Idlaide - The Rays of Fortune

[Quiet One]

"So what do you think?" Max asked Idlaide as he relaxed in the cockpit.

Shortly before leaving the cafeteria, Max had left a small listening device under his chair, no bigger than the average button. Marissa had surprised him by returning and talking with Trent. The two seemed perhaps the closest to one another, and a lot of the redhead's fire seemed to surprisingly diminish with conversation. High-strung, but not mean-spirited. Just what he'd suspected from the beginning. Just like him.

In fact, as he listened, a lot of them seemed to have at least one quirk he would attribute to himself. Marissa was the sort to do things her own way, and prove herself. Trent seemed, among other things, excited by the whole experience. Both Jorik and Cynthia were analytical - he wasn't like that regularly, but under pressure in missions he knew how to get things done. Fear, from Yukiko. Very him. He remembered being a strange mix of the lot of them back when he first got Idlaide...

Speaking of her, she beeped out her reply, along with a few low, sad sounding tones. He chuckled to himself.

"That's right. I was right and you were wrong. How do you like that?"

A loud rumble from the hull told him she didn't like it. "I'm just teasing."

"Cynthia's proving to be a surprise," he added after some thought. "I guess our spoiled Rivan princess is a bit more sturdy than she looks. And cutthroat too...and I could be wrong, but I think she just made a friend."

Idlaide gave a series of beeps and a long tone. He chuckled again. "Yeah, not exactly what I expected either, but if her Ray won't ground her maybe this Jorik guy will. Seems pretty level."

She beeped once in agreement. The sound of a chair scraping came from the ship's speakers.

"Well, one's turning in for the night it seems," Max noted. "Let's hope the others do too. They're going to need it for later."

 

[Heron]

Yukiko quietly excused herself from the table, the lobster churning in her stomach. She hurried to the bathroom, and barely made it to the latrine before it all came back up. It's funny, she reflected, kneeling over the metal bowl, how much can change in a day. She was supposed to be at home, eating dinner with her family, and then she had to wrap the present for Amy's birthday the next day, but instead here she was puking up some shellfish in a toilet.

This sucks, she thought, not for the first time that day.

Eventually she managed to get up and walk to the sink, where she washed her hands and face, and then stood and stared at the figure in the mirror. Large, frightened, confused brown eyes peered back at her. As she watched the reflection bit her lip and it's eyes began to well up with tears. Yukiko knew she couldn't stay there. Part of her wanted to go back to Demeter, and another part felt obligated to stay and talk to the others.

The reclusive side of her won. She looked at the pale, scared girl in the mirror one last time, then averted her eyes and hurried to the dormitories to find a blanket.

 

[Disgruntled Goat]

Marissa shrugged, "I'm from Paipas, but I never really felt like I belonged there. Paipans are typically repressed, conformist people that don't like new ideas and try to force their ideologies down your throat... I'm a bit more of a free spirit. I prefer to do what I think is right, or good, instead of what tradition dictates. I know there's some wisdom in their words, but how much of it is really relevant two thousand years later? They're just bending the words to fit their lives, whilst I'd rather do my own thing." The girl felt herself tensing up inadvertently as thoughts of her home caused her blood to boil, "It's fine to have faith, and everyone has their own beliefs, but you can't just go around forcing people to share your beliefs simply because you don't like their way of thinking. I suppose, for a tourist, Paipas is probably a fine holiday destination, because there are some incredible buildings there and lots of history, but for a teenager growing up there... no. It's a very oppressive environment."

"I left Paipas as soon as I was old enough to board an interplanetary shuttle on my own," said Marissa as she stared down at her hands on the table. "I've never been back and I've never regretted it. I've spent the last seven years hopping from ship to ship and planet to planet, it may not be a comfortable but it comes with a lot more freedom and you meet people with much more open minds."

She looked up at Trent and tilted her head to the side. "So where are you from? You're definitely not from Paipas, I can tell that much, but I'm not sure about your accent. It isn't very strong, but, at a punt, I might say you were from Aguaceles, or maybe Grünozean. Given the way you were tucking into that lobster, I reckon you've got to come from a planet where seafood is pretty abundant."

