@Rultaos@iTem@T2wave@Gardevoiran

"Take it easy folks, give him- sorry.. her now I guess, some room." Stryker said, reaching out to lower Benny's outstretched arm "Tib's been working on this project for a little while now, just a little shocking to see now that it's no longer just a theory. That, and the body you ended up in. Gotta say, when you first started talking about it, I figured you meant just grabbing some sad sack's body off a morgue slab, not a berserker from the Valkyrie clan. That is gonna take a bit of time to get used to. And Matija's right, maybe Dr. Matthias ought to take a look at you, make sure everything worked out ok."

"Well this is all very exciting, but like you said Tib, ship isn't gonna pilot itself all day, and I don't know about the rest of you, but I am dying for a drink that didn't come from an Alliance distillery, so next stop, Helios Station." As he made to walk out, he stopped up for a minute and leaned in for a private word with Harriet.
"Perhaps you should do a more... thorough scan, just to be 100% certain she is who she says" he whispered with a pointed look over to the brain floating in the jar next to Tibulus' former body before heading off to set their course.

"I didn't imagine it'd be a berserker either, Stryker. I was just looking for a-a-a..." Tibulass stopped talking for a minute as her face was washed over with dread. "... u-uh... s-shit is this what being sick feels like? It's been a whi - oooohhhh oh no we are not having fun right now. Somebody get Matthias, a cigar, and some meds for me. I'll be in... there? I think that's the bathroom." In a hasty move, Tibulass headed straight for the door of the medbay that led to a larger bathroom, conveniently handicap accessible, making it perfect for someone to lay in for a few hours.

Gods, what the fuck was this sickness thing? Matija brought up the meds so idly that it didn't matter to her, and it honestly scared Tibulass. This was the best pilot on this side of the galaxy, but they just looked a bit different was all. Then again, the thought that the pilot was murdered by the subject was a bit of a scary thought, but he wasn't murdered by the subject! It was complicated, she guessed. Honestly, she didn't care at this point about the crew's thoughts, because this sickness was not fun at ALL. Tibulass would have to find a way to reason with the crew in a bit, as this sickness thing was a lot more of a pressing matter on her mind.

@iTem@BKburke@superservo27

SAL sat silent for a moment, analyzing and re-analyzing how his conversation with Tobi had gone. All signs pointed to 'poorly' with probable cause being that he hadn't explained himself clearly enough. He set up an automatic scan of the downloaded combat data and headed off to locate Tobi, nearly running into Harrison and Koren out in the hallway.

"Excellent, I needed to speak with you both. With you taking over most of the engineering duties, I thought it prominent to make a copy of all my reports onto the terminal in the Engine room. Please make particular note to read the latest on the drive core. A full breakdown is within the file but to cut to the root of the matter- it's been leaking for some time, not to a critical degree, but enough that it has affected the ship's maximum acceleration rate. Perhaps with your expertise, you could make the necessary repairs or locate a new one when we reach Helios Station."

As he spoke, he attemped to ping Tobi's internal communicator, passing along a short message containing a simple request to return to the lab.

Watching with curiosity, Harriet had stood off a bit. Though she could and probably should be making some kind of effort to assist Tib her old habits were kicking in. Probably didn't help that she still barely knew the crew all things considered. As the others reacted the sudden change to one of their crewmate the woman snapped back from her mulling. While she was familiar with the Funganoid biology, there was a lot that still hadn't been properly studied with this species. Realistically she was probably one of the few to be considered a specialist. This development was a new one to her, and nothing observed suggested it had even been possible. Looking at the others she began to shoo them away. "Alright everyone, unless you need some medical attention then let me attend to my patient and figure out what in the world is going on with Tibulus."

Turning back she looked at the again dead skeleton, or at least presumably. Hard to be sure. This would be a task to clean properly. Sighing for a second she turned and walked toward the bathroom that Tibulass had run off to. Stopping outside she spoke up. {color=green]"How are you feeling? Is it alright for me to enter?"[/color]

The door creaked open slowly, only to reveal Tibulass in the corner of the bathroom, sitting right beside the sink and with the trashcan off to the side. From the way she was leaning against the wall, it was pretty evident that she wasn't having a fun time. Even moreso with the abundance of bile in the toilet in the room. The girl glanced up at Harriet and mustered a few words out of her. "I... knew I was missing... something in that code..."

It had been a bit less evident before, but looking at Tibulass' head revealed two things. The minor thing was a bit of a needed adjustment to a side of her hair, but the other was the bigger kicker. The surgical thread covering a long injury on her head. Even though the wound looked like there was brand new skin covering it and nothing arose, the light shining against the nervous sweat of her nausea-induced anxiety revealed the different texture of the skin against her head. It was a new injury, but it seemed like it was sewn up expertly. It wasn't the prettiest cut, but it was definitely noticeable now that tensions died down.

