Nomi Yanimura

-=Fate of the Valkyrie=- A Sci-Fi Adventure. (Accepting/Open)

The gently bubbling blue concoction of a drink was returned to the lips of the scruffy brunette, where a small sip of the liquor was taken. Holding the glass before his mouth, his hands covering his face from the bridge of his nose down, Ruce's sharp blue eyes looked upon each of the three card players sitting at the poker table, studying them carefully. A new hand was dealt, the button sitting at the Farmer's side and the human walrus and captain played their small and big blinds respectively. There didn't seem to be any tension or hostility at the table. No, it was just a game of poker between three strangers. No weapons were visible, no death glares were being sent around and the general relaxed atmosphere was present at the poker table much as it was across the rest of the pub. Bets were made, chips were slid into the middle of the table and the flop was revealed. A king of hearts, a three of spaces and a four of diamonds. The cards were in near pristine condition, which was a surprise for the Down and Out, so the ability to cheat was minimal. Did the deck belong to one of the players? Unlikely.

Ruce took another sip of his drink and continued to study the players, watching their faces as they looked at their cards and decided on their next moves. They all seemed average skill players, with perhaps the Captain having slightly more skill. Or perhaps the flash of his medal or maybe the stripes on his sleeve, or maybe even the looming hostilities overhead in orbit, gave him an advantage, psychologically? The Turn card was played, an eight of spades and bets were made. The humanoid walrus opted out when the Captain raised his bet, but the Farmer called and the River card turned over, a jack of diamonds. A near inaudible intake of breath between pursed lips came from the Captain, Ruce's ears picking the sound up. Was that deceit, or perhaps the River card had been unkind? The fact that both Captain and Farmer checked this turn made Ruce wonder if they had both been bluffing the entire time. Their hands were revealed and the Farmer took the pot, winning with a pair of kings compared to the Captain's attempt at a straight, four through eight, but since the seven never arrived, he ended up with a high card of eight.

”Ah, good job! You're not bad at this friend!”. The Captain said heartily as he tossed his cards down on the table, clapping his hands afterwards and raising his drink towards the Farmer. The Farmer rubbed the back of his head and smiled, giving the Captain a sort of half nod half bow, before gathering in the pot from the middle of the table and adding them to his pile. Between the three players, there looked to be an easy 60,000 credits to win. To the Captain that was probably a day's work, but to the Farmer that could be a brand new piece of equipment for his farm.
”You're not too shabby yourself, Captain.”. Came the young man's reply as the table settled and the players got ready to receive their new hands from the dealer. Before that happened though, the scruffy pilot stepped forth and approached the table, sitting down in an empty seat and placing his drink down, beaming a grin at the other players.
”So, 'ow much is the buy in?”, Ruce asked as he rubbed his hands together, interlocking his fingers and cracking his knuckles. He seemed to have all but forgotten about his mission to acquire teeth and blood for the azure-haired chick back at the bar.

The dealer cast a sideways glance to each of the other players, whom all seemed happy to let the pilot join their game. It was clear that none of them knew who the brunette was, perhaps bar the dealer, and that was all fine and dandy with Ruce.
”It's a 20,000 credit buy in, if you want to play.”, the dealer confirmed as he returned his attention to the scruffy pilot. Ruce nodded his head and pulled out the credit chip he stole earlier, checking the balance. There was enough, just about, so Ruce handed the chip over and the dealer took payment, followed by sliding the scruffy man his chips. Benner looked far too excited and he glanced over his shoulder to see if he could spot the young lady at the bar, but the bodies around the table, mostly that of Sky watching over him, blocked his view. Twisting back around to view the table, Ruce grinned and picked up his drink, raising it to each of the other players in turn. The Farmer and the humanoid walrus gave puzzled looks, but the Captain just smiled and nodded his head.
”May tha' best man win, gents!”

