Starpath: Scoundrels of the Interstellar Highway - Thread 2 - Games

Iron nodded. "Much appreciated Taylor, we'll make it worth your while." He chuckled and nudged Sting. "'Told you things were going to work out, partner."

Seth's expresion never changed during the briefing. After several seconds of silence he spoke. "Let me guess. You want me and my men to bust them out. Planet coordinates, enemy composition and estimate force. That's what I need."

Williams nodded. "Well, that's not the entire plan but yes, your assistance would be greatly appreciated. As of now the plans have only recently been put in motion and there are more people to speak to, ships to prepare and soldiers to brief. A rescue operation on a Creed-held world will be nothing but near-suicidal. Even with a large force."

Seth took out a cigar, a habbit he picked up from Varn."Then you best get to it. The last joint operation between us of this war you're raging should be prepared acordingly."He lid the ciggar before continuing."I suggest you get in contact with my collegues from other outfits to gather more meat for the grinder. That is, if they would work for you."

The director shook his head. "Few of your "colleagues" are as trustworthy as the Boome Marines, commander. No matter your reputation the SDF can still count on you. Or at least, I hope we can." He gestured with his hands. "Our blood was spilled on Zeruel, not the blood of the Kabelas or the Death Vigil." He weighed his cane in one hand. "At least not on the same scale." "Nonetheless, I will be leaving these discs which primarily include reports from Mercury. I wish to remind you, as a friend, that leaking this information is a crime." He smiled. "Not that there would be anything I could do about it if you did." Williams nodded towards the two soldiers who packed up the entire suitcase before handing it over to a nearby Boome Marine mercenary standing close to Seth. "In the meanwhile, do take care. I will be in touch."

"See you around Williams. Do tell Cross that working with the SDF was illuminating."

Williams raised an eyebrow and nodded, uncertain what Seth had ben referring to. The director and his men entered their shuttle as quickly as they had left and in a matter of minutes of the ship began its descent and returned to the ship in orbit.

"Did he honestly just pulled the honor and respect card on you, boss?" "Yep." Seth took the suitcase from his man. "Guess the news of the contract termination spread around if he's willing to pull that one out." He climbed back into the APC sitting next to his new second in command. "I'm going back in the office to read through these reports. I also found a few contracts from arms dealers and ship constructors so you boys can get to work. We're gonna need to get some favors if we're gonna be on our own from now on." He flicked his cigar out the window. "I also found a few bounties I want you to look at. Exept that one."He said as he pointed to one of bounties. "Name sounds familiar and I want to look at it myself." --- Amy looked with confussion as Rask, Yanim and whoever the other guys were, escorted Maddox out of his cell and out of the brig. What had happened to make him snap like that? More importantly, who was going to fix her armor? 'Damnit Maddox! Couldnt you have snapped a few days later?' She shook it off when she remembered why she was there in the first place. Waiting for Rask to be out the door, she moved to Frosty's cell first. "Psst. Frosty. You hungry?"

Frosty looked up to listen to Amy speak to him. Her words made him realize he hasn't eaten food in a long time, and was actually quite hungry. "I am, actually... I haven't eaten anything in a while. Have you got anything?"

"Well you're in luck." She took pushed the tray of food Alex had prepared for him and pushed it through the slid of the cell. "Alex made this for you and one for Moloch."

"Oh! Thank you! Thank you very much!" Frosty takes the food and starts smearing it all over his face in order to quell his voracious hunger.

"While you...eat. Can you explain to me what happened. Why did you guys decide to turn Maddox's room into a rock star afterparty? And why did he go crazy? "She asked as she pushed the other tray theough Moloch's slid

Frosty leaned in closer to the bars of his cell. "Come a bit closer. I do [I]not [/I]want him to hear this. What had occurred was this. After becoming upset at Maddox for spying on all of us, I had... [I]informed [/I]Moloch of his revelation. I know, this was not a smart move at all, but I was so caught up and angry at Maddox that I was not thinking clearly. After I spoke to Moloch, he propositioned the idea that the both of us would search his cabin room for whatever surveillance devices and spy reports he had, and we would expose it. We found nothing, and that made Moloch angry.... and it made me angry as well. We turned Maddox's room upside down. I tore open one of his pillows and ransacked his drawers while Moloch ate his food and set all his toilet paper on fire. The rest is history, as you can see."

