@Crossfire

"I'm telling you man, the best chicks I've seen are from Federation space. Finest ass was this one blonde on this space station we were docked at a year back, before you joined. Jeez man, you could use the fucking thing as a trampoline." Ace said to Seth, only noticing Alessio a moment later. He swiveled his chair around to face the captain, "Oh, hey Cap. We were just having a friendly debate on where you can find the best tail in the galaxy. I think I won."

After a moment of swiveling the chair around mindlessly, Ace turns back to Alessio. "So Cap'n, when're we meeting up with that one ship? What was it? Reaper? Reaver? Renaldo? ... Oh yeah, the Revenant. So when are we meeting up with that ship?" Whilst he was talking, Ace turned his attention towards the flight controls. "Only reason I care is because if the job pays as well as the Alliance says, I'm gonna be drowning in ladies at the next station we stop at."

@Simple Unicycle

"Well, I've got an objection to your claim there Ace" Carver glanced over his shoulder, checking to see if Kira had walked in. She hadn't so he continued "Because, I'm married to the finest woman in all the galaxy"

He shot a cocky smile towards the pilot and navigator. Seth, as per usual, didn't have much to say, he just awkwardly rolled around in his chair and began pouring over a star-chart.
"Well, anyway, now that I've settled that we can get back to work. We gotta get out to Serros Station, the Revenant is meeting us there in a day or two. When we approach, assuming the pirates haven't blown the place up and they still have something resembling a port authority, just tell them we're stopping in for a resupply, rather than any other kind of business. I'm getting a weird vibe from this job, and I'd rather not leave a trail someone cold follow and figure out we were involved in what's about to go down"

------------------------
@Xandrya

"Yeah, come on in lass, haul up a seat" Grayson said, setting down his tools and clearing away some space for what he had to show her.

"So, first things first, I finally got 'round to finishing off the repairs on your armor. Bit of an improvement if you don't mind my sayin'. I got ahold of some carbidium-titano alloy and fashioned it into plates to cover up the exposed joints and more important bits like along the spine and such. Damn stuff is nearly invincible despite how light it feels, you won't notice it a bit. You shouldn't have anymore troubles that require ya to ditch your armor in the field, I'll swear my life on it."

"The other thing has to deal wi' that visor of yours. It got knocked around a little in the blast last week right? Well, I took note of a few things about it while I was gettin' it back up to 100, like the parts used, and how it's wired up. Tried to figure out how it worked basically, just in case it even needed to be completely replaced. Well, anyway, to get to the point, I couldn't sleep last night because a pair of ideas hit me, one after the other, and I had to get up here to sketch it all out just in case I forgot when I woke up. I figure with a bit of tweaking, I could do something similar to what I did with the armor, plate up the important bits, make it pretty well indestructable, and counter-weight it, so you don't notice the extra heft too much. So I was thinkin' that if you're up for it, I'd do that now before we hit the ground again, and we could chat a little while I worked"

@Banana

Taleste listened to Tibulus' story, incredibly interested. "Oh, I remember those kinda fights!" She commented. "I used to gamble a lot. My favourite wure the Russian Roulette Wheels. Put a bullet in a six-chambered gun, stick it in a large wheel, then the spectators take bets on who'll get the gun, and the players take it and put it to their heads and pull the trigger. There wus a trick to being a player. You Pick the gun up o whatever side it was put down on, then flip it the other way as you're lifting it. You huv a 2/3 chance that you'll be able to feel a weight discrepency, an' that means the bullet's in one of the side chambers, and yur safe. If you can't feel one, you only huv a half chance of survival, so chicken out and count yer losses."

@Silver Carrot

"That's honestly really smart." Tibulus wondered if Taleste actually played Russian Roulette before, mainly because she knew that little trick. If she played it before and she knew that trick, well damn. "Speaking of Russian Roulette, I remember meeting a guy who was willing to trade his life in order to raise his bet. He loaded his revolver with 6 bullets, took a deep breath, and he clicked the gun 6 times. Turns out, he knew the gun was jammed. We let him change the arena a slight bit as well as we doubled his bet. That was my favorite match too. The ground was slightly electrocuted and we had two Funganoid dogs in the pit. Funganoids get a bit antsy around electricity, so it was entertaining to see two crazy skeletons go head to head trying to break the other's skull while they were so hyped up... even if it was wrong."

