Cas cleared his throat and tried to regain a bit of composure now that there was not a lady in a low-cut dress leaning over the bar in front of him. He finally seemed to realize just how close Velocity was and took a nervous and jerky step away.
"Tin-man, a little tip, the rest of us find each other as unusual as you do, we just hide it better. Now, as for the fact that she has enough pull to get our assignments swapped, that's really weird."
Everyone's comms chirp for a moment, notifying you of the change in orders tomorrow morning.
"It's- I- Uh, sorry," Cas manages and quickly drains the last of his ale. "I'm not good at this kind of thing."
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[dice=Perception]1d20+7
"It's- I- Uh, sorry," Cas manages and quickly drains the last of his ale. "I'm not good at this kind of thing."
you'll do fine. its all about having fun. Velocity says to encourage Cas, dragging him by the hand to the dance floor.
As she is dancing with Cas, she glances at Bagit, Come on Solider-boy, you ain't gettin off that easy! Get yer butt out here with us.
The bar's playlist cuts off just as Cas is dragged onto the dance floor, replaced by a something with a quick backbeat. Several patrons clap as the kasatha woman takes the stage with a microphone in hand. Right on cue, she begins singing a pop style song about kicking off one's boots and putting on their dancing shoes.
Many of the patrons applaud and several take to the dance floor either alone or in pairs. A few file out, clearly not in the mood for dance music. Twelve continues wiping down the bar with her awful fake smile.
Cas feels a tap on his shoulder. The tall and lanky human man from the night before is leering at Velocity and elbows Cas, "Hey, Sickboy, lemme cut in, huh? Least you could do since you jerks owe me." He winks at Velocity.
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Velocity was not sure how to respond, she did not want to dance with that guy, but Bagit came to "save the day"
I really would not want to deny Bagit fun as well. maybe another time. she says trying to politely decline and decides to enjoy her time with Cas.
she does give an appreciative smile to Bagit.
Isaac sipped his juice while observing the organics move and sway to the music. He attempted to run a comparison between the movements of the lifeforms on the dance floor and known dances in his cultural database. Despite containing many forms of dance from multiple different worlds, including one from a pre-gap civilization known as 'The Electric Slide', he was not able to find an exact match. Further each being appeared to be moving independently from the others without any discernible pattern, though a few couples appeared to be taking nonverbal cues from each other. While he should in theory be able to reproduce most routines known to him with android precision, Isaac suspected this form of dance required a level of improvisation he was not sure he was capable of mastering.
Finishing his drink he looked around for the android server who was busy bussing tables. Standing, he decided to try speaking to her again. "It is clear my earlier inquires upset you," he said as he approached her, "though I am not sure why. It was not my intention to do so and I wish to apologize. I find social interactions... difficult," he continued, "I had hoped I would find them easier with others of my kind but it appears this is not the case."
Twelve stands frozen, staring at Isaac for several awkward seconds. Finally she responds, "I believe there is a significant chance that Mercenary Soren is going to attempt to punch your comrade with augmentations."
On the dance floor, Bagit whisks Velocity away from the tall human who sneers. He grabs Cas by the shoulder. "I said, you jerks owe me!"
Soren is jostled by a rambunctious dancer and his jab misses Cas' face.
Castor's eyes widen as the merc takes a clumsy swing at him. His implants reacted and he was treated to a far more in depth load of information about the awkward attack than was really necessary. Dismissing it all with a quick command line, he put his hands up in a vaguely defensive posture. Cas did not have his armor or even his pulsecaster on hand. Though he was rapidly starting to think he should carry a sidearm from here on out.
"Look pal, I don't even want to dance. I've been trying not to step on anyone's feet this entire time. Let's go to the bar and get a drink, yeah?"
"Oh dear, please excuse me." Isaac replied to twelve as violence erupted on the dance floor.
Evaluating the tactical situation quickly Isaac determined he could not contribute significantly without escalating to lethal force, which his protocols dictated as inadvisable in this situation without attempting a nonviolent solution first. Drawing his Laser Pistol he took aim at the mercenary that threw the first punch. "BY AUTHORITY OF THE BLACKVINE MERCENARY COMPANY ALL PARTIES ARE ORDERED TO CEASE HOSTILITIES AT ONCE OR WE WILL RESPOND WITH LETHAL FORCE!" As if to put a finer point on it he sent a silent command to his combat drone to take take aim at the same target.
Bagit's fist mashes Soren's nose and sprays blood all over the dance floor. His squadmates look ready to jump in before Isaac's makes them think twice. Peacemaker-12 slams her hand down on a panic button and sails over the bar in a graceful vault, rushing to Soren's side. "Administering first aid!" she shouts as an alarm siren drones and lights flash.