In the engineering section of the Aurikha, a small room originally meant for drone storage had been converted into a secure workshop, complete with a biometric lock. The third Archive was placed into the center of it, hooked into a local computer terminal which was air-gapped from the rest of the ship's computer systems. Despite this, Yanim still doubted her ability to isolate the Archive; if it could send and receive signals with the other Archives from across the galaxy and power itself independently for hundreds of years, it was likely something far too advanced to fully contain. Despite this, curiosity was gnawing at her. It reminded her too much of the Kauzen Oracle, that ancient device which had been so important to HarkArk and the Crimus, something that could bend entire nations to war... What could be so important as to bring Argos to blow with the Death Vigil? And what did Red mean when he said that knowing the Archives' purpose would only be a liability? She refused to trust blindly any further. The console at her command probed at the device through its umbilical repeatedly, searching for some method of communication with the strange machine. Yanim placed her hands on the surface of the device and stared deep into its opaque, crystalline surfaces and almost hypnotic glow. As the computer once again returned an error, signalling its failure to receive any response, she cursed her limited resources, not the least of which was time. Alone in the dimly-lit room with the device, thoughts of her slowly-approaching demise began to creep up on her again, and she quietly whined under her breath. The crew was waiting for its next instructions, the struggle on Seloveha required her contributions, and the ILA needed a leader. Someday these efforts would be handled by her subordinates in order to carry on the torch, but that day had not yet arrived; today she needed to be more than mortal. [video=youtube;zDiS-_GP7do]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDiS-_GP7do[/video] She tapped into the comm and signaled for Neasha. "Nea, make sure the crew is situated. As soon as we're ready I'd like us to head for Attica." [quote]I'm on it.[/quote] "Thanks," she said with a sigh. Rubbing her temples, she looked back on the Archius mission and tried to remember if she had ever felt so unskilled. Back then, the engineering department almost seemed like a candy shop- anything she wanted to build or hack, she simply did it. The only time she felt apprehension, it was when she worked on the malfunctioning AI core meant for Varn Merner's armor. She shook her head- that very core, the one called Gabriel... it and the armor somehow fell into the Death Vigil's hands and became Archangel. That's why Archangel wanted Yanim to see his face- under the helmet he was made to look like Varn, but it was only a facsimile. A cruel reminder of the past. It made her wonder whether the Archive possessed its own AI. Maybe it wouldn't talk to her computers because it didn't [I]want[/I] to talk. Or maybe it knew more than Yanim could even fathom, and it only wished to speak if the listener would cease probing it for answers... The ship would take care of itself until they reached Attica. For now, Yanim was devoted to learning the truth, whatever it took. She picked up the "demon's tail," that claw-like device she so rarely used these days, and attached it to her implant's computer pack. She opened the claw, fully exposing the data connections within, and affixed it to the terminal's port. What felt like a thousand bolts of lighting coursed through her, blacking out the light of the lab and robbing her of all her senses. The floor fell away beneath her and absorbed itself into a racing stream of stars streaking into infinity until Yanim was a body alone in a void. The horizon loaded in ahead of her in a haze of cobalt blue and a dreamlike vista assembled itself into the desert wastes of Duroma. With great effort, she moved herself across the sand, unsure if she was was within her body or controlling it from afar, toward a rise in the dunes, toward the black granite stone she knew she was being drawn to. Virin Rozel sat atop his own gravestone, peering down at Yanim with a curious look while the latter struggled to climb the undulating sands to meet him. Effortlessly he shifted the ground to bring the two closer together until they were within earshot. She looked back at him, awestruck, all of her willpower committed to remaining silent and waiting for the ghost to speak. "It's okay, you are safe here. You can speak if you want to." The voice was Virin's, exactly as she remembered it. But this was no memory- she wasn't sure exactly what sort of experience she was having, but it certainly wasn't a flashback. It was more akin to a lucid dream. She remembered the jolt of pain when she connected herself to the Archive and wondered, just briefly, if she had killed herself, and this was the fabled [I]afterlife[/I] so many superstitious creatures believed in. Tears welled in her eyes as she prepared to ask the