"Yeah. I'm going to look into getting a EHE suit if I can. The higher-end military grade suits have exoskeletons and shock absorbers built into them. Might see if I can get an AI mounted into it." she responded, looking over at Jag. If she had that, she could wield much heavier weaponry. HMGs, Heavy Autoshotguns, mass accelerator rifles...hell, even the MKIV BFG! She smiled slightly at that thought.
Abrax listened in on the speech made by the boss around here while he was designing several elements into a core protection: armor. The possibility is limitless yes but however time and time again he's seen many manufacture them with common metals and machinery. Though, he had one idea that could help him develop future projects: Alchemy. Alchemy wasn't particularly new or old, a recent discovery within Malmar and while not fully there could lead to a gateway between new discoveries.
As he drew he listen more to the Boss's explanations.
[quote]"You see, HarkArk was no different from its enemy, the Crimus, nor the hundreds of other factions which took part in the so-called Oracle War. Within each individual exists a mind with great potential waiting to be unlocked, and these empires of exploitation seek endlessly to stomp it out. In my travels I have found that the vast majority of us wish no ill will upon each other. And yet, look around, and you will find war, slavery, abuse, and subjugation in every corner of the galaxy. I could not live under such a regime any longer, and neither should any of you.
"You work for me, and yet I also work for you. What you did on Itara was courageous; you saved me because I could be saved. But in the future, should I slip to the point that you must choose between saving my life or saving yourselves, then I am nothing, I am dead. Because I know that if I succeed in awaking within you the natural gifts that you each possess, then any single one of you could succeed me. More than anything else, I seek to liberate. Your money will be your own. You may leave the crew at any time, and I will not seek to penalize you, nor will I reject you if you return.
"What I am saying is that I seek to grant you a sort of freedom which is not afforded to many in this wretched galaxy. And I believe that it is our highest responsibility to spread that notion of anarchy wherever possible.[/quote]
Abrax understood very well what she meant as a victim of manipulation and exploitation. Her motives were uncommon and fairly understandable in these times. But Abrax knew even people with the greatest intentions have flawed visions for the future. Chaos versus Order. Abrax breathed deeply and concluded he needed to see more of the Boss's actions if she is what she says she is. Until now he adjusted his fatigues and left to his quarters.
"I doubt your get that to be honest.", Jag said in dismissive tone "But then again, you can never guess what an foolish or desperate or even both freelancer can bet on." Jag said before looking over it's shoulder at Owen.
"Hopefully...But not likely in Prospera." Jag answered.
[QUOTE]"I doubt your get that to be honest.", Jag said in dismissive tone "But then again, you can never guess what an foolish or desperate or even both freelancer can bet on."[/QUOTE]
Taylor shrugs. "You never know, I may run across one someday. Just going for something that'll give me the best survival chances. At the moment, a good set of armor and an exoskeleton would be perfect."
"Will we be able to buy better gear any time soon?" Taylor had asked.
"Your first credit transfer should be arriving within the hour," Yanim replied. "What you choose to do with it is your own prerogative. I'm also going to be reviewing the freelance employment channels on Prospera to see if we can get a dedicated armorer."
"I have a couple questions, one about the next mission, the other about this blasted bartender we got," Owen then asked.
"...Bartender?" Yanim repeated, grimacing.
Bucky cut in, "Will we be authorized to salvage spare parts and raw materials in the belt? Having spare parts on hand will help keep repair costs down, and could save all our skins if we get into a dicey situation. What we can't use we can sell off along with the nuclear materials. Starship components can run a pretty penny at almost any starport."
"Whatever you feel is best for the crew. Innovation is what keeps small outfits like ours ahead of the competition. However, I'd advise against using salvaged parts to repair the ship's engines or critical systems. There's no reason to take that risk when we can cut costs elsewhere."
The crewmembers chattered in excitement about the prospects of new gear, and what they'd be looking for on Prospera. Owen never asked his original question. "Owen, what did you want to know?" she asked.
"Of course it would be, but unfortunately for us freelancers. We have to deal with the hand that we're given in this trade." Jag commented towards Talyor before looking over at Terika while she spoke.
Owen responded. "So you're telling me that the rumors were true? That the mafia was involved in the F-max races? I sure heard the rumors, but I didn't think they were true..."
"Most of the rumors surrounding the mafia tend to have some biases in fact. There hit-men for example, do often live up their image of being highly efficient assassins. Killing anyone that the mob want's dead with no one ever more then an a few meters away from their crosshairs...Through I have disprove that last statement personally." Jag said towards Owen.
