[IC] Revenant: A Sci-Fi Adventure (Always Accepting!)

[Xandrya]

The following is a collaboration between myself and @Dark Light

---

The door clicked as the latching mechanism was released, Amy only opened it an inch as she spoke but an inch was all Arex needed. Putting his full weight against the door he forcibly barged his way in.

Quickly with his one arm he immediately slammed the door shut behind him locking it with a loud 'click'. Then with a deep breath he slowly turned around to face the blind woman that he inexplicably betrayed. She looked distressed and tired, understandably unhappy. Arex leaned back against the door clearly blocking her way. He waited patiently in silence, letting her finish speaking first. Waiting for the right words, waiting to read her emotions, speechless.

When Arex forced the door open, Amy found herself backing away from him until her back hit the wall. She knew that she wasn't able to avoid him now, not when he was between her and the only exit out of the room.

"What more do you want, Arex? Because if for some reason you don't know, my father didn't make it out alive...just like you wanted." Amy bit her bottom lip to stop herself from crying. Her eyes watered, but she didn't allow herself to shed any tears. No matter how may times she tried, Amy couldn't find a reasonable excuse as to why Arex would do such a thing to her.

"Don't waste your time saying sorry. I don't want nor do I need your apology."

Arex remained quiet and motionless, letting Amy's words sink in while a silence and tension slowly filled the air between them and proceeded to engulf the room. Arex never found his target, so it was no surprise that Amy would assume it was her father that he had spoken about. Only now had Arex heard about his death. It seemed it would be easier to go along with Amy's assumptions then to unscramble some elaborate, unbelievable truth.

"Not all of us made it back, you did. None of them survived at all... If you got to him first what would you do? Help him defend his allies, his beliefs, his job, reputation, friends, livelihood? Or perhaps you could have organised a pardon for them while we continue to kill and destroy every one and thing they live for." he pauses to take a sigh-like breath. "They might be on the wrong side of the war, but everyone of those men probably had a daughter, son, wife, mother or father that will spend the rest of their life mourning them."

Amy hears the slide of Arex's pistol as he removes it from its holster and clicks off the safety. Next the cold steel handle is pressed into her palm. His voice goes softer and quieter.

"Look, if you believe it's all my fault and without my intervention you would be sailing home now as a happy family for some quality bonding time and a home cooked meal, well then revenge is rightfully yours. If that is the case I have screwed up your wonderful life so you should take mine." With a soft touch, he lifts her hand and aims the gun for her and waits, letting the silent tension once again consume the room.

"Just remember we're all here because we are expendable, and yeah most of us will probably die out in the black before ever go back home, but you can fight that fight another day."

"I would have helped him escape, plain and simple. I didn't care about anyone else on that station, to be honest. I mean, my father didn't necessarily win a 'Father of the Year' award either, but I would have sent him off before that place was blown to hell."

Amy's body tensed when she recognized the all-too familiar sound of a weapon being unholstered, but she breathed a sigh of relief when Arex placed it on her hand.

It was unlikely that they were going to become best friends after this encounter, but contrary to Arex's statement, she wasn't out for his blood. It's true that while he prevented her from getting to her father on time to warn him contributed to his death, Arex wasn't the one who pulled the trigger. She wouldn't be able to come to terms with herself if she ended Arex's life, at least in this very moment.

"Look, I just want to know why you betrayed me...that's all. What made you attack me without reason?" Amy had his weapon at her side, finger resting on the trigger guard but without the intent to actually fire a round. She waited for an answer but then, Stryker made an announcement to meet in the War Room.

"You at least owe me an answer," she added.

Arex waited a moment before replying "There was nothing you could do to save him. He was as good as dead before we even landed, wrong place wrong time. Get over it, people die..." He said sternly with a sense of frustration.

He suddenly stepped closer to her almost pushing her body with his as his shadow fell over her, the warmth of his breath crawled over her skin as he whispered in her ear. "What have you told the others?" He asked coldly.

Amy didn't have to be able to see Arex to know that he was standing within an inch or two away from her, his sudden overwhelming presence nearly making her breath catch in her throat.

"I haven't told anyone anything..." she said, her body shaking. But it was in that moment that it finally clicked; why was she the one being questioned? ..."but I will," she went on as she tightened her grip on the gun, her voice now as cold as his. Amy didn't have to explain herself to Arex, and she definitely didn't have to feel threatened by him.

"And just what will you tell them?" Arex asks in his deep harsh whisper, just as cold and flatly as before as he inches even closer. Amy oblivious to the small smirk that had grown on his face.

