New Crew and a Rocky start

[Kim]

The two days had passed, and Chimera was already prepping for lift off. The Kotoku star port was alive with Ships coming in for landing and even more ships frantically trying to leave. It was loud and crowded. The over all feeling was one of hurry and fear as the more wisened people were taking the hint and trying to leave. Aiyana and anybody else accompanying her would find that the Chimera's Cargo ramp was opened and ready for passenger and cargo. Which a number of civilians were cautiously filing on for transport off the world. Bronzi had obviously figured out away to make some money, and thus not take a hit. But he was not joking with her. They were leaving promptly at 1800 hours.

The boarding ramp was relatively unguarded, though as Aiyana approached she was see a massive alien pacing around. He was a Valsh'Nar, resembling a massive insect. He had a thick carapace, was dawning a thick heavy jacket. His antennae flickered about and his head moved sharply as the passengers boarded.

"Hey!" He exclaimed. "Leave those dumb bags over there. I'll get em for you. Be sure you mark them so we know it's yours. Also DON'T TOUCH MY STUFF!. The Cargo bay is where I live! Got it!?"

Aiyana had made the tough choice to leave behind the group she had been fighting with these past weeks, she trusted and liked them and respected them all but she had to take some precaution with her life. The idea of being enslaved again scared her more than anything and she wasn't going to risk it again.

The elf had just a duffel bag and a backpack holding anything she cared about. As she looked up at the Chimera, a flood of memories filled her from the first time she had been on the ship and so moving her feet proved to be a difficult endeavor at the moment. Aiyana would take a breath before walking up the boarding ramp and then stopping at the voice.

"No uhm...I'm crew, Bronzi is expecting me, so if you wouldn't mind pointing me to where he is, I'd appreciate Mister," Aiyana told the insect politely. Aliens didn't honestly scare her but humans for sure did, but even so, her heart was pounding in her chest as she held onto the couple of bags that she owned. "Also I'd like to keep my stuff with me, it's all I got."

As Aiyana spoke to the alien, she realized one thing; he was utterly massive in stature. He turned around and looked. "What the shit? I hear talking but I don't- Oh, You are smol," He said looking down. The translator was sending his voice out as being some what deep and masculine. "Crew? Heheh, more fodder, eh? Well, I didn't see ya added to the crew manifest, but whatever. Just don't take my food or my protein shakes!" He rumbled down at Aiyana.

As Aiyana undoubtedly started to try to move past, she found the massive bug man had, rather swiftly stepped in her path. "Oh!" He said. "What? It's like I'm not letting you pass!"

The elf rolled her eyes at him, "Yea, only a little small though but I do know where to hit to make it count," she told him simply. Not a threat but just a simple fact from her. Aiyana was waiting some before shrugging, "I'm not touching anything of yours big guy, I just need to talk to Bronzi anyway," Aiyana told him as she went to walk past him but he moved in her way.

That made her brow raise, "Then how am I supposed to get on? Look, he told me if I wanted to leave with you guys, I could, I am leaving and working for him, so please may I get on?" Aiyana asked, a bit of confusion as to why he wouldn't let her.

"So please may I get on?!" The bug man said making a high pitched mockery of Aiyana's voice. "Gurl. I've seen killers. You could hit as hard as a kitten." Though it was quite simple why the bug man wasn't letting her on. He simply felt like screwing with her.

"Oh, you are taking me seriously. Come 'ere you!" He then reached out and grabbed Aiyana putting her in a head lock, and she felt him bury a knuckle into her scalp. He then rubbed her. "I'm just playing with ya bro!" He then released Aiyana. "Go ahead!" He said then released a shrill chittering sound. Laughter.

Aiyana raised a brow at him with some confusion at this, she wasn't used to this crew or the jokes yet, so this one got lost on her rather quickly. She refused to retort back at the hitting as hard as a kitten and just rolled her eyes instead.

"Ye- What are you doing!" she gasped out in surprise and then suddenly felt knuckles scrapping along her scalp. It was funny and weird all at the same time. "Gotcha...thanks, this is going to take some getting used to." she said with a shaky laugh as she smoothed out her hair a little bit, "Thanks!" she told him as she grabbed her bags now.

Aiyana would quickly get inside as she fixed herself up from that, it honestly was not the first time a massive guy just lifted her off the ground and probably not the last. She would look around a bit and then start to head in the vague memory of where the mess hall was or something until she ran across someone else she could ask that hopefully wasn't going to give her more noogies.

The Chimera was in relative disrepair. It was some how worse. Though Aiyana did recall that the ship did have to fight its way out of the situation she had been rescued from. A corridor light flickered on and off, and there was missing paneling. As she walked through the ship, she would every so often see a little robot skitter about making an attempt and repairing the mess. Other than that it was much as she remembered it. Aiyana knew where Bronzi was fortunately, the corridor structure of the ship was rather simple. It was a ring, with multiple decks, and the Captain's quarters were at the top of the ship.

Aiyana would just flinch at the sight of the place, it was worse than she remembered and made her shake her head. She wanted to help fix the ship up and get it in working order again. She would step to the side and out of the way of the bots that were trying to fix the place up, hopping over things if she had too. The elf was glad things hadn't changed too much and so she at least remembered the path up to the captain's quarters. With a little hum on her lips, she made her way up there and would then knock a few times, "Hello?"

There was a delay. But she heard Bronzi's baritone voice. It had something of a rasp to it, but he when he spoke it was with a cool confidence. "Come in." He called out as the door to his quarter hissed open. A rush of warm air rushed passed Aiyana. Gartagens liked things to be warm, and Bronzi was no exception to this rule. Stepping in, she found the room was very warm. Much as she remembered Bronzi's quarters were small, and cluttered, but comfortable.

He had an assortment of thick rugs strewn across the floor. The left wall Bronzi had reserved for his weaponry and armor. To her right was his desk, that had computer kiosk and a chair, along with several personal items, including a holo imager of Bronzi and his family. In the far corner was where Bronzi had his bed. Which it was a large bowl that was lined with blankets, and pillows similar to a nest. The air was thick, and smelled of the Gart-man, a strong musk that wasn't unpleasant, though it was noticable. Strewn around the nest like bedding was a pile of hefty books, and even more books could be seen on the shelf next to the bed. Bronzi himself was seated in the middle of his bed with several blankets wrapped around him.

"Mmm." He grumbled. "Aiyana." He said not rising up. "Is somethin' wrong?"

When his voice came out, she relaxed- good he hadn't just up and moved rooms on her and left her knocking on a random person's door. She would step in once the door opened and then it would hiss shut after she walked in. The warmth honestly felt good, even if it was a bit startling to her at first. She looked around the room and just smiled some- it was still a bit of a mess as before.

