Spaceside

[Lost_Deep]

Salad Station

As Fortuna walks on, she might notice an add not targeted at her. Unless Fortuna is interested in that blood store in Mallside, it's far more likely that ad is targeted at the white-haired woman with pale skin, angular features, and red eyes. She's wearing black armor, and has a sword on her hip; overall she much less anything sci-fi and more black knight. She gives Fortuna a glance (more than she gave the ad), but doesn't seem to think much of her.

[Rebonack]

[Salad Station]

Player character... sense... tingling...

Fortuna might not be able to read between the lines quite as clearly when she isn't in draconequus form, but something about that gal in the dark knight (not batman, sadly) armor is drawing her attention like a moth to an electrified bug-zapper.

Hopefully the end result isn't similar.

To that end? Fortuna wheels around to face the woman!

While hovering a fraction of an inch off the floor and sort of skating backwards.

It might look somewhat silly, like a person 'walking' at a bad framerate.

"Hi there! Is this your first time up here?" she asks, her tone full of her usual friendliness.

[Lost_Deep]

Salad Station

The woman sighs, stops, and admits... "Yes. And I am very lost."

[Rebonack]

[Salad Station]

"Me too!" Fortuna declares. "Though less the lost part. I know right where I am thanks to my PIP. It's really handy."

She gestures at the wrist computer attached to (unsurprisingly) her left wrist.

"Where were you trying to go? Maybe I can help you get there?"

Boy, Fortuna sure is helpful.

What a nice person!

Taking time out of her busy scheduled to help ye olde vampires learn their way around the depths of space.

...

Hopefully this doesn't result in Fortuna getting bit.

That would be the worst.

[Lost_Deep]

Salad Station

"I'm not, in particular, I'm more curious about finding what this place has to offer, and I'm just finding more and more gently curving identical corridors. I never did understand the labyrinthine school of architecture. At least among vampires it makes some sense..." She muses aloud.

[Rebonack]

[Salad Station]

Fortuna has no real issue with vampires. At least if they aren't busy killing her and/or other people. She knows that lots of vampires lead normal lives around the Nexus, so it's best not to jump to conclusions. That would be really hypocritical coming from a being of primordial chaos magic!

"I guess you don't have a HUD then?" Fortuna replies. "This part of the station interfaces with your personal HUD and provides handy visual directions to your destination! Though I guess if you don't have one it could get pretty confusing since... well. The identical, gently curving corridors and all."

Oh.

Well.

That would explain why the vampire has been wandering around aimlessly, wouldn't it?

This might be the part where she asks what a HUD-

"A HUD is a heads up display. Some people wear glasses that provide them with one, others use helmets. Mine is magically synchronized with my nervous system and superimposes the images directly into my vision."

That last one would probably be a non-option for vampires on account of being not-alive.

[Lost_Deep]

Salad Station

"I have nothing of the sort, no," the vampire says, "If you could help me find a place that is more reasonable, I would appreciate it."

[Rebonack]

[Salad Station]

"This place is plenty reasonable if you have the proper hardware to take advantage of it," Fortuna points out as she continues skating backwards with nothing but her own psionic power holding her up. Considering that she's just standing there as if she were... well... just standing there, it looks rather silly. Especially when she crosses one arm over her chest and rests her chin on her hand in a classic thinker pose. "Hmm... though I guess if you weren't really paying attention you could have gotten here by mistake instead of landing at one of the districts for the technologically impaired..."

Poor, poor technologically impaired people.

"Anywho! I can help you get somewhere that actually has signs and stuff," Fortuna offers. "Was there anything in particular you came here for?"

Probably just to be in space.

There have been rumors of vampires chilling on space stations where the sun never shines.

[Lost_Deep]

Salad Station

"I just wanted to come up here to see what it was about. The idea interests me, to say the least. I'm curious about this all, there was nothing of the sort where I came from," she explains, "I don't think anything went up to, or down from, the stars at all."