"The truth, Arex. Maybe you should have thought about the repercussions before you acted..."

Amy maintained her poker face as she practically felt him get closer to her.

"Very well..."

And just like that he stopped pushing, his presence and shadow no longer looming over her. There was a click as the door suddenly unlocked and slid open. Just before leaving, Arex paused and looked back over his shoulder to speak his last words before disappearing into the hallway.

"I did it so I wouldn't have to kill you," he said calmly.

There were no other sounds after those words, no heavy breaths, no fading footsteps. Just nothing. Amy was left unsure, still holding his gun in her hand.

"What do you mean kill me?" But she wasn't afforded a reply, and was instead met with complete silence, even after standing there like a fool for about half a minute. "Okay..."

Amy used the palm of her hands to rub her eyes before she put the gun away. She would talk to Grayson about this later, when they had some alone time.

After making sure her door was locked, Amy got ready to head down to meet the others.

---

"Sorry I'm late," she whispered as she entered the room, unsure of how many eyes were currently on her. She hadn't meant to interrupt Stryker, but Arex was holding her back and she couldn't really do anything about it. Fortunately, the meeting didn't cover anything too important, and they were shortly released after the message from Captain Dawson.

Amy attempted to get Grayson alone to tell him everything that had occurred with Arex, but she couldn't get to him in time. Instead, she decided to just sit in the kitchen and wait, where she hopefully wouldn't have to be alone and cornered again.

[Crossfire]

@Banana

Stryker had grabbed up the palm-sized package that contained their orders before showing Taleste around the ship. He headed to the cockpit to review them. Without a word to Tibulus he opened the package to find a data drive. He plugged it into his datapad and downloaded everything off it. As his eyes scanned the first couple of documents, he absent-mindedly fished out one of the decks of cards Adachi had given him and tossed them over onto Tibulus's console.

"Will those do? Got another 4 in my pockets" He found the coordinates and typed them into the ship's nav system "Long trip ahead, we're going right out there this time, could be a week or more getting there, want me to take over for a bit?"

@Xandrya@Azereiah@Turbowraith@mackielars@Rultaos@Tickout@PlatinumSkink@Dark Light@Silver Carrot

First order of business for Grayson was getting everything he'd picked up into the armory. He had just unpacked the cart and was wondering where to begin when Stryker's voice echoed out through the ship's PA system.

"Anyone who had a requisition in, you'll find it down in the Docking Bay along with the rest of the supply drop, I'd appreciate anyone who's free heading down there to pitch in on getting everything unpacked. We've got a long trip ahead, could be a few days, could even stretch into a few weeks, but we can talk about that later, I'm sure we're all sick to death of team meetings by now, I sure am"

The PA whined and droned for a second before cutting off, as if Stryker was about to do some kind of official sign-off, but then thought better of it and just closed the channel. Knowing that there'd be "official Alliance-certified" supplies for the Armory, Grayson made his way back down to the Crew Deck to find them. He made a last-second decision to detour into the kitchen and stopped in his tracks as he saw Amy sitting there, the door slid close behind him, and there they were, alone in this room again.

"Oh hello" he said to cut the silence, and to let her know who had just walked in "Was just on my way down to get the Armory supplies, thought I'd drop in for a bite to eat first. I can come back later though if there's a risk of another cup gettin' tossed at my head, ay?"

@BKburke

SAL had returned to the Tech Lab after the meeting, finding no purpose in his disembarking the ship, when there was so much work to be done. By the time they had taken off again, he was ready to begin a consciousness transfer into the body he had crafted from the leftover parts of AP-772 and the Hunter Droid. He connected his mind to the new AI program to address it directly, wanting to be sure it'd be safe to allow his creation true sentience.

"Hello again. How are you feeling?"

[Xandrya]

@Crossfire

"Oh, hey," Amy turned to face the general direction of Grayson's voice. She was relieved to have him there simply because she had the feeling that he was more than willing to listen to her. "I, um...I'm glad you're here. Listen, can I talk to you real quick? I haven't been completely honest with you, but back there on the station, it was actually Arex who nearly paralyzed me. I didn't want to say anything because I wanted to find out for myself why he had done such a thing."

She stopped, sighing for a moment after growing frustrated by just thinking about her situation. "He was in my room just before the meeting, pressing me for questions and actually having the nerve to tell me that he attacked me so he wouldn't have to kill me. Does that make any damn sense?"

Amy suddenly got to her feet, gripping the edge of the table as she leaned against it, her shoulders slumped forward with her head down. "I mean, what the hell..."