Soren, embarassed and infuriated, pushes her away. "Lemme alone!" he shouts. "I got your number now, Scales, I got you," he points at Bagit screaming as his squad drags him away.
Twelve remains crouched on the ground. She pulls out her bar rag and begins mopping up the blood from the mercenary's nose, whispering and muttering.
A drone comes out to mop the blood up automatically and the kasatha sighs and steps off the stage. "Stand down, recruit. And good job," she says to Isaac. As a squad of mercenaries in heavy armor arrives she waves them off. "Just a little fight, under control." She squats beside Twelve. "The drone has it sweetie. It is fine. We're on Paxem, remember?" She gingerly places one of her hand on Twelve's shoulder and rubs it in a comforting manner.
Isaac holstered his weapon smartly and sent the stand down command to his drone. A small uncharacteristic smile crossed the android's face, pleased that his actions had the desired effect. It passed quickly, replaced by his usual emotionless face.
Isaac's keen hearing picked up on twelve's whispering easily. He attempted make sense of her words.
Cas watched as their antagonist was hauled away, hurling threats at Bagit. Something needed to be done there and he had a few ideas as to just what but would need some help first. Threatening a vesk was suicidal and Cas wanted to pull the bully's teeth before he did something everyone regretted.
Still, the situation did not stop him from overhearing Twelve's words as she hastily cleaned the floor.
"Let's get out of here before someone tries to burn the place down because of us." There were things on Cas's mind, that much was obvious.
"You coming Three?"
Isaac looked around, "Yes, it seems this place has lost its appeal. Goodbye twelve, perhaps we will meet again." With that he followed the vesk, his combat drone trailing mechanically a few steps behind him as always.
"First shift, first shift, first shift. First shift please report to turnover. Reminder: bar fights are against regulations. I'm sure I'll repeat that reminder next week for the twentieth week in a row. Good morning Paxem."
The tavern is quiet and bright during turnover. The android exits the backroom and strides past everyone. Without looking at him, Twelve says simply, "Apology accepted. Thank you," as she walks past Isaac and out the door. There is no one else here at the moment, and a small sign indicates that the pub is closed for another hour.
Cas heads to the bar and takes a seat, yawning and absently scratching at the mass of scar tissue around the device jammed into the base of his skull. Still he was properly kitted out with both his pulsecaster and the jinncaster slung from the much repaired tactical harness of his armor. The lad was clearly having a hard time adjusting to station time, having spent most his life on the same planet.
As the crew assembles in the pub, the kasatha sticks her head out from the back room. "Hey, morning! Come on back, Patches has a list of stuff to prep for the night shift workers. Don't worry, Twelve wrote perfect documentation on how to perform every step. Someone has to act as host, someone needs to bus tables, and...anyone know how to mix drinks? Free meal around lunch, but you have to eat it in the back of the house."
There is a bang sound behind her and she flinches, rolls her eyes and calls out, "You okay?" before ducking back behind the door.
A floating creature glides into the bar. It has a disc-shaped body with two tall eye-stalks and perhaps a dozen smaller tentacles hanging below it. It hangs there for a moment, then slowly raises one tentacle and points it in the general direction of the recruits. "He does not see you yet." There is another loud bang from the back of the house, followed by a male voice swearing loudly. Everyone turns for a moment by reflex at the sound. The creature is gone when the recruits turn back.
Isaac enters the bar, battle drone trailing behind as always.
"Hey, morning! Come on back, Patches has a list of stuff to prep for the night shift workers. Don't worry, Twelve wrote perfect documentation on how to perform every step. Someone has to act as host, someone needs to bus tables, and...anyone know how to mix drinks? Free meal around lunch, but you have to eat it in the back of the house."
"I will volunteer for bus duty, or I can mix drinks if no one else is more suited to the task."
At the second loud bang Isaac walks behind the counter and peers into the back. "Do you require assistance?"
Castor's head thumped onto the bar top when he realized he had been looped into scut work for the bar. This was certainly not what he had been hoping for. Patrolling would have suited him more than this.
Still, he stashed his pulsecaster and jinncaster behind the bar and tried to figure out what was actually needed. He still needed to make good on what had been tacitly promised. He barely noticed when the floating thing appeared and made it's enigmatic pronouncement.
"Yeah, not him or anybody else," Cas replied off-handedly before realizing just what was said. By the time he had snapped his head around, the squishy prophet had vanished.
