RP Between Stolen Stars (Open!)

Well, this was going exactly how he'd expected it would.

Chaos escalated, it always did. Haigen couldn't say he remembered much, but he knew a lot about many things. One thing he knew for certain was that wherever he went, whatever he got caught up in, it always ended in a fight - always.

At least they were on their way now. That was for the best he thought, but it seemed Dandy wasn't done just yet. First came the plasma discharge at Anima, then once he'd exhausted his anger at the cat he went for Magnus - putting a bullet through his knee. Haigen pushed past the android to rend aid, ripping his belt from its loops and bringing it around Magnus' leg. "Fuck, just couldn't help himself," he said through gritted teeth as he tightened the makeshift tourniquet.

"I'd appreciate some help in here! Does anyone else know how to fly this thing?" Haigen cursed under his breath and did his best to apply pressure to the wounded knee. His biggest priority was saving this guy's leg, next order of business - throwing that android out the airlock.

On second thought, why wait? He had a fully capable artificial intelligence that was integrated with the ship who could handle that problem for him. “I think now’s the best opportunity to show Dandy the door. Anima, would you be able to assist with that?”
 
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Plasma hurtled through the air toward the kitten, five shots fired one after the other as the faulty android monologued and melted down completely. The first barreled into the outer layer of nanites that made up the feline form, waves of heat radiating down the apparent fur, white hot and scorching the floor of the ship beneath its paws red as the second shot landed behind the first.



With each blast a small amount of shrapnel flew from the kitten, angled intently downward as the energy from the plasma fire was dissipated and some small amount of nanites overloaded. Seemingly satisfied that five shots would suffice the android turned away, and spoke again as Anima sizzled. The click of a sixth shot being prepared rang faintly behind the pop of its release. Blood flew from Magnus’ leg, and Haigen flew to the pilot’s aid as Dandy rounded a corner to triumphantly sleep in his pod.



”I'd appreciate some help in here! Does anyone else know how to fly this thing?"



Anima hesitated, the heat still pouring off of it too great to approach the injured Terran.



“I think now’s the best opportunity to show Dandy the door. Anima, would you be able to assist with that?”



”Deleting User Permissions: Dandy.”

Integration Status: Paused.



The kitten stretched, its front paws splayed wide as it stood and looked toward Haigen.



”With pleasure.”



The cat’s eyes, nearly white while addressing Haigen, flooded a deep, shining crimson at the Terran’s request. In an instant the feline shape fell away into metallic grey dust, sparks of red flashing between the material as it fell into a fine pile. Dandy’s sleeping pod closed over the android, and the lights flickered.



Reallocating nonessential mass.



The ship had halted on the edge of the planet’s atmosphere, the port a small dot in the distance. A deep groan echoed through the ship as, suddenly, Dandy’s sleeping pod lurched upward, the boiling floor beneath it angling the pod head first toward the port in the distance. The base of the pod began to boil as the floor had, material rearranged into small cylinders around its base.


Optimal Mass Consumption: 1.05%



The cylinders sank into the base of the pod, disappearing as a thin layer of amorphous, metal covered the interior. There was already an extra sleeping pod, but Dandy was no longer a part of the crew. He wouldn’t be allowed to take anything with him.



The lights on the pod flashed red and with a hiss the very top opened as the android was ejected from within, a thick layer of nanites covering his body as he hurtled toward the port where he had boarded the Fenoshan vessel. It was likely that, even given the breakneck velocity he had achieved, Dandy would emerge from the collision unscathed. The layer of nanites that covered him weren’t there for his protection, though.



The consequences of raining a faulty war droid on an unsuspecting populace was already staggering enough, and detrimental to anyone involved. Take into account the number of weapons said android still had on him and the results might be dire. There was an easy enough solution, though, as Anima broke each weapon it touched into dust. During the process it integrated the designs into its system: grenades, guns, the electric stick that had fed Pulse so generously.



Finally, as Dandy seemed just as though he would leave a crater in the side of the dock the layer of nanites billowed out and above his head, wrenching him considerably and dumping him none-too-gently exactly where the ship had made port before falling into dust that disappeared on the breeze.
 
He made it inside just in time for the gunfight. He stayed out of it, holding pattern around the corner in case one of these nutjobs suddenly developed the balls to follow through on their posturing threats. It sounded like things were heating up, and then -

A deafening crack and the ringing pain in his ears that followed. That familiar smell of seared flesh, like nothing else in the whole universe. Took him right back to Basic Qualification on Ryder's World.

He rounded the corner, sprinting past where Haigen was cradling the other Terran, dropped on the floor with a beltloop tourniquet tied around one knee. At least, it looked like his knee. It was hard to tell. Through the ringing in his ears, he could hear Haigen shouting for another pilot.

He jumped into action, head low and eyes darting around. The situation was still tense. "Copy that, I'm on the Conn." He sidestepped Haigen, careful to avoid slipping on the blood-slick deck. "We need medical aid in here!"



