Futuristic Shaar-Jo X Ranix RP

[Ranix Aurus]

Eun gave the canine one last look before following Shaar-Jo from behind, the little legs pitter-pattering over the metal floor.

"Thank you! Thank you!"

The mechanical voice turned cheerful all of a sudden.

"You are not bad guy! Sorry for attacking! Sorry for attacking! Ingwe told me not to trust anyone!"

 

[ShaarJo]

The panther nodded a few times as he made it to the bridge. At the top back of the ship, which was a really poor spot to have a bridge, but it seemed to work for the model of ship well enough. Despite being a bit tricky to get into tight spaces. The panther started to pull off the chest carrier and put it back in the locker as well as the rifle. Closing and it and locking it with his palm before moving to the pilot's seat and checking the navigation panel, "Okay...spill it. Who are they? Why were they in a military ship? Who was attacking you and why? Why did she say to not trust anyone and start shooting at me after I went out of my way to help?"

 

[Ranix Aurus]

"They? She? Oh."

Eun tilted its casing as if it was acting cute. The red light dimmed and brightened a few times as it processed his inquiry.

"They are a pursuit unit from the Twelfth Division of the Sovereignty's Navy. They are trying to silence us after we finished our deliverance of [REDACTED]."

The tone turned childish again.

"Ingwe told me to trust no one! That's the way of the sky pirates! Ingwe is always right!"

 

[ShaarJo]

Shaar-Jo blinked a few times and nodded his head. He let out a bit of a sigh and shrugged as he plotted a new course. The ship probably turned in FTL but they wouldn't really feel that inside of the ship. The Panther nodded his head and turned towards the robot and leaned forward a bit, "Okay...those guys violated the oblivion out of some treaties then, so that redacted bit of information must be pretty lucrative. Do you think they would keep he pursuit up or would they just let you go after this? How important is that data? Am I about to be interdicted here in a second?"

 

[Ranix Aurus]

"They will pursue us! That's why Ingwe told me to hijack their assault ship and fire up their experimental Void Engine! Based on statistics, they won't be able to chase us this far!"

The robot swerved forward a bit as if puffing its imaginary chest.

"Inquiring: is this the Rand-Quasar Galaxy?"

((Rand-Quasar is my character's galactic resident name for your character's galaxy, which is separated by cosmic void. The name might differs for your character.))

 

[ShaarJo]

((This character is a soldier turned pilot turned privateer. He's probably going to be super confused.))

Shaar-Jo blinked a few times at the robot and shook his head. Wondering what the machine was talking about. The robot was smarter than him. He shrugged and shook his head not really knowing how to reply to that. He instead pulled up a huge map of the local systems as well as logos for who controlled what, "We're in the system br-5ty, boarder system of the Aramathi Republic, a member of the Union of Democratic Empires. We're allied with the humans, the Tarassi and the Ixiri. I don't know who you two are, but maybe I'm just out of the loop. Feel free to cycle through the systems and tell me where you're from."

 

[Ranix Aurus]

Eun blinked its red eye at the system, soaking the visual information within seconds. It used its pair of front legs to swipe at the screen, scrolling through the various details of the galactic clusters. In the end, it zoomed the map all the way out until it showed the entirety of the supercluster.

"We are from here."

The robot's leg pointed at the bottom left corner of the map, where there was nothing except the black background.

No, actually, its leg might even be pointing at someplace even farther than that.

"We came from the domain of the Sovereignty, ruler of the Scarsean supercluster. Our system is separated from your Rand-Quasar supercluster by approximately hundred-and-eighty-two thousands lightyears of standard FTL travel. Our last contact recorded was from pre-Sovereignty time."

 

[ShaarJo]

The aramathi looked at the screen and watched as the navigation panel was manipulated with. He gave a strange look to the AI as he raised a brow. He shook his head and leaned back in the seat. He held up his hands and guestured to to the robot to slow down, "Hold on hold on. You're going to tell me that what ever empire you're from just dropped contact with everyone else and closed their boarders? That certainly would put some people on edge. Why are you two here then? That data you delivered...what was it?"

