Futuristic Horseshoes and Ion Grenades - IC

[Dragongal]

The SWC-144 slid into the Earth dock with a hum. It had just gotten in from Venus and was ready for a fuel-up and reloading. This would be its last major reloading of anything - fuel, food, supplies - until they reached Jupiter. More important than all of those material items, though, it was picking up a person. The cargo bay door folded down to the cement flooring and workers began hustling about with the loading and maintenance while they waited for their most important cargo - a certain tracker.

It was a nice Earth evening, well after sunset. It was summer here, on the landing dock, and a cool breeze flowed through the open warehouse-like bay. The lights inside the ship would dim a bit when it was supposed to be a "natural" evening - something set to some ancient standard time that all ships now used in the vain attempt to preserve humans' circadian rhythms. Not that it mattered much when the humans inhabiting the ship decided it didn't matter all that much and they could dim the lights in their private quarters whenever they pleased or stay up as late as they liked with the lights fully on.

The ship had already been to Mercury, to pick up its first passenger - the medic, Soleil ( Shadowed-Cherry-Blossoms ). Then on to Venus where it picked up Everett and Del ( 0stinato ), then another day of travel before ending up here, on Earth. The group had had some time to move around and get to know each other, and now just had to wait for the rest of their team - currently the tracker, Carl ( Viper Actual ) then the records assistant, Cassie ( fickleglory ) and some other companion that Everett had only been told about in vague terms.

Everett himself was looking over a datapad as he idly walked to the cargo bay. He was finishing up the court documents for some more cases while his metal hound, Sliver, followed at his heels. His plan was to step outside for his rather old-fashioned vice, a cigarette, while he finished reviewing the casefiles since they were stuck here for a little bit anyway.

 

[Viper Actual]

Taking in one final breath of the fresh and crispy evening air, Carl opened his eyes just as he exhaled. What had been an empty cargo bay a mere thirty minutes ago was now dominated by the presence of a ship. It appeared modern, state-of-the-art even, but Carl knew that a ship was only as good as the crew manning it and as far as this crew went he had high expectations.

Once all the deckhands and logistics personnel began working Carl remained static for a moment just to observe them. Dressed in a System security uniform rather than his usual mixed attire of utility and outdoor fatigues Carl would appear to be nothing more but a law-enforcement rookie to the untrained eye. To the trained and experienced however the unit patches and special rank insignia in the form of velcro patches on his arms and collar would reveal that he was anything but an off-duty beat cop and rather a member of one of the System's special police units.

As the cargo bay door deployed unto the hangar floor Carl put on his dress cap, picked up his large rucksack and then grabbed the duffel bag and weapon case next to him. With steady steps he ascended the ramp without paying the dockworkers much attention.

Amazingly, as if it had been planned or rehearsed beforehand, Carl spotted a familiar face standing at the lip of the cargo bay. Upon reaching the desired proximity that uniform etiquette demanded Carl set down both the duffel bag and the weapon case next to him. He glanced upwards, noticed that he was technically indoors and removed his dress cap before snapping into a crisp and elegant salute while locking onto Everett with an expression that could only be described as being stone-faced.

"Sir! Tracking Specialist Higgins, FIST. Reporting for duty, sir!"

Dragongal

 

[Dragongal]

collab between Everett and Del ( 0stinato )

Emerging from the hold of the SWC-144 into the bay in which the ship now sat, Moscur 'Del' Alir removed his battered cowboy hat and fanned himself with it. He put it back on, albeit at a cocked angle, and rubbed his gloved hands together. From the hold, he pulled out an empty trolley, one he had just finished unloading. There was more to be done: being the last important stop, the ship was in need of supplies, a task which Del had agreed to undertake. But here he was, sweating with the exertion of loading the trolley with cargo, and unloading it in the hold of the SWC-144.
He rounded the side of the ship, then stopped as he saw a silhouette walking towards the ship from the mouth of the bay. Correcting his hat to block the evening sun for further visual clarity, Del reckoned he was looking at the new crewmate they were to pick up. He grinned and spun the trolley around, glancing down at the safety regulations on its base. Ingenuity had no time for such restrictions. He leaped onto the trolley and pushed off hard with his back foot, his trajectory perfectly aligned with the stranger. Everett and Sliver came into view as he sailed past the front of the ship. Del was quickly catching up.
Still, he was no reckless joyrider, and slowed the trolley as he neared Everett the new arrival, just about catching the greeting.
'H'llo there,' Del hopped off the trolley and spun it back the right way. He flicked the brim of his hat in greeting. 'I'll leave you with Everett, but want me to transport your bags into the ship while you go over the formalities?'

