[IC] USS Audacia: Boldly Going Where We Really Shouldn't

[SuperTacticalDerp]

"Yeah, what of it bub?," Vas replied as he turned from the servers. "You going to send me a bill or sue me for mistreatment of broken shit?"

Union tech didn't register to Warock's like their own tech, and seemed to be much more fragile. Due to their hardened biology, Warocks have always made things to withstand them. No worth making something if it broke from simply grabbing it.

[hoppiholla391]

"Children," Maggie muttered, but didn't continue with the threat. Tensions were high, and honestly, she would like to see Mallory get what was coming to him. Half of her kind of hoped that Kal would stop them before they started throwing punches in the middle of the server room, though. She pulled out of the server block momentarily to nab her pad and respond to the messages.

bolts,
in server room now, trying to fix
tell kal yourself she's right here, im sure you're brave enough to tell her to her face, right?
btw replicator is fixed. eat pie to your heart's content. if i find the person who broke it in the first place im sending them to carson for an infectious disease
work faster
nuts

[Heat]

Doctor Cason sat quietly in a corner table in the cafeteria, a tasty green salad in front of him, his fork stuck into a piece of lettuce which he scooped into his mouth as his glasses covered eyes read the book in front of him, next to his meal. He didn't need the glasses, his vision was perfect but he always noticed that patients liked their doctors to be bespectacled, helped reinforce the smart doctor stereotype, which he didn't contend when it was about him.

He chewed the food in his mouth as he finished a page, turning to the next one, yes it was an actual book, not a datapad, he liked (very) old fashioned books more, felt more natural to him. He was dressed more casual than usual, no doctor's jacket, rolled up sleeves, a looser tie on a grey dress shirt, his eyes more tired than usual as well. Ever since the captain's disappearance he hadn't slept much.

The worst part of it was that the good doctor was pretty useless when it came to the disappearance. Until they found the captain's body then all old Roy could do was sit and wait, like all of the others on the ship. Just left with a mysterious video message. A part of him knew that would end being a bad thing though, mysteries were often not a fun topic. All he could do was keep the people in the medical department that he was in charge of calm.

If anyone actually managed to get hurt then one of his subordinates would have messaged him about it. But it seemed be a boring moment on the ship, just with an aura of confusion over the missing leader. If many more people disappeared then he would have ended up on top thanks to the chain of command, it wasn't something he liked, he was better off just being the medical chief, the crew was better off with it being that way too. So all the doctor did was continue his meal in silence.

[Experiment 249]

"You ripped them out like some kind of animal! They weren't all the way broken. Probably a few parts someone might want somewhere but your god damned rock hands can't gingerly unscrew a few bolts and fucking gently place them somewhere?" Jesus christ." He observed all the damage. They were dented, had wires sticking out of them and were still too hot to touch. "I thought you guys were supposed to be geniuses with tech and shit, not savages." He stood up and looked at the now somehow angrier Vas.

[hoppiholla391]

Privately, Maggie agreed with Mallory—but she wasn't about to support crew infighting. "Mallory, shut up," she snapped. "Stop antagonizing the guy with rocks for fists, will you? I'm pretty sure I'm the engineer here, not you. Stuff it." She held a hand out, raising her eyebrow. "Duct tape. Hand it over. I know you have some left." Duct tape was a valuable commodity on Audacia—and she'd run out of her last roll a while ago. Maybe a distraction in the form of bartering would keep Vas from beating Mallory's head against the wall.

[SuperTacticalDerp]

Vas grabbed Mallory by the shirt and pinned him against the wall, making sure to forcefully slam him. Steam could be seen seeping through every rocky pour on his face and neck, just as hot as the now irrelevant boards.

"Call me a savage one more time kid," Vas snarled right in the human's face. "I dare you too you little shit! Call me a savage one more time and I paint this entire place with your slimy guts."

