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Author Topic: Small Mercies (IC) | Death is knocking, and he wants to buy a goat.  (Read 52991 times)

Tiruin

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Re: Small Mercies (IC) | Death is knocking, and he wants to buy a goat.
« Reply #180 on: November 23, 2016, 10:54:28 pm »

Minor action: Handle the signalling and try to contact or communicate the received transmission to the rest of our crew.

Kesari quickly took Captain Wilcox' communication and broadcasted it over personal channels through her personal comms device, on the uptake that it was actually faster to do so rather than communicate herself, allowing it to branch out to the away team by trying to refocus the signals to their position.

She was glad there were communications available to her. Her mind wandered as to how hectic things were back in the ancient past--like the story of ancient Sol, back in their first Great War where there was little to no communication on receiving strange things happening and they only had telephones back then? This helped her.
Quote from: Kes :D
It looks like we've got a situation on our hands. Do note, I'll assume that I haven't heard much of what was going on for the away team, but we've got two shuttles en route from what's presumably the farm area or near that place asking or pleading subtly for docking requests.

I require quick input from everyone here. The transmission is coming from one of the docked ships in the station--hailing us to receive shuttles coming from the planet.
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lawastooshort

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Re: Small Mercies (IC) | Death is knocking, and he wants to buy a goat.
« Reply #181 on: November 25, 2016, 08:18:45 am »

Aubrey waited for Khate to return from the cupboard.

"Well, shall we go? I have the access code."

Quote from: reply to Kesari
I do not think you should let them board. I do not think they are friendly.

Situation here is under control. Approaching target. Do you have any information on this ship? Ip'Kip'Ix. Owner unknown, which is odd. Like the buyer's.
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Tiruin

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Re: Small Mercies (IC) | Death is knocking, and he wants to buy a goat.
« Reply #182 on: November 25, 2016, 09:48:34 am »

Kesari replied to Mickaw Tansk, (under the command of Captain Wilcox), like an air traffic controller would--given her experience on a communications station far in her past, trying to remember what Boris used with the Reunion's name, adding in the following after keeping a cool tone of formal signalling protocol. She kept her curiosity to the informal way of speaking aside.

"-...we acknowledge you; state your intentions." She started, adding in the hazard of a refurbished hangar accepting shuttles on short leave notice and making sure that the acknowledgement was to the message rather than an affirmative. She also added the notice that there was a radiation hazard that was still being cleaned up--which was partly the truth given some areas of the Reunion, but if ever any others would go aboard the ship, they would at least need to be prepared.

Although she was entirely sure that she wasn't within bounds of that authority herself, she shifted around to check relaying communications, adjusting the reception so that any received messages would also continue along to all other crew of the Reunion in range.

Quote from: Re: Aubrey; CC: Everyone Else
The shuttles' ID and communication signature is scrambled; can't determine if they were part of the earlier ones descending onto the farm area. As to the ship hailing us, the shuttles I'm talking about aren't the ones which I've just reported [the ones coming from the planet], I presume they mean the shuttles from their gunship.

My mistake on that part. I've inquired their intent and clarification.

"Boris, the rest, I'm going to need your input soon," Kesari spoke over the ship intercomm, "This is a good time for the Captain to chime in."
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Dwarmin

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Re: Small Mercies (IC) | Death is knocking, and he wants to buy a goat.
« Reply #183 on: November 26, 2016, 01:49:02 pm »

Quote from: Kes :D
It looks like we've got a situation on our hands. Do note, I'll assume that I haven't heard much of what was going on for the away team, but we've got two shuttles en route from what's presumably the farm area or near that place asking or pleading subtly for docking requests.

I require quick input from everyone here. The transmission is coming from one of the docked ships in the station--hailing us to receive shuttles coming from the planet.

Quote
I have two questions! Why would they wish to dock with us? But, if they are hostile, why would they ask in the first place? Are invaders usually this polite? Should we begin preparing for an assault of some sort? I really do have a lot of work to do.
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Tiruin

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Re: Small Mercies (IC) | Death is knocking, and he wants to buy a goat.
« Reply #184 on: November 27, 2016, 01:18:29 am »

Getting Sadish's message was a bit late; Kesari appreciated it anyway.