The elf would put down the dufflebag and toe off her shoes as she always did when walking into someones room but as she did so her eyes would dart around. It felt homey almost in here, even though it was a bit cluttered it felt warm and welcoming. The elf was just quiet for a minute as she looked at the holo image of Bronzi with his family and then pulled her eyes from it to the mess of books on his nest like bed. The scent in the room wasn't bad either- honestly it was better than one of the men she worked with who's room smelt like socks.

"Hi, cold?" she asked him with a little smile, "That offer to come with, is it still open?" she asked him, "Oh and something else," she said digging into her bag and pulled out a small wrapped package, "For the ship." she told him as she lightly tossed it onto the bed next to him, "No give backs either alright?" she told him. If he opened it now, he would find roughly ten thousand in the money she earned on the chip ir not he'd find out later.

"Oh. That." Bronzi said. "Yea." said with a soft yawn as he realized it wasn't important and laid back down. "Nah. Not cold. Gartage is a hot world. I like it warm. If yer need a quarters ya can pick any one of tha empty ones on the lowuh levels," he said shutting his eyes. "As for that money....what currency is it? I reckon its free trade credits....may be best if ya keep it."

When he laid back down, she would just raise a brow but also try to not laugh as she seems to have woken him up, "Oh, I've not been that way yet," she told him before shrugging, "Yea that one and nah use it on the ship, I want to," she told him. "Do you actually mind if I bunk in here? I won't bug you, promise and you can keep your bed this time," she said, teasing him right back for that comment he made at the bar a couple of days ago.

"If it's your fancy," Bronzi responded. "As long as yer boyfriend don't get pissed." To Bronzi, he figured Aiyana was being nervous. She liked the familiar, and he must for some reason make her feel safe. He couldn't blame her. Suddenly, he picked his head up. "Luh. I was bein' respectful tha first tiem. I don't mind ya living hea, but I ain't sleeping in the mess like before."

He laid his head down. "Not that it ain't appreciated. But with war comin, free trade credits are losin' their value. All tha nations are stock pilin and investin in their own economies. Leaving the trade networks to starve. Gonna be hard to use 'em in a port capable of servicing this bucket."

That made her raise a brow, "What boyfriend? I haven't even had a date in gods know how long," she told him with a small shrug. Honestly, she hadn't thought of relationships, they seemed to fragile in her life as she kept loosing everything when things were just starting to get settled- at least that is how it felt to her. That made her laugh a little, "I wouldn't ask you too, I have something to sleep on, don't worry," she told him as she found a spot nearby and sat down crossing her legs.

It didn't take long for her to shed her coat and pull up the sleeves of her shirt due to the warmth in the room, "Keep them still then, I'm sure you can figure out what to do with them. I got what I need so just keep them- even if they are just for decoration." Aiyana told him as she pulled out a sleeping bag and just laid it out some, "Who is the bug guy at the load dock by the way...he gave me a noogie." Aiyana asked him- if he was still awake enough to answer questions that is, while she put her duffle at the head of her sleeping bag and covered it with her coat.

Bronzi snorted. "That is Big Stoat. He handles the cargo. He is a dickhead," Bronzi said with a growl. "As fer yer bed or whatever. Ya. Set yer self up."

"Sorry about dat. I'll have a word with em," Bronzi said trying to assure Aiyana. "Fuckin dick head." Bronzi added with a growl. "Oh, shower is in the back, behind tha desk. It ain't much, but ya can hygine up without havin to go to tha community head, and showerin' with tha crew.

"I'm glad ya came. When ya left I was.." Bronzi then trailed off and went silent. "Glad yer hea."

"Ah, he made me think for a sec I had to a pay or toll or beat the snot out of him for a moment," she said with a little laugh and nodded, "Thanks."

She shrugged some, "Don't, no harm done honestly it was mostly surprising and well, each crew is different, I'll adjust," she told him. At the sound of a shower she sighed and nod- she would probably do that later, "Its something and I'll take it, thanks," she said. He honestly didn't know how much that little bit of privacy helped her.

When he spoke and trailed off, she looked down some at her backpack, "I felt I had to...even though you didn't say it," she told him and then nodded, "I hoped I'd run into you again, I guess I should have gone to more bars then." She told him as she pulled out a short sleeved shirt and got up, "Be right back then."

Aiyana would get up and head to the bathroom, changing from long sleeves to short because holy hell she was not built for heat. She would also pull out some thick leather bracelts she had in her pockets nad put them on around her wrists before walking out while folding up the shirt to put in her bag, "I won't bug you too much more, I can tell I woke you up." She told him as she put the shirt away and set her beg behind her duffle. All in all, she only took up enough space to lay down in which honestly wasn't much, "So where are we heading off too?"

"Alliance Space. Safest region in the sector. We can lay low, and find a few jobs. Plus they don't use money, so we can eat, maybe do jobs fer em, get the ship fixed some." Bronzi rolled over in his bed presenting his back to Aiyana. "Anyway, maker yer self at home. Imma try to sleep some more before we lift off. Yer look good by the way. I meant that. I had muh doubts when we first found ya, but I'm glad we found ya when we did."

She listened as he spoke, "I'll help where I can then." She told him and nodded at fixing the ship up, she hoped that they could, they needed it. Whe he rolled over, she would just pull her long braid over her shoulder to rest on her chest and stomach, "Sure, I won't bug you, get some sleep." she told him as she pulled out a music player. What he said made her go quiet some as she felt her cheeks warm a little, "I didn't think I'd make it honestly...and I'm glad you did too...I don't think I would have lasted too much longer." she told him honestly, "Get some sleep." she told him as she popped in her earbuds and flicked on some music. The elf didn't really sleep but she enjoyed the warmth and safety this place made her feel again.

Aiyana's dreams were calmer than usual. Past traumas had brought on restful periods that were rather tempestic with night terrors for typically. But she did not wake from her sleep yelling with some horror that she had endured on her mind. However she was jolted awake by the alert sirens of the ship going off.

A loud whirling Klaxon sounded and Chimcer's interior lighting flashed. Looking around she would find Bronzi was no longer in the room. His armor was gone as was some of his weapons. What ever was going on, it wasnt good, because the alarm had ceased. A automated voice called out. "Combat stations: Attention Crew....Combat Stations: Attention Crew..." and it repeated.

Damion knocked on the docked ship door unaware of what is going on inside the ship "hey bronze was it is it too late to join your crew?" he yelled from outside the ship he was dressed in jungle style gear and holding two long cases in each hand and a duffle on his back.

It was a rare time for her to not just have nightmares, she rarely slept and when she did it wasn't long but it seemed she was able to sleep with a relative peace for once in many months. As her music changed though, she was jolted awake with the sound of sirens then imediately made her tense and panic slightly as she looked around.

It only took her a second to notice Bronzi was gone and had just left her to sleep but the voice on the intercom's were basically blaring her ears off as she got up and pulled out her retractable staff and would pull her coat on- even though it was hotter than hades in here. The elf left the room and looked around and would follow any crew member to try and figure out what the hell was going on and why she had to wake up with another heart attack.