Bucky waits for the others to finish asking their questions and making their statements before chiming in again: "I also thought about an idea while I was patching up our systems. With the parts I could salvage with a full team, I could probably put together some robots to perform tasks around the ship, and I could probably also rig up some basic drones to help us fight. The mechanical side of things isn't too hard, but I'd need the skill-softs to learn the programming. Or we could find somebody to do it. I could also build any number of things with the raw materials we can gather off of those wrecks."
She pauses to take a breath, evidently she hasn't bothered to stop emulating humanity.
"The conduits that channel plasma around our engines work on the same principles as a plasma projector, and the lasers that are used in Inertial Confinement fusion reactors are pretty similar to those found in your standard pulse laser rifle. Get me enough hydraulics and myomer bundles and I can even put together some pretty hefty suits for hazardous environments. I've certainly got a lot of time and not enough busywork to fill it all with."
She types away on a holopad while she looks at Yanim, she's waiting for a response, a suggestion, or orders.
Yanim nodded in response to Owen's question. "The Interstellar Racing Federation has periodically investigated F-Max for decades, as I'm sure [I]you're[/I] well aware," she said, referring to Owen's background in professional driving. To the rest, she explained, "the Grand Prix is hosted on five different circuits which rotate from one year to the next. Every fifth year when F-Max comes to Prospera, the headlines are filled with accusations of corruption. When I was stalking Kupra's human contacts, the Mafia men I spoke of, the Grand Prix was practically all they could talk about in their spare time. Apparently, they have some kind of outside bet, an obscure driver that no one in their right mind would put money on.
"The annoying thing is that they never said his name. They just kept calling him 'our driver.' You all will need to investigate to find out who this mysterious racer is. You have three days." Tapping her foot, briefly, Yanim thought about all that had been said, before nodding several times. "Right... that just about covers it."
There was a clank from the control panel as the warp drive disengaged again. The crew had arrived at Gorgon, an ore heavy planet with a sub-optimal atmospheric composition. It was quite obvious why it was only being used for mining, currently, but given the proper economic stewardship, one day it might be terraformed. For now, however, Yanim and several others breathed a sigh of relief that they were headed for a glitzy space casino planet rather than the planetary equivalent of a strip mine.
"Yuga, please add the new flightpath to the navigation computer. Owen, make the jump to the Albitsky belt as soon as the instrumentation says we're lined up."
[editline]4th March 2016[/editline]
After Bucky had finished with her musings, Yanim replied: "I've found that drones can be quite helpful in a variety of circumstances, but I've not had time to build any of my own in recent months. See what you can do, when you get the parts."
A moment later, Yanim suddenly remembered something. "Oh, make sure to read the addendums I posted to the ship's technical documents if you ever need to work on the engines; they're in the intranet. Human fusion reactors are more stable than the ones I was trained to work on, but they're less efficient. I did some things to our engines that make them less... orthodox. What with the two-step power generation with the ICF and stellarator, the bypass between the two for the atmospheric warp function, the regenerative power restoration function... come to think of it, there are still some voltage issues in the transformers. It's a wonder the whole thing doesn't [I]melt[/I]."
Yanim noticed slight discomfort on the faces of some of her crew. "If you don't understand it, don't bother worrying about it." She turned back to Bucky with a decidedly serious look in her eyes. "Read the addendums."
"So when we find this driver...do we just kill him or something?" asked Taylor, raising an eyebrow.
Bucky's face goes blank for a moment, her eyes changing color from their usual greenish-grey to sterile white, then back again. "Just did. Oh and I fixed the voltage issue in those transformers when I first came aboard. I implemented some sensors to read for the flux spikes, and rigged up a system that siphons off the extra power into the warp-ignition energy cells. That's how we've been getting such a good charge rate on them recently."
Yanim shook her head in response to Taylor's question. "No. We want him to participate in the race, but we also want him to lose. The betting pool isn't run by the Mafia, rather, it's handled by an interstellar organization which handles all sorts of sports betting throughout the galaxy. The Mafia is going to put hundreds of millions on their 'outside bet,' and then the betting organization will pay them from the pool. They may even need to draw from their own reserves if the odds are long enough. But if we ensure their driver doesn't win, they'll take a massive loss on the race- especially considering that they'll be so confident in whatever methods they use to cheat that they'll bet more than they can afford to lose."
[editline]4th March 2016[/editline]
After Bucky explained her changes, Yanim used her cybernetic implant to review Bucky's work, adopting a similar blank stare before smiling. "So you did," she said with sneer. "I like you."
Jag quickly took notice of Fermi mannerisms, taking a brief look over it. Quickly concluding that the engineer was an Snyth as it's eyes could find upon closer look that it lack the proper thermal signature of an organic entity.
Nevertheless Jag ignored it and instead resume it's focus more on Terika.
So no killing, eh? Well, at least she'd get to drink while she's there. Taylor adjusted her stance to 'parade rest', then gazed out the window at the mining colony below. A mission to a glitzy gambling planet to fuck up a rigged race.