---

---

Inside Ren's storage room, a few small spiders had set up shop in the corners of the room. They tended to work pretty quickly when not disturbed, and were catching moths that had hatched inside some of the storage crates. As modern as the ship was, it couldn't deal with an infestation of any level on its own. Ren, meanwhile, was completely shut down. The power surge had knocked it out almost completely, and without having transferred consciousness to one of the avatars, it was unable to reboot itself. At least, until a small spider made the fatal error of trying to build a web inside of Ren's bioreactor fuel input. Poor creature slid down the chute into the bioreactor, sparking the bioelectricity producing bacteria into action. It didn't create much energy, but it did create enough to restart Ren's emergency reboot systems.

The Revenant's lights flickered for a moment, and Ren's internal reactors immediately kicked back into action. The machine was back in action.

---

While Renli's passive AI subroutines were set to clean the moth eggs up and remove the spiders, Rento blinked to awareness. A wave of nausea crashed into her as her brain restarted, and she got the feeling that she had been... Well. Dead. It was almost like she had merely fallen asleep, but in a much more profound manner than she had ever remembered -- save for one instance: when Ren had "created" her.

The nausea passed shortly after, but a mild headache cropped up. Renli would have had the same problem. Ren's clock suggested that it had been a fair while since she had been active, so the first and most important thing to do would be to check with someone important. Ren's hijacked cameras showed that Stryker was just now finishing up... Some sort of meeting. Not sure what it was about, exactly. Without the skills to access the ship's databanks, Rento had to assume she would only learn what was going on by meeting with the bossman himself. And so she set off towards the Med Bay. She ignored whoever was present in the War Room on the way through to the main upper deck hall and lightly knocked on the door.

@Tickout@Crossfire

@Azereiah@Tickout

"Vitals seem good" Stryker noted aloud as he observed the monitors next to Matija and Benny's beds in the med bay "How's brain activity looking? I know there's no way to expect them up and about for quite a while, given the fact that one of em nearly had her head caved in and the other suffered electrical shocks that would've dry-roasted a weaker man, but any prognosis on when they might come back to us?"

A knock on the door interrupted the conversation. Stryker was a few paces closer so he walked across and hit the lock off for the door to slid open and reveal Rento, to which Stryker jumped back slightly.

"Whoa.... sorry wasn't expecting to see you up and about, finally back online huh?"

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[OOC: And now, we interrupt our regularly scheduled programming to bring you a special presentation by myself and Xandrya
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"Hmm, that sounds like a good idea." Amy straightened up and slowly walked inside the armory, finding the work station she'd remembered from the last time she was in there. She couldn't help but be impressed with Grayson's dedication towards her gear, especially since he'd lost some sleep over it. "Is it too much to ask if you could possibly turn my visor into a pair of glasses?" Amy teased, leaning forward on the work station as she tucked a hand under her chin for support.

"Funny ya mention that" Grayson said as he reached across for a screwdriver to resume work "I was thinkin' next time we hit port I'd try and wrangle up some supplies and try to make just that, a nice lightweight version for ya to wear casually. Long term, I'm wondering if the tech is out there that'd allow ya to see details, even in quick flashes. Perhaps reverse-engineering a Lasar Imaging Pulse beacon, or somethin' like that"

Amy stood straight, walking over to where she assumed Grayson would be. "Wow, that'd be great. I--well, I mean, I was only kidding but if this is possible then why not, right?" She stopped for a moment, a thought nagging at her. "Grayson, why are you being so nice to me? I definitely don't want to interrupt your work if you have more pressing matters to attend to, especially with the next mission coming up and all." Amy was sure he'd give her one of two answers, but she wanted to hear it from Grayson himself.

He stopped at her words, parsing his mind for the right reply.
'Bullshitting might work' a voice in his head chimed.
"Well, I, uh, it's my job innit? Keep the crew in top fightin' order" Yeah, this might work "I prioritized your kit because it took the most damage last outing. Everyone else's is easy to sort out in an hour or less"

"Ah, I see..."