Everett didn't break eye contact with Carl ( Viper Actual )as Del approached and a wicked grin slowly spread across the detective's face. He didn't know Carl especially well, but he knew the man was a bit of a stern stickler which put him at odds with Everett's more relaxed style of work. It wasn't anything they hadn't been able to work through in the past though, especially since Everett had a lot of respect for Carl's skills in tracking. FIST in and of itself was a very well-respected division for a reason. This did not mean, however, that Ev didn't get a kick out of messing with Carl on occasion.
He raised his eyebrows at Carl, still with that amused smile-bordering-a-smirk on his face, "At ease and welcome to the team, Specialist Higgins. Glad you got the chance to meet our munitions expert." That was the formal title he had told Del he would act under even if it wasn't exactly accurate. As far as Everett was concerned, all anyone needed to know about Del was the role he would be fulfilling on the team: munitions expert. If he wanted to tell them more, then he was welcome too.
Everett winked at Higgins with a, "And, no need to be formal on this ship."

When Everett introduced him, Del simply smiled, though it didn't last long as he scowled, leaning forward to study the patches on Carl's uniform. Of course he recognised them: at one point in time, it was imperative he knew the forces he was supposedly up against if it came down to it. A second later, he realized he was viewing Carl as an adversary for a battle he was no longer fighting, and straightened up.
He decided to introduce himself properly later, and let Everett take the lead for now.

Everett caught Del’s change in demeanor but pretended not to notice. It was rather understandable that Del would need time to acclimate to not being a wanted man, but he didn’t want him accidentally giving himself away as a formerly wanted man. To distract, Everett said a quick, “You should be meeting Soleil ( Shadowed-Cherry-Blossoms ) shortly, she’s somewhere around here. Then I believe Miss Nova will be arriving soon as well. Feel free to head on in - this ship isn’t new - it actually is a repair of the transport model from a decade ago but it’s pretty nice, and your room has a label with your name and rank on it. I’ll catch up later.”
After all, he still had a cigarette to smoke.

 

[fickleglory]

Cass stood up from the bench as an attendant announced the shuttles arrival. Her tan, pinched cowboy hat was decorated with a velvet bow on the side. It sat low on her brunette curls that tied neatly with her dark attire. As she walked across the platform her heels clicked in unison, and a large, very large, suitcase rolling behind her. Her gloved hands held a heavy bag as she looked across unfamiliar faces. Lots of men in uniform running back and forth.

Her little digital eye found no one of significance before seeing, who could only be, Everett and some fellow crew-mates. Cass' showed off her pearly whites before waving to them. 'S'cuse me!" she hauled the case to her side, her eye couldn't provide much information at the moment, but it surely will get it's fill soon. Cass looked at men among men. She only knew of the tall brunette. Disappointingly, Cass did not get access to the crew list before her departure. The folks at the precinct insisted on a get together with cake and coffee. Too many eyes on her. It made her nervous to have no insight on the situation, people, or destinations.

She sighed from the weight of her case and shrugged before speaking, "I believe this is where I need to be?"

 

[Shadowed-Cherry-Blossoms]

Boxes, boxes, and more boxes were still scattered throughout the medical bay of the SWC-144 and standing amongst them was the resident medic, Soleil. She sighed and ran a hand through her blonde hair. Since getting picked up on Mercury, most of her time had been spent organizing and unpacking all of the medical supplies that the System had arranged for. Now she was mostly just left with excess boxes. She had paused briefly to assess just how many boxes she needed moved out of here, more than she had hoped, but fewer than she had expected in all honesty.

She knew that she'd have to get around to moving them all out for disposal soon, especially since she was fairly certain the boxes were blocking the sharps container and biohazard disposal bin. But... Her body turned to double check all of the supplies one last time to make sure she had everything she needed. As she went along, she went over the checklist she had made: scalpels, bandages, nasal tubes. She had just about finished taking inventory when she had to pause again. "Seriously? Of all the things, of course it would be the needles..." she muttered to herself.

The boxes long forgotten, Soleil marched out of the medical bay. Someone had to know where they had left the remaining medical supplies. Luckily, at her quick and purposeful pace, it didn't take long to reach the cargo bay. When she arrived, she caught the nearest worker. "Hey, can we prioritize finding and relocating any medical supplies to the medical bay? I'm missing some pretty important supplies," she explained. She had barely heard the worker's response (though to her memory it had sounded like a 'we'll do the best we can') as her attention drifted to the arguably rather odd collection of individuals and a robotic hound.

She let out another sigh before placing a warm smile on her face as she approached to welcome the new arrivals.

 

[Viper Actual]

'H'llo there,' Del hopped off the trolley and spun it back the right way. He flicked the brim of his hat in greeting. 'I'll leave you with Everett, but want me to transport your bags into the ship while you go over the formalities?'