[PlatinumSkink]

Lataniva started to look exceedingly disinterested after Arex latest reply and then proceeded to just turn around and walk, deciding that she didn’t really need to know.

She was present at the different meetings. She had probably put an order for a few extra knives, and it’d be nice to have a few laser-knives or something she could throw at enemies with shields that could go through, because shields would block most of her other capabilities. She’d also attempt to get herself some high-quality gemstones for her equipment. Likely fail.

On the freetime she’s be found sleeping in different positions free beds across the ship, seemingly randomly picked, or she was exercising her muscles / polishing her gems and armor / sharpening her blades somewhere. She wouldn’t seek out contact with someone else unless she had an intention with it. Currently, she didn’t.

When it was requested that some help them unpack, Lataniva did find herself sufficiently free. Besides, having a psionic who could unpack with her mind could likely be of considerable use in plenty of situations down there. Otherwise, Lataniva would just be around as usual, not really intent on claiming any area for herself and being around.

[Gardevoiran]

"These will do, and yeah," responded Tibulus when Stryker supplied him with the deck of cards and when he asked about him taking the wheel for a bit. Honestly, the Funganoid just needed a break from the piloting, and although the next round of flying would be relatively easy, it wouldn't necessarily be the most interesting, and it would easily cause the pilot's attention to be directed to what he started doing. "Just tell me when we're leaving and I'll start us off, then you can take over as we're going," explained Tibulus as he began to build a house of cards, seemingly fixated on the base of the structure at first.

[Silver Carrot]

@Crossfire

Tal heard the PA announcement, and groaned. After standing around in a busy market street for an hour or two, all she wanted to do now was either keep sitting down or just go to her room and sleep, but she did want to introduce herself to the crew and get to know who she'd be spending the foreseeable future with. Plus, they were her crew now. She couldn't just leave them to do all the work. She was one of them now, and it was her duty to chip in. She stood up, stretched, yawned and then headed back down to the docking bay.

@PlatinumSkink

On the way there, Taleste saw her first crew member besides the captain so far, and they were a Dalentian. The thief had only ever known one other Dalentian in the multiracial ghetto she grew up in, and he had been a very intense, scary guy. Good fighter, though. Taleste was glad there was another member of this warrior race in her new crew, though they probably wouldn't be good friends or anything. Then again, the other guy might have just been a particularly sour, humourless Dalentian.

Taleste offered out her hand to the white-skinned woman, and spoke in her strange, crossbred dialect. Though her accent was thick, and very different from the rest of the humans on the crew, Lataniva might actually find it easier to understand due to the non-human roots of it. "Heyhoo, I'm the new crewmember. Mah name's Taleste. Yeur a Dalentian, arntcha?"

[PlatinumSkink]

@Silver Carrot

Lataniva paused briefly as she was met with the new crewmember. First impression was that she wasn’t spectacularly impressed with her, though yet again, she was difficult to impress. Given her circumstances, there was likely a good reason Taleste was here. Still. Lataniva spoke the first thought that hit her before properly responding.

‘They’re quick to replace the fallen, I see.’

Having said that, Lataniva extended her hand to grasp Taleste’s. Shaking hands wasn’t a Dalentian gesture, but she had learned of its purpose in her journey through the galaxy. Her eyes locked unshakingly at Taleste’s own, Lataniva’s black eyes and neutral expression showing no particular emotion.

‘Indeed. I am Lataniva, hunter-warrior of Dalentia. The surety in the statement makes me believe you’ve met my kind before. Then you already know what I am capable of. What areas of expertise can I entrust you to, Taleste?’

Lataniva asked, distracting herself from the ship by making small-talk. Lataniva honestly didn’t mind a friendly conversation once-in-a-while.

There had been a time not too long ago when she never could have friendly conversations, when there had been a pressure on her to always, ALWAYS be wary and threatening… but here that was no longer a requirement. Which was nice, and a silver lining to all that had happened to her. Yeah.

[Crossfire]

@Banana

"Yeah, we're cleared to go man. Back us on out of here and get the old girl moving"

Stryker rolled his chair back around to face the co-pilot's console, with a few deft flicks at the machine, Stryker had locked in their coordinates- the far edge of the Deadzone- and begun the pre-flight checks. Everything across the board was showing green, so he flashed Tibulus a thumbs-up.

"Fire her up, we're ready to go" Stryker said casually, before adding with a chuckle "And try not to scratch the paint up as we clear our berth here huh?"