[hoppiholla391]

"Jesus shitballsing Christ," Maggie muttered, taking a ginger step away from the steaming Warock. She glanced around, but Kal had already left, and she smacked a hand against her forehead. This was what she needed. One fight sprung up, and there were sure to be more to follow. "Hey," she snapped, trying to get their attention without actually getting in Rockland's way. "HEY." Eventually, she resorted to throwing a screwdriver at the back of his head.

"You are officers on a Union ship," she hissed, hands balled into fists on her hips. "You want to fucking act like it? I get that things are a little tense right now, but Jesus Christ, at least act like adults! I will pull rank, I swear to fucking God, I don't need actual crew in the brig—"

[Experiment 249]

The commander had a good point. Dude was made of rocks. He cleared his throat a bit. "Duct tape? How much you need? I got a biUUUUFH GAH" Malory was in the middle of a business proposition when he was slammed into a wall by a now steaming Vas. He was disoriented of course, but had been in a tighter spot before, never with anything like Vas' species but he's had guns pointed at him and bigger guys grappling him. "I... said.. You ripped them out like a fucking savage." he spit one last time, surprisingly not onto the warock but right past him onto the floor next to them. A bit of blood came out with it but nothing worth going to a doctor for. Still pinned to the wall, he looked at the commander. "AS... as I was SAYING! What've you got for me? I might have some for ya somewhere."

[baskets]

From the corner of her eye, Annalynn caught a reply from Maggie. She shook her head after she read it, unsure of what kind of reply she was actually expecting from her aptly nicknamed technical counterpart. She sent in return:

"Nuts (since you continuously passively insist you be called that),

I already sent her a message, but I can tell her again if you so insist. Be there soon.

And feel free to ask for help, sometimes. I'd hate to show up to the server room and see all its innards ripped out.

Bolts"

Annalynn rose from her desk, putting on the red leather jacket draped around her chair. She may have been the Science Head on a military ship, but Annalynn liked to look like the CEO of a corporation. It helped her self confidence, and the Captain had never exactly reprimanded her for never dressing in uniform, despite the urging of the Union brass. Annalynn made her way through the Science labs towards the server room. Passing the cafeteria on her way, she gave a small wave to the mild-mannered Dr. Cason - was that an actual book he was reading? The medical chief had always been a little eccentric...

It was no surprise to Annalynn to find the server room in the state it was: Maggie barking at Lieutenant Vas and Ensign Mallory, with - to Annalynn's great dismay - the innards of the servers ripped out.

"I seem to have showed up at an opportune moment, Commander Mason. Ensign Mallory, please give your ranking superior the duct tape. The science department has plenty to offer in return within reason."

[SuperTacticalDerp]

Vas dropped Mallory like a bag of sticks and rubbed the back of his head. Had he overly reacted? He was pretty sure that he was ready to beat that human's face into the wall to the point of the shattered remains of Mallory's skull would be perminately lodged into the metal. The alien huffed and puffed, calming himself down and no longer producing smoke.

"Sorry," Vas replied in a half-assed apology. "I'm used to fighting being like drinking hard booze in the morning. It's 0900 somewhere."

[Experiment 249]

Being dropped so suddenly wasn't the preferred way of landing for Ensign Malory. He was still ready to bargain for the tape but Bolts too, outranked him. "Ah, fuck why can't someone who, y'know, doesn't outrank me walk through those doors?" he stood up slowly and brushed off his permanently dirty work pants and shirt. He looked at Vas with the same expression Vas was giving him if he had flesh that could make expressions as easy as him. "I'll grab it, but the more you use the more you'll wish you didn't use as much. Shit is hard to come by in fucking space." He walked out the door, clutching his shoulder. His arm was basically dead at the moment, but hopefully not broken. He walked by the mess hall and saw the doc.

"Ay Cason. We're gonna have a little meeting in a bit." He shouted without slowing down. He wasn't bleeding on the outside at least. He went on through the corridor until he got to his room and grabbed the duct tape from one of the hundred secret compartments he was probably not allowed to have installed. He muttered to himself about how if the captain were here shit like this would never have happened. Cap would've solved all the issues by now and no fight would happen. His anger toward Vas was slowly being replaced by being mad at the captain for disappearing like she did.

