The Vesk made perfect sense, and it seems obvious enough that they've learned their lessons, for now. He responds to their surrender with affirmation, and sends out a signal to the fighters to stand-down. After this, he tries to get in contact with the those in charge planet-side to let them know of the current situation.
The security forces instruct the Revenge and crew to stand guard; within a an hour or so, official Zothune security forces have arrived on the scene with tugs to pull in the various lifeboats, and the evacuation proceeds full speed.
Your mission is completed!
Level up.
Noted; odds are you'll probably state near WBL, though.
The future is uncertain.
Sharlavaka walks toward rental quarters in Vul Faldihr old city, excavated in the mountain by the original Dwarven miners long ago. It's kind of a seedy area these days; Gardathir recruits heavily from here, and many less desirable types can be found in the area as well. A young Dwarf with an eye for other people's cred sticks looks at the Vesk warrior briefly, then decides it's not worth the risk. Sharlavaka looked like he meant business.
Knocking on the ancient steel door built from the bulkhead of an unknown starship, the Vesk waits briefly before the door opens.
Otis opens the door and sees his ship-mate. "Old friend" seemed more appropriate; though they'd not known each other long, the former crew of the Revenge of Vera Gemini had all been through alot together. Notably, the death of their captain Olivia Quinn.
Otis looked tired, his eyes puffy and sunken. Sharlavaka noted Irina's bag sitting on a chair by the vid-screen.
"Hey, buddy. Good to see you."
Isis enters the room, greets Otis, and gives a standard Vesk greeting to Sharlavaka. Her accent needs work, probably because all her teeth fit in her mouth.
Glancing over at the bag, Sharlavaka considered the situation for a moment. It was...interesting to note that the tall Vesk soldier looked a little different to how he had before there last mission. His massive laser had been re-mounted onto a shoulder point on the right, an aiming rig attached to his left arm to allow him to keep his hands free for other things, although both had been powered down. His tools were now attached to harnesses and belts around his armour.
Most notably, the left pauldron of his armour was in a red flag that reached halfway down his arm to the elbow. The flag itself bears the logo and the name of the Revenge of the Vera Gemini on it.
Glancing over at the Isis for a moment, he nodded to Otis. "Likewise." The taciturn Vesk looked around the inside of the vessel, considering. "Preparation status?"
Isis enters the room, greets Otis, and gives a standard Vesk greeting to Sharlavaka. Her accent needs work, probably because all her teeth fit in her mouth.
Glancing over at the Isis for a moment, he nodded to Otis. "Likewise." The taciturn Vesk looked around the inside of the vessel, considering. "Preparation status?"
"It's official, Quinn willed the ship to me, of all people. I guess because I've been with her the longest."
"I was thinking about what you suggested, about the ship. If it's true and we are actually getting a new ship, I'd be fine with your idea." Otis says.
Irina walks out of the fresher station, soaking wet and wearing a towel.
"Oh!" she says, looking a little embarrassed. "Didn't realize we had company. YOU. Didn't realize YOU had company."
Then sheepishly, "Hey Shar."
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Isis cycled the Exsilium's airlock, embarked, and found the intercom. "Ship computer, locate Captain ul-Khedim."
Sharlavaka nodded. "Confirmed it earlier. Shall be crewing the Exsilium, along with Eshenvral Kothiavus and Isis-149. New crewman, too. New captain." The Vesk made an uncertain noise in the back of his throat. He was clearly uncertain about that idea.
Looking aside for a moment, he continued, "Remembering is important. A lot has been done. If not for her actions, our actions, the Revenge, then the planet would have fallen. Win or lose, the memory should remain. And the chance that things can be changed."
It was probably the longest speech anyone had heard the Soldier say.
"Right, then. I'll notify Esh to start getting his stuff ready for transport. I think he's aboard Revenge right now."
Isis cycled the Exsilium's airlock, embarked, and found the intercom. "Ship computer, locate Captain ul-Khedim."
She's bringing a suitcase and wearing her backpack.