Damion was for lack of a better term in the wrong place at the wrong time. The Bioroid would find as he looked around that Bronzi was sitting on the on ramp of the cargo bay of his ship with his rifle leveled down at him. Looking further into the cargo bay, he would see that a number of the Chimera's crew was assembled in the cargo bay behind defensive barriers. The situation was so serious that Damion could clearly see the ship's Bu Qi had set up a Gartagen model Gauss rifle on a tri pod and had it pointed out accross the Star Port.

The city was in chaos. Kowloon forces had launched a preemptive attack - gunshots and explosions were ringing out all over the city. The local Duke's free company was about a block away but they were very clearly approaching the dock to seize the The Chimera.

Bronzi looked down at Damion. Spoons who was the Leader of the Bu Qi called out. "Oi, want me ta waste tha cunt?!"

Bronzi threw his hand up. "No!" He then shouted down at Damion. "Boy, have you lost it? I told you war was comin? Why are you walkin around like its another day?"

Damion cocked his head to one side "I'm a bioroid built for combat. I've seen worse sir so yah it's just another day to me. sorry if that's a bit shocking." he said looking down at the two cases he carried. "if you need an extra gun on your ship I'm a good shot. but ill understand if you feel the need to just shoot me even though chances are it won't kill me."

When Aiyana made it to where most of the people were, she looked around more and saw the familiar armor set up and would jog on over to Bronzi, "What the hell is happening?" She asked him, pushing away the panic she felt but when she looked outside, she felt her question was rather stupid honestly.

It was chaos and nuts and was that Damion? "What the hell? You could have been shot you knuckle head." Aiyana yelled out at him, shaking her head- this robo man needed to learn some self preservation,at least she arrived early before the hoopla.

"What can I do to help then?"The elf would ask, she may not be the best with guns but the captain at least knew she had other skills sets- even if he only ever saw her use fire.

Damion moved to respond. But he found his voice aucuator would not work.His vision was skewed. Everything felt like slow motion. The ground rushing up at him. Damion was now laying on the ground looking dead ahead, and he could see his robot fluids pooling up around him.

As Aiyana spoke, a Plasma blot lashed out and struck Damion in the back of the head, lurching him forward and sending him to the ground. The Bu Qi Gunners leveled their weapon out "Ai! Get read to fuck em up!"

Bronzi growled. "Shit! Aiyana get cover. This shit is creeping up on us!" Bronzi advanced down the boarding ramp. He touched the side of his helmet and spoke. "How much longer till the engines are cooked? WELL HURRY UP!"

Bronzi got to Damion and grabbed him by the shoulder. "Get up, boy!" He then began dragging him back to the Chimera. "Good at combat my ass! Now ya half yer head is missing!" Bronzi Snarled. "Aiyana can you heal this robot?"

"Heeey, whats going on?" A blonde haired Tiger-type sleepily made her way out from within the ship. Having only been somewhat aroused by the klaxons, Midnight had only just gotten dressed to make her way over. At the very least though, she had traded out her slave-girl outfit for slightly burnt and bloody Alliance Navy uniform and armor plates labeled "Jenkins". She was dragging the laser rifles barrel across the ground as she came up behind Bronzie, and slowly realizing something serious was going on, suddenly perked up as adrenaline spiked through her blood. "We gonna get deep raided or something?!" Midnight asked, suddenly aroused from her lethargy.

A small amount of greyish green smoke was fuming from Damion's wound as his head slowly regenerated, his hand twitching from the ordeal. Any healing would likely speed up the process while his overdrive regeneration implants worked to repair most of the damage.

Aiyana had just been talking when the sound filled her ears and she just ducked back slightly- she wasn't exactly wearing armor of any sort at the moment. She would look and see the other female walking up but her brain was on a different mode other than being pleasant right now.

Her eyes would go back to Damion who, one second was fine and the next was bleeding out basically and Bronzi was dragging him up, "Get him over to the corner over there, at least out of the line of fire." Aiyana told him as she went over to a spot away from the entrance and if Bronzi brought him over at least.

"I can keep him stable while his system does the rest, how long until we leave?" she asked him in a slight calm panic as she pulled off her coat and folded it up to push under Damions partial head. "You idiot...you really are tough you probably don't understand me at the moment." she scolded the robot as she just pressed a hand on the unexploded side of his head and the other on his neck as she would just start to focus now, she had to at least keep that heart beating and his systems running, no biggie as long as no one bugged her or freaked over her bloody nose.

The shot came from a near by building that was over looking the Star Port. Bronzi held on to Damion, however Plasma bolts began pouring down on Bronzi's position. Red dstreaks peppered the area and smacked the hull of the Chimera, then chewed up her ramp. Bronzi Kept moving then suddenly he lurched forward. Aiyana and Midnight would see Damion fall to the ground, and Bronzi stumbled. A plume of green fire seperated the trio, and Bronzi for an instant looked down at his hand. Bronzi right arm was scourched, seered flesh and melted armor fused to his skin.

Damion was struck at the shoulder, and and his arm was severed causing him to fall. Bronzi turned about and returned fire. As did the Bu Qi and other crew members. "Cover the boss! FRY EM!" Spoons cried out.

The heavy gauss rifle chattered with is electric crackle. The Chimera crew was returning fire. Big Stoat filed in behind Aiyana. "Eyyy Squirt!" He said leveling a Gauss rifle. "Help me get em!" He yelled.

"Oh shit, it is a raid!" Midnight realized, her eyes lighting up with life. Picking up her laser rifle, the woman began to lay down a spray of fire to try and cover Bronzi and Damion so they could get to safety. "What are they?!" she shouted out, firing at anything that didn't look friendly. "Is it more of those Vice slavers? Or, or maybe some of those Tentacle Turtles?!" a slight hint of drool began to trace its way down from her lips. Despite being a Tigress though, she wasnt doing anything more than the others besides staying behind cover and shooting.

Damion began draging himself by one arm up the ramp slowly as his head would still be healing before getting his feet under him, legs shaky as he stubbled up the ramp sticking to one side of the ramp.

Aiyana was trying to figure out left from right, she wasn't used to fights so suddenly that happened with no planning but hey that was war and she would have to adjust. She watched though as both Bronzi and Damion took hits and then lookedover at Midnight, "They just started this blasted attack, he showed up at the wrong time...bloody hell." she gasped out as she took to the side away from the opening.

When she saw the big bug guy from earlier who was now asking for help, she would give a nod and take a breath. She needed to focus and not freak and thankfully could. The elf would then move out and start to toss one fireball after the next as if she was pitching a softball, trying to give the two wounded more cover to get their asses on bord, "How long until we can leave?!" Aiyana asked anyone honestly as she kept throwing fireball after fireball.

