The Search for Elysium

Status
Not open for further replies.
Toomas watched as the Procyon doctor assisted his wounded comrade. Toomas' basic field dressings helped a little, but this doctor knew their physiology way more than Toomas ever would. He was walking around the ship, watching as various Procyons were making repairs on the ship when he heard one talking to Morena "We'll have the ship repaired enough to move within six or seven hours..." it said, it's voice trailing a little. These things are probably shell shocked to hell, Toomas thought to himself... To see Sidarian pirates invade, kill most of the crew mercilessly, and then lock everyone up in a small room... He did not envy what must be going on in their minds.

Toomas walked over to a smaller Procyon who was fixing...something on the wall. "What can I do to help?" he asked. The Procyon looked up at him and said "Head over to the engine room, they need help back there."

As Toomas was walking to where he thought the engine room was, he came back to the Sidarian ship locked into the airlock. He peeked inside and noted that there was nothing besides two very uncomfortable looking seats. He walked up to the main console and powered it up. The symbols that popped up were all alien to him, he could not read Sidarian. "damn..." he whispered under his breath.

Just then a flashing display popped up. He couldn't read it, but he didn't like the sign of it...

Toomas turned head back to the Procyon bridge and as he did the ship's onboard PA system crackled to life.

"Unidentified Procyon vessel, this is Human-Centauri Alliance vessel Firelin. We are responding to your emergency beacon. We have medical teams, engineering teams, and a combat team ready to deploy. We need you to jettison the ship blocking the starboard airlock so our boarding party can dock."

The Firelin... Toomas thought to himself. That was a battlecruiser. What was a battlecruiser doing all the way out here. "Captain, we should leave." Toomas said. "They might take us as pirates. If the Centauri are the first across, they don't take kindly to pirates." As he said that a Procyon had closed the airlock doors and jettisoned the Sidarian ship.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Morena walked around as the work was being accomplished, finally stopping in the engine room.

She should have felt at home here, but as the engineers bustled around, she realized she had no clue how to read Procyon. The remaining Procyons of the transport ship's engineering department, only three or four Tumors, ran around and worked together like clockwork. Given more time, she could have learned to read Procyon and consulted with the other engineers to learn something. But for now, the most she could do was play "errand girl," and get the professionals the tools they needed. None of the understaffed crew really had time for teaching.

So after about half an hour, she wondered back to where Toomas was, just in time for him to comment on the approach of the Firelin.

"We aren't useful anyway. And the last thing we need is a 'random' inspection. I don't think there's any warrant on the Intergalactic Network for us at the moment, but now is not the time to find out. Besides, we don't want to get this pinned on us, and we lowly humans are useless here," the captain of the Reisende replied with a smile, speaking both to her First Officer and the Procyons in the room. She genuinely wished they could have stayed longer and learned more about the alien technology, but perhaps there would be other opportunities. Quickly, they said their goodbyes and Morena led the way back to the Reisende.

As they entered the ship, she messaged the vessel.

"Depressurize and disengage the ship bay, please," she requested to the Procyons.
 
Toomas walked along the length of the Reisende, hoping that this Alliance ship would take no interest in them. He heard the familiar hiss and woosh that told him the connection ports between the two ships had been disconnected. "Alright Captai, let's get the heck out of here" he said. Toomas looked at the long range scanner which showed the location of all heat sources within a 500 mile radius.

The Reisende was at the center of the circle, and it flared up due to the engines firing. The Procyon ship was a very small dot, due to the small amount of heat it gave off. The Alliance vessel Firelin was a long wide strip of heat rapidly approaching the Procyons. Suddenly, a smaller dot split off from the Firelin. Toomas sighed and looked at Morena "boarding craft. Heading towards us..." he said. The Reisende was a good ship, but it couldn't outrun the Alliance.

Toomas walked to his room and laid all his weapons into view. He had...quite a few more than he thought. He slid a handgun into a holster on his hip, and walked towards the airlock.

The airlock of the Reisende hissed as it pressurized and there was a loud knock on the door. Toomas pressed a button to open the door and was greeted first by four Alliance rifle barrels, then a six foot tall alien. He looked almost human, two arms, two legs. The only major differences were that his skin was a deep purple, his knees bent backwards like a flamingo, his eyes were on the side of his head, he had no nose, and his mouth was where a human chin should be.

Toomas and the alien stared each other down for a few seconds before the alien smiled. Toomas laughed and shook hands with the alien "Hadn't seen you in a while, was starting to miss you, you shark headed alien." he said to the alien.
 
"Ahh, my pale-skinned, reverse-legged friend. How have you been?" the shark-headed alien, whose name happened to be Cupas, replied brightly, shaking Toomas' hand with gusto. "What in the 'Verse have you gotten yourself into now? And who is your fine companion?"

"The name's Morena Jenkins, captain of this vessel," Morena replied, smiling warmly but speaking in a polite and business-like manner.