[hoppiholla391]

"Christ," Maggie muttered again, pinching the bridge of her nose. "If the Captain were here this never would've happened." Captain Ray was just...she had a way about her. People, even the mostly shitty crew of the Audacia, wanted to follow her and make her proud. Maggie had no such talent.

"Vas, just—don't break anymore people, alright? Go eat...something. O'Neill—" Mason sighed again, and rubbed her forehead. She hated asking for help. "...come hold things for me."

[SuperTacticalDerp]

Vas shrugged and complied, just happy to get out of there and do something else. The walk to the cafeteria was short, giving him enough time to process how f**ked things were. He knew he had ultimately made an ass of himself, though it honestly didn't faze him. Maybe he should of taken those Human Interaction courses back on Chernohaz.

Inside the cafeteria things were relatively quiet. Dr. Cason sat by himself, a little rustled for some reason. Other then that very few people were around. He actually wondered where Kal had gone off too. For a human 'super-soldier' the girl definitely had spunk.

Vas found the replicator and ordered a bowl of Glower Soup, a simple homeworld concoction that most Warock families served as supper. It was relatively tasteless and high in rich vitamins, but Vas always took a liking to it. The soup glowed dimly from artificial ingredients instead of the organic Glower Slugs that many farmed out in the southern coasts. Vas found a seat off to himself and began to eat, happy to have a moments piece.

[baskets]

Annalynn smiled as Mallory left to grab the tape as requested. She managed to squeeze out a rapid, "Thank you, Ensign," before he left. Vas followed, as well, leaving her with Maggie.

She moved to assist the Engineering head, taking a look at the damage that had been unleashed on the server. "Looks like the lieutenant got in there. Now tell me, why didn't we follow procedure, shut down the servers temporarily, apply some coolant, and wait for temperatures to be within human tolerance before 'operating' on the server?" Annalynn asked with a sly grin. The question was rhetorical, the intent mainly to fire up Maggie. The doctor had no valid evidence to back it up, but she personally believed that Nuts worked better when she was heated.

Bolts knelt down next to the mess and extended her arms so she could hold whatever needed to be held. She let out a deep sigh, allowing herself a moment of calm so she could vent a little bit. "Shit is crazy without the Captain, Maggie. We need her back soon," Annalynn voiced her concerns, which she knew Maggie shared.

[hoppiholla391]

As usual, Annalynn was just as inflammatory as usual.

"Follow procedure?" Maggie repeated, eyebrows climbing. "Follow procedure? Procedure! Ha! I will take whoever wrote those procedures and show them an actual ship one day, I will show them that if you shut down the servers when your crew is going bananas, you get a mutiny within minutes, I swear to God, if you don't feed these degenerates their nightly supply of xeno-porn they go mad, and don't even get me started on the fit the admin staff will pitch—"

Her rambling stopped abruptly when Annalynn brought up the captain. She sighed, leaning her forehead against the server block for a moment. "I know," she said quietly. "But we've got no clue where she's gone, and if your science geeks can't find anything, we gotta just...keep going, or Union Command'll have our heads." Her eyes narrowed, and she once again banged her fist against the servers. "And to keep going, I need everyone on this ship to stop breaking my stuff."

[Experiment 249]

Christian finished his pouting and began walking back to the server room with the duct tape. His shoulder was definitely not right. Almost like a rock grabbed it and used it to slam him into a wall. He hurried passed the warock who was eating what looked like some ground up slugs in some water. He shuttered a bit just thinking about the taste. "Aliens..." he muttered under his breath. He got to the server room and saw the commander suddenly lose all her anger at whatever Annalynn had said. He leaned in and tossed the duct tape. "Hey, I miss her too. She's the first person to actually want me on a ship. This tape's on her." He leaned on the wall and his face went white. His shoulder must have been on the edge of dislocation because leaning on that door finished the job. "I uh... I'm gonna go see Cason..." He ducked his head and hurried to find the doctor once more.

