The Furry Forums
Creative Arts and Media => Roleplay => Serious RP => Topic started by: Oedipus Rex on November 05, 2016, 03:53:04 PM
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(Attention, all recruits must fill out their recruitment sheet before being allowed aboard: https://www.thefurryforum.com/forums/index.php?topic=34774.0 (https://www.thefurryforum.com/forums/index.php?topic=34774.0))
Xyla wakes up to the blaring of the alarm clock on the table next to her. She slowly opens her eyes and gazes at the clock. It is currently 4:30, galactic standard time. She reaches over and turns off the alarm with practiced ease, before standing up and stretching with a groan. The beds aboard Federation space stations always left her feeling stiff. It probably had something to do with the Humans who make up the majority population not quite knowing how to make aliens like herself feel comfortable.
The mantis cleans herself and has a quick meal before dressing in her uniform, which consists of mostly segmented pieces of white and orange armor that protect the squishier parts of her body from damage. Once she is satisfied with her general apearance she exits her dormitory and makes her way down the winding halls of the space station to the ship hangars.
As she enters the hangars she spots her ship; the FNS Thunderchild. The ship is a large Mantis battle cruiser featuring the menacing jagged hull design that the Mantis are famous for. Several Human passerby's shudder as they look at the ship. Even decades after the Mantis' failed invasion of Earth, the two races still harbor a grudge against one another. The ship is painted a clean menacing Mantis red with purple stripes running along the ship. A menacing pirate logo, featuring a tentacled figure with cross bones behind it, was painted on each engine. It wasn't too long ago when Federation officials would have had Xyla executed for piracy, but with the current state of the galaxy they would be hard pressed to have turned her down when she offered her services to the Federation. Because even though they don't like to admit it, the Feds are losing the war, and they'll take any help they can get.
Xyla approached the ship and looked over it's new paint job, unsure whether she liked it or not yet, before turning around and waiting for her new crew to arrive.
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Nobody out there wanted a slug-medic, not even other slugs. Despite knowing this, it was disappointing to Grunan nobody even considered the advantages. A medic who could see when someone was hiding symptoms, who could sense mental disturbance before it could become a threat, she actually had to spell it out on her recruitment forms to even get a job here.
Of course by "Job" what they really meant was that she was getting pushed onto a captain they had begrudgingly accepted in, to do a job they needed done because no-one else was available. Not that Grunan was too bothered. Just being out in space was enough. The mental noise down here was infuriating. For a human, it would be like having 40 different radio channels playing through the same speakers.
As Grunan moves out into the hanger, she identifies the correct ship almost immediately. A mantis cruiser, ugly, presumably that mantis in front is Xyla. She approaches, trying to identify if any other members of the crew were present. "Captain Xyla? I have been assigned to your ship." Grunan states, gently probing Xyla's mind; She was feeling, as well as hearing, her new captains response.
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Nothing had changed from the day before. The bed was still... Unsuited. The walls, sanitary and bare. The screen of the nearby computer terminal glowing blue incessantly. Enjuta had briefly attempted to use it the day beforehand- it was safe to say that he wouldn't be doing that again. He had never really been all to fond of computers, technology, any of it really.
No, none of that scientific stuff appealed to him. And it didn't matter to him either- he knew his true calling. Violence. And boy, was he good at it. No need for any damage by proxy, like guns or whatever people used. All you needed was a good claw and a sharp wit. It had made him who he was- and out of the prying eyes of anyone else. Now, though, that last bit had changed. As he haphazardly dressed himself, repeatedly hitting random objects in the room in his struggle to get dressed, thoughts of what had been before this re-emerged.
Lone star, long voyager. Big game, infamous name.
None of that had ever come to fruition, of course. If it had, he wouldn't been in this cell of a dorm at the moment. But no matter, he thought. Hopefully this new voyage would be more... Exciting.
Heading down into the hanger, he glanced around at the many ships of varying design. Not that he understood what did what and who made what, but it seemed interesting. Continuing on, he eventually reached the ship he had been "assigned" to. If it were his choice, he would've chosen to be with a full-mantis crew, but of course that was never going to happen. That would end up in a bad situation for everyone. He approached, stopping slightly behind the... slimy... slug... thing... Eww. Briefly looking over it (he couldn't tell if it was a he... she.. it... or if it even had a gender), he noticed who he presumed to be the captain. Another mantis. Good.
He stayed silent, instead listening in on the conversation just ahead.