@Xandrya

"What the fuck?" Grayson said "That don't make a lick of sense whichever way ya cut it.. I already planned on havin' words with him over going AWOL, but after this, it's gonna be a long conversation"

He walked over to her and laid a hand on her shoulder "Listen, you're clearly shaken up over this, and we should talk this over a little more, try and pick somethin' of it all. Gimme a minute, Gotta run and grab some gear for the armory from the supply drop, then we can head up there and chat, ok? Just a sec"

His notions of a snack forgotten, Grayson headed out of the kitchen and quickly marched across the common area and through the door into the docking bay, where a tidy stack of about 40 metal crates awaited him against the right-hand wall. He'd brought the push-cart he acquired on the station down with him, to make quick work of the task. He picked through the stack and located 5 that were labelled as Armory, he decided to take a quick peek inside them before loading up. A fine assortment of ammo, explosives, and the like filled most of the crates. Inside one, Grayson found a true treasure, a mobile weapons repair kit, something he'd been hopeful to acquire for a while (and hadn't thought of requisitioning). Lastly, one crate held a pair of Alliance-standard assault rifles, newer models than what the ship was equipped with.

"Well, some nice spare parts here anyway" he muttered to himself "Ok, time to go"
He hoisted the loot onto the cart and wheeled it on out, stopping alongside the kitchen door. He poked his head back inside and said to Amy.
"Ready?"

[Gardevoiran]

The house of cards quickly fell when Tibulus swiveled around in his seat to face the pilot's controls, and he began to back up in the station, trying his hardest not to scratch up any of the paint as he maneuvered his way out of the area. It was honestly a piece of cake, as he flew the Revenant with incredibly fluidity as the ship took off and made it's way to the next destination. The destination actually gave Tibulus a small sense of dread as he remembered the place where his past took place was quite close to where the ship was going, and because of it, Tibulus looked like he was praying very silently that his past wouldn't catch up to him yet. A lot of the people on the ship had done bad things, but Tibulus had done something that may have rivaled those things. After his small prayer, the Funganoid turned to face Stryker and spoke. "Take over for a bit? I kind of want to go and start a game of poker."

[Xandrya]

@Crossfire

"Yeah, of course," Amy replied, getting up from the chair before she pushed it in. She slowly walked over to where she was sure the kitchen door was located, then pulled it shut behind her once she was outside. "After you," she motioned to Grayson, but she overestimated the distance between them and bumped her shoulder on his arm.

"Sorry, didn't see you there," she joked, unable to hold back a smile. Amy was glad that she had someone on the ship whom she was able to talk to, otherwise, her life aboard the Revenant would be that much harder for her, especially with Arex running around making his unbelievable claims. "By the way, is my armor almost ready? I'm not rushing you or anything, it's just a lot easier for me to go around with the goggles on. I mean, it does prevent me from walking into you, so it's doing the both of us a favor, really."

[Crossfire]

@Xandrya

"Aye, it's comin' along" he said as they walked to, and then rode up, the elevator "Few components in the leg joints I couldn't fix up, so I picked up all new ones on Minos. Then it's just a matter of replacing the core power cells, patchin' up the holes, and re-wirin' it all together again. Few other little odds and ends. Should be able to get 'er well close to done while we chat actually"

"Ladies first" he said sincerely as they arrived at the Armory. He pushed the cart in off to the side, then rushed back to help Amy across the room to his chair. It was pretty messy, half unpacked rates with their contents strewn all about. He extended an arm out to her.
"Here let me help ya lass" he said "Don't want ya to trip up in the mess here and put ya out of commission"

[Silver Carrot]

@PlatinumSkink

Taleste was slightly relived at Lataniva's comment. It did mean that replacing the fallen on this ship, while common, wasn't so routine a course of action that it wasn't worth commenting on. There's a difference between dangerous missions and suicide missions after all. Taleste liked dangerous. She had the cunning to survive most situations, and honestly, got a thrill out of some good old danger once in a while.

"yeh, I met one of your kind before," she answered, "Ee was a big, serious whun. A lot less chatty than you, that's fur sure. As fur me, well, I'm a thief. I steal things, or just sneak aroun' and kill whuns if thers nothin to steal. Don't worry. I know what yer thinking and I won't. I never steal from crew. That'd be really stupid."

[PlatinumSkink]

@Silver Carrot

She was chatty? Lataniva had been told the opposite many times. Then again, mostly she had acted as someone’s agent of death, standing silent to the side. No need to speak. Had that changed, too? Or, perhaps it was just in comparison with the last Dalentian she had met.

‘We do tend to be of the serious sort. I am no exception.’