He raised his eyebrows at Carl, still with that amused smile-bordering-a-smirk on his face, "At ease and welcome to the team, Specialist Higgins. Glad you got the chance to meet our munitions expert."

Carl relaxed and went into parade rest instead. He glanced over to the man with the trolley and gave him a curt nod in response. "Thanks for the offer but I'll be fine, though I did see someone else with a much larger bag than myself. Maybe they could use the help to get settled."

He then refocused his attention on Everett. "Glad to be here, sir." That was a lie. "I'm sure our assignment will be interesting and, hopefully, well worth this time and effort." That however, was true.

He'd worked briefly with Everett before on a handful of previous assignments with the most memorable one being a serial homicide case back in Tharsis City, Mars. It had been an intense week with Carl and two other members of FIST being called in as last-minute additions to Everetts team of investigators and local law enforcement. After a long and tough search that culminated in a two-day hike through rough mountainous terrain the perpetrator and a would-be victim had finally been tracked down to an old quarry-turned-house of nightmares.

If there was any justice in the world that was it, putting a sick and twisted individual behind lock and key for the remainder of his life, rotting away in the an Icebox on Titan.

Once Everett concluded his brief introduction Carl nodded once more before collecting his bags. By now more people were approaching Everett and Carl would rather get squared away and settled in properly before introducing himself to the rest of the crew. He offered a nod to the lady with the large bag before silently excusing himself, walking across the cargo hold to find his room within the crew quarters.

 

[0stinato]

‘I’d say you were right,’ Del rolled his smile to Cass with a lazy head motion. ‘Be glad to help you with that case of yours?’

He straightened up and brought his hands together in a clap, muffled by the gloves he wore, as a staccato note of determination. He span the trolley toward Cass in a slow arc to free his hands while he tackled the apparent weight of her case. Upon lifting it, even only a few inches off the ground to lay upon the trolley which had drifted to a stop behind him, he thanked his semi-diligent attempts to dedicate himself to physical fitness while he was incarcerated. It was a cliché, but when you were inside there wasn’t much else to occupy your yard time. He wasn’t exactly suited to the sports of the prison yard either given his physical disability.

He let the case fall the last few centimetres and let out a whistle, almost impressed by the sheer mass the case had.

‘Sure you’re not packin’ your own ship in there?’ he raised an eyebrow with a smile. For the second he looked at her, he took in as much as he could. Tall, dark, prepared: the case wasn’t the only storage she had, since it seemed she had a veritable utility belt of equipment at her disposal even now. Again, he didn’t say anything about his observations; he just held his smile and span the trolley around to begin the walk back to the SWC-144. He was looking forward to sitting down with some sort of drink back on the ship. He didn’t much care what it was, at this point. Just something to round off the sharper edges this evening had dredged up: one of them was the new arrival of Carl and what he seemed to represent. Even though Del wasn’t in any kind of danger with the law anymore - well, not really - somehow the presence of the man was already raising the hairs on the back of Del’s neck. But really, why was he worried? Many people had expressed moral objections to Del’s past, and he was used to accepting their stance with humility.

He would never apologise for it, though.

To avoid the tense subject lingering in his mind upon considering Carl, he turned his attention back to Cass, a woman whose own presence he hoped would be more comfortable. Or maybe he was simply finding some siblinghood in her choice of headwear. His hat certainly had a story: he wondered if hers did too.

‘Glad to have some new faces around the place,’ Del said to Cass. ‘Guarantee Ev is sick of me by now, and my organisation of the hold just now’s probably won me no points with Sol. But, in my defence, we’re not gonna be here long. Speaking of me, I’m Moscur: munitions, demolitions, and sometimes a bit o’ tinkerin’ in between. Them that knows me calls me Del.’

Ahead was Soleil, emerging from conversation with a worker in the bay. He raised a hand to her in greeting.

‘If you’re lookin’ for our new cargo, it’s all in the hold. I didn’t really pay attention to what was going where so, it might be a scavenger hunt of sorts.’ Again he offered a relaxed smile, though this time it had a hint of playfulness at the edges. ‘I wasn’t gonna dare to try’n put it all away in the med-bay. God knows, I’d get it all in the wrong places.’

--
Interactions: fickleglory Shadowed-Cherry-Blossoms
Mentions: Viper Actual Dragongal

 

[Dragongal]

He then refocused his attention on Everett. "Glad to be here, sir." That was a lie. "I'm sure our assignment will be interesting and, hopefully, well worth this time and effort." That however, was true.

That same slight, knowing smile crept across Everett's face as he nodded. "Y'know, I won't promise you anything I'm uncertain of, but I can promise you that it'll be interesting."

