to prevent a leak.
"This over here, don't use duct tape. You gotta use the welders or the high temperatures will just melt the tape away when the engine's too strained." He said, tapping the duct tape with his wrench and then picking his wirecutters to start cutting it out before he used his own welder to do the job.
Sam shrugged, sitting on the floor, "Sometimes you gotta "fix" things in less than five seconds." She continued to rub Haures, who had laid down next to her, "I advise looking at the engine, where you found me. That's pretty important, without that fixed, we aren't going anywhere very fast."
Desmond nodded, sealing the breach on the pipe with the hot metal weld, watching it cool down and solidify before moving towards the narrow crevice.
The bounty hunter soon realized that it was too narrow for him to squeeze through the way it was, so he took his vest off and went in there.
The first thing Desmond would notice is some frayed wire clusters, some of which were very close to breaking apart, breaking the circuit.
"Need insulated tape!" Desmond shouted from the crevice. Now it was the time to use the damn tape.
"Got it!" A few seconds later, Sam appeared next to him, offering the roll of tape. "Here ya go." He picked it up and started to put the tape around the exposed wires, not bothering to shut the entire power down since his gloves were also insulated.
"Okay, now the power won't short out and leave us in the dark." Desmond said.
"Right, take a look at the engines, that's what I'm worried about." Was her reply, while Desmond got right back into work.
- Some Engineering Endeavors later -
It was tricky to rig that engine not to fail, and even if he did pull it off the thing wouldn't be able to run at full potency until they got the new parts. Though, he had faced harder challenges.
"Did you know once I fixed a comms transmitter using a fridge?" He asked no one in particular, remembering of one such feat.
"... that's... impressive." She stated.
"That's not even the half of it." Desmond replied, taking a long drag of his cigarette.
"Well, your fix should hold at least till we find a better replacement." Sam grinned, "You could probably show me a thing or two." Sam made her way out of the cramped passage, sitting next to Haures again.
"Probably." Desmond said, squeezing himself out and picking his vest again. The bounty hunter put the armor back on and squatted next to Haures, sitting down and leaning against one of the many machinery while he finished his cigarette.
She followed up with, "Would you mind? I'd be in your debt." She rubbed Haures on the belly.
Haures started thumping his tail on the deck.
"I guess I could." Desmond replied, staring at Haures.
"Great! Thanks!" Sam replied happily, "This guy is an awesome pet, what's his name?"
Haures stuck his long tongue out at Desmond, for a few seconds, before returning it to his maw.
Desmond scratched his chin for a second, "It's Haures, I think. It wasn't mine up until an hour ago." He said, staring at his pet. "Come to think of it, I don't have any idea what it eats." He concluded.
At Desmond saying "Haures", the lizard perked up, and stared intently at Desmond, waiting for him to say a command. Sam recoiled, surprised, "With that reaction, it must be his name." She paused, "If ya just got him, then do you know if he does anything? What he's trained for?"
"It follows me around. That's a good feat as any." Desmond replied, finishing off his cigarette and flicking the butt away. The cigarette butt hadn't even landed yet and the bounty hunter was already reaching for his cigarette pack again. "So what's inside those cargo crates by cargo?" He inquired again.
"I bet he can do more than follow, you should see what works when you have time." She stood up, brushing her clothes, "Well, it depends on the crate. The ones we got now are from some small civilian cargo ship. There are a few remaining from a different raid on a more... military target, so there's probably some guns, though most are probably packed into the "armory". Then you got anything on the shuttle you had, if there was anything." She motioned out the door, "Take a look?"
"Sounds good." Desmond said, managing to light his cigarette as he walked out of the maintenance area. He motioned for Haures to follow him before stepping out of the airlock.
------ A few moments later -----
"Right! Cargo!" Sam exclaimed as she swept her hand, indicating the cargo stacked against the walls, "We can hold a bit more than this, but it's been slow lately." She turned to face Desmond, "So... what are you looking for, if anything?"
Haures was standing by Desmond, who already had his crowbar out, looking around, and smelling.
The crates themselves were of various sizes, some about the size of a microwave, while a few in the back were as large as a small car. Most were around the size of a desk or dresser. The largest crate was in the corner, looking to be about as big as a truck.
"What's in the big one?" Desmond asked, pointing with the crowbar towards the big crate, already walking towards it.