Her expression was hard to read, but he had a sense that she wasn't buying it.
"And, uh, you know, besides all that official shit, I think I mentioned before that I always work at 110% when it's for myself or a friend"

"Well, glad to know I've moved up the chain to friend status now. Promise I won't abuse my privileges," Amy smiled, amused at the fact that Grayson was struggling to get the right words out.

'Laid it on too thick mate' the voice said.
"I suppose" he said carefully, measuring every word "There's a little more to it than that, but if I'm gonna tell you this story, I need ya to do somethin' first. On ya right, about six inches down from the top of the counter, there's a drawer handle. Pull it open and right away you should feel a hard plastic case, grab it will ya?"

Amy followed his instructions, her fingers slowly tracing down to where the handle should be. Once she reached it, she pulled open the drawer and immediately found what Grayson was asking for. "Here you go, mystery man." She took a few steps forward to hand him whatever was in the case.

"Thanks lass" Grayson said. The case held a small, handheld welding tool he needed to finish up his work. Plus, the few seconds it took her to get it and for him to set it up allowed him to steel himself for what he was about to do.
"It's like this" he began "Until SAL and I got stuck together, I was always alone. Don't even remember the how or why of it, or anything before then. I jus' woke up one mornin' and that was the situation. Wasn't long after that the uh.. voices started up. Feels sometimes like a dozen people are livin' in my head. I was in a bad way for a long time, a psychotic little bastard. Eventually though, came a time when I was able to feel normal, get it all under control"
He sighed and laid down the welding tool. His throat was suddenly dry as a desert, as if his body was trying to stop him from speaking. A half-empty bottle of water sat nearby his work station, he downed the rest of it in a single gulp and coughed for a second before looking right at Amy.
"It all started with a woman. We worked together for a time, but more to the point, we were together. She had a contact who was able to get me a prototype drug that calms down my mind, keeps the voices quiet. After awhile, I sort of realized that just being around her was enough to quiet them. She.... brought out the best of me."
He started to feel choked up again, unable to continue for a minute. He reached up and touched at his face, just below his cybernetic eye, tracing the invisible line where the real skin ended and the synthetic began. 'All or nothing' he thought.
"Her name was Julia, and in all my time in this world, I'd never met a woman like her, in beauty or skill... until I met you"

Amy stood still for a moment, guessing that Grayson was studying her closely, anxiously waiting for a reply as her silence filled the room. After what must have seemed like an eternity, she finally spoke.

"I...I'm flattered, honestly. I mean, I wasn't aware that our friendship had sparked such a high level of attraction," Amy went on, leaning back against the counter, "and if I'm being completely honest, I must admit that you seem to have your business in order and you're pretty good at what you do. And I like that, you know? It's something I admire..."

As she arrived at another pause, Amy tapped her fingers on the side of the counter. "But this is all new to me, I mean dating in the workplace. I highly doubt we'll have fraternization issues, but I don't want the others to get the wrong idea. Rumors can get really vicious really fast and I definitely don't want them to think that I'm taking advantage of you just so I can have it easier during our missions here... I hope I'm making sense?"

"Of course, I realize how insane it all is" Grayson said, surprised by her acceptance of it all "I mean we've only known each other for about 2 weeks, and who knows? The way my head's been lately, it could be causing all this... making a part of me think that she's come back.... you do look an awful lot like her........"

"Wait, let me stop you right there. If we're going to be together, I want it to be because you want to be with me, not because I remind you of Julia. I'm pretty sure that any other woman in my shoes would feel the same way. If what you think you have for me isn't real, then I don't want to go any further. Otherwise, if you have legitimate feelings for me, as an individual, then yeah, we can be together.

"I'm sorry" he said "this must be uncomfortable for you. Me telling you all this, and then immediately doubting if it's real... it feels real, but again, I'm a crazy bastard, so perhaps not the best judge of character. I don't know what to say about the others either..... If you wanted to go through with any of this, maybe it'd be our little secret for awhile?"

She extended out a hand, waiting for Grayson's. "I think that'd be best for now. They don't need to get involved in our personal lives any more than we would get involved in theirs."

"Right" Grayson said, putting the finishing touches on Amy's newly-armored visor. He saw her extended hand and stood to take hold of it, before drawing her into a short and slightly awkward hug.