Everett had only just managed to turn on his heel when Cassie arrived. So, this was their data specialist, then. One Miss Cassandra Nova, who had a fairly good reputation with the System offices for being very detail oriented and organized and quite smart, to boot. He looked at her and cocked his head to the side just slightly; it almost seemed like she looked familiar, and not just because of the picture on her file. Since nothing came to mind right away, Everett concluded that it didn't mean anything and maybe she had a relative who'd been murdered and he worked that case. He wasn't even able to convince himself of that lie, but it was enough of an excuse for him to not start trying to puzzle things out when there was no time for that nonsense.

Contrary to popular belief about Everett, he actually didn't mind Del calling him Ev. There were worse things he'd been called, after all, and he liked Del, so he didn't mind. If he didn't like Del, Del would not be part of this team.

Del got to speak to Cassie first which was well and good, Everett just getting in a smile and quick nod with the intent of then walking off. However, then Sol joined in and Everett got caught up again. Internally screaming, Everett pivoted again to the medic that Sliver was walking right up to and leaning against, asking for pets with his big, glowing blue eyes. Everett smiled to her and nodded towards Del, "As he said, it's all in the hold, but if you need, I can get a few more dockhands to help you sort it out. They're supposed to take things to their assigned rooms when needed - to be fair I doubt they were given the room number for the med bay, given this ship is practically straight outta the mechanic's shop. Either way, if we need more, I can get some to help, just let me know." He turned towards Del and Cassie and said, "Del, you already know her, but this is Soleil Lyon, one of the best field medics in the solar system." He was this deep into it, so he tipped his head toward Cassie with a, "Miss Nova, you should probably introduce yourself to the others; I just have the advantage of having had the rosters ahead of time."

He flashed his usual wry smile and took a step back, clearly planning to slip away for that cigarette now, "As I said if any of you need anything come and find me, or just ask for the detective and someone will point you my way." He snapped his fingers for Sliver to follow him but the dog just continued to lean on Soleil and look pitiful and adorable. It turned its sad metal eyes to Everett who rolled his eyes with a, "Really?"

( fickleglory 0stinato Shadowed-Cherry-Blossoms Viper Actual )

 

[fickleglory]

Cass placed a hand tenderly into Del’s as she perked up with a smile. “Arn’t you just gentleman like,” she then removed her hand and let it drop to her side. He fingers wiping onto the fabric as she spoke, “It’s been a long time since I’ve travelled, but it’s better to be prepared than to need something. And I need everything in that case,”

Cass looked over to another gentleman greeting her, talk and dark like her favorite Noir characters in the movies. “Don’t mind if I do Mr. Kolchak,” as she walked past him, her perfume of orangy blush and warm florarls wafted in the air. What a contrast to the ciggerrettes that clung on Everett’s clothes, her nose scrunched in a bit of distate before shaking away the expression. It was right after she blinked, she got all doe eyed, “Oh, and Mr. Kolchak, any rosters, schedules and information you’ve got, I’d be mighty obliged to anything you pass my way.” Her eyes fixated on him. And if you have a trained eye for detail, something about one of her eyes seemed to have a glassiness to it. The light almost refelcts differently. She shrugged with a smile and stepped toward the others. “Soliel!“ she moved in closer to shake both the blonde women’s hands and speaking through her teeth, “Thank goodness theres another lady here,” Cass looked over her shoulder and back to Soliel, “The precint was full of fat, donut loving, men and I’m sure you know how that goes. I couldn’t stand ‘em!” Again her eyes were fixated on the other. One of the pupils shifting in and out in microscopic ways. Her very human looking, cyborg eye working its magic on retaining information.
| Dragongal |@0stinatno |@Shadowed-Cherry-Blossoms

 

[Shadowed-Cherry-Blossoms]

Soleil couldn't help but chuckle at the commotion as she approached. Well, it'll certainly be a lot more lively. She felt a brow raise as Del spoke, informing her of a lead on where her missing needles were. Her eyes flicked between Everett and Del as the commanding officer confirmed the statement. "I may have to enlist you to help with locating that box on top of those dockhands," she commented. Her smile was briefly replaced with a smirk as she added, "Don't worry Del, all I'll need is some help getting the box to the med bay, I won't ask you to try and sort it all."

Sol's grin then turned to Cassie as she shook hands with the woman, another laugh escaping her throat as she spoke. "Honestly, some of the egos on men like that is part of the reason I'm glad to have been recruited to this ship for a while," she commiserated. She leaned in a bit closer, just close enough to get a whiff of Cassie's perfume. "But if you ever just need a girl's night to rant about any of the men, present company included or not, just let me know," she said, a conspiratorial gleam in her eyes.