Quote from: Re: Sadish
Unsure what they plan, hence me asking for their intentions upon docking or before that. If in doubt, are you able to deploy whatever biological-...things you have in stock there? Non-lethal, hopefully, if things go sour.
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Chevaleresse

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Re: Small Mercies (IC) | Death is knocking, and he wants to buy a goat.
« Reply #185 on: November 27, 2016, 01:33:59 am »

"Yeah. Death machine takes point, I'll be right behind you, she said with a gesture at Khate and the mentioned walker. "I'd be ready for exploding things."[/glow] She mentally tried to rehearse the few hundred ways that this could go wrong, dismissing the ones that would result in their immediate violent death as preparation would be pointless; it was hard to come up with a countermeasure to a charge blowing a hole in the hull and venting them out into the cold blackness of space, for example; though she hoped Aubrey could help with problems of that nature before they became quite so urgent.
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Re: Small Mercies (IC) | Death is knocking, and he wants to buy a goat.
« Reply #186 on: November 27, 2016, 11:19:02 am »

It was clear the Reunion had its share of secrets still. Boris would have to investigate further - but the messages in the crew channel caught his attention. It seemed they had a more urgent situation to deal with.

'No-one's setting foot on my ship without my say-so. Stall them - keep warning them about the rads. If they don't get the hint, well... we'll see. I'm coming up.'

Join Kesari at the comms. See if we have a convenient docking port at a high-radiation area of the ship - if they insist on coming aboard, well, we did warn them about radiation hazards.
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IronyOwl

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Re: Small Mercies (IC) | Death is knocking, and he wants to buy a goat.
« Reply #187 on: November 27, 2016, 06:52:52 pm »

"Right! Off we go!"

Lead the way to Varkonius' ship!
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Dwarmin

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Re: Small Mercies (IC) | Death is knocking, and he wants to buy a goat.
« Reply #188 on: November 28, 2016, 09:20:23 am »

Getting Sadish's message was a bit late; Kesari appreciated it anyway.

Quote from: Re: Sadish
Unsure what they plan, hence me asking for their intentions upon docking or before that. If in doubt, are you able to deploy whatever biological-...things you have in stock there? Non-lethal, hopefully, if things go sour.

Quote
I don't really have anything deadly prepared, though I do have some tools...

Also, am working on weaponizing a Fungus-Mantis for ship defense, but it might take awhile. You remember those? Nine foot tall ravenous death monsters who spit acidic, organic glue? I found a baby one, and I'm going to name him (or her) Scythes!  First, have to solve the problem about them not eating the crew...

Anyway, I'm on...my way...I suppose. I'll be armed to the gills.

Of course, Fins did not actually have gills. She was being deliberately facetious.

Action: Head to the bridge (or wherever Kesari/Boris are), taking my tranq rifle and disruptor tentacles (if I get a final choice of equipment like you implied in the PM, those are they)

Make sure to lock down my lab so no sneaky Crows get in.
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Draignean

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Re: Small Mercies (IC) | Death is knocking, and he wants to buy a goat.
« Reply #189 on: December 01, 2016, 01:05:35 am »

Khate
"Right! Off we go!"

Lead the way to Varkonius' ship!

Khate took the lead enthusiastically, boldly striding forward in the wrong direction before Aubrey politely corrected her course- not that it really mattered to Khate. She certainly wanted to get paid, and there was the thrill of the challenge for completing an assignment, but she was a girl who appreciated the journey as much as the destination. In this case, the journey was bound to be pretty similarly populated with guns and goons no matter which way they went.

It was part of the job, and the main reason why she could draw a steady stipend from DNR with the footage she sent in. Even if she was technically a 'part-time' agent these days, people loved those little bonus-features sections they packed onto the public releases of DNR seasons, and Khate was probably there for a good five minutes a year. Considering how many agents there were, Khate held that has a point of particular pride, in f-

Khate's ears perked up inside the suit as she smelled something ahead. The olfactory system on her mech (a feature rarely seen on the combat suits of other species) was filtering in a distinct aroma of foreign blood- i.e, none of the blood smells that were to be expected from bodies she'd already encountered. Khate signaled Scarlet and Aubrey to keep their eyes open and dropped a little lower, training her weapons just around the curve of the docking corridor. Arriving late to the party was a blessing and a curse. On the bad side, meant that it was harder to beat every other group to the punch, and there was rarely a chance to get that perfect standoff shot that captured the crystal moment before imminent violence. Of course, it did mean there was a chance for neato suspenseful moments where she got to slowly creep up on scenes of carnage and create excitement and tension for the battles to come.