"So how's this for a first date plan: What say we go find Arex and finally have that chat with him over why the fuck he attacked you, and then a little later, dinner and a drink?" He smiled at her bemused look "I know, I'm a real classical romantic type. We'll be back to the trenches soon enough so might as well take advantage of a quiet night while we can."

"A date it is!" she replied, excited both for dinner and Arex's questioning.

"Well, yer gonna need this for both of it lass" he replied as he passed over her visor "I did what I could to counter-balance the extra weight of the armor plating, might be a little uncomfortable for a mo' until you get used to the extra bit of heft, but all in all ya shouldn't notice it after a few hours.... shall we?" he extended an arm out to guide Amy out of the room.

Arex had long since started residing in the engine room. His escapades spilling out into the cargo bay and the storage locker beneath the stairs. Down there he kept to himself, causing no more trouble or waves for the rest of the crew. He remained busy while keeping to himself. Mechanical projects, schematics, tools and research all lay scattered about the place in a seemingly haphazard chaotic mess.

He had succumb to the realisation of what it is that he truly was.
Begrudgingly he had accepted that fact. He was a manufactured weapon of untapped potential. He was a soldier, a killing machine, void of a future or a past, an expendable asset, an experiment...
Residing to these harsh truths Arex realised everything else would be but an illusion, emotions and self interests were but a superficial distraction offering a false sense of self. He focused himself entirely on realising and awakening his capabilities.

If he was built to be a weapon, a weapon he would be.

With that acceptance, progress came in leaps and bounds. He could now willingly tap into his telekinetic abilities instead of them purely acting as a reflex. He could call upon the cold efficient deadly calculations, senses and reactions of his dormant deltanian mind. He knew the limits and over charging capabilities of his cybernetic limbs and BioMechanical implants. He was a new man. He was a new warrior.

@Banana@Crossfire@Xandrya

"Whut in the cosmos ain't wrong? Some whuns try and live honest lives out here, an' most of em end up dead or moneyless. Ai'nt nothin' wrong with gambling. Both whuns agree to it. Now stealing.. That's different. That's something you should feel guilty over. Even I felt guilty about stealin' once, long ago."

As she talked, Talest kept glancing at the radar every so often. She wasn't alert right now because they were beginning an Alliance job, so there wasn't likely to be anybody after them yet. Instead, she was flicking through the ship's internal cameras, until she found the Armory. Turning the sound up as she watched, she eventually realised what was going on, and turned it up so that Tibulus could hear.

"Oh, wow! Who needs holovid love dramas whun you can spy on your crewmates, am I right?"

@Silver Carrot@Crossfire@Xandrya

"Hold up, what?" Tibulus put the ship into autopilot as he looked over at the other console, only to see Grayson and Amy... dammit when did this ship turn into that one movie he saw? Tibulus chuckled slightly at this blossoming romance as the two watched, but he felt slightly... off for spying on these two. The bad feelings were wiped away as he kept watching, speaking up as the situation progressed.

"... we know nothing about this, if anyone ever asks. Except maybe Stryker, but only if it screws up this gig," Tibulus said to Taleste as the two watched this scene straight out of that romcom. It was kind of adorable, and even though this was somewhat wrong, Tibulus kind of wanted to see where this would go, and if it would end up with either one of those kids dead. "Heh. 'Star-Crossed Space Cadets, Episode I'."

@Crossfire
"Well Cap, I was leaving out Kira on purpose..." Ace looks around for the aforementioned woman, before whispering: "She's kinda scary." After that and listening to Alessio's explanation, Ace grins, "C'mon Cap, it's just a normal mission. We get in, we get out, and we get a shitload of cash for it. Easy as pie. Besides, we've been through worse. Remember Ueter 5, two years ago? Now that was a real shitshow." He looks over to Seth: "You weren't there, of course, but Goddamn that was a ride."

@Simple Unicycle

"That's true. It was a clusterfuck. I don't think Marcus' eyebrows ever did grow back right" Carver said as he unfolded a jump chair from the wall behind Ace's seat. He saw Seth's confusion plastered across the young man's face.

"For context, think about Demeter, now add in five times as many fire-spewing Askaarans.... and a gunship that nearly knocked us clear of atmo. Not my finest moment as captain, if I'm being honest."

"I'm sure you did what you felt was best Captain" Seth replied softly and serenely.

