A bleary eyed Penny comes up to the science station, holding her empty "heart' kittens mug she found for next to nothing in a rubbish market. She was going to ask about the coffee maker but instead swears "That's all we need. I'll come with, if nothing else to try and spot them for you."
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
"Did you say bug hunt?! Gimme a sec." She puts her mug down, confident that no one will take a mug that says "I Like My Coffee Like I Like My Men...White & Weak", and rushes back to the room she shares, singing 'I'm going on a bug hunt, I'm going on a bug hunt.' as she goes.
Talah chirps into the conversation, "Hey Penns, put an electrocoil on the shopping list. I'd love to just flick the switch and zap the bugs instead of sending people out there to squash them."
"Hey Katie, what's out there? Whadda we need to do? I'd try a barrel roll to get 'em off me, but I'm afraid with the way things are wiggin' out that we might get stuck in the roll. Actually, that could be kinda fun..." the pilot says, letting her sentence drift off towards the end.
"Its katherine. She mumbles to herself as she begins examining the screens at her station. After a moment she locates all of the information she needs. "There's eight to ten drift leeches absorbing power from our systems which is causing the disruption and stopping Kesred from getting her coffee. They are persistent parasites and there is no knowing how long they have been siphoning our power. Eventually, they will drain our power core. Interesting little critters aren't they? Kesred, in your haste, please ensure that you keep one for further examination."
"Shut everything possible down." Ben says, "Give them nothing else to feed on while we get people out there."
He doesn't volunteer to go out there himself - he's well aware of his own limitations and grav-suiting is one of them.
Sitting forward, Talah begins pressing buttons and entering commands and says "I'm on it. We're going to emergency systems, folks. Lights out in 3,2,-"
The bright whites and blues in the ship disappear as everything begins to power down except for critical functions.
"Kez. Penns. You guys want some company out there or do you have it under control?"
The inside of the ship going dark makes Penny's stomach drop a bit. "its just temporary" she tells herself in a small voice. "Company would be appreciated, Ms. Lehdos. The quicker those things are off the ship, the quicker we can have our morning coffee."
"Right. I'm on my way." Talah says getting to her feet, "Katie. Cap. Chase. Why don'tcha suit up and join us so Penns isn't lonely out there."
"It would make things faster..." Penny arches an eyebrow at their fearless captain, leader, example to them all. "Though someone should stay in case our AI decides she can do better at everything and enters the drift without us."
"Katherine, do you think you can handle that?" Ben asks. He doesn't want to spacewalk, but the even worse option is making Katherine do it.
While the others are debating who's going out on the hull, Chase is already checking the seals on her hardsuit and making sure her Fistigons are engaged for maximum punching!
"Get in one of those....suits?" Katherine says with revulsion. "Who knows who wore it last? There is an unknown number of pathogens inside that thing and who knows what I'd catch." Katherine continues with a look of disgust. She doesn't move from her spot when everyone else starts suiting up.
Penny is getting into her suit as well. She is not a fan of space walking either, or the bulky hardsuits, but coffee demands sacrifice.
"Katie, you wore it last. It has your name on it, remember?"
After a pause, she adds teasingly "If you like, I can wear the one with your name on it and you can wear mine instead..." This is a completely illogical statement which Katherine will surely point out, given the fact that she is over a half-foot taller than her. That's not relevant though, she's just trying to get the clean-freak's wheels turning.
Katherine joins everyone around the suits and examines her own very closely, not letting one piece escape her gaze. The concern on her face clearly shows that she is incredibly uncomfortable in the situation and she does her best not to touch anything she does not have to.
Realising what Boots suggested, Katherine lets out an exasperated sigh as she gesticulates towards the pilot. "Talah, that makes no sense! Why would I wear that when I just said that I didn't want to share."
Clearly Katherine has an argument inside her head bouncing back and forth as she takes in the suit in front of her. "Fine. I understand you all dont think you can do this without my knowledge, so I can join you. I understand it will make you all feel at ease. But I will be in my own suit. As long as noone else has ever used it. And we are quick and save a specimen for study. And I get the first cup of coffee." She says finally, adding one condition after the other.
With a look of disgust, she begins trying to don the suit slowly, holding as much of it as possible at arms length for as long as she can.
Meanwhile Kez is standing by the airlock practicing patience by slapping her thighs while dancing in place and repeating in her sing-song voice. "We're going on a buuug hunt. We're gonna kill some spaaaace bugs. We need to saaave one. Katie wants to stuuudy it."
The group moves into the airlock and once the system has cycled they step out onto the surface of the ship and into the swirling colors of drift space. Looking around, nine of the parasites are readily visible and seem to notice you as well.
Combat Begins!
Round 1
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"Showtime!" Talah says enthusiastically, moving into position to shoot one.
