"...saluted father dear--" Cephie begins to sing as the two of you start east down the corridor. It's an ancient pirate tune, traced to old earth, "...landed on the quay just as the ship was sailing, the captain at me roared..." You listen in silence, and, for a moment, contentment threatens to steal over you and rob your senses.
...I miss this. The songs. The cheer. Laughing in the face of fear with barely restrained glee. In the face of death. Alphira was always so sour."What's a Freelancer's brat like you singing old Pirate songs?" You tease.
"Oh, on the rocky road to-- Hey now!" Cephie stops singing, false indignation claiming her voice for the time, "Y'know what they say about Freelancers, right?"
"Educate me."
"That they're a silver coin's flip from turning black."
You snort, passing by another bulkhead. Cephie stops, and you pause. "It's unmarked."
"Don't mean there ain't something shiny inside, right? Dead men have no claims and all that." With a wicked grin, Cephie turns the handle on the door, pulling it open. There's a slight hiss.
"Didn't know you were the sort to rob crypts."
"I didn't know you were the sort to spoil my sport." Cephie rebukes, and the two of you detour into the bunkroom.
[20] Cephie strikes gold, or, in this case, platinum. Pulling open a cabinet, she withdraws an absolute beast of a weapon. A las-gun with an utterly massive drum magazine and a super coolant tank wrapping around the 'barrel'. The motif of snakes repeat, but there's also a crescent half-moon with an atomic cloud jutting out from it. All in platinum. Cephie's eyes light up. She presses a button on the side. Out of the machine, a cord extends, and a small holographic screen pops up -- auto-aim and a high quality targetting interface designed to mesh with cybernetics. [
5000/5000] glows on the screen, along with an overheat gauge.
"See! Aren't you glad I stopped? He's a real beaut."
[12] You are a little less lucky. A bundled patch of plastic draws your eye from beneath the bed, and you pull it out. It's a solar recharger with a number of cables attached. The energy collection material is super-thin, cloth-like, and, as you learn by gently tugging on it, highly resistant to tearing. You stick the small pad in a pocket and tick your head out the door. Cephie rests the gun across her shoulders, draping her arms over it as she follows along.
It takes you an hour of wandering before you can find something that looks like a very vague symbol for 'bridge'. What you thought was graffiti, was instead an arrow, pointing up. The two of you climb up a shaft on the rickety, rusting ladder. The hatch above is closed, but a few quick jabs of your Cutter solves that issue. You drag yourself up the maintenance shaft and on to the bridge.
Monitors glow dimly in the dark, surrounded by chairs or framed by harnesses. You quietly take a seat at the captain's chair as Cephie looks over the various other monitors. She eventually takes a seat in the engineering station, her long fingers drifting over the keys. A diagnostic in high Empyreal appears. Then, the bridge comes to life with a gentle hum, the main display showing a virtual view of the outside. It's all a green blur.
"Could you pull up a full ship diagnostic for me?" You ask, politely.
"Yes,
captain. It's going to be bare-bones for now."
HYPERION BRAND DIAGNOSTIC SHIP AI THANKS YOU FOR YOUR PURCHASE-- ERROR: DRM: STOLEN.
Main Reactor: [offline][ERROR:NO_RESPONSE]
Auxiliary Reactor: [online]
>[25% TOTAL OUTPUT LEVELS]
>[57% FUEL LEVEL]
Hull: [online]
>[ACTIVATING: COMP_REACTIVE_HULL_HYAEOP45819]
>>[ACTIVATION: SUCCESS]
>[ACTIVATING: COMP_REACTIVE_HULL:HYAEOP45819:SLAVE_AI]
>>[ERROR:SELF_AWARENESS_REACHED:SHATTERING_SUCCESSFUL]
>>[BOOTING_ROLLBACK]
>>[ROLLBACK_SUCESSFUL]
>>[ACTIVATING: COMP_REACTIVE_HULL:HYAEOP45819:SLAVE_AI]
>>[ACTIVATION: SUCCESS]
>>[BEGINNING_DIAGNOSTIC: REPAIR_REPORT: GENERATING]
>[SEVENTY-FIVE_HULL_BREACHES_DETECTED!]
