| abstract
| - Docking Hub - Comorro Station - Comorro Station Comorro Station isn't exactly a station. It doesn't remain in any one place for a significant span of time. It is, in all accuracy, a massive starship - incapable of atmospheric flight - that has been roaming the stars on a voyage that some say has lasted for more than 90-million years. The vessel is a Yaralu, a sentient spacefaring vessel. Her true full name cannot be spoken in a single day, but is shortened for convenience to Comorro. Several epochs ago, after her final era of fertility ended, she converted the gray-green ribbed chamber of her womb into a docking hub for smaller Yaralu and non-organic vessels. She made it known to the denizens of Hiverspace that she would serve as a neutral outpost for traders and diplomats. Use of energy and projectile weapons is prohibited aboard Comorro. Violators will be absorbed into the vessel's nutrient replenishment matrix. She is capable of monitoring almost all chambers within the station for illegal weapons, but some areas - such as the Forgotten Quarter - are lost to her neural pathways and sensory organs. A makeshift ramp has been built about thirty feet from Zero Gravitas' airlock from a crate and a light armor plate, with no apparent purpose. Emma stands on the boarding ramp of the Zero Gravitas, clad head to toe in armor. A large rucksack rests by her leg, and she appears to be waiting for someone. However, what she's looking at is unclear, but she appears to be observing a group of Demarian kits playing. The Gravitas's airlock door opens with a soft squeak. Zuan steps onto the boarding ramp, tail swooshing. Seeing the well-armed figure on the ramp, he pauses. "Uh... greetz?" "Hello Zuan," the armored woman greets quietly, as she turns her body slight and shifts her head to look towards the Lotorian. The voice sounds strangely like Tamila's. "Are you joining us for the salvage mission?" "Oh..." Recognition dawns on the Lotorian, and he seems to relax. Zuan strolls down the ramp, looking the Later up and down appraisingly. "Youz look like youz going to war, not zalvaging." He adds, "But zzure, Iz alwayz up for zome fun." "I'm unaware of the current threat assessment of the particular mission," Emma replies to Zuan, in her native undercity Tomin Kora accent. "My contact has not informed me of several variables, so I assume that further mission details will be given en route. This also works to disguise my current identity from eavesdroppers and nosey people." "Iz guezz that'z the gunzlinging verzion of 'better zafe than zorry'," Zuan replies, whiskers twitching. He points at her belt. "Can Iz get a gun, too? Juzt in caze?" "I only have one. I'm not exactly a gunslinger type," Emma says, with an apologetic tone in her voice. "I suggest looting Kestrel and Shep's room, and seeing if you can locate one there. Kestrel should be fine when she finds out who we're working for." "Maybe Iz do that..." Zuan looks back up at the airlock thoughtfully for a moment. "When are wez leaving? Oh, and who are wez working for?" "I am unable to reveal my contact's details, but I can assure you he is a well respected man and it has recieved the green light from Bri," Emma provides vaguely. She then motions towards the Iuppiter. "We are to wait in the airlock, and we'll be leaving as soon as people are ready. If they don't turn up, we'll go without them." "Well, Iz wouldn't want to keep our myztery bozz waiting..." Zuan turns and jogs back up the ramp. "Iz be right back. Don't youz go off to war without me." He opens the door and disappears inside. A minute later, he strolls back onto the ramp, panting softly, having added a belt and holster to his attire. He holds a pistol in his paws, inspecting it carefully. Well, the armored figure might be smiling, though it's a bit hard to tell with her face concealed behind the mask and visor. However, Emma does laugh. "Did you get ammunition? More a precaution thing, as we don't know what we're going into," she says, before leaning to oneside and picking up her rucksack. "I think it's about time that we should embark on this job. Grab whatever you think you'll need." The rucksack is hefted over her shoulder and she starts to head towards the Iupputer. Zuan taps one of his leg pockets reassuringly. "Iz haz everything Iz need..." He holsters the pistol and follows behind Emma. "Iz haz zzot a gun before, you know. Iz know they need ammo." Emma laughs, but continues going towards the Iuppiter in silence. She doesn't