RP Sood Zadra

Landing Array Six

<"...Captain Jacob Canterbury... NSS Surprise..."> Morgan Mackenzie parroted back into their communicator. They'd started walking away when the proper Kuvexian delegation arrived, but the rabbit ears were not just for show... On the other hand, they were totally using an agreed Kuvie frequency to broadcast on, since there was no way they'd out-encrypt the Nepleslian Star Navy. <"It's a Longsword frigate... They only brought a shuttle down, though... ">

Remy could also hear snow crunching in the background, as well as land-pod traffic skimming past. Plausible deniability about being at the location meant not leaving a digital trail, but boy did this planet suck.

<"...Oh, and the Yams came in the YSS Koun... Couldn't tell you what class it is..."> A disgruntled pause, and more crunching. <"...Overhead something about the commander being a Belmont, though...">

<"That's... a coincidence, right?...">

Alien Quarter

Nikicon's antics were met with a disgruntled glance of attention from the Graxlat behind the counter, who finally put down their communicator and... Just kind of opened the back door and vanished.

It took several more paces for them to re-appear, opening one of the rear security doors and waddling over to the bunny with a slow, ponderous gait. It stunk several magnitudes worse than the small creature should have been capable of, a three-eyed green thing with a portly stature and unclean, rat-like gnashers. There was also the rather passive-aggressive fact that they'd clearly gone into the back room to fetch an armoured vest, complete with a stun rod and some kind of handgun in it's side mounted holsters.

"...Family heir loom." It pointed towards a ball-and-socket coolant pipe joint, probably from a mecha of some kind. The voice was very nasally, but emotionally blank. "You break. You owe six-fifty KS."

Landing Array Six

Circling near Sood Zadra, Phoenix Reeves caught himself pondering about how far he was from home. He peered at the planet below on the ship's viewscreen as the Captain requested permission to land. 'A planet of ice and fire'. The nickname invited his imagination to wander. What sort of people would choose to live in a volatile icebox? Would they welcome him or would he come to regret staying here as much as he regretted working aboard this ship? He didn't linger long not waiting to watch the routine landing procedure.

The trip had been a spur-of-the-moment decision. After serving at the sunny starport of Sargasso on Nepleslia Prime for the better part of a decade, the clone found himself longing for foreign skies. He wasn't normally prone to rash decisions but while he had learned much in Sargasso, life was beginning to feel routine and unremarkable. Right when he was beginning to lose his mind from boredom A ship landed in his port advertising they were in need of an engineer for their private transport run to UX-3 III. It seemed like the perfect opportunity. He was more than happy to take on a challenge. It was only when he was scraping away debris from the ion pulse boosters when he realized he knew this ship, He'd seen many type 124 light freighters in his time working at the starport but this one... was his first. The evidence was right there in the hasty repair work he had made decades earlier. This was the very same ship that belonged to the black market trading company that had commissioned his creation. The crew was different. They didn't recognize him, but a fear he had long buried crept back up his spine. What if they knew who he was? Why hadn't he confirmed that their docking slip were legitimate? He knew this ship how could he not have recognized her? It was a disgusting feeling. He had kept to his quarters during his off hours after that.

His light footsteps echoed through the hall, the thin carpet doing little to prevent the sound of the heels of his boots clacking. Oftentimes he cursed the open hallways and the lack of cramped maintenance hatches to disappear into when he was blamed for something going wrong in this damned bucket that was secured by rust and duct tape. Back in his quarters, the engineer surveyed his packed belongings carefully. He didn't plan on remaining aboard or providing services any further. He didn't want to risk them realizing he was a long-lost 'asset'. If the rest of the crew couldn't afford him a measure of patience and respect while they were unaware of his origins, he would not be responsible for them, yet again, being an engineer short. Forgetting anything would mean it would be lost to him forever. He took a seat on his bed as the ship began to tip shifting to land in the port. Soon he would be rid of the dubious SS Éminence Grise.