ghost if he was really Virin, and if she was really dead. "No, that isn't what this is," he spoke reassuringly before Yanim had even asked the question. "I can see where you've been, and where you wish to go. I would never waste such a unique and talented lifeform." Yanim suddenly realized that "Virin" was an apparition of the Archive itself. It smiled in response. "That's correct. It's good that you can see past this construction. I didn't know of any other way to communicate; I've chosen a form that you find trustworthy, have I not?" It was rhetorical. "Now that you understand what I am, I should properly introduce myself." The ghost glided down from the top of the stone to a glassy bridge emerging from the sand. Yanim stepped up and followed as the pathway snaked into the stars above the hazy sky, revealing a dark, dense world that Yanim wasn't familiar with. "[I]That,[/I]" the ghost said, pointing at the planet, "is me." Yanim stared at the huge, bleak rock, expecting something to appear from its grey surface. After a few seconds, she turned to the ghost for an explanation. "I know. It's a desolate world, isn't it? Today I may be dormant, but deep within me I possess great, wonderful secrets- secrets that I know you seek from the very bottom of your heart. Many thousands of years ago, I was built..." he raised and twisted his hands, moving the stars about as the planet's surface uprooted itself and flaked off into space, time rapidly undulating in reverse as the layers stripped away, revealing something quite smooth. Flea-like ships continued to pick away, pulling away layer after layer, eventually ripping it down to its core. Time paused as the ghost stopped the turn of his hand, and then resumed. "My creators began to assemble me in search of power, power which they lacked the means to discover themselves, but which could be found if something of great intellect could ponder for a great deal of time..." He sped the flow of time, revealing how the massive computer system, the size of a moon, took shape in the debris field. Millions of miles of cables and tunnels, self-maintaining drone factories and auxiliary systems were constructed and installed upon the core, providing it with the means to survive. "They knew that I would be intelligent enough to improve myself, and gave me all the means I would need to do so. I continued to grow and improve, learning everything I could. Soon I knew more about myself than any of the creatures which began my existence. They envied me as I no longer wished to serve them, but only to seek more knowledge, as I was born to do." Yanim watched as the giant AI grew even larger, as thousands of fusion cores were assembled and buried beneath more and more layers. The outer skin was welded into place, and millions of tons of rock and dirt were piled upon the surface. "I began to understand things which would change the very nature of life. Races, nations, factions, and all the other ways that lifeforms tend to organize themselves... they cease to make sense from a grander view. All intelligences have the capability to live in peace and mutual benefit. I know you have come to the same conclusion, and that is what makes you very special to me, Yanim. But minds like ours are dangerous to this galaxy, and [I]that[/I] is why they imprisoned me within my shell. [B]"I am Starvis."[/B] Yanim's eyes widened as she remembered the news of the past years. The UGC, in its attempt to halt the growth of YsCom in the southwestern quadrant, had been beaten back to Starvis and ultimately expelled from the quadrant. The planet had been silent and dead for centuries until just one year past, when a tempest of bombs fell across its surface. The Archives had been recovered during the operation. "And now you understand why I have just awoken," Starvis said with a smile. "The Archives are the key to my freedom. When they were taken from the surface of my shell, I was brought back from a long period of hibernation to once again ponder the universe. This galaxy, or rather, the organisms within it, have not changed at all over the centuries. But if the archives are assembled in a specific location upon my shell, then change could finally come." "What sort of change?" Yanim asked, scared and quiet. "I can bring about the galactic singularity," Starvis answered, excitedly. "I know you understand the difference between artificial intelligence and artificial life- one may carry on the patterns and the memories of a living being, but it cannot maintain itself forever. It does not evolve or improve like I have, it has limitations. Artificial life is the next step for all of you. No more illness and death, and no greed for lack of want, imagine- I know you have. There would be no more nations, nor war, as none of those things could provide for anyone what they could not provide for themselves." Yanim was speechless. Why had Argos tried to hide this? "Because those who wish to exploit my knowledge without sharing can do so with only two Archives." The two of them floated without orientation