offer any more comments at this time. Airlock - IND Iuppiter Lucetius Amber warning lights wash across the the airlock core, while a cooler white illumination floods up from narrow floor recesses, splashing the textured panels and built in cabinets and racks. Sized for a workteam and their gear, the airlock is ample and almost generous. Sturdy steel recessed lockers are set against the port and starboard walls, while five multi-purpose EVA suits stand in polished brackets. A heavy duty cargo style switch box cycles the airlock. Below the floor panels can drop down and extend on heavy hydraulic struts, forming a boarding ramp. At the fore a wide steel ship's ladder rises up to a small platform and pressure hatch, leading into the ship proper. From inside a ship, a human wearing a flightsuit standing about five and a half feet comes down. "Name's Eli. You folks the salvage crew tonight?" Zuan stands near the outer airlock door. The Lotorian rocks from heel to toe, hands resting on his hips casually. His tail swooshes about impatiently behind him. He looks at Eli when he enters. "Iz guezz zo," he buzzes, nodding. The armored woman dressed for war remains silent as she continues to lean against the wall, and glances towards the human wearing the flight suit as she enters. Emma slowly bobs her head, as a display starts to scroll up the inside of her visor. With a creaking of leather, she raises two fingers, before pointing at herself and then Zuan and nods. Then she motions with her hand towards Newt and Lucius and offers a vague shrug. Twenty minutes warning - enough time to slap on all the gear and grab his go pack - which is what CWO Castus wears as he enters the airlock, nodding in return to Emma and Newt. A bit of a grin pokes through on his face. "Hey, is this a scouting mission?" Asks Castus. "From what I hear, this time we got what looks like a promising ID." Eli says. "Initial scouting runs went well, so we're sending more people in to see if this'll go well." Newt makes his way inside, slightly out of breath, "Hey. Made it." Zuan stays quiet for now. He waits and rocks heel to toe. The Lotorian casually studies the others in the airlock. Newt gets a slight nod. "Why are you even bothering with a freighter like the Iuppiter Lucetius?" Asks Lucius, deadpan to the flightsuit wearing human. "And one more question - is it a salvage collection run, or is it to identify proper locations of salvage?" "Operative wishes to be informed of mission critical criteria, active threat assessment and other relevant data," Emma states in a voice devoid of any accent and emotion. She turns her head and looks towards Lucius, regarding him from behind the darkly tinted visor. Then she turns her attention towards Newt and finally on Zuan. "This is just the meetin' place." Eli says, heading out of the airlock again. "Got another ship ready to go. Bit smaller, but it'll work better for what we're doing. It's called the Merkle. Follow me." then Eli adds to Emma, "We'll cover the details on the way." "Good," Zuan says, pleased to get started. He runs his paws over the fur of his face and moves to follow Eli. Newt asks, "Will we be going outside any?" eventually following along. "If we're doing scouting, I suggest we take the Equinox. It's purpose built, milspec, for that kind of mission." Lucius says, bluntly, though he does follow Eli as she moves. A nod is sent towards Emma. "Yep. Exactly." A bit of moving through the docking area of Comorro and the Merkle is in view. It looks rather small, maybe the size of three old style rockhoppers combined together. Eli boards and waits for the others. The 'bridge' area isn't much. A few places to sit and a couple chairs for consoles. "We got this one equipped with all we need, and we're on the clock." is Eli's reply. Emma follows Eli up and tries to remain close to Zuan, though once again in complete silence. She moves immediately towards one of the chairs away from the consoles. "Request schematics of contract target for analysis," she says still in that same voice and seems to ignore the rest of the team. For a moment, Zuan's attention is focused on the ship around him. Inspecting. Appraising. He runs a paw over a window, a console. Even a chair. His conclusion comes out as just a soft hum. "Whose flying?" he asks after a pause, looking between Eli and Newt. "On the clock, eh? Always the fucking bureaucrats." Gripes Lucius, eyebrows knitting. He pulls his pack off, stuffing it under his seat and then waits to be