Her older jobs had nothing on this.
After chatting and discussion, Jag's body begin to acre. The change in gravity was beginning to take it's toll the Sanghvi, it's wounds substantiated from earlier begin slowly creep back.
And the odd presence that Jag felt from Terika also started coming back, diffing it's mind towards the soft-carbon.
Jag then quietly left the bridge, retiring towards the airlock to meditate within the weightlessness of it. Resting as the heat of the nearby sun shined unadulterated solar radiation into the small compartment, the Sanghvi begin to slowly absorbed it like an plant.
(( My posting quality starting to suffer from my tiredness so I'm just going to call tonight. ))
[QUOTE=Sega Saturn;49863754]After Bucky explained her changes, Yanim used her cybernetic implant to review Bucky's work, adopting a similar blank stare before smiling. "So you did," she said with sneer. "I like you."[/QUOTE]
Bucky smiles and nods "I was made for people to like me. I'll get cracking on clearing out space in the hold, and slapping together some rocket skiffs to carry salvage to and from the wrecks we set our sights on."
Bucky looks around the room, and addresses her crewmates: "I'll be taking volunteers for shipbreakers and skiff pilots. Send me a message over personal comms so I know what to prepare for all of you."
Taylor looked over. "I'm up for shipbreaking." she said, turning to face her. She had done it twice before. Not that big of a deal, really. Better that than flying the skiff. She really wasn't that good of a pilot.
"Better I just say it now, while you're here." she continued, with a shrug.
Bucky nods at Taylor and makes a note on her holopad. She spins on her heels and makes for the ship's hold to prepare for the salvage operations. She sends a message to the whole crew about the need for shipbreakers and skiff pilots.
[heading to bed. Will be back on in about 8 or 9 hours]
Yuga had finished inputting the new route to Prospera. Even though it was a few parsecs longer than going straight along a marked route, they'd bypass things that could be after ms Terika, like outlaw pockets, bountyhunter stations and collective scouts.
When the route was implemented in the system she walked up to the captains seat.
"Miss Terika, regarding the race and our next objective I might have an interesting proposition for you"
Yanim leaned back in the captains chair, tapping her index fingers together. Yuga continued.
"If you intend for us to sabotage one driver, why not sabotage all of them? Mr.Jackson has impressive handling skills and according to my psychic investigation he also has a history within pod-racing."
Yanim stopped tapping her fingers and raised an eyebrow.
Yuga took out the compass and absorbed some vapors.
"My suggestion is that we enter Mr.Jackson into the race, make a sizeable bet on him and then make sure he wins.
If we only focus on making one person win we can accomplish two objectives at the same time, while multiplying our profits considerably."
Vakarus had no questions as he trusted Yanim with his life. As the crew started chatting wildly he begun to use his psionic powers to "scan" the system.
As the Muramasa approached the asteroid belt it became clear that someone or something wasmout there.
He tried to locate the source of the presence. (Roll?)
Yanim listened carefully. The logic [I]seemed[/I] sound at first thought, but the more she considered it the less advisable it became. Yuga could sense the gears churning in Yanim's head. "The more actions we take, the more risk we run of being discovered before the plan can be executed," Yanim replied at first. After a momentary pause, she continued, "if we were to enter our own competitor, the Mafia might sabotage us as well, right under our nose. Then what advantage would we have? And worse yet, we don't even know if the Mafia is the only threat here... We need much more information than what we currently have," she concluded.
"You know," Rask said, "I kind of like her idea." He was standing near the warp field sensory console, a device used to detect inbound-warping ships as well as the destinations of outgoing ones. This was his usual task on the bridge. "We don't have get personal or nothin' with each of the hundred or so teams out there. Maybe we could install a device somewhere on the track that just fucks with all of them at once, and make our own entry immune. And better yet, we could have a late entry, so if they mess with our first car we could get a second one there unmolested. I remember seeing in Sylvia's dossier that she used to be a driver also-"
"She was a street racer, Rask. It's not the same thing. And she's in a coma at present," Yanim replied. She was a bit annoyed at Rask, not for arguing, but rather for supporting Yuga specifically. Yanim tried not to allow herself to think disparaging thoughts about them, but she couldn't help but dislike the ayr race after past experiences. Most of all, she didn't appreciate anyone being inside her head.
"Well," Rask commented, "it's not like you to avoid a good scheme, Boss. Usually it's the serek trying to talk us down."
"Probably because the things you do are the most contrived, dangerous plans imaginable," Neasha said. She had no real purpose on the bridge at the moment beyond supervision of Owen's piloting, and even she felt that it was unnecessary. Sooner or later, she would need to settle into the rhythm of being a backup pilot to Owen, and not much else. "I swear, if you could 'liberate' the galaxy with a game of Russian roulette, you'd do it, Boss."