[Rebonack]

[Salad Station]

Just wanting to see the place.

Yep!

Fortuna can understand that.

Curiosity was part of the motivator for her coming up here, though a good chunk of it also had to do with the need to acquire certain goods that were prohibited Inside. And for good reason! Devices that can poke a hole in space are potentially dangerous!

Though, one thing in particular makes her curious...

"Why wouldn't anyone be able to come or go from the stars?" Fortuna asks curiously.

Maybe this person came from a world where the stars were thought to be little glowing things stuck in a crystal dome spinning around the planet?

[Lost_Deep]

Salad Station

"Well, the most advanced technology was 'steam tanks,' and there was so much warfare that no one was dedicating magical research to going to space... that I'm aware of, in any case," the vampire says, "It's possible that something was happening and I simply didn't know about it."

[Recaiden]

[Wreck - Opportunistic Scavenger]

The man takes a second hot from the blaster, staggering back and not quite falling over.
And the porcupine girl? Well, there's nothing else for her but to pounce, springing off the container with the knife raised, to bring down on the Omwati.

There's another explanation besides scavengers and crazy-desperate survivors. They could be related to what shut the ship down.

[Drifting in Space]

Similarly, we are interested in your gene-constructs; our workings with biology are surely crude compared to your own people. The manifestation, it is an equivalent but distinct type of energy from psychic concentrations. That would be termed a blue manfiestation; one of your Spiritualists could probably explain the distinction with more precision.
Is that an exhaustive list of large cultures in your place of origin, or simply a comparison?

[Rebonack]

[Salad Station]

"Oh come on, everyone must have stories of things coming down from the stars, even if they're just stories," Fortuna replies. Regardless of the answer, though, they'll soon reach a portion of the station that transitions abruptly from the pristine iSpace surroundings to a much more utilitarian sector filled with metal walk-ways, pipes, and all manner of unpolished, exposed machinery. It's a pretty stark contrast, really. But at least there are signs hung up here and there on corrugated sheets of metal.

Now and then steam hisses from one of the pipes, filling the air with a humid haze. Dark, warm, damp, and unpleasantly similar to the maintenance portions of the Vault Fortuna grew up in.

Fortuna wrinkles her nose at the sight.

"I think I liked the other district more."

If ever there were a place to be mugged by space-thugs, this would probably be it.

Though on the upside, this district also happens to be a pretty good place to find illicit information and goods, which Fortuna is technically seeking...

[Earl of Purple]

Wreck- Opportunistic Scavenger

Well, yes. But since whatever happened to the ship damaged the hull exterior (unless I'm misremembering), the Omwati was expecting the calamity to involve another vessel. Unless they left some behind.

The Omwati falls over as she is pounced, falling forwards with the porcupine-girl on her back. She let go of her blaster and it skitters across the decking. She's really scared now; with the porcupine girl on her back, lying on the floor, she's really quite vulnerable. Her blaster-hand is quickly scrabbling at a pouch on her hip, trying to reach and activate a small anti-gravity device, though in her panic she can't remember which pouch it is in, or even at which hip.

No Longer Drifting in Space

The Universetariat of Flesh, the Temple of Expanding Mind and the Technocracy of Enhanced Science are the three largest human cultures of my home region, inhabiting approximately fifteen to twenty solar systems each. There are several other systems inhabited by cultures descended from crashed spacecraft. One is an acknowledged no-contact zone, as its original inhabitants survived a crash by a sleeper ship originally from Dead Earth. There's also the Homeworld Recovery Project, based on our original moon and working to discover what happened. No sentient non-humans discovered, to my knowledge. Certainly none with interstellar capabilities, not anywhere near our tiny interstellar empires. Only six sleeper ships successfully arrived, of several thousand launched before Earth's death, and only three landed safely. The remains of the others are located on a planet now inhabited by a pre-industrial human society, a moon, and the last lies, undiscovered and unknown, at the bottom of an ocean.

