[IC] Distress Signal: Bandits Attacking a Mercenary Ship

[Pumpkinbot]

Silence.

The vacuum of space offered no groaning death cries or occasional shocks of faulty equipment around the derelict ship. Whatever ransacked it was fast. The hatch to the airlock atop the ship was crudely torn away, and could be found a ways up, whatever "up" counted for in space. The forced entry completely depressurized the entire ship, the vessel spewing out heaps of junk from the top. Large dents in the side of the ship suggested the use of physical projectiles over more sophisticated weaponry, likely due to it's ease of use over, say, plasma cannons. Anyone that could work a plasma cannon likely wouldn't need to turn to piracy.

It had been nearly a full day since the distress beacon went off, and, in this far-flung corner of the galaxy, it seemed nobody bothered to answer. A steady, shrill beeping continued to echo throughout the ship, still sending the signal. Scavengers, pirates, law enforcement, and the dangerously curious could show up at any minute, as the distress beacon begun to hit the more civilized planets further away. There could be a sudden influx of curious travellers, or none at all.

Down in the lower airlock, miraculously untouched by the scuffle and still pressurized, a frail looking woman with reptilian features sat, huddled in the corner, fearing whatever was next to come.

[superservo27]

Unbeknownst to her, a ship did acknowledge the signal. It was piloted by a man in light armor. The ship slowed down and drifted to the only functioning airlock. He sent a message asking for permission to dock, not that he would really need it, it's just courtesy in case someone is hiding there. There probably was, judging from the floating debris. There most likely was an extremely fast decompression and all the air was vented out, along with several unlucky souls. Worst comes to worst, he could put on the O² mask and boost to the hole. He stepped into his airlock, and awaited a response (or lack thereof).

[Pumpkinbot]

A low, steady tone suddenly rung out a few times amongst the blaring distress signal still playing within the airlock. The lizard-woman lifted her head up at the sound, then scrambled over to the window on the airlock door heading to the decompressed and terribly shredded innards of the ship. Most of the equipment was trashed, but a single screen embedded into the front of the ship somehow survived, albeit barely. Through the bleeding lines of colors and twitching frames, she could just barely make out a large "Permission to Dock?" across the top, as well as various specs on the ship in question flashing across the screen, not that she understood a lick of it. She scrambled over to the other window, staring off into space, and peered around for the ship in question.

[superservo27]

After waiting for a few minutes and receiving no reply, he sealed the airlock and opened the hatch, immediately going into zero gravity. He fired up his boosters and jetted over to the air lock. He saw a panicking lizard woman not unlike the invaders from his home. He retrieved his holoscroll and looked through the database stored inside. He punched in "lizard people" and cycled through the results until he found one that looked like her. A Xi'qe. He brought up a translator and typed in "Can you understand me?" along with a nodding head next to a check mark and a shaking one with an x.

[Pumpkinbot]

The Xi'qe squinted at the lettering, then nodded emphatically, before banging on the (heavily) reinforced glass window on the airlock, the universal sign for "get me the fuck out of here". After a few more seconds of banging, she stopped, then pointed toward the man tumbling about in space, then mimed a helmet of some kind over her head with her hands, then pointed at herself. While she may not speak English, whatever language she does speak seems close enough to it to make symbols and gestures mostly the same.

[superservo27]

He nodded and flew back to his ship. He boarded and went to the supply locker. He carried an extra mask just in case he lost the first one, but this is as good a use as just sitting. He checked the gauge on the tank and left. He jetted to the airlock and held up the kit. He then typed "Open the hatch. Put these on. I will catch you and bring you to ship." He held up the sign for the Xi'qe to see. He then held up one finger, let the objects float near the airlock, and went to the ship to bring it level with the airlock. When he left, he left the exit open as if to catch her in case he didn't.

[Pumpkinbot]

The lizard's wide set eyes flitted across the spaceman's face is disbelief for a moment. She pointed at the airlock door, the only thing separating her from a cold, lonely death in space, then simply shrugged her shoulders.

[superservo27]

He held up 3 fingers… 2… 1… then ripped open the hatch, and in one fluid motion, put on her mask, grabbed her and jetted to the ship as fast as he could. As soon as they were in, he slammed the "Close Door" button and the "Repressurize" button in quick succession. The airlock door opened and they stepped into the other room. He ripped off his mask and proclaimed, "Welcome to El Pezo Negro! Please enjoy your stay, and we will find a bed as soon as we can!"

[Pumpkinbot]

The lizard shook her heads as he counted to two. Then one. Oh, gods, what was he going t--

She found herself suddenly sucked out of the ship and given a helmet. She was saved from having her eyeballs sucked out of her head, but space is pretty fuckin' cold, and the rest of her was still completely unprotected. What's worse, her kind are cold-blooded. She begun even sticking her arms near the jet-stream and enduring the burns just try and stay a little warmer. Her scales will heal, but not freezing to death is pretty important. And that's not even considering what other effects the vacuum of space woud have on her.

Thankfully, she survived the trip, and tumbles onto the ground as the atmosphere returns. She heaves and pants on the ground, struggling to draw in breath, despite the oxygen mask over her head. After a few seconds, she violently tugs the helmet off and tosses it to the ground. In a strange, garbled language, she starts yelling. "{Why in the name of the Maker did you do that?! Aren't you some kind of space explorer? I could have died!}" Her voice seemed hoarse, but it sounded natural to her, as opposed to the effects of any kind of trauma. She still seems very out of breath, though.