Reeves slapped a resignation letter on his quarter's door and slung the duffel bag of his belongings over his shoulders quickly slipping away from his old ship. The great old door creaked as they opened, its jaws freeing him from its clutches once again. His heart pounding, Phoenix walked briskly from the landing pad and into the bustle of the array while the crew was working on their cargo. He passed by a set of very official looking Nepleslians, giving them a nervous nod and a little smile before slipping into the crowd. He worked his way through intake procedures noting the differences from Sargasso's port with mild amusement. He readjusted his bag and pulled out his ancient datajockey, slender fingers slipping across the cracked screen searching for local bulletins and job postings as he walked often coming within inches of disaster. It wasn't until he nearly walked into an idling hoversled that he peered over the top of the tablet to admire the workmanship of the slapdash scrap engineering. "Fascinating! I've never seen a vehicle like this before! What do you call it?" He chirped enthusiastically. He tucked the DataJocky into his coat and circled the hoversled he had nearly collided with. "I simply must see how she runs. I've never seen these parts used like this. Thrillingly innovative if you ask me!" Reeves zipped up his coat and burrowed his fingers into his sleeves. He fidgeted nervously his voice raising as he realized how obnoxious he probably sounded. Traveling sequestered in his quarters and dodging looks from his previous crew had taken a toll on his ego. "Is it always so cold and, and , and... um heavy here?" He asked the cabbie barraging the poor stranger with questions. For the first time in months he was excited about something and it was all pouring out of him in front of this complete stranger.

Landing Array Six

"Didn't know this was a discount planet, huh? That's Kuvies for ya..." A sly voice spoke up behind him. There was some pale woman(?) behind him, evidently gazumped before getting into the land-pod taxi that they were currently working over with their eyeballs. Clearly also a foreigner to this place; Hands in pockets, an oversized yellow jacket, a purple beanie bundling down long white rabbit ears, and some pretty savage looking ice cleats on their feet(s). "I'd be careful ya' know, there are cockroaches the size a phods here... You don't wanna get ganged up on by those little bastards..."

A pause, whilst they looked the slightly shorter manboy up and down, fetching a handful of small round mints from their pocket and swallowing them whilst they did so.

"You wanna split a fare? I'm goin' to a bar, so at least it's somewhere warm to wait while ya' get yur poo poo together."

Morgan Mackenzie didn't mention this 'bar' was a more of an 'extremely exclusive club that the governess herself resided in'. But, heck, if he needed a job, it was a good a place as any... And his ID would do an admirable job of covering up the rabbit's digital trail.

By the time the junk dealer was making his way over toward Nikicon, she was already stacking up the parts once more and was about to turn and leave when he appeared and spoke up to her. Pointing at the two pieces of the coolant pipe for an exosuit and demanding money, Nikicon would blink and then shake her head some. "tis not broke, part is worn out I can fix for you !" she moves to look at the two parts examining the open socket and then looks around. Over there it is, she spots a gas torch moving over to grab it and starting it up as she grabs a nearby hammer.

Using gently motions Nikicon warms the metal without getting it red hot, then once the metal was warm enough she pops the other piece into the open socket, warming the metal once more till it starts to glow turning off the gas torch and then lightly tap, tap with the hammer Nikicon rounds off the end of the socket once more mating the two parts as if brand new. Then allowing the metal to cool and then flexes the joint as she smiles showing it to the junk dealer, " there good a new! " She moves to place the part back onto the pile and looks over toward the junk dealer for his response.

The Graxlat made the approximation of a scowl with their three-eyed green face, almost as if Nikicon was being a spoil sport by not 'playing along'. Moreover, he couldn't exactly escalate the argument with a Yamatai, some human woman, and a bodyguard-lizard standing around the room with them.

"It will do." He decided on simply, before taking it out of their hands and beginning to reverse their direction back towards the entrance of the staff rooms.

Heck knows if they could push this 'carrot and stick' approach further, to get a discount. They still didn't seem to trust the aliens much at all.

As the Graxlat takes the part from Nikicon and steps back Lenna moves over and says "Niki, since you are already speaking to the owner maybe you can give him the specs on the meson reactor so we can try to get that radion leak fixed, so it will stop going offline in gravity wells shall we? And also try to get some sort of replacement weapons for the failed point defense turrets. At least get a price for the replacements and we will see if we can afford it., " Lenna and Nikicon did know of a smaller leak in the drive and were unable to fix or were struggling to find the right parts. " Also Nikicon, try to see if they have some replacement cables for the ship's main computer system, remember it's the older style copper and not the new phased light array, or the fiber optic cable. "