"The one in the corner? Well, as its size would hint, it's a truck. We hadn't decided what to do with it. It's new though." Sam continued, "I'd love to take it out for a drive."
Desmond sighed at that. "We could scrap it for parts to use on the ship's engine." He said, standing in front of the crate, tapping it with his crowbar.
Sam reluctantly agreed to the statement, "We could..." While Desmond pried open one of the larger sides of the crate.
The bounty hunter groaned as he forced the wooden crate open with his crowbar, until the side popped out and fell against the deck, raising a small cloud of dust.
Desmond's efforts revealed an Origin Industries Truck, from the side, with the driver's seat facing Desmond. The truck itself was black, with blue flames across the sides, and hood.
Sam sighed audibly, "Beautiful." Haures went up and smelled it, indifferent to it.
"Yep." Desmond said nonchallantly, moving towards the next crate. He'd worry about scrapping the truck later, the repairs weren't that urgent after he had rigged the engine. He moved towards one of the table sized crates and started prying it open from the top.
"Oh those crates..." She was interrupted by the crack of the crate's top giving way.
Inside was a mess of clothes, it appeared the pirates had been nosing around as well, but it "seemed" like most of the contents were there, which was a mix of mens and womens jackets, made from various materials.
"... have clothes in them." She finished, a bit late.
Desmond grimmaced at that. Still, the clothes would probably be useful given the opportunity. He moved to another crate, prying it open. He intended to have all of them checked before he was done with the cargo hold.
And so it went, Desmond cracking crates, Sam watching and commenting, and Haures smelling it all.
And so the crates revealed their contents, though most were probably not of interest to the Bounty Hunter. Though some had potential, such as additional clothing crates, boxes of rations and canned food, an assortment of metals in bars, basic engineering tools, mostly empty medical supply crates, crate of AwesomeCorp Datapads, and more. The military crates had been opened already, and were mostly empty.
"That stuff was moved to the armory, but a lot of it was taken onto the Starliner." Sam commented.
There was a wild assortment of other things, but they were nothing of interest to the Hunter.
Desmond stretched his arms after the ordeal was over, putting the crowbar back on his toolbelt. Truth be told, the contents of the crates didn't really meet up to his expectations, minus the truck.
"Right. I'm trying to figure if selling that truck and buying parts would be more efficient than scrapping it for parts to use on the ship's engine." He said to no one in particular. Even though a truck engine was a long shot from being the same as a starship engine it was still possible to scrounge some of that. He'd done stuff like that before.
"Well, nice job breaking all the crates! It would've been easier to move this around with them as they were." Sam piped up, she'd just been sitting the entire time, "If you're looking for more gear, I'd chance the armory. Seems like that'd be up your alley."
"Sad story. Show me where the armory is." Desmond replied. He wasn't about to be in that ship and not know exactly what was inside of each of those crates with the possibility of it being useful in some way or another.
"Turn around smart guy, it's in here." Sam was standing next to a doorway, it was the room closest to the main hall, or farthest away from the medical bay. She flicked a switch and lights came on in the room, showing that it was indeed an armory. She motioned him to come over.
Desmond made his way inside, "Just exactly how much firepower did they have in here?" He asked, looking around the room once he was inside.
"Oh, enough to arm the entire crew three times or so. Of course, some aren't smart and take more weapons than they need." She looked around the room, and took stock of the remaining weapons, "Probably about... a third, maybe a little less, left in here." She paused, "Still got enough, isn't the most impressive arsenal, but it'll get the job done."
"Whatever." Desmond replied, just taking a look at it. He decided he would leave his own weapons in his own room, wherever that would be. "Anything else I need to know about this ship?" He asked.
She thought for a moment, "You should be good, besides the fact that this is a pirate ship, and pirates aren't well-liked. Anything else you're looking for, or want to see?"
That made Desmond stop and think for a while. He hadn't planned much that far ahead. "I'm not a pirate." He stated, looking back at Sam, "Guess I'll find a place to settle in."
"Pirate or not, people firing at this ship don't know that without asking." She replied, "And, they probably wouldn't trust ya if they did ask." She chuckled a bit, "Well, the only places we got on this boat is the "real" quarters, which has the Captain's Cabin, Firstmate, an empty one. Or you can live over here in Cargo, in one of these makeshift rooms. William lives in Medical, at the end, the two rooms between here and there, are like some bunkhouse. Just a bunch of beds thrown in a room, might have to remodel a bit." She eyed Desmond, "Preference?"