Isaac sticks his head into the back of the house. The faux-rustic tavern decor is not at all present. Instead, counters and sinks and cases of food pack a cramped space. In addition to the kasatha woman there is an older human man with long white hair and one piercing blue eye. His other is covered with a patch, and a scar can be seen on his cheek beneath the patch.
"You know your dpeth-perception is useless, stop throwing pans into the sink is all I am saying," the kasatha tells the human. "Oh, this is...um..."
"Isaac. I read the daily briefing woman. Go home, yer off duty! Always hangin' about, actin' like ye own the joint!"
"Fine!" the woman exclaims, throwing all four of her hands up in frustration. "Yeah, real bossy. Take your vitamins or I will show you what bossy really means!" She rolls her eyes then strides out of the bar. "See you tonight!" she shouts on her way past the door.
"Isaac...who in your squad would be good at methodically cutting fruit and bagging up fried crap? Boring work, but has to be done. That's who we need back here." The human asks in a neutral voice without looking up from the chicken he is presently breading up and placing into seperate bags.
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Velocity looks about wondering what to do, this wasn't exactly the exciting lifestyle she was hoping for, but then again, technically speaking, she was considered a criminal.
Velocity wandered back to the kitchen, I'll help with that, I really can't do much else really.
Velocity goes over beside the human, so what do I do hun?
With Velocity volunteering for kitchen duty and Bagit apparently acting as host Isaac found a clean rag and began wiping down tables. He ordered K2 to stand sentry in a corner near the entrance.
Cas puts himself to work managing resources, running dishes too and from the washer, restocking, and generally doing whatever he can to be useful without directly interacting with the public. Thankfully, he saves his constant low-level grumbling for when he is in the back so that the customers do not run the risk of hearing him.
The day passes rather quickly once the night shift rush arrives. A slump in customers mid-shift is replaced by cleaning and preparing the next shift's food. The one-eyed man is called "Patches" by all of the customers, who he is rather gregarious with, but quite quiet with recruits. He seems to be paying attention to them more than looking to strike up a conversation.
The next day proves to be as unexciting as the previous day. The official mess hall. Serving slop to a line of mercenaries followed by mixing industrial rations. By the end of the day, however, the head chef compliments the recruits on holding it together while low on fresh supplies.
A change of pace from food service. The med bay needs some additional hands while some of the doctors make a supply run planet-side. While this duty assignment is still unexciting, at least helping to make sure the company's mercenaries are healthy and battle-ready feels more important than ladling watery potatoes onto a tray.
A scared scream echoes down the corridors, coming from somewhere in the forward section. It sounds clearly like a child screaming, and Dr. Jena's eyes grow wide. She runs to a set of lockers to retrieve her med-kit.
Cas does better with the assignment to the med bay. While largely self-taught for the sake of surviving his bypass, he made a more than capable nurse for dealing the sort of day-to-day ailments common to soldiers and stationers.
Then there was the scream
He was on Bagit's heels. Cas passed the towering merc his own jinncaster and had his pulsecaster to his shoulder. It was not ideal but hopefully the stun rifle would be plenty for now. They could not waste time rushing back to grab Bagit's gun.
Isaac had decent medical knowledge and helped about the med bay as best he could. When he heard the scream however he dropped what he was doing and rushed towards the sound. His combat drone followed behind.
Bagit is first on the scene, though unarmed for a few seconds before Cas tosses him his weapon.
Fortunately, whatever violence had occured was now over. A small human girl of about eight or nine stands sobbing over the badly burned corpses of two aliens. They look like the odd floating creature who came to the Trusted Priest a couple of mornings ago. The locals call them "flumphs". On the floor a few feet away from them is a jinncaster with an elemental fire crystal loaded.
Captain Cosmilius comes around the corner moments later, followed by a handful of other mercenaries. Doctor Jena kneels and checks the flumphs, but shakes her kasathan head and sighs heavily.
The captain kneels down and hugs the little girl for a moment. "Gabi? Are you okay, are you hurt?" The girls shakes her head in the negative while sobbing and staring at the bodies. The captain turns her head. "Gabinia, look at me, not at that. Tell me, what happened?"
In between sobbing gasps, the little girl explains she was coming to visit the flumphs and found them like this. She did not see anyone else in the hallway that she could remember. The captain nods and tells her she did a good job then has a mercenary escort the little girl back to her father.