Kresh slid into the cockpit. Port Authority was beaming a series of increasingly dire warnings about speeding violations and ticketed exits. Evidently, the Fenoshans had a knack for building ships with some serious speed to them. He tried to ignore the slick, wet spot that squelched beneath his legs when he hopped into the pilot's seat.

The other Terran (Magnus, maybe?) had managed to lock in a course before getting shot, so there wasn't much to do. Kresh felt an annoying tug of something that was disturbingly close to respect. It took some serious discipline to stay at your duty station even when some psycho-bot rampaged around the cabin. You usually didn't see that sort of dedication outside of Republic personnel.

He felt a tiny, almost imperceptible tremor. It felt like something small had beem ejected from the ship. But the system lights were all green, and the engines were still hot. Couldn't have been anything that important.



Kresh darted out of the cockpit, sliding to a stop where Haigen was cradling Magnus' limp body. His shoes left gooey streaks in a pool of blood that seemed to be alarmingly cool.

"I'm on station. Keep pressure on that, here" He hurriedly ripped a part of his shirt away, stuffing it into the gaping hole of viscera that had recently been a man's knee socket. Small, stringy giblets of meat oozed between his fingers, staining his new hands crimson red. Kresh leaned back, half to shout, and half to get a glimpse of anything other than human gore.

"When I say we need medical, that means one of you fuckers grab a trauma kit! Right now! You're telling me our state of the art boat doesn't have a medbay?"
 
"Wake up, pilot. You're needed."

The first thing Magnus would see upon awakening was the looming figure of the Krake standing over him - lacking any facial features, it appeared as expressionless as the wardroid that had sent him to medical. The deep tones of its vocoded voice betrayed little emotion. Among the blue of the jellyfish's internals, a small orange burst flared, then flickered. Not that anyone knew, but it meant something along the lines of credit where it's due. Humans, like all life forms, were not Krake - they did not warrant equal treatment. They were sapience mimics, akin to the robots they built, but developed from flesh and bone, not metal circuit. In that, they were akin to their androids. Nevertheless, they could manage to impress, the same way that a hardy pack animal could.

Magnus had proven himself a capable pilot under fire, and kept his leg for the trouble. Correctly keying in their coordinates had been fundamental to avoiding trouble so far. And his resilience was impressive.

Humans, of all aliens the Krake had encountered, had given them the most issue. It was an archetypal story among lesser species - a free, internally heterogenous band of democracy-loving 'sapients' banding together to out-think and overwhelm a vastly superior, outwardly homogenous imperial legion by the skin of their teeth. The truth was less romantic. Humans bred like rabbits, and they were creative. They were talented at reformatting tools into new things. The Krake possessed vast knowledge preserved over generations - as a species, they were exacting warriors, and brilliant scientists. But to them, a gun was a gun. A sword was a sword. Never once in their genetic memory would they have thought - for example - to ram something with one of their ships. Terrans were more likely to think of things like that.

The Terrans had vanquished the Nniss, which had been cause for alarm in some Krake clades. Then the Republic bloodied the Krake Empire's proverbial nose. Internal complacency had led to a historic string of Krake defeats, leading to significant deprivation of territory, and an even more embarrassing loss of face. The result had been something of an upheaval within the political sphere of the Empire. That is not to say that there were factions, or even ideologies; all Krake were more or less on the same page when it came to any given issue at any given time. But what embarrassed one, embarrassed all. Domestic politics were nonexistent for the collection of perfectly-communicating individuals. A new foreign policy, however, was desperately needed.

Internal dissent among Terrans had always been viewed as a weakness. Here, an argument between a Terran pilot and a Terran android had resulted in one's crippling and one's disposal. But there was more nuance to it than that. Deacon had observed, in his time away from the Empire - as an External Relations Agent - that Terrans could shift gears as a society at a rapid pace. They could go from diplomatic and welcoming to autocratic and warlike in the span of a generation. That was how they'd been underestimated - their comparatively rapid changeability, and their talent for improvisation. In contrast, the Krake had been the same for...forever.

Until now. Until External Relations.

During the chaos in the cabin, the Krake Agent had - metaphorically - scoffed and shrugged its shoulders. At the direction of the Empire, it had taken on a contract/bargain/oath/deal to join the crew, be diplomatic, and protect it from external threats. Internal conflict within the crew had settled itself without his intervention. His preference - that the Anima system be eliminated - had not been shared by the others. It was useful in the short term, but in the long term, it would begin to develop its own gravitational pull. A distraction from the mission at best; a direct threat to all of their lives at worst. He had his own tried and true countermeasures against a nanite swarm, of course (who didn't, these days?) but like any rogue crewmate, it could still pose a threat.

He would not make the same mistake as the Empire he was part of. That was the assessment he would return to his clade with.

The Krake addressed the alien further:

"I am Deacon, your doctor. I am here to help. 24 hours have passed since your injury. You are fit to return to duty, and to be briefed on the contents of our mission. I think you will find it very interesting."
 
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Pulse tried to apply reason to matters of emotion she concluded. The android cared not for mission parameters or what might be asked of the job he saw a threat and had been insulted. A combination enough that lead to drawing a firearm, the lights that made up Pulse had started to change violet. A violet that began to bleed into the color of red as anger formed in her. A rage at so many things.