 

[Orbital]

Trent was impressed with how observant she was. "Aquaceles, more seafood than anything. You and I are pretty similiar I guess. My father was a chef. Everyone expected me take up the same trade but it never interested me. I'd rather went another way and studied technology. My parents didn't like the idea, though not enough to make me want to leave the planet." He thought about the surfing and boating he did back home. " What really irked me about the planet was all the underwater mining. I swear they're going to kill everything for the resource reserves down there." The thought was unnerving to him. "As for the people they're nice enough. Laid back for the most part." He began to pick at what remained of the lobster. The claws looked weird to him. He hadn't noticed it before but there was a very light blue line on the inside of the claw. This was common on a poisonous lobster native to Aquaceles. They were a controlled species due to the fact that they were so similiar to regular lobster. He decided not to think anything of it. The odds of it being one of them was very low.

 

[Disgruntled Goat]

Marissa furrowed her brow. She hadn't thought of herself and Trent as being at all similar, and his subsequent explanation only seemed to prove her doubts as the Aguacelean seemed to think that just wanting a different career to his father was enough to compare the two of them. Her reasons for leaving Paipas were a lot more serious than just wanting a different career, and it sound like this one's parents had at least been tolerant of his life choices, which was not at all like anything she had experienced when growing up.

The redhead held her tongue, fighting the urge to tell this boy that, in no uncertain terms, their similarities began and ended with being Ray pilots. Fortunately, Trent jumped onto an altogether different topic and began talking about the actual planet of Aguaceles, instead of himself and his home life. "I went to Aguaceles once when I was working for a courier firm," she said, trying to remember her brief time on the ocean planet. "I didn't really get much chance to look around, but I remember flying pretty low over it to take in some of the views. I'd never been to an ocean planet before, so it was a pretty big change from anything I was used to." She took a sip of her water, "I don't remember it looking all that industrialised, but I guess you might have seen more of the mining works where you lived. The oceans I saw were as blue as sapphires and utterly pristine."

"You seem to be staring at your lobster," said Marissa, shrugging her shoulders. "If you want to keep eating it, feel free. I'll even give you some privacy if you would prefer it?"

 

[Orbital]

Trent didn't answer her right away. He started to feel nauseous and sick. Maybe the chances that the lobster was poisonous were greater than expected? He tried to recall the symptoms. Nausia, vomiting and in serious cases dysentry. Fortunately death was not one of them. He felt a sudden pang in his stomach. "Sorry I have to go!" He bolted from his chair and ran to the lavatory. As soon as he reached toilet he puked with the force of an angry god. Soon anyone who had eaten a sufficient quantity of the lobster served was going to join him around the ol' bowl of sadness. It was unlikely that more of the poisonous lobsters were served but still possible.

 

[Disgruntled Goat]

Marissa blinked in surprise as Trent apologised, jumped up and ran off, all in the space of a second. Should she follow him? Was it something she had said?

Now that the conversation with Trent was well and truly over, Marissa realised that, despite sitting in an open position, she had shut herself off entirely from the rest of the pilots whilst talking with Trent. Looking up, she saw that the Rivan had finished talking to the long-haired man, and seemed to be set on retiring to bed for the night. Yukiko, one of the few pilots whose names she had learned, had also excused herself, leaving Marissa and the long-haired man alone in the room. Given how intense his conversation with the Rivan had seemed, Marissa decided not to engage him in conversation. She had picked Trent because, firstly, he was alone, and secondly, he seemed like a straightforwards kind of guy with no hidden agenda. Speaking to him had only confirmed this.

She looked over to the man and nodded towards him, "I suppose I'll be heading off to bed, too. Good night."

The girl then downed the rest of her water and walked into the kitchen, where she proceeded to wash the glass in the sink. It may have only been one glass, but she didn't feel right to leave it out for someone else to wash. That wasn't her way. She took a towel from the rack and began to dry the rack. She had promised Teqi that she would return, and after she was done here, that was exactly what she would do. Then she would have to fund a bunk and settle in for the night. She didn't know just what the captain was planning for tomorrow, but she was sure that it would prove to be more strenuous than today's activities, so Marissa wanted to make sure she got a good night's sleep.

 

[Reaper Jack]

Jorik gazed after Cynthia as she left, slightly surprised by her final answer, but quite pleased he'd managed to get through to her, a broad, playful smile spread across his features as he stood up, satisfied he'd made some progress for the day. He murmured to himself under his breath.

"Yes, you are...unique. How...intriguing..."