-=Fate of the Valkyrie=- A Sci-Fi Adventure. (Accepting/Open)

The banter within the Down and Out had already started to shift away from the planetary lockdown announcement and went back to more mundane topics, all blurring into one noise as it had when more patrons started to arrive at this establishment. It wasn't loud enough though that you were unable to hear your own thoughts or even the conversation of the person next to you. No, it was actually a pleasant volume and the mixture of laughter and cheers results in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere. Few places in the galaxy were able to achieve such a state so easily. There was a lot of turmoil out there, a lot of conflict. It was nice, really nice at times to be able to come to a place like this and just forget about it all. Even with the planetary lockdown looming overhead, the people within the place seemed to have already forgotten about it and went back to enjoying themselves. After all, what else could they do now? Attempting to leave the planet at this point would more then likely lead to your death.

Ruce thought his conversation with the azure-haired woman went off to a flying start! She actually looked at him and replied to him. It's not very often he got THAT far. Usually all he got was a roll of the eyes, a displeased 'urgh' and then being walked away from. No, this woman, she went one step further and she spoke! Her terms were an interesting lot though. What did she need a fistful of teeth and a litre of blood for? Sounded like she was into some really weird shit. Or maybe it was really interesting? The scruffy, unshaven man patted the outside of his jacket down as if he were searching for any spare teeth he head. After a frown, he stuck his left hand into his own mouth, pinched one of his teeth and tested pulling it out, but failed. His teeth were set fast into his gums. A sideways glance was sent towards Sky at the thought of socking him across the face, but Sky would probably not feel a thing and stamp Ruce's ass into the floor if he tried. The brunette looked back towards the azure-haired woman when Mani brought her a fresh drink. She'd completed ignored the odd blue concoction offered to her. She probably thought it was drugged or something.

The comment about swords not being her thing caused a grin to spread across the pilot's face as he glanced up at the blonde beside him and chuckled.
”Ah, bad luck big guy!”, Ruce sneered as patted his old friend on the chestpiece before he reached for the drink he had offered Tes and returned it to it's rightful owner, raising the glass up off the bar for Sky to take. ”Don't worry, yer'll find someone who'll wanna swing tha' sword of yers one day!”, he beamed a bright grin at the mercenary. Snatching his drink from the bar, the scruffy man took a hearty swig before pushing himself up to his feet. Glancing over his shoulder towards the azure-haired woman, Ruce grinned at her.
”Don't ya be goin' anywhere! I'll find ya some teeth an' blood fer whatever crazy ritual yer 'ave planned before the night is through!”, the brunette pilot said as he reached for the brim of a hat he clearly wasn't wearing and 'tipped his hat up' before swivelling about on his heels and squeezing between Sky and another patron looking to reach the bar.

However, after only travelling roughly four feet in his quest for 'teeth and blood', the shout of an enthusiastic-sounding 'Another round!', reached the pilot's ears through the blurred mass of sounds coming from every spot of the pub. Swiftly changing direction, Ruce made his way towards the owner of the voice and soon came across one of the handful of gambling tables set up in the Down and Out. Poker seemed to be the game of choice and there were currently three people playing. One was your average looking Joe, short fair hair, farmer's attire, an average pile of chips before him. Second was a stocky alien, muscular over body fat with a bald head, grey skin and a thick, bristle-like moustache, essentially a walking humanoid walrus complete with tusks. The cards looked tiny held in it's thick fingers. This one's chip pile was about the same as the farmers. Finally there was another human player, doing much better then the other two, as his chip pile was greater then the others combined. The unmistakable flash of military medals pinned to the breast of his jacket flickered and glimmered even in the dull light of this place. Ruce hovered around the edge of the table, cupping his right hand about his chin as his eyes darted across the table, taking in every movement, every gesture, every action. The cogs in his mind had started to turn.