"Well anyway gents, I've got a breakfast date with the wife, but before I go, Ace, fill me in. What's the trip looking like from here... assuming we don't hit a roving band of pirates on the way to Serros Station. Heading and ETA as well"

---

---

"Yep, courtesy of a spider jump-starting the backup bioreactor. Next time we have a power surge and I go offline, do me a favor and throw a chicken leg down the bioreactor chute or something, alright? It's a miracle half the ship didn't shut down with me," Rento said. She stepped into the medical bay and gave the place a quick look-over, to discover the 'poor' status of some of the crew members. They were pretty much totally gone, but still breathing. Comas, perhaps. The Doctor, complete with an utterly bizarre sense of fashion, seemed to be straight out of a comic book. He was apparently slightly preoccupied, though.

"So, Cap'n, I've got a few questions since I was down for a while. What's the status of the ship, and is another mission coming up?"

She patiently awaited his answer, unconsciously shifting her weight from foot to foot. Despite being an obvious android, she seemed to have almost purely human mannerisms.

"...Two more things. First-off, what's with these guys?," she asked, waving a hand towards the med bay's patients. "And... May I rearm myself? I'm assuming my gear is stashed in the armory. Hope nobody messed up any of my equipment - some of that stuff's almost as old as I am and I'd rather not see antiques in poor shape."

@Crossfire@Tickout

@Azereiah@Tickout

"Well, from the top I guess" Stryker stated "Status is operational, but not 150%. Despite that we're heading to Serros Station now, we're to rendezvous with a mercenary crew that we'll be working with for our next job. Your gear is in the armory, Grayson would know where it is, so you can see him about getting it back.... think he just stepped out for a minute though."

He turned to survey the comatose crew "Casualties of the incident" he said simply "Matija was knocked into a bulkhead door or something when the blast rocked through the ship. Maxi had to induce a coma to keep the swelling in her brain down. Benny took a hard shock trying to re-route power back to the engines during the repair effort, hasn't woken up yet. We had you counted among their number until just now."

“Honestly? I have no idea when any of these guys will be back up and walkin’, if at all. It definitely won't be soon, as you said, but I’m more on the line of if instead of hoping for a when.” he sounded eerily casual about the whole thing, as if their lives really didn’t matter too much. “I can keep em on support as long as you’d like, though. You’re the boss, after all.”

A knock on the door gathered the medics attention, and he looked to see someone- if you could count a robot as someone and not something’- with an oddly perfect form standing in the doorway. It gave Maxi a bit of an uncomfortable feeling. He made space for the newcomer to join in the room, and diverted his attention back to his patients. From the looks of it, those two had something to talk about and he really didn’t care to get involved.

He really didn’t have much to do to them, since he had checked up on them fairly recently, but a touch up or two in front of the captain to show he was being diligent couldn’t hurt. Make him look all responsible and stuff, to avoid getting in shit. Plus, he really had nothing to say to either of them. The quicker they finished up their chat and left him be, the better.

@Crossfire
"Should be getting there in about two hours, but that's assuming we don't run into a band of wackjob pirates, mercs, etcetera that want our heads on a silver platter." Ace replies, then grins at Alessio. "And tell the missus I said good morning." As Alessio walks away, Ace turns back to Seth, "Don't worry about me and the Cap reminiscing about old times, once you've been with us for a while longer you'll have a shitload of stories to tell yourself. Er, more than you already tell of course."

(Sorry for the late replies, just haven't been sure what to write for this.)

---

---

Rento nodded as Stryker spoke, then at Maxi in return. So there would be a job coming up pretty soon. That was good -- she'd be able to ingratiate herself with the rest of the crew. The only people who'd seen her in action were the good Captain and the other gunner, whatever his name was, who'd already left. Perhaps this would be a good chance to get a good reputation, since... Well. They were basically privateers, after all, and she wasn't sure how long it would take for them to blast her main processing unit out of existence even with the risk of blowing a hole in the ship.

"Medically induced and shock induced comas? Shitty luck. Hey Doc, have you considered trepanning?", she said with a wink. Brain swelling was pretty serious and she was only half serious about it. It might actually work to keep the half-dead one alive, though. "Are you, by any chance, a neurosurgeon? Or do you have experience with it?"