[Heat]

Roy was about to say something but when he looked up Malory was already gone, like a ghost. He thought for a moment that the security officer hadn't even been there and that he was just going crazy from too many sleepless hours. Still he figured he should've investigated whatever was going on, so he quickly finished his salad, folded up his book and rose out of his seat, right as the alien crewman Vas walked into the mess hall, not saying a word to the doctor.

He quietly exited the room and briefly wandered the hallways before he turned towards the server room after hearing voices, including Malory's. Roy entered the room right in the midst of Malory muttering something about seeing him, his complexion a mess, he clearly looked to be in intense pain as well.

"What the hell happened to you? Did you walk into a wall or something?" He asked the man, one eyebrow raised in curiosity.

[SuperTacticalDerp]

Vas knew Mallory had passed by again and looked at him. He could read that loser's heart clearly even as he ate. It would be awkward having the ship's 'requisition' guy on his bad side, but he could of course care less. He didn't need anything specifically, and had no need to find something to buy from the scumbag.

Vas drank his soup quickly, unable to savor the taste of fake Glowy Slug. He relaxed a bit, lifting his boots on top of the table and layed his head back. He hadn't been able to really sleep since he shipped off to be with these human, but for some reason he just felt comfortable enough to doze for the moment. Someone would bother him soon. Someone always did. For now, he would just enjoy the moment.

[hoppiholla391]

Maggie's eyes lit up with unholy glee over the new roll of duct tape in her hands. Yeah, she knew the stuff was like crack, didn't mean it wasn't damned useful. ...and possibly responsible for about half of the lightning-fast repairs she'd made lately. Shut up, it wasn't like the Captain was around to make inspections.

"Yesssss," she hissed, petting it like an animal before she realized Annalynn was still there. Mason cleared her throat, straightening up and flapping a hand at the science chief. "Go look after your science babies or something, I can finish up here. And if Cap ever gets back, you might as well have plausible deniability, right?" Whistling cheerfully to herself, Maggie stuck her head back into the server block and got back to work.

[ulsterwarrior]

Malcom walked down the metal corridors of the U.S.S. Audacia, a complete and total mess. In his hands he held a Datapad that were currently projecting numerous different apps and tabs at once. There was an open file that showed the current star system the Audacia was in, along with a few that were nearby to it. It held a video of a Professor on Fulron-3 describing the customs and behaviors of the Luront species on the planent Luron. A writing app was open, too, as Malcom absentmindedly took notes with a stylus. On his face he wore a pair of Dataglasses, which was currently streaming the latest languages of the Yuelvieen system. Slung over his shoulder was an old messenger bag that was full of numerous star charts, both empty and filled, a physical copy of a drawing pad and a physical notebook. Malcom liked the old writing and drawing tools of Earth, before the days of its star exploring. All the while, Malcom took bites from an apple he had taken from the cafeteria, never once looking up from his various screens.
Despite Malcom's attention being in nearly ten different places at once, he caused no accidents as he made his way through the corridors with no true destination. Maybe it was because the other crewmembers had long since learnt to avoid him, or else risk crashing into him. Possibly it was because he sensed those around him and avoided him. It could have been because he had long since memorized the entire layout of the Audacia and the distance from anywhere to everywhere.
As Malcom walked, two voices suddenly sounded into Malcom's ears, even through the video he was listening to. Pausing his activities, Malcom walked into the Server Room, the source of the voices, where he found two women standing over a machine. He immediately recognized them as Commanders Maggie and Annalyn. Without thinking, Malcom greeted them.
"Hi Nuts. Hi Bolts." He greeted them cheerfully. "Huh, that's funny. Nuts and Bolts. Did you guys plan that purposefully. Because that's funny. Clever, too. You two could be a crime-fighting duo, partners. Nuts and Bolts. I like that."
Malcom took a bite of his apple, before absentmindedly scrolling through his Datapad.