"There's a whole bunch of people who I don't want to be near that are going to be taking those cabins. Plus the cargo area is closer to the engine" He said, "So I'm getting one of those free bunkrooms." He concluded, not like there was any crew around that would be using those anyway.
"Where do you get grub around here?" He asked after a while, flicking the butt of his cigarette once he was done with it.
"There's a Galley next to the lounge. Not five-star eats, but what could ya expect on a pirate ship?"
"Not much, but I've seen worse." Desmond said, remembering a particular security cutter he used to work in before ditching his life and becoming a bounty hunter. "I'll go see about getting myself a place." He said, and then started to make his way out of the room.
"Have fun, and don't hurt yourself." Sam replied, the last part laced with sarcasm.
== "Iron Ferret" Bridge ==
Kendra was about to leave the room herself when the comm from Nick came. She frowned and looked at the horned pilot. What else could that jar be then a liquid explosive or something. The new captain sighed and activated her comms.
"Better leave it be. Mr. Horny mentioned there are bombs on the ship," she replied to Nicholas.
Nicholas quickly replied, "Ok! I won't touch it. Any other surprises he's informed you of?"
"Nope, but be vigilant," Kendra replied to the handy-man and then turned to the Iroma. "You wanker should get off your arse and go defuse those bombs. Jacob will take over for now. Last thing i need is my ship arseploding on me. I just got it after all."
"As for you," Kendra said and looked at the lucky pirate called Lucky. "Sure you can take a nap, in an airlock. I promised I won't harm you unless you give me a reason, but fuck me if I let you just walk around a ship. Since I assume this place does not have a brig you gonna spend night in the airlock. Don't worry we will get you a bucket and feed you."
Luke called out, "That's hardly fair, I have my own bunk you know!" He grumbled, "William and Sam probably don't have to do this."
"First I have no idea who William and Sam are, seconds whoever they are, if they are still alive that means they were not shooting at me and my people just 5 minutes ago. Unlike you." Kendra frowned at the men and her tail shivered. "You are lucky to be alive, but don't try to test my patience too much. You will get bedding in the airlock, don't worry. And you can take stuff from your bunk there, except for any weapons of course."
He laughed, "Lucky? I'm called "Lucky" Luke for a damn reason. If you remember, I didn't shoot ya, your friend shot at me." He added, a bit quieter, "And... you wouldn't know if William fired or not, I wouldn't be surprised if he could kill everyone aboard, guys a fuckin ace."
"Well he might be ace, but you clearly are not. So stop arguing." The snake lady said, easy to see her irritation. "I am the one with whole bunch of armed folks on this ship not you. You are just a bloody pirate, by all rights I should just shoot you and dump the body. But no, I said I will get you planetside and so I will. I will even let you keep your bloody stuff so stop fighting and just do what I said."
"If you could shoot me, I'd be surprised, and dead." He added, with a bit of defeat in his voice, "But fine, sure, I'd rather not test how far my luck goes." Kendra would hear him walk off, apparently to get his stuff.
"Helric, go with him, watch him while he gets his thing and then lock him up. Be so kind." Kendra said to the only free guy in the room. She hoped they will still keep being a bit mesmerized and listen to her. She was sure that sooner or later they will start asking questions. Like why the hell is she the captain. There were only three people aboard this ship she was willing to talk about that with though and Helric was not one of them.
Helric shrugged, and tapped Jacob on the shoulder, in which Jacob nodded. He disappeared out the door. Another ping, "Found the quarters, they're locked."
"Well I don't have keys," Kendra replied and then sighed. "Also be careful there might be someone called Sam and William aboard according to that lucky bastard."
"Jacob," Her head turned to her pilot. "Any chance you could unlock the quarters from here? Captain's room as well. Also please run scan of inside of the ship."
Jacob nodded assent and started tapping on the controls. "One moment...... and... Quarters and the rooms within are unlocked." More tapping, "And... we have two people in the end of the other cargo hold. Three more in rooms in the same cargo hold. One in Engineering. Flight Attendants haven't moved from the shuttle. Another one who just entered the quarters, Nicholas. And us, on the bridge."