"... um... c-can I get any sort of anti-nausea meds? I feel like I'm going to fuckin' die."

@t2wave

@Crossfire@iTem
"Of course, I'll get on that. Don't expect too much though." Harrison walked through the hall to the stairwell and slid down the railing. Once he reached the engine room, he looked around for the terminal, found it, and activated his Focus. After sorting through the various files and downloading the one he needed, he looked around for some tools and the leak. Reading the file, he found the problem was that there were multiple leaks, some small, others not so small. He turned on his suit and went to seal the ones he could reach. Harrison worked in a rhythm and started singing shanties under his breath.

If/when Koren showed up to the engine room, Harrison directed him to some leaks. "There's a couple up there that I can't reach without climbing all over the engine. I don't know what you can do, but i figured you might be able to help there. There's also a couple that need to be held together before they can be sealed and that's a two man job."

The Juz’ dragged his tools along with him as he walked towards the engine room and ate a ration bar to compensate for the energy that he had burned on their earlier adventure. On the way there, he had coincidentally met up with the human from earlier: the loud one. In a fit of courtesy, he still greeted the man with a “Hey, you going to the engine room too?” but it was said more like a statement than a question.

"Excellent, I needed to speak with you both,” instead responded a monotonous and robotic voice. Koren looked at the source and saw SAL who was reminding them about their duties as well as giving them a run down on what the main issue was. He nodded and thanked the robot as he passed him by, noting to download the terminal note so he wouldn’t have to keep going back to the terminal if he ever needed to re-read anything. When he was there, he waited for the man, Harry or something, to finish reading before he copied the files and read through them on his holo watch. The Harry person was the first to talk to him as he was busy skimming through the damage reports and notes. "There's a couple up there that I can't reach without climbing all over the engine. I don't know what you can do, but i figured you might be able to help there," the man directed to the visible leaks nearby and Koren visually followed said directions while still trying to steal glances at the robot’s notes. When Harry was about to tamper with one of the pipes, Koren immediately blurted out “You probably shouldn’t do that,” as he held back Harry’s arm back so he wouldn’t do anything that would make their repairs any harder. “I’m not sure of your skills but you should turn off the pressure for the fuel and hyper-fuel lines first.”

With that, he sends a request to turn off the main lines for the fuels and coolants to opt for the auxiliary lines instead. “If we get granted this, we’re going to stop for a few minutes,” he told his companion.

While waiting for the go signal, he whistled for Unaysah to come to him, to which the spider happily scuttled into the engine room with a curious chitter. “Tag the breaks, okay?” said the Juz’ as he opened his trolley and dropped a few glowing liquid-like material by the spider’s back. As if understanding, the spider started walking around and marking all leaking pipes that she could find with her now glowing webbing thanks to the glowing liquid that marks her back.

When the permission to turn off the lines were granted, Koren made his way to turning off the main valves through the engine console, prompted a line drain, and turned on the auxiliary lines to keep the ship from moving though with less power. All of which took a good amount of time to do because of how large the ship was.

“We can follow Unaysah’s markings. She should have marked most of it already so it should be easier. But I’m going to need you to man the console for now. Just to make sure that we don’t have any fuel or coolants doing returns to the lines. SAL’s notes said something about bad valve seals. When the pipes are around 25% finished, you should be able to fix most of the damages here without climbing. I’ll go at the top.”

Observing the couple of things about the new woman, Harriet made a mental note to ask about it later. There were plenty of other things to atend to first. They did just get back from a mission and someone just got a new body. And it was pretty clear that the transition was not going easy. "Right, I'll be back in a moment." She said while briefly placing her hand on Tibulass' shoulder.

Retrieving the medication she returned and offered a small tablet and a glass of water. "It might not be fun right now but you'll have to get this down. It'll work faster that way." Scooting a chair over by the door she took a seat. "It may make you a tad drowsy. We can work out something less potent once you're more stable."

Without as much of a moment of hesitation, Tibulass grabbed the tablet and glass before tossing the pill back in her mouth and eagerly drinking the entire glass. The girl didn't even take a moment to breathe in between gulps before the entire glass of water was nothing more than air and about four drops of liquid. Taking a few labored breaths as her heart rate lowered from the sudden prospect of a remedy, Tibulass groaned an odd statement. "I haven't drank water in decades..."

The girl took one more deep breath before she spoke again. "... Stryker said something about a morgue patient. They wouldn't have worked... because their body'd be... decomposing. The berserker had a fresh body... and while what I did might... be a little wrong ethically... she did try to kill me. Heh..." The girl chuckled at her own joke before she tried to stand up, using the sink as a handle to keep her from falling over in a fit of dizziness. "... I think... I need a real bed... are there any left in the hold or whatever... you call the cabins?"