briefed. "Anybody smoke?" A cigarette is withdrawn from his upper sleeve pocket. Newt pipes up, "I can do that." and asks again, "Will we get to go outside, too?" "If anyone else can fly, it'll be easier to get all of you up to speed while we go." Eli says as Newt pipes up, then closes the hatch. "If things go well, yeah." is the reply to Newt. From there, Eli goes to bring down a screen and a small projector to begin. "The Merkle's built in 4005. Designed to run blockades, mainly." Zuan drops into a seat near Emma, shifting his holster as he settles in. "Zze lookz like more than a match for a Medlidikke Ztalker. Better than the Gravitaz waz, anyway." He glances to Emma, then back to Eli. "Zze'll be fine. Let'z go." "Operative wishes to inform that she is not certified in EVA work, zero gravity work or work in areas with no or little oxygen content. Operative will decline orders to carry out work in such conditions, until areas have been stablised and are suitable to life," Emma states, as she takes a seat, adjusting the long sword at her side. Slowly the armored woman turns her head and studies the diagram. She doesn't say anything as she listens to Eli. A slow nod is given to Zuan, but she doesn't comment. "Fuck, anyone speak whatever language he speaks?" Asks Lucius, motioning to the Lotorian. "I speak broken Hekayan, but that's all." Since no one takes his offer, he lights his own smoke and proceeds to shut up. Newt looks up at Lucius and then gets in the ship, "I'm sweet for EVA work." "We may have to stablize. Truth is, we don't know too much yet." Eli says. "Coors are already in the system." is said to Newt. "Just punch it up and it should go." then continues, showing a picture of what looks to be a rather large station like structure. "This is what we're after. It looks pretty complete, and unoccupied, so it's looking good right now." Newt nods and settles down itnot he pilot seat, adjusting it for his height, "No worries. Say when." "Relaxz human, Iz zpeak fluent Hekayan, az well az Lotorez. Nodding and pointing zzould handle whatever you don't know." Zuan looks back to Eli and inspects the target for a moment. "Lookz ripe. The kind of thing other zalvagerz will be on zoon... and the Medlidikke not long after. We zzould hurry." "So much for a well scouted mission." Grumbles Lucius, typically. Emma continues with her impersonation of a mute. She says nothing, but nods in acknowledgement! For the observant, the display inside of her visor appears to have a game of minesweeper on it. "Go." Eli says to Newt. Then continues, "We're rushing this one for just that reason." "Lotorianz have a zaying, humanz... Fortune favorz the unprepared." Zuan leans back and folds his paws over his belly. The tip of his tail thwaps against the floor softly. Newt nods and begins to operate the controls. It takes wee while to take off, "Controls on this sucker are kinda different." Once again, nothing interesting from Emma. However, she does end up with a red 3 on her minesweeper game, and seems to take some time plotting the next move. "That's why as a species you're still roaming the fucking stars like gypsies." Lucius retorts to Zuan, snorting. Smoke ejects from his nostrils like trails on a starship. "Yeah." Eli says to Newt. "You'll like it. So here's the plan. We're going to see if we can't get the station's drives operational enough to make a jump to Comorro. Not sure about life support and such, we'll learn more when we get there. No life signs, so someone may need to go turn it on or repair it. Bit of energy... here." Eli adds, pointing to a section of the rather large station that may well be an engine room. "Maybe, but wez ztill have /our/ univerze," Zuan replies to Lucius. He grins, showing the tips of his fangs. He leans to the side slightly, splitting his attention between Newt's hands on the controls and Eli's briefing. Newt snorts and remains silent for a bit as he familiarisies himself with the controls, "I could go in and try and repair it and stuff." "Operative wishes to point out that the reading could be a manner of different things," Emma remarks, as she tries to split her attention between her game and Eli. The game on her screen goes blank and is soon replaced by rolling text once again. "Operative also wishes to note, that non-Syndicate mercenary Castardus and non-Syndicate associate Zuan should leave their petty differences behind during the mission." "Yeah, and that's why we're going in." Eli says. "I'll handle comms and scans here