She freed one of her hands from Cassie's grasp, reaching down to give Sliver some scritches under his chin. "I'm sorry, you've been so patient with all of us. Who's a good boy? You are!" she cooed to the robot hound at her feet. She glanced over to Everett, the smile never leaving her face. She dropped to a crouch to be eye level with the hound. "I think you've kept him long enough. Go on, I'll come and give you some more pets later," she promised. She gave Sliver a quick peck on the nose before standing back up, putting her hands in the pockets of her scrubs. "Oh, and if any of you are feeling particularly generous after getting Miss Nova settled, I could also use some help cleaning out some of the boxes in the med bay."

( 0stinato Dragongal fickleglory )

 

[Viper Actual]

Well, it might not be the best he'd been quartered in but it was far from being the worst. Personally Carl judged and measured every crew quarter, barracks, improvized fighting position, dugout and hotel room on a scale between 'Mare Crisium Officer's Quarters' to 'The Jolly Jovian Inn'. The former had been on-par with a five-star hotel whereas the latter had been a rat-, roach- and something-infested bedroom inspired by the shittiest of junktowns.

Truth to be told the personnel quarters of the SWC-144 was leaning a bit more towards the pristine clean officer's quarters than anything else. When compared to a dugout in the field the room was several metric miles better. Hell, barely any competition there.

Decoration-wise the room had a lot going for it but as far as amenities went the room was pretty well-equipped for a civilian/paramilitary craft. Carl had his own shower and bathroom space, closet and a pretty comfortable-looking bed. There were some rudimentary furniture though Carl guessed he'd spend most of the time in bed or outside the room anyways so that was a non-issue really.

As he set down his gear on the floor next to the bed and started to unpack the larger and more unwieldy things Carl eventually got into organizing some of the smaller good-to-have stuff like a charging station for electronics, his datapad, weapon maintenance kit, his personal journal and more.

Having spent a good few minutes unpacking the basics Carl scratched his chin and decided to tour the rest of the ship, locking the door behind him as he stepped outside his room.

 

[fickleglory]

“Yes! Egos!” she nodded quickly, “I’m always having to get to their good side before I get a lil respect.” her foot stomped to emphasize her statement. Oh that’d be mighty fine!” Her little lashes batted at Sol with inspiration.

Cass followed Sol’s focus on the pup and gave him a tender pet along his back before returning to the group. She bounced in place over the thought of her own quarter, “Yes! I’ve got plenty of unpacking to do! Maybe I can ask the orher fellas to unpack for me…,” she tapped her finger on her chin. She scanned the area around her. Who would best suit her damsel needs? Cass turned back to her team, “Where is my room again?”

0stinato | Shadowed-Cherry-Blossoms

 

[Dragongal]

“Oh, and Mr. Kolchak, any rosters, schedules and information you’ve got, I’d be mighty obliged to anything you pass my way.”

"I can get those to you right away. Just let me know how you want those transferred to you, the device needs to be secure." He flashed her a quick smile and noticed that one of her eyes was just slightly different from the other. An enhancement, maybe? Cybernetics weren't exactly uncommon. Still, it could be a camera, which wouldn't be a good thing for a desk worker in this line of work. But Cassie had been highly recommended to him, and well... assigned to him. He hadn't gotten too much leeway in picking this team.

Everett watched the new teammates interact and smiled to himself slightly, taking it as an overall good sign. Hopefully they would continue to get along, Everett was not the type to abide by pointless drama, especially on such a small ship. They seemed, overall, to have the task of getting the needles to the medical bay in hand as well.

Sliver trotted over to Everett finally, who patted his head gently. He gave a brief wave to the group who had already started a new topic, then stepped away from the group to finally have his first cigarette in two days - he rarely smoked, often going months without a cigarette, but there was an extra time constraint on closing his current cold case because he wanted it done before they left the moon, and that added enough stress that he felt he deserved a smoke.

Everett went just far enough to barely be in sight of his crew and lit the cigarette. He pulled out his datapad and started looking over the case slowly. This would definitely be on his mind for the next... however long until he solved it.

 

[Dragongal]

As Everett stood there smoking and reading a mission report, a dockhand walked up to him. "Sir, we have your AI bot on the way. Can we just let it into the cargo hold?"

Everett gave the man a look that was equal parts annoyance and confusion. "Pardon?" He had been told there would be an AI involved, but shouldn't it be an android or a program already loaded onto the ship's computer?

"The CORE model, sir. It was on the ship's manifest to be loaded before you all left."

Everett's initial reaction was to laugh, but he held back. Something just didn't make sense here. "The CORE models were robots with a central AI. They were discontinued... fuckin' ages ago."

The worker shrugged. "It's on the manifest. Seems like this one got repaired and assigned to your team. It's... an odd one though. Definitely an AI, probably Cat 2 if I had to guess. Body's definitely an old CORE model though, one of the smaller ones. Not a full Big Iron, y'know? Anyway, if you're willing to give the all clear, we'll walk it to the bay."