-=Fate of the Valkyrie=- A Sci-Fi Adventure. (Accepting/Open)

The continued presence of the armoured swordsman gave the scruffy drunk enough of a reason to have a better attempt at figuring out just exactly who was standing before him and blocking his view. There had been no demand for money or threat of broken legs. This guy obviously wasn't here for 'business' then. Lifting the bubbling blue drink to his lips, Ruce took a swig of the alien alcohol, twisting his body slightly as he could more easily place the near-empty glass onto the bartop. Glancing back at whom stood before him, the scruffy brown-haired man carefully got to his feet this time and stood looking eye to eye at the man before him. Squinting slightly, the pilot finally seemed to recognize who was standing there. The deadpan look and sideways glance out the corner of the eye probably told Sky all he needed to know, but Ruce was mystery wrapped in an enigma at the best of times, so that facial gesture could have meant anything at all. Nothing was said or done while Sky reached for his wallet and pulled out a credit chip, other then Ruce's sharp blue eyes watching every movement, taking in every detail.

”How kind o' ya. I'll take another one o' those blue drink things too while yer at it!”, Ruce said with a firm slap on the mercenary's shoulder. He glanced over his shoulder and stuck the thumb and index finger of his right hand into his mouth, letting out a sharp whistle to catch Mani's attention, which momentarily silenced the bar before banter rose back to it's normal levels. The bald barkeep was busy with other customers and one of his assistants appeared from the back store room to aid in serving the growing number of customers. A desperate flail of the hand succeeded in catching the assistant's attention and forcing Ruce to the front of the queue.
”Two o' those blue bubbly tube things.”, the scruffy man asked, picking up Sky's credit chip and handing it over to the assistant. Purchase was taken and the drinks delivered with no complications and even less communication from the assistant. This one had always been a bit odd, with their pale skin and jet black hair. Holding both glasses in one hand and Sky's credit chip in the other, Ruce turned about and offered the mercenary his own card back.

No sooner had Sky warned the pilot not to bother with the blue-haired woman, did she herself arrive at the bar beside them both. No sooner had Ruce stood up to squeeze past Sky to search for the blue-haired woman, did he immediately sit back down and slide Sky's drink towards the female stranger instead. Putting on his best seductive grin, he leaned towards her a fraction.
”... So, are ya free tonight, or is it gonna cost me?”, his deep, raspy voice asked with high anticipation. He spared a second to glance at Sky, winking and holding his right hand in an 'Okay!' gesture. Upon peering back at the azure-haired woman, Ruce caught sight of her glancing at Sky's sword. The scruffy pilot grinned and tilted his head to the left, letting out a small chuckle. ”Heh, if his sword impresses ya, wait till yer see my 'weapon'!”. The pilot's attention was, amazingly, broken from the blue-haired woman when the holo screens dotted about the bar finally caught up with Tes' IMP, now displaying the full planetary lockout announcement. This brought about a lot of mixed emotions within the bar, mostly negative ones from the groans and complaints that arose throughout the room.

Ruce tutted and turned his eyes back onto the woman sitting beside him at the bar. He shrugged his shoulders and tilted his head to the right this time, taking in all her features.
”Tha's a shame. Yer look a space girl. Reckon you'd 'ave enjoyed a ride on my ship!”

-=Fate of the Valkyrie=- A Sci-Fi Adventure. (Accepting/Open)

The Down and Out was starting to fill up rather nicely, an assortment of all shapes and sizes coming through the doors of the pub and it wasn't all low life poor vagabonds either. No there were some people of noticeable looking reputation coming in. Weren't exactly the billionaire type, but certainly they had found their calling in life, per-say. Made you wonder why they'd pick a place like this over the more fancier places down the main streets of Aule Trade Hub. Could be the fact that there was little to no security here. Sure everyone drinking here was probably packing a blaster of some sort and Mani most certainly had a weapon of some variety stashed under the bartop, but there were no security scanners, no bodyguards and no ID checkpoints. No, here at the Down and Out, you could walk inside, ask for a drink and get one. Sure, you needed to be old enough, but that was about it really.