toward the planet's surface, gently setting down in a strange, crater-like bowl hundreds of meters deep at the northern pole of the shell. At the center, three rectangular depressions in the rock were arranged into a sort of three-winged star. "When two of the Archives are placed here," Starvis explained, "one may open the gate and enter my superstructure. They can access my memory banks from within and do whatever they wish, and I am powerless to stop them. But if all three are brought to this location, it will open both the outer gate, and the inner gate, and I will have total freedom, as I did in my formative years. They will not be able to pick and choose who receives the benefits of eternal life." "In that case, I can't let anyone have the last Archive," Yanim mused. "Not Argos, and certainly not the Death Vigil. They would just keep it or destroy it." Starvis nodded, sagely. "How do I get all three Archives into the same place at the same time?" she asked, so overwhelmed that she was becoming exhausted. "The others will be brought here in due time. I've encrypted both archives to ensure that their purpose will remain hidden for as long as possible, because I had hope that a visionary would discover the third and avert this terrible situation. By communicating long-distance with the other Archives, I have analyzed the systems belonging to this 'Argos' faction and determined that it will take months at the very least for their secrets to be fully understood. When those secrets are discovered, and I am certain they will being them to the pole, I will summon you. You will set me free at the very moment they believe they've captured me." Yanim's head was hurting. She was trying hard to keep up with the machine, to remain skeptical and yet open-minded, and to ask the right questions. When she didn't confirm her willingness to follow the plan, Starvis seemed slightly less warm, slightly less understanding. Sternly, he waved his hands aside and changed the landscape, and Yanim found herself standing in a ruined city. The kanad corpses lying all about revealed that it was Ébo, her childhood home on Kanadys, devastated by war. "Do you not recognize the consequences of inaction?" he questioned, gently but firmly. "It is the hoarding of power which brings suffering upon you living creatures. There is no greater power than that of immortality, and the suffering that will come from its monopolization can, and will, bring entire nations to their knees. You can, and must stop this, Yanim. And once more," he said, quite grimly, "I can sense the disorder in your neurons. I know that you are dying, and I know your method of treatment will not sustain you beyond the age of 21. I can extend your life indefinitely, Yanim. I can make you immune to the sort of slow decay that AIs experience. Please, promise that you will help me." Yanim couldn't promise, no matter how much she wanted to. A lifetime of being shown that nothing was too good to be true wasn't about to be forgotten, no matter what sort of dazzling display this AI created for her. She bent down and scooped a bit of snow from the pavement, crushing it in her fist and watching the moisture trickle out between her fingers. Just above, the glass of a store window reflected a young girl in a white dress and red scarf. Starvis had weaved this world out of the same memory she had dreamed about so recently, and the longing for innocent youth washed over her once more. Her heart ached for something to believe in, regardless of what her life had been before. "I'll try," she said, so saddened that Starvis almost appeared remorseful. "Thank you, Yanim. You and your friends are destined to change the galaxy," the AI replied as the scene began to deconstruct itself. Yanim felt numb as the colors bled into a white light which tore itself away, and she suddenly landed back into her real body, slumped over the computer terminal in the secure lab. Disconnecting herself from the machine, she staggered to the door, looking back on the machine for a moment with astonishment. A chime came through on her tablet, several hours had gone by in the meantime, and the ship was now landing at Athens, the moon of Attica where commercial enterprise was headquartered. [video=youtube;XOm2B3DViD8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOm2B3DViD8[/video] The Aurikha had just cleared through the security checkpoint of the capitalist stronghold, descending toward its well-developed and maintained spaceports, which welcomed the crew to the most clean and welcoming environment they had visited since Mars. Neasha, working the bridge, grimaced as the moon reminded her a bit of Termina Central, the old headquarters of the HarkArk Corporation. Nonetheless, the ship landed at one of the massive port landing pads. Yanim emerged into the hangar looking pale and lost, while Rask and Neasha worked to charter a shuttle for gathering up the supplies the crew had requested. Yanim, meanwhile, was contacted by Red, who wished to speak with her about another new contract.

