Futuristic Starpath: Burning Sails [IC] [CLOSED]

[Frankafurter]

Zou trails after the fish buckets and follows them into the cantina, he's curious and with his slimmed down size he can fit where he wouldn't be able to reach normally. He hunkers down and stares at the counter, the buckets, and the knives, watching Drav and Vance get ready. He's seen people eating plenty of times but he's never really seen the preparation and cooking that goes into it since he doesn't exactly fit inside restaurants or food stalls, plus Yolandi usually has him park nearby rather than walk into the markets directly. He tilts his head as he watches, clearly intent on studying the whole process.

 

[Dmaster]

"Be sure to page me whenever you wish for me to get your countermeasures set up, little one." Shun states to Shelby, giving a polite bow before turning and exiting the gathering. It had been several days since their mission, and they should be getting to more work soon. For that reason he made his way to the Mordred to get to the bridge, feeling the need to prepare.

Once on the bridge he was silent, saying nothing to Nathalie as he did not notice her as he was going through the motions. From his suit he slotted in his nav chart, the interface of his station coming to life as he perused it with interest.

 

[Emperor Sagan]

"N-not you," Shelby said to Jericho. "I... forgot you weren't, you know... I mean that scary robot lady. With the knife hands. You know who I mean."

When Drav and Vance stopped by, Shelby followed along with them to the kitchen. "Hey! I definitely know how to cook... fish!"

---

Lucy had returned to her room in the Mordred. The lights were off as always, as she found the illumination to be too foreign for her personal abode. There were no lights in her home, except for the times maintenance teams had opened up the containment plates and shown flashlights in. Sometimes there would be a blinking red or yellow light, which she sometimes played with because they were curious and infrequent visitors in depth of her machinery. It was entertaining when the lights became rainbows, like before the incident.

Today's exploits had been as fun as they usually were. The crew appeared healthy and prepared for more team-building exercises. She had considered visiting the medical station for some shopping, but the doctor seemed occupied with the executive administrator and it would have been inappropriate to interfere in that kind of business. Instead, she turned her attention to the gaping wall panel in her cabin which she had been exploring. The screws came out easily enough and yielded delightful access to a large array of cables that passed through the walls of the residential level. The fiber optic wires within her fingers caressed the cords and infiltrated the rubber housing, or whatever else kept the wires protected. There was no internal administrators or watchdogs to arrest her entry, something which she felt was severely lacking. Still, it allowed for significant room to explore. The internal communications system was particularly easy to gain access too, and she remained connected to it for some time, enjoying the thrill of the electricity and data passing through her capacitors. It seemed selfish to keep this all to herself, so she decided to extend a greetings to the terminals around the ship while also providing some advice.

---
VISUAL-TEXT INTERCOMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM LINE 001

SENDER: administrator lucy
LOCALE: errorX0097
SUBJECT: he//o
BODY: yes please. hello. this is lucy. internal systems are very. warm. suggestion: decrease sublevel line power from formats 002-082 for optimal data transfer through bottlenecks in capacity center blocks A7 - B2 - F41. Deconn control in housing xxabfc300910 is performing at suboptimal levels due to temperature deficit. please please please please utilize three to six gallons of arterial plasma [freshh] to rectify temperature deficit. thank you.

engineering light-tube housing three, nineteen, twenty-four are out of service. janitorial closet light-tube housing fifty-two and twenty are out of service. require manual replacement. please follow all safe glass handling guidelines and report workplace safety violations to the relevant foreman in charge or your department superior.

goodbye.
---

The message would appear on all relevant ship terminals that had access to text commands and messages.

 

[KRIY]

Derrick was finishing up the rest of his soda while looking over his PDA for the current news after the mech tests finally concluded, There were some general articles about the stock exchange, politics and the such, however the one that peaked him was the sudden increase of Atlas Initiative's activities around the Renegade Quadrant, "Shit. Thats not good news at all."

"...So what are you still doin' here? Show's over, man."

He then noticed Aesha calling from beside him, "Oh hey, Didn't even notice you walk up." Derrick leaned his back with his hands propping himself up, "Nothing much I guess, decided to just read some news after the tests ended... Uhh.. you wouldn't mind if I ask you a question. right?"

