Futuristic Starpath: Burning Sails [IC] [CLOSED]

[joshuadim]

Vance entered the lounge and took a look around. Something did smell slightly burned indeed. "Uh, someone cooking here right now?" he asked with a smile.

 

[Infab]

Lauren watched Jericho walk off, before shaking her head. Why does he keep calling everyone 'darling'? She eventually moved away from the wall herself, limping on towards the bridge where Roku was still sitting alone after the battle. "Nice work back there, Roku. Keep being a good boy, and the collar comes off." she stated, as she moved up next to him and looked out the front of the ship. Roku seemed to grumble a bit, earning him a glance from Lauren. "I fuckin' hope that was a 'Aye, ma'am.' Otherwise, I'm gonna give that collar a nice yank." Roku twitched, before nodding rapidly. "Y-Yes, ma'am." he quickly stated, glancing up towards her.

"Good." she said, turning about and patting him on the shoulder. A moment later, she limped back off the bridge. Heading for the cargo bay, and eventually the medical bay.

---
​

"Probably a good call on Lauren to pick a place far from the community then."

Aesha shook her head. "Lauren didn't choose it. Her mother Valencia, ay-kay-ay Valkyrie, and her nutcase frenemy Jester did." she said, before glancing over towards the door when Vance and Jericho came in. "Hey, Jerry. Vance. Just showing them who owns what in the galaxy." she stated, thumbing towards the holotablet. "And yeah, Shelby is cooking cupcakes."

 

[Emperor Sagan]

Shelby turned her nose up to Olivia's suggestion to microwave something. That wasn't real food. A maid got slapped once for putting something in a microwave back home. Shelby wouldn't commit such a food sin. "Cupcakes are good for your health and spirit," she said indignantly. "Or just... drink some water, or something."

When Aesha arrived, her suggestion to blend the cupcakes for her was equally heretical. "S-slush?! That ruins their look! You... you can't... you can't just blend cupcakes!" Shelby squawked, throwing her arms up into the air. After a second she settled down and, grumbling, took one cupcake and put if off to the side and tossed it into the blender. She cringed when she had to press the button to finally blend it, but after a short bit it was chopped up into a fine liquid of light brown with some rainbow color swirls from the sprinkles. It was poured into a cup and given to Aesha.

She was finished icing the rest of the cupcakes and putting the sprinkles on them when Vance reached the lounge. Shelby hurriedly grabbed the tray and ran out into the main lounge area with them and thrust the tray in front of people's faces. "Take one! Take one! Take one! These are delicacies and perfection."

Their taste was... remarkably ordinary. In fact, there didn't seem to be really anything special about them other than being regular fresh cupcakes.

She spotted Jericho and rushed him with the tray. "Take a cupcake!"

 

[EdwardDewey98]

Jericho gave Grommy a little wave, before looking to Vance whom had just entered the lounge area. He still didn't like Vance yet. It was hard to describe, but people like Vance always irritated him. Still, he decided to be friendly with the strange man. "Hey there, cosmonaut fellow." He then noticed that Albert was also in the lounge with them. He had barely noticed the writer! He waved at him as well, but suddenly he had Shelby's bright little face right next to him, offering one of these delicious if slightly odd looking cupcakes in a tray. "You are aware that I...Oh well, just because you asked so nicely." Jericho smiled at Shelby and grabbed a cupcake. He took a bite of it. And he simply was quiet afterwards... this might be the most boring thing he had tasted in his life. But he decided to not be rude to his little friend and gave her a smile. "...They taste good, actually... Good work, darling! Now people can't say that blondes can't cook." He said jokingly.

 

[Infab]

Aesha took the cup of slushified cupcake, watching Shelby run around the lounge and shoving cupcakes in everyone's face. She then glanced down into the cup. If only her father had been an Upyri and mother had been a Human, she'd have been born able to eat them in their normal form. Instead, it was the other way around and she had to do things the Upyri way. She took a sip of it after a few moments, and her eyes went wide. "Holy hell, did you dump all the sugar in?" she blurted out, holding the cup out in front of her with a smile on her face.

 

[Emperor Sagan]

Shelby nodded quickly. "Yes, yes, they are very good. I won a contest with them. There are, like, another twenty in the kitchen!"

She continued around making sure everyone got a cupcake, before leaving the tray out for any new comers. It was mandatory to eat one. Shelby grabbed two for herself and viciously tore into them, surprising herself with her immense skill in bakery.

"Sugar is a necessary ingredient," Shelby replied to Aesha, frosting covering her mouth.