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G-CUBE RESEARCH LOG: Video feed 027
"Hm."
The elf stared at the terrarium in front of him, glasslike and opaque. it was almost completely sealed, even it's lid had a complex mechanism to it which allowed no space for air to get in. Or anything to get out, for that matter. Inside of it was a green mass, which wriggled about like a cube of jello. A small metal sphere was in the center.
"I'm detecting no acidic deterioration of the computer's casing, the bio-chemical energy transference seems to be in optimal condition as well. There appears to have been no issue with the synchronization process either. The electrical signals seem to have been tuned correctly, subject 4 has maintained it's solidity as well as it's autonomous properties."
He steps to the side, and the cube careens itself within the box to face him again. "It recognizes me. The imaging data seems to have been loaded correctly."
He waves his hand, bringing up a holographic interface that details his notes in full. Behind him is another terrarium, this one filled with white lab mice. "It's ready to undergo a full test of it's recognition and logic centers. I don't want subject 4 to start eating our new captain, after all."
A mouse was lifted from the terrarium with a simple spell, and the locks of the cube's chamber unsealed. "Positive and negative reinforcement training begin."
VIDEO END.
. . .
He leaned back in his chair, enjoying a moment to himself and away from all the non-elves of this world. A minute where he could be free of his mask, free to comfortably express himself naturally. Though, if he was honest with himself, there really was little difference between his cold outside personality and his cool inside one.
At the very least, he could scratch his nose without anyone around him to judge.
"<It's done. Ready for live testing, and just in time.>" He muttered, comfortable in his natural language most of all. On the floor nearby, subject 4, which he has nicknamed "Fluber" for the way it flubbed about, was doing it's namesake proud. Skirting around on his room's floor in search of stray particles of dirt and other debris. He didn't have to worry about it going after anything and everything within range by now.
With a humm, he flopped his head to the side as he watched it move. "<To think that ancient Gollorian mages had made ever created something so inherently dangerous without a mind to it's own at all. How foolish of them. Did they really just expect it to crawl through tunnels endlessly, without risk at all? Or perhaps they just left them underground as some cruel form of pitfall trap. Nonsense. Well,"
With a thought,a wireless connection formed with the creature's 'brain'. A simple yet steady readout of information flowed through to him. "<Technology always did pick up the slack where magic failed.>"
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Setting the final braking loop around his figure 8, Thalin let himself turn slowly, looking out over the landscape. Above him, only another hundred feet or so of mountain. Below him, the mines and settlement. To his left, the red glow to strong to look at, less diffused at this altitude by the last remaining vestiges of the wall of steam rising just past the edge of habitability. To his right, the unforgiving black and white of the unbroken night, and the icy wastes it has produced.
He ignores the chatter of his companion climbers as he considers what lies before them. "This is the balance of nature. Every system plays out the same drama. Every world exists somewhere along the line. Most habitable worlds hide how narrow the our options are by spinning. They delude us into relaxing with their reassurances that there is an endless supply of places we can be. This is the truth. The narrow band of what we can take is so much smaller, so much more rare than we are willing to admit. How can we give up the little that we have? Why would we?"
The dwarf, environmentally sealed in his armor, continues dangling near the top of the mountain, reveling in the power of nature, and the miracle that it provides any places for his kind for nearly an hour before beginning his descent. "Right. 'Nuff thinkin'. Time ta go home. Let's get started." The small climbing crew gets their hands and feet on the rock, again, and even through his suit, gloves, and boots, the dwarf again feels connected to the very root of the planet.
"There are just so many of the blasted Azlanti. How do we get them to not kill everyone? Not destroy the little we've built so that they can have the mines? The narrow piece nature has given us is too valuable to just give away like that."
Isis cycled the Exsilium's airlock, embarked, and found the intercom. "Ship computer, locate Captain ul-Khedim."
The computer is silent, and the sound of a ship-board defensive weapon clicking into place catches Isis' ears. Almost too late, she remembers Gardathir policy to enter your biometrics into the print-scanner before speaking. She activates it just in time.