"Thank you, keep an eye on this. I am off to see my new room. Call me on my comm if you need anything." Were the new captain's orders, before she turned around and slithered away, keeping an eye on her surroundings. Last thing she needed now was finding a bomb by accident and getting hurt or killed by its blast.
Before she left, Jacob added, "Did you want to go anywhere? You know, before the authorities arrive and blow us to hell."
"Dunno," Kendra replied. "Closest safe nep planet I guess. I am surprised you did not jump already. How about Delsauria, that should be safe enough. Or maybe Kennewes, Greens do not have such a great hold there."
"Well, everyone seems to place you in command, might as well ask. Anyway, initiating a jump." Jacob started up the engine, "This thing needs repairs by the way."
"Yeah, but we need to get out of here first and collect ourselves." Kendra replied and gave Jacob a nod. She then turned around and left the bridge, going for the ex-captain's room.
===== "Iron Ferret" Quarters =====
Upon the lounge, Kendra would find Nicholas leaning next to one of the rooms, "Hey, didn't want to start without you." Kendra just replied with a nod and looked around the lounge.
The lounge itself was actually relatively well-kept, not what you'd expect on a pirate ship. There were two small tables, each with four chairs on one side of the room, which one had what appeared to be the remnants of a card game. A trio of couches encircled a large T.V. screen on the other side, and a small bar was tucked into the corner next to the tables.
Nicholas nodded back, "So, let's see what hidden treasure troves lie behind these doors! I'm interested in McRenar's room."
"Lounge is not as bad as I feared." The new captain said with a smile. "Could use some drapes, pretty pictures and a stripper pole. And we need a bigger bar. This will do for now though. Anyway let's see McRenar's room first, then."
"Right, I would like to add that I plan to reside in this room." With that he opened the door to McRenar's room.
"Sure, you might get a roomie though. This is not a super large ship. I bet you could share it with Desmond if needed." Were the words Kendra told him back as she followed him into the room. "Careful about traps."
"Oh I'm sure McRenar didn't have any..." A second later a small turret popped out of the ceiling. Nicholas looked at it, "I stand corrected."
A voice popped over the intercom, apparently the turret itself, "Password."
"Uh..." Kendra stopped and whispered to Nick. "You remember name of the captain. She and Renar were getting it on weren't they?"
He whispered back, "I don't know if they were..." Nicholas spoke to the turret, "Kara."
The turret whirred, and folded back into the ceiling, "I guess they were." Nicholas stated.
"You better remember that password." Kendra said and breathed out. "Actually I could use a defense turret in my room. Ah well maybe captain had one of her own."
"Oh I'm sure she did, maybe she has two." Nicholas forced a chuckle, "Ha...haaa, Damn that was kinda scary, damn turrets." He shrugged, "Well, let's see what we got then."
The room was configured for one person, leaving just one bed, instead of two. The walls had a few landscape paintings hung up. The lockers were closed, and the display shelves between them had various art pieces, small statues, and other antique items.
"Well too bad we did not get to meet this guy," Kendra said with a shrug, before waving her hand around the room. "Looks like the man had taste. Mind if we move the pictures to the Lounge? Might liven up the room until we have time and money to refurnish it."
"Oh, I'd like to keep one or two, but I don't mind if you take a few." Nicholas walked around the room, inspecting some of the antiques, and turning his head to the computer, which had a bit more than standard, "Oh this guy, he must've managed the sales and such of their "goods"."
"Oh nice. I bet there will be valuable info on it." Was the reply he got as the Separa looked at the computer. "If he had some buyers on black market, maybe some of them have bounties on their head. It would be nice to get to them. If nothing else we could sell that info to authorities for some DA."
"Yeah, I'll look into it, it's what we are out to do, right?"
"Well if anything I would like to stay as legal as possible. I did enough work on the dark side to have enough of it for a life time. So I don't care if we hunt bounties or play merchants."
"Right, I know how you feel." Nicholas opened the lockers and peered inside, "Well, he's got my kind of clothes. Wait a second here..." Nicholas pushed aside some of the clothing, and found a button. "Oh, what's this?"
"Well let's hope it is not a bomb. Push it." Replied Kendra.