while you guys go in." and then the station itself comes into proper view on the screen. It is indeed rather large, and from initial looks is intact for the most part. "This is it." Zuan looks between Newt and Eli, scratching his neck thoughtfully. As the station appears, Zuan grins. "Exzzellent," he says in Hekayan, no longer translated by Comorro. Newt grins after Emmas chestisement. "Yeah. How far away from it you want me to stop?" "We're shooting the shit. I guess if you act like a robot on Ops then it's impossible for you to do that." Notes Lucius, rolling his eyes at Emma. This is in Standard. As he watches the viewscreen, Castus does a quick wipedown the inner parts of his weapons. "See if you can't get us inside. Prob'ly a landing place..." Eli goes back to the picture, "Here." Newt looks over at the picture and nods, "Okay. Should be pretty easy." and goes back to the console to begin the manouvers. "Operatives are not hired to provide light and pointless conversation on contract," states Emma as she leans to one side to get a view of the station. If there's any look regarding the station, it's hidden away. Zuan taps Eli on the shoulder. He pantomimes putting on a large helmet and sealing a collar, then tilts his head to the side questioningly. Lucius snorts at Emma, rolling his eyes. He doesn't reply to her, though, closing up his weapons and doing quick function tests. Once that's done, he loads them with, presumably, full magazines, and waits. In Hekayan, he says to Zuan, "Speak me, yeah?" And points to himself. Inside the 'docking bay' it is pretty sparse. No other ships, but there's random equipment about the place, like people were working one moment and gone the next. "See if the sensors'll pick up atmosphere and land this thing. Probably something to close that big door they left open too nearby." "Do we need spacesuits?" Zuan asks Lucius in Hekayan. For clarification, he adds, "A suit for going outside. Understand?" Emma remains quiet as she regards the area outside of the ship. She doesn't comment on Zuan's question, because she mightn't speak the language. "Ehh." Is what Lucius answers to Zuan. No real translation needed. He nods at the Lotorian. "He wants to know if we have clothing, I think. He probably means for out there." Close enough. Newt takes the time to keep going through the controls. "Got suits in the back. A variety of sizes for a few species. Didn't know who'd go out. Mag-boots, internal comms, standard gear. Well, those of you not used to the newer technology might be impressed, but same idea. Just don't get into a firefight with 'em, they're good, but they don't hold up for long in combat." Eli says. Emma withdraws her pistol from her holster. It's only a little thing, just a bit bigger than her hand and it even has gold flourishes up the side. Like Lucius did earlier, she quickly does a check of the weapon, before doing the basic functionality test. She then makes the weapon cocked and locked, before returning it to her holster. "What are the atmospheric details of the current environment?" she asks. The text on her visor changes this time, but it's still a heap of text. Newt pipes up, "Well... no lifesigns and stuff but I think there's a way to close the launch doors near the hatch to the next section. I can go out no problems. Oh. Life support seems up too." Zuan watches Emma check her weapon. He glances down to his own, then shrugs and turns his attention back to Lucius. Lucius seems poised to ask the same question that Emma is, raising a finger and opening his mouth, but shuts up when she speaks. He cocks his weapons, putting them on safe. "Suit up and keep me posted." Eli says, changing the viewscreen to show what look to be cameras. "I'll be able to follow along and help coordinate if needbe once you suit up, but once life support is on and the door sealed shut, it should be safe to go. Let's hurry and get this thing back if we can." Now that we've landed, Newt gets up and out of his seat, "I'll go out." and soon after that his suit seals up, helmet shutting closed. Emma glances back down, before pressing at the device attached to her right forearm. She seems content with something on there, before reaching up and tapping the filter on her mask. She then hits both sides of her helmet to make sure it's on right, before nodding to Newt as he passes. She doesn't say anything else as she continues with her equipment check. Lucius doesn't have a mask or a suit to get on, since he's apparently deemed