...reassessing...
...reassessing...
...ambient energy accretion below acceptable levels for two concurrent subcycles...
...appraisal/query tree executing...
...umbilical node still linked to interstellar vessel's power systems...
__--tap umbilical to jumpstart Mercury primary systems: c/d
__--[c]

Presently, while the two ate, there was a brief surge of life in all of the derelict vessel's power systems...

__--Secondary Processing Active
__--Umbilical surge unsuccessful. Vessel power systems offline.
...assessing...
...vessel power systems uncompromised...
__--initiate feedback surge to jumpstart Mercury primary systems: c/d
__--[c]

...and within a fraction of a second there was another power fluctuation, this time strong enough to trace its source. Something was affixed to the hull of the derelict vessel, pumping power through the ship's systems and then siphoning it back, larger bursts each time. None of the lights were coming on yet, but it would be obvious to anyone familiar with ship systems what El Pezo Negro's sensors were picking up.

Whatever was attached to the gutted ship was trying to catch its breath, and needed an awfully big paper bag to do so. Every 6.3 seconds, another surge. In, and out, with exponentially more joules pumping through the ship. It would be maybe sixty to eighty seconds before the vessels power systems would start to fuse with the effort--effectively ripping the 'bag' to shreds, though not literally. If not for the holes already in the bag, a single pump might've been enough.

Breeze didn't seem to care too much what happened to that clunker. She was safe, warm, and enjoying food. Oh, and not suffocating in the vacuum of space of being murdered by space pirates. That was good, too.

Whatever was attached to the derelict ship would have trouble pulsing electricity through it, given that it's, y'know, gutted of many expensive, vital components and thoroughly trashed. Many electric connections simply didn't exist before, circuits going nowhere and ending abruptly in frayed, sparking wires.

"Well, that was fun. I'm going to sell the scrap." he said as he got up. He got into the pilot's seat and started scanning the ship for an estimate of how many credits he would. This action would take a while seeing as El Pezo Negro is a Danube-class ship and as such is very small. He may be able to upgrade it with a second level if he can scrape up the money, but that's not important right now. "What in the world? What is that?" he mumbled as he saw something pop up on the dash. Something that looked oddly like a robot. "Unless you want to again, you should stay in here. I'm checking something out." he told Breeze as he went into space. Just in case, he took his knife. Once outside, he attached a rope to himself then a very fast winch. If the bot wakes up, he could winch himself back to safety the GTFO of there.

After about fifty seconds, the pulses stopped. The surges hadn't gotten powerful enough to fuse what few electrical systems remained intact on the derelict, but they had certainly made for quite the brief light show. By the time Nilam arrived in his enviro-suit, the chassis was dormant again. It was lying parallel with the hull of the ship; with all of its sophisticated personal weaponry suspended above it by a strong magnetic field.

After just a few seconds, Nilam could see small plumes of dust shooting from behind the chassis along its torso and it began to float away from the derelict in a straight line, painfully slowly. Beneath it, the chassis left a four inch wide hole against the hull of the derelict that looked as though it had been bored with a plasma torch. No other activity. There were power readings, but all of them faint. He could probably even tether the magnetic field if he wanted to bring it in with all of its equipment.

"What the… Hey, wait!" he called out, firing up the jets. He caught up to the shell as the rope ran out. He grabbed a leg and dragged himself back to the ship. As soon as the airlock opened, he shut down the grav-plating. "Grab a handle or something, no time to explain!" he proclaimed as the bot floated in. He unwound a cord and plugged it into the robot's head. As soon as it was in, the ship's AI created an isolated system and started the long process of decrypting the files while trying to prevent itself from getting hacked. Even for a system as advanced as DIANTO (Danube-class Intelligent Automated Neural Technological Operator) after getting upgraded by the best programmers Nilam could afford, this will take a while. "Did you lure the pirates? he muttered.

