- Invitation Status
- Writing Levels
- Give-No-Fucks
- Preferred Character Gender
- Male
- Genres
- Any.
The soft hiss of air would be heard coming from the quarian as she'd have to stop herself from hurling insults back at the volus, her body stiff as she'd weigh the pros and cons of what she could do, her hand unintentionally hovering over her predator pistol, before she'd eventually just let out a soft, agitated sigh as she'd mutter something under her breath.
"Damned greedy mole, bosh'tet.."
His words stung harder than he knew. She was trying her best to avoid thieving, even with her dire finances.
Though listening to the merchant, she'd lighten up a little bit, pausing momentarily as she'd see the Mandalorian creep into the store, but deciding to ignore him for the moment as she'd listen to the offer, raising a hand to start browsing through the omni-tool upgrades. She didn't have the time or resources to work on a droid, and she didn't want to risk losing it when she was off doing a mission when money was already so hard to come by, though the allure of technology would help take her mind of things.
Dardall looks between the mining suit and the lightly armored but more modular system. He bounces a few ideas. Buying the cheaper one and some modifications, buying the more expensive one and making do with the armored system, or buying both for greater versatility. Versatility had merit, but a simple fact flashed through his mind. The priorities for safety were very simple.
Don't be there. Don't be detected. Don't be identified. Don't be hit. Don't be penetrated. Don't be killed. Like it or not armor was the last thing that would be utilized. That doesn't mean he should skimp on it, but prioritizing the inner segments when there was so much that had to go wrong before then was madness. If he was being shot at, it means that he failed to avoid detection, it means he failed to avoid being acquired, and it means he got hit. He was far better off ensuring that he was never hit in the first place. If for whatever reason the outside of the onion wasn't an option he could armor it up anyway.
The question was what augments he could get. Going with the theme, investing in longer range hacking capabilities and detection mitigation would be a good idea. He chose his next words carefully, making sure to sound perfectly legal.
"I'll take the lightly armored suit for thousand. What's your pricing for detection mitigation and remote connection/communication tech for this suit? Armor pricing would be nice to have as well."
R3 was quick a response back, giving a set of excited beeps.
"That sounds great, thank you!"
Sukarma pats R3 on the top, then stands back up and flexes the hand she secured the snap on to ensure it is comfortable and secure again. Well, as much as it had been, at least. She stood up and looked to Dardall, "One of the cheap ones that support comms multiplexing protocols is a good option, even if it's short-range. I've got one, and as long as the nic uses at least 128-bit addressing, the node wrangler is cheap to set up."
A widespread solution for corps with work crews was mesh networking topologies, individual devices that only shouted loud enough to be heard hundreds of meters away. That made them different animals to surveil at long range when chattering over each other, even if not encrypted, than those that reached tens of kilometers. Less power, less complicated antenna, and notably for the corporations, cheaper. Sold in crates at volume, they had a massive used market if one knew how to reset and configure them. It required a multiplexer server as a mesh herder though the biomechanoid could muster that fine even if she were asleep. More critical to Sukarma was that if she was going to bring them to her body, it was a network her mind navigated more readily to defend subconsciously.
She wasn't sure about the random individuals except that there were two engineers. What seemed decent ones and the Quarian, who she thought might empathize with a living ship. Someone had to figure out what the fuck was wrong with her hyperdrive, and she didn't trust anyone at the station she was on when she felt something was redacting thoughts in her head as it was. Point defense already fired earlier as someone tried to sneak through the ducts when memories stapled into her consciousness' timeline from very, very far away. A few low-energy rounds to the chest plate convinced them to leave, but it meant the ingress she used to get to her body unseen had been compromised, probably by whoever had to get around the bay to mine those fuel lines. Things would worsen there before they got better. This meant taking a chance to alter the situation when she was already discovered by someone who could and probably would sell the expendable one off once they were done with her. Something deep in her mind whispered that the shadow broker knew precisely who they were sending and what they were orchestrating. Sukarma just couldn't see the end goal, and that uncertain future terrified her.