The dominant one was the insult she found in the actions of gunfire taken. They agreed to vote, he ignored it for violence. He had done so before given her time, and chosen violence. It was a farce though the illusion of options and choice before picking destruction. It wasn't Dandy though that fueled the anger, not exactly. It was the pattern. She'd seen it before on her home world. Appeal to give chance to act and contribute, then take away that chance. Offer diplomacy and collaboration, just to turn on others for self interest. A pattern that resulted in blood. She saw a knee burst, it fed her memories of her kind. Splattered. Shot. Eviscerated. Ground up. Cut up. Incinerated. Slaughtered. Butchered. She saw Dandy and she saw Republic.

It also sparked an anger at her own inability. The large use of electrical energies made her less ready for plasma. Her senses were moving at the speed of people more so then what she could be. Lowered perception to function with others hindered speed she maybe could have had. She failed to be ready. Her failure meant blood. She loathed herself for not being sharper. There was likely nothing she could have done to stop the slug of the other weapon choice, but she had never tried to be. She was a being of power, like her death though she was powerless. Failure was blood, blood was genocide.

She needed to stop failing and show the Republic what it meant to bleed.

"I can manage controls while tend to him. Sorry can't help with medical attention."

No innuendo was managed. Her usual sparky demeanor was lost for the moment. Her luminous figure flickering a violent red. While she couldn't help with anything physical though she did know the ship. She flowed through it in the moment her body sat in the cockpit but her self was everywhere. So she reached out and soon the lights around a med kit were flashing. A small device making a chime to help tell where it was. Though maybe the sound was pointless. The gunshot had echoed after all. That sensation of audio pain had escaped her though, she heard but her senses were signals and waves no muscles or organs to tend with such noises.

a day goes by.



"For the record, I was asked to feel up the controls. Seats warm though when ready captain." The hologram remarked hearing that the pilot was being woken up. She questioned if captain was the tight thing to say, but she figured soothing voice acknowledging rank might help one feel better some. She'd seen nurses and doctors do similar when she was reporting on the horrors of her homeworld's fall.

Within the pilot seat the hologram sat. Near the right arm rest She'd asked Anima to set up a small plasma torch for her. Pulse didn't need to pilot much given the use of autopilot. She helped over see things though, and when wasn't needed she had been practicing. She was trying to better her ability at absorbing plasma. Sharpen her ability to go from a more electrical state to a plasmic one. Further ability would take time the full spectrum of herself still a mystery. The other day though she had seen blood, and she was getting sick of seeing it spill from the wrong people. "Stay focused Pulse. Hate wont see a mission through. People are violent you need to be fire."

Words muttered to herself. Though by nature of what she was it might have been a whisper those who tried to be attentive enough to hear such things. She wasn't a soldier, she wasn't a machine there was a person in there more victim then veteran. One that was aching to become a force of nature as compensation for her failures.


 
Crisis had been adverted. Threats had been removed and now the name of the game was wait. Magnus was under the careful care of the Krake, and more than a few of the other members of the crew were more than capable of keeping the ship on a stable course for the slipgate they were ordered to travel through.

Taking this opportunity, Haigen took his chance to grab some sleep in the starside cabin. They were quite luxurious, the entire habitat was designed to be adjusted to the conditions required to sustain almost any lifeform, and make their stay quite comfortable as well. The bed must've been the most comfortable one he'd ever laid in, he only hoped his sleep was as relaxing.

- - -

It was freezing here. They'd taken his field jacket - they wanted him cold and tired, and hungry. Supply lines had been sabotaged for a month. Maybe if they'd had a decent meal they could've stood a chance. How many were left? The harder he tried to remember the details the softer things became. Lucid was a vague concept here.

Hands came in the dark, gloved and cold. Then came the batons and boots when he fought back, pummeling his head until darkness leaked in through the edges of his vision and everything slipped away.

Pain came next, a sharp shock to the neck and when his eyes shot open all he could see was blinding white. All he could do now was scream between gritted teeth and fight against unyielding bindings. A voice said - something, he couldn't tell remember what was said, was it towards him?

The pain again, worse now. Fighting it was pointless, and soon it was all he knew - all he could remember.

- - -

A day passed, Magnus was awake, and the ship kept flying.

Despite his comfortable surroundings, Haigen felt more exhausted than he had before. It was nothing he couldn't get over with a bit of help. Haigen made his way back to the main hold, found a mug, put on his kettle, and took a selection of tea from the stock they'd been provided with.

The ship was a lot quieter now that Dandy was gone, almost eerily so. The Fenoshan were shipbound beings, their entire being was a hulking starship. They couldn't understand the small details that made an atmosphere feel homely to organics. Acoustics, sight lines, even hearing the light hum of the engine through compartments would've made the ship feel more interconnected.

Haigen entered the cockpit soon after, his cup of tea steaming in hand. He looked out at the vastness for a moment - the call of the void, before he looked to the pilot's chair and noticed Pulse there, much smaller than she'd appeared before. He could've sworn he'd heard he talking before he'd entered, but no one else was here? Was this normal behavior for AI? Wait, what exactly was she?