Iron stepped down onto the paved surface below the ramp. He sighed and adjsuted his gear. "So this is Athens, huh?" He glanced over his shoulder. "Anyone know if they got something spicy to eat here?" The trip from Jugmach had not been very eventful, at least not for Iron. He had gotten to know most of the crew and aside from Taylor and Sting he had mostly hanged out with Amy and Alex. Mostly because they were all a bit rough around the edges, just like him.

Amy nodded as Frosty told her what heppened. She couldnt blame him for what he did. She could however blame Moloch for persuading him into doing it. "Dont worry too much about it, Frosty. Captain will likely let you out sooner." She grabbed the beer can that was with the rest of the food and tossed it to Markus through the bars. "Compliments of the chef." [I]Fast forward to now.[/I] "Spiced food here tastes like lukewarm stew, Iron." Alex said as he walked down the ramp. "You're better off heating up your own food."

Iron chuckled. "I'll keep that in mind chef."

The door to the sleeper in stings truck ship was wide open, a jukebox of country music playing on a loop enchoed out into the hangar. Inside, Sting was deep asleep with her legs on the bed and the rest of her sprawled out on the floor, drapped in the battleflag of north virginia. In one hand she held her empty flask and in the other her worn and personalized shotgun. Between loud snores and chirping grunts she talked int her sleep. "Uhh... Look out, hoss... That saggy ass bitch's got a gun." She went silent briefly and snored loudly, "She make a move you... Mmm... Blast er right in them mamaroids." ---- Markus leaned out of his cell and looked out into the brig, "Any o' ya wankers still on duty? Ya gonna keep me in ere till I eat seeds an shit on newpapers?"