"Right." Nicholas pushed it, and for a moment, it seemed that nothing would happen. A click sounded, and Nicholas jumped back, "Woah." The locker rotated, and revealed a large safe, and shelving. On the shelves were some more art, but made seemingly of gold and other precious metals. Some jewelry as well, on display in glass boxes. "Well... that confirms that he's the business man."
"Oh. My." Kendra said and leaned in. She reached in and grabbed a ring from one of the shelf. It was golden with a small stone in it. "Oh. My. Indeed. All that will look great on me don't you think. All the lovely gold."
"Oh yes, it'll look great I'm sure, but..." Nicholas tapped the safe, "What's in there, is what I'm interested in."
"I can crack that," Kendra said, but then she frowned. "But I am going to need equipment for that and it will probably take time. I doubt it has kind of lock I can hack just with my data-jockey."
The safe had two "defenses". One was a keypad for a five-digit keycode, and the other was a key-lock. "Too bad we didn't check if he had the key..."
"Turning the ship around is kind of out of the question. I wonder if they have X-ray on this ship." Kendra said, rubbing her chin. "If we can even take this thing out. I wonder if it has self-destruction too. There are safes that destroy what is inside if opened wrongly. With small explosion or some acid. Or, there are those that just Explode, to kill the thieves as well."
Nicholas scratched his head, "Well, we don't want to lose what's inside. Maybe he left the key in here then? He does have a guard turret. Maybe he thought it was safe enough. For the keycode... well, I suppose you'll have to figure that out."
"Later though," Kendra replied and straightened up. "Hide it again, we will get to it later. Now I am curious about the room of the captain. But before we go in I will hook into outside panel and see what we can do about taking security offline. I doubt we will have more luck with the turret in her room if there is one."
Nicholas pushed an identical button, and the locker rotated, returning back to normal. "We might get lucky, maybe the password is McRenar, or John." He shrugged, "I am also curious though, she's bound to have some interesting pieces as well."
===== "Iron Ferret" Airlock =====
Lapas was just about to finish his rounds looking for the last few missing bombs, all that was left to check now was the air lock. He walked in and found a man who appeared to be resting in the airlock "Ummm hey you mind if I take a look around? I seemed misplaced my bombs so unless you value privacy over fiery death I'll start my search." He set his bag down and looked at the other man.
The Nepleslian looked up when Lapas entered, "Oh what do you all want now? Finally decide to kill me yet? Or just looking for FURTHER ways to "detain me"?" He grunted at Lapas's request, "Oh yeah sure, I don't have much of a choice anymore, damn snake."
As he was looking behind panels and in a few corners he laughed as he thought of the angry snake woman who made him put his guns away and worse failed to get any of his humor. "So she didn't give you any of the affection you deserve as a person either. Who would have guessed a snake bounty hunter wouldn't be all warm and fuzzy? Ah ha! There it is."
He began to slowly take the components out of the jar care not to have any of them touch. "Soo, how'd you incurr the wrath of the scaled beauty?"
"Stop bein all friendly, I ain't yer friend, I ain't nobody's friend." He turned away from Lapas, "She probably sent cha here, yer just waiting to put a bullet in my dome." He laughed, loudly, "But cha can't, I can tell ya that... "friend"." The word friend being laced with heavy sarcasm.
"First I don't use bullets, too expensive. Second she took my guns away too, so even if I wanted to put a bullet in you head, if I even had bullets in the first place I couldn't. Third, the whole grizzled friendless badass thing is so boring. Just once I want to meet Nepleslian who greets me with a nice smile or a friendly hug." He still had a few components left to remove from the jar but he figured those could wait a second.
"Yeah kiddo? Well this is the real world, not some fairy tail. People ain't that kind." The Nepleslian snapped back. "If ya want a hug, go back to yer mum."
"Ouch that hurts ya know it really does, but hey some people are just angry all the time. Oh by the way could you hold this for me." With that he tossed the half empty glass jar while the major explosive agents had been taken out the sodium would still cause quiet the noise and make a nice firework show. Unfortunatly only people trained in explosives would recognize that the jar was harmless.
The Nepleslian make any move to catch it, and it sailed by, "You know, you probably just got yourself killed with that bomb."