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No one expects a crystal recruit in the Federation. They're rare as slug's nails to begin with; a weakened empire couldn't broadcast enough to attract them into the ranks. By some crazy chance, however, they caught one's glittering eye.
Jevi was a content traveler with a knack for tinkering. He may not be a professional, but he learned enough in his spare time back home and abroad to be of use. Or maybe the Feds were hurting bad enough to let a vagrant in. They'll get a bonus point for racial diversity at the very least.
No matter the reason for Jevi's recruitment, it was something productive and helpful to spend his time and skills on... and he wanted his hands on all that fascinating Federation tech. It was begging to be tinkered with.
Things will get even more interesting now that he's getting a crew. He was up just before the alarm but lingering tiredness lagged him behind just a tad. That's what he got for spending an extra hour or so on the computer before bed. All he needed was stretching and a little breakfast to wake himself up, and soon enough he was out the door.
Jevi eyed all the ships in the hangar while some of the new recruits eyed him. He was used to people's surprise and intrigue at his presence and paid it no mind -- well, maybe a little mind. Sometimes he wondered if he was doing something wrong to get those stares. He shrugged it off and searched for the ship that slipped his mind. Captain Xyla is a mantis, right?
Then he caught site of the white and orange ship. Didn't matter how bright and innocent the paint job was, that ship was clearly Mantis. Hearing "Xyla" as he approached it proved him right. Two mantises and one slug so far, and now here he was in all his weird crystal splendor. He didn't expect such an odd crew and couldn't help but grin at the thought.
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Insubordinate, unruly, snarky... Asshole. All of these words have been used to describe Wilson. It wasn't that he didn't want to listen to orders, it's just he often had a much better idea of what to do with a ship. He understood them better, in a way a commanding officer just couldn't. He understood their limits and how far you could for them to go past them.
Across from his bed there was a small pile of assorted trash, soup cans, candy wrappers, cheap beer cans, a couple of cigarette cartons. Hell, he didn't even like those last two things, they were gross and unhealthy, but he just didn't know what to do with himself without a ship to fly. It pained him to just be sitting around when it wasn't at the helm of a ship. He was right on the edge of turning to piracy when he received a letter in under his door. A letter! If nothing represented how low he had come. The only way the federation could get to him was through a system that was mostly only ever used for top secret messages meant for specific eyes only. Not that he'd complain though, he needed this bad. It wasn't the prospect of an income, or that he'd get to resume work. It was that he'd finally get to take to the helm again.
A smile spread across his face and for the first time in seven days, he was able to pull himself up out of bed, stride over to his wardrobe, and get dressed, in a clean looking uniform no less, with little to no effort.
Then he realised he was almost late. Within the next five seconds, he was out to door and charging through the station to get to the hangars at full speed.
Making a good first impression is important apparently, Wilson, however, entered the hangar by crashing into an engineer and causing their wrench to loudly clatter to the ground. The pilot quickly picked himself up off of the ground, as well as offering to help up the engineer, who quickly shoved his hand away and got up on his own. Wilson would have been offended if it wasn't for what he saw when he turned around. He couldn't believe his eyes. It was a mantis ship! If he was to guess from the hull, it certainly wasn't new, but had been cleaned rather recently. Sprinting over to ogle and inspect the exterior of the ship, he didn't even register the crew standing next to it.
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Xyla eyes the slug as it approaches. "When they told me I would be getting a slug medic I almost didn't believe them." She looks the creature up and down. This wasn't the first time she had interacted with a Slug, but they are a rare sight within the federation. Hell, they were almost as rare to see as her own species is. "It's a shame that the high command is not often bothered with such humor. Welcome aboard at any rate, and good job being the first person to show up. Punctuality is key on a warship."
"A slug huh," she though to herself "As if our crew could get any more odd." She chuckled slightly to herself. At least she did until she saw the Crystal walk through the hangar doors. To say she was shocked would be an understatement. In all her years she had barely even heard of the Crystal, and even then it was just stories that the Rockmen liked to tell one another. She wasn't the only one who had noticed the rare creature either, engineers and workers who stood around the hangar all stopped what they were doing to gawk at the creature. "I spoke too soon." she mumbled to herself as the Crystal approached. "Has anybody ever told you how many credits you're worth in the slave trade?" she light heatedly told the Crystal "Eh, I'm kidding. Welcome aboard." She looked down at the PDA that was strapped to her foreleg. "Here they have you marked down as a Rockman. It seems that the folks down at Registration were just as surprised as I am."