Big Stoat rushed out of the cargo bay as Aiyana sent a fire ball rushing out. The truth was the crew wasnt actually hitting anything. They had an inferior position to whom ever was firing on them. One thing was clear, is that it was a Plasma repeater and that was not standard Kowloon weaponry.

Big Stoat rushed up hehind Bronzi and grabbed him with his massive left arm. He then did a 180 and hauled Bronzi back up the ramp Completly abandoning Damion. "Hadda make a choice! Choose tha guy who pays me heheh!" Bronzi was slapping at Big Stoat making Stoats run something of a struggle, but the Larger stronger Valsh'Nar was not having it. "Cloose the ramp! We arent taking on no more passangers. That doofus is on his own!" Stoat Declared.

Damion could do nothing but watch. Then he felt the ramp begenning to pull up. The ramp oon went from 180 degrees, to 90, to 30. Damion went tumbling down the ramp falling unceremoniously into the cargo bay.

The Ramp closed up behind them, and the dull thumping of the plasma repeater

damion reached a shakey hand to his seared arm and squeezed it as shut as he could as his head injury was prioritized, "Fuctionality at 25% memory comprimised, switching to factory mode." Damion droaned out as he layed on the floor.

Aiyana was only aiming at where she saw the enemy that was firing at them. If she hit-awesome, if not well it would ruin someones day for sure since her fireballs tended to splatter and spread.

The elf would continue to provide some form of cover or distraction while the two injuried- well one injured was dragged in while the doors shut and the other just kinda rolled on in like a pained sausage.Big Stoat let go of Bronzi. " HA HA!" He yelled pointing at Damion "He looks like a sausage weiner rolling off the grill! HAAAA!"

Aiyana dropped her hands and leaned against the wall as she lifted her shit up to her face to quickly wipe away the blood that was dripping before going over to the two of them, "Hell...you do have a medical area right? Or someplace I can take care of the both of you right?" Aiyana would ask- well almost demand as she did need to take care of these two.

The elf would take her coat and use it to wrap around Damions bummed arm, "Least his systems are on...sorta...Bronzi, hows your arm- you know what I'll look when we get away from this damn door." Aiyana said with a shake of her head as she wiped her face again- trying to not laugh at what Stoat said.

Bronzi looked at his right hand. Much of it was seered from the shot he tool. "Better than his." Bronzi said clutching his limb aganst his chest. Big Stoat was now squatting over Damion as he lay on the ground. "I don't think this one is good at combat. Good at laying here all shot up! Welcome to the Short Bus! You are going to fit right in!"

Bronzi growled. "Knock it off, Stoat. Get him to medical." Bronzi then looked at Aiyana. "Yea, we do. Guess that's where I need to go too. Bronzi turned and began walking behind Stoat who had picked up Damion and slung him over his shoulder. "Now you are a sack of Potatos!"

It was then that Sura's voice called over the ship PA. "We are lifting off. I hope every body is okay."

"This bio-droid was acting pretty funky anyways. Maybe a factory reset is a good thing," Midnight began. Reaching down to her pilfered uniform, she opened up the tragically unused medkit and took out a med-spray. "Hold still?" the blonde Tigress offered, shaking up the bottle and pausing once she saw how bad it is. "Uh, or maybe not," she then put it away. "It looks like some of your armor is burned into your skin, and youll have to have it surgically removed in the medbay," the woman realized. "I-its gonna hurt a lot!" Midnights lips quivered in envy.

Aiyana shook her head at them, she just comes on bored and shit goes down- what a fun day today was turning out to be. She was still wiping her face some as her nosebleeds tended to last for a minute as she went and looked over Bronzi's arm, "Yes you are as well,I can't do much for the robot now anyways, his systems have taken over- it may be good or bad, I don't know." Aiyana told them with a sigh.

The elf looked at Midnight, "We can tag team that, you pull it off and I can heal, do you have anything to numb the area or at least alcohol to numb him?" she asked before wincing at how Stoat picked up Damion, Oi, be a little easy with him,he did just loose part of his head now." Aiyana said while shaking her head- yep great day but at least she for once wasn't hurt.

At the take off sounds, she let out a sigh of relief, "Good...lets get out of here." she said with a relieved sigh as she would follow to the medical area.

"I uh, honestly dont know," Midnight replied, setting a hand on her hip. "Do we even have a medbay?" she asked, tail flicking as she glanced at Bronzi, eyebrow raised.

"Dats where im walking to." Bronzi said sounding some what annoyed.

As Aiyana spoke, Big Stoat turned about, smacking Damions head into the bulkhead. "So uh, he don't need no Medical is what you saying?"

"Bring him to Medical dick head," "Bronzi growled as he continued moving down the corridor.

After a walking and a trip up a lift, Bronzi lead the group to medical. The Chimera Med-Bay was for the most part not used. It was filled with boxes, and some what messy and untended. Bronzi waved his good hand causing the Med Bay lights to come on. He immediatly set about docering him self up.

Big Stoat walked in and simply dropped Damion on the floor. "Okay, brought him to Med Bay. Boss, you uh, gonna give me a raise for carrying that thing or what?"

Bronzi was injecting pain releiver into his arm and did not even look up. "Go clean the Cargo Bay Stoat, before I fire you. Out of an Airlock."

As Damion would be dropped again he spoke. " - functionality at 15.....error 90%" Damion was getting worse, according to his announcements.

"Take him there, please." Ayana requested, wincing a little from how Stoat was treating him - she was really glad she was not the one injured right now. Unlike Ayana however, Midnight seemed to stifle a hint of envy as she glanced away, her cheeks growing red. When they got into the medbay area, the elf seyes went wide, "I'm cleaning here first, have you guys never had anyone with medical on the ship?" Aiyana asked as she would put her coat under Damions head- it was honestly all she could do.

"Alright, let's look at your arm and sorry about the blood Stoat," the elf called out to the bug man as she walked over to look at Bronzi's arm, "So...Midnight, wanna start pulling metal?" she asked her looking around, "Do you have forceps or something similar she can use?"

"Er, actually, I'm more worried about the bio-droid here," the Taianese woman began. "Hes not sounding too good at all," the blonde pointed out. "Come on, you gotta lie down or something." Pulling Daimon over, she tried to urge the bio-droid to do just that. "Is there a medical scanner here? No offense Mister Bronzi, but I think we got to put you on hold here," Midnight began. Tail held high, she began to rummage around in serach of something to figure out what was wrong with Daimon. "Bio-droid or not, he did take a hit to the head.

Bronzi looked at Midnight. "Hmm what's the fuckin problem with 'em?" Bronzi said turning and taking not of what the Taianese had just said.

Damion who was still alert, was taking note. His Internal moniters were giving him red lights. The Damage he sustained was causing an internal malfuction to multiple systems, but the amount of Data was causing confousion. Loss of power to several of his systems was starting to occur. A spark popped on Damion's torso. Something inside of him had shorted.