After she fires, she says "Hey Katie, fergot to tell ya. I slept in your suit last week when Chase stole my blanket. Not the whole me, cuz ya know, it's too small, but I totes got the bottom half in. It was super cozy!"
"I refuse to believe you'd sleep in my suit instead of your own! That would be totally illogical." She replies, trying to keep her cool rational head.
Katherine pulls out her syringe and jabs it into Chase's thigh. "That ought to help before you run around and do something reckless."
"Expecting something logical out of Ms. Lehdos is illogical in itself." Penny points out to Katherine as she starts to concentrate one of the bugs, reaching out to it like she is trying to grab it from a distance with her open palm. "Though I agree it is unlikely. I'd imagine if she had done so, she would have gloated about it last week. Patience is not one of her virtues." then she clenches her hand like she is squashing an overripe yaro berry.
Chase feels the chemicals flowing through her blood. ”Thanks for the juice, Doc! Now I’m gonna run around and do something reckless!”
She runs across the hull and punches a leech!
Ben shoots at a bug and tries not to roll his eyes so hard that they fall out of his head...
After shooting and moving into position, Talah asks "Hey Penns, what's fer supper tonight?"
"It's soup and sandwich night. And unfortunately, the bisque I had been planning is the exact shade of liquid gushing out of these things when they go POP." the mystic admits. A second pause and then she asks "Katherine, are these things edible?"
As Kez steps out onto the skin of the ship she takes a nervous glance around, trying to make sure to focus only on the Drift Leeches and not the incredible amount of space that is surrounding her right now.
Kez takes a shot at the nearest creature, hitting it, but not killing it. Katherine enhances Chase's day with a sharp stab. With a trick shot, Boots offs a leech. Penny squashes the wounded one with the power of her mind. Ben sends a laser blast through another, killing it. Chase races towards one off to the left and smashes it into the hull.
The remaining leeches begin moving towards Chase, lobbing balls of energy-infused mucus at her. Only one even comes close to hitting her, though, grazing the edge of her suit.
Round 2
Chase laughs as she calibrates her Fistigons and smashes another leech to pulp!
Ben aims and fires again, mentally agreeing with Talah that some upgraded circuitry to electrify the outer hull would absolutely be a good idea.
Katherine Pockets the syringe as she pulls her rifle off her back and aims at one of the critters but can't get rid of that impossible itchy feeling distracting her, knowing that its a total possibility Talah slept in the suit before and misses.
Clank. Clank. Clank. Clank.
Talah "runs" along the hull with her magnetic boots engaged, trying to deploy her normal battle techniques out here on top of Beedy. Unfortunately however, she finds that gravity benefits her techniques more than she had realized as her shot flies wide.
Concentrate and then squash.
Embroiled in the discussion of what's for dinner Kez misses one of the leeches with her pistol. Katherine misses as well. Continuing the trend, so does Boots. Relying on her mental abilities rather than technology, Penny turns another one into jelly. Determined to show that he's in the Penny camp rather than the Kez/Katherine/Boots one, Ben hits and kills his selected target. Chase decides to completely even up the teams by smashing hers into the outer hull of the ship.
The remaining two leeches demonstrate their lack of higher survival instincts by lobbing more mucus towards Chase rather than taking their miserable lives and escaping. And they're ineffective at even that, missing her.
With just two of the pathetic creatures left, it doesn't take much for you all to finish off the parasites before returning to the inside of the ship.
Combat Ends!
"Please note that any damage to your leased ship due to weapons usage will result in financial penalties according to your employment contract," Lois states as soon as the airlock cycles.
"We love you too Lois." Ben replies, checking down each member of the crew as they come through the airlock. "Everyone ok? Chase? Katherine can patch you up if need be. Otherwise I suggest we move on to The Station, don't want another colony of those things to descend on us!"
"Good to go, Cap'n! Just got a little buzzed!" Chase says, giving Ben a thumbs up. "Fire up that coffee maker and let's make star trails!"
"Ms. Reisora took all the fire, Ben. So you don't have to be quite so through with your inspection of the rest of us." Penny takes off her suit and folds it neatly away. With a thin line of disapproval, she does the same with anyone else who does not put theirs away correctly, making her get to the coffee machine later than anyone else.
Talah's last through the airlock, taking the time to drag two of the leeches back with her. She tosses the corspes a Penny's feet and says "Here you go Penns. You're welcome." before wiping her slimed hand on the wall and moving off to the bridge.
Kez enters the ship completely unconcerned that she didn't kill even one of them. Taking off her suit and tossing it on a bench in front of Penny putting it away somewhat carefully, she turns to Ben and says with a smile. "Hey Captain! I think I got a scratch from one of those bug things. You wanna check me out?"