Once she had finished gawking at the Crystal, she turned her attention to the Mantis who had just showed up. It seemed as if the Federation were intent on putting anybody they deemed to be untrustworthy on her ship, and she really couldn't blame them. Although, knowing that she wouldn't be alone surrounded by aliens did comfort her slightly. She spoke to him in their native tongue, which consisted mostly of clicks and snarls. "This one expresses gratitude that you are here, welcomes you aboard my ship. Grateful to not be only Mantis."
Finally the last member of her crew arrived, albeit a few minutes late. That was to be expected though, given the information on his file. Xyla knew that even though he was human Wilson Clay had a record that stretched back almost as far as her own. She watched in amusement as he ran into an engineer. "Welcome, you must be Wilson-" she started, but watched as he walked straight past her to go ogle at her ship. She clicked her lower mandibles, her species equivalent to a shrug.
She rose her voice to speak to the entire crew. "Great, now that you have all arrived, we can get started. As you may know I am Captain Xyla Zhafiik, and this here-" she tapped the side of the ship with her foreleg "Is the Thunderchild" She grinned "You won't find a better ship this side of the Galaxy." She turned to face the crew. "Now, because of the ship and her Captain's past, Federation HQ have put us up for a sort of 'espionage mission', if you will. Recently several large Federation owned mining depots have come under attack from pirate raiding parties. Now this normally wouldn't be of any large concern, except that the Pirates from all raids are flying a unique banner, a large flaming eagle. Normally, HQ would just send several heavily armed warships to hunt down the pirates and destroy them, but being as how the pirates from this particular faction seem to be well organized and heavily armed this isn't exactly an option"
She takes a breath. "Instead, they have decided that a smaller measure is needed. If someone were to destroy the leadership that had managed to bring all those pirates together, they would likely kill each other off in an attempt at power, or weaken themselves enough so that HQ can just wipe them out like all other pirates." She looks at the crew members to make sure they are following. "This is, of course, where we come in. Given my background and how odd our little rag tag group is here we should have no problems fitting in with a bunch of pirates. Once we've gained their trust we hunt for who or what is holding this makeshift alliance together and destroy it. Easy, right?"
After giving her speech, she presses a button on the outside of the ship which lowers an entrance ramp. "Welcome aboard, friends." she looks over at Jevi "Get things fired up and a FTL jump prepped. We are to jump out of here at 8:00 GST" she turns to address the rest of the crew. "HQ managed to set us up with a contact from within the pirates. We are to meet them at 10:00 GST under the cover of wanting to join up with them. Which means everybody needs to be out of their uniforms before we get there. The last thing we want is to get hailed with us sporting federation colors. I expect all of you have some sort of casual clothes." She looks down at the slug "Well, maybe not you..." She looks back up, "If you don't I took the liberty of putting some spares in your lockers."
With one final nod at the crew, she turns and walks aboard the ship.
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Grunan nods back at the captain, and moves into the ship behind Xyla, not saying a word. The slug felt somewhat more relaxed having seen the captain. The other crew she was much less certain about, but the captain should keep them in order. For now, she would do what she always does, observe, and listen.
Once inside the ship, Grunan heads straight for the Medbay, wanting to get a better idea of what facilities were available. If any adjustments needed to be made, doing them now would be easier than after they left the station.
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Enjuta listened intently to the new captain, taking mental notes of important details.
Nah, he didn't do that. Whilst he did listen to what was being said, he was more interested in observing the crew that has assembled. Two manti, a rock, a slug and a fleshbag. How... Peculiar. While he did not know the reasoning for such a varied and distinctive crew, he could tell for sure that these ones were all either rejects or had no other choice. Much like himself, now that he thought about it.
Not paying much attention to the vessel itself (he had seen many mantis ships before; even served upon a few. He thought that this one could not be much different), he boarded shortly after the captain entered the hull. Looking for the weapon systems -just so he could have a look- he wandered around the vessel. He was tempted to clank his appendages against the walling, to produce similar sounds to the old engines from back home. O' so long ago that used to be. Drifting among derelict wrecks, searching through nebula (or whatever those things are called), violently ripping through anything that stood between himself and a hefty paycheck. It had upset him to have to leave such a wild and fantastic lifestyle to instead work as a security guard at some random, unimportant station.
But, now, this was more like it.
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Wilson was just about able to tear his gaze away from the odd, jagged beauty of the mantis ship long enough to listen to the captain as she -Wait was it a she?- gave her speech and laid down the details of what this rag tag crew were actually meant to do. To say he had questions would be an understatement,but he was more than content to hold his tongue for now. With a casual "Aye, aye" to Xyla the human made his way onto the ship and went to find the helm.