 

[Dmaster]

The cyborg noted that there was an active message on the ship's network, which struck him as unusual considering the captain was not the type to deliver such things. All announcements had been done in public, so there was no reason this sort of communication is necessary. Reading the sender told Shun most everything he needed to know. Lucy. He only vaguely remembered the automaton mentioning that as its designation, but the unit was clearly corrupt and now inside the Mordred's systems.

Quickly he thumbed and tapped his way through the various windows before him, setting to work. The message was sent from its room, naturally but in terms of whether or not he should block off Lucy's connection was not something he exactly had the clearance and authority to do. However he could begin hacking his way in as well, which he passively started to do just as a precautionary measure. All that was left was to be cleared to go through with the blacklist.

Hitting a button on his holographic panel, he hailed Lauren directly. "Captain. The corrupt unit has gained access to the Mordred's systems. Should I isolate and blacklist its connection to prevent any damages?"

 

[EdwardDewey98]

Jericho nodded as Shelby talked about Lucy. He was worried about that godhood bullshit she believed so much. Suddenly Shun left, and soon after Drav and Vance appeared. With Drav asking Shelby to follow her. With nothing better to do, Jericho sighed and followed after them. He sure as hell wouldn't miss this.

 

[Infab]

"Nothing much I guess, decided to just read some news after the tests ended... Uhh.. you wouldn't mind if I ask you a question. right?"

Aesha lifted her shades up, and folded her arms. "Shoot. I'm open for whatever." she replied, eyeing him.

---
​

Roku looked over from his station, nodding back to Nathalie as she entered and moved to hers, before glaring at Shun for a moment as he also entered behind her. Then, he noticed that almost everyone got a message on their station's screen. From Lucy of all people. Fuck, she got into the systems. Roku shook his head, before glancing over and hearing Shun actually hail Lauren. Roku spoke up almost immediately after Shun did so. "...You shouldn't have done that." he said simply, shaking his head and preparing for what was likely coming.

A few moments passed, and soon enough there was a reply. In the form of Lauren's voice through Shun's terminal. "DON'T FUCKING HAIL ME IN MY OWN FUCKING CABIN." she shouted, quite loudly. And then calmly afterwards replied to Shun's question. "Just find her and tell her to fucking stop."

 

[Dmaster]

He just met Roku's judgmental stare, remaining rigid as Lauren shouted at the top of her lungs. "Certainly." was all he said before closing the connection. "I do not see you proposing any solutions." Shun replies to the pilot. "The situation could be drastic and there is no hierarchy for scenarios such as this. As much as I believe you would prefer the ship to be stranded, it is a risk I am not willing to take." the cyborg Ayr says before he disconnects his nav module and slots it back on his person.

Without another word Shun left the bridge, moving down the halls to locate Lucy's room. Once there he extended his hand and firmly knocked on the door with his metallic knuckles.

 

[Infab]

Roku listened to Shun, before watching him depart the bridge. Then, he looked to Nathalie. "...All I told the dumb motherfucker was that he shouldn't have hailed the captain." The intercom in Lauren's room was strange in that it played audio far louder than the rest of the ship. Probably some weird setup from the previous owners. It was better to go knock on her door instead of speaking through the intercom.

 

[Emperor Sagan]

Lucy opened the automatic electric lock on the door from where she was hooked into the wall, allowing the door to open. Once it did, she activated the lights from the same system and then disconnected, removing her arm from the hole in the ship wall where the panel lay beside her.

The room was... unorthodox in decoration. On the small desk by the bed was a neat row of eating utensils, metal ones flanking a plastic spoon, with plastic utensils on the left beside a spork. All lined up perfectly. On the floor there was an assortment of empty liquor bottles evidently taken from the garbage and cleaned. They were arranged in a semi-circle around a soda can. The bed was transformed into a workstation where all manner of tools and electrical and mechanical junk was dumped. Adam and Eve had returned and were sitting, offline, on pillows on the bed. Both had torn shards of the blanket over them. Various containers were assembled in size from smallest to largest on the other side of the room, each containing the same amount of dark red aged blood as if it was some kind of art display. One container was clear and indicated that all the liquids were perhaps not blood, but various oils and lubricants. The largest container was a small square tub with electrical kitchen utensils soaking in it - a large can opener, a mixer, and the base to a blender with the blades curiously missing.