 

[Doomevil]

"Her mother chose this place? So there's history with the Sielia base." Nara added and it looks like the cupcakes were done. Once Shelby passed the cupcakes out Grommy and Nara took one and immediately ate them. They chewed thoroughly giving their thoughts.

No offense to Shelby, but these taste store bought. But I guess they're okay. Nara thought. She gave a smile, "Pretty good."

Mmm, these are pretty good. But I don't want to feel like I'm sugarcoating things. I better lower the compliment down. Grommy thought. "They're alright. I guess." He stated.

 

[Dmaster]

The cyborg Ayr was quite enamored by how quickly Pearl was able to get him back into optimal efficiency, looking over both himself and the diagnostics available through his HUD to see that everything was in order. Before he could even thank her she sped off to work on whatever she had been focused on earlier, and Shun looked to Zadra slowly. "That she does. Extend my gratitude to her when she is less occupied, if you will. I shall bother the both of you no longer." he said, giving another bow before turning to leave the engineering deck. Through the halls he wandered and eventually found himself to the lounge, and his rigid presence did not do much to bring a calm air to the leisurely activities.

Examining his surroundings he was immediately drawn to the map that Nara, Grommy, and Aesha were near. Being a navigator he was deeply interested in such things, and he quietly inserted himself in the vicinity as he looked it over. Of course he was not the least bit concerned with cupcakes, he had tea in his room for later.

 

[Frankafurter]

Once Yolandi gets the okay from Daniel, she gets up and limps off to the cargo bay. Zou is parked inside and looking a lot worse for wear. She had decided to pilot him in the second fight, fortunately for her the corvette was built to dimensions that allowed something like Zou to fit down the corridors safely due to Yscom's reliance on drones for combat. When that giant bastard showed up, she figured a good one-two from Zou would be enough to put him down, boy was she wrong. The big fucker managed to not only punch a good dent into the chestplate of Zou, but managed to nearly rip Zou's leg out of it's actuator joint (and Yolandi's leg with it.) Zou also had extensive damage from the drone escort with the big guy, but the worst of it was the damage from Yolandi and Zou rendering aid when the destroyer showed up. She was immensely thankful for the armor panel material she had appropriated from the Guillotine's restoration effort but now Zou is basically down to his underlayers of armor and exoskeleton frame in some places. It's going to take awhile to fix him up and honestly with this much damage, she's going to be stuck rebuilding him from a raw chassis at this rate. She'll start doodling up ideas to try and work out but first thing she's going to do back on Sielia is get Karina's suit all done. Zou isn't going to be fighting for a little while so the crew will need another suit pilot to stand in for the time being.

Yolandi pats Zou on the shoulder, he comes out of standby and gives her a juttering thumbs up due to the damaged actuators, she smiles sadly and nods, "You'll come back from this, Zou, this may be one of the worst smashups in your running time with me, but I'm not gonna leave you to collect dust." Zou nods his head and then goes back into standby before powering down fully. With that, she heads up to the cantina to get a stiff drink, she needs to numb herself out a little bit after this. She didn't want to say it to Zou, but this is the worst smashup he's had, it's any luck he wasn't destroyed completely and she wouldn't know what to do with herself if that happened. Zou has the personality of a good loyal canine companion and has been her best friend since she took the inhibitor chip off his AI core, thick as thieves. She detours from the cantina and heads to her bunk before packing up her belongings and carrying them down the corridor to Karina's bunkroom. She knocks slightly to make sure she isn't about to intrude on Karina before entering. She sees no one inside and leaves her bag atop the empty bunk that Karina had mentioned then heads over to the cantina. When she walks in, she heads immediately to the liquor cabinet and gets herself a bottle of whiskey and a rocks glass. She takes the bottle and glass then heads over to sit down in an empty booth and begins her liquid diet.

 

[SniperComZero]

Olivia rolled her eyes at the sentiment, a somewhat exaggerated sigh passing her lips. "Well maybe we can find a pizza joint somewhere and order out. We got the cash now." Olivia raised a brow to that, crossing her arms. "Well, I'd be welcome to the idea if you can actually find a pizza place around here, nosferatu." She quipped back, a smile on the corner of her lips.

A smile which seemingly wavered whenever a cupcake was dumped in front of her. Okay-- she just had to stay strong. She grabbed the cupcake with one hand, her other going to hold the counter. Before taking a single bite, she took a breath. It's just a cupcake. A cupcake which was remarkably plain, if not a little overbearingly sweet. Though, the pilot would've preferred it with more of a crust. They were perfectly edible. Unfortunately, there was the small problem of how Olivia still kinda tasted puke in her mouth, which tainted her experience massively. She could swallow it down, sure, but it felt like a rock inside of her.