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Jevi glanced down at the PDA and grinned wider.
"Huh! So they still didn't believe me." he chuckled. "Kch, oh well. Not the first time."
Come to think of it, maybe it's a good thing people thought of him as an unusual Rockman than a basic Crystal. He could handle that.
Jevi gave a quick "Aye" and salute as he hopped onto the ship and got straight to work. About time he got to play with one of these babies again. It reminded him of his poor old ship, his modest home for years before the accident took her away. Thankfully it was on-planet, but the damage was too great to fix and he sold her scraps and surviving tech. He hoped to work odd jobs to afford another used ship, but now he had this giant beast to take care of.
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initiating startup sequence....
verifying systems integrity...
67423 systems fully functional..
*CRITICAL ERROR* internal chronometer malfunctioning, resolution find watch.
Dave booted up and proceeded down to the hanger after morning nourishment. upon arriving he spotted the vessel noticing that although the doors were open the captain was not there to greet him. he climbed aboard knowing he was late in arriving.
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Xyla was on her way from the helm down to engineering to see how the Crystal was doing when she ran smack into the Engi. She looked down "Oh, I'm sorry" she extended a foreleg to help the robot up. "And who might you be exactly? Nobody mentioned an Engi when they gave me my crew report."
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scanning...
scan complete, searching database...
files found...
life form: mantis
role: captain
name: xyla
xyla assigned as administrator
course of action: greet and apologize
Dave accepted the help and came to his feet and then proceeds to offer his hand to shake.
"I am the digitally advanced vehicular engineer, but most call me Dave. I was assigned to this vessel" Dave looks down at his watch "7 months ago but have arrived late due to a malfunctioning chronometer. I must thank you for waiting all this time and apologize greatly for any delays I've caused. please could you direct me to the engine room as there should be the required tools there to repair my chronometer."
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Enjuta arrived at the weapon bay, proceeding to take a closer look at some of the systems present. A whole lot of this he recognized as technology of his own race - what else was he expecting? - But some of it looked more advanced than what he was used to. Even though he knew it was not his pace to dabble in the ins and outs of these kind of devices, how such destructive power could be harnessed in simple form had always boggled his mind. It seemed alien to think that every part worked in perfect clockwork, twirling and clanking together in a way that could produce anything from a volley of flak to a whole missile. To him, and his relatively untrained mind, it was amazingly complex and beautiful in it's own right.
Then again, all he knew about these things is that you press buttons to make things go boom or make things go fast. But he was okay with that. Living blindly to the inner workings of all this was more fun and exciting then mundanely piecing it back together after it had been ripped apart by some deranged raider. Or a mantis like himself. Either way, it all ended up the same- either a slave (he knew not to call them that anymore. It was apparently "rude" and "unsophisticated") repaired it, or everyone dies.
After he finished oogling at the shiny bits of machinery, he decided to continue walking around the ship, to get a feel for the vessel.
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Grunan was pleased to see the Medbay was fairly well stocked with mantis, human, and even Rockmen supplies. On a normal crew (or even a mantis crew) she would have said they were overstocked with alien supplies, though the unusual crew composition made such variance expected and necessary. There was one worry though, they had a crystal aboard. did standard Rockmen supplies work for crystal lifeforms? She would have to check.
The actual tables and beds were sufficient. Though had a bias towards mantis beds, again, expected. There was a proper quarantine room. Overall, as long as she could get supplies for the crystal. They should be good to go. The slug had brought her own clothes for working in the medical room (Despite Xyla's jokes, she did actually need some fairly heavy duty clothing for her actual work, mostly to keep her working area clean), though she was not going to change into them just yet.
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Wilson made his way to the bridge of the ship and flopped down into the seat in front of the controls. He stared at the controls which seemed slightly odd and alien to him, not that it was surprising really, nor would it be too much of a problem. Sure, most pilots liked to leave most of the work to the auto-pilot if possible and just hit the occasional flashing button as long as they were just in basic travel but he liked to do everything manually, it gave him more time to understand the ship and it's controls, and less of a margin to make errors if and when things become serious. With that factored in, this vessel would be obeying his every command in no time.