He stretched after he relieved himself of his chair, checking the new silver wristband as he did so, noting the time. Nine hours until tomorrow's start...let's go see what I can do with Freyja. He strode from the room, heading to where he'd berthed Freyja outside, underneath the cover of a small patch of trees, of what kind he did not know, he wasn't familiar with this planet's flora, or it's fauna for that matter he thought as a small, rodent-analogue scurried past Freyja, it's ears and eyes twitching slightly, avoiding him fervently as any good survivor would. Jorik mused at that, even here, in this relative peace, the small creature had it's priorities straight, the same couldn't be said for many humans.

He walked up to Freyja, humming softly to himself and patting her dark hull contentedly, climbing up into the cockpit to get a better look at the instruments now he had the time, he left the cockpit shield open, letting the cool night air wash over him as he investigated.

"First of all...we need to come to a linguistic agreement. Communicating in beeps and chirrups is all well and good, but I regard you as a living creature, and that means I'd like to converse civilly with you, not to mention it would make things easier, and bring us closer together too, I really can't see the disadvantage of that."

Jorik wondered what Freyja's response would be, although she was an AI, she had intelligence, real intelligence. She had the greatest learning potential of all creatures, and if she combined that with that intelligence, it meant she was sentient, and a sentient being should be treated as one. These Rays were not just mere tools, they were partners, and deserving of all the respect one would naturally expect from a partner.

Freyja was quiet for several minutes before doing anything at all. When she did she let out a series of small twitters, excited, but also serious. It seemed she found the prospect of talking with him one that she liked. Jorik thought again, it's just a case of teaching, nothing more, they already know every known language, but how to utilise them as speech is something else...he looked to the screen in the front of the cockpit, just below where the shield lowered onto the hull when down.

"Freyja, use this screen, communicate to me in any way you can, show me your potential."

She did so, pleased at her partner's inquisitive nature. The screen flipped through a variety of images, some mundane, some fantastical. One particular shape intrigued him especially, a purple diamond, waving out from the edges in distinct patterns. That was one he could never read, as it was UV communication, highly advanced, but humans were not capable of deciphering it. Freyja went through more images before settling on what appeared to resemble a map.

"A gravidar image?"

Jorik had used similar systems on his old boat as part of his sonar and radar mechanisms. The image Freyja was displaying to him now showed the topography of the surrounding lands and also the position of the other Rays in relation to his, projected onto an ecliptic plane, if you removed all the objects and terrain, it would look like this:

​

It wasn't exactly communication, but it did mean Freyja was feeding him back information constantly, and would make situational awareness that much easier. He noted the compass positions as well, smiling and patting Freyja's side in approval, generating a mild chorus of merry chirrups from her.

"Clever, but we'll have to come up with a linguistic method sometime."

That one got a sad, dejected bleep.

"I know, your kind haven't done that before, and all past attempts failed. We'll just have to be the first to succeed, won't we?"

That made Freyja bleep again, hopeful, but still with the sad undertones.

Jorik continued to check instruments, vaguely wondering if anybody else was out here and checking up on their Ray or performing maintenance rather than sleeping.​

 

[Disgruntled Goat]

Marissa strolled back through the cafeteria, on her way to visit Tequila Sunrise before bed. She didn't really know what to the Ray would want to do, and her understanding of its "speech" was limited, so she hoped that it wouldn't take too long and then she could get off to bed. She did want a chance to get to know Teqi better, and she was keen to find out what made her Ray tick, but she also didn't want to rush it. She couldn't expect the ship to open up to her if she wasn't willing to tell her story in return, but right now she wasn't all that keen on it, since she couldn't be sure that Max wasn't using the Rays to listen in on what they pilots told them. The craft could have been bugged before they all got inside, or they might be built that way, but given the eclectic mix of students, there may well have been something more at work here.

As she re-entered the factory floor, Marissa could see the hangar where the Rays were docked up ahead, with Teqi towards the back of the group. She also heard the sound of powerful retching from both the male and female bathrooms and winced. Perhaps not eating the lobster had been a good choice, after all. Marissa was about to head over when she heard a voice, and realised that there was someone outside. Cautiously, she made her way out of the front entrance to the factory, peering out into the dark night for a second time and trying to follow the voice. There was only one voice, so they were either giving orders, or they were on a call, perhaps. They might also be a delusional psychopath, something that Marissa couldn't help thinking in the back of her mind, as much as she might have preferred not to harbour such thoughts.

She followed the voice until it grew loud enough that she could recognise it. It belonged to one of the male Ray pilots, and whilst she hadn't caught his name, she remembered him as being the only other person that cooked their own dinner tonight. He seemed like a bit of a loose cannon, so whilst she didn't have the same concern over it being a delusional psychopath, she was still approaching with caution.