Shield: [offline][ERROR:NO_RESPONSE]
Artificial Gravity: [offline][ERROR:NO_RESPONSE]
Life Support: [offline][ERROR:NO_RESPONSE]
Cryogenics Support: [online]
>[ACTIVATING: COMP_CRYOGENICS_BAY_HYTYPOCD121]
>>[ACTIVATION: SUCCESS]
>[ACTIVATING: COMP_CRYOGENICS_BAY_HYTYPOCD121:SLAVE_AI]
>>[ACTIVATION: SUCCESS:CHAINS_INTACT]
>[1000/3000 [CRYOPODS ACTIVE]]
>[231/1000 [CRYOPODS_POSTIVE_LIFE_SIGNS]]
>[769/1000 [CRYOPODS_NEGATIVE_LIFE_SIGNS]]
>ACTIVATE_DEFROST?
Empyreal Communications Array:[online]
>[ACTIVATING: COMP_COMMS_FLAPSAJACKER]
>>[ACTIVATION: SUCCESS]
>[ACTIVATING: COMP_COMMS_FLAPSAJACKER-COMMSBUDDY20121212]
>>[ACTIVATION: SUCCESS]
>[ENTANGLING_QUANTUM_COMMUNICATION_MODULES]
>>[SUCCESS]
>[DOING_OTHER_THINGS_YOU_DONT_CARE_ABOUT]
>[DO_YOU_EVEN_KNOW_HOW_TO_READ?]
>[MCKINNEY'S_RUN_THE_SCRAPYARDS]
>[--what follows is twenty pages of profanity--]
>[EMPYREAL_COMMS: ON_STANDBY]
>[TRANSPONDER:DARK/OFF]
>>[OPTIONS: [Retributionist's Valhal], [Survivor's Shallot], [NULL], [FALSE_EMERGENCY: SYSTEM_ONLY], [REAL_EMERGENCY: LOCAL_PIRATECLAN_BANDS]
Navigations: [online]
[ACTIVATING:COMP_NAV_DARKHORSEV1.586.2]
>>[ACTIVATING COMP_NAV_DARKHORSEV1.586.2 ]
>>>[ACTIVATION: SUCCESS]
>[SOLARIS SECTOR]
>[FAR_RIM]
>[COORDINATES: A long list of numbers, describing where in the galaxy this star lies in reckoning.]
>[PLANET:SECOND ORBIT]
>[NAME: Sadil of the Silicon's Rest, Mercrenary's Rest]
>[PLANETARY_GPS: Satellite1241: OFFLINE]
Main Thruster System: [offline][ERROR:POWERSAVE_MODE]
Steering Thruster System: [offline][ERROR:NO_RESPONSE]
Medical Bay: [offline][ERROR:POWERSAVE_MODE]
Engineering Bay: [offline][ERROR:POWERSAVE_MODE]
Living Spaces: [offline][ERROR:POWERSAVE_MODE]
Targeting Arrays: [offline][ERROR:POWERSAVE_MODE]
Major Weapons System 1: [offline][ERROR:NO_RESPONSE]
Major Weapons System 2: [offline][ERROR:POWERSAVE_MODE]
Major Weapons System 3: [online]
>[CHECKING_ANTIMATTER_WARHEAD_STABILITY]
>[4/25 slots [FULL]]
>[4/25 slots [PRIMED]]
>[4/25 slots [READY_TO_ARM]
>[ERROR:TARGETING_SYSTEM_OFFLINE]
>|IF YOU BASTARDS TRY TO FIRE OFF ONE MORE WARHEAD WITHOUT THE TARGETING ARRAY I WILL BEAT YOUR ASS. -- Chief of Engineering.
>|Antimatter warheads are not something you 'eyeball' Captain. Without any due respect -- Chief Weapon's Officer
>|Please keep in mind the cost, Captain, we do need to eat -- Quartermaster
Minor Weapons System 1:[offline][ERROR:POWERSAVE_MODE]
Minor Weapons System 2:[offline][ERROR:POWERSAVE_MODE]
Minor Weapons System 3:[offline][ERROR:POWERSAVE_MODE]
Minor Weapons System 4:[offline][ERROR:POWERSAVE_MODE]
Minor Weapons System 5:[offline][ERROR:POWERSAVE_MODE]
"Good gods, they're using Commsbuddy. Bless'm." Cephie murmurs, leaning back in her chair, even as it creaks dangerously. "Looks like there's survivors -- want to break in that--"
Sensory feeds cut back on just as abruptly as they shut off.
"...right, right, sorry, sorry. Hovering Line and all that. You're right."
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Topic: McCreary's Planet -- (FINISHED) (Read 258772 times)