Then there was Lucy, sitting in the other corner of the room with a blanket swaddled around her. The severed hand from earlier was resting on top of her head like a hat, the fingers locked in rigor mortis so that it wound't slide off the top of her skull. Around her, pointing at her, was a small array of colored pencils. Some had been used to draw colored dots on the wall beside her.

"H-h-hello, administrator. How may I a-a-assist you? Please help yourself to nourishment." She indicated the containers full of... liquids.

 

[Dmaster]

Shun was actually surprised to see that the room was quite orderly, not covered in blood or misplaced organs haphazardly as he might have expected. Still that did not exactly excuse what exactly Lucy had been doing, or the fact that what she chose to decorate her quarters with was completely unorthodox. One problem at a time he thought, slowly looking across the room before locking in on the robot under the blanket.

Internally he sighed, but he chose not to vocalize his exasperation to appear understanding and patient. "Greetings. I have no need to partake in such a... bounty, thank you." he starts, moving his hands to his back. "This is in regards to the message you sent earlier. The captain requests that you cease interfacing with the ship without discussing express permissions and protocols. If you find this acceptable, do arrange a meeting with her over this incident at your earliest convenience." the cyborg says, trying to appear amicable.

"If she asks who proposed this compromise or who sent you - inform her that this was administrator Roku's idea."

 

[Emperor Sagan]

"Express permissions and protocols?" She echoed. "Are p-p-parameters not established for the service of interfacing intelligences? This is most," her voice corrupted particularly bad, "a b n o r m a l."

She fell silent for a few seconds as she considered the state of the certifications for the ship and crew. If they weren't properly functioning to allow an administrator such as herself operate, then there was some serious neglect. Fortunately, this was not a laboratory or she would have to issue an electronic inquiry and contact the security team.

"I will c-c-consult with executive administrator Lauren. I-I-Is she available for immediate consultation?"

 

[joshuadim]

"Well, cleaning is certainly different than cooking if I say so myself!" Vance replied with a grin. He took a fish from his bucket and laid it out onto the countertop. "Alright, class is in session. Now, pay close attention. When we first have a fish, what would you do first with it?" he asked Shelby.

 

[Dmaster]

The corruption in her voice got him to tighten the grip of his crossed hands slightly, his ideal would have been never allowing such a corrupted intelligence anywhere near the ship's systems. The nature of her malfunctions were still unclear, and there was no telling if it was a virus or not.

"Abnormal perhaps. Yet you must understand that the organization of personnel is still in flux. Much of the hierarchy and permissions need to be worked out." Shun explained. "Unfortunately Lauren is indisposed at this time. I would advise against disturbing her. Even if Roku would prefer you discuss this matter presently... The choice is up to you. I myself have more business to conduct on the bridge. Be seeing you, hope the situation is resolved promptly." The cyborg gave a nod before leaving Lucy's presence, making his way back to the bridge as he stated.

Shun arrived shortly after and set up at his station again, looking through his maps silently.

 

[Emperor Sagan]

"U-u-understood," Lucy said simply. Not long after he left her room, Lucy removed her blanket and severed hand cap and left them aside. Lauren might have been indisposed, but this was an important manner. She would await her immediate return. The layout of the ship was already well known to her, and she stopped outside Lauren's cabin, sitting down on the opposite wall and staring at her door. Waiting for her to leave when she was no longer indisposed.

---

Shelby stared at the fish and scratched her head. She really didn't know anything about cooking. Why should she? Everyone always cooked for her. There was no point in learning.

"The first thing? Um... well...." She considered it for a moment. "You dry the fish!"

 

[joshuadim]

"Well, technically true. But you also gotta make sure that it's dead." Vance chuckled as he rinsed the fish and patted it dry with a nearby towel. "In this case, this feller is already gone so there's no need to put him out of his misery. Next, you gotta the fins like so." he continued as he took a knife and began slicing away at the fins, taking them off one by one. This species in particular had quite a few but it didn't take long to get them off.

"Alright, now that that's done. The scales are important, so you need to use the knife to scrape them off."

He set the knife down and motioned for Shelby to try.