As she got a bit nearer, she decided to call out and announce her presence, so as not to startle the man. "Hello?" she asked, her voice sounding a good deal calmer than she felt. Marissa then brushed aside some low-hanging branches to find the man sat with his Ray, his dinner plate resting on the ground beside him. "Hi," she said, trying to offer a smile. "I heard you talking from inside the factory and came out to see what was going on. How are you?" she moved a little closer and indicated towards the plate with her foot, "How was your dinner? I think some of the others might be struggling with the lobster..."

 

[Daws Combine]

Wayne was casually conversing with PG, leaning up against the Ray's metal skin. He heard the footsteps far too late and stood once he hear the voice, knife drawn as he prepared to throw. Throwing knives wasn't something he had any talent for, but she didn't need to know that. She. It was, indeed, a she. The she in question looked nervous, which worked in Wayne's favor if push ever came to shove. He heard the comment about the lobster and rose an eyebrow.

"How many are having problems? If it's more then half, then that might not be the least of our concerns..." Living on the streets with his reputation, he had all to intimate experience with poison. If he had lived through, they would be fine, but killing might not have been the objective. Study, perhaps? Find out who was cautious enough not to trust the chefs? If that was so, then that made Wayne and the She priority targets, when the cleanup crew arrived.

"And I'm lovely, by the way. My meat was raw, the salad was moldy, and I didn't have my Sailors Hook to wash it down. I'm Wayne. If I remember right, your name was.... Malinda?"

 

[Disgruntled Goat]

The redhead shrugged, "If you don't remember someone's name, you're not supposed to ask. You might end up offending someone."

She stepped forwards, any signs of nervousness being rapidly dispelled as she stood with her arms crossed and an unimpressed look on her face. "My name's Marissa, you'd do well to make a note of it if your memory is that bad." Marissa looked down at the way that Wayne was clutching his knife and smirked, "Oh, and put the toy away." She held her right arm up and tapped the silver bracelet with her left hand, "These things come with watered-down Ray weaponry built into them. It's going to pack a punch, and if you'd been inside with the rest of us just now then you'd know exactly what they could do."

"I didn't bother to stick my head into the bathrooms and find out just who was hurling, but there was at least one person in each room." She folded her arms again and leaned back against a nearby tree, keeping both eyes on Wayne, but not on his knife. "The cafeteria seemed to empty out pretty quick but I haven't gone around checking in on everyone."

 

[Daws Combine]

"Think what you want to think. There's a good reason I don't eat indoors." There really was, but offering an explanation would involve going a bit too deep into his psyche, for his tastes. And his past, but he figured he would have to do that, eventually. He would start with PG, then work his way up to the other pilots. Though he might just give little miss Slaver a piece of his mind, if she pissed him off. "Anyway, If you think you could beat my toy, you go ahead and try. I've dodged bullets. It's not hard." That one was a lie, but he might as well try and intimidate the others before he establishes a reputation, here. Of course, anybody that grew up on Aguaceles most likely had hear of either him or his legend. If not, all was well. If so, then he would have to work on them first....

 

[Disgruntled Goat]

Marissa smiled and shook her head, "Considering that you probably don't even know how to fire one of these bracelets, and you've never seen what they can do, you're awfully sure of yourself." She pushed herself off of the tree and stepped towards Wayne, never once looking at his knife, and keeping eye contact up instead. "You just keep telling yourself you'll be fine, tough guy, we'll see just how well you can dodge things when we get into the real training tomorrow. I wonder if your Ray can dodge as well as you claim to be able to? I'm sure we'll find out in due course."

The girl was now stood close enough that Wayne could have easily stabbed her, but she was unflinching and her smirk showed no fear. "So, do you sleep outdoors as well as eat? It's going to piss off the old man if you do, but I think that might be part of the fun." Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted another Ray, it was hard to make out properly in the darkness, but it looked like it was a grey-blue colour. Furrowing her brow, she stepped back a little and pointed towards it, "Any idea whose Ray that is? The old guy wanted everyone to bring theirs inside... looks like you're not the only rebel around here."