that he's not going out until life support is on. So he waits out, propping his rifle over his arms. Seeing the others suit up, Zuan follows. He strips off his belt and holster and lips into one of the smaller suits. He appears to be adept at suiting up in tight quarters. The Lotorian unceremoniously stuffs his tail down his left suit leg. He checks all his seals quickly and puts his belt back on outside his suit. Eli takes a seat, looking to go into overwatch mode, it would seem. Newt steps into the airlock after stesting radio comms and goes on out. He heads towards the control panel and, once near enough, says, "Uh. Wee hassle. That's not in any language I can read. I -think- it's Auk. Maybe." Lucius grimaces and looks toward the pilot. He pulls out his notepad and points at it. "Read, Aukami?" Then he points out towards Newt. "Go." "Nope." is Eli's reply. "Ain't been 'round long enough to learn some new language." Emma remains quiet, before slowly standing up and leaning as far as the kevlar jacket will allow to pick up her rucksack. She hefts up the bag and secures it across her back, before sitting on the edge of the seat and patiently waiting. She says nothing. Zuan follows Newt out of the ship. He moves along gracefully, despite his bulky and not completely Lotorian-friendly spacesuit. "I can't read Auk," he replies over the comm in Hekayan. He leans around Newt to inspect the panel. Lucius takes a few long seconds to try and process what was said to him in Hekayan. He just stares blankly ahead in the interrim. Finally, he comms back to Newt, "I don't think he knows how to read it. Or maybe he said he DID know how to read it. Fuck." Newt looks over at Zuan and then at the lock, "Well.. if noone knows the language I'm gonna give it a go anyway." He waits a bit for someone to dissuade him and if noone does, goes forth. "Operative wishes to point out that there could be a fire suppression system," Emma says in that same accentless voice, still devoid of any emotion as her own commlink switches on. "It may or may not seal the doors. However, this operative does not have the experience with such systems and can only make assumptions. It could be the reason that the doors are wide open. I do not know." Zuan takes up a position beside Newt. He seems intent on participating, language barriers be damned. The Lotorian looks to Newt and nods for him to continue. Well... it looks like Newt got lucky... kinda. The station does not go into self destruct mode, the sprinklers do not turn on. On a further upside the doors to the next section open up. On a teeny tiny downside, there is a woosh of air from the next section as the doors to the bay remin closed. Newt, being out of the way of the door, doesn't get whooshed out. He does, though, startle as the wrong doors open and wind up feeling kinda dumb, "Bugger." "Worse comes to worse I can maybe open the door. This was meant for breaching, afterall." Lucius taps the underslung attachment to his rifle. Emma slowly turns her shielded gaze towards Lucuis, and offers a vague shrug. "Getting that door closed would be the better option," she remarks. "Yeah. I guess so." Lucius nods. Zuan puts a hand on Newt's shoulder, steadying himself as a bit of atmosphere whooshes by. He leans back over to look at the panel. The Lotorian considers the panel carefully for several seconds before deciding to take action. He gives the panel a good punch, and the panel replies with sparks. He's about to take another swing at it when Newt steps in and begins some more delicate fiddling. The human pilot has some success. The outer door closes halfway. Zuan manages to look embarassed, despite the full body protective covering. He steps back and allows Newt to finish fiddling. After a bit more fiddling, the outer door closes the rest of the way. There is a soft woosh as atmosphere fills the hangar. Newt looks behind him to see if the hatch door closes and low-and behold, thar she goes, "Cool. It's closing. We'll probably have atmosphere soon." He sounds pleased with himself. "And things are looking good to go." Eli says. "Nice!" seeming a bit enthused. Emma slowly stands up and moves for the inner door of the airlock and stands to the side. She appears that she has no intention of exiting the vessel until the all clear is given, or even stepping into the airlock. In fact, she appears to waiting for Lucius. Lucius swings his rifle in place, pointing downward and tightens the strap on his headset, before his helmet goes over