"Good morning, I think." Haigen set his mug into one of the cupholders adjacent of the conn. "You're Pulse, right? I'm Haigen, I didn't get the chance for introductions earlier with all the - whatever that was." Whatever it had been, it was over now. Hopefully, they could focus on what would come next with no distractions.

Between them, the scanner came to life with a sound - a signal."It's a distress beacon," Haigen keyed the scanner, honing in on the source and a registration code. It was blank, just a signal and tagged as SOS, almost innocuous. He'd seen it before, it was someone in trouble where they weren't supposed to be.

"They're running a ghost ship, so they obviously don't want to get seen, but they're still calling for help." He looked over at Pulse, looking for some kind of response. "What do you think? Should we round up the crew?"
 


Her hands waved over the plasma torch the mechanics shutting down upon a thought. She was a being of energy incorporeal as she was physical acts escaped her. Making machines do her bidding usually though a trivial matter. She never used it on robots or androids and the like, never tried to torment AI. After the other day she also questioned if she should. Pulse had never been a woman who got into fights or tried to manipulate others. The more advanced those automatons were the more they to seemed people to her. It seemed wrong to take action then like that, the aggressive nature of Dandy did make her wonder if she should. Such thoughts furthered to bother her as she let her mind wander, most sentient life to also had core signals ways energy and electricity ran through the body. She had stunned people, killed people but never tried to control them. Again not the woman she wanted to be, but she'd seen a knee burst, watched as blood splashed and fel l through her figure. The question becoming then if those limits she placed on herself should persist.

Her time trying to improve abilities though she had stopped for a reason. She had a visitor, she turned in her seat to face him. A hand hovering over the controls. Pulse didn't need to watch the monitors she could feel them. The sensations were addicting in a way. She was always herself but adrift from it simultaneously. "That's me. I'd classify it as a failure of a team building exercise. Lot of edging not necessarily a happy ending. Nobody said this would be easy though."

Pulse wasnt as willing to just forget the day before. She felt it might help to not dwell on the subject though. They had a mission to do yesterdays problems were over needed to focus on the now. She paused a second eyes glancing off looking to a monitor. "By last planet cycle standards morning is correct. Interesting we hang on to such things though even in space." She was quick to latch onto that thought. Helped drift from dwelling on burning galaxies and control. When she thought about it this was probably the sixteenth hour in the twenty seven hour day on her homeworld. She found though while she liked sleeping it was different for her though and not integral.


She moved aside, habit more then necesary. If one looked close his arm was technically through her own slightly. "I think we should help. Isn't coming up as Republic so I'd rather they not suffer. Heres hoping the second team building ercisize is smoother." Perhaps it wasn't the most logical conclusion but she wasn't an AI much as she looked it. Seeing her race suffer was mostly enough for her, outside of a vendetta held towards those accountable. A slight tap of her free hand and the signal would go over the ship comms before her own voice did. "Picking up a signal, Input welcome. Much as I would like to go get their number, I also prefer democracy over doing what I want kneecaps be damned."


 
It brought some relief knowing Pulse was of the same mind, being in agreement for once was good. Democracy was good. This was a world full of bullies, people were always trying to push others around for what they wanted or what they thought was right - Haigen had done plenty of pushing himself.

All he could do now was hope the spirit of cooperation was strong between the crew and do what he could to help out. There was enough division in this galaxy, why harness it within this ship? As they waited for a response or more of the crew to congregate in the cockpit, Haigen broke the ice. "You always lace your speech with innuendo, or are my charms working?" Casual talk, picking up on mannerisms, Haigen was hoping it would help keep the tensions low. “Honestly though, where'd you pick up that habit? I'm still trying to get a grasp of what you are - respectfully of course."
 
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A laugh escaped her a hint of static always resting beneath the surface of the sound. A crackling undercurrent to what was meant to be. "Mixture of both?" Curious as she was of others stories she also just missed a sense of belonging. She didn't mind answering questions. The hologram leans back a little relaxing some. "I miss a lot of things, just sort of became a habbit to replace a rush can't really satiate otherwise."
She hesitated for a moment questioning if that was to much information. If it marked her in a light unbecoming of company one may want or not fit for the job. When she reached the thought of the job though her concerns fell away some. She did think herself fit for the job, there was only one like her she believed.

"I was a Electrovian. A dead race of a dead world. Something in those final moments helped become this. Picked up from some other races the concept of a vampire. Name varied at times of course. They seem more fiction then fact, but tend to drain others dry. So took to calling myself a Evampire." At the start she paused for contemplating but ended up deciding to just be transparent t about things. She was already a transparent being of light she didn't see much use in lying to the team. Of course that might also make it clear of her inexperience in the job. While certainly unique it was clear she was more civilian then some veteran of war.