@t2wave

@Gardevoiran@Xandrya@t2wave@BKburke@Rultaos@iTem@superservo27@sntabe@Silver Carrot

39 Hours Later

The Revenant jolted slightly as she entered the artificial gravity field of Helios Station, one of the larger (and relatively speaking, safer) locations in the Deadzone. Primarily known as a trader's market, where the rule of the merchants was law, Stryker had chosen it as a rest stop for a few reasons, though to be fair, it was mostly for the homebrew liquor a tavern down there specialized in.

He confirmed docking with the harbormaster and set the ship into landing protocol. The behemoth ship shivered and shook as she came down onto the landing pad and the engines cut out. The general atmosphere on board was that of a crew itching to breathe some fresh (artificial) air, Stryker included. Grayson and Amy had been checked out of med bay, though neither of them was quite at 100% yet, the doc had cleared them to be out and about, provided they didn't start any bar fights or brawls in the street. Tibulass had checked out in all scans, though heshe hadn't been awake much in the last day and a half. Everyone else seemed good, though they were all in dire need of this little break. Stryker rolled his chair back as he stood up and stretched before tapping in to the ship-wide comms.

"Alright everyone, we made it. So just like I said on the way here, it's gonna take some time to refuel and cycle in fresh water. We've got a complete resupply coming in too, food, med supplies, ammo, and everything else that was requisitioned. And since we're military-ish, I've decided to invoke the ancient military rite of shore leave, so just like the name says, the next 18 hours are yours to do with as you please, all I'm gonna ask is that if you're not coming back to the ship tonight to sleep, ping me on the comms, so we don't leave without you in the morning."

Leaving the cockpit, he almost immediately ran into SAL. The robot must have been coming to speak with him.

"What's up?" he greeted.
With his usual blank expression, SAL replied "The engineers did what they could, but some sections of the engines are still not operating at 100%. The drive core's Atom Flux and burn regulators in particular are approaching critical levels of decay."
"I figured something like that was happening, could feel her shuddering a little ever since I took the wheel. Tell ya what, I'm transferring credit authority over to you, head out into the markets and find those parts. Take Koren and Harrison with you if they want to help."
With a nod, SAL headed off. Stryker was halfway down the hall to his room for some much needed shut-eye when his datapad pinged, a new message from the Alliance.

Attention Revenant Captain,
Got a few more for you, we've shipped them off to Helios Station, so they ought to arrive just before you do. Dossiers attached. They're in the care of First Officer Casey, you should find him at these coordinates...
The message auto-deleted as soon as Stryker tapped the coordinates, he nodded and tucked the datapad into his pocket, sighing as he turned on his heel and headed off to collect the new recruits.

Tibulass woke suddenly, the artificial gravity of the station jolting her body in the bed and causing her to snap awake. She sat upright in bed for a few seconds before sighing and turning to get out of bed. "Nngh... at least I'm not nauseous anymore." The girl stretched for another second or two before finally standing, grabbing a nearby piece of furniture for support. She was still a little dizzy from the surgery, and it seemed the medicine she took for that had been wearing off. Thankfully, she wouldn't have to use it for long.

The cockpit bunk was... cozy. Tibulus hadn't had a need for sleep, so he always stored his belongings in here to keep Stryker from having an aneurysm about the cockpit proper being full of stuff, but now that Tibulass needed to sleep, the room would see a lot more use. A bit of it had been unpacked from the boxes and such, mainly a blanket and pillow for the bed, but that was about it. She'd make this room a bit more homey later. Right now, she wanted to get to work doing things that she had missed out on in her afterlife.

Tibulass held a cigar in her hand, tempted to use it, before placing it down on the nearby desk. She wasn't going to ruin this body with cancer just yet. She couldn't cure that easily. Then again... she did perform a successful brain transplant. Anything was possible.

A short walk to the rest of the bunks occurred before the pilot knocked on the door to the third cabin. That was where Matija was, right? "Matija? It's Tibulass. I'm gonna go get piss-faced drunk and eat a pretzel, wanna come with?"

@iTem

As soon as the Revenant had set down in it's berth and Stryker gave his blessing for the crew to wander off, Grayson and Amy slipped away to locate a clinic that could do some DNA testing. As luck would have it, one such clinic existed on this very station, and within an hour, the couple were walking out the door, leaving the vial of blood and a sample of Amy's in the hands of a respectable-looking lab technician, who told them told them to return in 3 or 4 hours for the results. As they strolled down a crowded thoroughfare hand in hand, Grayson could sense that Amy had a lot on her mind. This whole experience had to be pretty taxing on her, and he decided to find a way to get her mind off it for a while. He nodded in the direction of a small pub.

"Fancy a drink to bury the nerves?" he asked.

"Consider me sold," Amy looked up at Grayson, suddenly realizing she had subconsciously ignored him for who knows how long. "But you have to get me food as well.... I'm starving even though I ate a while back, and if I drink on an empty stomach I'm pretty sure I could end up getting alcohol poisoning."