 

[The Dapper Mog]

Endless Void Armor

The low hum of the engine was something like a lullaby. The sound echoed throughout the ship, creating a sort of white noise effect that could lull the most alert insomniac into a deep sleep. Unfortunately, Perseus was no exception to this. His narrowed eyes were focused on the view screen in front of him, doing his best to note each and every detail as it went by. He was nearing very close to his destination, as such, flipping a switch that would trigger a stealth mechanism. Soon enough, his target would be in site, and he would have to drop out and meet at the rendezvous point to be picked up by his ship.

A few blips appeared on his screen, indicating his targets. They were mostly grouped together, and he clearly wasn't equipped to deal with several targets at once. Fortunately, one of them seemed to be somewhat isolated. At least he would be able to cross one name off the list. With a quick swipe on the screen to his right, a smaller screen scrolled to the right, revealing photographs and basic intel on his targets. His fingertips casually tapped and slid across the screen as he scrolled through the list, finally stopping on the image of the isolated pilot.

"Elijah Jones." The silver haired man muttered, his remaning eye peering at the face and skimming over his information. "Still just a boy. A shame he chose this path." With a brief sigh, he swiped downward, causing the screen to power off. Perseus moved to the hatch, opening it while placing his helmet over his head. The wind coming in was a little cool, but that was fine. The armor provided ample warmth.

Perseus dropped through the open hatch, falling towards the ground rapidly, activating the thrusters in his boots, allowing him to land safely. The HUD on his visor gave plenty of information, including the whereabouts of his target. It'd only take a few minutes at a brisk pace to reach his target. His hands clenched as he began advancing on his target, spotting his target in less than three minutes. Now came the fun part.

Elijah seemed to be absent mindedly pacing, almost like he were in an argument with himself. His hand went back to the hilt of his blade, fingers clenching the weapon as he neared him. "Mr. Jones." Perseus said quietly, alerting his target, whom proceeded to whirl around on him just in time for the blade to swing through his midsection. The blade sliced through both skin and bone neatly, not catching at all. A stream of blood was thrown onto the ground in a lengthy splatter.

The young man's eyes widened, looking at the blade with nary a drop of blood on it. He seemed genuinely uncertain as to whether or not he had actually been cut, the pain apparently not a good enough indicator. He hit the ground hard, blood quickly pooling beneath him as his assailant walked briskly away, sheathing his blade.

​

 

[Quiet One]

Max coughed as he sucked on the nasty-tasting gel again. It was a handy medical gel, able to counteract food-based contaminants in the body without forcing an uncomfortable purging. Still, what didn't come out of one end he knew would eventually leave the other, so he'd walked out of Idlaide and gagged himself with his finger to get some of it out of his system.

"That's the last time I get food from Aguaceles without checking what farm it's from," he said to himself. "Combined with that medley salad and those potatoes...huh. It actually tastes a little like bacon."

Idlaide gave a few curious beeps and tones.

"No it doesn't really! I'm just...trying to psyche myself into this feeling better than it really does," he replied. "And before you ask, no, it's not working."

He cursed and wiped his mouth on his sleeve. If it had been the older brother he'd have ripped him a new one for his parents having sent bad shellfish. However since it was scared Yukiko that didn't seem fair.

He was distracted by the sound of a deep metallic rumbling. The rumbling continued again and again, changing in pitch and accompanied by high screeching notes. It was a cry of pain, of anger, and of loss. It was the kind of cry only made by a Ray. Augustine screamed out its laments right in front of Marissa and Wayne, but Max could hear them all the way from where he stood. Everyone could. Rays seemed to make themselves deliberately the loudest thing in the area, screeching and crying out its sorrow and pain. And only one thing could make one react like that. Max flicked his wrist. Lights popped out and illuminated a path down his arm, and also a sharp click was heard as the Force Gun was drawn. He broke off into a run towards the Rays. He knew it was a Ray, but needed to determine which one.

 

[Orbital]

Trent stumbled out of the toilet room nauseously. He heard the sounds of an obviously dieing machine. "What the hell is happening?" Trent said, concerned. He had heard recordings of the noise but it was much more bone rattling in real life. Once he realized what it was he took off in a sprint towards the hanger and Axor. He met up with Max on the way. "What's happening?!"