Nikicon looks back and nods some as she then moves to pull out a datapad with some information on it and then address the retreating Graxlat, " um excuse me we are looking for parts for a G34-OX triple 4 meson reactor system with anti-mater backup system AlphaZeta-223. As with some gravtionic equipped cooling pipes, with thalaron coating. Then we are looking to replace some nonfunctional turrets with something that works. I have fought with these and they finally gave up after being rebuilt ten times. so I am going to pull em off and need something to replace them, do you have any suggestions? "Nikicon moves over and shows the Graxlat the status of the point defense turrets and their power supplies so that they could make a quick decision on what "could" replace them. " As for the work needed to replace them I can do that myself I just need the parts to get the ship running smoothly! " then shows an image of the older type, gauge 1 twin copper wire, " And 300 feet of this kind of cable if you have some. "

Landing Array Six

"Discount?!" Phoenix spun round on his heel, feet sliding on the ice beneath his utterly patchwork leather boots. Their treads had long since lost their grip. Phoenix was nimble enough to catch himself without looking too stupid in front of this new person. His obsolete but heavily modded cybernetic eye whirred audibly as he focused on their face. His eyes strayed temporarily to the long fuzzy ears that framed their face.

Phoenix mirrored their posture trying to look casual even though he was growing increasingly cold and tired from hauling his worldly possessions over one shoulder. Then there was the matter of him not knowing when his letter to the captain would be discovered. "Yeah, I suppose I didn't read the travel brochure properly before getting off the cruise ship. They really oversold this place. I should ask for a refund huh?" He chewed at the inside of his cheek, eyes widening like saucers when the rabbit-eared mutant warned him about the local fauna. "I... Um, would not exactly call something that's almost my size a little bastard." He laughed nervously. "That's one big bug. They just let them wander the city? swarming people? This really is a discount planet! All the same, it sounds pretty exciting, No?" He picked at the hem of his jacket sleeves his gaze shifting temporarily past this helpful foreigner and to the crowd beyond them.

One of his old crewmates, a largish Nep with a face that looks like a mech stepped on it was asking around Landing Array Six. Anyone with exceptionally good hearing might be able to make out that he was asking others if they had seen a short stick of a Nepleslian anywhere and growing increasingly cross. Of course, Phoenix didn't have good hearing, but he could guess from their gestures to the aliens around him that he was looking for him and that his old crewmate was pissed.

The sound of the helpful stranger's voice pulled the distractable tech into the conversation he had drifted from. "I--- Yes that sounds like a good idea. I can pay the fare I was going to pay for one anyway and at least now I have a destination in mind." He gave the stranger a grin and climbed aboard the hoversled hoping that he could obscure himself from being spotted outright by the man looking for him. He unzipped his bag digging out his electronic money card to pay the driver. He also retrieved a very ugly handmade yuletide sweater and shifted his jacket off to pull the lumpy red garment over his head. He tugged his jacket back on looking a little warmer and a little flustered. "Oh I'm Reeves by the way. Er right UM first name, Phoenix Reeves" He extended a slender hand to shake. A genuine smile slipped across his lips as he waited for a reciprocal introduction.

Laughing N

"If you want the honest truth, I am trying to get back home. I like to show what I am capable of than simply boast about it like some drunken idiot. Not like anyone can just call up one of my previous employers. Where ever they might be. And before you ask ma'am, home is Yamatai and that Yamataian officer gives makes me shiver..." Wa-wan asked in response to Soon's question. Being a Kuvexian, she did not like to reveal much about her background to their kind and most have not been smart enough or curious enough as to the source of her skills. Not like many of them would believe this human from their part of the galaxy has the mind of a Yamatai Information Tech specialized Ranger. And they were the cause of her current situation that she long accepted.

Knowing the Yamataians, they were likely strongly suggest she return to a new copy of her old self. So the plan is to formerly report, debrief, and get discharged afterwards.

Chuckling Cephalopod
"Coincidence seems more likely, nobody knew we'd be here, least of all Alastair... Let me know if the Greens seem like they're going to pull something, I'd rather not get in the middle of anything they might be gearing up for~" Remy whispered into her communicator with a content little sigh, with how many banners were showing up here tonight everything seemed calm. For the most part.

The enterprising human ran a hand through her hair before turning to better face the other two women and pay more attention to their conversation, the pressure on her holster not going unnoticed as she initially just offered a curt little grin.

"He's... an idiot but ultimately harmless really, a lot of grand talk but he's done alright for himself," Remy piped in once she had an opportunity, straightening out her skirt before continuing to explain the snow-haired thorn in her side.

"The shivers are probably just because he's a bit of a perv, trust me, you have nothing to fear from him besides some corny one-liners."