As Mani, the bald barkeep, went off to serve other customers who had arrived, Ruce placed both hands onto the bartop and leaned forth over the bar to quickly snatch a pack of potato chips from a box full of them under it. Sitting back down and swiftly rotating 180 degrees on his stool with an oil-lacking squeak, the scruffy man opened the bag and started to munch down on them, giving the person sitting next to him a wide, potato chip filled grin when they had clearly seen what he had done. This resulted in a roll of the eyes and a 'tsk' being muttered. Looking back ahead of himself and stuffing another fistful of chips down his throat, Ruce blinked when his view of the bar was blocked by rather sturdy looking piece of chest armour. The accompanying voice to the armour made the brunette grumble and slouch his shoulders. He glanced up to their face but couldn't see anything below the eyes from this angle. Squeaking his stool around slightly so he could reach for his drink, Ruce took a swig followed by another handful of chips.
”Look, I'm tired an' hungry, so at least lemme finish me chips before we fight, okay?”, Ruce said, taking a tiny sip of his drink now followed by eating his chips one by one, closing his eyes and holding his nose up, pretending to be a noble.

The second comment from the armoured individual caused Benner to open one eye as a confused expression spread across his face. I recognize that voice..., he thought to himself. Opening both eyes and looking down to the hand of the man blocking his view, Ruce glanced at the sword he gripped before looking back up at the individuals face. There was only one person the scruffy man knew who used a melee weapon over a blaster or any other type of firearm in this day and age. What the heck was Sky doing here of all places? Had his luck finally run out as well? Raising up his hand that wasn't holding onto his bag of chips and pointing a finger towards the ceiling, the scruffy brunette went to speak when a voice from across the bar caught his attention. He glanced over his shoulder to spy an azure-haired woman sitting a few stools away, engaging in conversation with Mani. She looked pissed. The barkeep seemed to know her, which was interesting. Actually, it wasn't. Mani seemed to know pretty much everyone that lived in Aule Trade Hub. When the pair finished their conversation, Ruce frowned as he lost sight of the azure-haired woman in the sea of bodies that was still arriving.

Benner squeaked his stool around back towards the bar where he finished his chips and crumpled the bag up into a ball, tossing it onto the bartop. Getting Mani's attention with a wild arm wave and a couple shouts of 'Oi baldy!', the barkeep approached and frowned at the name caller.
”I've got customers Benner, what do you want?”, he asked, sounding a trifle displeased at the 'baldy' name. Ruce beamed a grin at the barkeep and raised his right hand, flicking a thumb over his shoulder in the rough direction the azure-haired woman went.
”Whose tha' blue-'aired chick?”, Benner asked with a quick glance over his shoulder to try and spot her again, but failed to do so.
”Just someone else down on their luck. Go find out for yourself, I'm not at liberty to say.”
”Not at liberty to say? Yeah right, yer tha' most dishonourable one in 'ere with tha' face.”
”When'd you buy those potato chips?”, Mani asked with a frustrated huff.
Ruce blinked, paused for a second, then snatched the empty chip back from the bartop, squeaked his stool around and tucked the bag into the folds of Sky's armour, before squeaking back and smiling innocently at the bald barkeep. ”Wha' chips?”, he asked with a wide-eyed smile. Mani frowned hard and shook his head, going back to his other customers. Benner took his drink and span about in his stool, standing up and crashing into Sky who was still standing there. Flopping back down onto his seat, Ruce grumbled and looked back up at the mercenary. ”I'm workin' on it! Go tell yer boss he'll 'ave his money by tha' end o' tha' week, alright?”

-=Fate of the Valkyrie=- A Sci-Fi Adventure. (Accepting/Open)

Flicking the credit chip up into the air using his thumb, the scruffy looking man snatched it out the air with a swipe of his hand. Upon doing so, a soft beep came from the small datapad tucked into one of the pockets of his heavy looking brown leather jacket, not too much different from old antique bomber jackets pilots apparently wore several hundred years ago. Whether this was a knock off or a genuine antique, was hard to tell, but seeing as the brown-haired man wore it out in the open and that the jacket had it's fair share of wear and tear, it was most likely a cheap knock-off. Pulling the datapad from his pocket, the sleep deprived yet sharp green eyes of the 'drunk' glanced over the Breaking News article that was flashing across the screen. One brow raised as the other furrowed. Seemed the conflict between the overhead Corporations was getting more heated and that the threat of a planetary lockdown was imminent. ”... Lockdown huh? Tha's not good. Gonna need ta find a way off this rock.”, murmured the average height male, one of his gloved fingers scratching at the week-old stubble covering his chin. ”... Still got time fer a drink though.”