After a couple more minutes looking over the many buttons and do dads, he remembered that he'd need to change to something less official and went to hop out of his seat and find his locker, it was then that he paused and realised he had not shaved or gotten a hair cut before arriving, and looked rather unkempt, not at all like a federation pilot. A smirk spread across his face as he felt that, given the mission, this was more of a blessing than anything, before continuing to search for the lockers.
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Jevi hesitated before bellowing out to the crew, "System's set, ready for takeoff!"
That probably wasn't the proper Fed way to say it, but it did the job. He didn't really care at this time. The hype was too real. He was back in business, fixing up his new baby and keeping the galaxy safe. The crystal supposed he shouldn't get too attached to the ship -- it wasn't really his in the first place -- but something about it energized his being. It was far bigger and brutal than the tiny ship he was used to, but that only made it more exciting.
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Xyla guided the Engi to the engine bay, where he would be spending most of his time. "Crystal!" she called as she entered the engine room. "Looks like you managed to get yourself an assistant. Help it get settled in and bring it up to speed please." She nodded to Jevi before turning around and leaving.
After leaving the engine bay she took a quick stop by the crew quarters to get changed. As she entered she noticed the human pilot poking around. "Oh hey," she said, before moving over to the lockers in the room and opening the one with CAPTAIN written on it in bold orange letters. She took off the white and orange pieces of armor and replaced them with bright red versions. Several pieces of the armor had Jolly Rodgers on them, the same that were plastered on the ship's engines. Once she had finished she closed her locker and looked over at the pilot. "Once you're more comfortable meet me up on the bridge. We're due to warp out of here in 15 minutes. I've taken the liberty of punching a route to our destination into the ship's computer. You'll still have to pilot us out of the station and get us aligned, though."
With one final nod, she left and made her way up to the bridge.
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scanning...
scan complete, searching database...
no files found for crystal...
new entry created...
new life form: crystal
individual designation: unknown
role: engineer
course of action: acquire data and assist
Dave walks up to the crystalline creature and outstretches an arm. "greetings, I am the digitally advanced vehicular engineer, but you can call me Dave. By what designation are you referred to as?"
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The mantis decided to sit down for a bit. There was not much for him to do at the moment, and he didn't specifically feel like seeking out conversation. While he had been excited to get back into the fray, he knew that start ups and stops could sometimes take the longest times of all. So, after having a look around and finding a seat in the weapons bay, he sat down and waited, making odd garbled noises using his mandibles. It didn't mean anything- it was just to break the relative silence of the weapon bay.
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The scruffy human was getting dressed himself, having found a locker labelled PILOT, as Xyla talked to him and prattled off about setting co-ordinates on the ship computer or some such other thing he was just going to ignore. He paused with his shirt halfway over his head for a moment. No he would pay attention to it, but he would let the ship's computer do all the work, that kind of stuff just breeds laziness, he'd had enough of being lazy for a lifetime.
He returned to getting dressed as his train of thought stopped and realized the captain had walked out of the room. With a casual shrug he brushed the clothes off, despite the fact they were perfectly clean, and made his way back to the bridge, meandering a little as he did, taking his time.
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The Crystal happily shook the Engi's hand. "Designation-- Oh, right. Jevilite Hauynite. I go by Jevi," he replied. "Nice to me you, Dave."
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updating information...
life form: crystal
individual designation: Jevilite Hauynite
preferred designation: Jevi
role: engineer
"Okay I shall refer to you as Jevi". A smiling face appears on Dave's screen
"jevi I too believe our meeting shall be mutually beneficial". Dave looks around the engine room. "it would seem everything meets federation standards and that you have all systems functioning correctly, I shall go and inspect the shield room" . Dave begins to walk towards the south door but turns back before leaving, "should you require my assistance please do not hesitate to ask for it is my duty to serve" .
Dave heads out of the engine room, through the crew quarters and into the shield room, he notes that once again all systems meet the required federation standards and begins making the necessary preparations to bring the shields online as soon as they have made the ftl jump.
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"Sure, Thanks."
Jevi stepped out of the room as well, stopping at the lockers to throw on his new suit. Now he was feeling like a real professional. But after dressing a nagging anxiety began to brew. He was a professional. Professional. Could he even do professional? Did he even know what he was doing? Setting up the ship and FTL drive is nothing, but what about repairs in the heat of battle? What if he comes across something he's never tinkered with before and ruins it? With the whole crew depending on him? Surely Dave could pick up the slack, but...
Jevi exhaled, shrugged the thought from his mind, and placed his content smile back on as he stepped into the bridge.