The computer's voice responds. "Welcome aboard, Gardath! The Captain is not currently aboard."
Tamrat pilots jumps the small personal shuttle that had brought him from orbit to a landing pad near the Exsilium. A bystander might hear him say into a small commlink, "Tabitha, you made sure my local connection's good to go? Info checks out? How bout that infosphere link?" He pauses as he hears the response and then says, "How about that deluxe..." He is cut off before saying indignantly, "What do you mean no deluxe hover suite? Ridiculous! Anyway, gotta go Tabs, ping me again when you've gotten some lodgings sorted."
He then stands outside of the ship. He'd been given directions to the ship, but not much else. Without anything better to do he yells,
The elf was, by now, going through the halls and making sure each light was turned off, everything was unpowered. Slung around his shoulders was his industrial bag filled with all his things and tools that weren't bolted down as part of the ship itself. He knew that Vera was more then capable of turning things off within herself remotely, but there was something almost ritualistic about doing it in person.
Trailing behind him was the cube, stopping when he stopped, and zipping along as soon as he started moving again. It wasn't particularly fast as far as organisms go, barely above a walking pace, but it certainly moved faster then it's much heavier progenitor did. When it was time to leave the ship proper, it's terrarium sat snugly within his pack as well.
"Vera." He spoke aloud, to get the AI's attention. "Is there anything I've missed on this level?"
The thought of leaving behind such a magnificent example of computer technology was probably the most upsetting thing about this.
Oh, you heard him.
"Vera." He spoke aloud, to get the AI's attention. "Is there anything I've missed on this level?"
"Negative; you've been very meticulous, as usual, dear," the AI commented.
Isis, hearing Tamrat's yell, cycled the lock and peered outside. "I'm in here."
Mysticism check to know of Ifrit 1d20+6
Success.
Call it "afternoon," though Zothune is tide-locked, so there is no true day/night cycle, just a standard based on mining shifts.
"You must be Tamrat ul-Khedim. I was told you'd be our new Captain. So nice to make your acquaintance. Isis-149."She further says “Morgrym sent me. I’m your pilot. I hope we work well together, Captain. Can you show me to my assigned quarters?”
Tamrat is a handsome ifrit man, small horns that jut from his forehead and jet black hair framing his face. He wears a pair of sunglasses, behind which are visible two smoldering eyes. He wears a well-made ballistic weave jacket over a d-suit and an absurdly large pistol at his hip.
”Well hey there Isis, name’s Tamrat ul-Khedim. You probably know me, I’m the lead field reporter for the Stellar War Report. Let’s see, you might’ve seen my coverage of the mutant wars on Satriani V. And damn, who could forget that headline story on the Vesk 8 dropsite massacre.”
Sharalvaka nodded. "I shall begin at once." He began to turn, then paused and looked over his shoulder. "If you wish to visit her, I shall send you the codes so that you may do so." The Vesk walked out of the door, quietly closing it as his helmet clinked back up into position.
~~~~~~~~
There are many ways to make sure no one could disturb a vessel. Sharalvaka was a simple being - a soldier, a killer. He understood fortifications, entrenchment and sieges. He understood that to defend a position, there were three ways to defend it - overwhelming force, making it impossible to find and making sure no would wish to find it.
The physical frame of the Revenge of the Vera Gemini sat in what had once been a drydock. This particular one had been damaged during the attack by the Azlant, hit by a stray shot, and was almost useless now. Cheaper to build something newer and more modern. It doors, rumour would say, had been slagged by the shot. They were certainly a single lump of immovable metal now, the machinery a molten puddle that may or may not have been thermite.
Now there was a single door that could be accessed, and that door would be...exciting for anyone who entered the improper code. It led to the Revenge's airlock, which was also...exciting for anyone who wasn't authorised.
Moving through the corridors was a simple matter - if you knew what you were doing, and had the codes. If you didn't...well, there were clues everywhere, before things got 'exciting'. None of them were actually going to work, of course, but they would give anyone who invaded the ship a brief moment of hope before the 'excitement' started.