The jar went off on the wall opposite Lapas, the explosion it self was hardly that impressive about as loud as a gun shot with about the same about of fire actually being produced. "Damnit you ruined my brilliant team building exercise.... And my jar, stupid cynisim." Lapas stood up and grabbed his bag. " Ya know I thought we could be friends seeing as you were a member of the old crew of this ship and I pretended to be a member of the crew. Aw well the bonds of fake brotherhood really are that week, have fun being boring, I'm going to go make friends elsewhere."
"That's right, you pretended, and got all my mates killed, they owed me. Now I've got a Snake Princess slithering about, telling everyone what to do, damn shame it is." He threw his arms up in the air, "And now, I gotta sit here cuz she told me to. Why the hell should I have to listen to some scaly freak, and her gang of goonies."
"Hey I take offense to that I'm at least a thug in the grand scheme of things. Alright I'm gonna find someone far more a attractive to try my expert charms on see ya around." He left carrying his jars and explosive components down the hallway.
===== "Iron Ferret" Bridge =====
== After Kendra and Nicholas leave... ==
Lapas would find himself standing at the door to bridge. The ship wasn't big, but it figured that he didn't see anyone else on his "travels". He would hear a faint humming and drumming on the other side of the door. Of course, all the hostiles in the ship had been cleared out, except one, who was questionable.
He figured he could go to the bridge to relax maybe meet this other pilot that the snake girl mentioned. He opened the familar door to the bridge waiting to meet the competion for his job.
The room was much like Lapas left it, minus the dead body, and there was now only one resident. This resident was a blonde-haired, blue eyed Nepleslian male who was currently tapping a rhythm on the control panel, and humming to himself, "Who're you?" He said as he turned his head, not recognizing Lapas, or not remembering.
"Name's Lapas, I signed on after you guys killed the priates. Pleased to meet you" He was just happy that his statment about Neplesians was turning out correct.
"Oh yeah. I didn't do too much of the killing and all that, just tagged along." He turned the entire chair around and offered his hand, "Jacob Fuller, pleased to meet you as well."
Lapas shook his hand " So how long you been a pilot Jake?"
"Oh, I've been playing with shuttles since I was eight. Haven't flown many birds like this though, not what I'm trained for, but I can make do." was Jacob's reply.
"Yeah about the same for me diffrence I did getaway shuttles for most of my life and one big trader ship about a month ago." So far the other pilot didn't seem too bad.
Jacob's eyebrows rose, "You a pilot too? Seems we'll be workin together a bit then. Good to know I'll have some help then."
"Yeah good to have some back up around right?" He smiled maybe he could get used to the crew if they were as calm as this.
"Most definitely." Jacob agreed. "Well, what else do you do?"
"I'm also big into demo work sorta a hobby of mine, and I can shoot as good as any soldier. Oh and I'm incredibly attractive to females of every species."
Jacob guffawed, "If that was true, then why didn't Kendra swoon at your charms? Surely she is included in the "every species" category."
"Well she's a special case, a very angry, very special case, that just needs a little more work but one day even she won't be able to resist my devilish charm." He struck a mock hero pose just to emphasize his point.
"Yeah well, if that doesn't work, which I can almost guarantee it won't work, we brought some flight attendants from the starliner with us. I'm sure they'll be more susceptible to your "charms"." Jacob replied, rolling his eyes at Lapas.
Lapas smirked, "Really? I guess Kendra failed to tell me that. Guess she never learned how to welcome someone." He paused for a minute and suppressed the urge to go find some flight attendants. "So let's just say I wanted to meet them at some point in the near future. where would I go to find them?"
Jacob pointed out the door, "Hiding in the shuttle we used to get here, they're scared of being on a pirate ship, and they don't want to move. Feel free to encourage them to." He shrugged, "They can't stay in there forever."
"Hmmmm seem like my list of things to do just keeps getting longer. By the way what's the room situation for you guys? Is it claim what you want first or does scale boobs get to make a list of everything?"
Jacob shrugged again, "Hell if I know. I'm busy piloting this scrap-heap. I assume she'll be takin the Captain's Quarters, otherwise, I don't know." He chuckled, "Nice name for her."
"Ha thanks I told that guy in the airlock Neplesians had a sense of humor. Anyway good talk, see ya whenever you get off flying this thing."
Jacob waved, "Yeah, haven't talked to him yet, see ya later." He turned back around, and got back to work.