"eed h...dieing...." the Bio-Droid muttered.

"My skills can't do much with metal. I know he self repairs and such but I can't heal what I'm not familiar with." Aiyana told her. The look on her face told her how much it bugged her, but it was the truth and her powers could only go so far. "Yeah I know he did take a hit to his head, but I'm useless, and his all...computer- you know how long it took me to learn about a mech?" she told her, partially laughing at that as she cleared off a table for Damion to lay on if they could get him there.

"We can tag team this, lets see what we find and just help each other help them. I don't want him," Ayana suggested, pointing at Bronzi, "To get an infection from the metal in his flesh- thats the last thing he needs is to loose his arm." the elf told Midnight rather simply as she would start going through boxes and pulling them down while muttering under her breath some.

"Ok, if you take care of Bronzi, I can try and fix up Daimon here," Hilda offered. "But I'm gonna need a medical scanner. We have one here?" She asked the two. "I can try networking with him, but I dont even know if he can tell me whats wrong at this point." At that, she laid a hand on the bio-droid and stared intently to take advantage of her Taianese biology. "Come on, give me a wi-fi connection or something!" The blonde urged the bio-droid on.

Midnight successfully formed an uplink with Damion. She had a bit of good news as her mind flooded with information. He was a commercially made model and was able to do this. The issue was that she was getting no diagnostic information other than warnings.

"MODIFICATIONS AND MAINTENANCE SHOULD ONLY BE ATTEMPTED BY A QUALIFIED TECHNICIAN. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO REMOVE COMPONENTS WHILST THE SYSTEM IS ACTIVE."

MODIFICATIONS AND MAINTENANCE SHOULD ONLY BE ATTEMPTED BY A QUALIFIED TECHNICIAN. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO REMOVE COMPONENTS WHILST THE SYSTEM IS ACTIVE.

MODIFICATIONS AND MAINTENANCE SHOULD ONLY BE ATTEMPTED BY A QUALIFIED TECHNICIAN. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO REMOVE COMPONENTS WHILST THE SYSTEM IS ACTIVE.

MODIFICATIONS AND MAINTENANCE SHOULD ONLY BE ATTEMPTED BY A QUALIFIED TECHNICIAN. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO REMOVE COMPONENTS WHILST THE SYSTEM IS ACTIVE.

"I can do that, let me keep looking, just give me a minute," Aiyana told Midnight as she was quickly going through boxes, shuffling thrings around. She would pull out bandages - ok thats a start - and then found what Midnight had been wanting and hopped up to hand it to her, "Heres that, let me get you some of the bandages I found." she told her, hoping that she could help her borked friend.

Aiyana would pick up a few rolls and place them by her and then go back and pull some out for Bronzi as well as some forceps, "Bingo." she sighed as she got the small amount of things she needed- least she thought. With a final thought, she would also grab a towel for her face before heading around to Bronzi, "You ready for this big guy?"

"Oh my god," Midnight began, using the old coliliquism, "I'm getting warnings not to mess with him unless he's shut - "

MODIFICATIONS AND MAINTENANCE SHOULD ONLY BE ATTEMPTED BY A QUALIFIED TECHNICIAN. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO REMOVE COMPONENTS WHILST THE SYSTEM IS ACTIVE.

"This is driving me nuts! Who built this pile of crap?!?!" the blond screamed, grasping her head and stomping her feet in frustration. Bouncing about in distress, she then took in a deep breath to try and calm down."

"Don't ask me! He was fine when I met him." Aiyana exclaimed.

Bronzi held out his arm for Aiyana. "Do what you need to do Aiyana. Midnight what's the fuckin' problem with that walking vibrator?"

"Im just getting that text you always see on how you shouldnt try fixing something unless youre the repairman," Midnight replied, rubbing her temples.

"What about turning it off and then on again? Works for my comms." She said with a shrug as she gripped some of the metal with the forceps and yanked it out of Bronzi's arm with little warning. "I'd say throw him at a wall but that would probably make it worse." She continued as she worked on another piece of metal, "Sorry...damn metalted shit..."

"Worth a shot, any idea where his off and on switch is?" Bronzi said as Aiyana went to work on his arm. As she removed the metal, that oily dark red blood began pooling into the wound. "Fuck it. If you hit em with a hard enough dose of electrical you may be able to force a system reboot." Bronzi said pointing to a defribrilator machine hanging on the wall.

"Hold on! Lets not do that yet!" Midnight exclaimed. "Though, dont hesitate to use that on me if you even think I need it," she quickly added, deriving some pleasure at the thought before refocusing. "Come one, give me something," the 2nd Class Taianese woman turned back to the bio-droid. Digging around in virtual space, she tried to look for any information that could help her do field repairs. Or maybe an, on-off switch. "Even a comm-number to the manufacturer would be great right now!" the blonde clasped her hands together in prayer.

"ERROR FOREIGN AI IS ATTEMPTING TO INFILTRATE THE SYSTEM. INITIATING FIRE WALL"

Meanwhile, Ayana flinched some as the Gartagen started to bleed more, pressing the towel that was meant for her onto his arm to help with staunch the blow as she went to wiggle and pull out another piece, "Just a couple more...and I can heal you." she told him as she looked over at the other woman before just focusing on her own patient and trying to get this metal off of him. "You have anymore more oft hose painkillers that you can take?"

Damion pointed with his good arm to the duffle on the floor, "lobal Rob....edical bluepri.."

"A few." Bronzi said to Aiyana. "Im arite. Worried about yer coin operated boy right there." Aiyana pulled another peice of Metal from Bronzi's arm causing him to wince. "Another day in paradise. Freggin Cyborg whose idea was it to fuse machine and flesh? Thats like medical disaster and machine break down in one box."

"Customer support! Customer support! I need customer support!" Midnight stomped her feet in frustration. Within the mind-bending relm of virtual reality, she was watching as blast-doors and energy walls fell into place, making her pull her virtual-hair in frustration. In meatspace however, she brought her feline ear closer to Daimon, she listening intently as he spoke before launching a web-search of something called Global Robotics.

Damion continued, "ot.....alll...metal biomass to..."

Midnight's searches into the Extranet did not go with out answeres. The Search Engine had traced the company, and then. Suddenly she found the company's design schematic on Damion. ((https://shattered-universe.com/doku.php ... :003_model))

"Alright, two more and I'm worri- coin operated, like those old washer machines or something?" Ayana asked Bronzi, giving another yank and dropped the metal on the table. One more to go. Her eyes looked over at him and then she really was trying to not laugh at the poor frustraited Midnight, so she just hid her face, "One more." she said before yanking and pressing the towel against it. "Ok good, now, this part won't suck at least." Aiyana promised him.