"So what," Rask cut in, "that's like a five outa six chance of winning the whole shebang, 'everyone go home?' Those are way better odds than what we're actually dealing with, in the grand scheme of things."
"Why is it always six shots?" Yanim wondered aloud. "You'd think the humans would stop making such impractical guns, especially with plasma being so cheap."
"It's not about the cost," Rask started to explain, before Neasha sighed dramatically and started to walk off. "Hey, lizard queen! Where're you goin'?"
"Cocoa, then bed," Neasha answered as she shuffled out of the room.
"But yeah," Rask said, turning back to Yuga, "it's a good plan. We oughta work on it, uh, once we get more info..." he trailed off after catching a blink-and-you-miss-it glare from the Boss. He swallowed before smiling awkwardly. "Keh."
((This is it for me tonight. I need to get a few hours of sleep before class.))
[editline]4th March 2016[/editline]
[QUOTE=Viper123_SWE;49864727]Vakarus had no questions as he trusted Yanim with his life. As the crew started chatting wildly he begun to use his psionic powers to "scan" the system.
As the Muramasa approached the asteroid belt it became clear that someone or something wasmout there.
He tried to locate the source of the presence. (Roll?)[/QUOTE]
((We'll do this tomorrow.))
Alex was attending to his duties as he recieved several messages. He had some time, so he started to read through them. The first was a notification that his payment was through. He made a mental note to divide the sum. One part for work, one part for personal use and the last part for the other reason.
The next message he really didn't want to read when he saw who send it.
[QUOTE]My son. Why do you continue to resist the call of the light? You know that eventually I will find you and bring you back into the fold. Even if I have to drag you in chains. You and your sis-[/QUOTE]
DELETE. "Screw off dad." The next message was definitely a relief to see.
[QUOTE]Hi Alex. I got the last shipment of stuff you bought. Where do you keep finding these souvenirs? They're great. Anyway. I got that job at the embassy I told you about. Little Koronova is moving up the world. Take care big bro. Love, Amy.
PS: Does dad keep sending you creepy messages too? [/QUOTE]
"Bothering her too? What are you up to old man?" He switched his attention back on his job.
Bucky pulls double-duty and puts together some basic skiffs to carry salvage to the Muramasa. The skiffs are built out of magnetic cargo pallets welded together with a spare RCS thruster from the Muramasa's stock of replacement parts. A few smaller thrusters from EVA packs which aren't being used, and a simple pilot's seat and controls at the rear.
Bucky builds three of the skiffs, and gathers up the gear her teams will need. She sets it all out on the skiff pallets. She sends a notification to Yanim, telling them that preparations are complete. After that she calls Janos over personal comms.
*"Yo, John. Going to join the salvage mission in the asteroid belt? I could really use a few extra sets of hands."
Taylor decided to head back to her room for a moment, turning and giving a quick salute to Jag and their boss before heading out into the main tunnel. She made her way back to her room, and pulled a small holo-tablet from her bag. She switched it on, and proceeded to check her account. Yep. There's the funds.
She divided the funds into two, and placed them into two separate accounts. One for work, one for play. From the play one, she took out a chunk of the funds and proceeded to send them to another account. One she had made for her mother a year ago. She had made the account for when her mother decided to finally take her advice and move away from Pyri II. Currently the balance sat at a hundred thousand credits, and she added more to it whenever she could.
She checked her messages. None to speak of besides some spam, which she promptly deleted. Finally, she switched off the tablet, and slipped it back in her bag. She could hear Amelia down the hall, playing video games, so she decided to go check on her.
Amelia throws her controller out of her room in frustration then gets on top of her bed and screams into a pillow.
"Uh...alright? Did you lose or something?" asked Taylor from the doorway. She looked over at the controller on the floor, then at the screen. Yep. She lost.
She looks up to the doorway, her hair is all frazzled and her eyes are droppy. "This dumb game. I wanna beat it on the hardest difficulty. I've been trying for the past two months on it." she slams her head back onto the pillow, "Life is pain," she muffles into the pillow.
[QUOTE]"This dumb game. I wanna beat it on the hardest difficulty. I've been trying for the past two months on it." she slams her head back onto the pillow, "Life is pain," she muffles into the pillow.[/QUOTE]
"Ah." said Taylor. She stepped in, picked up the controller, and sat it down next to her. "You'll do it eventually. Just keep working at it." she said, with a smile.
She looked over at the screen again. "...What are you playing anyway? Reminds me of Space Souls." she asked, examining the image that was still on-screen.
She gets back up, "It's a very old game, Dark Souls 7: Prepare to Die x 7 Edition. It was before all the space stuff." she sighs, "Basically the bane of my existence*
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