Judging by how much blood she was smelling, this was probably going to be one of those tension building moments.

Finally getting a visual on umbilical airlock to cradle eight didn't disappoint. The door was open, and a large scarlet stain was still spreading out from opening. A ridiculously impressively sized scarlet stain. Khate had shot a lot of people, and she'd seen more than her fair share of people get gruesomely eviscerated by spinning sawblades, but she'd seldom seen a puddle like that. Really, not since the challenge round where all the contestants had been dosed with anti-coagulants and anti-platelet drugs before running the maze of ten-thousand chainsaws.

Khate approached cautiously, looking down the length umbilical to airlock attached to Varkonius' ship. The door at that end was also open, but it was hard to focus on that when there when literally every inch of the umbilical floor was covered in blood. Four greyish bodies, two claws, a cane, and a crow, were stacked neatly just inside. Dozens of small perforations marked their exposed flesh like needle wounds, each surrounded be a small bruise. One and all the were withered, the lips of the canes and claws shriveled back to reveal bone white gums, and the eyes of the crow were so sunken they'd almost disappeared into her head.

Khate was not one to be unnerved, but it still seemed a bit excessive to have one mysterious entity that made people explode, and one mysterious entity that withered them to husks.



Scarlet
"Yeah. Death machine takes point, I'll be right behind you, she said with a gesture at Khate and the mentioned walker. "I'd be ready for exploding things."[/glow] She mentally tried to rehearse the few hundred ways that this could go wrong, dismissing the ones that would result in their immediate violent death as preparation would be pointless; it was hard to come up with a countermeasure to a charge blowing a hole in the hull and venting them out into the cold blackness of space, for example; though she hoped Aubrey could help with problems of that nature before they became quite so urgent.

Perhaps due to stress, or perhaps due more to natural habit than she wanted to admit, Scarlet spent most of the walk around the rim muttering to herself about all the dark little ways things could go wrong. It wasn't the most positive thing to do, but nobody would accuse Scarlet of having a glowing personality unless they were making a joke about her flamers- and then they'd only do it once.

Once standing outside their destination, it was even harder to keep the endless stream of morbid theories from spilling out into the world. The corridor filled with blood proceeded by the four exsanguinated bodies felt like a cosmic warning- the kind that any sane person would respond to by walking, or perhaps running, in the opposite direction with all speed. Not that that was really an option. If the Star wasn't in Varkonius' room, then it had to be here. Or he was lugging the damn thing around personally, in which case not a bit of this would matter.

Still with her rifle pointed down the blood filled umbilical, Scarlet looked over the bodies. She'd seen her fair share, and while their complete lack of blood was distinctly odd, it did not appear to be what had actually killed them. There was a thumb sized burned hole in the Neocrow's breast, and the Cane and one of the Claws had what looked distinctly like bullet holes in their skulls. Naturally, a seemingly ordinary method of death begged the question of why they'd been drained of blood post-hoc, but that was the sort of thing that was a Sadish question- not one actually relevant to the situation at hand. The more relevant question was how Scarlet was going to avoid the same fate.

Movement at the far end of the umbilical caught Scarlet's attention, making both her and Khate snap weapons on the source. There was a woman at the far end. A woman with a sponge and a mop bucket. In a word, she was voluptuous, and dressed in the kind of maid uniform commonly depicted in holos and seldom actually worn in real life. She was black haired, but greater detail of feature was impossible for Scarlet to determine at distance. The woman looked straight at Scarlet, then she smiled and waved. Then she wrung the sponge and the mop out onto the floor of the umbilical, adding another wave of thick red liquid to the already saturated floor.



Aubrey
Aubrey waited for Khate to return from the cupboard.

"Well, shall we go? I have the access code."

Quote from: reply to Kesari
I do not think you should let them board. I do not think they are friendly.

Situation here is under control. Approaching target. Do you have any information on this ship? Ip'Kip'Ix. Owner unknown, which is odd. Like the buyer's.

Without any form of blistering firepower to point at the newcomer at the end of the bloody hall, Aubrey felt bizarrely left out. It did, however, put her in the best position to listen when the maid put down the sponge and mop and opened her mouth, speaking in a tired, masculine voice that was clearly not her own.