It took her another moment to clear her head for this, but she would press her hand under the now crimson towel and start to justwork on healing him. She wouldn't be able to explain how she did it but the best she could say if asked its like a warm hug- and thats how it felt, warm as she worked on following the blood flow and stiching veins back together and killing off bacteria.

Aiyana would work a solid ten minutes on his gashed up arm, the bleeding having mostly stopped and the wound not looking as bad as it did a few minutes ago. She was wobbling a bit while picking up the bandage roll, "I'll...have to do that again- at least two more times...K." she mumbled, not even looking up at Bronzi anymore as she wrapped and wrapped and then dropped onto the floor like a sack of flour, passing out from the mental drain and not actually stopping her nosebleed like she should have.

Bronzi sat back and simply took the pain. It was a bloody mess for a moment but after adding some bandages, Bronzi was other wise as good as he was going to get.

"Oh! I found the company!" Hilda suddenly stood upright in surprise, only to screw her face up in disgust at what she was looking at. "I have to figure out what model he is?!?!" she shouted in disbelief. "This customer support is lousy!" Rubbing her temples together and staring intently at Daimon, she sent a model request at him while trying to open up a line with the companys customer support. "The info I pulled up so far reads more like an advertisement brochure and doesnt have much of anything useful!"

Damion sent back the request stating, "Please type your product key."

"Product key? Seriously? Is it written on your asshole or something????" Midnight pulled on her ears. "Where? Where is your product key?!?!" She shouted at Daimon.

"Product key is located on your patmet records or in case of purches info lost check the left pectoral plate."

"Product key is located on your patmet records or in case of purches info lost check the left pectoral plate."

"Product key is located on your patmet records or in case of purches info lost check the left pectoral plate."

"Product key is located on your patmet records or in case of purches info lost check the left pectoral plate. Product key is located on your patmet records or in case of purches info lost check the left pectoral plate. Product key is located on your patmet records or in case of purches info lost check the left pectoral plate," Damion continued repeating in a loop.

Bronzi blinked at this unusual exchange.

"Ok! Once is enough, you don't have to keep bombarding me like a shitty old Windowsoft OS!" Midnight shouted back. Grabbing onto the bio-droid's chest, she started opening up his clothing as fast as possible to check for his product key.

Midnight had gotten a hold of Customer service. "Your 003 model cyborg must be malfunctioning. If you ship it to us we will fix any damage it may be sustaining and send it back to you for a fee. Chances are it is an older unit and thus the warrenty may be out of date. In which case, we will require a fee for any and all repairs made. Thank you for your purchase." The message was clearly automated. She had no luck finding the serial number. The plasma bolt that severed Damions arm had seered the flesh on his left pectoral muscle only giving her three of the rather lengthy serial number.

"I would like to speak to a representative! I would like to speak to a representative!" Midnight yelled out into the medbay. At the same time, she desperately checked through the forums of Readit for any feedback and repairs people had done. "Maybe, maybe I can find something on the wider web," she muttered to herself. Praying that it wasnt full of shit-posting, the blonde reached over and picked up the medical scanner that Ayana had previously unboxed. "Give me something, anything!"

"All representatives are currently busy with other customers. You estimated wait time is...twenty minutes. Please enjoy this music," Midnight's head then filled up with some pointless jingle that had no words. A quick look at Damion suggested he did not have twenty minutes as he had just passed out, and was starting to twitch as his electronics began to short out.

The Medical scanner had found something. Lots of things. Damions entire electronic system was shorting out and sparking out one by one. His internal electronic organs were frying out. Like a microwave with tin foil placed into it. The heat and electromagnets from the plasma bolts he had taken were devistating Damions electronic system. His biological system is currently the only thing keeping him alive, though it is on the verge of a heart attack.

"Ohnnoooooooooo!!!!" Midnight cried out in horror. "He's gonna have a heart attack! He's gonna - " freezing solid at the sight of the passed out Ayana. "Wake up! Wake up please!" she jerked the elf upright, shaking her frantically. "Use your space magics and fix that part at least!"

Bronzi was holding Aiyana, preventing her from falling onto the floor and busting her head open. "Eh. She does that sometimes when she uses her psionics."

Bronzi just sat and let Aiyana rest on her. Bronzi looked at Damion. Unfortunetly the ship did not have a true doctor. Bronzi certainly could not afford one. "Triage." Bronzi said. "Not to sound like a cold prick. But if yer can't save em....best thing may be to help em along the way? Fuckin sucks but like were runnin out of tiem."

"What? No!" Midnight protested, indignant that he would even suggest something like that. "If I just gave up and let him die, the guilt would, would - " Freezing in thought for the briefest of moments, the Taianese womans mind went into overclock mode as she imagined the crew hurling insults and abuse at her for failing to save this....whoever it was. "I can't possibly give up!" Looking through the medbay and the net, she feverishly searched for something, anything that would prevent Damion's blood from clotting and killing his heart.

Bronzi nodded. He couldnt fix the cyborg. if anybody could it was Midnight. "Quit bitching then and do something. Or let him die. You are either the medic or yer not."

Hilda located a large crate that was filled with Space Asprin. The medication would thin the blood that was in Damions body and buy him a little time. She could break it down and inject it into him directly, which she did immediately.

Aiyana was not fully with it, her head was pounding and everyone sounded far away from her. She knew she was being held up so she at least didn't hit the floor but she felt like someone had given her a slight case of whip lash due to her neck being a little sore.

Her eyes opened slightly as she heard the panicked sounds and voices, knowing she needed to help but she felt drunk basically and would just roll her head back to stare up at Bronzi with a mild confused look on her face at what was going on right now.

"Ok, ok, that'll buy some time," Midnight nervously chattered to herself. "Come on, what does the scouter say?" she quickly pulled up the medical devices screen again. She needed to figure out the most imminent, dangerous things to the bio-bots life first, and then work her way up from there. Unfortunately, the scanner was reading much the same. Critical systems' failure. But damions blood pressure and heart readings were starting to stabilize. The problem was clearly in his electronics, and it caused his regenerative capabilitie to fail.

"Come on! I just solved his meat problem, and now his cyber stuff is no good?!" the Taianese woman cried out in disbelief. Rubbing her temples again, she reached out into the vast void of degeneracy that was the data-net and looked for any information she could to fix up. "Do I need to do wire patching? Or maybe youre low on power or something?" Looking through the scanner, Midnight tried searching out a damaged reactor, or maybe something easy that she could reconnect with a bit of wire and soder.

The scanner beeped and flickered. Power readings all over his body were irregular. some of his systems were getting alot of power otheres were getting zero. Then lighting up. switching off. This is what was causing the shorts.

"Short circuts. He's shorting out, I need a too - " Once again, Midnight found herself freezing stiff as she realized what was all around her. The medbay was an absolute mess where they were just stuffing things away. A toolkit was easy. But now that she had it? She just stared at the bio-bot with dread. "Do-it-yourself-cyber-surgery....great." Taking in a deep breath, the Taianese woman searched up what she could before diving in to clear the shorted circuts.