"...Y-yeah, no, it's great." Olivia mustered up the most convincing smile she could towards Shelby. Her white-knuckled grip on the countertop, and the fact it was mere moments before she pushed away from it, heading to the fridge to get some bottled water, said otherwise. She chugged half of that summbitch soon as she got it open. In the long run, that'd probably do her more harm than a bite of cupcake. Oh, hey, it's the two robo-creeps, and that weirdo LARPer. Fantastic. There's a courtesy wave towards them-- or, the two that'll give her a smidgen of attention, at least, as she makes her way back to her seat.

 

[joshuadim]

Vance took a cupcake and munched on it quickly. They were alright, though his ma back home had better pastries with her home cooking. Nonetheless, he thanked Shelby for the cupcake and ate it whole.

Albert meanwhile politely refused, upon seeing some of the reactions in the room, specifically Aesha's. "My home doctor did tell me to watch my blood sugar." he said with a chuckle. He gave a wave back to Jericho as well before finishing his drink and walking over to the bar to find another whisky bottle.

 

[Frankafurter]

Yolandi is about halfway through the bottle she took and looks suitably intoxicated. She pulls a napkin out of the holder and pulls a pen out of her pilot suit's pocket. She uncaps it and begins writing things and drawing small shapes on the napkin as she begins the process of planning out her refit and overhaul of Zou once they're safely back on Sielia. Hopefully the Guillotine's restoration crew will let her skim some extra materials off of them for this one. She makes a note that she needs to talk to Drav about an idea she has, then makes a note that she needs to find someone who can do electronics fabrication and programming. She idly doodles some vague shapes that look like a humanoid figure and jots down some to-dos on the dwindling napkin space. Once she's filled both sides of the napkin with notes, diagrams, and chores, she folds it up and tucks it into her suit's pocket with the pen after capping it again. She sits back in the seat and takes another swig of her whiskey before getting up and walking over to the counter where everyone is gabbing about cupcakes. She looks at the tray and grabs a cupcake, eyeing it suspiciously as she doubts the ingredients used in it are anywhere near fresh given that this is a pirate ship and not a cruise ship. She pulls the little paper cup wrapper away from the edges of the cupcake and takes a bite of it, chewing and then shrugging before finishing it off and heading around into the kitchenette to scrounge up something a little more substantial like a sandwich.

 

[ANIMAL MOTHER]

The preparations were already made. Typhon replaced his gloves and had lain his tools out. Daniel washed his hands and had also doffed some protective clothing. Petar had his shirt off and his chest swabbed and rubbed to prevent infection. He'd also been put under a gas anesthetic, putting him in a deep sleep. Though one last thing has to be done before Typhon can start operating. He gently turns the knob on the radio, making the music play a little louder so the others in the room can't hear the sounds of someone's body being cut open. Shuren turns away as he sees Typhon's scalpel make the first cut. Time passes as the procedure goes on, feeling probably like an eternity for Petar. Each fractured rib has been wrapped and reinforced with a metallic splint not only to hold it together so it may heal properly, but for increased protection as well. Once the last splint is placed, he begins closing back up every incision he's made. Some more disinfectant is swabbed, and done. He has Daniel put on gauze and bandages after.

All that's left is to wait for Petar to wake up so Typhon can give him some post-operative instructions.

 

[Breadman]

"Don't get too comfortable while going through there, ok?" Petar responded to Typhon and could only observe as the doctor took out the instruments. Soon enough he was put under and fell into a deep sleep, leaving the professional to operate at his leisure.

It took some time post surgery for him to wake up, but eventually he slowly opened his eyes. The light hurting his eyes as he slowly regained consciousness. There was a mild discomfort in his chest, but that was about as bad as it got. Typhon was a good doctor. Wounds were bandaged and probably would heal right. He hoped so at least.

Petar slowly tried to stand up in his bed, grunting slightly as he did. "How long was I out?"
--
Meanwhile, Vincent had stepped out to the break room for a smoke break. Looks like people were in high spirits considering the beating a lot of them took. Who could blame them. They were alive, the others weren't. And they would be getting a fat paycheck for a job well done later.

 

[ANIMAL MOTHER]

Typhon looks up from operating in Shuren, who looks utterly terrified.