Lataniva commented, looking to Taleste. And then there was the mention of being a thief, yes. She could not deny that her first thought went to the various jewels on her armor which a thief could desire. She nodded to the assurance that Taleste would not do that.

‘I will trust your word on that.’

”I’d hate to have to kill you”, she almost said but prevented herself. Saying so could potentially create negative associations. While that’d helped her in the past, perhaps it was time to take a distance from such.

And, that was pretty much the end of Lataniva’s interest in this conversation. If Taleste or someone else spoke first, then Lataniva would be interrupted and remain in place. Otherwise…

‘Good luck, then, Taleste.’

Lataniva would say and then walk on her way. Because she felt done.

[Crossfire]

The following is a collab between @Xandrya and myself
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Amy held out her hand until she found Grayson's, then slowly walked forward towards him. "Well, I'm just glad it wasn't a complete loss. If that were the case, I would have had to get dropped off somewhere and honestly, I don't feel like being stranded in some shady part of space."

She instinctively tightened her grip on his hand when her foot hit something on the floor, making her heart skip a beat. "If your mess doesn't kill me first..."

"Oh, sorry, mind ya step now" Grayson did his best to guide her across the room without incident, after a few more close calls, they made it over to the bend in the L-shaped room and Grayson positioned Amy right in front of his desk's chair.

"There ya go, just take a seat there" he said as he stepped backwards and sat on a stool near the workbench.

"I noticed the acoustics in here get a little distorted, so for reference, I'll be sittin' 'bout 5 feet to yer left" He walked back across the room to locate the container of parts and dragged it over to the workbench. He picked up the tools and got back to work on Amy's armor.

"So, take it from the top, what happened with Arex? Exactly as you remember it?"

“Okay, well… I remember that I was making my way down the hall alone before he showed up. He was a bit hostile then, and wouldn’t go back where he came from like I suggested. He couldn’t have known what I was trying to do, but I guess he was simply suspicious. Regardless, I let him tag alone and when I turned my back to him, I felt the hit a few moments after that. It really did a number on me, obviously you can tell by the mess that used to be my armor. But then he also had the nerve to shoot me three times—a bullet to the back of each knee and one to just above my neck. He then warned me to ‘go back and don’t try to save him’, so I know something was up, but by then he was gone.”

Amy shrugged her shoulders, wishing she knew more about the situation. “And today in the room, after he forced his way through my door, he pushed me for answers on whether I had told anyone anything that had happened. His presence was threatening—I mean, at one point he was like an inch or two away from me. I was up against the wall, what could I have done?”

Amy didn’t mention the fact that Arex had handed her his gun; although she wasn’t sure why she had omitted that last bit of information

"Honestly, up against a fella like that, not much" Grayson said as he leaned in to observe the bullet hole in the neck of the armor "Don't take this the wrong way, but you're not the most intimidatin' physically, especially compared to a cyborg like he is"

Grayson tugged at a loose bit of plating and pried it open. The wiring that ran from the suit's main power source up to the energy transmitters was completely wrecked. The bullet had cracked right into a central conduit, causing an overload of power which completely fried several circuitboards and burnt out a few wires. Grayson began pulling it all out, mindful of the wiring layout so he'd know how to rewire it with the new parts.
"Did a real number on the electronics up here too, bastard knew what he was doin' when he took the shot, the question is, why?"

"Yeah, beats me," she sighed, leaning back on the chair to stretch her arms and legs. "We need to get him to talk to us. I mean, everyone already knows my dirty little secret, now we just need to find out his."

For some reason, Amy was feeling a bit antsy. But whatever little anxiety she suffered barely made itself known most of the time, except for now, ever since these recent events. She put both feet on the edge of the chair and hugged her legs, leaning her chin on her knees.

"What do you say we pay him a visit after you're done with some of your fixing?"

"I was thinkin' the same thing, try an' get the truth outta 'im"

Grayson was suddenly aware of an unsettling silence in the room, save for the clinks and clangs of his work. How long had it been since either of them said anything? He was so absorbed with getting the job done right that he hadn't paid attention to anything else. Perhaps it was just the fact that less than a day ago, hardly more than a few hours prior even, the two of them had been locked into a shouting match that resulted in Grayson nearly losing his real eye, and now here they were. Not to mention the awkward fact that a couple days ago, he didn't know this woman existed, and yet he felt so strongly about her that you'd swear he'd known her most of his life.