"It is pleasant to meet you, friend. This is a fine little ship you've got here," the alien replied calmly, smiling a toothy smile at Morena. The vessel captain was not the kind of woman to sit in the background, and longed to take charge of the situation. But seeing the connection between her first officer and this inspector, she decided to let him do the talking. It was more prudent to let the friends handle it, and of course they were still armed if things got dicey.
 
Toomas smiled at his old friend "Oh you know. Just trying to scrape out a living in the galaxy." He stepped back from the airlock and out stretched an arm. "You're welcome to search our ship. We have no contraband." He thought to himself to prepare for the ribbing he was sure to get when Morena said she was the Captain.

Several Alliance soldiers stepped through the airlock and began a sweep of the small ship, making remarks of the wreck the kitchen was, noting the cargo hold...and it's lack of cargo... Toomas counted to himself...finally he heard a nervous human voice "uhh...sir? You....might wanna see this..." Toomas saw the soldier was in the doorway of his room. He smiled at Cupas and said "Don't worry, it's all legal"
 
Morena shot her first officer the dirtiest of looks behind Inspector Cupas' back. She was constantly telling him that he had too many guns, even for the work they did. At most, a good scavenger needed about eight firearms; that was more than enough to cover every reasonable situation. Toomas, on the other hand, owned about five times that, many of which were prominently displayed. But still, she stayed silent for now. She was not about to defend him until he really needed it. Though she did not believe in a higher deity (far from it), she silently prayed that he actually did have the permits. Otherwise, it was going to be a pain in the ass filled with paperwork and possible imprisonment, where any attempt at escape would just make things worse.

"You'll forgive me if I don't just take your word for it," Cupas replied, pulling up Toomas' file on his datapad. There was silence for a few minutes while he found the proper file. "It does appear that everything is in order, though you have to swing by a Central planet and get your license renewed in three months. Don't forget."
 
"Oh come on Cupas, you should recognize half of these guns, they're keepsakes from our pirate busting days." Toomas said with a grin. He walked around his old squad mate and winked at Morena to try and reassure her. After the soldiers were finished with the search, Toomas invited them to sit and and have a drink, maybe share some war stories. He opened one of the few cabinets that had not been destroyed in the earlier scuffle and grabbed a few glasses, then reached into a different cabinet and pulled out a large dark bottle. "They call it Spacer's Ale. Even though it isn't technically ale, it'll knock you off your feet if you aren't ready for it." Toomas said as he poured a glass. "Here rookie, you look like you've never had a drink." he was pointing to the young soldier who had first spotted Toomas' "collection"
 
"Yeah, I know. That's what worries me," Cupas returned, raising an eyebrow and smirking in a very human-looking gesture. He took the cup graciously and pulled up a chair to sit down. Sarkonians were larger than humans, but they had faster and more efficient metabolisms, allowing them to make better use of weaker substances. As a result, the their alcohol tolerance amounted to approximately the same as humans.

Taking a glass for herself, Morena commented, "It is impressive just how many independently-evolved alien races have managed to develop some form of spirit."

"Naturally. It's practically part of an intelligent species survival to find something that makes life somewhat more bearable," Cupas pointed out, flashing the woman a toothy smile. "In any case, it looks like your papers are in order. I'd have hated to bring in an old friend like this."
 
Toomas took a drink and suppressed a laugh. "I'm sure you'd hate it so much." he nudged at Cupas. "We both know if I truly were breaking any laws, we'd fight over it, and I'm sure most of the people on your ship know about our rivalry. If they don't, they're about to be educated." Toomas said as he finished his first glass. "Now, kiddos. A long long time ago, there was a gorgeous young human man who entered the military. Training Unit 210. That man, was actually my brother." Toomas joked as he poured himself a second drink. "Anyways, long story short, me and Cupas trained together, I can headshot him from basically any range, and he will quite literally kick my ass in hand to hand."

After finishing his second drink in short order Toomas loudly said "so, Cupas. Find any women to keep you company while I was away?" Toomas walked clumsily over to the cabinet and grabbed a bottle of much stronger alcohol. "Morena, correct me if I'm wrong, but the ship has auto-pilot or auto-navigation, or some other crap like that, right?" he said as he poured a few more glasses for himself and a couple of the soldiers still on the ship.
 
Morena sipped a glass of wine calmly, listening to the information but staying away from the hard alcohol. On their crew of two, she did not think it was a terribly good idea for she and Toomas to be drunk at the same time. Besides, she disliked putting too much of any drug into her body, given the longterm detrimental effects.

"Oh my God! We're all doomed! Who's flying this thing?!" she demanded, jumping out of her seat and looking around, pretending to panic. "Yes, that would be the autopilot. Do I look like a total backbirth to you?" Cupas just laughed and looked back at Toomas.

"How did you not know that the ship you're living on had an autopilot?" he joked, lightly punching his old friend on the arm.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom
Back