“Easy now, Petar! Don’t move around too fast or else you’ll undo the work I just did. Relax, and take it slow.”

Turning to Daniel, he signals at him to help him up and out of the bed.

“The procedure itself went by quicker than I thought, and smoother too.” he says, nodding at Daniel. “Took about half an hour, maybe a bit more. But for now, I got special instructions for you. First of all, don’t move around too much, and don’t put pressure on your chest. Secondly, you will feel some discomfort once the anesthetic wears off. If it’s too much for you, come back here and I’ll give you some painkillers for it.”

 

[Breadman]

Petar slowed his movement almost to a crawl as per instructions. He got back on his feet with a little help from Daniel and listened to what Typhon had to say for him.

"I like booze too much, so that might not be a problem." He wasn't sure if he was serious or not himself. "How long do I have to be extra careful anyway? I'm not exactly the guy send out to be a bench warmer."

 

[ANIMAL MOTHER]

"A week, perhaps. Maybe less, depending on how fast your body heals."

 

[Breadman]

"Lets hope the boss takes it easy for now then." Gently and steady he got up from the bed and started walking out of the medbay and straight towards his room. He needed to change his clothes and something to refresh himself with.

 

[ANIMAL MOTHER]

Shuren had his musty, raggedy coat off, and the back of his faded shirt rolled up with a surgical drape over his burnt wound. The damage done to Shuren's back appears to be quite severe, and Daniel's nanites marginally helped things. Whether it was due to the nanites working on a physiology that's completely (and literally) alien to them, or his spine was just that badly wounded, it means more drastic measures need to be made. Mumbling to himself, Typhon disappears briefly into the cold storage room before coming out carrying thin organic looking cords of something in his gloved hands. Long, slimy, and colored in red, blue, and yellow, he cuts off a few into nearly microscopic strips and starts performing a neurorrhaphy. Burnt tissue and nerves are also removed and discarded to allow regeneration of new healthy tissue. But as he operates however, he can't help but notice there were some rough patches of skin on Shuren's back. Out of curiosity, he rolls his shirt up more to get a better look. Typhon almost can't believe what he begins to see. He didn't think much of Shuren, nor did he pay much attention to him, but the sight of his back made him extremely intrigued as to what in the world just happened to him. Web-like scars, spreading around the entire area like a greedy plant's roots, enveloped most of his back with patches of dried, scabby skin layered on top of them. Old burn marks blemished large parts of his tanned skin into a dark brown with cracks from where it moved. Perhaps the worst of it was the utterly painful looking brand mark beneath his neck. It doesn't resemble any sort of slave brand Typhon is familiar with, but whatever it is, it wasn't applied so easily. Quickly fetching some burn ointment, he makes his diagnosis: someone had beaten this man to hell.

By the time he's finished, Shuren's back is a lot cleaner than it was previously, and is now wrapped in several layers of bandages and treatments to deal with the scars and marks.

 

[Infab]

Its wouldn't be long before the Mordred arrived back on Sielia's surface, landing in its usual landing zone. The crew emerged from the ship, beaten and bruised but alive. And soon enough, they would get paid. The money came into Lauren's account as soon as she stepped off the ship, and she quickly sent the cash out to the rest of the crew. Even distributions, of course. A few thousand credits each. Nobody was getting more than what they earned, and all earned a share for their work in the op. Most of her own share, however, would be spent on the Mordred. It needed repairs, and the Ironbloods already had their hands full with the Guillotine. A little money slid their way would convince them to help Zadra and Pearl with the Mordred's repairs.

She stood on the concrete, watching as the crew moved off the ship to stretch their legs and enjoy the tropical world. Soon, however, she would recuse herself. Slipping away and heading to where she usually went to be alone. The rocks at the end of the beach. Zadra watched as Lauren left them, limping away. Daniel managed to treat her leg before they landed, as she didn't want to bother Typhon with such a simple injury.

Over the next few days, the Mordred would be continuously worked on by members of the Ironbloods as well as Zadra and Pearl. Some of the crew would get much needed rest, while others like Karina and Yolandi would work to repair and refit Zou with replacement parts and upgrades. Karina's own battlesuit would be finished as well, along with the light mech for Vixaya. The Ironbloods allowed the suits to be tested on one of the other empty ship platforms on the dock, setting up targets and obstacles for the two to test the mech and battlesuit systems on. With minor tweaks here and there, they would soon be ready to see proper action.