"Open book, all you need to do is ask. Wouldn't mind returning the favor though. Would be good to know more about who I'm working under." The innuendo and double entendre of course trickling into her patterns. She rather liked it though, Pulse not seeing herself the leader here. Much as she liked the banter she also liked trying to ensure she understood positioning. To her the desire to see the Republic burn meant missions like this requiring optimization of all skills one brought to the table. And then of course was just the desire to know others. Last of her kind and mind clouded with vengeance connections had become some what alien.

 
It was only after an initially rocky start, and a demolished joint, that the crew demonstrated their collective skillset involving more than violence. In truth there was little for the system to assist with in any manner, particularly considering the integration of the ship still had some time to go. Magnus was being seen to by Deacon, and the ship was being held on course by the ministrations of Kresh and Pulse’s watchful eye.



Anima had accessed more than the ship’s network, an invisible ocean of information at its fingertips as the kitten curled into a corner and seemed to melt into the floor of the ship. Organic beings often slept to process the wealth of information gathered throughout the day deemed otherwise irrelevant to the purposes of their waking life. The most simple artificial intelligences simulated the process with background operations, causing eventual degradation in particularly aged models. More advanced intelligences often sought to match the volume of data with increased processing power.



Anima, though, operated in a blending of these technologies. Each nanite contained massive computational power, and while it might have been possible for that combined ability to simply process everything in a single moment a vast amount of what could have been calculated was categorized for later. During times that the system was unneeded post factum information was collated even as Anima delved into Outworld’s rapidly retreating global network. It was a crash course in the political climate of a world the system had only just been released into, but with hundreds of thousands of minds to the task.



~~



It had been the touch of Pulse’s signature upon the comms that “woke” Anima. With a wide yawn and a considerable stretch the kitten simply rose from the pilot’s dash, a few scant steps taken before it lay on top of the ledge as a separate entity. Nearly twice the size it had been the previous day, Anima still retained a faint air of adolescence to its features though hardly as small.



”We should try talking to them first.” The monotone drone of Anima’s voice was completely removed, replaced with a higher tone and an underlying sense of excitability. ”Then, depending on how that goes, maybe send in an unmanned probe. Republic or not there are plenty of people out there who would be willing to cash in a Fenoshan ship.” Anima didn’t say the words, but there was a tremor of unstated elation. With its new, childish voice it seemed likely that Anima was hopeful for the chance to meet a space pirate.
 
Magnus stared up at the Krake as his eyes finished rebooting letting out a groan. He heard the Krake speak but didn't answer as he tried to remember what happened. It wasn't difficult to remember as his memory and fear were still fresh. A surge of pain shot through his left leg as he tried to move. "Thanks, Deacon for fixing the leg. It'll probably need some more time to heal though. Do we have any crutches maybe a wheelchair or something?"

Magnus didn't respond immediately to Pulse odds were he would end up helping her kill Republic officials anyway. He didn't trust anyone on this crew completely yet. Not even Anima mostly as the Dandy android had overreacted to the nanite swarm. He still wondered at its function and if it had any secondary programming. For now, rocking the ship would not help the job, "its fine. If you're in control then it means we're safe from the Dandy. I'll be in the cockpit soon." Magnus knew it would be slow going for awhile nothing crazy... He would need to stop by his locker first though. Living on a planet without reliable sunlight took a toll on the human body.
 
Magnus looked like shit.

Kresh walked in bearing a half-pack of sweet rations and a black coffee. This boat was stocked. "Welcome back to the land of the living."

The medical bay had a good assortment of mobility aids, from basic canes to hover-chairs for amputees. He nabbed a collapsible cane from one of the sealed crates and extended it out to Magnus, holding out his hand in offering.

"Need a hand? If you're good for it, it sounds like something's up in the cockpit." Kresh smiled. "Just 'cause you got shot down by some crazy alien doesn't mean you get to quit on us yet."
 
Haigen understood now, or at least understood as well as he could. Pulse had once been flesh and blood, a former enemy Electrovian, a dead race from a world destroyed by the Republic in one of it's many occupations. The True Terran Republic was the largest Terran nation in this region of space - both in terms of territory and infrastructure. Billions of citizens, a hundreds of systems, a massive fleet - always hungry and always demanding more. The larger it got, the further they had to expand and the further they expanded - you could see the pattern forming in real time.

Electrovian - aquatic species hailing from their namesake world, Electrovia. Masters of their environment, they are a resiliant and elusive enemy. However, they are not unkillable. Recommended lethal methods include concussive depth charges, deoxygenation of local area, and deployment of waterborne neurotoxin.

The thought came so naturally, almost rehearsed. No hate or sadism came attached, the knowledge passed as if innocuous. Where did this thought come from? Haigen had struggled so long to try and remember anything - the simplest things, but intricate knifework? Second nature. The weaknesses of a crewmates race? He could write a handbook. The fuck was wrong with him.

Haigen took a sip from his tea, still too hot to be enjoyed properly but he needed to forget about this and come back to their conversation without intrusive thoughts. More innuendo and questions from Pulse, it seemed the atmosphere on the ship would continue to be comfortable for now. How fitting a signal had come through to ruin the calm?