...invasive measures detected
...DIANTO unit detected
...LOOP_ACCESS queries cached/discarded
...LOOP_ACCESS queries cached/discarded
...LOOP_ACCESS simulacrum generated
...DIANTO unit working...
...assessing...
...activate supplemental Mind: Lachesniv c/d
__--[c]

After almost two minutes of DIANTO running a data bore into the Loop simulacrum, the body snapped into action suddenly, the four lenses on its main neuroptic plate blinking to a dull neon purple as the body's left arm reached up to deftly remove the datajack plugged into its terminal systems. It moved into a cross-legged seating position, forcefully enough to put itself into a continuous front-flip in its space. Its magnetic field had dissipated, and its weapons were now floating freely in the room, though none of them were powering up, thankfully. At least one of those weapons looked to Nilam like something you would not want free-floating.

Still in its rapidly spinning position, legs folded and hands on its knees, the A.I. spoke in a clipped approximation of Captain Blackwell's language.

"I am tactical Virtual Intelligence supplement Lachesniv, assistant to this entity's Mind. I am not currently hostile."

The lizard-woman skittered away from the conflict and pressed herself flat against the wall of the ship. Her wide eyes scanned the pair as they struggled. Once the machine spoke and assured the pair that it wasn't hostile, she replied in a quiet, raspy voice. "I've never seen one of you fully assembled before. I've seen bits and pieces used for other purposes, but...never something made by outsiders. Just our Metal-Shapers.".

"Where are my manners? I am Captain Nilam Blackwell, son of Blackwell, and owner of El Pezo Negro. Thank you for joining and not shooting us,Lachesniv. Now, questions. Why were you on that ship and did you attract the pirates," he said, whipping out his knife. "This statement is a lie." As he attempted a logic bomb on the AI, he grabbed the weapons and pushed them away from the chassis. If it succumbed to the obvious ploy, it isn't very smart and if it did, hey, new robot.

Breeze audibly groaned from her (relatively) safe corner of the room. "{Stop that! Why are you trying to...turn it against us?!}" Any translating ear pieces, magical deciphering spells, and babel fish would suffer an odd amount of lag when translating the last few words. The Xi'qe language is very abstract, just about as close to speaking absolute thought as possible, so the single Xi'qean word uttered by Breeze likely had a much deeper meaning than what any translating devices would spit out.

The chassis continued to spin in its seated position. It showed no reaction to having its weapons moved. None of them responded save the archaic laspistol, which immediately hummed to life just by Nilam coming into contact, but it powered down just as quickly, its microcapacitor going silent once more.

"I am unaware of the events that lead to our chassis' siphon-jack attaching to the hull of the vessel you retrieved our housing from. We have been drifting in deep space for at least three cycles. Our stand-by protocol in deep drift includes automated attachment onto a vessel's hull and siphoning minimal power until enough can be accumulated to jump-start our main generator. I would have been activated if our protocol had endangered the ship. As to attracting pirates, you did not detect us until we began attempting a feedback surge. My readings indicate we were attached to the ship for at least [two months]. They did not detect us either. I assume vessels in this region are not sophisticated enough to detect nanonets of the size required to conceal our chassis."

As Lachssniv spoke, both Blackwell and Breeze noticed that the entity began turning its head to look directly at Breeze. At the end of its analysis, it dischaged a small amount of air thrust, steadying its position and looking between the two creatures. Its gaze fell on Breeze again, and if either of the two were watching closely they could notice a faint strobing in those purple dots.

"Who are you? Your dialect is difficult for me to parse, and our Mind is currently unpowered."

The lizard-woman blinked rapidly. "{Me? Ah, I am...}" Another slight pause. "{...Floats-In-The-Breeze. A Xi'qe, from a world far from here. I am, ah...very unfamiliar with...all of this."} She waved her hands in the general direction of...everything. The machine, the spaceman, the spasceship, space...

Few Days ago.

Jhin was sitting in his favorite 'hotel' on Frixion Prime, his base of operations so to speak. He was just flipping through the intergalactic newspapers du jour, his smartwatch on the table receiving messages and such.