She gave his hand a little squeeze, pulling him into the pub as curiosity got the best of her.

"Oh absolutely lass, I could go for some grub myself" Grayson said, letting her lead him through the crowd towards the bar. It was pretty packed for this time of day and all eyes in the place seemed drawn to the large vid screens up on the walls. Taking a glance up, Grayson saw a panel of (mostly human) broadcasters, but he couldn't hear what they were saying over the din of the pub. News or a pre-game show for sports perhaps? They found a couple of stools and Grayson waved over a bartender.

"How're ya mate? I'll have a pint and whatever the lady's having. Could ya grab us a menu as well?"

"Mai Tai for me!" Amy quickly added just as the bartender was starting to walking away. He gave her a thumbs up even though his back was turned to her. She got comfortable, sitting down and leaning on the bar top as her attention suddenly turned to one of the closest screens out of the many scattered throughout the bar. "Hey, hockey's on," she leaned in so Grayson could hear her as she recognized the logo, "and my team's playing!"

The bartender then came back with the menus, letting them know their drinks would shortly follow. Amy tapped her ear as she turned to the bartender, "Can I get an ear piece, please? Thank you."

Grayson quickly signaled for an ear piece as well and turned back to Amy.

"You're a fan of holo? Can't believe this has never come up before- I've been watchin' the Toronin Supernovas for as long as I can remember. Holo's the only thing I'd ever thank the Alliance for."
The bartender was coming back with their drinks already, so Grayson slipped the menu over to quickly peruse it. Given that it was a pub, there wasn't all that much to choose from. The bartender set down their drinks in front of them, the heavy mug of Grayson's pint emitting a satisfying clunk.
"Thanks lad, listen start us up a tab will ya? Seems like we'll be here a while." he said as he shot a grin over to Amy. His plan to keep her mind off the looming test results had taken off beautifully.

"Oh, so you do know your holo..." Amy pushed the earpiece into place, the game's broadcast suddenly giving life to what was going on behind the screen. The match between the Rezvani Blackholes and the Toronin Supernovas had started recently, the score being tied at 1-1. "I bet we'll wipe the deck with you guys," she smiled, her mind far from anything the slightest bit stressful. No missions, no ship, no family drama...just a good time about to get better. "Given their recent streak, I'm sure we'll win by a landslide. So, what do you say?"

She held up her glass for a toast.

"You're on love" Grayson said with a mischievous grin as he raised his pint to meet her toast "What do ya think... loser pays the tab?"

The bartender was looping around to them again so Grayson waved him over and pointed down at the menu "We'll have the wing platter and nachos..... anything else ya wanna add on to that Ames?"

While she scanned down through the meager offerings, Grayson took a drink and looked up at the screen, the Supernovas' goalie had just covered up the puck for a stoppage of play and they were cutting to advertisements before the next puck drop. He noticed during a quick cut of the bench as the image faded out into advertisements that the players had a patch sewn to the upper torso of their jerseys. He nudged the man next to him and quickly asked.

"'Scuse me mate, I been out of the loop for a while on a job, is this a playoff or somethin'?"
"Yeah, Game 7 of the division final, winner tonight should take the championship with ease."

Grayson nodded in thanks and turned back to Amy, this could get very, very interesting indeed.

"Loser pays the tab it is..." Amy made the toast before taking a long sip of her drink, seeing the bartender just about ready to take their order. She grabbed the menu and quickly looked it over, deciding on chicken strips and fries. She let him know what she wanted as she overheard the conversation Grayson had with his neighbor.

"So this game is definitely a big deal. I almost feel bad for you..." she smirked, taking another sip of her drink.

"Gettin' a little cocky are we? Well lass, I wouldn't count the chickens 'fore they hatched, haven't seen much of 'em this season, but the Novas have youth and speed on their side." He took a sip and nearly spat it back out as the game was gettin' ready to resume, chuckling and coughing as he pointed up at the screen. "Look at Marner there, number 16, poor boy couldn't grow a playoff beard even if he transplanted every hair on his head."

Grayson hastily picked up the earpiece and dialed it in to the game's audio feed.
"...Matthews ready to take the face-off, Barkov for the Blackholes. He's 3 for 4 on face-offs so far this game, make that 3 for 5 as he loses that one. Ozi with the puck now moving up, passes to Marner, intercepted at the blue line, moving back up now, that's Barkov with Dadonov joining the rush, passes to Dadonov, shooting.... great save by Andersen! Dermott now collecting the puck in the corner, feeds it up ice... holy mackinaw! Connects with Kapanen! He's off to the races! Breakaway chance! Rezvani was on a change and they got caught! Alone in front, shooting! Stopped by Reimer and the whistle blows!"

"What a play boys, what a play!" Grayson clinked his mug off the bar counter-top a few times in celebration "Almost had em Ames, what do ya think? Reconsidering the bet?"