[superservo27]

As he turned on the translator and understood what the lizard was saying, he explained himself. "Relax, you would have been fine. After I opened the hatch and if I hadn't caught you, you would have floated into the ship in about 10 seconds. A human can survive for 15 before they pass out. And if you really need it, there's the engine rooms which get super hot, probably about 130 maybe 140 Fahrenheit when we really get going. And no, I'm not an explorer, just a guy trying to get home. But I could have left you there and scavenged the ship, so some gratitude maybe?" This message wasn't perfect but it got across the general idea.

[Pumpkinbot]

The lizard blinked for a moment, surprised he could actually understand her. After a moment, she sighed and slouched her shoulders. "{...A-Alright. Thank you. I am Floats-In-The-Breeze. I was...taking a ride from a mercenary ship, when this other ship rushed in and wrecked the place, really quick. I doubt the pilot is still alive, but...it would be nice to check. To return the favor he did to me.}"

[superservo27]

"Of course. You want closure, that makes sense. Tell you what, I'll link a bodycam to a spare holoscroll I have, and you can watch it from the boiler room as you recover. After all, you're cold-blooded so you probably don't want to go back out there. If you want, you can give me directions so I can navigate better." He strapped the camera to his shoulder, linked to the scroll and handed it to her. "Oh! Before I go, tell me if you want any trinkets you see. I'll bring a bag to carry them in." He grabbed a bag, and stepped into his airlock. The atmosphere drained away and the door opened. He jetted to the site of the decompression and waited.

[Pumpkinbot]

Breeze sighed, slouching further. "{Well, I just think, if he's still out there...we should probably save him, right? If not, then--}" She paused briefly and winced, bringing a hand down to her stomach. "{Nngh...I-I need to rest, yeah. Get me one of those...whatever it was called. Hollow scroll. It's a pretty small boat, though.}" Boat? Strange choice of words. Could simply be a strange translation of a not fully understood language spoken only at the unfashionable back ends of this galaxy...

[superservo27]

"Alright, will do. Also, ship not boat. Ships carry boats, but boats do t carry ships." He started exploring the ship and taking whatever catches his fancy. "Seeing as how no one else can really object, I'll find you the fanciest, most expensive scroll I can find," he said as he floated to the Deluxe Megasuite and held up his scroll. Seeing as how the highest paying customers get this one, there was a multiPIN lock. He taped the scroll to the sensor and let it bruteforce the code. Thankfully, the program recorded when it got a right number and that made the progress considerably faster.

After he "reclaimed" the expensive tech, he found a map and headed to the bridge. As he went, he passed by the airlock he had ripped open. "Heh. 'Permission to Dock?' Accepted. Not that'll do anything, but whatever." He made his way to the bridge and hacked the door open which took considerably longer than it should have. "Aight, I'm in the bridge and- oh god I'm going to be sick." The captain hadn't died semi-peacefully after passing out. No, that'd be too easy. Instead, he had his throats ripped out, eyes gouged and stomach cut wide open with a knife still inside. And he probably spent his last bit of air futility screaming in pain in an empty vacuum. "Okay, I trained as an assassin and this is way too much. You give your target a quick, painless death by neck snap. This is… a prolonged, painful one and a disgrace to assassination."

[Pumpkinbot]

The lizard spoke into the clumsily held scroll. "{Egh...It wasn't an assassination, obviously. Seemed more like...brigands. Highwayman. And it's a boat in many ways, right? Morrin explained to me--uh, that's the...dead pilot--that these are like big, metal boats thst travel through the sky, rather than the sea.}" She took a deep breath, then, "{Do you...h-have any food I could, uh...have?}"

[superservo27]

"Ugh… check locker 8, code 3274," he responded as he left the bridge. "When I get out of here, I'm scanning this ship and selling the remains for scrap. We'll split the money 50/50. Where were you headed anyway?" he questioned as he floated toward his ship. The airlock sealed and he entered the main room. "And would they have been carrying anyway? They looked like they were going specifically for the captain, seeing as the expensive furniture was left untouched. Oh, you found the locker. What're you eating?"

[Pumpkinbot]

Breeze's end went silent shortly after he mentions food. Fifteen seconds later, a dull thud echoed through the speaker as the scroll bumped against the ceiling. The lizard had abandoned the communications device to go grab food, letting the scroll float around in zero-g. Thirty seconds later, Breeze returned, gnawing on a handful of freeze-dried jerky as if she hadn't had a decent meal in weeks. Judging from her scrawny frame, that may not be too far from the truth. "{Mmph...Meat. Xi'qe diets include...a lot of meat.}" She gulped, then continued. "{Or at least, they're supposed to. I...ah, h-haven't...um...}" There's a long, awkward pause. Eventually, Breeze managed to gather her voice again and squeaked out a simple "{Thanks...}"

[superservo27]

"Of course! Help yourself! I have nutrient blocks I can eat. Eat as much jerky as you want, you clearly need it more than I do. Now, where were you going, I might be able to take you there." He scooted over to the cockpit. "I thought I turned on the grav-plating. That's so weird." he said as he did just that. The engines' hums grew slightly louder as they produced more power to keep up with the new drain. Slowly, as to not make everything fall 7 feet onto metal very fast, the plates started up and created a small gravity well to draw everything to the floor. Eventually, Breeze was sitting on the floor with a bag of jerky and Nilam with a small slice of cake because he did a good thing. 'Twas a veritable feast. Life was good in that moment.

[Pumpkinbot]

Breeze flailed for a moment as the artificial gravity turned back on, but settled down once her butt was firmly planted on the ground. She looked back down to her jerky, then quickly gobbled the rest down before speaking. "{I, uh...didn't have anywhere in mind. I just...wanted off my world.}" She lowered her head meekly, almost ashamed.

[Pumpkinbot]

(Double-post, whoops.)