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Dave finalizes preparations and concludes that shields can be deployed as an when needed, he then uses the spare time before take off to fix his busted chronometer so that he inst late for anything else. Dave also ponders the thought that it may be a more efficient system to have a bridge where all the systems are operated from,not just one for piloting, and then have extra crew at the stations, Dave dismisses this thought as if this truly were a more efficient way of doing things then someone else would've already implemented it. Dave presses the tannoy button on the console "shields are functioning above required standards captain and can be deployed at a moments notice captain"
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Xyla responded over the PA to engineering "Good work, once we leave the station I'll signal you to flip them on" She released the button on the console just as Wilson entered, followed shortly by Jevi. "Ah, good, you're here." she said, directed at the human. "Go ahead and get us out of this station if you please."
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Wilson stepped past the captain with a confidant nod and settled into his chair with a happy groan. The short amount of walking around had caused a small amount of strain in his legs, he should work out more. When he isn't flying the ship, that is. He cracked his knuckles, and wiggled his fingers before sitting forward and bringing the ship to life. It was a delicate process to get the ship off of the ground without hitting anyone or anything around it, yet he'd done it enough times for it to feel like second nature. Once that was done it was just a matter of slowly cruising out of the hangar and they were free of the station. "We're clear of the station as of riiiiiight... now."
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Grunan moves over to the PA system in the Medlab. "Excuse me, Xyla, I need to ask to briefly leave the ship to go get some cry~" At that moment, the engines started, and the ship began to move. Grunan audibly sighs over the PA "Some warning would have been nice. Nevermind." Annoyed, Grunan turns the PA off.
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Wilson pressed his finger down onto the PA button on his console with a smirk. Promptly clearing his throat before speaking in a typical, clear, pilot's voice. "This is your pilot speaking. Just a heads up, we appear to have taken off. You may feel no turbulence what-so-ever as we're in a huge, featureless expanse, more akin to a void."
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"Alright human" Xyla said as she looked over a console displaying the ship's current status "Go ahead and FTL jump us to the next sector. I've plotted a course to where we're going in the ship's navigation computer, so you just have to follow that if you will."
She pressed a button on the PA system to engineering. "You can turn the shields on now."
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Grunan moves to the front of Medbay, there were no windows, but she knew she was at the front of the ship. A strange design feature, Usually in human ships the Medbay was in the middle, occasionally at the back.
Grunan stops to feel for the rest of the crew, identifying the two mantis crew-members immediately, the human, and then the crystal... and then an Engi. Odd, she did not remember an Engi coming aboard.
With nothing better to do, she moves into the lab, puts on a science lab suit (Virtually a full body hazmat suit by human standards), and sets about examining the lab, seeing what equipment was in present, and also getting ready to do some experiments of her own. She never turns down an opportunity to do some research.
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Jevi saw Dave head to the shield room earlier, so he figured he had it covered. He decided to take a little time to get the feel of all the rooms. There was far more space than his old ship. It barely had separate rooms, but this ship had rooms leading to rooms. Looked awesome, though it did seem a little inefficient. He supposed there were meant to be more crew members in it if the Federation had more to spare... Well, it wasn't an official Federation ship, was it? He swore he saw a pirate-logo-thing slapped all over it. So, it was a converted pirate ship. That made more sense.
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I best go get changed into some more... appropriate attire.
Moving somewhat quickly, Enjuta made his way to his locker, giving it a quick glance over. Nothing special, like he had come to suspect. He took out the clothing provided, whilst shutting the locker and moving over to the toilet. He was careful not to be as... brash, this time. He got changed, only smashing his head on the metallic walling once, grunting a little. He then made his way back to his post, not taking any time to seek out or speak to anyone else. He didn't feel like talking- he could understand the common language just fine, but speaking it was a challenge at best.
He sat back down, fairly relaxed, as it was just him in the room. Being supervised made his self-conscious. Luckily, it didn't seem like that was going to be an issue here.
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Wilson just stayed quiet as he did his job, making sure everything is fine with the ship and it's systems as he made the preparations to FTL jump. This processes took a few seconds and then all he had to do was wait until the jump drive was charged up fully before setting it on it's course.
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Dave activates the shields and sets about patrolling the ship in search of anything in need of repair.
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A high pitch whir filled the engine bay as the FTL drive spooled up. Lightning crackled from the drive as the noise only grew in intensity. Those looking on from the station would see a field of crackling energy surround the cruiser. Suddenly the ship appears to vanish as it is accelerated to speeds well beyond the speed of light before sharply decelerating back to a halt all in the space of about 10 seconds. Normally such G-Forces would turn any living thing inside the ship to mush, but thankfully ships of this age were fitted with certain preventative measures to help the crew. This didn't stop you from feeling anything, however. During their first FTL flight it's common for most people to lose their lunch as it feels like their heart and their stomach swap places.