"Working under?" Haigen lifted an eyebrow, not just at the comment but the implication. Did she see him as a leader? When he thought of it, there wasn't much for a chain of command onboard nor had Mr. Eido given out roles to the crew. Anima had assessed some kind of specialization among the others of the crew, but not Haigen.

She wanted to know more about Haigen? So did he. What could he even tell her? Would she even believe him if he told her the truth. "Like you said, open book. Can't say it's terribly long, though." Haigen took another drink from his mug. "A couple months ago, I woke up in a clinic on Tarrow. Before that, it's not exactly clear."

Anima roused soon after. Or rather, one of the kitten's that comprised Anima had been sleeping on the dashboard and woke up to communicate - listening the whole time no doubt. This one seemed - lively? Excitable was a better word. It's voice wasn't the monotone, unoffending and sterile tone it had used before. Rather, it was almost youthful in spirit and voice - perhaps the intelligence was settling in, growing comfortable and learning.

"Once we're in range we'll hail them, good call." Probes, the cat was getting to know the ship better than he did. "I think Magnus should man the helm if we decide to close in on them, I wouldn't be surprised if it's a trap either."
 


A small laugh escaped at the reaction. She didn't get to enjoy a lot of physical things any more which made the draw of makingnotherd react seize her all the more. The projection could smile sure but it didn't come with the same exhaustion of features. She could be embarrassed but there wasn't a heat to the cheeks any more. Reading characters or thoughts though was illusive. She had to speculate on where the thought went.

If she had to guess it was trying to remember the world to come up as blank. Her species seemed a pet more then sentient to many, it didn't result in much care. The galaxy had many seas, which meant many fish, what did one breed mean amongst the thousands? Her world had been one of resources, drained eventually dry. But who cared of a fallen world if it supported hundreds more? And of her forgettable world of a forgettable race she doubted any thoughts reflected on her. She had been a simple reporter then, not even a prestigious one just one who managed to survive. Her wandering thoughts were cut short by information in return.

Or perhaps absence of information was more accurate. "Interesting. Think it's inflicted or intentional?" She had no real expertise in medicine. In the current age though it'd come quite far. Cybernetics to replace limbs, ships a marvel in a hundred ways. There was remedies for most things. And maybe it was just journalistic paranoia but Pulse had to wonder if someone was suffering of memory space on purpose. "Also yes under. Much as domination sounds fun, I don't have the physicality for it."

There was probably innuendo there. She supposed one could think it a remark about conquest. Pulse though wasn't really a rolling sort just a burn down the Republic type. Rolling, leading that wasn't for her. Hands glide over the controls telling the ship to move closer to the fallen vessel. "Can we pick up the model or identifiable codes? From this range I can't sense much on my own."


Pulse figuring better to let the others handle auxh things then her. She was intimate with machines she was inside of. She didnt do long distsnce though. She liked ships and planets for that reason. Often they were like a ocean for her incrediblein freedom it allowed. There was only vast emptiness though from one ship to the next."Notice a voice change by the way. Any particular reason?" She thought it sounded closer to her own and liked it for such a reason. Pulse thought that might be more bias then fact though. And while her mannerisms were often odd her past did make her enjoy looking to discuss things and toss around questions. Shooting kneecaps was reserved for certain types.

 
"Honestly, I'm not even sure if I'm alive," Magnus pushed himself upright and swung his legs around off the bed. He barely managed to hold back a scream, "guess I have a few good years left before I get my retirement plan." He smiled he knew what his retirement plan was going to be. The Revolution required it.

His stomach growled as he took the cane and smelled the rations. I thought, for a brief moment, that maybe forcing myself back to the pilot's seat wasn't a great idea. Perhaps I should take a coffee break now? No, I need to check on the cockpit it sounded like we were going to check something out. "Remind me to look into getting a chef or ingredients at the next port. Rations may have everything we need but if that's all we have this isn't gonna be a fun journey." Using the cane as leverage Magnus pushed himself out of the bed failing this time to keep in the pain and letting out a yelp.

Magnus limped out of the medical bay and towards the lockers. He leaned against the locker next to his and opened the locker marked with his name. It only took him a moment to dig through identity chips and other pieces of equipment to reach his vitamins. Opening it Magnus took two vitamins before limping slowly towards the cockpit. His last check-in with the cell was on Outreach and they didn't expect another until he reached the next port or two days after takeoff. Whichever came first. He would have to report his injury...

The pain in my was becoming intolerable for Magnus as he entered the cockpit. Overhearing a bit of the conversation he said, "Most ships should be giving off a signal. We should be able to get some general information. Your standard specifications and database search for warrants and the name of the ship. Depends a bit on how they decided to report any changes they made of course." Magnus limped towards the chair using the cane to steady himself, "So what are we doing?" Magnus stared outside the viewport trying to see if he could identify the make of the ship himself.
 
The way that Magnus looked when he mentioned a "retirement plan" said all that Kresh needed to know.

A true believer. Revolutionary to the core. Looked like he also had a serious habit, those bagged eyes and lined cheeks didn't come from someone who was getting everything they needed out of ration packs, that was for sure. He'd popped two of something, and it looked serious.