[Lost_Deep]

Salad Station

"This one is a bit claustrophobic," the vampire agrees, "Let's see if we can find some of the stores that are supposed to be in this place."

[Recaiden]

[Wreck - Opportunistic Scavenger]

You remember correctly; there was quite a bit of exterior damage.
The porcupine-girl follows the fall, pinning the scavenger and bringing the knife down, somewhere near the Omwati's right shoulder if she can. It'd be let go, left in her flesh rather than drawn out for another strike.

But then anti-gravity! I'm not quite sure what that'll do, but I imagine they both suddenly stop being held to the floor, whereupon the motion of the struggle sends the porcupine-girl flying away quickly, and the Omwati somewhat more slowly. The assailant is suddenly flailing for something that can give leverage, and the man shot earlier is hanging back, holding onto a crate and sheltering behind its coroner in case the effect reaches him.

[Drifting in Space]

You are aware that you have left your home region?
The voice doesn't change, the player just forgot that it should be colored.
We're heading to Salamagundi Station, which orbits a world referred to as Nexus. There are many tiny cultural zones and numerous sapient species. The Singers of the Moon's Chorus come from a ship that departed Frozen Aeber and landed here long ago, but it had long been inhabited before then. There are enclaves of at least three multi-stellar culture in permanent residence, but no one group has any hegemony.

[Earl of Purple]

Wreck- Opportunistic Scavenger

The Omwati screams as she is stuck with the knife, the point penetrating her space-suit and the flesh beneath.

The anti-gravity device means that, for a few seconds, they are both weightless- something the Omwati was expecting and used to her advantage in dislodging the porcupine girl (not that much appears to have been necessary; sudden weightlessness tends to confuse). Whilst drifting, the Omwati pulls out another weapon. It's a telescopic pole with a battery pack built into an insulated hilt and an electric current running along its length. It's small, light and effective against metallic weaponry, especially vibro-blades. However, injuries to both arms now mean she is not very well co-ordinated and will have difficulty taking on both attackers.

Drifting in Space

You did not recognise the lifebuoy for what it was. In addition, the lifebuoy's memory informs me that it was fired upon by some form of irradiating beam, one which penetrated its shell far enough to trigger its lone self-defence instinct, a short-range spacejump. During said spacejump it experienced heat, low-levels of radiation, gravity, and some form of time anomaly. Alternately, it was both travelling through a region of gamma radiation and twenty-nine metres per second and completely stationary at the same time. From that, I extrapolate that either the Technophiles have some new form of weaponised wormhole, or during its spacejump it fell through a rare spacial anomaly. I could be, theoretically, anywhere in the universe. Or, as the case may be, somewhere outside it and to the left.

[Cyber Punk]

[Salmagundi Space Station - Docks]

Two people arrive at the Space Station. Appearance-wise, they're basically male and female versions of the same person, with their dreadlocked hair, light brown eyes and brown skin. They're dressed in full-body light armor. The girl has a shotgun on her back and the guy has an assault rifle strapped to his back.

Their eyes appear to be glowing.

The twins walk in to a corner of the docks and wait for the witch lady that has a job for them. If anyone were to approach them, they wouldn't mind much. A way to pass the time before their client shows up.

[Terumitsu]

[Salmagundi Space Station - Docks]

The shuttle-ride had been... Well, Riss was quite appreciative of the extra money spent for a higher degree of service than simply 'economy' seating at the least. It wasn't that she didn't have the capitol to spare given her spending habits but it wasn't something she really liked doing just because she had the ability. At the very least, though, having seen how close every person had been outside her section gave her a mild feeling of nausea at just thinking of being stuck in such tight quarters. The ride itself could have been vastly improved but she wasn't being paid to improve it. At the least this station served as a decent place to scope out potential competition for a certain project for her employer... Though her better judgement made her pass on charging the company account for the trip besides the fact that she could most likely get away with it.