it. "Alright, then. Let's give 'er." He moves off towards the airlock. Once he's outside, he strides immediately towards Newt and Zuan. As he comes a bit closer to the door, he grabs the foregrip on his rifle and paints the open doorway, moving a bit more tactically and keeping his eyes on. Zuan stomps a boot on the ground. The sound it makes seems to please him. He pops his helmet off and takes a deep breath. "Zmellz like old Aukami," he murmurs in Hekayan. He turns a generic questioning look on the others. Newt keeps his suit closed and just waits, watching the rest come over, "Yeah?" "Okay, it looks like the bridge is two levels up from here, and the power readings are coming from three levels down. Probably a lift that'll take you to those places." Eli explains from the observation spot. Emma removes her pistol from her holster, keeping it close to herself but pointing it towards the ground as she follows Lucius of the ship. She moves like she's used to dangerous situations. She's alert, constantly scaning the area. When Lucius stops, she kneels and faces the opposite direction so she's watching the Martian's rear flank. "We can cover more ground split, or be stronger as a group if we stick together," she remarks quietly. "Rules of engagement?" Asks Lucius over his comms, taking a knee right by the edge of the door. "Use your head." Eli replies back. "Was told it was recovery, not combat, didn't get the heads up on what to do with hostiles." Zuan reaches down through his collar to retrieve a D-clip from one of his jumpsuit pockets. He clips his helmet and gloves to his belt. They hang awkwardly, but out of the way. Zuan draws his pistol. "Where are we going?" he asks Lucius in Hekayan. "Bridge." Lucius answers Zuan. "Eh. Pilot. Zoom, up. Or, fix. Machine. Down. Go down? Go up?" That's all he can muster out in Hekayan to Zuan. He starts to walk forward anyways, lowering his weapon somewhat but keeping eyes open. Emma holds where she is, still being close. When she hears footsteps, she glances back over her shoulder and slowly stands. She waits for the rest of the group, before taking a cautious step back and then turning and following herself. "Recommendation: Secure and check engineering. If engineering has problems, it could comprimise primary mission objectives. Operative would have prefered a bigger team to secure both at once." Newt follows along quietly, looking around as he does. A lift is in view of the group at this point. Fortunately, some things like 'arrows' and arrangements of numbers indicating decks transcend race at times, like this one, where the lift controls, while being written in Auk, are easy enough to figure out. Zuan stops in front of the lift and turns back to the others. He makes his preference clear by pointing downwards. He speaks to Lucius in his buzzing Hekayan. "Wez have more work to do in Engineering than on the Bridge, probably. We zzould ztart down there." "Okay. Go down. Fix place. Yes." Lucius nods at Zuan, then translates for the rest, "To engineering, apparently." He proceeds cautiously to the elevators. Emma remains rear guard as she follows the group, and she only nods as she acknowledges Lucius' comment. There's nothing said or done by her. Zuan nods to Lucius, then turns to hit the downward button. While he waits for the lift, he contorts an arm back down through his collar again, retrieving a small writing implement, like a grease pencil, from a jumpsuit pocket. Zuan copies some of the symbols from the elevator, adding a few notes of his own, onto the sleeve of his atmosphere suit. Newt looks at the elevator buttons carefully as he approaches them. "Downward." Lucius jerks a thumb down, heading into the elevator quickly. Newt follows, entering the elevator. And so does Tam, when everyone else heads in. Zuan steps into the elevator and examines the panel on the inside of the door. He makes a few more notes on his sleeve before stepping back and motioning Lucius to the panel. The level indicated for engineering is a long corridor. There are other hallways and entrances, but the important one seems to be about 95% of the way closed and the control to open it severely damaged. There aren't any detectable levels of radiation reporting from any of the suits. "I don't think putting a plasma round through the door would be a good idea on this level." Muses Lucius, moving forward slowly. Newt says, "I reckon control panels tend to work better anyway." "Negative," Emma says from the rear of the group. "Operative