Lapas began his trek to the shuttle bay and began to whistle as he went through the hall kicking a loose ball bearing around like a tiny soccer ball.
The Shuttle Bay was like the Hunters had left it, even the bodies still remained on the floor, in a puddle of red. There were some cargo crates in the shuttlebay, but not nearly as many as what was in the other Cargo Hold. As Lapas entered, frantic talking could be heard from the open shuttle door.
He walked closer while he remained outside the shuttle he was out of view of door. Quietly he placed his horns against the shuttle trying to listen in and get an idea of how to approach the situation.
Inside Lapas would hear three female voices.
"I'm scared, they haven't come back, what if... the pirates killed them? Then the pirates will come for us!" One said.
"Maybe they forgot, or still fighting. You heard that explosion earlier." A second replied.
"What if that explosion killed them!?" A third piped in.
"We could try flying this shuttle away..." The second voice chimed.
He poked his head into the shuttle "We are not dead yet." He looked at the three girls and noticed some degree of fear on their faces. He stopped on a tall muscular looking Nepleslian with medium length blonde hair, dyed green at the tips.
"Aiiiieeeeeee!" shrieked the attendants, "PIRATE!" An empty cardboard box flew and hit Lapas in the chest. "Go Away!" stated the second attendant, a curvy Yamatarian with white hair and round gold eyes screamed at him.
Wow if I had a koun for every girl that's reacted that bad to me I'd probably have a nicer ship then this, on a beach somewhere "Calm down I'm not a pirate, more like a dashing rogue." He looked at the empty cardboard box and noticed that he crushed in one side "And I'm certainly not dangerous enough to go killing a poor box."
"Lying pirate scum, where's our... friends?" The second attendant replied, venom in her voice.
"Well our... friends are working around the ship, cept I think the snake girl is busy ordering all of the other people around." He placed the box down, "Name's Lapas and who might you all be."
The attendants turned away, and huddled together, whispering. The act was pretty futile, as Lapas could hear what they were saying, which revolved around whether they could trust him or not.
After a minute, they turned back, and the Blonde-haired Nepleslian reluctantly said, "My name is Ellie."
"I am Sayaka." The white-haired Yamtarian followed up.
They both turned to their silent compatriot, and nudged her.
"... Mary." The slim Geshrin with auburn colored hair, and dark-brown eyes, said, though she said it very quietly, making it hard to hear.
Lapas smiled "Good to meet you all glad to see we are finally making some progress. I always say any girl who doesnt think I'm a murdering pyschopath is a win in my book."
"We never said you weren't a murderer." Sayaka snapped.
Ellie turned to Sayaka and frowned, "Stop being so rude, at least we aren't dead, and he hasn't harmed us, or do what most pirates do with women." Sayaka huffed, and Ellie turned back to Lapas, "Don't mind her, she's always like that."
Mary didn't say anything.
"Oh its alright I've had far worse insults thrown at me in my time." He turned to Sayaka "I have standards and self control, think of me more like a member of the millitary with some idealogical diffrences." He half chuckled to himself, "So you girls gonna stay in this shuttle the whole rest of your lives?"
Sayaka sneered, but didn't say anything.
"Well, are all the pirates gone?" Ellie asked, shooting a glare at Sayaka.
"Yep all gone." He turned his head to look out at the dead bodies on the outside of the shuttle. "You can all come out in maybe two minutes." He quickly bolted out the door and began dragging bodies to the other side of the shuttle.
The flight attendants waited patiently for Lapas to return.
He poked his head back in the shuttle, "Alread you can come out now" When they emerge they would see the room clear of bodies at least from their perspective. There were also bullet ridden jackets over the worst of the blood stains.
"Oh, just starting to clean up after yourself? Murderer." Sayaka stated, as she walked past Lapas, chin up.
Ellie sighed, and gestured for Mary to follow, "Come on." She walked out of the shuttle, ignoring the obvious scene of death, Mary standing behind Ellie. "So Lapas, what now?" Ellie asked.
"Actually none of these were mine, These men went down by the other murderers that brought ya sweety." When the other two step out he held his hand out for both of them to help them from the shuttle. "Its your choice but we could go to the lounge and find some pirate food to eat or we can go look about finding you three some room sleep."