Alien Quarter

Not really seeming to take any embarrassment after having already tried to extort the rabbit, the Graxlat looked through the specifications carefully. Apparently this type of alien chattered it's teeth when deep in thought.

"Meson power? You not from around here..." They spoke up finally, putting a hand on their gnarly chin. "Tools you already have? This system very sensitive, hard to get parts for..."

They were going to say something about replacing the whole thing with something cheaper to run and maintain, but the universal old adage 'the customer is always right in matters of taste' very much applied.

"I will check older hulls. Might be rare parts I did not take out. Grav-plate piping and thalaron sheets much easier to get." They finally added, voice sounding like a piece of wood creaking to breaking point. "Turrets... You expensive? Could get you Kuvexian turret-grade aether guns... Cheap? Thems 'Freenspancer' make real good 'warding rune' and nuke missile guns. Copper wire easy too. Oo's footing the bill for all a dis?"

In the background, clicking and clanking could be heard. Kotema was taking their security job very seriously, loading a comparatively tiny shopping cart up with shock-batons, electro-plated shields, flak vests, harnesses, heavy shock collars, various kinds of Novacorp grenades, a couple of those Galactic Horizon shotguns, some of those stubby Origin 10mm handguns with the massive trigger guard something that looked like a really big panzer faust?...

/////

Landing Array Six

Morgan was looking at their communicator for a lot of Reeves' external monologue. They were actually considering what to do, since Remy had given them conflicting orders, but it rather came across like they were half-listening to the traveller and waiting for them to empty their subconscious.

"...Yur kind'a weird, you know that?" The rabbit made a smug little grin, exposing rather bucked teeth whilst they crossed their arms.

The real internal dilemma was, did they leave this guy to their fate?

Looking back at the rather brutish looking shipmaster asking around the dock, and then back down to the grey haired boy's trusting, niave grin, they did have to admit it messed with their heart strings a little. Guy couldn't even afford a good lookin' cloned eye or nothin'.

"Miss Susan Wakefeild." They grabbed the roll bar and swung into the seat next to him, leather pants squeaking against the apolstery. Even though both occupants were small, there wasn't exactly a lot of room. Perfect excuse to grab both of his hands and embrace them for 'warmth'. Not to intentionally make it awkard, no. "Cabbie, take us to the Laughing Nonapus, will ya?"

Hoversled Thirty-Four

Spoiler: OOC

@Cowboy

As the Nepleslian delegation boarded, the alien-human smiled at Jack, showing the proper-human-number-and-type-of-teeth. "Coreward systems. From the other side of the Interstellar Kingdom. Or what was the Interstellar Kingdom, anyway." His Trade was accented, but not in the nonhuman-mouthparts way of the Elefirn or Ehlen, just in the I-speak-a-different-human-language way, and just as perfect. "I'm just here to show everyone that humans are everywhere." The man, who hadn't introduced himself, and whose name-tag was in an incomprehensible writing system, gave a short, shallow, nodding bow of his head as he smiled broadly and gestured to the boarding ramp of the hoversled. "It's cold, Captain. Let's make sure your party is all around the deck heaters."

The Lead Elefirn's Assistant Elefirn began decanting a hot, herbal-smelling concoction into mugs, and sweetening it with mundane sugar, which she began to hand out as the delegation took their seats. There were even mugs for the Ehlen heavies, the great bear-lion-apes, or humanoid wolverines, or whatever it was they resembled. Music, Nepleslian music, began to play from the deck speakers as the deck heater flared brightly to warm everyone before it began to move. "We'll take a little tour to give the Baroness some time to get ready to receive you." The tour will not have the Yamataian's tour's benefit of an advance party clearing the streets to show a cleaner image, but it hadn't been that long ago, so most of the riff-raff hadn't yet moved back into place. Most. Not all. Some had.

The Club Level

Soon smiled at Wa-Wan's response, even as she frowned a bit at Remy. "Even if it was a coincidence, it was not a welcome one. Which of you is more representative of your clan, I wonder?" she mused, in a wheedling tone. "Anyway," she moved away from Remy's side to take the place at the bar between them. "Three Delsaurian Dusk, neat." She ordered the local Kikyō sector liquor over one of the Kuvexian ones. "One each."