 

[Daws Combine]

Wayne pressed his hands into his ears as the sound of the Ray screaming pierced his ears. He instinctively ran away, dashing the direct opposite direction of the noise. What the hell was that? He thought. It sounds.... sad. Suddenly, his foot caught on something and he fell face first into the dirt, reacting by trying to use his knife to break his fall. Instead of the blade digging into the dirt, he felt something else. Something with more resistance. Something.... softer. He looked up and saw his blade buried hilt deep into the corpse of one of his fellow pilots. He shouted and let go of his knife, crawling away from the deceased as fast as he could. When he was a bit farther away, he looked at the situation before him. he was practically fucked. Everybody had seen him with that knife. His fingerprints were all over it and, to top things off, his initials were carved into the base of the blade. He had come here to avoid a prison sentence. He ended up being the unintentional fall guy for what looked like a murder. Great.... My day is officially ruined....

 

[Heron]

Yukiko frowned as she heard a faint noise. "Demeter, can you pause it?" she asked, and the loud music cut off with a beep. "Thanks," she said, standing up. The door slid open and immediately a horrible noise slammed through her skull. The girl fell backwards and Demeter's door slid shut again, sealing out the screeching racket. "What is that?" she asked, slumping into her chair. The ship made a sad sounding noise, and Yukiko bit her lip worriedly. Then her eyes fell upon a pair of head phones that seemed to have just appeared.

"Did you do that?" she asked, but only received a small click in return as the door began to open once more. Yukiko slid the sound muffling headphones on, smiling as she realized the song from earlier was playing on them. Then she stepped out of the ship, waved goodbye to her Ray, and skipped off to find the others.

 

[Disgruntled Goat]

The excruciatingly loud noise had been so loud and so sudden that Marissa had been forced to her knees, placing both hands over her ears just to cope with the noise. These were the death cries of an anguished Ray; something that Marissa had been told by an old colleague when she signed up. She was warned about how loud and painful they were, and in many cases, these cries were the most powerful justification given for the Rays having actual feelings and emotions, as opposed to just being highly advanced spacecraft. Unless these cries were phenomenally loud, to the point of deafening all in the vicinity, this noise would have to be coming from a Ray outside, and as far as Marissa knew, there were only a handful left out of the hangar. There was the captain's Ray, Wayne's Ray, and the as-yet unidentified grey-blue Ray.

Well, it wasn't Wayne's Ray, because Wayne had bolted the moment the sound began, meaning that both he and his Ray were very much alive. She forced herself up to a standing position and saw the grey-blue Ray in the next clearing, and she saw that it was going berserk. Its lights were flashing brightly, it was hovering a good three or four feet off of the ground and it was clearly the source of the noise, so Marissa needed to get away from it, and fast. She could tell Max what she had seen, and he would probably know whose Ray it was, and then they could figure out what had happened.

As she stood and began to turn, Marissa's mind turned faster and thoughts of Tequila Sunrise flooded her mind. She had promised to go back to her Ray before going to bed, and, so far, she hadn't kept that promise, if she was to have died tonight then she would never get to keep it. Who was to say that this Ray wasn't in the same situation? Perhaps its pilot had been eating dinner inside, with the promise that they would come back out later so that this Ray was simply waiting for its pilot to return. Marissa gritted her teeth and turned back towards the grey-blue Ray. Machine or something more? Right now, it wasn't even a question; these things had feelings and this one was clearly dying. Marissa wouldn't let a person die on their own, or in such pain, and she wasn't about to let a Ray go out alone either. She owed it to Teqi, if nothing else.

Cursing herself, Marissa covered her ears and ran towards the sound, moving through the undergrowth and towards the dying Ray. She was so close to the noise now that having her hands over her ears was making almost no difference, which left them free for other things. She steeled herself and approached the Ray, cautiously reaching out her right hand and placing it on the Ray's underbelly. "Shhhh," she said, trying to calm the craft, "Shhh, shhh."

What else could she do? What else could she say? It wasn't all going to be alright, and it didn't seem appropriate to tell anyone to calm down when they were dying.

Marissa placed both hands on the wild Ray and pressed her forehead against it, too. "Shhh, shhh, you're not alone little one. It hurts, I know it hurts, but this is the way of the world, and unfair as it is, people die. It's something that we're surprisingly good at." She shook her head. What was she saying? The Ray did seem to be marginally quieter, but Marissa wasn't sure if the Ray would grow quieter as it died, or if she was just going deaf, or if perhaps her words and touch were having some effect. Not knowing any better, but also knowing that anyone on Ellesandis would see the lights of this Ray and that at least some people would follow it, she continued trying to calm the vessel. "Shhh, little one. Shhh, now," she spoke, feeling the heat building up inside of the Ray.