"Wow, they had one good play so far. Good for you!"

Her tone was sarcastic, but playful, although she was slowly slipping into the competitive spirit. After all, it had been a while since she last was able to enjoy herself in a similar matter. "You may have youth and speed, but we have brains and experience. It's a pretty even match if you ask me--"

Amy suddenly looked at the screen, a penalty was being called out against her team for instigating a fight, and they were just at the face-off.

"Oh come on, what the hell is this?!"

"Well lass, in the words of a great man from a bygone era, 'you can't do that, 2 minutes in the box'"

Grayson finished off his beer and called for another, smiling at how into it Amy was. He figured it was a good idea to keep up the teasing during the commercial break, just to keep her mind from wandering off.

"I wasn't plannin' on drinkin' much more than a pint or two, but since we've got this bet goin' I figure I may as well run the tab a little eh?"

"Trust me, I'm not holding back myself..." she replied, sipping a bit more of her drink, not wanting to even look at the disaster currently playing on the screen. It had been a while since Amy had caught a game, but quite often she knew when it was going to end badly. And she was right again, unfortunately.

"This is unbelievable!" She suddenly slapped the bar top with both hands when she heard the broadcast. They'd been scored on, and she wasn't happy.

"Not quite so confident now are ya lass?" Grayson prodded with a shit-eating grin "Cut ya a deal, we call off the bet now, I'll pay for the lot, but...." he added on a sly wink "Ya owe me one."
The look on her face was all Grayson needed to know she was shooting down the offer. He nodded in a 'fair enough' and slipped a handful of credit chips across to the bartender, who had just arrived with their food.
"Compliments to yourself and the chef mate" he said when the young man shot him a glance "Can ya get us another round too? Thanks."

They ate in relative silence, cheering and teasing along with the crowd when their respective teams scored or made a good play. Several hours and many more drinks later, the game was winding down to the final minutes of the 3rd period. The score was 4-3 for the Supernovas, and play was picking up in the Blackholes zone.
"With just shy of two minutes remaining in the game, the Supernovas hold a 1-goal lead." The play-by-play commentator began "Puck about to drop now, I'd like to think there's not a person watching this who isn't on the edge of their seats. If they hold the fort, the Supernovas will punch their ticket to a franchise-first visit to the finals. If the Blackholes score, we go into overtime until we have a winner. Either way, shuld be an entertaining end to this fantastic playoff series. Hoffman taking this faceoff, wins it back for Petrovich, he wheels around the net and the Blackholes will begin a rush, goalie heading to the bench behind them, Barkov as the extra attacker hopping over the boards. Receives the puck from Huberdeau, passes to Hoffman, no shot, back to Barkov, dropping back to Yandle, one timer attempt from Hoffman! Shot is off the mark, the puck now gathered up by Hainsey, passes to Reilly, stretch pass up to Connor Brown at center, shooting, and into the empty net he scores! With thirty seconds remaining on the clock, the Supernovas have locked up this win! They're goin to the finals!"

“This is fucking unbelievable!” Amy cried out, drawing the attention of various patrons sitting within their immediate vicinity. She buried her head in her hands momentarily, being a bit overdramatic about the whole situation but she was drunk, her judgment not really being the best at the moment. "They've let me down yet again..." she whined, reaching within her coat pocket to pay for the drinks and food. Looking over at Grayson, she noticed he was still being quite smug about his win.

"I don't want to hear a word from you, ya heard?" she warned, giving him an evil eye but not meaning it deep inside. Maybe he'd see right through her, or maybe he wouldn't. Who really knew.

A few moments later, after parting ways with the bartender, Amy got off the barstool, hopping down but nearly losing her footing. She immediately reached for Grayson's arm, using him for leverage. The drinks had hit her all at once, but she was small, and not even the food had helped.

"Let's stop by the DNA place real quick, shall we?"

"Hey, I'm not sayin' nothin' love." Grayson chuckled as he high-fived a fellow Novas fan. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and began to lead her out of the pub. With how much he drank, Grayson really shouldn't have been leading anyone anywhere, but they got on alright. Soon enough they were stumbling through the door of the DNA clinic and Grayson paid the man for their package- a small envelope containing the results- and off they went again.
"I'm jus' sayin'" Grayson had been trying to get this point across since they left the bar "The Novas... you know? It could happen. No listen, one of these days, we're goin'. When all of this settles down, we're goin' to see 'em live, the Blackholes too. Hell, while we're at it, let's go to Earth an' see a real live ice game, what'd ya say to that?"

"If that's a promise, then I'm willing to forgive you for cheering on the heathen team."

As they walked, Amy held the small envelope in her free hand. She was finding it hard to decide whether she should take a look at the results once they got back to the ship, or the following day, when they were both sober and able to think clearly. That was probably the better choice, but on the other hand, her not knowing would bug her well into the night. Unless she managed to push the nagging thoughts aside somehow.