And now that the ship was safe, and would never be disturbed, Shalavaka dismissed those who had aided him - and been paid well for not speaking of it - he stood in the last place he needed to be.
Standing in the medical bay, before the stasis chamber that held the body of Captain Quinn, Sharlavaka bowed his head. "I am sorry." the Vesk whispered softly to the immobile body within. "I could not protect you. Could not save you when you fell. Another failure in the line of failures." He breathed out, slowly. "Not my fault. Impossible to predict. But the blame is still mine. My job to keep you safe. My task to die. Not yours."
Shuddering, Vesk reached down and picked up the last of his things. "Could not save your life, but can keep your memory alive. The brave Captain Quinn whose ship defend the planet. The crew of the Revenge, who followed her and claimed the tools to defend this world. The ship that fought off the might of Azlant. And her captain." Turning, he paused for a moment. "Legends willsay that the Revenge mysteriously vanished. Maybe one day she'll return, with her captain at the helm. A good story. Way it should have been. A good story can replace reality, with enough time."
Hauling the bag with his possessions over one shoulder, Sharlavaka walked out of the medbay, the door sealing itself behind him. As he walked traps and weapons beeped, armed and deployed, ready to make sure that Quinn could rest in peace. It had taken a lot of cash, a lot of resources to pull off, but Sharlavaka had a few favours to cash in. Literally.
He didn't look back. Didn't pause to look around at the only home he'd had in years. The Revenge could not be a tomb, a legend and a home at the same time, and it was a cost he was willing to pay.
He did pause, just before he stepped out the airlock. "Keep her safe. Do not fail as I did." He left the ship, and had no intention of returning.
~~~~~~
Walking into the new vessel, Sharlavaka paused, tilting his head as the reporter introduced himself and listed his achievements. "Yes," he said simply. "I remember." The Vesk did not give any hints as to whether it was the event or the headline that he recalled.
"I am Sharlavaka. Gunnery officer."
As he comes aboard Isis advises ul-Khedim to enter his biometrics into the print-scanner, hoping he’s in the system, and reminds Sharlavaka.
Since Tamrat doesn’t know the ship either, Isis does some exploring. The bunks are all identical, but she picks the one closest to the galley, since she likes to cook. (Although the Life Science lab has proven useful when she’s trying out a new recipe, and is where she home brews intoxicants.)
Once properly introduced and having set her suitcase on her bunk, Isis says “I’m going to go check out the helm.” After acquainting herself with the piloting controls, she slots her credstick into the ship’s computer and downloads a file from the EtherNet. Then she puts on ‘trodes and further downloads it into her computer brain. Then she deletes all record of it. Then she repeats the process and downloads the language Ignan, leaving a record of the transaction.
Isis learned two things a long time ago about keeping people at ease: Social beings like it when you remember their name, and people are more comfortable with their native tongue.
"Eshenvral Kothiavus." Spoke the elf, having left the Revenge himself scant moments after the Vesk. His mask was secure on his face once more, the contnets of his face still as much a mystery now to his companions as it was the first day they met. "Science officer, for all things that entails. I have no idea who you are nor your achievements, but that doesn't matter. What does is what we'll be achieving together from now on. That will be how I come to know you."
Shouldering his bag onto the ground, he unzipped the largest compartment to draw out a glass box. Inside, the green cube he had nursed back to life wobbled. "I bring a gift for you and the ship. Flubber, you are to obey the orders from our captain at priority level <2>." He himself was priority 1, as was appropriate.
Esh pressed it into the captain's arms without waiting for a response. "Do not allow it to die. It's providing valuable research data for me after all."
"Hail t' ship!" The dwarf calling out looks like a sloppy mess spilling out from under the professional pack he's wearing, but the pack is perfectly neat and organized. He stands as though he doesn't feel the weight of the pack, chewing on a formed protein bar while he waits for a response.