Taking a brief moment to connect to the station's network and lamenting at how comparably slow it felt to her usual environs, the muse cast an eye about for her contacts, pausing only for the length of time it took to brush a few long strands of wavy, red hair away from her face. The particular manner of response she had seen on the Wall made her think that... It can't be the twin shtick those two are going for, can it? Now to see if it's a mechanical hive-brain think or just a creepy twin stunt thing if they actually are my contacts. Taking a few moments to breathe and steady herself, she momentarily reflected how odd it was that a person like her who was just terrible with people was actually doing something other than shunning them and keeping herself so relatively isolated as of late. Then again, people can be useful sometimes.. Pacing up to the two weapon-holding look-alikes, the muse set down a rather large, featureless metal suitcase at her side and inquired in a way that was probably reminiscent of the curt style from the advertisement: "Are you the ones who volunteered to show me various nodes or locations of magical import?" Her voice was surprisingly melodic to the point that one might suspect they could be entranced if they listened to it for a little too long. Though.. Perhaps it would be expected given how fairly few people also had what looked like two metal horns that had fused their points together to form some kind of bent 'omega' or horseshoe shape, growing from her temples... Or what looked to be a rather fuzzy belt or sash wrapped around her waist over what looked to be an otherwise smartly professional white button-up shirt and pressed slacks.

[Duck999]

Salmagundi Station-Docks

A person in dark robes, completely covering her body, appears out of nowhere.
Nodes? I'd be interested in helping.
She pauses, trying to remember something.
Right. Introductions. I am Akina Vami, seeker of information, and gatherer of knowledge. I am well versed in magic. How could I help you?

[Cyber Punk]

[Salmagundi Space Station - Docks]

The twins eye the strange lady from a distance, with her omega-head and her weird clothing items. Who wears a fuzzy sash over shirts and slacks?

"My, this lady is rather strangely dressed." Martin says as he raises an eyebrow up.
"Mismatched clothes. Like an adventure game." Matilda replies, smirking.
"Quite." Martin adds, shaking his head.

The twins wait until the lady walks up to them and starts speaking. All the while, the two's eyes are locked on the metal suitcase. Martin is the first to look up. "Yes, we are, which means..." Matilda continues Martin's sentence without looking up. "... you're the client we're waiting for."

Matilda realizes something's amiss. She looks up to see her brother gazing at the witch lady and knocks him on the head. "Quit gazing at her, brother." This causes Martin to snap out of it and rub his head. "Ow!" He comes back to his senses, as evidenced by Matilda nodding once. "Good."

Then the dark-robed lady shows up and starts talking. Strange character, this one. What's she trying to hide under those robes?

The lady introduces herself. They realize they better do so in kind. In this sort of business, it helps to know who you're walking with.

"She's Matilda." "He's Martin." "We're twins," "if that wasn't already obvious."

[Recaiden]

[Wreck - Opportunistic Scavenger]

The porcupine-girl is currently busy getting to her feet as gravity reasserts itself.
The man is...oh man, where did he go? There he is, stepping out from around that crate he was holding onto, an assemblage that appears to be a launcher for those spikes sort of...congealing into shape in his hands.

[Drifting in Space]

You extrapolate reasonably. This would seem to be a region reached by traversing an anomaly.

The voice has little more to say for quite a while as they head through space.
If not addressed, the next thing said will be announcing that they're safely landed at Salmagundi station.

[Earl of Purple]

Wreck- Opportunistic Scavenger

The Omwati reaches up with her left hand to try and pull out the knife in her right shoulder, wincing as she does. Hopefully it isn't barbed; if it is, then she will keep it in until she can remove it safely and without ripping all her shoulder muscles. When she sees Mr. Porcupine conjuring up some form of projectile weapon, she'll run towards the nearest crate and hide behind it, possibly zapping Ms. Porcupine on the way past.

Drifting in Space

It is the most logical explanation for the lifebuoy's memories. I am transferring that particular experience into my own brain, and also into my biocortex. I am sure it shall be of interest to somebody. He'll share it with his rescuer should they ask, though I don't know if they possess compatible technology. He's already decided to reward the vessel's crew, gifting them either the eggs for a bioform or by implanting one of several symbiotic tissues, organs or glands.