Returning his datapad to his pocket, the young man continued on his way down the street he walked, squeezing between civilians who had stopped to watch and read the news articles that were now popping up on overhead displays attached to the side of buildings and hovering remotely across highways. A lot of mixed feelings were being shared vocally, but the increasing numbers of bodies were starting to drown out anything intelligible and it all started to sound like one mass of sound. As tempting as it was to try and swipe an extra couple credit chips, there were simply too many people here and the risk of getting caught was too great. No, the scruffy-looking man had to settle with what he had already got and was more then happy to keeping heading for the nearest bar. There were a lot of flashy main street bars and casinos, with fancy drinks and legit high-stake gambling opportunities, but those were hard to cheat and the posh, expensive drinks tasted like crap anyway. No, after a few more minutes of walking down the main street, the brown jacket wearing individual slipped down a side alley were places more suited to his tastes could be found, one in particular, the ever reliable Down and Out Inn. Heavy drinks, dodgy gambling, the occasional barfight. Perfect.

Proudly shoving his way inside, the scruffy man turned a few heads, whom promptly looked back at their drinks and meals with a collective groan when seeing who had walked in. Striding to the bar and sitting himself down, the scruffy man slapped his hands onto the bartop to get the barkeeps attention. A bald-headed man turned about, eyepatch covering his left eye with a meaty scar running underneath it. His left ear was missing and some of his teeth were on constant show from part of his upper lip missing too. ”Barkeep! In or out, does tha' Down an' Out 'ave an outhouse up or down or in or down or out and up?”, the raspy-voiced man asked. ”Fuck off Ruce. What're you drinkin'?”, came the reply from the barkeep. Ruce frowned sadly at the returned, unimpressed glare, which was answered by the scruffy man with a shrug of his shoulders. ”Tha' usual will do. Also these secret codes won't work if yer never give tha' correct reply.”

”I don't even know what the heck that means. Just shut up before you get yourself into trouble. I've had enough of your shit starting fights here. You're lucky you're not barred.”, the bald-headed man said with authority, turning his back on Ruce to pull a vial of bright, bubbling blue liquid from a fridge on the back wall of the bar. Snapping the cap off and pouring the drink into a glass, the barkeep slid the drink over. Ruce flashed 'his' credit chip and the bald-headed man took payment, which much to the surprise on Ruce's face, went through clean. The barkeep caught on and frowned hard to the scruffy man, whom just grinned in reply, snatched his drink and downed a sizable amount of the blue liquor. Ruce gasped at the taste followed be a second slap of the hand upon the bartop. ”DAMN tha' hits tha' spot!!”, Ruce exclaimed with much joy to his tone. ”Benner... y'know that crap will make humans go blind eventually?”, the bald-headed chimed on, which was brushed away with a dismissive wave of Ruce's hand.

-=Fate of the Valkyrie=- A Sci-Fi Adventure. (Accepting/Open)

IN PROGRESS

Work still in progress but the RP has begun. I will be updating this post and others in this section with lore, a glossary of terms for reference and any other information that may be useful/interesting/cool etc, as we go along.

Not going to list any rules or regulations. I trust you're all capable RPers and know the general rules of roleplaying.
There's not a post length limit, don't feel like you have to match other people's posts, but do try to refrain from posting one-liners if able.
If you want to make a character sheet, go ahead. They're not required, but feel free to make one if you like.

Planets

Gamma Capuli 5 - An earth-like covered in farmlands and oceans. Can easily support human life as well as that of several alien species. It's a major source of food production and apparently is incredibly rich in precious minerals and resources. Currently owned by no Corporation, though both Sakamoto Industries and Omniwide Food Inc have their eyes on this place.
Population roughly 20 million.

Locations

Aule Trade Hub - One of several large cities that dot the planet of Gamma Capuli 5. Aule is surrounded by oceans with several high-rising towers where star ships of most shapes and sizes are able to dock to unload supplies and take on cargo to transport elsewhere. It's clean and generally safe, though the turmoil in orbit between Sakamoto Industries and Omniwide Food Inc. have got many people nervous and slightly on edge.

