Starside

[Reinholdt]

[Dyson Sphere]

Reinholdt frowns and checks the rifle ammo if it has any before stowing it away. At least the weapon turned out to be handy.

"Maybe you'll have better luck with this thing. See if you can't turn that daft alarm off." Rein suggests to Yone as he steps out of the room for some fresh air. Relatively. There's animal carcass in that room is it's definitely not as fresh as the hallway.

[Felandria]

[Pirate Ship]

At the sound, the locker lunges towards Felandria, as much as it can. Which is barely any. But there's no answer.
"I don't remember anything about that box, so it's not a recent kidnapped or anything. Be careful."

The floor seems to tilt slightly as the ship adjusts course, up away from the moon's surface.

Felandria warily backs away from the locker.

I bet whatever is in there is surprisingly cuddly.

Anyway, before we divvy up the treasure, we should probably find out if any of this belongs to the folks we rescued.

[Recaiden]

[Dyson Sphere]

Shooting the alarm's speaker will shut it off, right?
Let's find out.
That done, Yone takes a closer look at the animal head. Was it placed their purposefully? A trophy? Was the robot a collector?

[Pirate Ship]

"..."
"Okay I admit I am really really curious but let's not open it till we've landed, just in case it's not cuddly."
Chevin hops up to go ask the others.
The catgirl claims a suspiciously sizable amount of the jewelry was hers, and the gray guy immediately gets to work trying to restore his tiny ship to working order. The kaleidoscope thing indicates that no, these treasures don't belong to it. Obviously it will still be getting a share in exchange for its piloting expertise.

[Earl of Purple]

Found in Space

"I was one of twenty guards. We had three navigators including the captain, fifteen quantum scientists, six communication engineers, five computer diplomacy specialists, ten support officers, eight maintenance engineers, six medical personnel, ten naval commandos, and a combat robot operator. That last eleven aren't a normal part of the complement, we only had them because of the danger and unusual nature of the prisoners. Mostly I spoke to the guards or the commandos. The roboticist creeped me out, but her warhound was awesome." But it does mean there's a combat robot aboard the wreck, if they return to it. Possibly more than one. "Small Wessex is an asteroid station orbiting Wessex Major, named after the ancient Earth kingdom that grew into England. It's the solar system next to the one where I lived."

[bc56]

Dyson Sphere

The shot destroys the alarm speaker, and the room is quiet once more. and The head is relatively fresh, evidently coming from some sort of reptile. It seems to have just been left here, right next to the probe and a few of the largest bits of dead animal, in some sort of indentation in the ground, oblong and maybe an eighth of an inch deep.

[Reinholdt]

[Dyson Sphere]

Reinholdt will wait outside until Yone is done with her investigation. He's fairly certain they've done all they can in there, but it doesn't hurt to be thorough. Still, someone has to keep an eye out just in case there are more camouflaged kill bots out here.

[Recaiden]

[Dyson Sphere]

Not one of the lizard-cows, was it? Goodness, this place is so strange.
Yone lifts up the head to examine the depression where it had been, fully aware that this is a bad idea.

[Found in Space]

"Okay, big place, got it. I probably would have done the same, but our complement is so small, there's no real choosing who you talk to. One captain, one engine, one navigator, one communications officer, one gunner, one magician. And maybe one guard now. Looks like you started off well. You'll get used to firefights full of shocking revelations. Hopefully."
Hmm. On the one hand, awesome combat robot. On the other hand, awesome combat robot that will probably be trying to kill them if they return to intrude on its ship. Better leave it for the scavengers.

A faint but increasing rumble and roar comes from outside as the ship pitches down through the atmosphere.

[Earl of Purple]

Found in Space

It's only defending the ship if the operator programmed it to before she died. Otherwise there'd be a combat robot on the ship trying to kill the crew. And that would be bad.

Simon assumes 'one engine' means 'one engineer', and not that it's possible to talk to the engine itself. Though it might be a typo. "Which is the big bony chap? They scared me, first time I saw them."

[bc56]

Dyson Sphere

It is a head of a lizard-cow, although the only similarities between them and cows is their size, and that they're grazing animals. The depression is fairly boring, but there's an alien engraving around the edge. It seems to repeat itself. If Yone moves the head, she'll find a button behind it.

Nothing arrives to attack Rein.

Cadet Friin looks at the robot puzzledly. "Huh. That's funny."

[Felandria]

[Pirate Ship]

"..."
"Okay I admit I am really really curious but let's not open it till we've landed, just in case it's not cuddly."
Chevin hops up to go ask the others.
The catgirl claims a suspiciously sizable amount of the jewelry was hers, and the gray guy immediately gets to work trying to restore his tiny ship to working order. The kaleidoscope thing indicates that no, these treasures don't belong to it. Obviously it will still be getting a share in exchange for its piloting expertise.