[Recaiden]

[Wreck - Opportunistic Scavenger]

A spike pings into the side of the crate as the Omwati hits Ms. Porcupine and sends her screeching back off her feet again.

[Drifting in Space => Landing at Salmagundi Station Docks]

The passengers in the lifebouy might notice themselves finally coming to a halt, jostling back and forth a bit.
Or they might wait to be informed.
We've landed at the station. You should be able to safely exit the lifebouy now.
And they will go to meet them outside.

[Earl of Purple]

Wreck- Opportunistic Scavenger

The Omwati is now pretty stuck. Her anti-grav device is out of charge, her blaster is lost upon the floor, and she's stuck behind a crate. She does take this opportunity to take out a small pouch of synthflesh, which she applies to her knifed shoulder, to stop the bleeding and start the healing process.

Salmagundi Station Docks

The passengers are in a hibernation state, artificially sustained by the lifebuoy in a biological state of suspended animation. Only Istubael is actually awake, and he'll re-enter it when the conversation is over.

After a minute or so after the message, the lifebuoy's shell cracks and floats apart. Amidst the pieces of discarded shell float four bright orange sacs of flesh, each housing a living creature. The rest of the lifebuoy is now dead, or quickly dying, whereas these sacs can keep their occupants alive in space for a week.

[Recaiden]

[Wreck - Opportunistic Scavenger]

And the dagger, as I forgot to mention somehow, is not barbed.
The Omwati can hear the porcupine-girl getting to her feet and walking closer, while the man with the spike-thrower is also trying to find an angle towards her. At least she was able to patch up the wound.

There's rather loud sounds of footsteps and words (sounds like in Basic even) coming from up above, where she entered the hold. That's probably a good sign, right?

[Landing at Salmagundi Station Docks]

And emerging from the ship through a clean hole in its side are the aforementioned people, the young described human woman, the two others, one of whom is going to watch over the life-pods and the other of whom is speaking with a station attendant, the bone-construct unloading wooden crates and placing them on the hover-pallet, and the bird on the woman's shoulder. The manifestation isn't anywhere to be seen just yet.

[Earl of Purple]

Wreck- Opportunistic Scavenger

Possibly, possibly not. These things could be escaped slaves from some feral world, who associate Basic with the pirates which captured them. In which case, the Omwati doesn't want to meet the speakers. But at the moment, she's a bit stuck.

The Omwati pulls out a mirror on a stick and tries to angle it so she can see who is closest- and if they're in zapping range- without putting herself in danger. She also makes a mental note to bring some stun grenades next time.

New Arrivals, Salmagundi Station

If the life-pods are retrieved, since they have no on-board steering mechanisms of their own, once they detect a breathable atmosphere they burst, leaving behind the Flesh Wizard; he's as described, quite handsome, and wearing long, red silk robes with deep pockets filled with tools made from bone, leather and wood, no metal or stone. He looks to be in his mid-twenties. His two servants are very different; one is green-skinned, short and slender, with red eyes and white hair, wearing a simple cotton dress made from a single strip of material with a hole cut in the middle for the neck; she's bare up the sides, and it ends high on her legs. The other is just shorter than Istubael, naked besides thick orange fur growing from her head down her back, across her belly and halfway down her thighs. Her bare skin is deep orange, and her eyes are piercing yellow cat's eyes. Both look to be in their late teens, and resemble Istubael enough to point towards sharing some DNA. The other is non-humanoid, a big bivalve shell held opening-upwards on the back of a twelve-legged arthropod. A seperate head-section bears a pair of massive compound eyes and a pair of heavy mandibles. The first pair of legs end in complex manipulators resembling both human hands and spiders, with most fingers tapering to a fine point.