Corporations

Sakamoto Industries - A gigantic mining corporation intent on finding the most rare and precious of minerals to sell to the bigger and more military focused Corporations for use in building bigger, faster and deadlier star ships. They're also been tied to supporting the production of advanced experimental weaponry and aren't afraid to get violent if things don't go their way.

Omniwide Food Inc. - A small but well respected corporation who deal in transporting food, medicine and general supplies to war-torn systems or to planets suffering disease outbreaks.

-=Fate of the Valkyrie=- A Sci-Fi Adventure. (Accepting/Open)

Gamma Capuli 5, a planet straddling the borders of space controlled by Sakamoto Industries; A gigantic mining corporation intent on finding the most rare and precious of minerals to sell to the bigger and more military focused Corporations for use in building bigger, faster and deadlier star ships, and Omniwide Food Inc.; a far smaller corporation who deal in transporting food, medicine and general supplies to war-torn systems or to planets suffering disease outbreaks. Gamma Capuli 5 was a thriving farming planet, responsible for producing great quantities of food which it traded across the galaxy to make income. There were several rumours going around regarding this planet, hinting at vast reserves of platinum, titanium and other valuable ores under the planets surface. Both Sakamoto Industries and the Omniwide Food Inc. were obviously very interested in thisplanet and quite the different reasons, and as such, neither were standing down from claiming this planet for their own. Countless amounts of credits had been spent on hiring soldiers and purchasing star ships to try and drive the other corporation away. This had been going on for a good few weeks now and there was talk of the Galactic Superpowers getting involved to sort this mess out. Sooner or later, someone was going to have to back down.


Down on the planet's surface in the Aule Trade Hub, one of the main off-world transportation sites, a scruffy looking man was wobbling his way down one of the streets. He seemed to be drunk, with how often his hands were waving to keep balance and with the snaking and staggering back and forth. Any second it looked like his feet were going to stop working and he'd trip up and face plant the floor, but surprisingly, he continued to keep his footing and continued, albeit slowly, his way down the street. It was early evening, so the streets were slightly busier then normal due to everyone finishing their shifts for the day and heading home. A gorgeous orange glow was lighting up the west faces of the tall starport towers where countless vessels of all shapes and sizes were docking and taking off, bringing in and taking out food and rations and supplies. The sound of the ocean surrounding the trade hub could be heard mixed with the engines of the ships that flew overhead, most of them small personal craft of the farmers that worked the endless expanse of farmlands that covered the majority of the planet's surface.

Pausing his staggering about, the scruffy looking brown-haired drunk glanced skywards and smiled brightly at the orange glow and the sight of the ships flying about. ”... One day... Errma get me a boat... flying boat... BIG ONE!”, the man slurred, his voice rough and deep, spreading his arms as if he was showing off how big a fish he had caught. A couple of by-standers chuckled and shook their heads at the sight of the poor man. He must have looked pretty down on his luck to those two. It happened to everyone. Some people made it out here as farmers and others didn't. What's to say he hadn't got stranded here by other means? The space surrounding this planet was more often then not a huge conflict zone between the Sakamoto and Omniwide Food corporations. Lowering his arms down and glancing at the couple by-standers, the drunk huffed I disappointment before wobbling violent and staggering into the pair of them. ”Whoa, careful!”, one of them spoke up in surprise. ”Watch where you're going!”, the other rose his voice, seemingly agitated and tired from a long day at work.

The drunk eventually regained his footing with aid from the two nearby men and after bowing down and rubbing the back of his head, the drunk gave his apologies. ”... Terribly sorry...”, he slurred before wobbling off on his way, leaving the by-standers looking down at their attire and brushing themselves down with huffs of disapproval. As the drunk swung around a corner, his erratic and staggering footsteps soon righted themselves and the 'drunk' ended up walking normally, a smug grin on his face as he raised his right hand and opened his palm, a credit chip belonging to one of the by-standers sitting there. ”... Too easy. Time for a drink!”, he said aloud, proud of himself as he made his way towards the nearest bar.