As quickly as everything began it stopped, only this time they were countless lightyears away from their starting point. A quick scan of the new surroundings reports nothing to be found except the blackness of space and a small, beeping beacon that helps to guide people on their FTL jumps.
"Alright Pilot," Xyla told the human "Go ahead and get us going again. Just a few more jumps till we get where we're going."
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Jevi was used to FTL jumps but caught off-guard this time. He lurched sideways on his way into the Medbay with an initial surprised "hyugh" sound and instinctively gripped onto the doorway. He stayed there motionless for the brief duration of the jump.
"Wooh, didn't expect that one," he chuckled while stroking his stomach with his free hand. Surely more were coming up, but now he was ready.
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Grunan lurches with the rest of the crew, She felt a little ill, but the shattering of a glass test-tube she was previously carrying was honestly more concerning for her, this time it was her own fault at least. She turns at the sound of someone entering the medbay. "Jevi I assume." She states. Carefully moving out of the lab. "How can I help you? Wait? let me guess..." Grunan pauses for a moment, as if concentrating. "no, I can't prevent jump-sickness. Its one of those things you have to just get used to." Grunan looks straight at Jevi, waiting for a response.
-
Jevi shook his head, "Oh, no, I'm fine," he assured, letting go of the doorway. "Wanted to get a feel of the ship. Just wasn't prepared for that jump, hah."
He stepped over and swept up the shattered test tube -- or rather, slid all the glass shards into his palm without a care. "I'll take care of this..."
-
"It was empty." Grunan states. "It was no great loss." Grunan watches as Jevi effortlessly swept up the shattered remains. Pretty standard practice for Rockmen, so a Crystal doing it was not suprising. "I must admit, it was unwise of me to be setting out the science lab before the first jump, our pilot seems all too eager to cause each and every one of us to die in a flaming ball even without going faster than light. A set of sharp jumps is to be expected." Grunan looks back, in the rough direction of DAVE, who she could sense through the walls of the ship. "Who is the Engi? I don't remember seeing one outside."
In truth, back on the station, Grunan would have kicked Jevi out. She was not ill so she had no business being here. Here on the ship though pissing off any of the other crew would probably end poorly, so it was better to just tolerate Jevi, at least for now.
-
"That's DAVE, another engineer," Jevi replied. "I guess he was late."
The crystal disposed the shards into the glass bin. "Well, I'm not sick, so I'll leave you to your work," he stated while heading back out the door toward Dave.
That medic was an interesting one. The "matter of fact" type, with a tad unnerving vibe. He had seen a few slugs before, and they all were the latter, but never did he expect one as a medic. Throughout his travels across the universe, however, he long ago learned expectation was far from a rule.
-
Wilson was used to FTL jumps, the feeling was so familiar. Was being the key word, if had actually eaten breakfast today he probably would have just lost it right then and there. He'd even gone a little pale. There was a reason he wanted to be a pilot and not a marine, after all. After a deep breath, he made note of the position of the beacon, waited but a moment and the ship jumped yet again. This time, he was a little more prepared for it and felt slightly less dizzy, so that was a win.
-
As the jump commenced, Enjuta almost lost his seat, as he rocked, nigh falling over. It had been quite some time since he had last experienced a jump, and the impromptu announcement of it's occurrence did little to remind him of what actions to take. Of all the various things that occurred whilst upon a fighter such as this, making jumps was the worst. On multiple occasions before, he had gained a concussion from violently undue jumping. But, to him, it was part in parcel with the rest of the experience. There was always good to the bad.
After regaining his balance, he sat back in his chair, being ready for the next jump.
-
The ships FTL spools up again and we jump to the next sector.
Upon arrival a skirmish seems to be going on. A small federation scout has come under attack by a much larger Rockman cruiser. Judging by the scorch marks across it's hull you can guess that it's probably not winning. A young, worried looking human in a sweat drenched federation uniform appears over the holocomm. "Please sirs! You've got to help us!" A fearsome looking rockman suddenly appears on the holocomm as well. "You. Pirate. No interfere. Will pay."
Xyla mutters a swear and looks over to the crew for their opinions on the matter. On the one hand they were duty bound to intervene, on the other the crew wasn't paid much before departing. Who knows when the next time they would get some spending cash would be.