Hoversled Thirty-Four

Jack smiled and nodded at the shorter man as he studied the man's uniform and rank insignia. He made a note to ask more about what branch the man was in when another thought occurred to him. He turned to another member of his party. This man was far shorter than the other ID-SOL honor guards. He had a cloak wrapped around him and sergeants pins on his sleeve. Jack spoke briefly to him in a strange dialect. Then man just shrugged. A strange gesture to a superior officer but Jack just nodded towards the shuttle and the man nodded and hurried over to the shuttle. Once there, he hailed the shuttle and had them drop the ramp. Inside was another squad of Marines who were suppose to be backup. Among them was a new officer on the Surprise. Lieutenant Rei Witman, MD. The doctor had only been aboard the Surprise about a week and was still feeling her way around. Jack had asked her to accompany and remain on the shuttle in case a fight broke out and they needed a doctor. At the last minuet, Jack had decided that another pair of eyes and a different perspective would be beneficial to this mission so he had asked the Sargent to get her.

The Sargent quickly boarded the shuttle and moved over to where the doctor was bundled up near one of the shuttle heaters and saluted. "Begging your pardon Ma'am." He paused and you could almost see the humor in his eyes. It always amused him how Jack liked to fraise things. "Captains complements." He managed to say with a straight face. "He would like you to join the rest of the group. He thinks you might notice things that he might miss and he would value your perspective on things here." The Sargent's face had several long scars across it and a blue dragon tattoo on his cheek that looked almost identical to the Captains. "Come along Ma'am." Caffran said. "We mustn't keep the boss waiting."

Once aboard, Jack had opted to remain standing, his cybernetic left latching to the floor to keep himself from falling over. His five honor guard ID-SOLs had taken up positions around the hover sled, seemingly impervious to the cold. They all wore helmets with face coverings and all refused the offered beverage. Jack took one, and was sipping it as Ensign Doyle and his escort to returned almost at the same time as Sargent Caffran and Lt. Witman. Jack helped the doctor aboard and offered her a seat near one of the heaters. "Welcome aboard doctor. I'm glad you could join us." Caffran also declined the drink and stood near the doctor as he eyed the other occupants.

As the sled moved off the two honor guard members in Power Armor took up flanking positions on either side of the sled and jogged along side. Jack continued to sip his drink and turned his attention back to the man in the strange uniform. "So what branch do you serve in Sir?" Jack asked.

Alien Quarter

Nikicon stood there and allowed the Graxlat to look at the specs on both the reactor and the turrets. Then as he speaks about not from here she says " Well Lenna and myself are from this neck of the galaxy. However, the ship was gifted to us from saving a long haul transport, and was going to be scrapped they said. It has been very hard to find and replace parts for a while now and I have been toying with removing and replacing the older systems with something newer, but that would take us out of action for a while and that is not good for us at the moment as we need the income. " Nikicon smiles some and the frowns a little at the mention of the system is very sensitive and hard to get parts for as the hare nods some, Then as he says that he'll check some of the old hulls for parts Nikicon nods and then says "If you need help I can go with and help I do not mind."

At the mention of the aether guns and nuke guns, she frowns some and then says " um not sure we could fit an aether generator on board, and I dislike the thoughts of sleeping next to nuclear weapons as the ship is also my home. " The hare smiles some and then says " Um, as far as I know, we were sent here to get parts to fix up our ship from the Baroness, I was not sure if it was an advance or not. " Blinks Looking around for Lenna as she says " Um Captain?"

Lenna had moved around over toward the twins stopping to look at the stuff that Kotema was getting and whispering softly, "Kotema, please not too much, and also make sure the items you get are in working order. I would hate to have to need to use one and it was broken or nonfunctional and someone gets hurt." By the time Nikicon was looking around for her she had made it back over to the Twins and then asked. " On the subject of the bill, is this going to be something that I'll need to cover, or was this a form of advanced payment for the job we are going to take? " Hearing Nikicons voice she looks over " Yes Niki?" Then Nikicon asks who is going to pay and Lenna answers back "I am in the process of finding that out, you did deposit the last payments right?" Nikicon nods some and then looks back to the Graxlat.

Landing Array Six

Phoenix was taken out of his rapid-fire cadence of talking about absolutely nothing when the rabbit-eared stranger gave him, what he would consider a friendly smile and told him he was odd. His pale face took on the hue of his glowing cybernetic eye, a warm pink flushing up in his cheeks. "You're not the first person to say that. " Phoenix rocked back on his heels and scrunched his shoulders up near his ears. trying to will away the heat in his cheeks. "But weird is sometimes good right? Makes things more, um---" He trailed off again, not sure what he brought to the table. His friends back home seemed to like him well enough. He let the unfished thought drop. resigning himself to a deep shrug.