Cosmilius looks at Dr. Jena and the recruits. "They were with you this morning, right? So we can exclude them entirely? You can alibi them?" She confirms that the recruits could not be the killers. "Good. Then new orders, effective immediately: find and detain the killer or killers. I want them taken alive if at all possible so we can ensure justice is satisfied. I will make arrangements to have a temporary boost in your security status so that you have all the access you need. A murder...and flumphs? Doctor, I want your autopsy report before the end of the shift. Top priority. I better track down the flumph community and let everyone know the bad news. This cannot be a good omen."
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The Big Soldier walks over to the discarded weapon and kneels down to examine it.
'Do these things have a S/N, Crap, If they do mine is sitting un attended waiting for some murderer to pick it up'
"Hey Velocity what do you make of this?" He points at the Jinncaster, While obviously staring at someone in the crowd. When someone comes over he whispers and points.
"That guy seems fishy, should I grab him?".
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Velocity, was trying to help, but she was doing a lot of "things" but really doing not much of anything. she was watching Cas as she "worked" censored thoughts
Velocity almost immediately pipes up and Bagit's question regarding the weapon. its not mine, I don't think so at least. she says.
but then Bagit mentions the person she also noticed.
no, we should follow, see if there are accomplices, not let him know we are on to him. she whispers back trying to not bring attention to the conversation.
I have to get something from the med-bay Velocity says as she gets up and heads past the suspicious person, bumping into him and trying to pilfer something that may help.
"We got any kind of forensic tech on this station?" Cas said from where he knelt next to the dead flumph. His vision was full of logistics and targeting information from the computer in his head reacting to a heightened emotional state. This was not his first time seeing a dead body, growing up on a junkworld meant witnessing more than a few violent deaths, but there was something uniquely sad about how the boneless body crumpled like a meaty bag in death.
Angrily, he dismissed the visual displays from his implant and tried to focus on the tasks at hand.
Velocity palms the manu's commlink as she walks off to wait for her quarry to leave the scene. The device has basic security enabled.
While Bagit and Velocity take note of a suspicious on-looker, Castor notices some very interesting inconsistencies between the bodies and the weapon. The exocortex' HUD clearly identifies the wounds as being electrical in nature, which Cas can confirm with his own skill and knowledge. Although his exposure to jinncasters is still limited, the ammunition crystals are easily identified by the color of the crystal, and this crystal is without a doubt a fire crystal. And it is fully charged; no shots were fired using that crystal.
"We have a medical staff who can examine the body, but that is about the best we have," the kasatha doctor says with a smirk. She sighs. "Now I have additional, very critical work to do without assistants. I hope Cea and Sidra get back soon." Doctor Jena rubs her temples with her top pair of arms.
"Right," Cas says distractedly as he sets his implants to start recording what he sees. For the sake of completeness, he examines the wounds carefully and looks to the weapon, being sure that the data would be there later.
Electrical burns and a weapon with the wrong ammunition left at the scene. The murderer was either unprofessional or did not know the specifics of jinncasters.
"The assailant is likely still armed with some kind of shock weapon or spell. This jinncaster is loaded with a full fire crystal but the burns on the victim match a massive and short electrical discharge," Cas noted, pointing to a fractal like discoloring of the flesh around the wounds. "Plain heat or prolonged electrical exposure doesn't leave Lichtenberg figures on a body."
The bulky, gray-skinned manu male walks away from the scene with his eyes cast to the floor and brow furrowed.
The manu does not notice the woman tailing him. He is too distracted with patting down his pockets and muttering. "Musta left it at the shop...weird. Need to find it right away."
He makes his way back to a tiny general store in the central hub of the station. "Hey, GK? You seen my comm? I need to check something important. No? Maybe I left it on the charger in my quarters." Velocity hears him ask when he enters the market.
"I saw that too," the doctor says to Cas. "Electrical shock and burns are what probably what killed them, but I'm not making an official call until I have done a full report. Do you think they're still armed? Oh! That is not good."
She thinks for a moment. "Mercenary Rasalhague? One last thing," she adds while standing up and gathering her gear. "Again, do not consider this an official statement, but...when I have seen jinncaster wounds, they typically have damage resembling a puncture at the initial point of contact. I am not seeing that on these bodies. I might have more for you later. Find the creep that did this, okay?" She heads back to the med bay to retrieve a gurney. The crowd disperses to return to their posts.
"On it, doc," Cas said with a hard look to his eye. He liked the Flumphs, they seemed like decent sorts for bags of meat that propelled themselves by farting. When the doctor left, he checked the junncaster again.
Reexamining the weapon, Cas can see a serial number etched into the stock. With the upgraded access to files on the station, it takes only a few seconds to search the number in the company's records: "Status: present in armory." The weapon had not been assigned to anyone in months.