"You have currently located the ship of Varkonius Markuli Davar. Good job. This particular system has also assessed that there is a greater than 75% chance that you're going to try and steal something that you think I have. I'm here to say: Don't even try it." The voice, amplified so it could be heard clearly, was disconcerting in its dissimilarity to the speaker. "If you're a thief looking to make a quick score, turn around. Hell, look up who the fuck I am, then rethink your plan of stealing from me. If this is specific and you're trying to get something I stole back to its rightful owners or to take it for yourself, tough luck, I make a point of not docking with key cargo still on my ship. In either case, I don't actually mind murdering you, but I don't typically stay in place for long, and that means my maid probably will not have cleaned all of your blood out of the upholstery before I get back. So, I'm giving you this one warning: stay off of my ship. The defenses will kill you, and I don't want to have to get you all over my shoes."

"Oh, and don't try to hack the maid. I will find and kill your extended family if I have to clean up your broken body myself and be bereft of her entertainment for the next leg of my trip."

After a brief pause, enough to make Aubrey think the message was finished, the male voice popped back out of the maid's lips.

"PS: If you are making a delivery and have been misidentified as a thief, just set your package against my door while keeping all grasping appendages visible at all times. You will probably not be harmed if you don't touch anything."



Kesari (+Boris and Sadish)

Kesari replied to Mickaw Tansk, (under the command of Captain Wilcox), like an air traffic controller would--given her experience on a communications station far in her past, trying to remember what Boris used with the Reunion's name, adding in the following after keeping a cool tone of formal signalling protocol. She kept her curiosity to the informal way of speaking aside.

"-...we acknowledge you; state your intentions." She started, adding in the hazard of a refurbished hangar accepting shuttles on short leave notice and making sure that the acknowledgement was to the message rather than an affirmative. She also added the notice that there was a radiation hazard that was still being cleaned up--which was partly the truth given some areas of the Reunion, but if ever any others would go aboard the ship, they would at least need to be prepared.

Although she was entirely sure that she wasn't within bounds of that authority herself, she shifted around to check relaying communications, adjusting the reception so that any received messages would also continue along to all other crew of the Reunion in range.

Quote from: Re: Aubrey; CC: Everyone Else
The shuttles' ID and communication signature is scrambled; can't determine if they were part of the earlier ones descending onto the farm area. As to the ship hailing us, the shuttles I'm talking about aren't the ones which I've just reported [the ones coming from the planet], I presume they mean the shuttles from their gunship.

My mistake on that part. I've inquired their intent and clarification.

"Boris, the rest, I'm going to need your input soon," Kesari spoke over the ship intercomm, "This is a good time for the Captain to chime in."

Boris and Sadish arrived shortly after Kari echoed the gunship's request to the rest of the ship. Boris was his usual ironclad and scowling self, but Sadish had dressed for the occasion in a number of... tentacles. Kesari had seen that particular assembly in action before, to mixed results. Sadish was smart, inventive, and probably most likely to either wipe out a species or a save a planet, but she wasn't exactly a combat specialist. Kari was just glad that she typically had the luxury of looking down a rifle, far from the possibility of friendly tentacle misfire.

"We would to offer a face to face deal," Mickaw replied. "The kind of deal that certain mutual friends of ours might find dreadfully tedious if they were forced to listen to it."

Mutual friend's probably meant the AL-Loy ship. The problem with ship-to-ship communication was that the closer you were, the easier it was to snoop. The encryption Kari had available was probably strong enough to hold up for a while against AL-Loy codebreakers, but, considering what Mickaw was going to propose, it might be nice not to give the codebreakers a chance.

"Only one shuttle is needed to dock initially. That shuttle will contain exactly one person. The second shuttle will land if and when you accept the proposal."

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Dwarmin

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Re: Small Mercies (IC) | Death is knocking, and he wants to buy a goat.
« Reply #190 on: December 01, 2016, 11:10:17 am »

Sadish often tended to use her 'combat' tentacles to scratch herself in those hard to reach places (her fin-walker suit being woefully itchy, as previously advertised), which was something she did now, standing beside Kesari.

"So! Um. That's something we have to think about. Sounds like one of those deals we're going to regret having accepted.

Anwyay...how is everything going in the world of communications...and scanning equipment?"
She said, sounding a trifle awkward. She truly liked Kesari well enough, but they were very often on opposite ends of the ship, unable to have any real conversations.
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Tiruin

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Re: Small Mercies (IC) | Death is knocking, and he wants to buy a goat.
« Reply #191 on: December 01, 2016, 11:43:53 am »

Kesari just recently returned in getting her 'combat' satchel, filled with her stuff for combat, checking the readings right next to Sadish.