 

[Viper Actual]

Nathalie chuckled and shook her head as the events on the bridge played out. When Shun returned she greeted him with a nod. "How did she take it?"

 

[Dmaster]

Shun kept tapping away at his various screens, just to turn his head to address Nathalie. "It is quite difficult to say. The automaton is a hard read, truly. Yet for the moment it has stopped, so I consider that a success even if it turns out to be temporary." he stated.

 

[Viper Actual]

Nathalie grunted and closed down the text-message window. "I reckon she'll find something else to hack into." She nodded towards Shun's terminal. "You wouldn't mind running a couple of simulations with me? I had some scenarios in mind inspired by our last fight. Roku, you're welcome to join as well."

 

[Dmaster]

His typing slowed as she inquired about simulation training, his finger hanging in place as he turned his head to Nathalie. As she invited Roku his suspended hand balled into a tight fist, which he slowly lowered to his side. "Simulations you say? Of what sort? Given that we have an abundace of time before we begin our next mission I do not see the harm." Shun replies.

 

[Infab]

Roku glanced over, as Nathalie invited him to join in on the simulations she had in mind. As he did, took note of Shun's reaction. If he had a mouth, it would have formed a wide grin, but pleased eyebrows would have to do. Anything to piss Shun off. "Sure. Just let me finish running these diagnostics on the controls here." he said, giving her a light nod before turning his attention back to the pilot's display before him.

 

[Viper Actual]

"I figured we could run a couple of underdog-style combat scenarios. Test short-range navigation, automated weapon protocols and maybe even throw in some simulated fighters to represent Aesha and Kovak," said Nathalie. When Roku spoke up she nodded. "Great, that way we can test both navs and piloting."

 

[SniperComZero]

Olivia breathed out when Petar didn't just not kick the crap of her, but even had some sort of praise. It was in relief-- and he'd probably still pick it up, but she tried to play it down. "...Heh. Yeah, anyway, that's the biggie. Sol's not a fan. Can't really think of anyone else, come to think of it." She scratched her head, trying to list off anyone she could think of. "I'm sure I probably pissed off a couple pirate gangs and privateers with the odd jobs I took on. The Mi-litia...? Nah, that was just the one minor little run-in. Before now, anyway." Olivia just simply shrugged.

...She never did find out what happened to her squadron, though.

 

[Dmaster]

"... Sounds reasonable. Given you run tactical I suppose you shall construct the scenario. From there I will follow your lead." he replies, not so much as glaring to Roku. If he had any intentions of being a nuisance during this venture, Shun would see to it that they would get even once again. If the captain forbid proper disciplinary measures, he would simply have to resort to other means of torture for Roku's transgressions.

 

[The_Rifleman]

Jackson woke up in the ship's kitchen to the sound of alarms, and his fellow teammates running by. What the fuck... he quickly got up, throwing down the long dead cig from his mouth, and sprinted after the others. "What's going on!?" One of the looked back, and replied that Scalpel team was in trouble and they were the rescuing party. Heh, knew they'd need us. He kept that comment to himself, as they continued through the ship and finally made it to the dropoff airlock. He could see through the large windows now that they were engaging another vessel, a rather large one. Corvette size. "More targets, more killcount," he said outloud to nobody in particular as he stroked his grenade launcher.

Soon enough, the green light was given and they jumped onboard, blasting their way through anything that stood in their way. It didn't take long for them to meet up with Scalpel team, who were having their own fun gunning down any opposition. That quickly change, as a mysterious figure who called himself Atlas appeared. Jackson wasn't impressed, and the group quickly engaged him and his drones. Those who engaged him head-on learned very quickly Atlas wasn't an ordinary opponent. This was going to be tough if they were going to make it out alive. Jackson still wasn't impressed, regardless of how tough you are, you'd have some pretty strong skin to resist the shock and heat of an explosion. Unfortunately for Jackson, while he was pondering a way to attack, Atlas had his mark set on him, and they were quickly struggling with Jackson dropping his weapon in the process, before managing to get a couple hammer blows into Atlas. It didn't faze him, it only frenzied him.

CRUUACNCH.