"So uh" he coughed to break the silence "You think the Alliance knew when they put ya aboard that your father was in charge of that station and maybe they sent Arex in to take care of him before you found out? Or something like that? Wait, fuck that a mo, I need a little clarification on this here: The visor runs independent of your armor, but she still runs off the suit's main power cells, just transmitted wirelessly right? I don't wanna lock all this in until I'm sure, cuz once it's in there, be a hell of a job gettin' it all back out without fryin' up the works"

"You know, that's a very likely possibility. I was—oh, um yes, it's a wireless device, so please treat the only set of eyes I have as of now with care. But anyway, I'm sure the Alliance have their hands on this one way or the other; those dirty bastards are never up to any good."

For a brief moment, Amy let her mind wonder. She started thinking about her mother, but just as quickly, she pushed those thoughts out of her head.

"Wow, I have no living relatives anymore."

Amy wasn't necessarily talking to Grayson, she was simply thinking out loud, but she soon realized her mistake. "I'm sorry, I'm not blaming you...it's just a thought that came to mind. Everything's still fresh for me."

"Completely understandable. You know if there was any way at all I could've spared him, I would have. I know what it's like to not have family, and I don't wish the feelin' onto anybody in this universe"

Grayson fell silent again, he'd said too much. The work overtook him once more as he finished welding the circuitry back in place and closed up that section of the armor. He went down through the list again, aside from patching up the bullet holes and the faulty leg pistons, it was pretty well operational again. Just one last thing...

"Looks like the backup power cell sprung a leak, probably got tagged by a stray round during the gunfight. Main power seems to be fine, but all the same, I'm gonna replace it, designate the old main as the new backup, just gonna take a minute to refit the energy circuits"

"Again, I really appreciate you doing this for me." Amy shifted in her seat once more, bringing her legs down before she playfully started to tap her feet on the floor. Instead of dwelling in the past, Amy decided it was better to push away the bad memories for now, for her and Grayson's sake.

"You have to remind me to buy you a drink if we make it out of here alive," she smiled, looking forward to such celebration.

"Ah, no worries, it is my job after all, but it's also the least I could do for ya. As for that offer, sounds like a deal to me lass" Grayson said, allowing himself to flash a quick smile at her. He jolted his head back when an errant wire let off a quick spark, punishment for his momentary loss of focus. After a couple of minutes, the new power cell was all hooked in, the backup was up and running, and everything seemed to be running green. Time for a test run. He picked up the visor and engaged it's wireless receiver.

"Hold out ya hands" he said as he stepped over and handed over the visor.

Amy did as she was told, feeling the visor being softly placed on her hands. She tried it on, adjusting as necessary after the work that had been done on it. Slowly but surely, she could make out Grayson's outline.

"Ah, there you are. Hello again."

Out of habit, Amy looked around before she decided she was satisfied with how it turned out. "You did a pretty good job," she said, taking off the visor as she only wore it about half of the time when she was simply lounging around.

Grayson responded to her 'hello' with a simple 'hey' of his own.

"Thank ya much lass, I pride myself on my work, so this right here, is a start. You leave 'er with me for another day, I'll have her singin' soprano. Doesn't seem like you're really gonna need the rest of the rig for a while from what the Cap'n said" He clapped his hands together "How 'bout a quick drink 'fore we head down to find the cyborg? An old associate of mine slipped a couple bottles in with the stuff I picked up on Minos"

He walked over to one of the half-unpacked crates and pulled at the spongy inner casing to reveal a hidden compartment where a handful of unmarked bottles lay on their side. He snatched up one, and carried it back to the desk, digging the cork out as he walked.

"Not exactly Captain Jack's best, but its the closest thing we'll get to a decent brew this far out"

"Yeah, we don't have much of a choice, do we?" Amy smiled, holding out her hand. She then took a shot from the bottle Grayson had just handed her before her eyes started to water as she downed the drink. Caught off guard, Amy went into a coughing fit, pushing the bottle against Grayson's chest.

"That—is strong!" She laughed a little, waiting to hear Grayson's reaction.

Grayson let out a deep belly-laugh as Amy choked her way through the shot. He grabbed the bottle and took a swig of his own.

"Yeah it's great innit?" He chuckled as he set the bottle down within her reach if she wanted another go. This was nice, Grayson decided, just sitting and talking with another person. SAL had been his only company for so long, and that bucket of bolts was severely lacking in the personality department. Maybe this job wouldn't be so bad after all.

"Yeah, if you're trying to get me drunk beyond reason maybe," she joked, but instantly regretted her words. "So, um, should we go get Arex now?" Amy asked, quickly changing the subject.