Once he gets one . . .. "I'm Thalin. Thalin Shieldbearer. Told ya need sum he'p. I'm uh scout. I'll git there 'n' back 'n' tell ya whut I saw. Land, Sea, Air, Space, makes no matter. I'll do most anythin' ya might need on t' ship, too. 'Cept play wit' t' sensors. Ain't as good as yer own two eyes. Can't trust 'em."
He'll wait until a door opens, or he's invited in, or whatever. Unless he isn't. <evil grin>
"So, where's muh bunk? Who's in charge? When's dinner, 'n' whut's t' plan?"
Tamrat ul-Khedim looks down at his crew manifest:
Isis-149 - Pilot, Check
Eshenvral Kothiavus - Science Officer, Check
Thalin Shieldbearer - Weapons Officer, Check
Sharlavaka - Security Chief, Gunner, Check
Otis Crembly - Engineer, Not Present
Engineering Assistant Requested - Not Present
Irina Mandivitz - Medic, Not Present
You're still missing your engineering and medical staff, seemingly.
Esh gets a message on his computer station in the Arcane Lab. It’s a virtual greeting card: “Thinking of You”.
Retracting the armour on his hand, Sharlavaka enters his print-scan before he got into a fight with the new ship.
A not unattractive human male approaches.
He is strapped to a rather large backpack and has an oversized cargo case in tow, festooned with all manner of crest and logo.
Can someone help me find an Otis Crembly? I'm to report to him as Assistant Engineer.
My manners, sorry... James Maxwell, reporting for duty. Then a sheepish grin, as he tussles the shock of hair upon his head.
But, you can call me... Joyride .
Eshenvral remains unaware of the pending message for the time being, still in the process of acquainting himself with he ship's biometrics and it's captain. "Otis... Sharlavaka, you were the one who saw him and Irene last weren't you? They are coming along, correct?"
"Yes," Sharlavaka replied, looking at the new recruit as his gauntlet reformed. "They intended to arrive soon." Tapping at the airlock console, he brought up a schematic that showed the way to the cabins they had been assigned. "James Maxwell. I am Sharlavaka." He pointed to the cabin the assitant had been assigned. "Would suggest stowing gear and touring the ship."
James looks from the Elf to the... Reptilian. Then quickly his eyes devour the ship's schematic.
Transport, hunh... I like the lines. Pretty much do whatever you want on the inside. I helped customize a few of these, their systems at least.
Every now and then you get the occasional weirdo that wants a giant fishbowl or something. Whistling, his indeed finger makes tight circles near his temple, before he takes hold of his gear once more.
Thank you, Sharlavaka. You too... He heads down the corridor, towards his assigned quarters.
Tamrat raises his eyebrows when Eshenvral shoves to ooze into his arms, "Do you go around giving everyone oozes, or is that just for me?"
Once Joyride shows up, Tamrat says to him, "You are the Engineering Assistant that was requested, yes? If so, I believe you are in the right place. I am Tamrat ul-Khedim, from the Stellar War Report. Good chance you've heard of me. I am, as of quite recently, the captain of this vessel."
"You'll be the first." he informs. The cube ripples within it's confines. "Oh look. It tolerates your existence. How wonderful."
He reshoulders his bag. "Where is the central computer housed? I need to make sure it's properly set up."
Sharlavaka tapped the screen again, changing the display to show the computer core. "There." A gleaming claw pointed at the screen. "Map works," he noted after a moment.
"Noted." He hummed with approval, the closest he usualy let's to thanking others. "I will be there if needed, Captain."
As he turns down the corridor, he mentally pings the container causing it's seals to pop open in release. Flubber flops graciously to the floor with a splat, but otherwise remains unharmed.
James' attention is drawn to the Ifrit, literally "devil" in several languages. And, ul-Khedim, "servant" makes for an interesting captain... servant leadership, indeed.
Thank you, Captain. With your permission, may I familiarize myself with ship systems? I like to add value, early and often.
Stellar War Report, yes. I've... heard of them. And, you're virtually a household name and face. Are you still with them?
A little while ago, James had done a little work for that outfit... supplying them with information for an expose. Politicians and their petty schemes while lives and families are on the line. Corruption. Good deed and the money was decent.