Pings would come in and out, new jobs he could undertake. He would constantly whisper to himself "You got out. Don't do it... You don't need it..." while the messages were coming in. Taking a deep breath and ignoring the repeating pings from his watch, he flipped through the newspaper, stopping at the sports section. "Oh. The Sector Four Comets beat the Sector Six Novas... Now thats an upset. I wonder how much people lost betting on that game.. Heh."

In the docking stations, his spaceship was docked, fueled, supplied and otherwise ready to launch. This ship was simple enough to be piloted and crewed by himself, but has the capacity to hyperjump across sectors, carry a six-person team with their equipment, and has enough supplies to travel through deep-space for about five years without resupplying. In other words, Jhin spent a pretty penny on this ship...

Setting his paper down and sighing slightly, Jhin adjusted his posture. When a unfamiliar ping shot out from his wrist watch, he furrowed his eyebrows as he reached out and grabbed it to take a look. "A Ten million units job. That is a lot of money to put on someone's head... I wonder who else this got out to..." He set his watch down, sighing once again. Taking a sip of his coffee, he peered about his room. He was bored. Extremely bored. "Fuck it. It'd be more fun than just sitting here... I just have to get ready..." He said in a soft voice.

Picking up the room phone. He dialed three digits. A woman's voice can be faintly heard on the other side. Jhin responded "Is the chef in? I'd like a tasting... Oh and I need a meeting with the tailor..." A few moments later, he hung up the phone. Picking up a few things, he got up, straightened himself out and headed out of his room.

Heading down to the restaurant, he approached the service door. The staff closest to the door turned slightly to look at him. Jhin showed him a ring he was wearing on his right pinky finger. The staff member gave him a small nod and he continued into the kitchen. Once in, he moved swiftly and quietly, not quite addressing anyone that he may have crossed paths with. Stopped with another door, there was no one there to stop him this time. He pushed the door open and stepped in. Soft, but upbeat, classical music can be heard in the background. There as another man, dressed as a distinguished chef would be. White chef's shirt, shorts that falls to his knees, and crocs. If Jhin was around at the time, he would have put a bullet into whoever invented those diabolical things. "Ah Mr. W-" Jhin raised a hand, stopping the man from going any further. "I need a tasting menu created for a private party, can you cater?" "Of course. Few questions first. Is this a formal event, or social?" "Social." "Will it be during the day, or evening?" "Seriously? You need to update your questions... We're in the space age. Both." "Ok. I know your fondness of starting with something simple, with spicy undernotes. For this time of year, I recommend a P30L, fitted with a barrel compensator, along with the recoil dampener should you find yourself in zero-gravity. The sights are your standard tritium sights. Complete with your custom barrel-marking specifications and a flared mag-well for easier reloads. A beautiful start to any event." "Very good. Now, second course. I need something precise, clean." "Precise, clean. May I recommend the Model TR. 14.5 inch barrel, One six magnification Trijicon AccuSight. Fitted with a barrel compensator and of course your custom barrel-markings." Jhin picks up the rifle and mocks the action of him aiming down sight and firing the weapon. Nodding slightly, he continues "Final course. This one needs to be robust, bold, and well rounded." "Of course. I have just the thing. May I suggest the M4 Super 90. Fixed stock with texture grips, should your hands be wet, custom bolt carrier, tritium sights. A simple, yet robust end to your event." "Very well. Now, dessert." Jhin said with a small smile. "Dessert. I have our finest explosives and cutlery. Any one would pair very well with your previous choices. " A small chuckle escaped Jhin. He picked a tactical knife, two flash grenades, two concussive grenades, two plasma grenades. Taking a second look at his choices, he put the explosives down. "Maybe just the knife." The chef smiled and nodded. "Excellent choices. I will have the tasting samples sent to your room sir." A few clanks can be heard against the table. Jhin had dropped off some ornate coins that were clearly different than the universal currency. "Thank you" Jhin turned and began to exit. "Do you enjoy tour event, Mr. W-" Just before the chef finished his sentence, Jhin had exited the room, closing the door behind him.