At the moment, Flesh-Wizard, clone-servants and the walking repository of everything a genetic engineer needs to get themselves set up, is shivering and retching, adjusting to the trauma of awakening from emergency hibernation within a lifebuoy for three years. Istubael knows how long they drifted for, but it doesn't really matter. They're alive, and emergency hibernation is an efficient stasis-state so they haven't actually aged those three years.

[Recaiden]

[Wreck - Opportunistic Scavenger]

I suppose that, and worse things, are always possible. But it's at least a different thing.

In the mirror, the Omwati can see the man is closer, almost in easy zapping range. The porcupine girl is further, but they're converging on the same spot to round the edge of the crate and attack. Both are moving cautiously, carefully, not wanting to get zapped or shot or tossed away from gravity if they can avoid it.

[Salmagundi Station Docks]

The pods are retrieved, but the crew is giving them a while to adjust to being awake again and outside of a cramped escape vessel. The bivalve/spider/genetics lab draws a lot of attention, most of it 'being creeped out'. Those spidery hands though, those look quite capable.

[Earl of Purple]

Wreck- Opportunistic Scavenger

Zapped is all she can do at the moment, as she hasn't picked up her blaster. She's got a knife, but the taser has a longer reach and is therefore to be preferred when it comes to be melee combat.

She cranks the power output on her taser up, as she waits for one to get close enough for a certain hit. Preferably the male, as he has a projectile weapon.

Salmagundi Docks

The walking gene-lab (or at least, walking storage unit with built-in hibernacula and incubator) is the first to recover, followed by Istubael who straightens and looks around. He recoils from metal, which is unfortunate if he's standing on it. The girls don't have any memory of the lifebuoy; after the polyp grew to encase them, they were nearly instantly forced into stasis-hibernation. "So. You are our rescuers, yes? I thank you greatly. I would like to reward you- I have some spare eggs, or some symbiotic tissue implants. Adrenal glands, hormone-boosters, bioluminescent organs, electrogenesis tissue or an organic radio. One each, for the human crew- I fear I would not know where to start with the osseous construct, let alone the black-mana manifestation." He's also assuming the bird isn't actually crew, and more a pet.

His servants, once recovered, transmit a coded radio-message between themselves and look around at their surroundings.

[Recaiden]

[Wreck - Opportunistic Scavenger]

And here comes the moment, Mr. Porcupine rounding the side of the crate, swinging his spike-thrower towards the Omwati not quite quick enough to avoid being tased and collapsing to the ground. But the girl is right behind him, with another knife in her hand somehow, jumping forward and trying to take advantage of the Omwati's weapon having just struck to land a swing.

It's right after then that a greenish light shines down on and past the crate and an angry slightly frightened voice calls out in Basic. "Who's in there?"

[Salmagundi Station Docks]

He may not enjoy this place. There is significant metal content in the plates of the floor. There's metal overhead, metal walls, metal wiring, metal in the mechanisms projecting the force field that keeps atmosphere here despite the blackness of space being accessible just 100 yards away. To say nothing of the majority-composed-of-metal spacecraft a bit beside them.

"That would be us, yes. Istubael? I'm the one you spoke with."

The place is tall for an interior, but not that tall. Just enough to hold the small ships that come to this bay. Currently there's three, each in their own pad demarcated by faintly glowing white lines on the ground and ceiling. The iron-bone ship that rescued them, a flickery transparent thing that resembles a manta ray, and a spindly bundle of plastic tubes that doesn't seem to have much of an interior.

Electric lights shine down from above, bright and white, either welcoming or blinding, depending on your perspective. Tanks of fuel, coolant, and less identifiable things stand by each landing pad, and there's racks of light tools as well as emergency fire extinguishers and air masks at various well-marked places throughout the bay.

The man looks over. "Radio, you say?"
"Most kind of you to offer a reward. It is simply the way of the ways to rescue any who find themselves adrift. What sort of eggs do you mean? Fair enough otherwise; the construct is more a feature of the ship than part of the crew."