Back in the ship, Amy dragged Grayson to their room. She immediately headed for the bed--jacket, pants, and shoes all still on--and she face-planted on her pillow as exhaustion left little room for her to do anything else. She could easily fall asleep in less than a minute, but she wasn't sure whether Grayson would bring up the results, the envelope now sitting on the table. That thought alone seemed to keep her her mind awake.

Grayson returned to the room after a short detour to the restroom and chuckled under his breath at the sight before him.
"You really went over the limit eh Ames?" he said "Alright, hold on."

Struggling to stay on his own feet, he quickly undressed and sat on the edge of the bed. It was never a pleasant feeling to wake up still fully-dressed after a night out, so Grayson did what he could to help Amy out before flopping over on his side of the bunk and pulled the covers up over them.
"I know that look, you're still thinkin' about it, but listen to me, leave it 'til the mornin'. No need to end off the night with something this heavy an' complicated. It'll still be right there when we get up, ok? Sweet dreams love"

He leaned his head over and planted a kiss on her cheek before turning out the lights. After a few seconds, he sighed dramatically.
"Ah dammit. I've just realized we should've bet for sex."

The elbow strike to his ribs told him she didn't love the joke. All the same Grayson chuckled involuntarily as he started to drift off.
"Love you too Ames, good night."

@Crossfire

As Stryker got to the meeting point, Varrus was not in sight. Though a cold hand was placed on Strykers left shoulder from behind. It's good to see you again Stryker. A cold and horrid voice echoed in Strkyers head. The alliance has grown...concerned. Varrus rested his other hand on Strykers right shoulder. Your recent spike in casualty rates was rather alarming. Especially on a mission containing such valuable.....assests. Varrus hunched over, leaning his head over Strykers left shoulder showing Stryker it really was him. You see, with such a dramatic increase in casualties, the alliance was worried about our favorite little team. Varrus took his hands off Strjyer as his four facial tentacles coiled around Strykers neck but only for a moment. Don't worry Stryker...as you have seen, I keep my experiments in very good condition. I'm so happy to have new..'material' to work with.

Varrus stood straight and turned his back toward Stryker. I'm going to go greet my new subje-...friends on the ship. As Varrus began to walk away, he stopped for a moment. Don't look so tense, this station will be here after we leave. Which reminds me...i can't wait to show you new agents I developed. I'm sure you will have night terrors about these. I can't wait for the team to here the blood curdling screams. It's like a symphony. With his final words spoken, Varrus headed toward the ship.

Tobi wasn't sure why he had to return to the lab. He was there for awhile and did what SAL instructed him to do. After the ship docked, Tobi had plans, he was gonna go shopping. He wasn't sure what he was gonna get but a new wire for strangling people sounded good to him.

@BKburke@sntabe

"Varrus. Things were going a little too smoothly recently, figures the Alliance would choose now to release you." Stryker spat, refusing to let up how much seeing the Illithid again had rattled him. He cast a glance over to the amused looking Alliance officer.
"Any chance I can request he not be allowed on the ship, for the safety of the others?"
"Gonna take a wild guess and say that request is denied." Casey drawled "You two have a history?"
Looking back over his shoulder to observe Varrus walking away, Stryker quietly muttered "Something like that."

Shaking the memories out of his head, he turned to greet the other two new recruits, who were patiently waiting off to the side.
"Ryan Rosq and Maviet.. Maza.. sorry, no offense but I'm not even gonna attempt to pronounce that, I'll only butcher it. You go by Mazie it says here? Ok, that's easier. Well, welcome to the party. Call me Stryker. Grab your stuff and follow me, we can get properly acquainted as I show you around the Revenant."

@iTem@superservo27@Silver Carrot

SAL and his mechanically-inclined companions strolled casually through a noisy bazaar of makeshift market stalls. Helios was widely known as a pretty centralized trading post for those travelling through the Deadzone. Odds are they'd find the parts needed to get the Revenant back up to 110% among the scrappers, junkers and scavengers that made a living off the hollowed-out corpses of destroyed ships.

"Perhaps it would be best to spread out and search for the parts we need. Stryker has given me full credit authority, so I interpret that as meaning price is no object, as long as we acquire top-quality parts. Wait, hold position."

As they had strolled past a stall, SAL's ocular scanners had picked up serial numbers that matched some of the parts they required. Even some that matched materials he needed to deal with Tobi's instability. Interesting. He stared down at the name assigned to the stall and processed the proper pronunciation.

"Qoorb, greetings, I believe you will be able to accommodate our needs. My companions and I are seeking an Atom Flux and burn regulators compatible with a TX-750 drive core. We also require carbon-fused transmission piping and a 50-Grade coolant tank, if you have it."