A few hours later, a hotel staff with a large cart arrived at his door. Opening it and accepting the delivery, Jhin handed the staff member one of the ornate coins he had used before and sent the staff member on his way. Another knock followed soon after. Jhin check the door, seeing who it was. It was the tailor, with his helper. Opening the door, he let the two men in.

"Good evening Mr. W-" Again, Jhin stopped the man before he could finish his sentence. "I need a new suit." "Very well. Would this be an indoor event or outdoors..?" "I need something suited for both." The tailor whispered something to his helper while taking down precise measurements of Jhin's arm length."I assume your usual style would be ok?" "I need boosters, for the boots and back." Noting it down, the tailor continued "Very well, usual ammo capacity?" "Go with the extended for this one." Jhin replied. Giving a small nod, the tailor continued "The lining and air seal?" "I need something lightweight, but tactical." "We have a quad-ply lining. The inner most layer is made for comfort, thin, breathable, and soft. The second layer consists of soft kevlar plating, ceramic and carbon fiber cross weaves, infused with silicon carbide and a shock absorbing compound. The third layer is for rigidity. Traditional kevlar plating in crucial areas to protect against blunt force, carbon fiber weaving in others to provide more protection while maintaining mobility. The electronic, and life-preserving, components are situated between the second and third layer, and the outer most layer is a 'soft' ceramic compound with fire-resistant fibers to provide surface heat resistance and dissipation. Of course, the helmet with be fitted to accompany your custom gear and heads-up display. The visor is coated with cutting edge Omnium to allow for unhindered clarify even under the most intense lights." Nodding, Jhin seems pleased with how his space suit is coming together. "Very well. Can you have it down in three days?" "Of course. We will have it sent to your room for a final fitting when we are finished." "Very good. Thank you." "Our pleasure sir. It is always good to see you back on Frixion Prime, Mr. W-" Jhin cut the man off by placing a few more ornate coins into his hands and showing him the way out.

Two days has since past. He has his gear ready. Hopping into his ship, He first put the shotgun on a wall mount near a wall. Then he put his rifle to the right of his pilot seat as Whisper was on the left side. The tactical knife was in a holster by his right thigh, and the two pistol were in their holster by his ribcage. "Good morning F.R.I.D.A.Y. Its time to take Los Lobos out for a hunt~" He said in a cheerful voice. A young woman's voice can then be heard "Good morning sir. Yes, I do believe it is. Importing coordinates from last job received. This trip will take us [12 days]. The ship is supplied and ready to launch." "Bring up a list of supplies for final check, detach from dock and ask tower for permission to launch" As soon as he finished his sentence, a holographic list of all things on his ship appeared in front of him. Quickly scanning and nodding his way through, he waited for permission to launch. "Permission granted, we are OK to launch." "Very good, take us out~" As he finished his sentence, seat belts zipped out of the seat and secured him. The particle engines behind his spaceship made small humming noises before a small boom. He was gone from sight from the hotel docking station.

During his travels, he picked up a distress signal. "Hm. I wonder what that is. F.R.I.D.A.Y? How far is that signal from us?" "Approximately 3 hours." "Hm. Change course, head for the signal. I think we can take a small detour.."

Currently

Jhin leaned back in the pilot seat. Whisper, his trusty rifle is situated to his left hand side, though he does not plan on using it this time out. Decelerating, he approached the origins of the distress signal. Upon his arrival, he spots the other ship that seems to be in good order and what is presumably the ship that sent out the distress signal, with a hole torn through the hull and signs of rapid depressurization around it.