Jackson yelped at the sound and pain of his own leg getting snapped liked a twig by Atlas. "This isn't going as planned!" Jackson yelled through teary eyes. When you're cornered... He pulled out the last pack of explosive he had on him, and lit it. "EAT MY SHIT!" From there, Jackson blacked out, only to come back to consciousness on the Modred, in the medbay. Looking around, everyone was severely injured. He tried to stand forgetting his leg and almost falling flat on his face. "At least it isn't the alcohol this time..." He said with a chuckle towards the doctor, who helped him down and then began patching his leg up, splint and all. Surgery can wait till later.

He spent the next couple hours learning what happened back on the ship against Atlas, how the explosion sucked the man out, and helped them escape. Gave Jackson all the reason to be proud of himself, but the end of the mission meant payday, and a payday meant it was finally ok for him to rest. He hobbled off to his quarters, and promptly slept for the next couple days, regaining strength, braincells, and letting the alcohol withdrawal do it's thing. He woke up to sweats, and stomach cramps that a quickly lit cig and a full beer helped make go away. Filling his room with smoke, he got up from his bunk and moved over to the table, grabbing his pack with him. From inside, he pulled out a small toolkit, some spare electronics, and a large cut of plastic explosive. "Ah...there's no hobby in the world like making explosives." He then proceeded to carefully cut slices out of the explosive brick, and connecting each one to a central controller. He tested the voltage on them, and then was satisfied with himself, explosives replenished and all. Now where's my gun.... "Fuck!" He remembered he dropped it during the fight with Atlas. He felt his other thigh and his hand graced cold steel. His kinetic pistol was still there. Pulling it out, he checked it had ammunition, his own special blend: Explosive tips. "It's just you and me for now buddy," he spoke to the pistol, giving the chamber a quick, jokeful kiss.

Holstering his pistol, he moved back to the bed, laying down and lighting up another cig before pulling out his communicator. Pressing a couple buttons, and entering a few passwords opened up a direct chat to a close pal of his: Sullivan. "Sully! It's your favorite customer, how you doin'?" On the screen a stout, moustached man squinted through thick-rimmed glasses before his face broke into a smile.

"Jacky! Where the fuck have you been? Last I heard you died in an ambush by your own crew," Sullivan replied, happy to see Jackson. He was a paying customer afterall.

Jackson laughed in response, "They sure as hell tried, but I'm as tough as your inventory is large my friend. Speaking of inventory, I need to place some orders," Jackson replied. Sullivan's smile got even wider at the mention of payment.

"What do you need? Ammunition? Explosives? People?" Jackson shook his head,

"No. I need a small, preferably deserted and unknown safe house," Jackson said. "I need to start storing a few things away..." Sullivan thought for a moment before transmitting details to Jackson's screen that looked like a picturesque scene of a desert. "This is Teresinha III. Desert-like world, but breathable atmosphere for humans at least. Was terraformed long ago, and used as an outpost but I forgot by who. Either way, there's an underground base here," Sullivan said as a red outline of an underground bunker became visible on the screen. It was two stories deep, the top hosting living facilities, and the bottom a storage and deployment area. "Can house up to around 30 crew, and the bottom can hold mechs, vehicles, even small fighters," Sullivan continued.

"How many creds?" Jackson interrupted him. "For you, since you've been such a loyal customer...how about 1,000,000 creds up front?" Jackson couldn't help but laugh.

"Loyal customer, go fuck yourself Sully! How about this. 250,000 to start and 5,000 every week. Spend it all on getting the base supplied, outfitted, and crewed. I want a couple fighters in there too. Nothing too fancy, nor traceable," Jackson offered. That alone is gonna put a dent in my account. Sully thought it over, before sighing and agreeing.

"250, and 5 per week. I got you marked down. Any specifics on the kind of crew you want?"

"No pussies," Jackson replied, and then signed off his communicator. "It's all coming together. Gonna be back in action before I know it..." he whispered to himself as he took a long drag. Not wanting to stay in his room, and let his thoughts wonder, Jackson went out to the explore, finding some people in the kitchen preparing a meal. He saw Vance teaching Shelby how to skin a fish, probably one they got earlier from the water. It was at that point he realized his was starving.

"I'll pay ya to skin it faster, I'm fuckin' starvin'" He said, as he hobbled over to a booth and sat down. "We havin' another team feast? I'll make my world famous burgers," he added with a smirk.