The heat continued to build until Marissa could touch it no more and as she stepped backwards, it looked as if the craft was beginning to glow. The heat build up, the glow, and the noise... was this Ray about to explode? If it packed as much destructive force as she believed it could, then it would take out half of the moon with it. "Shit," she muttered to herself, mashing her bracelet with her left hand and trying to turn it into the weapon that she had bragged to Wayne about only minutes earlier. "Shit, shit, shit!"

As she frantically tapped away, the bracelet finally revealed its weaponised form and Marissa only then realised what she was intending to do. "I'm sorry!" she called out, before taking aim and firing a blast of energy straight at the Ray, scorching the underside of its hull and leaving behind a black mark. "I'm sorry!" she shouted again, before taking aim and firing towards the cockpit, blasting the toughened glass with her bracelet. When she had looked over Teqi earlier, she had identified the cockpit glass as one of the weaker points in the craft's armour. With a lucky shot, she managed to take out some part of the locking mechanism, as the cockpit glass flung up and allowed the girl a chance to get inside of the Ray. Not that she would be able to, with the way that the panicked Ray was shaking, or the fact that the heat was now so intense that she could feel it on her skin without even touching the Ray.

Marissa scanned the area and spotted a few large rocks to the left of the Ray. She ran towards them, firing at the Ray the whole time, hoping it would turn to face her as she moved. When she reached the rocks, the redhead hopped up to the tallest one, now able to stand at the same height as the Ray. As it turned towards her, she could see into its cockpit and began firing off as many shots as she could. If she could take out some of the internal machinery, perhaps the Ray would shut down...

 

[Quiet One]

As Max ran in the darkness he heard someone running to catch up behind him. He turned his light to him to find Trent. He didn't have time to get elaborate. "That's a Ray we're hearing. I think one of our own is in trouble."

That wasn't quite true. He thought one of their own was dead. Distress didn't warrant this type of reaction.

He stopped briefly as he heard pops in the air, followed by the breaking of glass. The screams of the Ray were beginning to die down until they went silent. Then there was a heavy thud. He broke off into his run again, his arm outstretched so the light was the first thing to shine on the scene. Marissa was standing on a rock in front of Augustine with her arm outstretched, her Force Gun drawn and pointing at the distressed Ray, which was now pock-marked, the glass shattered and the cockpit destroyed. The thud had been the Ray finally shutting down, dropping to the ground. Marissa was staring first at the Ray, and then at him when she saw the light in her direction. The Ray's cries had come before he heard the shots, which only pissed him off more as he marched past her to Augustine, a string of French profanity hanging in the air in his wake.

"Oh. Oh you poor thing," he said to her, hand reaching out and stroking the damaged nose. There were a few low rumbles from the Ray, but not for long as it finally shut down completely. "No chance to bond. No pilot. No hope. I am so sorry for that. Rest...let your spirit rejoin the Cosmos..."

He stroked her a little more, sighing sadly. Everyone considered the Rays sentient on some level, and many would call their behavior so life-like they might as well be alive, but only the captains considered the possibility of them having a soul. Their AIs mimicked the energies and behavior of the human brain. If people had souls, why wouldn't they? He had just revealed a bit of the Unist in him, one of the few religions during his brief time on Paipas he'd understood. He wasn't truly a member of that faith, but he did find himself saying stuff like that from time to time.

His eyes shot open again and he charged at Marissa, teeth bared in fury.

"What the hell do you think you were doing shooting her in her death throws?!" he demanded. He grabbed her right wrist and squeezed tightly, knowing the nerve points to trick the gun into disappearing. "She was suffering! And you just made it worse! You're lucky she didn't shoot you during that! If I were in her place, I would have!"

He cursed angrily and paced around the area. "Were you alone around here?" he asked her.

He looked down at the ground, and if she was about to answer him he stopped her with a raised hand. There were footprints in the grass; his light showed them. He followed them, Trent and Marissa tagging behind. He stopped as the light came across Wayne crouched by Elijah's body, his knife in the kid's lung/shoulder area. The boy appeared to be cut in half. The knife, intentional or not, was nothing more than an added insult.

"Well," he said angrily. "I bet this is awkward."

He sighed again and held his wrist up to his mouth.

"Oswin! Sorry to interrupt your private time, but did you happen to see any unregistered ships from your moon?" he asked the wristband.

Oswin Juenva Jones' voice replied from it, "No. Nothing on scan. Why?"

"Because one of our recruits has just been murdered."