 

[KRIY]

Dwrrick rest against a crate and breathes in the fresh air all around him, "Ahh.. feels nice to not get shot at with Bullets and Plasma for once.." Derrick opens the can of soda and drinks a bit from it. he looked over to the docks and see the mech targets being set up, "And a weapons display too? This day keeps getting better and better."

 

[Doomevil]

A few days passed and so far nothing special happened. They entertained themselves playing with Ceane until more responsibilities came up. As soon as they were paid Grommy and Nara placed 40% of their credits towards savings. Nara invested a small part of her credits towards refurbishing some of the Mordred's furniture and food supply like vending machines and a new toaster. She noticed several items were being stolen from the Engineering area during an inventory check so she made sure to install a locker room for Engineers only. Meanwhile Grommy did something similar, investing a chunk towards the Mordred repairs and a large amount of fuel for upcoming missions. They found themselves motivated to do well in the future as they witnessed from the mission success.

Nara wore a welding mask and an engineering outfit, a toolbelt situated around her waist while she attempted to patch up the hull exterior. Grommy hauled construction material to the Ironbloods, Zadra and Pearl.

 

[ANIMAL MOTHER]

The Ironbloods fixing the Mordred often needed Shuren's help for some of the smaller tasks, such as repairing circuitry around the ship since that's one of his specialties. For now though, they didn't need him and had it under control. In the meantime he's playing a game of stickball with Typhon on the beach. Together they improvised some sort of volley net using fishing nets and rusty pipes. He found a basketball in one of the storage compartments nearby while Typhon found a pair of baseball bats. He felt great in spite of that nasty injury he had received. Typhon's surgery worked wonders for him; he didn't feel any pain in his back anymore and his legs were OK, and playing this bizarro hybrid of tennis and baseball was good therapy for them.

 

[Emperor Sagan]

Shelby stared at the amount of credits she had earned on her datapad with a little pout, wondering if that was all they were getting. While it was true she didn't do any fighting or... really anything at all except help with damage control, she could go through thousands of credits in a few hours and rack up a dozen in a day back home. And go on like that indefinitely. All that excitement and risk for a little pocket change. Why anyone would want to be a pirate for that kind of money was beyond her. In fact, she personally made more money on net and holostreams from the comfort of her own studio. Those weren't as fun as real concerts since she was just dancing and singing in a room, but people still poured in a lot of money for that. Plus she could earn credits just by saying 'hi' to people or their pets and stuff.

Perhaps she could still do that. She looked around at her cleaned up but small ship cabin and wondered if she could earn money with the concert streams again. She'd have to put up a screen or something for an exciting background, and connect her camera to her datapad. The quality wouldn't be as good as on the professional equipment she was used to unfortunately. And of the course the biggest problem was masking the origin of the broadcast. She knew her way around the tech well enough, but she'd have to ask for help on stuff like that. Last thing she needed to do was send a signal to all the bad people out there as to where she was. That would be yucky.

And all her fans would be so excited that she wasn't dead! Technically still missing... but it would make for great promotional material. Starpop dancer returns, safe and unharmed, from an undisclosed location to bring the joy of music back to all her adoring followers. The thought made her smile, and she hurried off the ship to find Captain Lauren to tell her all about it if she could find her.

---

Meanwhile, Lucy exited the ship and headed to the beach with her two mechanical minions, Adam and Eve. Adam crawled across the sand slowly beside her, and the severed hand she had used to heal herself earlier was now lovingly stuffed into one of the toaster slots. It was upsetting Adam couldn't consume it properly, but perhaps some left over blood would enrich the bot. Perhaps she could look into creating teeth and a working jaw for the robot.

 

[joshuadim]

Vance came up out of the water and walked back to land carrying a large net filled with various seafoods to be used for cooking later. The wildlife was strange, but most of them seemed to be somewhat similar to seafood back home, so he took the ones that most resembled the sea life back home into the net. As he walked from on the sand, he called out to the people enjoying the sun nearby. "Need some help sortin' this here seafood! Need to know what we can eat for dinner later!" he yelled out with a grin on his face.

---

Albert took a few shots at the firing range with a pistol before bringing the target paper closer to inspect. He was certainly improving over the last time he was here, but he still had quite a ways to go. He was no fighter, barely held a gun before all this, but he knew that there would be an eventuality where he would need to either defend himself or to step up and help someone in a bad situation. He set the pistol down for now as he walked out into the sunlight and observed his surroundings. People were going about doing their things, the ship was being repaired, and some mechs were being prepped for potential combat.

He took a seat on a small crate outside the gun range to relax and didn't say a word.