"Oh yeah, come to think of it, I got a nasty cut, too," Chase says as she sidles up beside Kez. "Maybe you want to check out both of us, yeah?"
Ben rolls his eyes and doesn't even bother hiding it this time. "Of course, let me just get Katherine to help with the examination. Maybe she'll need to use one of her extra sharp needles for this one - you know how much time she spends making sure that they'll penetrate the skin easily..."
"Oh! Uh, on second thought, I think I'll be alright," Chase says quickly. "I'll just slap some med-gel on it. So, coffee?"
She makes a quick getaway.
"I'm a gonna just go help with that coffee. Who wants extra sugar?" She says as she sashays out the door.
=====================================================================
Pact Worlds Date: 321-07-19 AG
Location: Absalom Station
Ship Ident: COM-EJCORP03-FS-BD514
Current Mission: n/a
=====================================================================
After another day of drift travel (and a working coffee maker) you return to normal space in orbit around Absalom Station. It only takes ten or fifteen minutes for the ship's computer to collect and process all pending communications, which there are a number of messages from the Company.
According to the documents passed along by EJ Corp, it seems that Runo Prat has not been idle. Calling in numerous favors with unions and the merchant community, he's called for a boycott of the Company. This has had at best a minor effect on EJ Corp's profits, but any negative impact is considered something to be concerned about as the official notice from the Company indicates. Summarized, it's a formal statement of disciplinary action and warns you that failure to reach performance goals will result in termination. Oh, and you've forfeited your bonuses.
Hailing Tarika as she requested brings a live feed from a company workstation in an office cubical buried somewhere deep in Bluerise Tower. She welcomes you home and asks for an update on the Yaro berry job which generates a sad nod when you explain what happened.
"Corporations are expandin’ so fast," Tarika says with a weary sigh. "By the time y’all went from Castrovel to Akiton, your local buyer had already been bought out by an interstellar conglomerate! Guess there’s no room for family businesses anymore. Not in the Pact Worlds, at least."
She shakes her head and taps a few buttons on her datapad. "But let’s focus on what matters: gettin’ y’all a high-payin’ gig to put ya back in the Company’s good graces. I got just the thing. Came in not long ago, in fact, and it’s... well, not perfect, but it’ll do the trick. A drow callin’ himself Lord Sinjin is shippin’ guns from Apostae to a planet in Near Space. I guess the Gideron Authority is tryin’ to settle a world called Vohxa, and the local miners are turnin’ into more of a problem than anyone figured they’d be."
"So the job is simple: go to Apostae and meet with Sinjin’s agent, Tause Jarzeed, at a place called Lamashtu’s Lair, where you’ll pick up the cargo. Take it to a Gideron military outpost on Vohxa and collect payment. Oh, and no questions asked. You know the type." Tarika rolls her eyes as she sends over the last of the job details. "If y'all got any questions just pass 'em along."
Talah's face pales and her eyes go wide as hey get the download on their next job. She jumps in quickly before anyone else can "Uhhh-That's a no-go for us, Tarika. What's next on the list?
The brenneri looks back in confusion and then at her data pad. "Uh, that's about all I got right now, Boots," she says. She scrolls through it pausing at various times and then shakes her head. She looks back up. "Sorry. I wanna help y'all, but ..." she shrugs her small shoulders. "I can only pass along the jobs that come through my queue and this is your best opportunity right now. Nothing else is gonna come even close to meetin' your contracted quotas."
Talah groans and tries to force the issue a firs, but eventually withdraws "I'm sure there is another job. Maybe it's not as great? We can't. I mean. Ugh. Nevermind. It's great." She claps her palms over her goggles and exhales loudly as she shakes her head back and forth.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"Lamashtu's Lair doesn't sound like a sensible place to conduct business." Katherine says, stating the obvious.
"And your statement makes no sense Tarika. You said no questions asked and then told us to pass questions along. Please clarify your meaning." Katherine shakes her head a little with pursed lips, clearly disapproving of Tarika's explanation. "We need to perform a good job to make up for our quotas and that will be dificult without clear instructions."
Tarika's whiskers twitch in humor at Katherine's questions. "Shan always said that you were the funny one," she replies. "I'll answer any questions I can. Though, lots of 'em will be answered with 'I don't know.' Just don't pester the client too much. Sound fair?"
Hands still over her eyes, Talah clarifies "Katie, she's talkin' about black market equipment or gun runnin' or creature smugglin' or somethin else that's not legal but pays the bills. Get it? So she means don't ask questions about the job she'll pretend to get us answers but it's best if we have questions then we don't be askin' 'em."
"Whoa, hold on there," Tarika interjects. "Pretty much everything’s legal somewhere, these days. Apostae’s economy is built on the weapons trade — makin’ and sellin’ weapons is what drow houses do. This is totally legal."