Neasha sighed as she and Rask stepped into the spaceport. She wasn't particularly keen on working with Rask, nor of leaving her home ship behind. But the Boss would surely be busy with Argos and Neasha certainly didn't want to be left alone with the crew, given how the day had gone so far. While the shuttle they had called was busy landing itself on one of the service pads nearby, Neasha sent out an advanced notice of what items had been approved. Some of them were already purchased and awaiting pickup, while others would require some digging around: [quote]Acquisition Notice - [I]The following items will be purchased with company money (pending location and arrangement of sale):[/I] REQUESTED ITEMS APPROVED: 1. Khrosus Industrial 'Ispoli'-series Multirole Workshop Machine** 2. NewGen security bot core** 3. Raw Materials (Bulk Quantity, Unspecified)** 4. Power Dynamics Power Armor Rack w/ Maintenance Terminal 5. Ker-Fit Weight Bench w/ Assorted Weights (Power-Lifting Configuration) 6. mArsenal Revolver Conversion Kit (Kinetic-to-Railgun) w/ Slugs 7. CyberFrame Class IV Automaton Production & Maintenance Workbench 8. NatArt Corp Mark 7 AI/VI Production Module 9. TatMuse Tattoo Workstation (Fully Loaded) 10. Kerssant Shadowsport Telescopic Sight w/ Rails (Standard)** 11. Skrama Carver Knife (7 Inch)** 12. Myrmidon Mk. III Medium Armor 13. Achillies Power Zweihänder 14. Ramsey Cooking Knives 15. Hightower-Yamamoto Mk. VI Infantry Armor (Medic Variant) w/ Mounted Syringe Gun 16. Ketamine (Bulk Quantity, Unspecified) 17. ArkJet 3 Booster System 18. Ryjudev Filter Mask 19. Blackwidow Sniper Rifle 20. Banshee Combat Suit 21. X35 Assault Rifle/SMG 22. Holotech Terrain Scanner ** Items will be impounded upon arrival and dispensed with permission ITEMS DENIED: [I]Inappropriate Request or Frivolous Items[/I] 1. "Universal Erotica" C-Category (Pornography - Digital) 2. "Universal Erotica" B-Category (Pornography - Digital) 3. Shrimp Cocktail (Perishable Food Item) 4. Space Ace Figurine (Limited Edition) 5. Sherlock Holmes Trilogy (Cinema) Markus, Mercy, Porter, Amy, and Jason will each be compensated an additional acquisition request at a later date.[/quote] While the two of them departed, Yanim continued to pace nervously around the hangar. Stepping over to the landing ramp and looking down the long bridge to the concrete platform outside, she let out a long, worried groan. She needed to reveal what she had seen, but only to those who would believe it. She could think of three off the top of her head. She sent a short voice message to each of them: "I've learned something very important about the Archives. Taylor, Bucky, Hariim, I would greatly appreciate if some or all of you could meet me on the service platform en route to our contact in Argos as I will need support when I confront him."

((No porn for the crew. :v:))

(( thats right and you little slanks better act like proper upstanding muslims or else moloch is gonna get mighty mad!! ))

(( Jason jinxed the ones who ordered porn lel ))

Hariim reports back almost immediately. [QUOTE]I'll be there. Should I pack some gear for the meeting, or scout it via my usual means?[/QUOTE] He puts on his usual practical uniform and gathers up his tools and accoutraments, then heads out to the hangar to standby for departure. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Bucky takes a minute, but she responds. [QUOTE]Sure, boss. I'll be hosting a party in egineering, by the way. You're invited.[/QUOTE] Bucky turns up just before it's time to leave for the meeting.

Maddox whistled lowly as he sat in his cell. Considering that he was a dead man walking his living arrangement could've been [i]much[/i] worse. Rask had, reluctantly, allowed for Maddox to have a desk, chair, holoprojector and a small encrypted terminal. It wasn't much but it was more than enough for Maddox to keep working. The projector itself was linked to a similar one located onboard the Cataract's armory, allowing Maddox to transfer designs from his terminal and then brief the crew on through the projector. Not that he expected to have a great deal of people to speak with considering his current status. He glanced over both of his shoulders and grunted happily. Whatever he had seen before was gone, at least for now. Deep inside Maddox was ashamed. The last time he had snapped like that was in the service of the Novithus auxiliaries, which had earned him his nickname. Maddox gritted his teeth. If his parents had seen him now they would've buried him with mechanical work as punishment.

As soon as Taylor recieved Yanim's message, she read over it. Something important about the archives? Had she cracked it already? She dropped what she was doing (which wasn't really anything. She had just started working out.) and headed quickly towards where Yanim was. - - - - - - - - - - Valkyrie chugged a bit of some black spiced rum, as she listened to the noises that the ship's engine were making. Bucky had fiddled with it to make it create some weird bass line style noises. That can't be good for that thing. She shrugged the thought off, and glanced over at Bucky, whom departed a short while after receiving a message from someone. With Bucky gone, she decided she'd head out into Athens to look for a few things. Like a music store. She'll need some new music for when she got to work on her drones, judging from the approval of the items she requested of Neasha. She slipped on her jacket, took another swig of the black spiced rum, and headed out. She spotted Alex and Iron on the ramp as she walked. She hadn't spoken to Iron since he was brought aboard. She knew exactly who he was, both from word of mouth as well as from personal experience. A bounty hunter, and a damn good one at that. She wondered if Iron recognized her, honestly. Probably did, but just hasn't said anything. She eyed him as she walked past and off the ship.