"I can fill you in on our way to fix the cruiser. I'm going to check on the Quarian engineer. I heard shouting." She felt Dardall would be acute enough to discern some of the shadow operative's mention that 'Suki' had ship weapons, establish context for her body, and relate it to the others with only shuttles. Even if she hadn't told anyone her name, much less the nickname though that was the obvious shortened form, it wasn't the childhood nickname she liked. At least for as long as it took for Cerberus to discover a reason that the creator fell out of an airlock where she couldn't save them. No connections, no affection, just like all her pets. A damaged cruiser was probably a good reason to buy heavy-duty welding armor for a noise-heavy comms environment. If there was anything she learned from Cerberus, it was plausible deathability and to say as little as possible to set them off.
The expressionless mask turned away, leaving them with clumps of her boots as heavy as her thoughts. She parsed back to find where the Quarian had gone, though along the way looked to Vilkas over with the cargo caller. If he looked her way, she gave him a thumbs up as she logged his location, then turned to approach Ami and Headarche as she clumped behind a Volus as he left the store. She watched him glare at Ami and returned a low growl as he turned around, then scurried away. A slow pan about the shop told her that it was just a bunch of hot air in the yelling, so she peered to see what the merchant offered rather than interrupting them.
Tanya continued to stare the volus down the entire conversation until he left the store, glancing towards the quarian and then back at the volus when she arrived. She was quiet for a few moments as the merchant explained the regularity of the volus's appearances. Tanya simply shook her head at the annoying little bowling ball's behavior before replying. "Honestly been a long time since I've seen one of those guys, this whole thing made me remember why I don't like people like that," She said with a chuckle, limply gesturing at the door where the volus had left the store.
Her gaze looked back at the quarian once more, seemingly having sensed a momentary shift and idea in her thoughts that had been tossed off to the side. Tanya seemed to have been inspecting the quarian for one moment and then finally looked back at the mandalorian who had entered the store with them. The former inquisitor seemed to shrug off an idea for later, shelving it for a better location and situation. "Nice job," She simply said to Ami. The words seemed to have hidden a secret beneath them, having some other meaning and complimenting some other aspect of the situation besides giving the quarian a sense of comfort. The feeling itself didn't dwell too much as Tanya turned to the merchant. "Do you sell anything that would upgrade a VI in some ways? The current one I have is only good for glossary research information and was wondering what other things you'd have. My price range is around 700 credits if that helps put things into context," She explained, getting off the counter and standing more straight.
The VI would then chip in, the blue omni-tool on Tanya's wrist coming to life and explaining something in a synthetic and jumbled voice. It sounded somewhat like that of an old butler, having a slight British accent that came along with the information in a chipper tone.
"VI! Otherwise known as a virtual intelligence is a type of electronic service assistant that helps in various situations. Typically given restrictions as to avoid the catastrophes of things such as the geth. This model is able to provide a large array of information from the net and is great for analysis of minerals and strategic advise! Please let me know when-"
"Gabriel, please mute"
"Yes ma'am!"
and with that a click was heard as the omnitool was quickly shut off.
"My apologies" Tanya concluded with an awkward chuckle.
The anemic merchant would nod at Ami as she browsed the Omnitool upgrades portion of the kiosk though he'd step in and press a few buttons to show off some off-table upgrades and completely making the cost zero credits. The unspoken 'You get a freebie.' While what he had wasn't quite top of the line, they were impressive pieces of tech regardless. One upgrade would allow Ami to bypass security systems via looping security cameras or messing with droids' systems while keeping the user completely safe from detection. The next upgrade was a lot more combat focused with its systems being more tuned to override the controls of turrets, droids or shields and certain weapons. If Ami was imaginative, she could even use it to make some gear overheat and explode outright.Indeed Vilkas noticed the terror in the Rodian's eyes. The bounty hunter knew it more than he wished to. Besides, despite not being much off businessman, he knew this kind of deal was 'too convenient'. The alien wanted someone, anybody to get it off her hands.