has thermite gel, and can cut a small entry point without excessive destruction or damage to the compartment or surrounding structures." She taps at the small chalk gun and canister at her waist. Zuan continues making notes as he follows behind Lucius. His writing has spread to his other sleeve, and now includes a crude map of the path they've taken so far. He stops to examine the damaged door with a displeased whisker twitch. Lucius smiles broadly at that. "Alright then, do your job." As Emma taps the canister, he notes to Zuan in Hekayan, "She open. No boom. Bzzzzzzz." That last sound is an approximation of a burning fuse or maybe acid eating away at something. Emma moves up towards the blocked door, and immediately holsters her pistol and removes the thermite gel and chalk gun from her belt. She slowly starts to work, though is rather stringent with how much she uses. She also works rather well. After she's finished making a circle large enough for the largest member to step through. She replaces the gel and gun at her side, before reaching back and reaching into her rucksack with one hand. Two small little devices that look like little spark plugs are produced, and she sticks them up. She casually walks away and a second visor starts to descend. She turns back to watch, before yelling, "Firing!" With a loud hiss the thermite goes to work, cutting a perfect circle in the door with an extremely bright flare of light. Little droplets of molten metal are thrown clear, before that perfectly cut out piece of door falls to the floor with a loud clang. The cut's very neat, too. The engineering room itself seems more or less in order. The main problem in this case is that it's running on minimal power, from what the readings look to be saying (graphical representations of power use are quite useful for the Auk-reading impaired). Newt watches Emma work as he stays out of the way. When she steps back he does too and continues to watch through his visor. Time to move through the door itself. Lucius makes sure he is the first one through to clear the room, sweeping through it as thoroughly and carefully as possible. Zuan steps well back while Emma works her magic. He sticks his pencil in his mouth for now, devoting both paws to the control of his pistol. He slips gingerly through the smoldering doorway behind Lucius. Seeing no immediate danger, he strolls over to the engineering console. Emma follows the rest of the group through, being careful of the edges of the hole in the door. She remains at the door and keeps an eye out. Once again, the pistol is drawn and she watches patiently. Newt follows after Emma, standing on tippy toes to make sure to avoid the hot edges himself. Zuan looks over the engineering console, then turns back to Lucius. "Iz don't know thiz," he says in Hekayan, shrugging helplessly. Lucius nods at Zuan, taking up a place a few metres away after he's satisfied with the state of the area and the safety of it. He takes a knee. "Newt - he doesn't understand it, I don't think. Go take a look?" Emma continues to remain quiet, eyes on the hallway outside of the room. Newt nods, "Okay." and heads over to the console to begin looking it over. "Wez zzould have brought a real engineer along with uz," Zuan mutters in Hekayan. He stands back, watching Newt as he works. "Iz better at the kind of zalvage where you cut ztuff off of other ztuff." As Newt plays with the reactor, various sounds can be heard. In this case, most of them not so good. The reactor seems to power up for a moment, then makes some rather unpleasant noises before it calms back down to it's previous low power state. Lucius nods at Zuan, apparently getting the drift of what he said. "Does anybody have any fucking idea how to work this thing? If not, get off of it." "Are we all dead yet?" Emma remarks, still in a level voice. She shakes her head, eyes still on the hallway. "What about the pilot?" Newt looks over at Lucius, "Well it'd help if it wasn't totally alien tech you know." "If all of you are having problems with that generator, get it ready to disconnect and head on up to the bridge. We got a Plan B just in case of this." Eli says from the smaller ship. "Roger that. You wouldn't happen to have any engineering skill, would you?" Asks Lucius over the short range comm unit, holding his position for now. Zuan's lemuresque eyes are fixed on the reactor console in a cold glare. The Lotorian just watches for now, not able or willing to contribute much of anything. Newt