"Hm?" Nilam questioned as the scrolls lit up. "DIANTO, identify." "Of course, captain. Scans indicate that a Peregrine-class ship is approaching. One lifeform detected, though there may be more." Nilam took a second to process this information and come up with a plan. He sent an "identify yourself" message and grabbed the only gun responsive to his touch. Upon inspection, all the charge was gone and would take longer than they had to even be considered. "Lachesniv, check locker 5, there may be batteries. I'm going to pay a visit to our new friend. Breeze... do what you want, really. I'm guessing you aren't a very good fighter so..." he trailed off. He snatched a scroll from the ground and stepped into the airlock. He placed a mask on, and pressed a button. In mere moments, he was invisible to anyone who didn't know what to look for. Considering the other ship had just arrived, he was relying on the pilot not knowing. The airlock opened and instead of using his jet pack, he basically just grabbed the ship and pushed him toward the other one. Right before he flew past, he grabbed a little bar that was sticking out. "They have no idea I'm here, heh heh heh..."

The android watched Nilam as he inspected its guns and then busied himself with investigating the new arrival. When Nilam left through the airlock, Lachesniv returned its attention to Breeze. It lifted an arm, one of its weapons--the Mule rifle--magnetizing gently through the air and into the android's hand. It placed the rifle in its lap and then folded its hands over it. Its head never turned away from her.

"We share common unfamiliarity. My Mind and I have not been within at least two million [light-years] of our home in at least half of our operation time." There was the faint sound of Lachesniv's air thrusters sputtering, and the android began drifting very slowly toward Breeze as it continued to speak. "Perhaps we should entertain ourselves while I wait for Blackwell. I do not want to utilize his ship without his permission."

The android's jets faintly kicked yet again, and it was five or so feet away from Breeze. Its forward motion stopped. It was simply suspended there, watching her, still sitting with its gun in its lap.

"Would you like to play cards? I have a holoset, and would welcome the distraction. This situation is terrifying." Lachesniv held up a hand as it spoke, a digital projection flickering into life. In his grip was now a set of glowing, hardlight playing cards. For all the android spoke of being terrified, its voice didn't express a sense of urgency. The V.I. operating sounded quite calm.

Breeze looked over to Nilam, then towards the front of the ship, which seemed to speak! Clearly, this was something new to her. She looked back over at the android, then down at the deck of (holographic) cards it seemed to pull out of thin air. Breeze perked up. "{Ooh! Magic? I can do a little, myself! Just, ah, conjuring lightning, but it's a start! What else can you do?"}

((Breeze was definitely not on that ship for days, @Killbox. :P Maybe twelve hours at the most. She had no water in the hatch. Meaning the distress signal was sent out then, too. Either way, not a huge deal, just figured I'd let you know.))

"Well, this module is very limited. I actually prefer jacks..." Lachesniv flicked its wrist, and the deck of cards exploded into a burst of multicolored blunt caltrops that spread out in the air above the two figures, "...but without simulated gravity, there's not much of a game there." In the android's free hand was suddenly a fist-sized black rubber ball, which it tossed gently into the field of caltrops. The ball left a neat cylinder of empty space in its wake as it brushed past everything, and after it exceeded the unseen holo-mod's range, the entire projection flickered out of sight.

"I miss Bohah."

Lachesniv flicked its wrist again, and this time a set of six black dice with white indented pips appeared. It deftly manipulated them into circle between her head and its own.

"I am afraid."

Always Lachesniv spoke with such a relaxing tone. There were no physical signs of anxiety either, just the declarations that the entity was not comfortable.

On his approach, his ship's AI system received the hail signal. "Sir, there is a hail signal coming asking us to identify ourselves." "Well, then, we'll do that. We don't want to open fire quite yet, do we?" "Of course not sir, sending out default response." "Good. Now, F.R.I.D.A.Y, give me a holo-scan of both ships, with weapon layouts and a list of who or what is still on board." "Yes, sir."

The response sent out was this "Hello, this is the spaceship Los Lobos. We are here to respond to [The Distress Signal]. We are not currently hostile. Please identify"

Moments later, the AI was heard again. "Sir, the ship that seems to be in order is a Type-11, twin thrusters, sixteen fuel cells each. Top speed is most likely around 2 light years outside hyperjump. Weapon on board include several small firearms, just strewn about in the cabin. There are currently one life form on board, with an autonomous being. The life form is hard for me identify, doing a deep scan right now." "Interesting. A life form you can't readily identify. Now I'm cur-" Before he can finish his sentence, his ships perimeter detection system pinged him. "Sir, another life form is approaching. This one seems to be cloaked somehow as my physical cameras are not able to locate it. However, a sonar scan has pinned his location. Do we engage?" "No, let it approach. If it hits me hard enough to do damage to the ship, it is getting caught in the blast. Then I'll kill it. However, put up the electro-net. As soon as it touches it, I want it to receive a warm welcome."