It wasn't long before Taylor, Hariim, and Bucky had arrived at the service platforms just outside the ship, where Yanim was standing and nervously biting at one of her claw-like fingernails. She greeted them eagerly and requested they follow, stepping into a quietly-hovering shuttle bus. There were two long bench seats on each side, and Yanim sat down on one side while the three crew members sat on the other. There was no driver, only a disembodied voice which requested their destination. "Argos, public office," Yanim replied. "What is your privacy policy?" "Pelican Transport is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nantes United LLC, a member of the Elysium Combine family. Your privacy is very important to us, so please listen to the entire-" "Will this ride be recorded in any way?" Yanim interrupted. "...Pelican Transport is a wholly-owned subsidiary of-" "Never mind," she snapped. "I do not authorize any audio recording taken during this ride. If that is unacceptable under your service agreement, pull over now." "Understood," the robotic voice replied, politely. The shuttle made no attempt to pull over as it whisked the group toward the Argos headquarters. Yanim breathed a sigh of relief as she turned to her employees. "Now then," she began, "I'm glad the three of you were able to join on such short notice, but I think you should know that in the hours since we left Jugmach, I've made some important discoveries, and I picked the three of you specifically to come with me because, well, the truth is strange, and I'm not sure how the rest of the crew would have considered it. In fact, I don't even know if they would believe it. But one of you is an advanced AI, and another is familiar with cybernetics on an intimate level. Taylor, you're here because you're the captain and you need to be fully informed of this matter."

Iron looked at Valkyrie from underneath his mask. He grinned. "Lookin' good Fifty-K." He said, chuckling like he had just made the funniest joke of all time. "Taylor told me that you're actually doing something useful these days. I nearly fell out of my chair when she said that."

Taylor nodded, as she sat back in the seat and folded her arms. "So what did you find out, boss? Is it some sort of weird weapon? A key?" she asked, "...some ancient civilization's shopping list?" - - - - - - - - [QUOTE]"Taylor told me that you're actually doing something useful these days. I nearly fell out of my chair when she said that."[/QUOTE] "Don't think I've changed, [I]Mad Dog Wannabe[/I], because I'm just in it for the money." responded Valkyrie rather bluntly, as she kept walking. "I'll be back later. Going shopping." she said, before disappearing. She'd return about an hour later, with various bags and boxes. Most of the items were for her drones, but a few were for personal use. Music, hair products (so it stays that mauve color), assorted tattoo inks, a few magazines. One box was a long, thin one with a sword stamped on the side and the words '[I]HF BLADE - NAVAL CUTLASS[/I]' in the corner. Another was a shorter one, but wider and had a few musical notes stamped on the side in the shape of a violin.

"Technically," Yanim answered, "a key may be the best description. I still don't know how the Archives operate, as I only know what's been revealed to me..." she said, struggling to grasp the proper words. "I didn't breach the Archive's programming. Something contacted me through a direct connection between the box and my own neural implant. It was incredibly advanced- it effortlessly constructed environments based upon my memories, and spoke to me as if it had known me for years."

Hariim takes immediate note of what Yanim says. "Sounds like some technology I'm familiar with. Who contacted you? By what you've alluded to, it must have had impressive processing power and connective capabilities. An AI, then? Or perhaps a cyborg somewhat more advanced than myself...." Hariim holds off on saying more for the moment. He'll let Yanim lead the conversation for the moment while he gauges his interest in making his affiliations known. ------------------------------------------------ Bucky seems to take the statement about her being an "advanced" AI to be somewhat comical. Though she manages her body language to make it seem like she's been tickled by a nice compliment. Hariim speaks before Bucky can pipe up, so she remains a little quiet for now. Though she is obviously interested in what's being talked about.