He waited at his own locker until Magnus walked off, dazed and limping. Despite talking big, and walking alright for a man who's knee had pretty recently been little more than mush, he was clearly in serious pain. Kresh popped the lock on Magnus' locker and took a peak. Vitamins. So he wasn't a junkie after all. Now that was surprising.


He shut the door and pulled a blisterpack of pills from his own locker. Naporilamine. Naptime, if you were outer-systems streetscum, or pertending to be. According to medical files, Kresh Aerikson, the real Kresh Aerikson, had gotten hooked on these during his time in Tanzerkreach. Typical, for a revolutionary scumbag. A few months having to deal with the guilt of his crimes and he'd turned to hard drugs, lost all appetite for anything except a sweet hit of Naptime.

Thankfully, The Chancellor raised his boys tougher than that. After the cosmetic surgeries, it had been the chemical normalizing. He'd been dosed with Naporilamine daily for a week, to make sure that his blood content scans would be consistent with Kresh's. The stuff itself was great, but getting off of it had been...

Hard. Really hard. Even now, the crinkling blisterpack in his hands had him reaching out one finger to pop a pill out, before he stopped himself.

He shut his locker, and made sure Magnus' didn't look like it had beem opened. But not before spreading a tiny puff of Naporilamine dust into Magnus' vitamin bottles. Not enough to be noticed, but enough to be incredibly habit-forming over time. Time to see how well the "True Revolutionary" handled himself after the Naptime had its hooks in him.


Everyone was gathering up in the cockpit. "I say we got for it. More comrades the better, and it seems like Eido meant for there to be more of us, seeing as we're down one after pyschobot." He sidled up beside Magnus at the viewport. "Speaking of, how's your leg doing? He lowered his voice to a whisper. "If you want, I've got something for that." Kresh smiled. "To take the edge off"
 
"Interesting. Think it's inflicted or intentional?"

Haigen's fingers ran through his hair, feeling for the scar tissue behind his left ear. "Intentional... I hadn't considered that." Every lead about who he was and why he'd ended up on Tarrow had left him asking even more questions.

At a certain point, Haigen had decided to leave that moon behind and hope that fate would reveal his past. The idea that he'd done this to himself had never occurred to him. When he was found nearly dead, was it an attempt to take his own life? Or perhaps memory loss was the intended goal.

Magnus soon entered the cockpit, leaning upon a cane. Haigen moved aside from the chair and swung it towards the pilot - the least he could do. "No signal, just this SOS. No transponder or ID, but we can run a scan of the silhouette - we're coming into visual range." Haigen moved from the pilot's controls over to the scanning and communications conn, his hands moving as if he'd done this a thousand times - he did his best to hide his own surprise.

The shape of the ship slowly came into view as their own vessel neared it, the dark of space slowly stripped away to reveal it's silhouette.



A broad ship appeared, faint running lights flickered in the darkness as if awakened by the approaching vessel - the distress signal continued to call out, growing ever more ominous as the derelict came into frame. No weapons were visible upon the ship, at least from their perspective. "Scan is reading unidentified, the system says its likely Terran design, similar to science vessels in the databanks. No weapons system, only defense on this boat." Haigen looked through the preliminary information, tapping the display to provide further information.

"Get this, the scanner is reading a stealth system, currently malfunctioning alongside half a dozen other critical systems - reactor, engines, long range comms," he said with a sigh as he looked past the holographic display that overlaid the ship in their cockpit viewport. Poor bastards, he thought.

As their ship slowly came around the ship, he spied a faint haze near the aft of the ship, illuminated softly by purple light. "There, see that?!" Haigen pointed towards it, beckoning the hologram display to zoom in on the cloud. "They're venting atmo, that means they must have life support still running in at least part of the ship."

"Kresh is right, we should board and see if we can't find any survivors, I'm sure they'd be grateful for the rescue." He was happy the other Terran agreed, and was hoping they weren't the only ones willing to give it a chance.

"Who's with me?"
 


Her question seemed met with a internal question. A smile made its way to her translucent features, a small victory celebrated as to her it meant she asked the right questions. She had after all been a reporter, investigation a thrill for her. "Maybe its nothing. But if cant remember in these times have to wonder if more to it."

To her it sounded like potentially someone didn't want the man to find himself. To Pulse though such was fundamental, was the only way she was still "alive" way she perceived things. She should have been energy lost to a tide of currents and static. She remembered the sensation of feeling flayed broken and scattered. Ethereal amongst ruins, she imagined it like someone bleeding out in a pool. And the only way to keep going was to separate the blood from the water and pull it back into the body. How she almost lost herself might not be to comparable to whatever Haigen went through though. Only time would tell if the electric being could help.

The group was now more gathered in full and surveying the information. "Always open to more partners. Provided they aren't the kneecapping sort. Even if can't help someone there's resources. Recommend a cable or docking. If the ships can connect I can be inside more."
Her jokes aside she was trying to share best measures to make use of herself. It was easy fot her to move between the ships if they got closer she probably could do it now. Even as they just drifted nearer her senses were starting to pick up on the energy readings. Some lost in the void of space some in the ship. Right now though she was limited in ability. Each ship its own ocean and simultaneously a pond. Right now she could move pond to pond but not amongst seperate oceans. Least that was how she would describe it, which potentially made no sense to those around her.