"Either we'll accept this, find a way to 'deal with it on better terms', or quit this mission because these people seem connected in some way. Strange offer however, but not within normal protocol to have 'open' scans to the approaching ships and the main ship itself, and while that is done, I can relay intrusive-but-not-really programming via short-range advertising--that's me talking about what Mickaw is referring to being the Al-Loy folks; it's like trading hard cash compared to credits when doing deals--you do it personally so it won't be traced, they're sending people in person so the communications won't be traced. I just have to stay at this station however and the rest of you meet up with the guest if I can keep scanning both their main ship, those shuttles, and provide reconnaissance of its entry and any suspicious stuff onto the new 'guest', unless anyone wants rampant advertising, and I do not want to cause more trouble than that was worth.

"Does that sound fine to you both? I can always relay details to you there. Our away team seems to be busy at the moment though. Also I'd respond with receiving their intent and proceeding with normal procedure--I can easily shift the 'radar' into 'depth-scanning', obviously adding in 'we're still in the process of marketing maintenance' to explain the advertisements. It's all reasonable as far as I see--oh, and it'd probably be nice to offer the guest some food? Maybe?"


It was a tiny quirk of Kari to mention food as an aside--she liked the five star services more than the rations she was very much used to.

Minor Action: Rethink my own words. Is this actually...reasonable?
Also stay comfy next to Sadish.
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Dwarmin

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Re: Small Mercies (IC) | Death is knocking, and he wants to buy a goat.
« Reply #192 on: December 01, 2016, 01:25:51 pm »

"I've got a better idea. Let them snug up against our ship, maybe with a cannon pointed at them or something, and I'll run my Drone out our airlock, to their airlock. We can then communicate safely, all signals via umbilical cable, so there's no way our conversation will be eavesdropped on-no outside signals to intercept. That's how it works right? Communications isn't my specialty...but, being clever is! This way neither of us will be able to do something horrible to the other one." She pointed to her fin-sized dufflebag, which conveniently had both her Drone and a very long spool of space-cable.

"It's not that I don't trust them, but I really don't trust them. Grenac let someone aboard his ship, and we all saw how that turned out. Anyway, how are you doing? Holding up well? Are you hungry? I brought snacks."
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Tiruin

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Re: Small Mercies (IC) | Death is knocking, and he wants to buy a goat.
« Reply #193 on: December 01, 2016, 07:17:31 pm »

Kesari nodded at Sadish's idea. Maybe her own misplaced mention of radioactive leaks would cover this one too!

"Prep the drone. I'm all for agreement--and I'd love some snacks, yes thank you. Captain, is there anyway we can create the illusion of a radioactive spike in our hangar area?"
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Dwarmin

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Re: Small Mercies (IC) | Death is knocking, and he wants to buy a goat.
« Reply #194 on: December 01, 2016, 07:52:52 pm »

Sadish began to unload a bag of Squijium happily.

Squijium was literally https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dried_shredded_squid when reduced to it's most simple definition, albeit in a more space portable, fin-flavored form. Fins could eat six or more of these ball shaped snacks in a single meal, and often did. It resembled a corrugated meaty sphere weighing around 2.5 pounds or more, was naturally somewhat buoyant (it was fully meant to be enjoyed in water habitation, even played with before eating), and has a fairly wide range of textures, depending on the genetic stock of the Cephalopod (or Cephalopod like creature) it was from. It's interesting note that most Fins have a very poor sense of taste, aside from varying degrees of saltiness-the quality of Squijium was therefore primarily judged by it's texture, and the satisfaction of the crunch, or the amusement of it's construction (the best Squijium was sturdy enough for rough water sports, without losing any of it's tasteful texture). Yet, as in Sadish's case the extreme were also well catered to, for those Fins who preferred the rare sensation of taste-individual Squijium brands could be extraordinarily sweet, spicy, savory or bitter-almost unpalatably so any non-Fin, but just perfect for one of their kind.

This all served to make any non-Fin eater who dared try one an extremely daring individual indeed.

"Hmm, all I have are the spicy ones..." She said, humming to herself.
« Last Edit: December 02, 2016, 09:18:01 am by Dwarmin »
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