 

[Ranix Aurus]

The robot waved its leg like a hand.

"They do not close their border. The cosmic void is a vast emptiness that requires a long time to travel even for FTL drives. The Sovereignty had decided against establishing a long-term route with this supercluster for economic reasons and chose to connect with Strandors supercluster and Gahamga supercluster instead. We chose to direct the Void Engine toward this supercluster for that reason."

Eun fidgeted for a moment when it processed his last question.

"The data concerns [REDACTED]. It is [REDACTED] that dwelled in the cosmic void. We [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED]..."

"You won't be able to gain access to that information. The Sovereignty had put a lock in Eun's memory sector for those keywords."

The canine's voice suddenly resounded in the bridge. Bandages were wrapped all over her body. She was carrying a small handgun, and the muzzle was aimed at Shaar-Jo. While the bleeding had stopped, but her hands were still shaking, unable to hold her weapon straight.

"Bring us to an inhabited planet. I don't care where, as long as it's far from the fringe."

 

[ShaarJo]

The panther looked on as he listened to the information being told. He reached up to rub his face. At least he wasn't missing out on any grand politics involving different empires. It was certainly something odd that he wished he had gotten a bit more interest in. He was listening at least until the heard the canine's voice pop up. He turned in his chair as the voice ordered him. He looked her over and shook his head, "No. You can't fly the ship without me. You're also not going to kick me off of my own ship. I saved you from a perilous situation, and I didn't put a bullet in you when you attacked me. In fact, I saved your damned life."

Shaar-Jo stood up, looking the canine figure in the eyes, "I didn't ask for a thank you, or even discuss term before you got on. I was fully willing to just save you and take you to safety. I think you need to stow the weapon, and take a seat. You look like you're barely standing on your own power. We can discuss what happened to you when you do. I'll forgive the threats since you seemed to be suffering from some shock and might still be high from the painkillers."

 

[Ranix Aurus]

"You bastard, getting high and mighty...!"

She growled, her finger almost pulling the trigger all the way in. Ultimately, she gave up, too tired to put the tough act. She sunk to a nearby seat, letting the handgun to fall on the floor.

The chamber was already empty after that last fight, after all. If her bluff didn't work, then there was nothing left that she could do.

She snickered as the absurdity of her situation finally caught up.

"...Who are you? Why did you help me...?"

 

[ShaarJo]

The calling him high and mighty gave him a bit of a smirk. He certainly was at this moment. He was hopefully going to get away with being the man in power despite having a handgun aimed at him. It was quite a relief when she dropped the gun, but he didn't mention anything. Instead he sat back and turned the seat around to monitor navigation, "I think I get the first set of questions yeah? If you really must know. I am Captain Shaar-Jo. This here is the PAV Ironjaw. I helped you because it was my duty to do so. I can't just let some assailant get away with attacking someone in our systems without any recourse. The republic has no tolerance for breaking her laws."

He made sure to change the vessel's ID so that nothing would label him as a military vessel like the bluff he had just tried with the other ship. It wouldn't have gone well if he was listed as military and he wasn't, "Alright, my turn. Who are YOU and why were you being chased by someone who wanted you dead so badly? They didn't look like they were playing around and they had some serious firepower. I don't think I would have stood much of a chance except to kite those missiles and hope they ran out of ammo while strafing them."

 

[Ranix Aurus]

She scrutinized this so-called 'captain'. An unfamiliar-sounding name with a strange designation for a ship. It seemed that they had really crossed the cosmic void.

"Captain... Shaar-Jo, is it? You can call me-"

"Ingwe! Ingwe! You're okay!"

She was interrupted by the little robot, who had launched itself to her lap. The canine smacked it on the top of its tubular body before letting out a sigh.