Everett raised a hand and waved it off with a, "Fine, fine. Bring it by, I'll get over there." He took another draw from his half-finished cigarette before sighing out the smoke and dropping the cigarette to stamp out on the metal plated floor. A half cigarette was still more than he usually got to indulge in in a month, so he'd take it. While the worker went to talk to the others, Everett went back to the ship's cargo hold where some of the team was still mingling. He poked his head in to look around called, "Hey, Del! I might need a hand in the bay." ( 0stinato and Viper Actual )

Meanwhile he turned to those still standing in the bay and said, "Apparently our final member will be joining us shortly. To be clear to everyone involved, I have no idea what to expect. Upper management made this decision and didn't alert me to the specifics."

 

[0stinato]

One lesson that most people learn by age 4 is not to stick one's fingers, arms or other assorted fleshy parts into dark, rust-encrusted holes. If you were to ask Del, he would say he did know that, but that sometimes, occasionally, practical knowledge served a person best. Having assisted enough with the to-ing and fro-ing of tightly packed metal crates into the storage hold or med bay, Del had been set free. He had been on this ship for a few days but, being surrounded only by Soleil and Everett until now, he wanted to work his hardest to get the ship into an efficient condition.

Plus, he had to wait.

On the first day he had boarded the SWC-144 he had filtered through everything the ship had to offer and rounded up stray pieces of mechanical equipment he reckoned he had enough of. Armed with this miscellany of metal, he had located grates, vents and suspected removable panels around the ship and left the pieces at each of the locations.

The stray pieces were better in their hands than his, he reckoned. If, indeed, this ship housed any of them.

Voiders. An infamous cryptid-like species that spent their time repairing and fixing the ships upon which they dwelled, often doing a better job than any run-of-the-mill mechanic that might be on board. They were seldom seen, even if subtle cameras were mounted around the ship specifically to catch them. They simply knew how to maintain a profile of complete anonymity, functionally invisible aboard any ship they happened to live in. They left few traces, some only detectable by the most astute Voider-spotter, and made no sound as they came and went. If you walked down a ship's corridor towards a corner, a voider could be working there one minute, and gone the second you rounded the bend.

Del would call himself an amateur, but very determined, Voider-spotter. He wouldn't spot many traces of their presence, but he knew the basics of how to prove the theory of Voider activity aboard a ship. One of these methods was just as he had done over the last few days: leave them parts to use, and check back on the locations within a week.

So that's where he was now, armed with a roughed-up screwdriver, eagerly working on a low vent on a wall in the corridor between the cargo bay and the operations centre. Placing the vent cover to the side, he reached into the opening without hesitation, having to feel around for what he was seeking. Soon, he felt the little pile of objects he had left at this location, and suppressed a disappointed sigh. He had checked two other locations minutes ago, and not a single thing was missing. Still, he would be thorough.

He scooped the pieces out of the vent, using his hat to hold them, and knelt there for a while, memorising the quantity of each item but not inspecting any of the pieces too closely. Then, he put them back, shoving his hand into the vent gap again without a second thought. He reattached the vent cover, pocketed the screwdriver and instead pulled out a pencil. For a while, he did nothing with it, just flipped it between his fingers as he donned his hat again.

"Hey, Del! I might need a hand in the bay."

Everett's voice ringing out made Del jump. He had been so set on his Voider-spotting that he almost forgot who and where he was. He'd have to return to his little quest later. So, he made his way to the bay, still flipping the pencil around. Everett was speaking to those who remained in the bay, and Del quietly listened before approaching Everett.

'Hey Ev, if this is about heavy liftin', you know as well as I do that I ain't stronger than you,' Del said with a grin. 'Besides, techdoc's orders, carry no more than 60lbs for a prolonged period on my leg or I'll damage the mechanisms an' particulars.'

--
Interactions: Dragongal
Mentions: Shadowed-Cherry-Blossoms Huntertabbysandshark3

 

[Viper Actual]

"Hey, Del! I might need a hand in the bay."

'Besides, techdoc's orders, carry no more than 60lbs for a prolonged period on my leg or I'll damage the mechanisms an' particulars.'

"I can help," said Carl, emerging from the crew quarters with a blank expression. He turned towards Everett and crossed his arms. "What needs lifting?"

Before Everett could respond Carl turned to study Del. His steely gaze set on the mechanic, eyes slightly narrowed and lips pursed. His gaze went up and down as if he was studying Del in his complete glory.

After a moment's silence Carl the spoke up; "We should do the lifting together. Your arms and legs could use the exercise." His serious demeanor cracked, revealing a brief smile right before a hand tapped Del on the shoulder.