He wasn't expecting to scoot in so close to him. She had moved so quickly. It was mildly impressive. He doubted he would ever be able to vault or mantle over things for a while. This planet made his bones feel heavy. He was contemplating this and working on committing the name 'Susan Wakefield' To memory when a set of hands clasped his own. not expecting Miss Wakefield to be so bold. He grew even more flustered. The tiny mechanic's hands were beginning to chill. All the nervous activity and fidgeting had staved off the worst of the biting cold, The heater, and the shared warmth of their hands. He shrank in his seat but he did not pull away from the warmth.

Phoenix Swayed in his seat when the hover-sled began to move, his grip tightened to keep himself from being jostled into Miss Wakefield. His eyes widened dancing down to their hands. "Um." He stammered relaxing his hands he gave Susan's hand an awkward pat. "Sorry, it's my first time on one of these, acceleration caught me off guard. It's so open up here." He dared a glance up at Susan, regretting it immediately because he had made awkwardly close eye contact. "So, I haven't exactly figured out what I'm going to do here. Do you know if anyone 'round here is hiring? And I haven't figured out where I'm gonna lay my head down to rest for the night... Is there night? How long are the days here? The rim around his iris began to glow softly as he connected remotely to the Data Jockey tucked in his bag to look up more details on the heavy hunk of ice and fire they were presently inhabiting. He took a deep breath steadying himself and biting the tip of his tongue to stop himself from hitting poor Susan with a barrage of questions. He settled on just one for now. "Sorry, Miss Susan! You just seemed like you've been here longer than me. Do you live here?"

---

Hover-sled Thirty-Four

Doctor Rei Witman was sequestered inside the secondary shuttle reviewing what little she knew about poisons and the procedures for administering antidotes on her Data-Jockey. She hadn't anticipated a change in plans but was ready to fly into action at a moment's notice, should the worst happen and Captain Canterbury or his crew found themselves requiring her. She was sitting with one of her legs crossed over the other knee her body tilted towards the heater while she remained on standby She bounced her foot restlessly, chewing on the end of her pen as she paged through the document on her screen. She twisted upright and tucked her device away. She returned the salute, offering the Sargent a thin smile. The doctor snatched up her cap emblazoned with the SAW Corps insignia, denoting her position as a provider of Aid. She aligned it neatly and adjusted her leather gloves before lifting her kit from the floor, pressing the button that would disengage the magnet that kept it secure during landing.

"Certainly Sargent, I'm happy to be of assistance in any way." Her smile broadened as she spoke in a clinical but warm tone. She hoped she could be of help to the current situation. She had to admit additional perspectives would help draw more insightful conclusions during their visit. Rei had an Eye for detail and she wanted to prove to herself that her position aboard the NSS Surprise was warranted. Rei stood and moved to follow the Sargent down the ramp of the shuttle. the cold air found every seam and gap in her uniform. It was brisk but not unbearable.

Rei gave Captain Jack a brief salute and craned her head up to look at the vehicle they'd be riding to their destination. She made a careful risk assessment of the open-top, the presence of hot heaters, and the general quality of construction. She took her captain's hand and effortlessly heaved herself up onto the hover-sled. "Thank you, Captain! I'm glad you asked me to join you." Rei took the steaming liquid offered to her and eyed it with a small measure of curiosity. She wasn't one to turn down such enthusiastic hospitality. She murmured her thanks and took a sip of the herbal drink. She sank into her seat, engaging the magnet on her bag so it would remain in place while they traveled. "I haven't heard this song in ages, Are you playing this music for our benefit, or have you simply good taste?"

Rei nursed her drink, cupping her hands delicately around the cup. She leaned back in her seat, relaxing slightly as they began their tour of the city. Her eyes flitted from dome-shaped building to dome-shaped building as they began to move. They seemed smaller than she was expecting, with not a lot of upward verticality.

Alien Quarter

Alastair was adjusting himself when he got a message from Soon. He knew it was smart to giver her his direct contact in case she ever needed anything. Though his half smile quickly changed to a slight frown. Though this was turning into the never ending honey do list. He liked her but this was starting to get out of hand already. He let out a small sigh as he read over the demand. Now she was asking for instant visa for all kuvvies within Yam. The first batch of requests was already pushing it, this was on another level. He knew some within the ranks would prefer to glass the planets than give them any rights, let along a visa pass. After a moment a smile returned to his face. However this would bring to light who among the elite stands with the kuvvies. Star Army had failed to prevent them from taking over large areas so now they would have to live with this mistake.