They said the ETA to the station was 39 hours.
39 hours of nothing but resting and boredom.
39 hours worth of downtime.
39 hours worth of waiting for nothing.

Matija groaned as she watch some kind of old comedy cop show on the technically window but is actually glass tv in her cabin. One of the male stars said something about wanting to be taken out, his female co-star asked if he wanted a date or with a sniper to which the man responded “Surprise me.” With a gulp from her totally not stolen from the galley can of beer, she groaned a ”Same,” as she placed the now empty can with the rest of her trash. She honestly didn’t even bother with checking up on Benny anymore since the past checks on his room kept proving that no Benny would come anytime soon. Matija figured that she at least has more drinks and food for herself now. If only they weren’t just chips.

She kept watching through her show until dull thuds echoed throughout her room. Already quite tipsy, she found herself annoyed while wondering who the hell is making such a racket. ”Matija? It’s Tibulass. I’m gonna go get piss-faced drunk and eat a pretzel, wanna come with?”

”Oh,” she said with a pang of disappointment in her voice. She stood up from her squatting position and opened the door for the other girl. ”Yeah, sure. Just lemme change. Without waiting for a response, she turned to change into something that she’ll find herself comfortable being in while also staying relatively incognito. She thought about getting groceries anyway. Might as well be shit-faced after.


The marketplace reminded Koren of the Juz' world's provincial marketplaces. It was both a nice and uncomfortable thing to be reminded of but not everything has to look like home, he reminded himself. While he still tried his best to remain undetected, Juz’ being sighted is definitely eye-catching because if there’s one of them, more should follow. As such, making deals was always a 50/50 thing because they either get intimidated by him, or he gets thrown out. But at least he’s eyed multiple finds that they might find useful for the ship.

“SAL, if you may. I saw some wirings and flow controller valves earlier that we could use to make fuel use more efficient. There are also A35 axels that we could use to fix the sticky landing gears, and rotors and crankshafts for the engines.”

@Crossfire@iTem@superservo27

The creature behind the desk was a very large, blue humanoid with fangs and some kind of thin shell or exoskeleton instead of ordinary skin. They would have looked intimidating but for the goofy-looking goggles they were wearing, covered with magnifying lenses, and their poor, shabby clothing that most of the stall owners here were wearing. One of their arms was robotic, but with no casing. The hydraulics and pipes were on full display.

Qoorb was currently soldering an FTL catalyst that looked in pretty bad shape. SAL and Koren would both see this component and the state it was in and realise that it was by all accounts a total write off. Something insalvageable that would need to be replaced. Junk. But here this alien was. Refusing to give up on it, trying to fix it, despite the obvious dents and damage. The creature looked up from their work, turned off the soldering tool, and lifted their goggles to reveal red eyes that only made them look more intimidating. However, when they spoke, they spoke with a timid, feminine-sounding voice, and answered with heavily accented broken English.

"Yes, I have. I have. Please. Look. Look."

SAL would have spotted several of the components he asked for hanging from the walls and ceiling of the store. In fact, they were the reason he stopped. Qoorb retrieved the Atom Flux and burn regulators, then dropped down out of view for a few seconds, returning with a rusty tin box full of various sizes of transmission and fuel piping. He would take one out, weigh it in his hand, then put it back. SAL would notice that despite the jumble of pipes, he never took the same one twice. Eventually he took one out, was satisfied, and placed it with the rest of the order. Finally he turned his back on them and disappeared into his stall. He returned with the ugliest 50-grade coolant tank they'd ever seen. It's surface betrayed that it had once been heavily dented and had been restored by hand, and it had traces of dark grey paint from when it was once new, but all but a few specs remained on its bare, metal exterior.

"How much you pay?" Qoorb asked in a tone that made it very clear that the stall owner was going to haggle.

After Matija had been changed, Tibulass led the two girls into the town in pursuits of the finest bar, winery, or somewhere else that sells booze to the masses without asking many questions. Sure, the skin graft and scar of brain surgery was a thing, but when you were walking down the street along with three or four aliens per yard, you weren't incredibly shocked by the stranger that had some scars. Hell, that guy clearly had a broken arm and he was just kinda walking through the street casually.

At last, the two girls arrived at what seemed like a pretty standard bar. The neon signs were flickering against the brighter lights of the station, and the grizzly people in the bar definitely told that this bar was trusted by the ragamuffins of the station, which gave Tibulass a good feeling that she could get a strong drink here and get wasted. She only had to hope this place had pretzels now. A large sign beside it read "The Wasted Wormhole". Not the best name for a bar, but it was catchy to Tibulass.

"How's this place? Think we could get shit-faced here?"