"Ah, plenty of time fer us to get wrecked outta our minds" Grayson replied in kind as he snuck in another shot "But yer right lass, we got some business to take care of, give us a second, I'll try an clean up a tad"

He retrieved one of his pistols from the desk drawer and tucked it in the waistband of his pants, just in case things got a little too hostile. Surveying the mess on the floor, Grayson did his best to clear a straight path through the piles of ammo boxes, supply crates, and the various other bits of gear laying about, still a few risks of Amy tripping up, so upon returning to her, he offered out a hand.

"Ready to go?"

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

@Banana

"Yeah, you go on, rest up for a bit, relax, whatever. I got this" Stryker replied. He waited until he was alone before getting down to business. First off, he stepped over to Tibulus' spot to send full control over to his console, then returned to his chair. The ship's autopilot was reliable enough, but someone had to stay at the helm at all times in case of the unexpected- pirate attack, meteor shower, asteroid in their trajectory, etc. Speaking of their trajectory, Stryker opened the nav computer and checked their destination against a star-chart. He punched in some commands for the AutoNav system to give some rough estimates of alternate routes and total journey times. As that calculated up, he turned his attention back to the data packet for their next mission. What he saw made his eyes go wide in disbelief.

"What the fuck have you gotten us into now Dawson?"

[Silver Carrot]

@PlatinumSkink

"Hay, I ain't asking you to trust a stranger. We're crew, though, and it's hard to explain, but thare's just something famlyish about a ship's crew. Think of my like yer adopted little sister from now on or somethin."

Taleste watched the Dalentian wish her luck and leave. That went pretty well. Then Taleste got to work unpacking. She was not the physically strongest member of the crew by any means, but she used her whole body to lift things that most mercenaries could and would lift with just their arms. After she finished her crate, she moved to the next one, which just happened to be the one Lataniva was unpacking.

"Hay, fancy meeting you here!" the thief chuckled.

[Gardevoiran]

Tibulus was about to take his leave and go start a game of poker when something suddenly happened to him. He felt something odd, something heavy, and he had to get it off his chest. Ok, maybe he didn't feel anything like that, but he did feel like it was time to tell Stryker a little bit about himself, and more importantly, figure out what the fuck Dawson had gotten the crew into. Tibulus walked over to his seat again, sitting down and beginning to build a house of cards, and got a good base going before he spoke up to Stryker. "... I'm gonna wait a bit first, and I figure you should know something about me. I don't know exactly why I want to tell you, but here we go..."

Tibulus continued to build his house of cards as he spoke. "Have you ever heard of the Lykor Incident?"

[Dark Light]

~FARRRR****~

It all started with an extremely loud, sudden and unapologetic curse. Arex had been tinkering away for quite some time before the violent yell exploded from his room. However it wasn't the only explosion that would be coming from his small little room.

There was a short moment of still silence. The lights flickered and dimmed as time itself slowed to an expectant pause of anticipation and fear.
Fully aware of the calm that came before the chaotic storm.

An instant later a deep thundering treble rolled violently through the entire ship causing an earth quake of vibrations and unstable shaking. The explosion was powerfully overwhelming, a deep deafening roar that rode on a fierce shockwave of displaced air that tore through every inch of the ship. It bellowed down every hallway with a deafening destructive concussive force.

Before it was over the shrill pitched screams of fire alarms blared to life along with the signature flashing coloured warning lights. Certain locations of the ship reacted with a shower of water while others feared a hull breach and began closing down locking in everything within air tight.

The smell of smoke filled the air and rubbish and debris covered the ground. The safer electrical supplies had shut off while others exploded in an arc of constantly zapping electricity.

Lights everywhere had faded if not having gone out completely, throwing the ship into a shadowy darkness. Emergency life support became available as small exit lights lit up the ground. An array of automatic alarms, warnings and updates blared over the PA repetitively, sometimes contradicting one another.

The artificial gravity wavered falling back to a simpler more energy efficient mode.

---

Arex stood in the hallway staring dumbfoundedly through the bent twisted metal of his once former doorway as water patted down over his body slowly soaking his clothes. Despite soot covering his face and most his body Arex was in surprisingly good condition considering. His hair was a bit frazzled and his eyes bore the bloodshot look he got when using his Sh'kwarr but despite that all was well considering his expected proximity to the blast.
(Obviously the burst eardrums were not visible beside the small trickle of blood that ran from them.)

Arex's room had not fared so well. If a room it could be recognised as. Flames cindered on inflammable objects. The soft red glow of searing metal lit the heavy clouds of smoke occasionally struck by the light blue flash of arcing electricity.
Every surface and wall was cracked and patching, just threatening to give way at any moment.