She quickly, internally, glanced at the camera feed from Ren. She only caught a few words before closing it out. It seemed Grayson was in the middle of a rather, er... Personal conversation with another crew member. Better keep that private. On the bright side, that meant that she'd be able to satisfy her more voyeuristic tendencies. In the meantime she'd kill some time.

"If there's an on-foot job coming up, I'd like to go with the away team. Haven't had much mortal excitement lately," she said towards Stryker.

@Crossfire@Tickout

@Xandrya@Tickout@Azereiah

"I'll consider it when I'm making the plans Rento, which I've got to get a start on now. I'll see you guys later."
Stryker exited the med bay and moved with a purpose. He had a funny feeling when he noticed Grayson and Amy walk by the med bay door. A funny feeling that he knew exactly where they were headed, and Stryker didn't need another all-out brawl among his crew. Not now.

"Grayson!" Stryker called out when he caught sight of them in the Crew Quarters hallway. They stopped and waited for him.
"Don't" he said simply "Not now." He truly hoped they understood his meaning. Grayson blinked in confusion, then it dawned on him and he nodded.
"Fine"

@Dealdric@baranica@Silver Carrot@Banana@Simple Unicycle@Dark Light@BKburke@Turbowraith

2 Days Later.....

The Revenant shuddered as it entered the artificial atmosphere around Serros Station. The behemoth ship glided easily between the clumps of debris as it secured a docking berth. Inside, Stryker had gathered the crew in the War Room for a short briefing of their first objective.

"Phase one of five, intelligence gathering" he read off the orders as efficiently as he could, while cutting most of the Alliance's pompous bullshit "Ok, we're all gonna leave the ship once we dock. We've got a pair of contacts to meet up with, the first is an undercover Alliance operative, he's waiting with a new recruit who command says might have some pertinent intel for the job at hand. The second contact is Alessio Carver, he's the head of the mercs that've been hired to assist on the job. they've been here for a few days now, so we'll be doing a little exchange of information at a local watering hole. Oh, I should probably mention that this bar is one of the primary bases of operation for the target, Ne'ero Sol. So once we're inside, break off into small groups, grab a drink, and start taking in every detail you can. Rens, SAL, Tobi, I want you all to be recording everything: how many patrons, guards, and employees. How many guns in the building, entrances and exits. Everything. Any further orders will be distributed on the fly. Don't take any of your gear except maybe an easily concealed sidearm. To the public eyes, we're just a crew stopping off for a rest, got it? Alright, let's do this."

Stryker led the way off the ship and into the crowded docks of the station. Within a few minutes, he spotted an all-human group who definitely looked like they were waiting for someone. He made his way over to them.
"Carver?" Stryker said to one of them.
"You must be Stryker" said the tall, tanned man "Call me Alessio if you want. Shall we?
"Just a moment, I've got another contact to see before we head in. I think that's him now."

Indeed, Stryker had spotted a heavyset human dockhand who was looking at him a bit too obviously. He left everyone and walked over.
"Your disguise needs work, I saw right through you" he said under his breath.
"It's good enough for the cretins" he huffed as he turned his attention to the young Nekross who sat on the floor nearby, her hands still in shackles.
"Hey, wake up" he wheezed as he roughly shoved her with his foot.

"I'm not going into there. I'm a dead giveaway to some ne'er-do-wells. I do have a little bird in the district, so I'll be getting there."

Tibulus walked on his own towards the bar, taking a sharp right at it and walking down the street from it. To many people, he was just another strange face, but to a select few of them, he was around a home. Not a ton of people knew his true identity here, but a couple did, leaving him safe from their grabs. They also knew who to look out for, in case they needed either protection or help.

The funganoid walked to a random barrel in the street, stopping beside it and taking in the scenery. All of a sudden, a small singular pigeon flew over to him and sat atop his head, a small note tied to its leg. "Carrier pigeon. Classic Paul." Tibulus took the note and walked back towards Striker, the rest of the group now just a bunch of other faces in the crowds.

"Connections gave me this. Should have a vent map, where money is kept, and the easiest escape route."

@Crossfire

Lexi woke with a start. "Be quiet human... oh the pirates are here, wonderful" she said. She examined the crew up and down. "Better than a pack of Snemorian swamp gregorks, now get these cuffs off me! They're scratching my scales.@Crossfire