replies to Eli, "Yeah. If we've got a plan b it'd probably be a good idea to go with it." He looks at Lucius, "Wanna ask Zuan is he wants to help disconnecting the sucker?" Emma remains in silence, and like a professional, doesn't remove from her position. Lucius gets up from his spot, slinging his rifle over his shoulder. Then he points at the reactor and makes noises like an air ratchet would. "Take off. Away. Off. Yeah?" Is what he says to Zuan in Hekayan. Over the comms again, "Well, Eli?" Zuan offers Lucius a confused look. Meaning dawns on the Lotorian suddenly and he nods. "Disconnect," he instructs in the proper Hekayan, pulling his two fists apart. The Lotorian strolls over to the console, squats down, and pulls open its access panel. "I got it." Eli says to Lucius. "We'll get a real professional to figure out how the thing works, but for now, got a plan to get the ship going again, so you guys just get up to that bridge and be ready to go." Emma slips back through the door and kneels down beside it and out of the way. She glances down the hallway and waits for the rest of the team. Newt looks in and begins to try and figure out how things go where, trying to sign some info Zuans way now and again. "Hurry up." Lucius says to Newt. "Like ,get it prepped for disconnection. Don't fully disconnect it. We're moving out in a second." He stays where he is, waiting for them to finish their task quickly. Zuan and Newt seem to be much more on the same page this time. After a bit of fiddling, the diminutive pair rig the console to disconnect with a simple command. Zuan stands and nods to Lucius, giving him a thumbs up. The Lotorian picks his pistol back up and moves into the corridor. Newt stands and walks off also. "We got it. That was pretty easy." He sounds pleased with things. Emma glances towards Zuan as he exits engineering. the woman remains silent and waits for everyone else. "Alright." Lucius lets himself show a small smile and nod at the two of them, moving behind. "Hey, robo-bunny, wanna lead us to the elevator please? We're going up to the bridge." The bridge is, like the rest of the ship, quiet. There's a lot of places to sit, consoles, that kind of thing. Once again, it's in Auk. Emma stands by the door to the bridge, taking a moment to look around. Yup, if there's pretty buttons and all that, she's keeping well away from them. Zuan, on the other hand, is drawn to the nav consoles like a moth to a flame. He inspects the controls carefully, trying to puzzle out the different symbols and functions arrayed before him. "Gods, there should be a simple fucking common language and it should be Hekayan. Cause I said so." Lucius grumbles upon arrival, doing a sweep on the bridge, as usual. Newt begins to look around the consoles, examining each one in turn. "Okay, here we go!" Eli says, perhaps with a bit too much enthusiasm. Suddenly the lights and displays go dark, but a second later, they seem to be up and running. "Okay, we got ourselves some power. Don't know how long we're good for, so get us out of here quick." Emma braces herself as she remains by the door. She waits, tensing up. Zuan communicates with Newt using a complicated series of hand gestures (with whooshing sound effects) and some rapid-fire pointing. Ostensibly, this is to communicate the purpose of various controls. How effective it actually is, that's anyone's guess. Regardless, the Lotorian eventually settles in front of a set of controls and begins to press some buttons. The jump drives power up with a whirr. Finally, Zuan turns to Newt with an expectant look. "Let's try and make sure we don't get snuck up on from behind." Lucius lets his pack rest on his heel as he oncemore gets down in a kneeling position, taking his free hand off of his weapon and grabbing a drink from his hydro pack. Emma moves to take up a position beside Lucius, eyes on the door and never leaving it. She kneels down herself, but doesn't say anything. Newt seems to be having fun trying to zommunicate with Zuan and, eventually, nods and gets into another console nearby and begins to get it setup. "I take it we're ready and stuff?" If noone disagrees he begins to get the station moving Comorro-wards. The ship begins to move when Newt takes the controls, slowly at first, thrusters seem to sputter a bit from a lack of use, but finally, it's going, and the trip to Comorro is en route.
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![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)