"...Ingwe. And this is our little troublemaker, Eundasche."

She gently petted the robot as if it was a little animal.

"As for why they want us dead... I concur Eun already told you. They're too cheap to pay us, so they just take the load and send bullets our way. Heh... what upholding justice and order, it's all bullshit! Those bunch of greedy opportunistic bastards..."

Her body shook a bit as she chuckled in self-mockery.

"But I guess I can pay them back a bit. They can lock Eun's memory, but not mine. Say, captain. Have you ever heard of... Void Ships?"

 

[ShaarJo]

The Aramathi had heard first, but he wanted to make sure the two had the same story. Mostly for a bit of seeing if one was lying. Though, they seemed to have everything together. So either the two were telling the truth or they had their story straight. Either that or some sort of neural link. The shook his head at Ingwe, "No...void ships is something entirely new to me. I'm going to assume that is what was just blown up from what you were in and the thing that had just attacked my ship. The information...if its so important why don't they just pay you? If its not so important why not just let you go? What even is it?"

 

[Ranix Aurus]

Ingwe shook her head.

"No, far from it. We had merely hijacked one of their assault ship outfitted with a prototype Void Engine. As for Void Ships, they're... hmm..."

She pointed at the galactic map on the holo-screen.

"What do you know about the cosmic void, Shaar-Jo? That it's just an empty swath of space? Mere inconvenience in galactic travel? What if I tell you... that we had found an entire fleet of abandoned ships in there? And not the kinds that are used by our civilizations. It's a lost technology. Void Engine is the result of the Sovereignty's reverse-engineering effort. Think of it like an upgrade of the FTL drives that every civilization in the universe are using right now. It cuts travel through cosmic void from hundreds of years to mere days."

She grinned.

"Impressed yet? Now you know why they want my neck."

 

[ShaarJo]

The man nodded his head as he was listening. He rubbed his chin and reached up and rubbed his face. This was a whole lot for something that was well above his position. What was he supposed to do now? He could just turn her over to the republic, perhaps they would want the information and even the drives. That could really change the tides of any future conflict. He looked up to Ingwe and nodded his head, "So...What do you want to do about it?" He asked, "If it were me, I'd turn the information over to the republic. Its very valuable...but I don't think they would let you go for...MONTHS at least. That would be less for malicious reasons and more for wanting to consult you and decipher the information. I can't speak for them...but we uphold individual freedom and liberty above all things. You wouldn't be held prisoner, you would probably be rewarded and let into society...as we hold individual freedoms...I'm not going to just hand you over. You have to make that decision. Despite that...there are people who might want to hurt you...I would want you to stay on the ship."

 

[Ranix Aurus]

"Stay on the ship? Your ship?"

She narrowed her eyes at Shaar-Jo like a predator eyeing her prey.

"Are you sure about that, Son of Naa'man? I'm a pirate, I might end up taking over your ship instead."

"Ingwe, Seryo good, Seryo good, let's not fight."

Eun suddenly spoke up.

"Seryo...?" Ingwe blinked. It seemed that the little AI had mispronounced the Geth-Naa'man's name.

"...Forget it, I'm just kidding..." She sighed. "I don't have the luxury of staying here for... months, like you just said. I want to return to the Sovereignty, but I'll need another Void Engine. It's better if I make another one. Eun here," she knocked on the tin can, "has a copy of the schematics. As long as I can find a tech wiz to unlock the restriction, it should be possible. Please drop us in a habitable planet, preferably one with black markets around."

 

[ShaarJo]

Shaar-Jo blinked a few times at the names. What was a Naa'man? Even more so, was his name mispronounced by a robot? He blinks a few times and shakes his head. Letting out another sigh, "Alright...well...the ship is bio-metrically linked to me. No me, no ship. You also won't find black markets on planets really. There is barely a handful of habitable ones and a lot of the black markets are either very small, very tight, or non-existent. You don't just get in by asking around. You'd have to find a station that is either fast and loose with the law, or outright owned by criminals. Thats really where the crime thrives."