@iTem

Matija urged Tibulass to stop by a drive through grocery area prior to heading to their intended hole of degeneracy. After putting on a list, paying, providing a shipping address, and sending an additional note for safety and entry, she set forth to the unplanned winding roads of the seedy station. Their end-point was a place called “The Wasted Wormhole.” It was not as… reassuring as she thought it would be but a quick look around the place and a “Think we could get shit-faced here?” from Tibulass, she found herself grinning and snaking an arm around the bigger woman’s own. “Sure, baby. S’long as it’s with you,” the Mecorian responded with a flirty tone.

With the bar scene and another person by her, Matija found herself going back to old habits: latching on to someone and following them around for a good time. However she insisted that they take a nice and comfortable corner for themselves. The bar itself wasn’t exactly like the 5 star ones that she’s used to but the couch’s cushions weren’t too bad just yet. She was, however, eager to order when a menu was placed in front of her. “You got a Redheaded Slut, honey?” she asked the waiter. With an confused smile, the young woman asked for clarification. “You know. The mix?” With a relieved “Ah,” the waiter listed Matija’s order: a small pitcher of the mix and a couple of shot glasses.

Finding herself comfortable yet again, Matija snuggled herself close to Tibulass and laid a head on the taller woman’s shoulder. “How’s it feel to have flesh an’ blood again?”

@Silver Carrot@iTem@superservo27

"There's no need for this" SAL said simply "You'll be fairly compensated. I've calculated up a total based on market price for each of these components, and added 3% extra for your patience. Add on the A35 axels, wirings, flow valves and crankshifts that my companion just spotted as well. Calculating..... rounding to nearest figure... how does 12,000 credits sound?"

Off to the side of his vision, SAL typed out a message, ran it through the background process of his vocal transponder and broadcast it over to Harrison's earpiece.

"Use Focus. Check For Quality. Tap foot twice if good, three for not. Hurry.

-----------------------

@sntabe@TheEvanCat@Rultaos

Over at the ship, Stryker was just finishing up the tour for Ryan and Mazie, they had looped all the way around the major areas over the course of roughly 20 minutes and had finally arrived back at the crew quarters.
"..... most of the crew is gone tonight, I gave them the night for some R&R before we head back out for the next job, so you'll meet em later. For now though, I'll leave you both to get straightened away." he jerked a thumb over to the gaping door hole where Room 1 was supposed to be.
"As you can tell, Room 1's a little out of sorts, long story, gotta try and fix that someday. Most of the rooms are free, only number 2 on the right side of the hall is occupied, 9 and 11 are free down in back on the left, just take whichever ones you want of the one's that're free, I'll catch up with you guys later."

He spotted Benny wandering out from the kitchen, and waved to grab the Scotsman's attention.
"Benny, how's it going man? Listen, how about you and me dodge out for a drink? I'm supposed to be meeting someone, wouldn't mind some backup in case it goes sideways."

Helios Station

From the dingy hotel room complete with a slightly dark stain in the carpet that he was fairly sure was someone's blood to the row of sketchy-looking bars on the outer wing of the station, Saedet felt a sort of humor about the station. He wandered through the dimly-lit passageways with a courier bag slung over his shoulder, until a hologram from his wristwatch alerted him to the reason why he had come. Someone had wanted to meet with him on this station: news of a job had drawn him here, where he had been waiting for a week trying to get a handle of the situation. For him, however, things had proven difficult. The guy had no aliases in civilian or military records, no social media presence, no tax records... It was like he was a ghost. Sadaet appreciated as much. It also made him feel better: his potential employer was careful and professional, and those people usually didn't scam and murder their hires.

A pathway in vibrant blue traced through the halls on his eyelens display, towards a seedy red sign that read "The Wasted Wormhole." Some brands of beer in neon were advertised on the window, along with a quaint "OPEN" sign. The soft beat of a chillwave vibe pounded gently to the hallway. Sadaet checked his corners and ran his hand across the grip of his revolver before pushing in. His eyes scanned the sparse crowd, his eyelens bringing up whatever information on them it found. Two by the corner, a dark-skinned woman with white hair and some other woman that Sadaet couldn't quite place, caught his attention. His eyelens drew up more data on them: certain things appeared fishy to the trained eye. Most people their age had things like pictures on social media, publically available apartment rental contracts, or other minute facets of daily life. To Sadaet, theirs looked... Fabricated. He put some tabs on them and ordered a house lager at the bar.

He pulled out his phone, scrolling through an AI-generated feed. He knew none of the people that showed up on his media accounts, but he did it to generate network traffic that his him amongst the general population. He tapped past pictures of couples he's never seen having babies he never would meet, simultaneously knowing everything about them but not anything at all. He liked a few, thanking the bartender as a glass of beer was placed on a dingy coaster by his hand. More news stories popped up from around the system. A break-in on Helios Station. A mining accident on a moon. Solar panel malfunctions causing brownouts for certain sections. All equally meaningless to him. He sat in the upholstered seat and checked his watch: if this guy was as professional as he seemed, hopefully he'd be on time for the meeting.