Right, Captain.

Felandria starts divvying up the rest of the treasures, paying extra close attention to the gold.

GOLD!

[Recaiden]

[Found in Space]

It means the engine itself, which is a person. But Simon's assumption is the reasonable one.
"Russel? He's not really a crew member. Like a robot. Now, I've gotta ask, are you a religious man, Simon?"

[Dyson Sphere]

"What is it, Cadet?"
Yone does move the cow-head, and, unable to resist, presses the button.

[Pirate Ship]

Chevin nods and ducks back up to direct the pilot on their destination. Shi trusts that Felandria can count out the treasure; the point of this mission wasn't the loot, after all.

It's might not be a big deal to someone as well-off as Fel already seems to be.
But it is quite a lot of gold.
Gold!

[Earl of Purple]

Found in Space

"I don't think of myself as religious. My mother is. Anglican Christian, had me baptised in case I chose to be religious at any point. Why?" Hopefully he doesn't need to be inducted into some weird cult to join the crew. Though if the induction isn't too odd, he might be up for it. Drinking the lifeblood of someone he just watched get murdered might be a little too far.

[Felandria]

[Pirate Ship]

Chevin nods and ducks back up to direct the pilot on their destination. Shi trusts that Felandria can count out the treasure; the point of this mission wasn't the loot, after all.

It's might not be a big deal to someone as well-off as Fel already seems to be.
But it is quite a lot of gold.
Gold!

Felandria goes to work organizing the different metals and robot parts into separate piles.

Eventually she gets things settled.

Where to now, Cap’n?

[Recaiden]

[Found in Space]

"Just making sure it won't be a problem. We'll be taking your old crew to a temple, the captain's pretty religious, etc. But it looks like, no worries. I personally don't pay it much attention."
Des shrugs, and doesn't have much more to say at the moment, though if Simon had questions, they could probably be answered.

[Pirate Ship]

"We drop the people we've rescued off at the station, and then...go home?" Chevin answers, a little uncertain. Is this the end of the adventure where they go their separate ways? What exactly do they do with the pirate ship?

[WarforgedTank]

Hephaestus Drydocks

Connor can easily reach the receptionist. A huge alien like a firefly greets him, speaking from a metal voice box strapped to its carapace. "Welcome to Hephaestus Scrapyards, how may I help you?"

Connor walks up to the alien, and greets it with a nod.

"Have you seen anyone around here in armor similar to mine?"

[Earl of Purple]

Found in Space

"A temple? Wouldn't a mortician or a hospital be better?" Because healing magic is not from his universe, and Simon doesn't know about it. Though the technology he was told of earlier to ressurect his dead coworkers certainly sounded rather miraculous, there's rumours of the very richest having access to similar abilities in his own worlds.

[bc56]

Dyson Sphere

When the button is pressed, the floor of the depression suddenly swings open, and the items in it are sucked down a dark chute. The panel quickly closes again afterwards. The cadet responds. "This thing is fairly new. It seems strange, but its skeleton is mostly made from iron, which makes sense, as it's a metal found easily in stars, yet even in an atmosphere this humid, there's very little rust on it, despite the age of this station. I can't come up with any other reason than the robot being built recently. Probably only a few weeks ago."

Hephaestus Drydocks
"Let me think. Yes, I believe I did. He was quite upset when we could not provide the services he requested at a price he could afford." The insect alien pauses to think. "When he asked where he could earn some money, I sent him to the employment office. It's right down that hall. The alien points to a nondescript hallway.

[Reinholdt]

[Dyson Sphere]

"Yeah?" Reinholdt calls back without taking his eyes away from the hallway. "It's not all that surprising. There's plenty of life on this station after all. Whoever it is probably just isn't emitting deep space radio signals. At least we'll finally have someone we can reason with." Hopefully. It could be an automated building process at this point, but there'd be evidence of that too. "We may want to find them if we don't find the other probe quickly."

[WarforgedTank]

Dyson Sphere

When the button is pressed, the floor of the depression suddenly swings open, and the items in it are sucked down a dark chute. The panel quickly closes again afterwards. The cadet responds. "This thing is fairly new. It seems strange, but its skeleton is mostly made from iron, which makes sense, as it's a metal found easily in stars, yet even in an atmosphere this humid, there's very little rust on it, despite the age of this station. I can't come up with any other reason than the robot being built recently. Probably only a few weeks ago."