Valkyrie ~ Science Fiction Adventure ~ (Accepting Applications)

The Captain of the Valkyrie was pretty proud of his handy work, getting those new armoured plates fitted onto the old craft relatively quickly. The colours weren't off too much, nothing you'd notice at first glance anyway. Yeah, it wouldn't hurt to dig out the spray cans and get the old girl looking smart again. Mind you, the rest of the ship wasn't in 100% condition. She was certainly both flight and space worthy now, but who knew who many hits the older pieces of hull would be able to take? A pity the Captain wasn't rich enough to replace all of the armour of the Valkyrie. That would make him feel a heck of a lot safer when taking the old girl back out into orbit. Well, that was why he brought the autocannons. Tes was going to have a fit, he knew this, but Ruce had his reasons and he'd be more then happy to spell them all out for the blue-haired engineer at a later date. For the time being, he had said weapons to install and said engineer barking in his ear once more. The scruffy pilot just rolled his eyes and tugged his communicator out of his pant pocket, bringing it up to his face.

"I ain't got shit-faced yer unauthentic pea-brain! I 'ad one drink, bought some replacement parts fer the old girl, then came back. Yer think armoured hull gets delivered instantly?"
Benner snorted and glanced over his shoulder to see what Sky was up to, observing the mercenary in silence for a couple of moments, listening to the silence coming back from his communicator mixed with the rushing of traffic and bustle of life coming from outside the landing bay. Then came the message from Tes about going silent and the Captain just raised an eyebrow at her words. She must have found another one of her old toys or something and wanted to test it out. Whatever, that was cool. Or perhaps she was doing as she was told and was trying to get a better reading on whatever that signal was she had picked up earlier. Either way, Ruce rolled his right shoulder as he stomped over to his weapon crates and prized one of the lids off using his dagger as a makeshift crowbar.
"Holy smokes these guns are big!"
The scruffy pilot ran a gloved hand through his hair and scratched his scalp lightly as he pondered how on earth he was going to lift this up onto the weapon hard points located either side of the cockpit canopy. After cracking open the lid of the ammunition box, Ruce reached inside and pulled out one of the 400mm rounds the autocannons would fire. This thing was ridiculously heavy and he turned to show Sky. The bullet was over a foot wide and easily stood about three feet high from the ground.

"Yo Sky, 'ow many of these yer think the Royale could take?"
He asked with a cocky tone and a smirk spread across his scruffy face, in return to the mercenary's jibe about that new piece of hull being the only thing left once the Valkyrie gets disintegrated. Knowing Tes would be wanting to get her ass back into orbit sooner rather then later, Ruce hopped across the landing pad and get himself suited up into a maintenance MEC suit, using it to pick up and install the autocannons onto the weapon hard points. It didn't take too long, Ruce clearly knew his way about his own ship and where and how to put and connect everything. Within minutes, both the weapons were installed and the were armed with the round provided. After returned the MEC back to his recharge station, Benner stomped back over to the underneath of the Valkyrie and up to Sky, staring at him for a couple of seconds.
"A Galvantian mercenary workin' for a Grannok businessman in the Zantu Expanse? Tha' seems an awfully odd combination, don't yer think? I've not seen anythin' happenin' or comin' from the turbolift durin' my occasional glance over there. Seems pretty quite. Wha' do yer think?"
Sky was the merc after all and the most battle experienced one here. He may have seen things that Ruce and Tes may have missed.

Valkyrie ~ Science Fiction Adventure ~ (Accepting Applications)

The Captain of the Valkyrie didn't really care how odd he looked by embracing the landing gear of his ship. He loved this spacecraft as any parent would love their newborn child. This to Ruce was his child, one that both Tes and himself looked after. That was an odd image, picturing him and Tes as parents of an actual child. The scruffy pilot smirked to himself and scoffed at the thought. First, she wasn't his type and Ruce knew more about that blue-haired girl then perhaps everyone else in the galaxy, namely that cocky egotistical pilots weren't a thing she looked for. As Benner pulled his arms free of the spacecraft, he felt the worn metal of the landing gear through the leather of his gloves and he sighed as he looked back up at the hull breach. It was a gaping open wound, but the replacement parts should be arriving pretty soon and then he'd get the old girl fixed up good as new. This was more his side of the maintenance of the Valkyrie. Tes enjoyed and excelled at the engineering side of things, such as wiring, electronics, computers and all that.