Damion wasn't able to speakbut the pain at this point was hard to deal with not nearly being able to to do much in the way of helping he began to click his optical lenses as dim as they were on and off. Keying out inmorse code 'let me go it's ok if you can't save me you tried but im to old to save. end the pain.'

Bronzi stood, andscouped Aiyana up in his arms as if she was nothing more than a rag doll. "Fuck." Bronzi as he heard Damion plead to be left to die. Unfortunatly Bronzi would never be okay with that. Midnight likely wouldnt either. "That don't compute metal dick." Bronzi growled. "Were gonna figger this shit out.

More circutry on Damion began shorting out. The power to his electronics where there but it was all over the place. Unregulated and going wild. Midnight was frantically searching for information when customer service had finally gotten back to her.

"In the event that your old 003 model becomes badly damaged, you can sever the spinal cord at the base of the neck this will paralize the model but stop the regeneration fuction freeing up its other operating systems until you can properly repair it.

Was this answer helpful?
[yes] [no]"

An automated response, but it was something.

Damion would Begin to bink his eyes in another response to bronzi 'okay well if I dont make it out of this situation tell Aiyana I love her.'

Aiyana wouldn't protest to being lifted but she would lift a hand to rest it against Bronzi to keep the falling sensation away. She knew she needed to basically sober up but her head hurt too damn much to do anything.

Turning her head slightly, she could see Damion on the table, he still had a holy head and his arm was shit and from the sounds his functions were going. The elf couldn't say much but even as much as it would pain her, she had slowly gotten used to loosing people she cared about. It didn't stop the hurt but she knew how to bottle it up, "Don't...let him suffer." she told Bronzi, her head moving to lean against Bronzi's chest as she worked on just not showing anything at the moment.

It was at that last moment. The moment that Damion proclaimed his love for Aiyana, that his eyes blew out. Biomechanical fluid sprayed out of his eye holes and mouth all over Midnight. He went limp, and flopped liflessly accross the table. One last power surge had hit his central processor. His mechanical vital signs went dark, and his biologicals were now one by one fading off into the darkness. There was nothing more Midnight could do.....

"What do you mean you love her? Didn't you two just meet or something like th - " Wrist deep in bio-droid gore, the blonde suddenly found herself painted red as the cybernetic organisms eyeballs exploded like water balloons. The coating of blood, bits of metal and flesh completely drowned out the creamy tones of her skin as well as golden blonde hair. For a time, she was simply left standing there in silence, eyes wide.

Bronzi looked down at Aiyana, and turned, carrying her out of the Medbay. "I'll be back. Gonna put her in her quarters..." He grumbled.

Astilla eventually stumbled into the medbay with a shirt on (for once), before looking around, "Hey, have you seen Bronzi?.....And why does it smell like something crawled in here and died, did Stoat cook something again?"


* IN THE KITCHEN *
((https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyx6JDQCslEBig
Big Stoat loomed over the ship's stove, and was steady cooking some kind of stew. "Yeeea. Meat, meat, and more meat! Its a little rotten but fuck it! Just gonna addd some protien shakeeee....miixxxx...Fuck yea! THEN IM GONNA LIFT!"

One of the ship Bu Qi was watching Big Stoat make his meal. "Yea! Lets lift bro!" It exclaimed with a squealing voice.

Stoat didn't even pause. "AY. Chill before I high five your ass in to the deck, OKAY?!"



Back in Medbay

The elf was just quiet, flinching at the sounds as she hid her face some. This was her luck wasn't it? She needed a shower and maybe a half a bottle of pain killers or a hammer to knock her out but she kept that bit to herself.

The next voice made her head pound a little bit, her hand lifting to press against her temple slightly, "I'll brush up on robotics...something...so I'm not so useless with them." she told Bronzi, mildly feeling like it was her fault since she didn't know the mechanics well.

Ayana was placed in Bronzi bed. "Get some rest. Nothing we can do now. I'll go make sure Damion isn't used for spare parts or...toss out of the garbage disposal lock. "Luh. His last words were about...being sorry for dyin." Bronzi said lying to Aiyana.

Bronzi couldnt tell her. He knew she tended to internalize everything. Likely knowing that Damion's feelings for her are what got him killed, and AIyana would never live that down. Bronzi decided to at least let her have a break for a time. Eventually he would tell her, but with it being so fresh and her not being in her right mind, now simply was not the time.

The warmth of the room felt good to her right now and when he laid her down, she just curled up and nodded before a small smile tugged at the corner of her lips before fading, "That sounds like him...fuck..." she said with a groan as she rolled onto her front to now just hide her bloodied face.

She had been far too out of it to really hear what Damion had said, so she believed Bronzi but the man also was right, she tended to just keep everything to herself and rarely shared anything. It took a fair amount of effort to get any information about her past out of her with how deep she had it buried, "Thank you, for trying though." Aiyana told him as she sighed, "I'll heal your arm more later...my head hurts too much right now to do anything at the moment." Aiyana told him apologetically.

Bronzi reached down with one of the spare towels he had laying around. He wiped Aiyana's face clean. "Yea. Ill be back later. Gotta take care of the ship."

Astilla was looking over Damion,s dead body before looking at midnight "So you think I could pull out the metal bits from this thing to make some body armor? Whatever this is isn't using it anymore."

That made her wrinkle her nose a little at him wiping her face, "I look like I lost a fight with a guy don't I?" she asked him, a slight joke in her tone as she pulled the blankets over her small body to warm up now- that honestly wouldn't take long given how warm this room was.

"Ain't tha first time ya looked like that," Bronzi said having turned about. to walk out of the room. "Tell ya what. I'll teach ya how to handle a gun or somethin. That away ya don't gotta stress ya self out using yer magics."

"No...it won't be the last time either." she told him. Hearing that made her smile some, "Thanks I'd like to be better with a gun but least magic is always there- even if it hurts after a time." Aiyana told him as she curled and snuggled into his bed, already drifting off, "Thanks Bronzi." she told him softly before actually falling asleep and not just fainting.

"Yea." Bronzi said calmly. "Alright Imma go do something with that poor borg."

"Alright, don't let them scrap him...would have pissed him off." Aiyana said sleepily but there was a slight chuckle in her tone as she dozed.

"That's fair," And like that Bronzi was gone. No words of romance. No attempt to cuddle up with her. He just went on about his day and left Aiyana to rest. He was heading back to medical. The Gartagen guessed that Midnight was likely having a weird...melt down where she was some how turned on yet upset, and happy about being upset.

He was right.