"I'm going to bed, maybe I'll wake up from this terrible dream with you in it." Sayaka called as she walked out of the shuttlebay.
Ellie took Lapas's hand, and left the shuttle, helping Mary off as well. "Thank you. I want to rest as well. It's been a trying day."
"Understandable, if you would please follow me to the staterooms hopefully we beat some of them to the rooms." He lead them into the hallway "I have to ask, how did three beautiful and two polite young ladies like yourselves end up with these guys?"
"They saved us from the pirates on the starliner, and we agreed to follow them. We didn't want any more pirates finding us." Ellie replied.
"Was... scary." Mary whispered.
"Makes sense, I had to hide from a few police raids when I was first starting out..... But don't worry its all good now, no more pirates, just some friendly neighborhood bounty hunters and their angry snake boss." He reached the staterooms, "Ah here we are now which one to pick."
The middle door opened and Lapas would recognize Nicholas, "Hey there, looking for something?"
"Who's that?" Ellie asked. Mary hid behind Ellie.
"He's ummmm, His name iiiiissssss um....". "It's Nicholas" he supplied.
"Nicholas! He's one of the bounty hunters don't worry." Lapas turned back to the bounty hunter "I was just looking to find a room for these nice women."
"Oh, hello there ladies." He waved at Ellie and Mary, and returned his attention to Lapas, "I can't really suggest these rooms right now... they are kinda... dangerous." He rubbed his neck, "Turrets in the ceiling. We got the password for the middle room, my room, and Kendra must've disabled the other turrets somehow, but we haven't opened that one." He pointed to the room on the far left.
He looked over at the door to the far left. "Define turret?"
"A mini-gun that pops out of the roof when the door opens, it asks for a passcode. If you don't supply, it supplies you with bullets, and not the way you like them." Nicholas replied, "To my knowledge, the pirates have some sort of living quarters set up in Cargo, or you could open the door, and guess. Wouldn't suggest it." He grinned, "Or these ladies could sleep in my room, I wouldn't mind."
Ellie rolled her eyes, "I'd rather take the safe route, but up to you Lapas."
Lapas flinched slightly at Nicholas's comment "I slept in those cargo room for a while, not the ideal place." He looked back at the far left door, " How long do you have to enter the password?"
Nicholas shrugged, "Well, we didn't wait to find out, but I'd say about ten seconds, maybe less. Why?"
"You girls stay here, I'm gonna get you a room." He started down breathing slowly he was beginning to zone out most of the world around him.
"Well, don't break it, that's useful equipment. Don't die either." Nicholas supplied.
"Careful..." Ellie said quietly.
He crouched down to ready to move the second the door opened. One hand was on the button, other hand had grabbed a neural uplink cord from his pocket. "3...2...1." He punched the open button.
The door slid open, and as Lapas crossed the threshold, a turret popped out of the ceiling. "Passcode Required." The room itself was unadorned, set up for two people, but it appeared that no one had lived in that room for a while.
He dove in and rolled so that he would be directly underneath the turret. He then jumped up so that he could hang from it. Lapas uncovered his wrist interface port and plugged in the cord he scrambled to find a programing port on the turrets surface.
Lapas would find one next to the turret barrel itself, "Password Required for Entry, Comply." The turret itself kept turning to try to get a fix on Lapas.
He shoved the cord into the entry port and began thinking of word user: find log. password trial logs. One word appeared in his mind. He screamed the word "DORWSSAP!!!!"
"Initiating Defense Protocols..." Lapas would see the barrel begin to spin.
"Password?"...."Oh god oh god please don't kill me."
*BAM* A single bullet fired missing Lapas's face by an inch. "Password accepted, standing by." Lapas would be forced to let go of the turret as it retreated into the ceiling.
Ellie ran in the room, "Are you allright?" Worry evident in her voice.
He fell down from the turret trying to catch his breath. " All good here" He raised a triumphant fist in the air.
Nicholas popped his head in, "Oh, you figured it out, lucky." He disappeared again, returning to his room.
Ellie shrugged, "You didn't have to risk dying to get a bed."
"Trust me, the things I've seen happen on those beds you are gonna want these rooms."
Ellie hid mild disgust, "Thank you then, Lapas." She walked over and embraced him.
Lapas hugged her back "You're very welcome Ellie, I hope you like it ." I still got it