Even before he could take a step forward, he got yet another message. This one from the guard team on the loading ramp back in Landing Array Six. They informed him that he and the XO had been invited to meet with Captain Jacob Canterbury. He could remember the name but not much else. This was very interesting and had peaked his interest. Making friends with Kuvvies and Nepleslian would go well together. It took all his power to hold back the laugh he wanted to have. He sent a reply back letting them know to arrange a message of acceptance to the offer of Jacob for the meeting.

His moment of calm and excitement was rudely interrupted. Nikicon decided now would be the best time to hammer junk into slightly less broken junk. "Oh for the love of Yam, could someone get this person some modern technology." His XO had already started to lean into him to hold him in place. "Just, just, remind me later, we have much we can talk about Nikicon." He pulled himself back upright and a warm smile came across his face. He was not angry at Nikicon, more he felt things could be better. Seeing those around him living day to day reminded him of his prior life. Bouncing between homes, sometimes living with the worst conditions. Which all changed when he was adopted by the Belmonts. They showed him how kindness and order can make every situation better. All one must do is reach out a hand.

His ears perked up when he overheard the topic of payment being discussed. His moment to reach out had finally presented itself. He walked towards the pair, trying to avoid whatever was living on the floor under his feet. "If I could be so kind, I'd be happy to cover the cost of these items. It is the least I can do since for the time being we shall be spending time together." He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a card issued to captains. "So, do we have a deal?"

Alien Quarter

"Too hard to repair? Now you know why ship is gift." The Graxlat shrugged, relaxing a bit now that it seemed the gang was actually going to make this worth his time and effort. He handed her back the communicator pad, and then went about making notes on one of his own, a little brass-coloured rusty thing. "Replace all turret with warding rune if want, but then you have problem sitting next to ammo. Got some Yu-din-chi lasers that fit. But heat sinks. Needs lots of those."

Looking out from behind their shopping cart, Kotema's reaction to Lenna was just straight sombre and discouraged.

"Someone gets hurt?" Their head lowered down. "That... exactly Kotema's job."

Why was this so difficult? Nothing these humans did made sense. The dragon was trying to do a good job as a hired bully, but felt like they were getting nowhere.

When Alastair raised his hand, that was something else- The Graxlat was already looking around for his card reader, but the huge green drake bodily got between them to prevent the transfer. It was very obvious, from the agitated look on their face, if he wasn't a Yammie, she might have slapped the card out of his hand at the very least.

"...Let me teaches you something about Kuvexians, space-cat..." Kotema's teeth glimmered, angular surfaces of her inhuman head coming across especially venomous as she put on a calm, predatory voice. "Soon is pay for this investment. It is not gift... You intrude upon this interest, this makes you... Enemy of her interests, understand?"

The head was still staring the platinum-haired man down whilst her tail angled and pointed at the Graxlat, waving a little for his attention.

He checked his datapad.

"...Yeah. Money in there." He spoke up, finally confirming it.

/////

Landing Array Six

"Ha! Fuck no! This place sucks!" Susan responded to Phoenix unabashedly, sending vibrations across both of their bodies as she stopped a hearty laugh from exploding outwards into his ear. They weren't about to give this stranger their exact, real origin story, but there was a lot of humour in the fact that had come from the legendarily scummy Funky City to here... a planet that seemed to be even worse, so far. "Planet ain't an eyeball world, so it probably has a day and night, I'll tell you that much."

There was a weird glint of familiarity in their face, for just a moment; She had a bit of subtle heterochromia too, with the right eye being blue and the left being green.

"My boss has a ship, and works for the boss of the planet, though." They settled back a bit, getting cozy as the car accelerated, though maybe still just parasitizing his bodily heat. "If you don't want to get in too deep with the Kuvies, and maybe get sold off as fish food... maybe talk to my cappie? She's got real great legs, and she never did me wrong. At the bar we are already headin' towards, too."

Nikicon looks over toward the Graxlat and then says " nono not all the turrets just the smallest ones, the others are in full working order." then tilts her head some and then asks "Warding rune, what are those?" Then thinks once more as she remembered there were a lot of heatsinks within the engine systems that was for something that they didn't know, then says " There are heatsinks already abord the Sobek as with some radiators, that are not in current use could those already work with the Yu-din-chi lasers?" Nikicon worked on pulling up the floorplans of the extra heat sinks and radiators as they looked like something that was only half upgraded for energy-based weapons but was never finished after they were installed. The vented out nearby the drives and was in an optimal position for weapons heat sink dumps.