 

[0stinato]

Del met Carl with a brief, 'Howdy,' and a touching of his hat before freezing in position under the astute gaze he was being subjected to. It was a bizarre feeling, as though it was rude to even move under those conditions. The world shrunk into a spotlight centred on Del. A certain amount of juvenile anxiety welled up, the kind that makes you worried about looking stupid in front of your equally anxious peers.

Fortunately, it lasted only a moment. Apparently though, Carl had managed to interpret every bit of data Del's limbs had to offer, even under the poncho and boots he wore. All Del could do in silent response was accept this ability Carl seemingly had as a data point for his own analysis of his new fellow crew mate. Analytical for people, able to discern physical ability based on only visual information alone.

There was just one tiny detail he was wrong about.

Finally, Del dropped his hand back down to his side as Carl patted his shoulder.

'Happy to, happy to. Can't deny, I was never built for physical labour, but this bit -' He glanced towards Everett, then raised an eyebrow at Carl as he let his weight fall to his left, raising his right foot slightly and kicking gesturally towards his left calf. His leather boot creased until his foot hit the metal pylon within.

'- ain't no exercise in this starfield that's gonna make titanium stronger,' he said.

--
Interactions: Viper Actual Dragongal

 

[Viper Actual]

Carl raised his eyebrows in genuine surprise before nodding, almost apologetically, towards Del. "My bad, didn't catch you for a Leadfoot." Out of all the nicknames that Carl had picked up over the years to denote or describe people with cybernetics that one was one of the nicer ones, hopefully Del would take it with a bit of humor.

Let's hope I didn't just gravely insult a man I just met or- worse- remind him of something terrible that happened years ago.

He nodded again. "Guess I'll get most of the exercise here- not that I'm complaining." Step it up, Higgins.

0stinato

 

[Huntertabbysandshark3]

C.O.R.E
Dragongal 0stinato​

the old bot slowly walked off the platform into the cargo bay its long multi-jointed legs shaking as if it was.. afraid or worried? it was frankly rather strange to see but it certainly seemed like a big iron.. or more a "small iron" seeing as the size of it was well a fair bit smaller than the bot CORE had been installed in.. he wasn't sure how he'd explain to them HE was the central AI... after all he could very well just be a networked bot or something oh well looking at the others that had arrived the bot lowered itself slightly before projecting a humanoid hologram. "... hi.. um.. im CORE.. yeah... im the err central.. CORE.. not.. some smaller AI.. nice to meet you all"

 

[Dragongal]

Where is my room again?

"I believe you're room 6, miss Nova. Should be in that hallway off of the bay, down a ways, and to the left. Everything's labeled, I have full faith you'll find it. As for someone helping you, you can have Del or Carl after I finish up with them." ( fickleglory )

Everett was glad to see some casual banter between his new teammates; especially Carl and Del. He had figured between Carl's rather firm views of the law and Del's more lenient views, and lenient history, there could be some clash. So far it seemed like things were going well enough, and Everett really couldn't ask for much more than that. He did smile a little at Del's comment about picking up more than Del could; it was probably quite true. Carl could still probably outdo both of them, though.

To explain why he called Del in the first place, he said, "I don't know how much needs to be moved, but our last member is an AI. Depending on the system it runs on, we may need more space. Also, the sooner we finish with loading the equipment, the better, and Del, you've been helping out from the start so if anyone knows where things got moved and how much space we have left, it's you."

He had barely finished explaining this when an old Big iron - or Little Iron, actually - came meandering over. He raised his eyebrows in surprise - so this was what was left of the original CORE system? It seemed... nervous, now. In full honesty, Everett had thought that the old CORE system had been... well, killed more or less. Discontinued. Decommissioned. It was shocking they'd even found one of the Little Irons that could be fixed up enough to house the AI. "Well... Nice to meet you, CORE. Not sure how much you were told about the mission, but I would assume you were added to the team to help with data retrieval..?" He paused a moment and looked into the bay, "I'm not sure you have a room assigned to you. I'll find a place for you, though." Even if COIRE was just an AI with a metal body, AIs were still thinking creatures and deserved to be treated at least decently, in Ev's opinion. Especially since he didn't know what level of AI CORE was anymore.

 

[0stinato]

'Make no mistake, this darlin' ain't from any heroic combat mission or such, it was--' Del caught himself, realising he might be about to spill into a story about his involvement in the illegal selling of ore mined without proper safety precautions to a lawman who didn't yet know him, so he feigned a bashful chuckle. 'Well, although I'm a man of brains rather than brawn, it was a real big fuck-up that earned me this. Ev knows all about--'

What cut him off this time wasn't a second recognition that he was being verbally careless, but the arrival of CORE. Well, technically, CORE hadn't even arrived; the bot was coming towards them, with all the nervousness of a kitten, but the chassis of a murderbot. Del had heard of those types of bot, but had never been in the right environment to encounter one. Slowly, as the bot stopped and projected the hologram of the program's persona, Del grinned.