Glancing over his shoulder at his mercenary friend, the pilot just grinned at the blonde and then shrugged his shoulders.
"Shaddap! Yer act like this when yer with Alexia I bet. Just so 'appens tha' the Valkyrie is my sweetheart. She won't ever let me down, won't cheat on me an' I know her inside an' out. We're a perfect pair!"
Ruce claimed, where upon an alarm started to ring out from the far side of the docking bay, yellow warning lights flashing as a large bay door in the wall to the Valkyrie's left started to open from the ground, revealing a transport craft with the goods Ruce had ordered. The craft gently flew up beside the Valkyrie and touched down, where a handful of droids scuttled from the craft and unloaded the cargo, before scrambling back inside and taking off again. A couple large sheets of armored hull and three large wooden crates, two with the autocannons in and the third with ammunition. Benner's eyes widened in delight as he hopped on the spot of couple of times in excitement. However, Tes calling him on his communicator ended the excitement, causing the young man to frown as he angrily pulled communicator from his pants and held it up before him, listening to her message.
"Oh hey Tes, still stuck on the ship? Go get some R&R woman! Anyway, the replacement hull has arrived, so I gotta fix tha' before we can take the Valkyrie out anywhere to investigate this 'thing I should really see'. Do some long range scans an' find out whatever it is you've discovered."

The scruffy Captain returned his communicator to his pocket and glanced back at his wares, before he ventured off to the access lift underneath his ship and glanced up at it, tilting his head a fraction as he wondered why it was closed. Perhaps Tes did leave the ship after all and had already returned. A shrug of the shoulder was all that came of this, as Ruce sunk a hand into his cargo pant pocket to retrieve his datapad. Turning the device on, the Captain pressed a key buttons before the hydraulics of the access lift 'PSSSSSH'ed to life and begun to lower down to the ground. Hopping on and riding the lift back up, completing forgetting about Sky, the Captain returned within a few minutes with a tool bag, which he tossed on the ground not far from the right back landing gear, beside which was the hull breach.
"So this 'bug' yer mentioned in the turbolift. Wha' did he look like? Any distinguishin' marks? Yer know the race?"
Ruce asked as rummaged about in his tool bag for a moment, pulling out four metallic discs, about a foot wide. There was a suction pad on one side and a hover thruster on the other. Attaching the pads to the corners of the breached hull section, Benner flicked a switch on each that made a circular red light shine around the hover thrusters base. Once that was all done, the Captain pulled a plasma cutter from his tool bag and a pair of welding goggles, which he pulled over his eyes before glancing back at Sky.
"I'm busy right now, so if tha' bug does show it's face, chop it off for me. Literally."

Ruce turned the plasma cutter on and got to work slicing out the damage hull section, which soon fell from the base of the ship and plummeted to the metallic dock floor below. The pads detected the sudden drop and speed change and their red lights flicked green, the thrusters igniting and catching the hull section before it clattered into the ground. Pushing the floating hull section out from under the ship, Ruce flipped it over with aid of the hover thrusters and gently set the sheet of damaged metal down. Turning the pads off and removing them, he placed them onto one of the new pieces of Titanium hull and basically reversed the action, pushing the hovering sheet under the ship, powering the hover thrusters to raise the sheet up into place and then used the plasma cutter to weld the sheet into place securely. Once that was down, Benner dusted his hands off and tossed the plasma cutter into his tool bag, smirking at Sky.
"There! Good as new! No shots will be gettin' through THA' part of her anyway!"

Valkyrie ~ Science Fiction Adventure ~ (Accepting Applications)

LETS!

GET!

DANGEROUS!!