Arex was lost for thoughts or actions. He simply stood there.

[Crossfire]

@Banana@Azereiah@Tickout@Xandrya@PlatinumSkink@BKburke@Dark Light@Silver Carrot
(Since @Turbowraith, @mackielars & @Rultaos are MIA, I'll have to use my Secret GM Powers of making their characters temporary NPC's)

"The station that got turned into a nuke a few years back?" Stryker remembered all the headlines as if they were yesterday "Millions dead, a planet laid to waste, billions in Galactic Creds trying to repair everything? Yeah I'm familiar, why do you ask?"

Before Tibulus could answer, it happened.

An explosion rocked the ship, it's vibrations sending a shockwave that brought everyone and everything aboard crashing to the floor. Alarms blared and emergency lights flashed as Stryker came to his senses.
"What in the..." He jumped up and engaged comms all over the ship, shouting to be heard over the alarms "IS EVERYONE OK? REPORT IN! REN, IF YOU'RE HEARING THIS, TURN THE FUCKING ALARMS OFF AND ASSESS THE DAMAGE!"

He turned back to Tibulus "you alright man? We need to get the ship back online, come on!"
Stryker ran out of the cockpit just in time to witness SAL emerge from the stairwell carrying Matija. He rushed over to help.
"I found her unconscious in her quarters. My analysis indicates she hit her head, probable diagnosis: concussion"
"Ok, SAL, stay up here and help him out..... MAXI!" Stryker bellowed across the hall into the med bay, SAL carried her lithe form into the room and quickly returned.
"There is one other matter I must address Stryker.... I've found myself drawn to save the "life" as it were of the one remaining Attack Platform drone, call it cybernetic empathy if you must. And in following your orders to acquire an decrypt Federation data contained on the captured Hunter Droid, I found it most prudent to meld the AI of the two drones into a single entity, a lone solution to two problems. I believe this new entity will help greatly, if you would allow it"
"Guess they never programed urgency into you huh?" Stryker said dryly "Listen, right now, I don't care what it is, if it can help, do it"
"Very well" SAL responded as it stomped back into the med bay to help Maxi.

------

Grayson and Amy had been walking down the stairs to confront Arex when the blast knocked them over. Grayson was slow to push himself back to his feet. Didn't feel like anything was broken, but he ached all over.
"Amy, you alright lass?" he said. Stryker's voice echoed in his ear, SAL rushed by carrying someone, he couldn't really make out who in the dark. After a moment, everything came back into focus and Stryker walked by to drag both of them down to the crew deck. He was in full-commander mode.

"Looks like the blast came from that room there" Grayson observed, and he inched closer to investigate.
"Ren should be doing a damage assessment now" Stryker said "Benny, Joe. You guys, the androids, and the robot SAL manufactured are on repair duty. Lataniva, gonna need you here, just in case. Tibulus, you gotta get the ship's systems back online, take Taleste to help you out. Grayson, Amy, I want you guys on standby. Let's get to the bottom of this"

Grayson had wandered over and now saw Arex standing silently in the middle of his destroyed room.
"Are ya fuckin' daft mate? What the fuck?"

[Dark Light]

@Crossfire

It wasn't until enough smoke had filled his lungs and caused him to cough that Arex realised someone was beside him.
Regaining some sense he crouched below the smoke before speaking. Ignoring the flames in his room and the fire extinguisher near by.

Clearly in a state of shock with worry and disbelief painted on his face he answers in a stammer. More so speaking to himself then anyone else.
"It. It's not possible. Th, not that type. They. They can't have it. Not yet, not them, not that technology."

His eyes finally found Strykers, a genuine fear and concern hung in them.
"We're in over over our heads." he simply says matter-of-factly before turning back to stare aimlessly at the room.

[BKburke]

(I apologize for my absence.)

@Crossfire

The A.I. went over a diagnostic scan of its memories while SAL left it to its own company.

It would appear this units squad was fighting with a strategic disadvantage. It is a shame that capable platforms were greeted with such a fate. The A.I. pondered for several moments. Its attention was caught by SAL reconnecting with it. I'm not sure. A scan shows I fucntion properly. Yet I feel strange. My purpose, my directive. It breeds conflict. What would you suggest?

The A.I. went to speak again when an explosion interrupted it. It could tell SAL disconnected from it but it could not do anything. It was not connected to Anothing that could give it eyes and ears. Bring me a body, I am not 772, but I have his targeting parameters. You will be labeled as allies.