"Nooooo! I couldnt save him!" Midnight finally cried out a few minutes later, coming to her senses before falling to her knees in tears. "Its not my fault, I swear! I did everything I could," the woman wailed with guilt. "Please dont hate me!" she began to tug and pull on her feline ears, tail bottle-brushed in distress. "Or give me mean, angry glances all the time for my failure," the masochistic woman began to fantasize. " - or, or, constantly hurl abuse my way for letting - " Right then and there, the buxom blonde paused in thought and blinked, her face still caked with blood. "Wait. What was his name again?"

On the Bridge

Ilya glanced over at Sura with an exasperated look. "Just another day, eh?" He commented with a sigh.

Blair's soft voice chimed over the comms to the bridge from engineering, "Bloody hell. We need parts, why do I only have duct tape and spite?"

Sura stood at the engineering kiosk on the starport ide of the bridge monitoring the ship's power core and engines. They had spent some time cooking for lift off, and while she admitted it was a bit faster than she was comfortable with, the situation had expeditated the matter to the point that they needed to go. "A pretty screwed up one." Sura said wrinkling her nose at Illya's comment, unsure if he was being sarcastic. "We are lucky to have the duct tape. But money is in short supply these days. All the major governments are internalizing their markets, which leaves us freelance workers with hard times." Sura's taloned hand danced over the kiosk controls. "Okay, lift off sequence is complete. I'm readjusting power for escape velocity. The core should hold it together. But it's only running at 43%...."

Monika emerged from a small closet that had its door removed, taking a large headset off of her head "The fuck just happened? Our trails look like two whales screaming death metal and anyone on a sensor screen with half a brain cell can see us."

Sura did not even stop working the console. She just spoke as Monika entered the room. "Nothing. We are broke, and need money to get the ship worked over."

Ilya turned his head slightly towards Monika, a golden glowing eye looking over the Reichwoman with some sarcastic bemusement, "You missed the Plasma works. Blair's just whining, it's not like it was with the Fǔzhù Jūnshi. We can hope to get some of the parts we need to fix things to reduce our emissions but, I don't think we're trying to be stealthy.. unless you have a bounty we're not aware of. At least, you aren't on Alastor's board from what I can see."

Monika scoffed, "Don't get us shot down and please don't break the ship. It's already enough my shower is never warm." The Reichfrau continued to complain in her own language before she put herself back into her converted closet. "Gods it is busy up there..."

"Again." Sura sighed as she continued monitering the reactor. "No bounties have been being posted. As for the shower, you are lucky we have that. It took me a week to get life support to even collect the H2O runoff from the power core and send it to the ship's pumping system."

She then turned to Monika. "Now if you want, you can help us. Manage the sensor Kiosk and tell us what's up in space. Or, go sit in the mess. Complaining isn't going to fix any of our problems."

"Looks like a war zone up there. The local Duke's fleet is fanning out to meet some Gartagen ships claiming to be loyal to Bhelith The Blackspear. Did you fix the IFF transmitter?" Monika was working like she was a part of the sensors, almost making it work to her will.

"Kinda!" Blair chirped through the commslink. "It's not sparking and not bending at that weird angle anymore! That foil and ducttape was more helpful than I thought it would be." She muttered something in a mix of Elven and Kirshiral under her breath.

"Turn it on, see if we can spoof those old barges to make us look like a freighter. That and I doubt we'll outgun them." Monika hit a pair of switches, bringing up ranging circles for a number of things and about a dozen different readouts of audio that played in her headset.

There was a uncomfortable pause before Blair replied, "Eh, if you say so." There was a loud beeping noise and shuffling before a more affirmative ping came through the line. "I got the extinguisher just in case. Should work, now. A nod's as guid as a wink tae a blind horse, I guess."

"That's the one thing we've got actually. The plasma banks are fully operational, and the Soliton Torpedo launcher is fully prepped and ready to fire." Sura said. "The IFF transmitter is working."

The Chimera was moving up through the atmosphere and was having little trouble maintaining speed.

Ilya rubbed his chin and considered their work situation and his desire to have some money for things like food and maybe find a hot date, "When we get into Alliance space, I'll check the Alastor private job board for something we can handle. Since Blair and I are still in good standing on union dues, it should be enough for us to be covered by the bounty insurance."

Monika continued to monitor the transmitter. "As long as this is on and no one gets way too close, we are an old Alliance built tramp freighter. For some reason it already has a name attached to it. Where the fuck did we get this?" She stood up with a sigh, "I'm going to take a nap. Wake me when either the transmitter breaks and we're on fire, or when dinner is ready."

Cargo Bay

Irkalla Nindukugga Sapurtum Lochs glowing blue eyes swept across the expanse of the Chimeras main cargo hold, where the Kishargal had decided she would make her living quarters. At nine foot and two inches tall, she towered over everyone on the ship, and so also was actually taller than the deck height of the ship, causing her to have to crouch or hunch pretty much everywhere save for the larger spaces, such as this. She was used to cramped and uncomfortable ships with little personal privacy, so this did not really bother her in the least.

She had a corner where she had slung her cot and worked out a barrier of canvas strung on a series of ropes to make private space for herself. Now she sat herself on a crate and ran a hand through her long mane of glowing silver hair, brushing it away from her tanned face.

She had just hired on to the Chimera, what in all she was going to do as part of this crew, she had yet to really find out, but it was an opportunity to get off the rock she had been stuck on for a while and earn some much needed coin. As a former gunner in Her Majesties Royal Navy, she was skilled and experianced in shipboard life and its hardships. She was battle worn, her scarred body told of that.

Stretching her scarred arms over her head, enjoying the feeling of working out the tense muscles in her arms and back, her climbing claws sliding out as she went to the full extent of her stretch before she relaxed. Irkalla glanced down at her few belongings, a travel case with her clothing, kit and few personal effects, the box with her two space service pistols and their tools and ammunition, then her two specialized large powered gauntlets and the serrated great sword she carried for close encounters.

She stood and strapped on her gun belts, then strapped down her cases and packs, securing them to the deck for safety. She had been aboard ships too long and aboard those with unsecure cargo getting tossed around during a maneuver or emergency and had no intention to be the cause of the chaos from that.

She shrugged as she strapped on her gun belts on and slipped her pistols into their holsters along with her small powder horn and pouch of extra energy shells onto their spots on her belt. It was not that she expected to get into a fight, but she did not know the people on this ship yet and her safety came first, always.

She slipped out of her partitioned off space and started to explore the area around her new living space.

There was a distant yet quiet noise of someone talking to herself in a very weird Bundesduetsche dialect, filled with slang terms and nonsensical sounding syllables. Something metal dropped and her voice grew ten times in volume and shriek out very angry words.

Very angry. "Wenn ich eine andere Munitionskiste ungesichert finde, bin ich ... verdammt noch mal verletzt!" She sighed her thickly accented basic trade coming out if force, "These are rare rifles, I'm lucky I even could find them in the first place!"

OOC: This is not the current plot thread. The current thread is here and takes place after this pad thread: https://publishwith.me/lNH6LERqXZ