Lenna looks back toward Kotema and then says " yes that is your job to protect us, but just do not go overboard and get a lot of them, you are only 1, not 20. " Lenna heard that Alastair was offering to pay for the equipment, she shakes her head some even before Kotema spoke up and then says " Thanks Captain but I think I will need to pay for this or my new Boss..." She didn't get much farther than that as Kotema spokes up about Soon paying for the upgrades and fixes.

After that was all done Nikicon smiled some and then looks over toward the junk dealer and smiles " Then shall we go and see if we can find the missing parts for the drive systems?" She was bouncing a little as she LOVED to go explore old ships and part hunting.

Squidcluberoni

"Oh I've had plenty already... but another drink couldn't hurt," Remy nodded as the three Delasaurian Dusks began being made, her brow knitting slightly at Soon's own subtle expression, though she said nothing more on the matter.

"Alastair's the one with the Yamataian navy vessel and the shiny badges, but I'm trying to do my own thing, so I guess it depends on how you want to look at things ma'am," the greenette explained with a friendly smirk before leaning a little closer to the counter, resting her elbows on the faux-wood surface.

Hoversled 34

The man smiled back at Jack, apparently expecting the question but secretly hoping it wouldn't be asked. He hesitated a moment, inhaling and holding is breath for a two-count before his reply. "There are a lot more, and older, civilizations coreward than out here in a rim ward arm of the galaxy. The Interstellar Kingdom of Kuvexia was part of a very large, and very ancient, alliance of states. I am part of the shared service that represent that alliance, as opposed to one of its members, and our ranks do not match up correctly but from what I know mine is approximately equal to yours, perhaps just a bit junior." He cleared his throat and sipped from his mug before continuing, "As you may imagine, the collapse of the Kingdom caused... concern among the allies, and we are out here to check on our interests, and review the damage done, in case of any potential problems that come back to us. At any rate, we're used to being trotted out every time an ally wants to deal with a human enclave, even if it has nothing to do with our job." He looked over at the Elefirn, and drank deeply from his steaming mug. He made a face, as if it were whiskey instead. "Yamataian tea with Kuvexian herbs." He shook his head, "Quallox Vaibal is really on this assimilation kick, to show they belong here. You're going to see a lot of this sort of thing around." He raised the mug for emphasis. "And they don't always get it right."

As the doctor commented on the music, that grey man, with his grey hair, grey skin, grey eyes, even grayish lips, who still had yet to say his own name, looked up to her from his now half-empty mug. "Nepleslian culture has become quite popular on its own here, apparently. The Kuvexians appreciate the indulgence, especially of your," he mispronounces the word, "'haim-bower-gear'".

Alien Quarter

The twins are getting restless. They expected this to be in, ask a few questions about meson reactors, and go rummaging in the junk then back to the ship. "Behind schedule" is most certainly not to Soon's liking. Therefore, it isn't to Koloon's or Sodoon's, either.

"Captain,"
"Please keep your engineer,"
"...under control."
"We don't have all day."
"And we'd like to keep."
"In the good graces,"
"...of our esteemèd salvage technician"
(There's that word again!)


By the Bar with Soon Bardoon

"From what I've gleaned, Ms. Belmont, it's neither of you. Ah well," Soon received the dark Nepleslian liquor and held it up to the dim light. She eyed her reflection in the side of the glass, her blue countenance reflected as yellow-green by the deep amber of the liquid in the glass. One drink, and Soon makes the entire triple-pour vanish as if it were a shot. "there's no point even bothering to deal with the ones who aren't schemers or plotters. Straightforward people rarely get anything accomplished unless told exactly what to do, hm?"

Soon was tapping the bar to ask for a refill before the other two women could even get their fingers around their glasses. "You know," Soon looked over at Wa-Wan, "Sometimes a girl just likes to hear a good boast. No one comes nine floors underground, down to the bottom level of the Laughing Nonapus unless they're filthy rich or want to talk to someone who is. What can you do for me in exchange for a ride home?"

Cal stood in the shadows, watching whatever the heck was going on in front of him. what WAS happening? Cal's shiny new gadget caught the light of whatever source blew his cover, "bloody great..."