What makes her frightened? There is more to her tale than she has shared.
His dark eyes narrowed in suspicion. One of the things he absolutely hated was being deceived. Lies were commonly practiced in this so-called modern society as they call it.
"Do not insult me with falsehoods! Why do you really want to get rid of these parts? What are they truly?"
If he is not satisfied with her answer Vilkas will leave without another word.
@The Wanderer @Noble Scion @PolyesterH @littlekreen @Wiggin
The rest of the Omnitool upgrades were a lot less specialized and more general upgrades like faster connect times or range and so on. The Merchant would turn to Tanya to speak to her about her request. His brow furrowed as he scratched his chin, deep in thought. "I don't really have anything great in regards to upgrading your VI. I can look and see if I got something along the lines of expanding the VI's ability to connect to local databases and copy 'em. And I wouldn't worry 'bout the cost today. I would if you visit again but even then, I'll probably throw in a discount." He said with a chuckle as he went to a terminal on the back wall, flipping through his stock for a couple of minutes before he'd nod at something on the screen before he'd bend down to open a compartment. Pulling out a small device, he'd limp back over to Tanya's position near his counter and hand the device to her. "It's not great but should fix your VI and give it a nice 'oompf' to being more informative. Now where you get said information is on you." He did clarify with an apologetic look on his pale face.
When Suki walked in, he'd point to the unoccupied kiosk. "If you don't mind me asking but I gotta say I haven't seen you around here before. I recognize her and the fella in the back from that little incident a couple of years back." He was very obviously referring to Otto and Ami.
The former would obviously shift awkwardly at being mentioned. The Mandalorian would walk out of the shop and stand near the entrance. "Lively one, ain't he?" The merchant would joke.
@Noble Scion @Wiggin @littlekreen
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Krogan would let out a noise of acknowledgement as he put away the other two suits, leaving what Dardell wanted. The Veteran listening keenly to his request. "I should have something for the armor, but for tech you may want to visit that kid across the way. He's more into that tech mumbo jumbo." He'd comment before he got out armor segments, stuff that could easily be slotted in on the suit. "The thicker the armor, the more pricer, but going off your look. I'd assume you want to be sneaky and not be in the thick of it but want a good thing to fall back on." So he'd leave a medium set of armor segments on the counter. "This can hold against a fair bit of weapons but keeping just light enough to avoid making too much noise or limiting you. This can cover your chest, thighs and forearms. Independant pieces will run you for about a hundred. Complete set is just four-hundred. I'll toss in a voucher for the tech so you don't have to spend much and this." He'd put a power unit on the counter next to an electronic pad.
"For that lady that walked in here, she's packin' at least sixty pounds of armor that could be made lighter with this. From a warrior to another."
@PolyesterH
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Rodian would look at Vilkas with concern and apprehension.
"I....Look, I made a purchase for someone in hopes of seeming like I can take the initiative and well. They can't be sold here due to a surplus. I.....Basically I bought a lot of items in bulk but I can't sell them for a profit here since there is already a bunch of stuff being sold here similar to this. It's like selling bread next to a bunch of bakeries." She was telegraphing way too hard that she was indeed telling the truth.
"So I just need someone to find somewhere to sell these and make a profit so my boss doesn't fire me, I can't afford to lose this job...As for what the items are, they're droid parts. Salvaged but good parts. That Volus said so." She'd pause before speaking the truth as to what the parts are. "And....Yes they are Battle Droid units with their combat modules removed and replaced with servant ones but they can still make a profit. Just not here unfortunately."
It was pretty cut and dry in regards to the situation. A foolish employee trying to seem like they were dependable to higher ups but ended up making an innocent mistake.
@Nomad-22