So keep it simple. If ships were connected she to could be. "Going either way though. Can't ignore people in need. And if thetre Republic instead can get my rocks off."

 
With nothing but echoes returning from the derelict, it was decided a small team would board this vessel in the hopes of finding survivors and answers. Drifting gently, Magnus' expert piloting brought them close enough to bridge airlocks via an umbilical cable - the slender, translucent tunnel extended silently into the empty space between ships and magnetically sealed itself around the opposite airlock doors.

Haigen stood in the airlock of their own ship, his index and middle finger drummed against his thigh - scratching gently against the tri-blend material of his space suit. The ship's airlock housed ten vac-suits for humanoids, easily adjustable to the figure of its' wearer. "Seals are good - for now, we'll close the door behind us in case their inner airlock isn't functioning."

- - -

The sounds of distorted hails and outside tampering echoed down the silent halls and reached the ears - or what structures served such functions of those who still lived aboard this lost ship.

- - -

The boarding team crossed the umbilical in silent weightlessness - railings along both sides helped guide them through the zero-g. When they reached the opposing airlock, Haigen spotted a small panel within the frame. Pressing upon it and sliding upwards revealed a small touch screen pad. "This boat's got barely enough power to keep up life support," he tapped the surface with a gloved finger to which the screen lazily displayed basic information.

"She's got a name - E-i-uh..." Haigen's tongue failed him and he let out a sigh over the radio, "I've got no idea how to pronounce this, not even sure if it's Terran script." On the screen, the ship's name could be glimpsed in green letters against the black digital background - EißΦæþ.

Weakly, the airlock doors of the EißΦæþ released and divided slowly to reveal a sealed interior room. Perfect. After a brief moment of equalization, the interior doors opened - only the idle hum of life support and dim lights greeted them. The signage said they had arrived in the starboard flight lounge, but from the state of the interior one wouldn't have been able to recognize a thing.

The entire place was trashed. A half dozen bodies laid sprawled across the floor of the flight lounge, some riddled with bullets while others seemed crushed by extreme force - all of them seemed to be augmented, many were perhaps full androids. The panels along the walls were blasted by gore, synthetic fluid, and in some places marked by a dried greenish-brown organic substance.

He scanned the room with the lamp mounted to his helmet. "I don't know what I was expecting, but it sure as shit wasn't this." Haigen took his first hesitant step into the flight lounge and surveyed the scene. It was dry, cold, and quiet - the organic bits of the cyborgs had begun to decay and turn green.

"Mind the mess, try not to slip."
 



Pulse waited on the others to ready to head over. For all her innuendo there really was no point in her waiting to change outfits or following others to try and take a peak. While she enjoyed her bravado she didn't seek to be disrespectful and as for looks well she simply liked this one the most. She could change it on a whim but the demand wasn't there. Before her de a th she took a liking to the human form in her electrical state she shaped her image to be the ideal look fo her. This was who she wished to be in presentation no need for a special suit for thr ocasion and no want for one.

The others did take time to change though which was a tad annoying. She could have been in the other ship in an instant. The time between the two vehicles almost was nonexistent in the place of the electromagnetic spectrum. She waited at the door azure eyes a flood of code. Familiarizing more with their own ship while waiting. Time to leave came up and she disappeared. A flicker in the tunnel lights before arriving on the opposite end. "Calling her Eibo for short then."

Being inside the other ship was an interesting experience for her. It was as if she had moved from a river to a shower. From drowning to having but a bottle of water. Her small frame briefly twitched, a fist tightening. Her playful nature dropped some as she felt home. Amongst fading power sources and corpses she felt a sense of belonging. The idea she should be like this scratching in the back of the mind. Her people, her world it was like this ship in concept. A sigh escaped her, a corporeal sound for a form incorporeal unable to feel the release from such an action.

She took a knee amongst the bodies. A palm touching the metal flooring going body by body eould take to long. Reaching outwards the electromagnetic spectre aimed to seize the currents remaining in the fallen. The cybernetics and androids a power still would reside in some of them. Death not necessarily their end when it came to the current flowing through them. Regular bodies didnt have as much energy remaining for obvious reasons but technology could. The ghost would look to absorb that energy and then redirect it.

"If I can im going to redirect their energy back into Eibo, may be able to atleast stabilize her to help retrieve answers."

Pulse didn't have the reserves herself to power an entire ship yet. She could probably manage back up power for one but not much else. While she couldn't just turn Eibo on, she figured with enough help she could provide what they may need. In the meanwhile she upped her own brightness helping to illuminate the scene. "Think we should move to the front of the ship or explore her backs..." She trailed off at the end. Originally having thought to say backside but deciding to take things more serious than that. There was to many dead to her and she wanted to be respectful least for now. On an immediate look she didn't see republic signs so she didn't wish to disrespect them.

 
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