As he finished giving instructions to his ship's operating system, he pulled out his both of his pistols and inspected them one at a time. As soon as he was satisfied with their condition, he slide them back into their holsters which were situated next to his ribcage, pneumatically sealed in place. Next, he clipped on his rifle straps, pressing the center button with his right palm to pneumatically secure the weapon to his back. Getting out of his seat, he went to a near by wall, checking that his shotgun was secured to the wall mount it has been placed on. Finally, he slid the tactical knife into its holster, situated by his right thigh.

"Sir, the life form seems to have grabbed onto something as it has stopped." "Just what.. F.R.I.D.A.Y, I need to own the suit it is wearing, if it is. Hack through it, go..."

(Sorry Pumpkin, I'll edit my previous post so its more... correct lol~)

"Ahh! What the heck!" he exclaimed as the cloak dropped. This also had the effect of making him let go in a panic and started floating away from the ship. "Gah, wait no!" he jetted back toward the Los Lobos in a futile attempt to stay hidden. "Well, they know I'm here so may as well try to speak with the pilot." He started toward what seemed to be (and is) an airlock. He pressed a button asking to be let in. While waiting, he pressed a button on his mask to activate a voice modulator. Now, he would have a much gravelier voice so long as he kept his mask on. He checked the battery on the cloak and found that it had been fully recharged as soon as he touched the ship, the suit having redirected the electricity to various systems as a way to avoid shocking Nilam.

"Hacking complete. His cloaking mechanism is down, I've also disabled random motor skills controls as well." "Heh, you're tricky. Ok, rotate the random disabling, keep it guessing" F.R.I.D.A.Y used a male pronoun to describe the living organism. Jhin thought that through and just assumed that she scanned through the living organism's vitals as well. "Yes, sir, you thought correctly." F.R.I.D.A.Y. said. "Ok, you need to not do that. Thats just creepy." "You didn't have to upload me into the neural controls of your mask, but you did, so its your fault..." "Fine, whatever. It seems to me he touched the electro-net, but didn't burn. What happened?" "It seems like the electricity charged his suit." "Thats annoying... "

Jhin tapped on a holographic screen, a schematic of some type of power-suit appeared. "Store this design away, into the hidden drive." "Understood. It also seems like he is requesting entrance through airlock four." "Ok. Open the airlock, keep the inner door closed of course. If he wants to talk, we can talk through inter-com." "Understood. Airlock four opening. Pressurizing and flooding space with oxygen"

With small whizzes, the airlock opened, letting Nilam into his space ship. "Identify yourself. The space you are currently in is pressurized and has breathable air." Jhin called out through the inter-com. "F.R.I.D.A.Y., activate vocal and facial recognition, scan through all known criminal databases, cross-reference. " "Understood."

Meanwhile, in the main cabin, Jhin activated his bionic mask, pulling out his pistol and letting his mask automatically synchronize to it.

"Hello, I am Captain Titanius Anglesmith, fancy man of Cornwood and owner and operator of the Danube-class ship El Pezo Negro. I was coming to ask, why are you here and how did you deactivate my cloak?" he called out, modulator deepening and making his voice much more gravelly. Basically, it made his voice Batman. He pressed a button and lights on the mask lit up, lighting up wherever his head was pointed. He pulled out his knife, his only form of self defense and threw it at a control panel. It harmlessly bounced off after hitting the panel with the handle. He retrieved the knife and kept it out, but didn't do anything else with it. "And you left your mike on. You won't find out my real name unless you come down to see me, face to face."