-
With a sigh, Wilson looks between the two images on the holocomm and shrugged. Scratching at his neck a little as he was in thought before looking up to the mantis. "It's your call. I mean, technically our mission is to infiltrate the ranks of a pirate group, so it would possibly put our mission at risk to help out the feds. That's my opinion, anyway. Could even be the best to fire at them and help the rocks, but I wouldn't like to."
-
Grunan felt the ship stop, but for now really was not interested. Until she is given orders, she is going to keep quiet, watch, and listen.
She moves over to her lab, and started sorting out the lab, being extra careful to be ready if the ship jumped again.
-
"Captain, statistically speaking it would increase the missions chance of success if we were to fire upon the federation vessel." Dave said into his communicator. He pauses a moment tho think and then adds "there are too many variables to accurately predict what the long term affects shooting the vessel will have on the war"
-
Enjuta remained silent. It didn't matter to him what happened, as long as he would get to shoot something, it was all good as far as he was concerned. It probably would've been wise to say that over comns, but he neglected to do so. Instead, he sat back and listened, waiting for a plan of action to be announced.
-
"If not make decision, back off." The voice yells over the communication systems. The pirate fires a small volley of lasers at the Thunderchild. Two of them miss, but the third hits, somehow passing through the shield, and connecting with the center of the bridge. There is a loud explosion as the console the Captain was sitting at explodes, throwing them backwards, and seemingly knocking them out cold. The pirate ship returns to the terrified scout, desperately trying to hit the tiny craft.
-
Jevi had walked back into the engine room, but the explosion sent him sprinting back. The crystal barked a string of clearly explicit words in his native tongue as he ran into the bridge.
"What in-- What happened?! The shields failed?!"
His jaw hung open at the blasted console, the unconscious captain, the pirate ship right in front. Not just any pirate ship...
Jevi's fists tightened and teeth clenched; the happy-go-lucky guy suddenly became a flame of rage, his bulky finger pointing straight at that damned ship.
"SHOOT THAT ULCHALACHITE! NOW!"
-
Wilson nearly jumped up out of his seat when the shot collided, he hadn't seen it coming. Well, he had but, with the first two shots missing he had expected it to either miss as well or just hit the shields. He turned his seat around to see that the captain was currently unconscious and that a crystal man was shouting orders at him. He let out a sigh, trying to keep his composure, after all, this wasn't the first train wreck he'd been apart of, and was silently glad that the crystal was clearly not thinking straight enough to issue those orders over the com system.
"Alright. You need to calm down. Take a deep breath, pick up the captain and put them somewhere safe. Meanwhile, I am going to turn around and do my actual job, flying the ship."
He looked at turned back to his console and checked to see if they were ready to jump again, whilst talking over the coms.
"Okay people, this isn't exactly the best situation in the world but I don't think it really needs to escalate much further. We can still just walk away from this."
-
Dave walks around the vessel as he has done for some time, his comrades seemingly frozen in time and devoid of life. He takes in Wilson midway through turning the controls as he has been for many a week, the captain still badly wounded on the floor of the cockpit but no more injured than he was so long ago. he walks past enjuta in the weapons bay who has been ready to fire for longer than regulations permit. He finally ends his tour back on the bridge where he began and this time takes note of Jevi the crystal who's face had been twisted in anger for so long you'd swear it were carved in stone.
Dave is saddened by the crushing loneliness.
-
For Grunan, nothing much had happened. she had been working in the lab, not really caring about the rest of the ship, or the peril.
She was working on some kind of chemical formula, when something hit the ship. Not the pirates, she was fairly certain of that. It was too much of a jolt. She remembered glancing over her shoulder as it happened. Some kind of explosion.
Then?
She comes round suddenly. Like waking from a daydream. Her arms hurt. She has a splitting headache, and something is very badly wrong. She blinks, and starts to move. Something stabs into the slimy tail that made up the bulk of her body. She winces, and glances down, noticing the small solid... crystals... that seemed to surround her. "Slime..." she mutters. "My slime..." She pushes the crystals away. She would have to dispose of them later. For now, what the hell just happened.
The lab was dusty. cautiously, she moves to the entrance of her lab, to enter the main medibay, only to freeze as she looks through the window on the door.
There was a hull breach. Most of the floor of her medical bay was gone.
Alarmed, she moves over to the communicator. "Hello? Bridge? Status, what just happened?" She spoke calmly, though a little faster than normal.