He looked back at the canine and blinked once, "Whats a son of naa'man?"

 

[Ranix Aurus]

"Hmm?" She tilted her head. "You. You're a Geth-Naa'man, aren't you? You look like one..."

She suddenly frowned. "Don't tell me that you're actually a Sanh-Naa'man?"

Eun turned its eye to Shaar-Jo, assuming the neutral voice of an AI as it spewed out the content of its knowledge database.

"Sons of Naa'man, Geth-Naa'man, and Daughters of Naa'man, Sanh-Naa'man, are indigenous inhabitants of the planet Naam. They are famous for the variety of their furs, ranging from simple flat color to stripes and gradients. They are prolific traders and one of the most populous species in the Scarsean supercluster, often achieving high positions in the Sovereignty. Unlike the Stygians, the Children of Naa'man are superior-"

"Enough! Stop reading from that wretched database!" Ingwe roared as she shook Eun's small body up and down.

 

[ShaarJo]

Shaar-Jo blinked a number of times as this was explained to him. He shook his head while still retaining the very confused look. He gave a bit of a chuckle and shook his head, "I've never heard of any of those. I'm an Aramathi. Maybe thats a language thing, but you did describe us fairly well. Just...not the name we use for ourselves." He leaned back and tilted his head, "Is that what you are? What even are you?"

 

[Ranix Aurus]

"Ara...mathi..."

She gave the name a taste. It was so different from what she was used to.

"I'm a Stygian, from the planet Styx. Or so I was told."

Eun flashed up again.

"The marauders of Styx, the Night Wolves, the Stygian, are a wretched group of people from the dead world Styx in a system which sun had gone supernova. They are bandits, pirates, scavengers, a blight scattered all over the Sovereignty. They took refugee in worlds owned by other species or fashioned themselves living ships to act as their base of operations-"

"I! said! Enough with that stinky database!"

"Bzzzt-"

Ingwe slammed Eun to the ground in a fit of anger.

 

[ShaarJo]

The aramathi chuckled at the interaction of the two. Shaking his head and turning in his seat to face out towards the front of the ship. Mostly watching where they were going. He checked on the navigation panel and made sure the group was going in the proper direction, "Alright alright. Its going to take us a few hours to get where we are going. We're a good bit out. Why don't you get some rest, see about repairing that armor if you can...should I be worried about running into those guys again? Is that big ship heading back home or should I assume the worst?"

 

[Ranix Aurus]

"It should be fine," she sighed. "Those Sovereignty bastards don't like to hang out here without backup, they should leave immediately instead of giving chase. Then it'll depend on how much they want to kill me. If they still do, then your supercluster might have to prepare for an invasion."

Ingwe lifted Eun back into her embrace.

"Though you can easily avoid that scenario by sending me up to the gallows... just kidding. By the way, where are you heading right now?"

 

[ShaarJo]

Shaar-Jo checked his heading. One system over, some station in orbit around a gas giant that had a ring. Fairly well hidden for those who wouldn't know where to look for it. Given, he had been there a few times, "Its a black listed station. We'll need to be careful. The only laws here is what you can enforce. I buy some...less than appreciated missiles here, so I am liked...but only as long as I keep buying things. If someone is trying to rob us or hurt us, we're on our own. We might be able to grab some repair parts for your robot downstairs. Just...ya know...keep an eye out and I'll loan ya a rifle."

 

[Ranix Aurus]

"Hmm..."

Ingwe nodded lightly.

"I'll take your offer to rest, then... I'll see you around."

She finally left the bridge with Eun in tow. Her wounds were still clawing at her, draining her energy the longer she delayed her recovery. All she could do for the moment was to put her trust in this stranger, no matter how dangerous it was.

"Trust... how ironic."

She whispered bitterly as she walked back to the infirmary.