He stepped forward and nudged Ev, saying 'Looks like you don't even know how you swung this,' before continuing on, approaching the hologram.

'Fascinatin' specimen you are! I've never been around a highly complex AI before, so you're gonna have to tell me if I'm being too curious. Can I have a look at you?'

Spurred on by his own curiosity, Del barely waited for an answer before beginning to circle CORE, leaving as much of a gap as his eagerness could bear so the seemingly anxious algorithm wouldn't feel too crowded.

--
Interactions: Viper Actual Dragongal Huntertabbysandshark3

 

[Huntertabbysandshark3]

C.O.R.E
Dragongal 0stinato​

"yeah i wasn't really told anything or much something about confidentiality" he'd say with an awkward moment looking around with a small hum. " err i think i was told i might be hooked into the ship's core and such i guess act as its AI at times? unless im wrong that would be nice tho" they'd say once more hoping they'd be given the right info but feeling really anxious. Their attention turning to Del. "oh sure i don't mind you taking a look just don't dig around too much might break something and make me brain dead or something.." they'd say with an awkward chuckle. "sorry haven't talked to people in a long time..

 

[Viper Actual]

"... hi.. um.. im CORE.. yeah... im the err central.. CORE.. not.. some smaller AI.. nice to meet you all"

Watching the AI (or rather, its mechanical vessel) with a neutral expression Carl simply nodded in response to CORE. For a moment he wasn't sure what to say- thankfully Everett and Del beat him to it. This was fine, as it left Carl to silently observe the AI. Awfully nervous. Shouldn't AI be more... assertive?

In all honesty he didn't know- his experience working with AI was limited, to say the least. Either way a colleague was a colleague. As Del began to inspect the machine Carl simply nodded towards the holographic projection though he felt unsure whether to look the hologram or at the chassis itself when doing so.

"Name's Carl, pleasure to meet you."

Carl then shifted his focus back onto Del and for a moment he pondered the words spoken by the engineer right before the arrival of CORE, attempting to figure out what he had just been about to divulge so freely before stopping himself.

Huntertabbysandshark3 0stinato

 

[Dragongal]

Everett was preoccupied reading from his tablet and trying to figure out who assigned this strange AI to him and what Ev was even supposed to do with it. Hooking into the mainframe made sense but how? Through the controls in the cockpit? Why would you put the AI's chassis in the cockpit, you only needed the AI. There had to be room int he cockpit for humans to take over if something went wrong. There was space in the cargo bay - but that would be rude. Was a closet actually any better? A storage room, perhaps. Definitely something by the main batteries and back-up generators....

Everett doesn't look up from his tablet as he says, "Alright, Del. I need you to help me retrofit one of the rooms off the bay for CORE here. Between the two of us it'll be quick work but I'll need you to check one of the electrical panels in there. I'll get some dockhands to unload the rest of the cargo - Carl can coordinate help them. Soleil? Make sure that you have everything in that medical bay where it needs to be and in proper stock - once we leave here I can't guarantee restocks. Miss Nova, feel free to take the time to acquaint yourself with the case files I just sent over to you, I know you weren't given time to do so before. CORE, you'll need to access the ship's data, right? Do that, there's a hardware port in the cargo bay you can plug into. The ship is an enclosed information system so things loaded on it *stay* on it until removed. Old fashioned, I know, but it's reliable."

Everett looked up at everyone and said, "Good? Good," and turned on his heel to go start repurposing the room for CORE. He had a task to do now, so he was ready to get right to work, with Sliver following at his heels.

( fickleglory Huntertabbysandshark3 0stinato Shadowed-Cherry-Blossoms Viper Actual )

 

[Viper Actual]

"...I'll get some dockhands to unload the rest of the cargo - Carl can coordinate help them."

Nodding, Carl looked as if he was about to salute. Once everyone else had their orders from Everett issued he practically sprinted off down the ramp to find some dockhands willing (and unwilling) to help him. A group of them were loitering next to a loader when Carl approached and spoke to them;

"Listen up," he said, immediately gaining their attention.

"I need five volunteers to man and assist the loader and another five to manually carry the remaining cargo. We've got ways to go, but I'll help and pitch in myself wherever needed."

The mixed crew of unshaven and rough-looking people looked less than excited to help out. That is until one of them- wearing a reflective vest and who carried herself like a leader- stepped forward, glancing to her left and right. "Well boys, what are we waiting for?" Asked the foreman.

"Let's get a chain going!"

Immediately the crew spurred into action. Carl looked on, impressed with just how fast the effect had been. He nodded towards the foreman. "Thank you, miss..."

"You owe me a drink," she replied, flashing a smile.

Carl chuckled and shook his head.