Hephaestus Drydocks
"Let me think. Yes, I believe I did. He was quite upset when we could not provide the services he requested at a price he could afford." The insect alien pauses to think. "When he asked where he could earn some money, I sent him to the employment office. It's right down that hall. The alien points to a nondescript hallway.

Connor looks down the hall.

~Employment office? What information was another SPARTAN seeking so desperately that they'd turn to mundane work to pay for it?~

Connor looks back at the alien, thanking him with a nod, and heads down the hallway, looking for the employment office.

[bc56]

Hephaestus Drydocks

There are actually two employment offices. One door is labeled "Shipwrights, technicians, engineers, mechanics, smiths, and office staff." The other is labeled "Mercenaries, soldiers, bounty hunters, and privateers."

Dyson Sphere

"Perhaps. It seems odd that we'd encounter the people's machines but no other evidence that anyone's been here for years."

[Felandria]

[Pirate Ship]

"We drop the people we've rescued off at the station, and then...go home?" Chevin answers, a little uncertain. Is this the end of the adventure where they go their separate ways? What exactly do they do with the pirate ship?

Oh........

Fel is also uncertain.

I mean, she has other stuff to do, and responsibilities.

But..........

The Nexus does have a weird way with time.

I mean, we do have this cool new ship.

We could have further adventures.......

Captain.

[Recaiden]

[Dyson Sphere]

Well, that's distressing.
Yone saunters out to join Reinholdt. They're done here.
"No reason they can't be getting built automatically. Or maybe they just enjoy the 'ruin' aesthetic."

[Found in Space]

"Yeah, the hospital's attached." That's really all there is to say about it. No need to tell Simon that magic is real in advance and get him worked up.

A moderately lengthy descent down towards the Temple of Inari follows. They have to actually fly in because while this ship can jump much closer to gravity wells than ships from Simon's world can enter quantum space, they do have limits.

[Pirate Ship]

"Do you think we'd need more of a crew for that...First Mate Felandria?" Chevin smiles, seeming tempted.

It's dangerous relying on the Nexus's weird time. What if Fel wound up double-late to her responsibilities?

"And do you have an adventure in need of our ship?"

[Reinholdt]

[Dyson Sphere]

"I guess it's probably not a scout unit given its reaction. I don't know if we can handle a rogue swarm or a production factory," Reinholdt says as he starts leading the way back down the hallway to the other side of the elevator. Gotta find that last probe and get out of here before the machines decide to attack.

[WarforgedTank]

Hephaestus Drydocks

There are actually two employment offices. One door is labeled "Shipwrights, technicians, engineers, mechanics, smiths, and office staff." The other is labeled "Mercenaries, soldiers, bounty hunters, and privateers."

Dyson Sphere

"Perhaps. It seems odd that we'd encounter the people's machines but no other evidence that anyone's been here for years."

Connor looks at both doors, and opens the one labeled "Mercenaries, soldiers, bounty hunters, and privateers."

[Earl of Purple]

Found in Space

Off they go to Inari's, then. I've not been to the thread before, so I'll let you post first.

[bc56]

Dyson Sphere

Going down the hallway leads to a circular room. A flickering holographic display illuminates it faintly. The display is of a star, presumably the one inside the sphere, with several readouts in the alien language. There is another passageway on the other side of the room.

Hephaestus Drydocks

The room beyond the door is plain and unadorned. A short desk sits in the center of it, and a short bearded man who looks like a dwarf out of a fantasy story is behind it. "What can I do for you sir?"

[Recaiden]

[Dyson Sphere]

Yone goes over to check the display, admiring the star and checking the readouts for anything obviously wrong - graphs off the chart, flashing red lights, etc.
"Robots certainly aren't keeping up with repairs..."

[Reinholdt]

[Dyson Sphere]

Reinholdt peers down the other passageway to make sure it's clear while Yone checks the display when a thought comes to him. "You don't think the pulses that one probe was checking on has something to do with the star itself do you?" If the star is collapsing then they have much bigger problems than a few measly probes.

[bc56]

Dyson Sphere

The star doesn't appear to be unstable, but it's clearly old and on its last legs (not that it has legs). Nothing appears to be wrong with the star from the readouts, but it's hard to tell since they're written in the alien language.

[WarforgedTank]

Dyson Sphere

Going down the hallway leads to a circular room. A flickering holographic display illuminates it faintly. The display is of a star, presumably the one inside the sphere, with several readouts in the alien language. There is another passageway on the other side of the room.

Hephaestus Drydocks

The room beyond the door is plain and unadorned. A short desk sits in the center of it, and a short bearded man who looks like a dwarf out of a fantasy story is behind it. "What can I do for you sir?"

Connor nods.

"Looking for someone, actually. Thought you maybe able to help me. You have another guy come in here, suited up similar to me?"